Happy Diwali

Parabola


Flower,light and the rain


Flower and the rain

Stock market madness

Image courtesy : imageshack.us
original location:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5927/sharemarketcj9.png

The makeup detector

I usually didn't take much/any notice of makeup that people wear until once i went to meet an acquaintance near their hostel. This person was waiting outside the hostel gate. I arrived on time and began carefully looking around for the acquaintance, only in vain. Eventually, this person walks to me and says 'hi'. It was only then i realized that the person had worn no make up at all. It then made me realize, how a 'make up' can result in a 'make over'. Nevertheless, from that day on, i was keen on trying to detect how much make up a person really wears.
Initially i noticed that many folks wearing make up had a different skin tone at the back of their neck with respect to their face. The funny thing is that the mirror will only reflect the face and not the back part of the neck and its easy to forget the contrast. The same applies for hands and feet. All you need is to compare it with the face. This makes it easy to detect the variations and is probably a good way of getting a real idea of the actual tone of the skin.

Naturally folks get smarter and touch up the neck,hand and (maybe even?) feet and makes it nearly impossible to compare. However, all is not lost. We have optics to the rescue :-) It has been found that when light falls on a translucent object (like the skin), it actually goes into the skin and reflects back making the skin appear smoother while make up actually causes light to reflect directly making the skin loose its translucence.

A good approximation of the face with and without makeup is visible in this article on page 54, Fig 32. Other than the skin tone, the difference in the shadows under the nose is clearly visible.

Infact, I came to know about this during a talk on computation cameras at a symposium. I guess i am able to put to good use some of the info :-)

Chasing a Dream

"There is no telling how many miles you have to run when you are chasing a dream!"

Penguin

What does the penguin do when the Arctic ice is gone? It chills out listening to music at our lab.

Icecream

They make jolly good ice cream.

Yelagiri Hills

Its a small quiet hill station near Vellore.

Hot Chocoloate

I love hot chocolate.

A trip to Delhi

Qutb Minar


Alai Minar

Another study pic

Writing Gibberish :-)

Life in blue and orange

Hope Floats

Before Sunset


Pics from a trip to Pondichery.

Which husband

This is what happened when an orthodox tamil bhramin lady met a european lady at an airport terminal. The tamil lady is a first time flier who is to meet her son abroad.

The TN_lady is not very well versed in English but is still interested to converse. She meets a European lady and picks up the following conversation:

EU_lady:hi
TN_lady: (smiles)

further exchanges a few pleasantries with what ever English the TN_lady could manage.

EU_lady: how many children?
TN_lady: Three, going to meet son.

EU_lady: ok.(after a pause)
EU_lady: Which husband?

TN_lady: Points out to her husband sipping coffee on a chair near by.

EU_lady: No, no which husband? First,second, third...?
TN_lady: No, in India only one husband!(totally stunned and taken aback.)

EU_lady: What! How can you live your entire life with just one person!(totally stunned).

End of conversation :)


Who wants to try answer the EU_lady's question for real :)

My luck

The internet has been so jumpy and slow for a month. I hope things will improve. Do I believe in luck? I better do, for this post to appear on the blog :) and yes there is the fever that needs to go away with luck and medication :)

Technology to Give the Totally Blind a Touch Of Sight

This is an intriguing research project with an extremely useful application for giving 'sight' to the totally blind by swapping tiny cameras that transforms images to electrical signals felt on the tongue. From what it appears, the person's sphere of influence is no longer restricted by the length of the stick carried. The kind of projects that will serve humanity and the ones that really need attention. Pass the word on folks. More on it by clicking.Here.Feel free to cross post.

Love free

Love me without fear
Trust me without questioning
Need me without demanding
Want me without restrictions
Accept me without change
Desire me without inhibitions
For a love so free....
Will never fly away.
~ by Dick Sutphen ~

Signs

The signs that take us home :-)

Cotton Sweet

Cotton Sweets


They belong to a vendor who got onto a suburban chennai train.

