tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92753662024-03-08T04:02:17.089+05:30Mimosaa few thoughts and other thoughts....paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-69425018752779605162012-02-03T12:24:00.000+05:302012-02-27T17:15:40.366+05:30The Switch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">They considered me foolish; they thought
that I was growing soft in my head, that I was just plain nuts. And for a long
time I did try and examine myself to see if what others talked about me was
true. I was undecided, unsure. Everything was unreal. Was I mad, or was I
the only sane one left in the town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It has all started of one day while I was
having a shower. A slight movement, on the periphery of my vision, made me
swivel my head towards the shower door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I could see nothing. I turned off the
shower, and kept looking towards the door. Suddenly I see the Electric Switch
wink at me. Man, I was tired, and I was seeing things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I called out loudly; my soul mate rushed
into the bathroom, and very concerned asked me what was up. I pointed to the
Electric Switch and told her “That Electric Switch winked at me”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Smiling she said “James Adam Paul, This is
not the time to get funny on me, I was getting the kids ready for the school
and the bus would be reaching in another few minutes”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After she left, I kept looking at that
Electric Switch for a long time. Nothing strange now, everything was the way it
was meant to be. Was I nuts?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Throughout the day, this incident kept
bugging me. My boss kept asking me if everything was alright, I guess I was not
focused on my work, and my thoughts were showing an impact on my work. This was
painfully brought up to everyone’s attention including my section supervisor,
when I accidently shut down the corporate server. I guess the theme of the day
was Electric switches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"> “Hell
with it all”, I thought to myself, and took rest of the day off. With my boss
yelling at me and everyone giving me dirty looks, I walked home. While, on the
way home, I came across a near empty bar. I normally take the subway, and I had
never walked past this bar before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“No man’s Bar”, The “r” was missing between
“o” and the “m”. All signs were there, this was the bar for me today, a
“Noman’s bar”, this was just the place for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Since it was quite early in the day and I was
not expected back at home till evening, I walked into Noman’s Bar. No one other
than the bartender was around, and he was lost in his copy of “War and Peace”.
And the brunette in the corner, staring into her mug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Nodded a greeting to him, asked for a beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Had myself a couple of beers, felt good.
Looked around after downing these mugs, and then things started going to hell,
my private hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The jukebox started talking to me about my
day, and she kept getting interrupted by the electric lights, the bar telephone
kept shouting encouragement to me and kept asking me to keep my chin up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I sat silent, expecting Bugs Bunny or
Donald Duck to pop up any minute and talk to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I guess I was nuts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">‘cause neither the bartender nor the
brunette looked up while all this was happening, either it was normal for them
or I was the only one who could hear what was going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I walked out of the bar and started walking
towards home, and the parked cars I kept passing kept “Howdy”ing me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Reached home. My soul mate was out. I went
back into the bathroom. My silent electric switch winked at me. And started
talking, and I sat quietly and kept listening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is how it all started. Next day I went
in for a medical evaluation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">No one in the hospital could convince me
that it was all in my mind, you see, the ECG machine kept talking to me, while
I was with the Doctor. Kept telling me funny stories about the ‘good’ doctor.
Just to check my sanity, ECG machine asked me to ask the doctor about the
whisky he had in his office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I asked the doctor about the quart bottle of
whisky he had in his draw. His face
turned a couple of shades of purple before he spluttered on about getting back
to my checkup. I did not ask him about him and his nurse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So it was not just my imagination. Things
were really talking to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is how it all started. I do not know
why I was the chosen one. There was nothing special about me, just an average
guy doing average things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Then one day, I hit the TV news. There was
a homicide. I walked to the house where the crime had taken place, and the electrical
devices started talking to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The police had got a fingerprint which did
not belong to anyone who was supposed to have been in the house. To cut a long
story short, I talked to the chief of police of police and told him the name of
the person who committed the crime. The figure prints matched and I became
famous with the PD. A few more cases like this and someone in the PD must have
got greedy and sold the information about who was solving the crimes for the
police, to the press. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Press started comparing me to Noreen
Renier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, this is how my life was for a few
years. I did my magic stuff, which seemed unbelievable to everyone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Had myself
a steady income, which I kept parting with the Nomans bar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Then the bells tolled for the last time on December
31<sup>st</sup> and thus began the year 2012. I did not notice till around March
of that year that I was hearing fewer machines talking to me. Not that I was
worried or apprehensive, I was finding it pleasant that the incessant chatter
was slowing down, was getting more sleep. Getting lost of sleep now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Captain’s log Earth date 20-december-2012:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I woke up with an eerie silence
encompassing me. The normal noises which one associates with urban living were
missing, not that it struck me immediately as I woke up. The toothbrush rubbing
against my teeth was a noise I was used to for all these years, with my eyes
closed, while brushing today I did not hear it. After a few strokes, my mind
kind of kicked on and indicated to me that something was wrong. I open my eyes;
I see in the mirror that the toothbrush was where it was supposed to be, but no
sound. I experimented by moving my hand a few time around my teeth…still no
sound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I opened the tap, no sound of water
gurgling out, though I could see the water flowing and hitting the sink. Oh boy
was my first thought, next I spoke out aloud; I could hear the voice only in my
head. It felt as if my ears were plugged in with a fat roll of cotton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Locked myself up in the room. Walked around
in a daze most of the day, the devices which talk to normal humans were not
speaking with me the ipad’s , the stereo, the radio all were silent. Don’t know when I went to sleep again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The next day was supposed to be 21<sup>st</sup>
December 2012. I wake up when I feel something crawling on my arms, I open my
eyes and I don’t seem my familiar roof over my head, instead bright sunlight,
