:D :D :D

Heh! I so like this!! :P I guess due to thesis blues!
Source: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1323

Iron Man 2

"I am Iron Man" :D Tony Stark....as conceited, egoistic and narcissistic as ever! A really good movie, or rather, a deserving sequel. I would still rate the first one higher, but this is not bad....not bad at all :) and thank god I did go for it......saw a nice movie in theater after a loooooooong time! Scarlet Johanessen is looking hot and sexy....and you can't help but smile when Tony tells Pepper "I want one" :P Good graphics, some cool action and lots of attitude....it's all there. Not without its loopholes and some unbelievable stuff...but all the good things override that. Definitely worth a watch.

Shrek-Forever After

Being a big fan of Shrek and Donkey, I was disappointed :( I knew the reviews weren't that great (as was the case with Shrek 3), but on the spur of the moment decided to go for it. It does have its good moments....but that's about it....they are just moments....the story is average as is the screenplay.
Shrek 1 and 2, however, will always be among my favorites :)

Cheeky program in controversial soup

Freshmen of the College of Letters and Science at University if California, Berkeley have a unique thing in their welcome kit this year....a cotton swab!

On the Same Page program of this college gives new students something to talk about and discuss, say something like a book or a movie or an idea. This year, they’ll be exploring the theme of Personalized Medicine—the set of emerging technologies that promises to transform our ability to predict, diagnose, and treat human disease. Therefore, the cotton swab. Students can choose to return a sample of their cheek cells to be analyzed for three genes that are identified as "useful" for daily lives......the genes that help regulate the ability to absorb folic acid, tolerate lactose, and metabolize alcohol. Results of this nutritional genomic study will be confidential, however the sample donors through secret codes can access results of their samples.

Professor Jasper Rine, in-charge of this project, says “We want to get people to appreciate that there are things you can do that enhance your health based on the genes you have. There are concrete, actionable, specific steps that do enhance quality of life. This is the message of the post-genomic era.” Students will also get the chance to enter contests of creativity and talent and winners will be offered a more complete genetic analysis of their ancestry and health, with compliments from the personal genomics company 23andMe.

Medical science and biotechnology post the "Human Genome Project" is aiming towards better health care and effective clinical solutions. Though today, personalized medicine seems like a Utopian dream, hopefully someday it will be cost-effective and bring therapeutics suited to individual needs and responses.

This project, however, is not without it's share of controversies. Following a ban by FDA on retail selling of personal-genome-testing kit by Walgreens ( a US based drugstore chain), a Berkeley-based public interest organization is calling for the suspension of the UC project. They say "If selling genetic tests directly to consumers is a problem in the eyes of federal regulators, how can the University justify pushing them on thousands of eighteen-year-olds?"

The kit with the swab includes a consent form and details of the study to be undertaken, the advantages of the program and a confidentiality statement assuring prevention of misuse of genetic information. Where is the abuse??? If the donors consent to give samples for research, understanding what they are signing-up for....then why not?? Surveys and sample collections anyway take place for various research programs across the world...then why not this?? People can, for a minimal fee, send their DNA samples to laboratories for testing and genetic analysis, so why not allow the sale of these kits? Is it not up to the customer to think what they want, need, require and find useful??

I am Sam

Incredible acting, especially by the father-daughter duo!! and high on emotions...... lovable movie :)
But of course there are loopholes that you can point out to and say .... "hmmm....that wasn't necessary". I would still recommend it!

6 months !!!

19th November 2009, exactly six months ago, all dressed-up, I was super-excited.....the day of my wedding with Rahul :) . In this age of virtual connectivity, I wasn't too scared/nervous about leaving home etc. etc. (well maybe a little about gelling with the new family members and all...) but was happy that it was the day of my wedding, and with a person with whom I was totally in love with :) (Rahul said I was happy with the idea of being in love and not really in love and blah blah blah!!! but for me that was the truth.....and still is).

Before the shaadi I had written a few lines on Rahul which were to go into our wedding website, but they never did for various reasons. Here they are:

What can you say about a guy who is cute, a genius and in love with ARR :D................ well...that’s my Rahul. I am glad our paths crossed and that they did in such a manner that now they run parallel. In the short while that I’ve known him he has brought me so much joy and happiness..........I love to listen to him talking, be it his passionate monologues for hours or discussions on just about anything under the sky (even beyond it for that matter :P ), love to hear him sing, hear his stories........and of course love the innumerable ways in which he can make me smile and laugh. I love the whole bundle that is Rahul.....he brings out the best in me........and I would like say.........

