SOPA - Democracy vs Capitalism

This could be a possible test of the role of Democracy in Capitalism. Whether the people protesting against SOPA or Hollywood et.al sponsored bill, triumph?

I support artist's copyright, but don't support excessive governance. It will just be abused and it will intervene with freedom to share things. Why is internet any different from letting people borrow CD/DVD/BD  books or other copy righted material offline? Isn't this another ploy to make people pay even more than they already do. I think copyrighted material should be freely available after it has lived its glory days. Something, like brand vs generic drugs. Just put a label - "Free after 1yr". Just a suggestion!

But I am certainly against excessive governance/rules, it stifles growth. Fear can never lead us in the right direction. Do we want responsible people or opportunistic thugs?

My "thank you" out-polites your "thank you"!

Today as ever, social etiquette demands politeness. By definition , it's being mindful of your company & conformity to the accepted social behaviors. An often sought after effect of politeness is being perceived as elegant. And where the prior definition offers kindness to others, the ulterior motive demands an acknowledgment of ones elegance.

In my surroundings, lately, I seem to hear a lot of conversations ending in "Thank you", and surprisingly from both the involved parties. Sometimes it seems fair, and sometimes completely unnecessary. In todays competitive world people seem too afraid of accepting generosity. Isn't it more polite to actually accept and acknowledge one's generosity than a quick dismissal with a vane "Thank you". On top of that, this ping-pong of "thank-you" is completely unnecessary & rude.

My "thank you" out-polites your "thank you"! You may be grateful to me, but I am too shallow to owe you, so I refuse your thank you.

cygwin|fortune

One of the many fun things in cygwin is the tool called fortune. As per the man page, it returns a random quote or anecdote. I do not wish to take any credit away from the tool, but just share a few here:

But since I knew now that I could hope for nothing of greater value than frivolous pleasures, what point was there in denying myself of them?
-- M. Proust

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents' shortcomings.
-- Laurence J. Peter, "Peter's Principles"

The Briggs-Chase Law of Program Development:
To determine how long it will take to write and debug a program, take your best estimate, multiply that by two, add one, and convert to the next higher units.

The sweat of hard work is not to be displayed. It is much more graceful to appear favored by the gods.
--Maxine Hong Kingston,
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts

Leadership is nature's way of removing morons from the productive flow.
--Dogbert Dilbert strip of February 5, 1995

The All & Powerful Media & are we Immune?

Journalism has a new meaning... or was it the vague impression born out the better qualities displayed by journalists from the yore, that is helplessly clashing with these modern tasteful times. There is too much oxymoron in this sentence. Perhaps due to the confusion created by what is happening in the media.

Two celebrities Michael Jackson & Patrick Swayze died recently, and apparently there is a rejoice in the media. A frenzy of shows have poured over, recounting the last days and then the glory days. When Michael was alive the media called him "Whacko-Jacko" and now in his death, he is remembered as the "King of pop". Swayze perhaps did not have too much weirdness in his personal life to have been forgotten, until he came out with his fight against pancreatic cancer. Why is the media controlling the life of these great artists of our life time? The media seems to be in complete control of our emotions.

While I am writing this, a warning light is blinking in my head - Hypocrite? I am using the media to fight the media. The sole purpose of the blog is to expose this lack of justice to the people like Michael and Swayze. What kind of memories did Michael take with him when he died? Swayze gave us all an example of dignity and courage in his passing. I just feel we all need to offer this gratitude to these folks while they are alive than using them to sell news.

As per Merriam-Webster "Journalism" is

"2 a : writing designed for publication in a newspaper or magazine b : writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation c : writing designed to appeal to current popular taste or public interest";

I take offense to the meaning in "c". "Appeal to the popular taste"!! I'm certain that this is not at the expense of "b" .."presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation".

There was much more honor in reporting and being civilized, or so I want to believe. Now it seems we are living like beasts, saved by all the fine prints in the legal documents. Recently Kayne West decided to exercise the first amendment, insulting a fellow musician Taylor Swift. After which he apologized profusely on Jay Leno's show. Serena Williams must have scared the living day lights out of the lines-woman at the US Open, and then "almost" apologized.

I thought saying "I'm sorry" meant feeling "ashamed". These days spouting these hollow apologies made infamous in the media is a sign of character. Just because you have these handy-dandy apologies lying around does not give you the right to be a jack-ass to begin with. There is a cost to character and it has nothing to do with having a PR.

We all need to understand this responsibility towards other people and ourselves. Even if the media makes a "wrong" look like "conditionally right" we all know the truth in our hearts. Following this conscientiousness may not be the fashion this season, but it has to be over our lifetime, if at all we wish to remain civilized.

Definitions of Success

Gary Davis, president of Davis and Associates Inc. construction: "Career success is measuring your effectiveness against the goals and objectives you've set, and then constantly re-evaluating your skills vs. their demand and your response to the challenges before you. If this 'self-check' is done regularly and realistically, your career success will be ultimately determined by the professional legacy you leave and those who've benefited from your life's work. [r]

I find this definition the most perfect one to capture an idea of success. If it were so that success was a single goal or single achivement then it would have been much easier to attain. But sucess is not an achievement but an ability - both physical & mental. It takes a lot of perserverance to apply the skill & then improve on it.

r: I am afraid I don't have a reference for this.

To buy or not to buy?