birds chirping, air that smelled green fresh, insects making their gentle
sounds, animals neighing, barking, meowing. Grass under my body instead of my
bed, me naked, no cloths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I look around and I see no neighborhood, no
buildings, no cars, no bikes, no people, just trees all around, and the sweet
green fresh air. I walked the whole day; there were no sound which mankind
makes in an electronic world, a world of devices and crowds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The animals were friendly is what is
remember thinking when I came across them. They had no fear of humans; there
was no aggression in them. I kept trying to understand why I kept thinking that
the animals loved me. I walked for so long that day, I did not feel tired at
all, but I did not meet, hear, or see another human.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When the sun finally set, I chose a spot to
lie down. As I lay down I felt a slight soreness where my ribs end. The flesh
felt sore, the skin felt new. I thought to myself, that there was a rib
missing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I loved the blissful feeling, as if I was
part of a new beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As I slowly dropped off to sleep with this
thought in my mind, I remembered Genesis 1:26. I smiled finally, knowing that
tomorrow was the start of a new day and I would be on a quest, a quest for my
Eve. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">And I told myself, “Adam, this time around, no apple trees and no snakes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-51370591464328045752009-07-07T17:54:00.000+05:302009-07-07T17:56:08.757+05:30Pulling out Rodin’s teeth.All the book shops I visit have huge section of books dedicated to the “management”. Considering the amount of space dedicated to the “management book”, I would assume that there is brisk movement of these tomes. I am sure this would be the scenario all over the world.<br />I wonder why no one has asked these questions till now. <br /><br />Who buys these books? Who writes these books? What happens once the books are read?<br /><br />Assuming that these books are read by the “managers”, and further assuming that the contents of these books did have lot of information and knowledge, why did we have the huge organizations failing? Why are we in “should be getting out of recession soon” situation?<br /><br />I guess the “management” books were brought by people who wanted to prop up their monitors or there was more fluff than matter in these books. I guess it felt good to tell your colleague “Man, that book on “purple ocean strategy” was great, you should read it”, though all you did was use it prop up the clock in your house.<br /><br />I guess I would rather, plunk down money on a good fiction book….’cause you see, there is not much difference in the content … both are just stories.<br /><br />Let me get down to writing a “management” book on how to manage companies during “recessionary times”. I am sure it would work out to be a best seller, and I do like sci-fi.paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-48032835225997809642009-03-19T12:10:00.001+05:302009-03-19T12:10:17.136+05:30Misty day in a bamboo garden<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img height='273' width='381' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAwk6YhWnwEYVjoxEkqAgOZMUMsmm17lcD1a0SGweH_s3FOUwRfx-sTiij3hQaA2SqS_elqN72vxCRcAOhUPmrb11nXfIF2Cc6Va4M4xk3Zj48di1gZSyAACjdCLQowCFZyNaspw/?imgmax=800' style='max-width: 800px;'/><br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=6fbb5367-e619-4acf-905d-af2a5a5f00a3' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-37876086715449111542009-03-19T12:07:00.003+05:302009-03-19T12:14:41.223+05:30Tea and bonsai at the dawn of a new day<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7PfhOkyWg9ufef_qRDS9TdQAQNYvILdFyWw2Jf72GjyuBQkwdiyE-l-M-EO9YoFm_vUEumhP-jhqaPd9uw8uGexWoMV5Q8E4Aer7dyn-EIjURsGvEUFPtPrB9iqypz2uk2uYw4A/?imgmax=800" style="max-width: 800px; width: 398px; height: 296px;" /><br /><br /><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=190e29c9-e5d6-4073-a027-61b1dc7ebc2e" class="zemanta-pixie-img" /></div></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-24258601200194900772009-03-18T10:56:00.002+05:302009-03-19T12:13:45.820+05:30First inkart painting! green thumb?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">life has been interesting..<br />botanically speaking. a sudden spark seems to have moved me from photographing nature to actually working with nature. in that last 30 day, we have about 23 pots ( at the last count) of all kinds of plants, shrubs, trees growing around the house.<br /><br />will try and post photos of them soon. the list of plants currently in the "Project Go-Green" are<br /><br />Adenium(Desert rose, this is the one which started the entire greenie thing)<br />Ficus Benjimina ( to be converted to a bonsai, in the next 4-6 months)<br />a Rain tree ? ( 6 inchs tall, with 2-2 1/2 inch trunk) seems to be good potential bonsai material.<br />2 lemon saplings<br />4 mango saplings<br />2 aloe Vera<br />and a few more...<br /><br />And i just took a shot at drawing something on my tablet! Just my first shot at the inkart.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyohxBQnyYpCEdmn7vTzud2ogCMUjMDQm311ZIGYzMEHQyzo_1IR30Jm4iLUcUeRrAUjIBWitXz4hJrcfGWlIDPOz1VKgsL5o_LmdZ6CyeJ0DIffcba70jJdHQ15BqOpkPwWs5A/?imgmax=800" style="max-width: 800px; width: 407px; height: 224px;" /><br /><br /><br /><div class="zemanta-pixie"><img src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=cf30df0d-8e19-42cc-b402-ecbf9a75d3ed" class="zemanta-pixie-img" /></div></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-49564096185297476542009-01-12T12:07:00.001+05:302009-01-12T12:07:00.198+05:30wassup update<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>not much blogging.<br/><br/>shifted my residence, settling down in the new place.<br/>work is kind of hectic.<br/>recession seems to be looming.<br/><br/>naina's has been updating me with the learning she is going through .. NLP, Interplay<br/><br/>a wonderful life of abundance!<br/><br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-15995842035094253382008-07-15T00:04:00.003+05:302008-07-15T00:11:00.047+05:30john braid and the bean<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">nothing has ever scared me before in my life. my name is John Braid and i am 6 feet tall and weigh about 190 pounds on a bad day.<br /><br />it was the 4th of may, when the strangeness in my life started. with an innocuous packet which was left at my door step. I opened the simple looking packet. if i had know what i know about it now, i would have run miles away. i enjoy running, i run to live and lived to run.<br /><br />let me tell you about this packet, it was wrapped up in a plain brown paper, no tape, just tied with a plain thin string.<br /><br />i opened the packet, i found a can, on which was written a simple note.<br /><br />"please open the top and pour a little bit of water and do this for the next 5 days"<br /><br />so me being a curious kind of chap, did as was asked of me. even then i had a feeling in my stomach, a sixth sense, which said run away. and me being a little hard headed, ignored all the signs.<br /><br />the first few days nothing much happened, on the fifth day, the surface of the mud in the can broke a little. the next day i could see a little bit of green, popping out.<br /><br />over the next four days the plant kept growing at a furious pace. it looked like a normal bean plant.<br /><br />the eleventh day was when things started getting really hairy, and i mean literally hairy, green and hairy. that morning when i walked into the room where the plant was growing, i did a double take. the room was mostly covered in some long hairy green strands. it was growing in different part of the room, and mostly on things made of wood or cloth.<br /><br />there was a movement in the room, when I quickly turned towards the movement, I saw the plant swaying towards me. and the movement had some amount of feeling, and i perceived it as being a little violent. I drew back a little and reassessed the room, and i was wondering if the movement was a trick my mind was playing with me.