“Life is a road and I want to keep going............ Love is a river I want to keep flowing.......... Life is a road now and forever a wonderful journey .........I'll be there when the world stops turning ...........I'll be there when the storm is through............. In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with You.”

:) :) :) Six months later, with a big smile on my face, I wouldn't change this above para one bit. Maybe only add on to it! I sorely miss his presence around me and wish we were not on different continents. I am very very thankful to science and technology for providing us internet, phone, webcams, Skype, Gmail/Gtalk, cheap calling rates and everything that makes us as close as you can get while staying so far apart :P :).

On one hand I feel the time has flown past me....six months already!!! but then, on the other hand it cannot move slower and I can't wait till we are together again....

Some pics :









Luurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv u :)

Gravity defying ramp

Found this in a news article in Nature where they talk about the Best Optical Illusion of the Year. The winning illusion makes downward-sloping ramps appear to run uphill :)

Watch it here:



The competition, hosted by the Neural Correlate Society, is the "Oscars of perception," says society president Susana Martinez-Conde. The trophies are themselves visual illusions — wooden sculptures that look vastly different depending on the observer's point of view.

Now, isn't that cool!!!

I like what one finalist says..... "Illusions are cool and fun, but they're important because they are mistakes of the visual system that give us clues about how the underlying processes work when they're functioning properly."

Funny workings of the brain!

An Education

A wonderful movie and beautifully enacted!!!
Loved Carey Mulligan in the role of Jenny. She was brilliant, very alive and perfect. She makes you feel the joys of a teenager exploring the adult world secretly, shares the excitement with lights in her eyes and a radiant smile, makes you feel her agony when the sophisticated world around her breaks down and makes your heart go out to her when in spite of everything she stands up to face her future.

The story is a simple one (and the plot nothing new), but the great screenplay and minimal melodrama (as one would expect in such a story worked upon in bollywood) make it a wonderful experience. All characters have done a great job, be it the loving, protective, bored parents of Jenny who fall into the charms of David too, the charming and graceful David, the sophisticated and happening Helen and Danny, the naive boyfriend from school the giggly girlfriends, the strict, dreary and ambitious school teacher or Jenny herself. And importantly, in the end, the message does go home.

Here's the trailer:



Enjoy!!

Hrithik on Fire

Just watched this song promo on TV from the movie Kites.
Love the feel of the music and Hrithik's dance moves are awesome. He has always been a good dancer; this video re-affirms it!!

Take a look:



Looking forward to the complete dance sequence :)

and here's the full song if anyone's interested:

Gerald Durrell

I love reading books. One of my favorite styles of writing is one where the narrative is a first-person account of events and people. It gives you a feel of being in the author's shoes and trying to see the world as he/she describes it.
Currently I am reading Gerald Durrell's "Marrying off mother and other stories". This is the third book by Durrell that I have gotten my hands upon other than the most famous "My family and other animals" and "Birds, beasts and relatives". I was first introduced to the author during my school days.....the English reader had a very interesting humorous account of a boy and his pet donkey in "My donkey Sally". Besides being in the autobiographical style, Durrell's books have this subtle "fun" element in them. Because he is describing real-life events involving himself and his family (including poking fun at them and the absurdity of situations) there is this sincerity which touches you. His ability to delightfully put into words the simplest of events is definitely worth a mention. Additionally, I admire his ability to recall so many of his childhood events, especially in My family and other animals and Birds, beasts and relatives. He claims to have semi-fictionalized some of the stories but most anecdotal accounts involving his brothers Larry and Leslie, sister Margo, mother, Roger the dog and the driver Spiro are true. They are a delight to read, and I must admit I enjoyed them more in comparison to his stories which narrate events of his adult life and his adventures around the world.
One thing that I find interesting about him is that he has not written these lovely books and accounts out of his love for writing; instead, in his own words "they were simply a means to make money to enable me to do my animal work"!! His love for animals definitely shows up in his work and stories.
For anyone who enjoys simple, fun, light reading, Gerald Durrell's works are highly recommended by me. :)

You got to be joking.....!