Chennai Suburban Train

Food for the soul :)

Tomato Soup

This one was a little spicy though.

Pringles

A little sweet, a little sour...

I came across this song Mera Jahan - Taare Zameen Par, while watching the movie. There was a comment that it mildly resembles the golom song but I guess it resembles "Sting - Desert Rose".

Here are both the songs. Some one please tell me that it's not my imagination running wild :-)

Mera Jahan - Taare Zameen Par


Sting - Desert Rose

Study Time

While studying :-)

November Rain

I was able to take a few rain pics outside our lab :)

Bicycles in the rain

Water logged

Fresh Green

Mysore palace

Some snaps of the Mysore palace, taken during last months visit :-) This palace is pure royalty and has a stunning interior.

On a cloudy day

A temple inside the palace

Majestic

The weird duck

This one recently hit the news for its weird appearance. Some attribute it to the recent oil slick from the tanker that crashed close by and scientists argue the bright patches to be total internal reflection on surface of the water.



An interesting news clip on this rare phenomenon is available to the interested reader by clicking here.

Haste to the wedding

8 random facts

I was asked to write 8 random things about me by a friend.

Here goes

I like the wind.
I like autumn and spring.
I like my friends.
I like coffee.
Like to travel.
Like to stroll in the park.
Like to visit the river side.
Like train travel during the monsoon.

On marriage

I happened to hear this conversation between my grandmother and our neighbour back at our village. This neighbour(a young girl), probably 18 or 19 years old was getting married next month.
My grandmother asked her why she was marrying that particular guy and she said-" See, he has two cows, six hen and four ducks at home. I can play with them when he is away for work."

I am stunned!

Breathe

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

Acknowledgment:
1.) http://www.myths.com/pub/lyrics/pinkfloyd_dsotm.html

Beijing Olympics Mascot

The Beijing Olympic Mascot's are really cool. Check out beibei, jingjing, huanhuan, yingying and Nini.

URL: Click Here.

By the Beach-2

Mannerism


This lady was munching on corn as if it was a banana.

Sunset

Was able to capture the sunset on the opposite side of the beach.

By the Beach-1

Its been raining in Chennai and the weather has been pleasant for the past few weeks. This one is the fourth beach I'm trying out in Chennai. I have been to quite a few beaches but the ones in Chennai are not what I wished it to be. As expected, they are crowded and dirty. I guess its mainly because one can't smell the sea in Chennai and its totally void of any birds except for crows and the sea breeze feels just like the wind everywhere else in Chennai. Its also noisy that you can't hear the waves splashing either.

I took a few snaps using my friends camera.

Someone riding a horse


The blue blue sea

Pic outside our lab

This one was shot by my friend with over 10 x zoom. It disappeared soon after this shot.

Some Movies

Some movies are great. This time I got to watch Apocalypto. It was saddening to watch it and in the end left me with a strong sense of dislike towards human civilization. The next morning I woke up with a bad headache. The one thing that brightened the day is this picture that I came across, on the internet. It's good to see that some mammals get along well though humans do not.



Picture courtesy

1.) juice.box.sk

Mama - Terra Naomi

A simple and expressive song.

Rambling

Watched quite a few(around 8) of Meg Ryan's and other movies this month. But then two others turned out to be great. Two beautiful movies -"Under the The Tuscan Sun" and "Before Sunrise". The first one is simply great for its maturity and lack of nonsense and the second one for its mixture of intelligent and unintelligent dialogue , which makes it real.

Terrible F1 Accident

If those of you who can't take it....be careful!

Serious F1 accident that occurred recently.
Click here to view.

Acknowledgment
Unknown Source

Ministry of Sound

Some photos of the Ministry of Sound.
Entrance
Main Bar
Lounge
The Box

Happy Mother's Day

Let's see what babies think about their mom and coming out into the real world.







Happy Mother's day, once again.

Acknowledgment

Unknown sources.

High Speed Photography

Here are some of the works of Harold Edgerton for his pioneering work in high speed photography, multi flash and microsecond imagery. Some of his works and of others are as below.