<br /><br />everything looked normal, except for the green growth. i went out and got a cleaner and cleaned up the place. made a mental note to get some gardening tools which i could use to trim the plant. i moved out.<br /><br />the next day, the door to the room seemed jammed, as if something soft was wedged against the door from the other side, as i was running late for work, with just a perplexed look at the door i moved out of the house.<br /><br />that evening the air in the house was smelling a little musty, and at the same time had a kind of greenish smell, like stale cut grass. after a few minutes of sniffing this air, i started feeling very satisfied as if i had all my needs taken care of. kind of like a breast fed baby, i went to sleep, thinking to my self that this sure was the most wonderful birthday i have had.<br /><br />i wake up in a white padded room, as i looked around i was amazed to see that i was wearing a nice and clean straight-jacket. sitting and observing me across the room was a nice looking doctor. she gave me a disinterested look and looked back at the notebook in which she was writing something.<br /><br />when i spoke, she was startled, almost dropping the stuff she was holding.<br /><br />she stuttered, and finally gets a grip of her emotions, she started talking to me and questioning me. at the end of the discussion i figured that i had lost about 3 months of my life, i had no clue as to what i had been doing during those 3 month.<br /><br />the doctor let me know that, i was one of the most wanted man in america, and about to be executed for a few terrible murders and other disgusting activities performed on the victims. she was studying me for about 3 days,as i seemed to have been in a fix!<br /><br />i had been captured 3 days ago and brought to this asylum. i had been in a deep sleep for the last three days.she gave me a long list of things done to me , during these 3 days, and i looked down.<br /><br />i started laughing , and have never stopped laughing since.<br /><br />sometimes , amidst my laughter, i wonder if i had paid attention to my sixth sense,kicked the can and run like hell,if i would have been in this hell.<br /><br />you see, all she kept asking me and wanted to know was how and why my hair, my skin and in fact every part of my body was green, except my legs which were brown and deeply rooted in the floor of the asylum and growing deeper every day.<br /><br /><br /></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-87588582489136821152008-06-03T20:37:00.004+05:302009-05-11T12:41:03.996+05:30The Deep Pit<p class="MsoNormal"><b></b><o:p></o:p>For a quite few million years, it had lived a lethargic existence, vaguely aware of its dark surroundings, but not very concerned or worried, but just a dull awareness that it seemed to the most intelligent organism in its environment.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It was not threaten, by what it could sense outside it immediate environment. <span style="font-size:0;"></span>All it could sense was lot of turmoil, lot of heat and tremendous amounts of violence.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>Its slumber was deep, and often, a nap would be about a million year, a deep sleep would be 10’s of million years.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Once in a while, It would try and remember, remember its past, the reason for Its existence.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>But it was not very bothered, beyond the fact that it was not of this planet, and it had travelled for millions of year though the cold and silence of the space encased as part of an asteroid. <span style="font-size:0;"></span>The asteroid had crashed on to a hot planet. Over a period of time the crater caused by the asteroid was partly filled up, filled up initially with the molten material, and latter on with organic material.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It feed on all the material filling up the crater while it was sleeping, slowing absorbing the matter through its multipurpose exoskeleton, and growing in size from a relatively small creature to a huge animal. The eons were moving on the surface of the planet, the planet was evolving and from tiny one celled organism to huge dinosaurs , the ecology of the planet was experimenting, creature were being brought into existence and getting taken out of existence. None of these intermediate creatures disturbed It. <span style="font-size:0;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Then about 2000 year ago, a tiny slice of time for It, It became aware of a species evolving and who seems to be progressing on a path which It defined as a potential treat for It’s existence in the future. For the first time It started to move its huge body in the crater and like a large slug, wriggled to the surface of the crater so far above it, it took the creature a long time to reach the top, as it had to push through all the matter which has filled up in the crater.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It looked around, and was not very impressed with what it saw on the surface of the planet. After laying on the surface for some time and sending out energy from its feelers on the surface of its skin, It was able to sense that though this species was intelligent, it was far from being a treat to it. It goes back into its crater, and this time It ensures that the path to the surface is kept clean.</p><p class="MsoNormal">But the rains and the melting snows of the surrounding mountains soon filled up the crater, but this did not reduce the efficiency of its senses, as it was in tune with the energy of the water.</p><p class="MsoNormal">For a further short period of time there was nothing which excited the thoughts of It.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">It felt the electromagnetic waves for the first time and It was really startled by this sudden spurt of energy, from an unknown source, and was immensely excited and at the same time it triggered of a wave of anxiety, an emotion it was feeling for the first time, and It translated it into something which it could understand, fear, which in turn was converted to anger.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It came out of the pit once more. When it start sensing <span style="font-size:0;"></span>the surroundings, It was shocked when it compared the current readings to that of <span style="font-size:0;"></span>the last visit, the entire topography was different, one species seems to have become a dominant species and they were dominating the environment in a very suppressive and destructive way. It sent its sensors further out and it could sense that out there it was even more of the same, but a surprising fact it had observed was that the development was not even all over, there were a few patches of planet which seem to be more evolved than the other, and the species seems to feel that it was the only intelligent species in this universe. It made a specific note of this disparity as a possible strategy to overcome the species and return to being the true lord of this planet.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It was really angry now.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It went on a rampage, in its immediate vicinity. Miles of forest around its habitat was vaporized, vaporized totally, as if they had never been in existence.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This event triggered off alarm bells at the various governments and military headquarters, as their different satellite captured this release of enormous electromagnetic radiation, with no accompanying recording of terrestrial tremors, in any of the recording stations at different parts of the world. The geniuses of each country were salivating with the thoughts of a new weapon system which they could build if they got their hand on this technology, and the governments of every country was worried that the country in which this event had taken place was testing out a new weapon, and felt threatened. </p><p class="MsoNormal">All of them focused their satellites on the spot where the event had taken place. All they could see at the epicenter was a deep crater; the devices measured the depth of this crater to about half a mile. The government of the effected country asked the United Nations for help, and a task force of scientist was assembled from all over the world. They reached the place late in the evening, with the best and the latest measuring instruments and probes-electronic and otherwise.