Room With A View

These (more or less) used to be the views from my (corner) office (on the 13th floor of 5 Cambridge Center in 2003-2004.


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This is view from current office.


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O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.

This lament is more familiar to us from childhood TV ads with these lyrics, of course.

O-oooo-ld Sp-iiiiiiice
Old Spice,
Old Spice,
Old Spice,
OLD SPICE,
OLD SPICE,
Old Spice,
OLD SPICE,
O-ooooooo-ld Sp-iiiiiiice

Monsters Lynx

There be monsters here

A survey of monsters (i.e. blogspawn) has been in progress. Sample size: 2. Images highly grainy owing to cell phone.

I. Spaniard has already posted about her's. Since it is after all a Spaniard child, we should call him El Cid, neh? All we have to add is photos of Glide Airlines, with the founder excavating pasta and drinking beer ('ginger' silent) in the background.






Apparently the undercarriage of the contraption is vitally important for obscure aeronautical reasons or something, and had to be photographed.

II. Kenny of course owns original copyright on the "monster" label. We provide photographic evidence. Here are mother and child doing homework. Points for guessing which is which.



III. No monsters here, but certain readers will be aware of how mawkish we got on a train ride a couple of weeks back. Somewhere in Karnataka, this thunderstorm descended on us. It was quite spectacular.









This is a good time to think once again about that obscure piece by Khushwant Singh about rain in India.

European Literature

Came across Umberto Eco's most brilliant, but perhaps least known work about his frustrations with his grandfather clock. It's called 'Fuckall Pendulum'.

Hee hee.

Do You Have A Flag?

Have I ever told you about the Strange Maps blog? An source of endless diversion. The post that made me want to make sure that all and Sundari are informed about this blog is the latest one on maps fighting World War II. Absolutely brilliant.

The map fighting thing reminds me rather of the brilliant Izzard's flag video:



While we're at it, Abstruse Goose ROCKS!! Your inner physicist/programmer/mathematician will be thrilled to bits and bytes. Give it a gander (heh heh).

Here We Stand, We Can Do No Other

Randomness:

I. The Secret of Happiness

Surrender at the feet of the Lord.

Heh. Yeah, right.

If you're able to read this blog, you really don't have a reason to complain, do you? If you are Indian and reading this blog, you are one amongst the 5% or thereabouts who

(i) belongs to the right economic and social class
(ii) has the necessary level of education
(iii) has the right kinds of freedom (from gender-based and other discrimination)
(iv) has the luxury of time on your hands (and presumably full stomach, roof over head, iPod in armpit and so on)

So what, exactly, are you whining about (if you are in the whining trade, that is)? Take a look around, pick almost anyone on the street and odds are they are bearing burdens that make yours carry-on baggage. Think about it.

II. Really, There is No Help

No answers anywhere. The existentialists possibly had this one covered. Just deal. And see this video, it's quite refreshing for perspective.



III. The Really Important Stuff





Thanks to RamTek and Her Serpentine African Highness for the pointers.

Enjaai.