Milk-Drop Coronet


This gives an indication on how fast the film moves.

Bullet cutting through King of Diamonds.


Bullet cutting through Queen of Hearts-Ouch.


Bullet piercing through a banana


Bullet piercing through an apple


Water from faucet


Swirls around spinning fan blades


A few more images are available here, here and here. This one with liquid sculptures here is also very impressive.

Acknowledgment
The images are linked from the following websites
1. http://www.middlebury.edu/
2. http://www.cottonexpressions.com/
3. http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/
4. http://web.mit.edu/museum/
5. http://mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2000/edgerton/www/

Ronaldinho's Sister

Apparently Ronaldinho's Sister performing soccer tricks. Interesting clip. The background music sounds similar to Fur Elise with beats. Sound track from - I know I can.

Random Numbers

A cartoon on random numbers here.

Alizee

Alizee singing la is la bonita

First of April

I haven't played any big pranks (April fool) on anyone for many years. This time it was different. My unsuspecting victim was my own uncle who works as an accountant in Dubai, has come home to India on vacation. He has an 18 year old daughter and a 12 year old son.

I haven't talked to him for some time and I was sure he wouldn't recognize my voice. I ring him up from my mobile phone.

Me: Hello?
Uncle: Hello.

Me: I want to talk to _daughters_name_
Uncle: Who are you?

Me: I am her boy friend.
Uncle: What!?

Me: Boy friend.
Uncle(visibly angry): I am her father.

Me: Nice to talk to you, can I speak to your daughter?
Uncle: Who are you?

Me: I am _fictitious_name_
Uncle: Where from?

Me: I am from _some_other_place_

Uncle: Where exactly?
Me: Take a left turn from the central junction

Uncle: There are many junctions, which one?
Uncle: What do you do?

Me: Why do you care, I need to speak to your daughter.
Uncle: This is not her house, this is _someone_elses_house

Me: Whose house?
Uncle: This is some_other_girls_house

Me: Can I talk to her?
Uncle: I have 5 daughters and I know how to deal with you.

Me: 5 daughters! What are their names?
Uncle(rude sounding): I have also come after your age, I know what the 'disease' is with you boys.I am a psychologist.

Me: Really? What medicine do you have?
Uncle: I have a caller ID installed. I will find you and get you.

Me: Try your best, we will see.
Uncle: Okay, I am done talking with you.

Me: Wait!
Uncle (pauses):

Me: I want to talk to your daughter

Uncle(bangs the phone) and terminates the call.

I call him up exactly two minutes later. He looks the number on his caller id.

Uncle: You again? What do you want.
Me: Uncle, this is Sarad.

Uncle: What, which Sarad.
Me: Your brother's son.

Uncle: It was you, you stupid ^&@#$#! (I deserved that).
Uncle: You scared the hell out of me. I had summon'ed my daughter and was questioning her. She was telling that if it was her boy friend, he would have called her on her mobile phone. Why call on the common phone?

We exchanged some pleasantries and hung up.

Volume

Quote: The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to left.

I really wish that my brother play all his Heavy Metal and Rock Cd's on anything less than full volume on the 1500 watt speakers at home!

Random rant

The days are more exciting. Got to watch a whole bunch of movies -'Music & Lyrics', 'Bride and Prejudice' & 'Flavors' both Indian English movies, 'Shall we dance', 'Coyote Ugly', 'The Pursuit of Happyness', this is a very good un-orthodox movie starring Will Smith .
More than that, the level of doing useful work has come up from 1% to 10%. That hopefully gives me the right to brag how busy I have become and serve as an excuse for staying out of blog world :-)

The Euro English

More of those weird e-mail forwards :-)


The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl

Music & Lyrics

From the movie- 'Music & Lyrics'.

PoP! Goes My Heart



Way Back Into Love - Hugh & Drew



Don't Write Me Off




This last one is not from Music & Lyrics. It's from a new hindi movie. I like the way the beats come in and go off. Grab your best headset and play it aloud.

Sajnaji Wari Wari