</p><p class="MsoNormal">First night all their instruments recorded was an initially vague movement, which all the wisest men on earth could not be sure if it was a movement at all. And then a burst of static on all the recording equipment in the entire spectrum of the electromagnetic waves, and this was discerned only from the remote sensors recording units, the equipment on site was totally melted and fused, nothing could be salvaged from them.</p><p class="MsoNormal">After a hiatus of about two weeks when the brains had sat down to figure out the way forward, they came up with a slightly different plan to monitor the crater. The word was put out to the powers that be that they needed a launch freighter space craft, while this was being organized the scientists had in the meantime started work on a satellite version of the monitoring equipment and were programming the software to control all the measuring instruments.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This was launched into orbit without much fanfare or noise, and the equipment was positioned in space above the crater, in the movement of crisis the brains had come up with a system of camouflaging the electronic waves used to monitor, as normal cosmic waves.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Over a period of time they found out amazing amount of information about It, without It being aware of it. The humans called it the E.S, a play on E.T. and E.S stood for Enormous Slug. Guess the brains are<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>entitled to be childish.<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>The information on the E.S was slowly building. The brains, they had initially guessed that this could be a non terrestrial being, were thrilled when this was confirmed and supported by the bio-geneticist.</p><p class="MsoNormal">What now? Was the question flowing through the minds.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Then suddenly for a period of about three years there was absolutely no activity observed at the crater, it was as if nothing had ever happened.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It was tapping into the electronic networks of the planet, and imbibing a vast amount of data about the planet, info about evolution of science, philosophy, generally about everything. No security device detected the intrusion by It.</p><p class="MsoNormal">With a total awareness of what the dominant organism of this planet was capable of and with the knowledge of what minerals and technology the planet possessed.</p><p class="MsoNormal">It could project into the future to see what that organism was capable of and It saw that there was a medium probability that the planet would be wiped out of existence. </p><p class="MsoNormal">It made a plan. </p><p class="MsoNormal">It thought through what it wanted to do. Then<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>it made its intentions know to the dominant species, by modifying<span style="font-size:0;"> </span>and rebroadcasting all the television and satellite transmission to the entire world from the pit. It gave the world 24 hours to vacate a large area around Its pit.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The people were not ready. It made its move.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=";font-family:';font-size:12;" >Its craft took off from earth in a huge blast.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=";font-family:';font-size:12;" >Many years have passed since, the few of us who survive, still remember the noise which reverberated around the world that day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style=";font-family:';font-size:12;" >That was the day Yellowstone Park got vaporized and turned into a huge sheet of glass, and that was the day earth tilted off its axis by about 4 degrees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><b>(The True Lord of Earth)</b> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-9430374855355502272007-11-15T16:54:00.005+05:302009-05-11T12:41:26.426+05:30Alchemist - 2<div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><span style="font-size:100%;">It all started on a dark and gloomy night when my mother was serving her customers in her tavern, the usual rounds of shredded horse meat</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">and warmed teflonian beer. In walked a tall gangolian warlord, looking weary from the latest crusade wars.<br /><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">This warlord went by the name of Dreadgranger.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" lang="en-US"> </p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >I remember my mother telling me as I grew older, that for some strange reason, she was strangely attracted to the warlord,</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">and this attraction was tinged with awe and respect along with a bit of sexual stirring. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;" lang="en-US"> </p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Lord Dreadgranger was one of the most cunning and vicious warlord, who had made his bones in the First Rebellion. The killer and the most dreaded young warrior.</span><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:Calibri;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"> </p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />It was on this night that I was referring to, when my mother was with the warlord in the night, and eighteen months latter, I was born. It was also the last time my mother saw my father. The very next day to my birth, my father disappeared forever. Over the years</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">my mother kept getting news about my father</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">from the traveling minstrels , and she recorded all the adventures of my father so that she could share this with me when I grow up.</span><p face="Calibri" size="11pt" style="margin: 0in;" lang="en-US"> </p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p face="Calibri" size="11pt" style="margin: 0in;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">The genetic</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">material of my father was so strong that even as a child I was a soldier. My skills in tracking and hunting were renowned. I could feel the killing lust flow in me even then.<br /></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">I was considered to be one of the most vicious of the hunters known to the Bragalians. This reputation I had got when I was 3 years old.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"> </p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">At around this time I came across a strange monk , Crepovani. He was a silent one, real quite. For some strange reason when one night in the tavern, he took me to his table and started communicating with me silently. This was the my first feel of telepathic powers of the Creambic mystics.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;font-size:11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">My blood froze and my heart stood still for a moment when I felt the monk's powers,</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">but at the same time I strangely understood that he was restraining himself , and</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">displaying</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">just a fraction of his magic.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p size="11pt" style="margin: 0in;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">After this strange encounter, the monk left. And a few</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">weeks later he just turned up at the tavern<br />and I</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">followed him. I was initiated into the arcane art of Creambic mystics. The next few years after I followed<br />Crepovani, was an intense learning experience. He took me on all his travels, and each minute of my life was a involved with learning. The arcane art of Creambic martial arts. Which involved the mind as much as the body. I had become invincible by the age of four.