March of the Penguins: The Movie

I watched the remarkable "March of the Penguins" today. Yes, a little bit late but I have mentioned about my delayed reactions (except in badminton courts) earlier... Anyways, lets shift focus to the Penguins here. The cameramen and directors had done a splendid job obviously. Remember that surviving in the polar colds, with winds that can knock the bejesus out of a penguin, is not an easy task for a human (even if they work for National Geographic).

The narration was humorous at parts and embellished the video, which was perfectly stiched to match the story. The penguins did a good job (unintentionally I assume) and all in all, it turned out to be a pleasant hour and a half of movie watching. Some of the shots were brilliant like the ones where they show a leopard seal chasing the penguins or the shots of penguins rushing to jump into the water (and the BLUEEE water ripples and the entire sequence is shown in slow motion). My favorite though was the scene when a mother penguin pushes her rather shy kid to go out and explore the world. After much resistance, our friend lazily ventures out, throws up his little arms in delight and begins to quack and squeal in delight!

And don't forget to take someone who appreciates such movies. If you married it, excellent. If not, pick up your phone and...

Snippets from today

Driven by a deep desire to communicate with my fellow netizens (most of who never listen to me anyways...grrrr...) and tormented by a lack of anything substantive to say, I thought I will ramble about some inconsequential stuff... what can be more irrelevant than the question of "what time I hit the bed yesterday". So I will start right there! No punch lines, no useful information, no philosophical ramblings, no cribs, no opinions and no questions for today!

I slept late yesternight after watching "Lord of the Rings", Parts I and II for the tenth time. I love the wars, the fight scenes and I keep watching them again and again in the hope that on-screen chivalry will diffuse through the phosphorescent piece of glass into the animal lurking on the blue-colored sofa. I got all excited in the morning, woke up rather early and came to the lab to finish off the final piece of my thesis: the acknowledgments. I did write for three hours and filled up three pages. Yes, its a bit too long and mAma had tried to coerce me, warn me and later threaten me against going beyond half a page to no avail.

For lunch, I had to decide between Jerusalem (the iraqi restaurant which serves wonderful Falafil sandwiches. P had claimed a month ago that the waiter/server/manager never smiles at anyone and I had triumped by actually holding a conversation with him last week during which I was treated to his charming laughter. This is significant considering my, rapidly-waning-but-still-present hostile attitude towards people in general. Puzzleing when I realized that I never told him any jokes) or should it be Qdoba (the pretty mexican restaurant that serves excellent vegetable burritos)? Pondering thus, I reach the busiest intersection in town and see Awi laughing and smiling into his phone. Even before I could finish gleefully speculating on whether he is talking to his as-yet-unknown-to-the-public girlfriend, I was struck by the sight of G & S walk with hands wrapped around each other's shoulders - now, that *is* amusing! I never thought of them as the typical romantic couple that show any public display of affection. Boy, was I wrong! Buoyed by the goodness around me, I cross the road completely oblivious to the monster MTD bus lurking nearby. He honks mildly, about 50 people look at me and I walk with a wide grin on my face. The sunshine, the people, the energy - it all felt good. God, thats all has happened today. But given that I have been awake for just over 5 hours, nothing much can happen, right?

Anyways, the information for what its worth, is that I did lunch at Qdobas. So let me get back to eating the burritos... :-)

Puzzles

***March, Find, Analyze, Siege, Attack and Conquer***

Challenge yourself at

xyfactor.blogspot.com

And of course, feel free to contribute (Is there some way of keeping it open for all to write?)

I will keep track of scores!

Cheers!

On alcoholism

Zappy is my friend and neighbor (which comes first fluctuates depending on the day of the year and the time of the day). She is mostly a peace loving character whose eternal losing battle with confusion is a source of great amusement for many.