Seriously, would someone please assess the science reporters of Times of India before hiring them! or maybe just hire editors who make sure that the news reaching out to masses is not a distorted truth!!??
Here's an article from today's paper:

"Eat breakfast to have a baby boy"

The article boldly claims "Want a baby boy? Well, then eat full breakfast and fatty diet during early pregnancy, suggests a new study ", but very conveniently forgets to mention that what the scientist is actually saying  is that their hypothesis is that diet, either directly or indirectly (e.g. through hormonal changes in the mother), influences the nutrient conditions within the reproductive tract of an early pregnant female. These changes in turn could alter the relative abilities of either X- or Y-sperm to effect fertilization. Alternatively, an altered uterine environment might lead to preferential survival of embryos of one sex over the other. Also, that these preliminary studies have been carried out only in mice! and several experiments need to be done to decipher the actual mechanism!

Normally I would have brushed away articles such as these labeling them as "preposterous" or search articles giving scientific evidence for their claims (if there is any tiny curiosity as to what the original claimant really wants to say). But, a conversation with a non-science/biology background person involving discussion on the various "health" articles led me to wonder how much such "half-truths" influence people's thinking.

Eat breakfast and high fat diet for a baby boy!! Maybe we should leak this news to television mom-in-laws, their bahus will have a good time eating! :P

"The Empire on which the sun never sets"

As you know, the title phrase of this post refers to the global empires set up by Europeans between the 15th and the 19th centuries.
Imperialism or European colonisation was heralded by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the early 15th century, a period known as the "Age of Discovery". We have all heard of Columbus and Magellan; there were many many more of them who spread out to discover "new lands"...the Americas, African coast, Middle east, India, eastern Asia and even Australia. Soon after, they were joined by the British, the French and the Dutch in direct competition in exploration (they actually started as pirate attacks on Spanish fleets loaded with riches obtained from the new lands...but soon they developed their own expeditions and settlements).
The Spanish colonialization was primarily for bolstering their economic status by trade and religious conversions; on the other hand, the British colonization was mainly aimed at "making new societies" as per the whims of the colonists and then began the enslavement of "native savages". British Imperialism, as it turned out, flourished over all others especially after Napolean's downfall and its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.....!!
Decolonization began in earnest only in the 20th century. This interesting animated link here shows the rise and fall of British Empire. Over the hundreds of years of colonization, millions of people moved to and from the British colonies. There have been pros and cons of this Imperialization; on one hand spread of technology early on was one of the advantages, on the other, tension and discontent between the native and non-native settlers continues till date.

So now you may ask...why this discussion on the history of colonization, especially British Imperialism :)
Well, yesterday I watched this movie called Pocahontas (animated Disney movie) where the story backdrop is an English governor who is seeking gold and riches in the "new land" and is ready to sacrifice the savages inhabiting the land which is now "His".
What the discussion between me and my friend led to was......... human settlements evolved and developed at several places simultaneously across the globe... why was it then that the European settlements progressed and developed much faster than the others?? The civilizations may have arose across several parts of the world and grew too, but technological development was much faster here which empowered them to dominate the world....why was it so? I have not yet been able to find an answer to that yet. So....help!!!! :) and if you think that I have got some points wrong...feel free to point them out.



Update: Rahul said...

Jared Diamond has written a whole book to analyze that question! "Guns, Germs and Steel" is exactly about this question! Almost exactly, actually. Because I don't think he answers "why europe and not India?" He answers, "why Eurasia and not Africa/Americas/Australia?"
His basic thesis is based on the fact the Eurasia has the longest extended East-West Axis among all the continents. The cultural/technological manifestations of this simple geographic fact led to Eurasian culture dominating the world today. Basically, it is easier for technology to transfer along a latitude rather than across one, because the climatic conditions change much faster along a longitude. This means that any new invention/discovery that happened anywhere throughout the most populous areas of asia soon spread throughout the other regions unlike, say, Americas, where A Mayan invention would hardly travel more than a couple hundred miles due to constraints imposed by geography/climate.

I guess I'll have to read this one soon..... :)