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">I was initiated into a test of strength in the Creambic way, I fought the then champion of the Creambic clan and I beat him in a short time.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The Creambic elders silently applauded my skills in their telepathic way, and they spoke among themselves and observed that I would one day be the most dreaded warrior ......</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Powered by <a href="http://scribefire.com/">ScribeFire</a>.</span></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1155404805432104962006-08-12T23:15:00.003+05:302009-05-11T12:41:39.332+05:30Alchemist<p class="MsoNormal">it was a few years ago while i was still a bumbling youngster, in the prime of my life, more spirit than sense, that i came across a bamboo hut during a walk through the forest.<br /><br />on my first glance, i disregard the place as a potential night shelter for myself. the structure looked too flimsy to offer any protection from what i was expecting latter on that night. the dark clouds looked foreboding.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">while i was walking away , I heard a sound which chilled my blood. made me quickly glance behind me. I giggled when I realized that it was just a strange man laughing crazy, it was a crackling rising laugh, it sounded out worldly.<span style=""> </span>It was only latter that he told me<span style=""> </span>that I was the first human he had seen in a number of years, strange.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">i wondered what was wrong with him. He started talking to me. At least I think he was trying to talk to me. But all I heard was strange rumbling sounds coming out of the man.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">i decided to stay there that night and see what this was all about.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">after a few day I slowly began to understand the words the man was talking, was surprised to realize this was a language I had spoke from the time of my birth. He started telling me his story and what a strange story it was.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">what I am putting down today, on the papyrus is just part of this man’s strange story.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“I do not remember the name my biological parents had given me” he told me. “as far as my memory goes I remember being called the Alchemist” . I shuddered when I heard this. For this was a name which I have heard brave men whisper in dread.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">this dread was not the dread mere mortal feel. This was a supernatural dread. A dread which is allied with the night terrors.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">he continued “I was given the name Alchemist by my master, when I was less than a year old, for he had sensed and seem what my future holds for me”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“from then on, all that my master talked to me was on how to awaken the strange power which were innately part of my life. These were magical moments of my life, the joy of learning <span style=""> </span>the secrets of controlling my telekinetic and clairvoyance powers”<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">“I became really good with the sword and I had gone beyond what the best of the martial arts students knew, why I had gone beyond what the masters knew of martial arts, and all this before I was 5”.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(<a href="http://pvvindia.blogspot.com/2007/11/alchemist-2.html">click for chapter 2</a>)<br /></p>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1153547542818735152006-07-22T11:22:00.000+05:302006-07-23T11:15:21.953+05:30Google Answers for free or indications of my growing paranoialooks like the "government" has finally lifted the ban on blogger.com. ah no need to use various 3rd party tools to access the blogs.<br /><br />BUT.....the last few days have been spent exploring a few options of anonymous access on the net. now that's a thought for a long term implementation.<br /><br />what were the guys thinking?? when they decided to block blogspot.com blogs? but allowing access to blogger.com to update blogs?<br /><br />from a few of the news reports i did check out, i believe the directive was a few certain blog urls were to be blocked, but i believe the ISP's in their wisdom decided that it was easier to block the whole thingamajig, the reason given was that they did not have tools to block specific urls. hoik.<br /><br />was this a situation to simulate a electronic network attack and to test the emergency reponse procedures of the government? where they able to handle the situation? i wonder what reports are being written up about this event.<br /><br />now all "they" have to do is sit down, go through all the blogs where the smart bloggers would be crowing away as to how they beat the "ban". and then next time around all "they" needs to do is block what these smart blogger did.<br /><br />i am sure something else will be available the next time around.<br /><br />this seems to a good method of test marketing or it looks like someone decided to use the free version of the google answers. create a situation and wait for bloggers to come up with feedback and other inputs and solutions! the power of collective wisdom and the tendency of humans to share and be happy sure is such a powerful tool for research.<br /><br />for those 2 or 3 readers of my blog...did jesus really live in india?<br /><br />guess, what i thought was <a href="http://pvvindia.blogspot.com/2005/02/blogsearch-and-get-paranoid.html">funny in feb 2005 ,is no longer funny</a> (blog,search and get paranoid)<br /><br />heaven aint in andromeda, it has just moved into your building. (get the connection in the feb2005 article)paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1153202444205892542006-07-18T11:30:00.001+05:302008-06-04T20:17:42.358+05:30times mumbai is going throughstuff happening in mumbai.<br /><br />first it was the rain,<br />then it was the riots and burning,<br />and we had that 7/11 with lot of people loosing their life,<br />innocent people who were on the way home.<br />after a hard day work, to be with their family and friends.<br /><br />all this in about a 10 day stretch.<br />life sure aint giving no guarantee, that,<br />once you leave your home,<br />that you will get back.<br />if mother nature dont get you, then, the "people" would.<br /><br />i wonder what outraged thoughts, infuriates peoples mind.<br />who is the victim and who has been victimised.<br /><br />there are those who have got back on the train,<br />and there are those who would take sometime.<br />the children wonder, will they meet their father again.<br />the spouse wonders if they would see each other again.<br /><br />how many road must a man walk, before he can be called a man.<br />times, they are a changing.paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1152537840742879982006-07-10T18:54:00.000+05:302006-07-10T18:54:00.746+05:30picasawebhere is my experiment with the picasa web just got to upload a few pics. for the first time have uploaded a few pics of myself.<br /><br />here it <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/pvvindia/">is </a><br />..<br />paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1152002751901814122006-07-04T14:15:00.000+05:302006-07-05T11:40:12.616+05:30mumbai wet again<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1564/669/1600/Photo_0012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1564/669/320/Photo_0012.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />last few days the monsoon has broken .. and as usual flooding being reported all around. the road leading out of the housing complex i stay in, is kind of flooded. i took about 90 minutes to cover a distance of about 1 km. had to u-turn from my normal road as it was fully flooded.<br /><br />and on the other road which i finally took, the water was reaching upto the bottom of the car(could hear the gentle lapping sounds of the water) since i was not doing much travelling, i used my mobile to get a few quick snaps while stuck in the "river".<br /><br />generally things seems to be looking "normal" as normal can be in mumbai during the rains. no reports of scary stuff like last time..