If you want to imagine zappy, think about the smiling cow in your neighborhood that roams around very content with what its got -- unhurried and utterly relaxed. Then, change the color to a very light brown, add a pretty Indian lady's face and voila! Mostly, zap serves as a listening post for many troubled men and women (although i should warn you all that zap could talk incessantly given the right circumstances) resulting in one guy telling her, "you are my emotional dumpground". Others have abused her goodness too, like this guy who said "zappy, you should eat well. You look like skin draped on a skeleton". Still zappy tolerates, endures and keeps them all happy.

Anyways, the good zappy mentioned above interacts significantly with undergrads and comes up with very amusing stories. The following is her enduring transcription for alcoholics. According to her, she overheard the following conversation between two undergrads as they walk to the class jumping from the shade of one tree to another:

"i dont think i am alchoholic.. i didnt drink all of yesterday."

"you are proud of the fact that you didnt drink one day?" asks friend sarcastically!

"well its not just yesterday, i didn't drink two nights in a row!"


Thats all folks.

On the futility of science

*The rented ford races through the winding roads near santa fe, new mexico. A brown man sits behind the wheels intensely focussed on the curves ahead. We discreetly dwelve into his mind for ten short minutes. What follows is an uninteresting transcript of his neural chatter...*

he enjoys the sight of green capped mountains in the distance alright. when the green becomes white, he wants to try his luck at skiing. thoughts come and go, one after the other, in a neverending boring pattern like the knocks from the feet of a galloping horse. the car pummels its way towards its destination. nothing happens.

after exhausting pleasant memories of old friends, new friends, extinct girl friends, neat cars, fast cars and other more boring topics, his head sneaks into prohibited areas and begins to ask questions that have tortured philosophers and kings alike. he begins to think about faith and science (no..no.. not the science of faith or the faith in science. merely the contrast between "faith" and "science"):

Science is based on a set of axioms, right? Now, Godel proved in this famous theorem (circa 1920s) that in a system based on a set of axioms, one can always find a question that cannot be logically answered. Thus, no matter how mature science becomes, there will always be unanswered questions. Therein lies the conundrum.

I have heard some people say they pursue science to unravel the mysteries of nature. My point is, by the above agrument, science can never unravel all the mysteries of nature. So its a wild goose chase. So, give it up folks, go pick up your implements and start tending to your sun-flower farm.

Contrast that with faith. It is based on one rule: if something cannot be explained using your puny brain, attribute it to the greatness of God. Finished. Game over. Its a wonderful system which puts people at ease. Imagine this:

Grad student: "Argh Professor, I have been utterly puzzled about the dark matter in the universe"
Prof: "My son, all I have to say is this: Thou shalt find light in your deep faith for the dear Lord"

Thats it. No Hubbles, no research papers, no hours of coding and data crunching, no seminars, no arguments, no fights, no free-food...

Granted, a faith-based system does not provide the detailed evidence or connections that science tries to establish. But once liberated souls put their heart into it and take up faith, nothing really perturbs them. Everything becomes beautiful, complete and begins to have a purpose (to satisfy the divinity's plans, which are obviously not questionable!). All those who completely surrender themselves to a faith based belief system seem to be content and happy, which brings us to the big question: "why pursue science. why not take up faith and simply be done with it all?"

On work

The innocent I in me writes:

Is work the four-letter word ending in "k", that can be done any time of the day, or night? Usually boring to do alone but works well when done in pairs, preferably with partners of opposite sex. Work can be done on table, floors, bed etc.

Usually it is done with a pen and lots of paper. Sometimes, implements are also used to enrich the experience (like set-squares).

Work consumes a lot of energy and good "work" is always an exhilarating experience. It requires skill and patience. With practice, it is reported that people start performing better at it.

When "work" is done the right way, it results in brain childs. The originators are usually very proud of their achievement and spend a considerable amount of time and effort refining it. Sometimes the results of work amount to something in day-to-day life; sometimes they do not.

There are special magazines and websites entirely devoted to inspire people to "work". They are usually well visited.

In conclusion, "work" is something that has to be done by us all atleast once in a while. It is essential for the propagation and development of the human race and to increase the potency of life. :)