<br /><br /><br /><br />the rest of the pics can be checkout <a href="http://pvvpics.blogspot.com">here.</a>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1150876360272305672006-06-21T13:22:00.000+05:302006-06-23T10:32:03.420+05:30rude mumbaimumbai has been branded rudest city in the world.<br />"<br />Mumbai Judged Rudest City In World<br /> Mumbai is the rudest city in the world, where<br /> door-holding, paper-picking and thanking a retail<br /> customer is not part of the culture.<br /><br /> Reader's Digest magazine sent reporters to the principal<br /> cities of each of the 35 countries where it is published<br /> to conduct a survey of local politeness. Three tests<br /> were employed: dropping papers in a busy street to see<br /> if anyone would help; checking how often shop assistants<br /> said "thank you"; and counting how often someone held a<br /> door open.<br />etc..<br />"<br />i am not a native born mumbaite, i have been living here for the last 6 years. i was surprised to see this take on mumbai.<br /><br />mumbai is loud and a tough place to live. but rude?<br /><br />the first day i landed into mumbai, and i was shifting from the hotel to my rented house.(this was somewhere in july 2000) there was some "hard rain" and most of the streets were flooded. the taxi which naina and i were travelling in came to halt at a place where the road had was covered with about 2 and half feet of water(this was in the vertical direction!)<br /><br />the taxi driver was so concerened, trying to figure out a way to get us to our new home. then we started wading through this water. as is a habit with most of us we were trying to walk on the sides of the road, the native mumbaites, came to our help asked us to walk in the middle of the road, because there would be lots of potholes, and other manmade opening on the sides of the road.<br /><br />and post the last mumbai floods(july 2005), all kind of stories were published which showed the kind, helpful nature of mumbai people.<br /><br />of course i do get yelled at,at the stop signs if i take more than 2 seconds to move the car after the light turns green.<br /><br />the below is a kind of joke ... but is it? i am sure that mumbaikars will have a wry smile when they read it, but i am sure no one is going to be rude about this... (check the below note on being a mumbaite got this from this <a href="http://www.math.uchicago.edu/%7Egautam/jokes/made_in_india/mumbaite.html">link)</a><br /><h2><br />25 Sure signs that you're a Mumbaite.</h2><br />1. You say “town” and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.<br /><br />2. You’re suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.<br /><br />3. You have never been to the Gateway of India.<br /><br />4. You don’t hear sirens anymore.<br /><br />5. Hookers, beggars and the homeless are invisible.<br /><br />6. The trains make sense.<br /><br />7. Your door has more than three locks.<br /><br />8. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.<br /><br />9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.<br /><br />10. You call an 8’ x 10’ clustered room a Hall.<br /><br />11. You consider beyond Andheri as “Upstate”.<br /><br />12. You think Chowpatty & Juhu beaches as “nature.”<br /><br />13. You’re paying Rs 10,000 for a 1 room flat, the size of a walk-in closet and you think it’s a “steal.”<br /><br />14. You’ve been to New Bombay twice and got hopelessly lost both times.<br /><br />15. You spend more time each month travelling than you spend at home.<br /><br />16. You haven’t heard the sound of true absolute silence since 1977, and when you did, it terrified you.<br /><br />17. You take fashion seriously.<br /><br />18. Being truly alone makes you nervous.<br /><br />19. You have 14 different menus of Free Home Deliveries next to your telephone.<br /><br />20. Going to “town” is considered a “road trip.”<br /><br />21. You take a taxi to get to your health club to exercise.<br /><br />22. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.<br /><br />23. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.<br /><br />24. You have a minimum of five “worst cab rides ever” stories.<br /><br />25. You’ve mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city’s air quality and what it’s doing to your lungs.paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1149755136603366362006-06-08T13:55:00.000+05:302006-06-08T13:55:36.643+05:30Music setup<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">finally took the plunge and went in for a marantz setup. the amp Marantz PM 7001, the cd player Marantz cd 5001. both being classified as "budget" equipment. running them on a jpw 188 speaker, this has a single 8 inch driver and two 3 inch tweeters. sounds quite impressive. this was a export material and not available for sale in india. i have not been able to get any further spec's on the speakers. still searching the net for more info on this one. seems to be some sort of "custom" speaker.<br/><br/>i am now working with the audio shop people to organise for a wharfedale 9.5 demo at my house so that i can audition this in its final "work" environment. let me see if i can work this out.<br/><br/>back to the current setup. the amp and the cd player combination is delivering some real wonderful music . still not "blasted" the volume high. mostly playing the music at a low volume (9'o clock) when no one was around did move the volume dial to the 12 o' clock position.<br/><br/>the music and sound at both these low and mid extreme has been crystal clear and perfect. <br/><br/>bhimsen joshi, prem joshua, deva premal,roger waters, pink floyd, deep purple, billy joel(piano man), dave brubeck, ms subbulakshmi, "sound from the grand canyon", muddy waters, miles davis, rainbow, a little bit of led zeppelin have so far been fed through the system intermittently in the last 4-5 days and what the amp and the cd player have been dishing out, the jpw speakers have been able to handle it quite well.<br/><br/>quite happy with the setup as is, other than for a nigiling feeling that i may be missing out on some bass. AND i guess the NEED to spend MORE money on a floorstander is part of a male genetic makeup and i feel the urge and pull towards the wharfedale 9.5's..<br/><br/>wonder if the spouse will buy the genetic makeup crap?<br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1149238749126964172006-06-02T14:29:00.000+05:302006-06-08T13:00:07.863+05:3015 days of blissi was out of mumbai in kashmir. 15 days of bliss. wonderful place, untouched beauty.the presence of armed forces was continous and quite visible most of the time.<br /><br />visited <a href="http://pvvpics.blogspot.com">jammu,pahalgaum,yusmarg,gulmarg,srinagar, </a>have post a few pics. I am working on posting a few more pics soon.<br /><br />got quite a bit of photo shooting done...will try and upload some of the snaps over the weekend.<br /><br />now it is back to hectic work schedule!!paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1146643465738221812006-05-03T13:34:00.000+05:302006-05-03T17:54:29.336+05:30longest break from blogging24th Feb, seems to be a date which has no major relevance, in my life on this earth. but for whatever reason this seem to be the date on which i had last blogged.<br /><br />i am getting back online after a long time, never realised that i was off for such a long time. so what have i been upto all these days?<br /><br />i have been trying to get an o2 atom running wm 5.0 to connect to a firewall, still stuck. other than that, guess just plain hectic work schedule.<br /><br />last week: i have been trying to audition some audio equipment, looking at upgrading the home audio setup.(currently surviving on a sony minicomp system), also lurking on various audio/hi-fi forums getting a crash course on hi-fi equipment.<br /><br />what am i looking at? a pure 2 channel stereo amp and a set of speakers. the number of options available is huge, and the cost seem to look huge.<br /><br />what i have evaluated so far:<br />- a yamaha ax-496 amp with yamaha speakers and pioneer floor standing speakers(both speakers rejected)<br />- denon amp with marantz cd player, with wharfedale diamond 9.5, kef iq5, polkaudio monitor50.<br />- a yamaha ax-496 with bookshelf speakers from jpw ( at a friends place) -no model number- along with custom made cubes and subwoofer.<br /><br />to be auditioned this week, marantz pm7001 with the wharfedale diamond 9.5 or a kef 1q5.<br /><br />wharfedale 9.5 were the most impressive.<br /><br /> but the low cost jpw seems to be packing a major punch. guess finally this will be build of my first hi-fi setup(marantz ...hang on will get to you soon!!) yamaha amp with a couple of jpw's and maybe a sony/pioneer cd player this should come to less than INR 20k. not bad for a first hi-fi setup.<br /><br />other than that...<br /><br />i have finally got the google analytics invite, the google page invite,(have got a under construction page up already in the 15/20 minutes i spent on this) need to beef it up soon.<br /><br />will be one year older tomorrow.paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1140696773416907642006-02-24T11:21:00.000+05:302006-02-24T11:21:30.600+05:30why, paranoia?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">first impression of the google desktop, it seems to be highly user oriented. giving access to what a user would want on the desktop quickly.<br/><br/><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">but like the man says, encrypting the search index sure slows the system down.<br/><br/>the sidebar is kind of bothersome. but i like the way it can be customised.<br/>the deskbar/floating or nonfloating is nice.<br/><br/>the scary part was that things which are supposed to be private suddenly appeares on your sidebar the first time you install the application.<br/><br/>a nice feature which i have not yet tried out is sharing the index between multiple pc which one would tend to use. i can see this being a kind of iffy where security is concerend.(hey remember i have not tried this out yet and have no intention of trying it either).<br/><br/>i think i may give it a shot. use it for a longer period of time. or should i wait for a version which can boot up the pc at 0900 hrs in the morning, automatically answer all my mails, handle all my telephone followup's, remotely attend all my meetings, and hit the bar at about 1900hrs and call it a day by about 2400 hrs, while i am roaming around the best beaches in the world, catching up with my reading and music.<br/><br/>this day does not seem very far off, what with softwares/programs analysing your browser cache, and deciding your preferences etc and showing you content tailored to meet your needs. it must be a minor tweak to finetune the software to start thinking and acting like you. <br/><br/>when i wrote <a href="http://pvvindia.blogspot.com/2005/02/blogsearch-and-get-paranoid.html#comments">this</a> in feb 2005, i was going for the humor part of it. but now it look like, it aint funny nomore.<br/> <br/><br/><br/></div><br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1140600064432584942006-02-22T14:51:00.000+05:302006-02-22T14:51:04.440+05:30Google Desktop Beta<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">came across this today. guess i will take it out for a trial run shortly. going throught the features list right now.<br/><br/>kind of excited and at the same time kind of unsure.<br/><br/><a href="http://desktop.google.com/index.html">Google Desktop Download</a><br/><br/><br/>i guess my theory on google world domination aint very far off. :)<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1139653624010186572006-02-11T15:57:00.000+05:302006-02-11T15:57:04.706+05:30seems to be a huge<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">archive ot jethro tull stuff. hail willerup brothers, way to go<br/><br/><a href="http://willerup.com/tull/index.html">Willerup Bros: Jethro Tull</a><br/><br/>now i am getting deep into the site. i may find some lyrics of tull songs which i have lost, yet to find anywhere.<br/><br/><br/>one white duck on the wall. fly away peter flyaway paul.<br/><br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1139211711689737022006-02-06T13:11:00.001+05:302008-06-04T12:14:56.378+05:30The answer is 42<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">the world being taken over google style. "rumours mount over googles internet plan" read more about it here.<br /><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2023600,00.html">Technology, Technology news, Times Online</a><br /><br />taking off on THAT article, my thoughts follow, Mr.Google please note this is just my creation and i own all rights to these ideas, and if you plan to use any of these you, i am ready to license these ideas to you on a per click basis.(i am launching mysense ad revenue sharing product)<br /><br />i have the inside dope on the what the google wizards are working on for the future , these are a few of the essential technologies they are working on<br /><br />a) hyper-drive - essential tool for delivering space travel at the click of a button, will be available as a beta download by the January 2010,<br />minimum system requirements: G-o/s (google-operating system version 12, patched for hyper-jumps), google space cube human interface hardware, memory requirement : enough to remember history of the last 2 millennium. disk capacity : latest adenine-thymine drives with atleast 240 strands of unused DNA.<br /><br />b) positronic brains - why hire smart people when you can design brains which are built for one purpose ie. work on world domination by google. the positronic pathway are already in pre-alpha testing. the design document states,that, the positronic brains are not ment to be mobile and walk off from the Google headquarters, so they have skipped the robot exo-skeleton in the design. this is just the BRAINS. wonder if this will close the gates for bill.<br /><br />c) "Google Guide to the galaxy" : they have already tied up with douglas adams descendants for royalties, they would pay 1 cent for every million copies of the guide sold. this will be the definitive guide to everything this and that side of "The Deep Web", the marketing department is working on a galactic release of "the Guide" (a few of you may have worked on a new tool recently, "Google earth" this is the precursor to the ultimate Guide, thank you for contributing your time in the development of "The Guide")<br /><br />"Don't Panic: Google instead"<br /><br />The answer is still 42.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1139206238505784092006-02-06T11:40:00.000+05:302006-02-06T11:40:38.520+05:30I,Human<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">i have been reading, and reading stuff which i had read a long time back. While reading "I,Robot" and "Robots and Empire", i was kind of engrossed in the conflict which daneel and giskard get into. i thought it was about time that we get down to defining the 3 laws of humanity. i am using the 3 laws of robotics as a basis for the 3 laws of humanity as they seem to have severed robots quite well.<br/> <br/>0. a human may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.<br/>1. a human may not injure a human being or, through inaction,allow a human being to come to harm.<br/>2. a human must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the Zeroth or First Law.<br/><br/>as you can see that i have used the zeroth law and i have dropped the 2nd law of robotics. the 3 laws of Humanity now look workable.<br/><br/>essentially if you look at the 3 laws being extrapolated here, you would see that this would be basis for any kind of utopian living. simplifying thoughts and ideas from the past, the basic 3 laws of humanity have been around for a long time. and example (refer to the wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopianism">article</a>) on utopianism.<br/><br/><p>The Krita Yuga, the First and Perfect Age, as described in the <i><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata" title="Mahabharata">Mahabharata</a></b></i>, an old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism">Hindu</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry" title="Epic poetry">epic</a>:</p>[...] Men neither bought nor sold; there were no poor and no rich;there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The <i>Krita Yuga</i> was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought whatsoever; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness. [...]<br/><br/><br/><br/>I,Human<br/><br/><br/></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1137694635788785612006-01-24T11:02:00.003+05:302009-05-11T12:42:21.597+05:30happy trails (comet)<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><br /><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><br /><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">journal entry dated 19th January 2006 :<br />nasa dc-8 stardust mission was a great success. all initial <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/18/nasa_stardust_canist.html">reports</a> from johnson space center looked great. the scientists were ecstatic and happy, they all got down to analysing the collected samples.<br /><br /><br />journal entry dated 29th January 2006:<br />on the NASA website. the normally immaculately dressed doctors, i have been noticing over the past few days, were looking totally in disarray, i was wondering why. was the stress of the project getting to them? No one in NASA seems worried.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />journal entry dated 31st january 2006:<br />i push my wheel chair to the tiny window of my small apartment, and look out of my window. curious. the normal bustling streets below seems to be looking deserted, with just a few people walking around in a hapazard manner. i ignore this, thinking that this might be because of the usual political protests, police blocking movement into the street.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />journal entry dated 4th february 2006:<br />the unsual silence around the apartment and the streets were slowly getting to me. all my server logs and the hit counters on my webpage seem to be indicating that web traffic was normal, the visitor patterns were looking absolutly normal. my dread is increasing, though there is nothing to indicate that anything is amiss.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />journal entry dated 5th february 2006:<br />something is up, it was not just me that has been observing the changes that have been happening. a few of the bloggers whose posting i persue deligently, from yesterday,have been commenting or making observations along the same lines as me. i am perturbed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />journal entry dated 9th february 2006:<br />i have not posted much on my journal in the last few days, i have been actively pursuing my investigations on the web,(i wish i had not given up on my television, when it broke down about 2 years back). my investigations confirm that something is wrong. it looks like people are disappearing in large numbers, and this seems to be instantanous. some of my reports indicate that there have been cases when two people are talking, one end goes silent,suddenly. this report was curious, when the people at the other end of the telephone get this checked, they see that the telephone is lying in a reducing puddle of bluish white frothy gel.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Journal entry dated 4th may 2006:<br />The airwave are dead, there are no transmission happening, my wi-fi hotspot is dead. The only people left on the world seem to be bloggers and blog readers. The heart wrenching appeal posted on boing boing to all the bloggers to meet where ever they are and get together and procreate to create the future generations seems to have signaled the end of the “invasionâ€� of what the bloggers called the gillette virus.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Journal entry dated 15th may 2006:<br />This would be my last post to my journal for a long time. I am getting out of this city, my leg seems to have healed quite well and I am able to walk and climb quite well. I am planning to hit the hills and live off the land for as long as I can. There must be a reason why I had a broken leg just before the dc-8 missions was completed. The enforced seclusion with only my desktop as company for the 20 odd days before the break seems to have built up my immunity to the gillette virus, one theory going around, talks of the radiation from the monitor generating immunity in a person…who cares now. I have a higher purpose in life and I am going to find out my purpose.</div><br /></div><br /><span class="WikispacesBlogLink"><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="wikispaces_frame" src="http://pvvindia.wikispaces.com/page/bloglink/Journal%20Entry%20Dated%2019th%20%20Jan%202006?postId=113769463578878561" vspace="0" scrolling="no" width="400" frameborder="0" height="50">This entry linked to &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://pvvindia.wikispaces.com/Journal Entry Dated 19th Jan 2006"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Wikispaces page (Journal Entry Dated 19th Jan 2006)&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</iframe></span></div>paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9275366.post-1137431894862845292006-01-16T22:47:00.002+05:302009-05-11T12:42:45.758+05:30in the beginningI wanted to get a feel of how it would have been for a person writing the bible. since i was not there at that time, i thought i would kind of write something along the lines of genesis, but with what is happening currently in the world.<br />there is no disrespect/intent to anyone or anybody, and this is just an attempt at trying my hand at writing. man it is really difficult, as would see i start off with a lot of fire and than as it goes on further, you would see that i am kind of loosing steam.<br /><br />well here goes nothing.<br /><br />1:1 In the beginning Man created the DARPANET and the Private net.<br /><br />1:2 DARPANET was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Man moved upon the face of the ip addresses.<br /><br />1:3 And Man said, Let there be connectivity: and there was global connectivity<br /><br />1:4 and Man saw the connectivity, that it was good; and Man divided the connectivity from the darknet.<br /><br />1:5 and Man called the connectivity internet, and the other he called peer-to-peer. and the downloads and the uploads were the first day.<br /><br />1:6 and Man said, let there be firewalls in the midst of the ip addresses, and let it divide the ip addresses from the ip addresses.<br /><br />1:7 and Man made the firewall, and divided the ip address which were under(behind) the firewall from the ip addresses where were outside the firewall; and it was so.<br /><br />1:8 and Man called the firewall dmz. and the downloads and the uploads were the second day.<br /><br />1:9 and Man said, the the ip addresses under the dmz be gathered together unto one place, and let the approved ip's appear; and it was so.<br /><br />1:10 and Man called the approved ip address static; and the gathering together of the ip addresses called he DNS; and Man saw that it was good.<br /><br />1:11 and Man said, let the approved ip address bring forth browsing, the content-filter yielding seed, and the approved urls yielding websites after his kind, whose urls is in itself, upon the static ip's:and it was so.<br /><br />1:12 and the static ip brought forth browsing, and the content-filter yielding seed, and the approved urls yielding websites after his kind, whose urls is in itself, upon the static ip's:and Man saw it was good.<br /><br />1:13 and the downloads and the uploads were the third day.<br />1:14 and Man said, let there be valid ip's in the firewall of the dmz to divide the internet from the darknet; and let them be for proxy's, and for 404, and for days, and years;<br /><br />1:15 skipping from here till 1:19<br />1:20 and Man said, let the flowing packets bring forth abundantly the moving packets that hath ip header info, and 802.11g that may fly above the earth in the open firewalls of the DMZ.<br /><br />1:21 and Man created great operating systems, and every living pc that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind and every 802.11g packet after his kind: and Man saw that it was good.<br /><br />1:22 skipping to verse 26<br /><br />1:26 and Man said, let us make microsoft in our image, after out likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish(desktop pc user) of the sea, and over the datapackets over the air and over the sun's and novell, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.<br /><br />1:27 skipping to verse 28<br /><br />1:29 and Man blessed them(microsoft), and Man said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the consumer of the operating systems, and over the 802.11g of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.paul vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06635798426954643311noreply@blogger.com5