I have a Nikon D80 and a Nikkor 18-135mm lens. Its a pretty good setup for amateur-enthusiast photography, and yet often I find myself researching the Nikon D300 or the new D700. Sometimes even the old D200 strikes my fancy and before I realize I am drooling all over my iMac. Then there are lenses. I fancy a Nikkor 70-300 mm VR and wish I could afford a 80-200mm f2.8. I go through this torment of oggling at the camera/lenses - features, quality, the kind of photographs I could take and then the budgeting. This is just the camera.

Then there are other interests:  Sports cars (BMW M3 E92, rather an E46 for me pls., or Mercedez SL65 AMG Black-edition) or  a Media system: perhaps a custom built: recevier, subwoofer, speakers etc. Bose Companion 5* just doesn't cut it, Computers: has to be a Mac and then sometimes I want to build my own monster with Nvidia SLI twin graphics cards 512 MB RAM each, 7.1 surround sound, 1Ghz FSB Motherboard, a RAID configured HD stack 7200rpm, a Blue Ray disc player, a liquid cooled cooling system, Phones: Nokia n series, a Blacberry Storm, or the ubiquitous Apple iphone*.

Well, the intention behind this particular blog is not to rant about the poor me not affording the pleasures of driving a Mercedez Benz SL65 AMG Black edition ($150K) a V12, 600 hp & 700 lb-ft torque, not snapping pictures with the shweet D700 ($2K) full frame at 5 fps, talking on the iphone, with my ears still numb from listening to the custom built Denon+Velodyne+NHT Home Theater System ($8K), and perhaps gone blind double checking if I am getting any resolution benefits using a Blue-ray disc on 42" 1080p plasma screen ($3K).

Nor is it to offer excuses and beleiving in the fable of sour grapes. The humble intention of this blog is to dissect the human urge behind possessing these wonderful material things. Before you roll your eyes and assume this is another of the Zen arts of living boringly, let me please goad you to read on.

I wish I had all these gadgets and more. I strongly believe in being Happy, no matter what it takes. (Pls. insert here your own sense of ethics, personal integrity in acquiring the means and the uncompromisable character for avoiding excessive indulgence).

Hinduism & Buddhism tell us otherwise. Material needs and material goods can only fill this void superficially making us more empty and definitely broke (No Chapter 11, bankruptcy claims here!).

But we are only human; with dreams and desires. I just want to insist on clarity in actions and reactions. Action being the purchase & the reaction being what I get having acquired the object of my drool (yikes!). Moving on..

Camera: I like my camera, Nikon D80, and as many wise professional photographers have said its not the camera that takes the photograph its the person behind it. But I still want a D300, there is a desire to possess something this awesome (& now affordable $1450).

And I don't fight this. I just ask myself..Why?
I guess its not the camera that I want. Because, I am not thinking of the photographs that I can take with the new one. Nor the passion of photography. Having an active d-lighting and magnesium alloy body is not going to change my pictures.

What is my passion for cameras?
I want to take good pictures and the thrill of capturing light, just the way I see it, or a perspective or a vision of something not so obvious; an exaggeration of the mundane.

So, "To buy or not to buy"?

Its just the passion of photography or my need for speed, exquisite car handling, the thrill of cornering a turn on a track at 90 mph or a need for loosing sense of the surroundings & life itself into the music & the movies made by some of the most brilliant and imaginative artists of this day.

Just identify the real passion and the real outcome of what you are investing in. Possessing a material object does not grant the possessor the same pride and satisfaction of the creator and obviously not the profits of the sale.


P.S: *
I am never going to buy a Bose. They are pretty good speakers, but they create an illusion of perfect sound by offering good bass and treble and not much of the mid range frequencies. Do I care? Illusions are just fine too! But heck, they are expensive for being "Bose". So here I have some budgetary concerns along with some pride for being taken for a false ride.

I don't want to buy an Apple iphone. Why? It seems, now that it has become seemingly affordable at $200 & $79 a month AT&T 2 yr contract, everybody has it. Nope! I will not be among everybody.

Now here we have pride and ego. Too bad Apple will not make one and only one just for me. If they did I would not afford it anyway. I also have this resent in becoming an iChimp. I bought an ipod and instantly became one. It gained spiritual importance as if it defined me. I guess a lot of Apple product owners feel such a spiritual upliftment by possesing an ipod, Macbook Pro or the invisibly thin MacBook Air. As if the device projects their own personal value! Hah! Talk about low self esteem! Having said this, I own two ipods 30 GB, 60 GB 5th genration, a powerbook since '05 & the new iMac laucned in '07. I often break down in tears looking at the new all solid aluminum MacBook Pro or the devine Mac Pro with a Cinema Display. Hmm!

When time stops!

When time stops!

Every moment seems so long. All my thoughts have been thought before and they have rebounded several times. Its like a large cave where the echoes have had their echoes and now agonize the walls. Now there is a stillness when now emotions translate to a nothingness, prolonging every moment.

Its just funny, that life has come to a stand still and yet I brace myself for several storms ahead; good and exciting. This illusion of calmness is very intimidating. I believe I am taking the necessary steps to safety and yet I seem to hurtle myself to a gorge. Its like I am craving for feelings, can’t feel anything though; mine exhausted. This desire for dreams within a nightmare is strange.

Their seems eons to waste and moments frozen.

Stress

I wonder, what is Stress?

A situation that does not change. A state of mind that is stuck. My best analogy; its like a chewing gum stuck in hair. I am comparing this silly thing with stress because the knee jerk reaction is the same. Get this thing off my head as soon, and as any means may!

Stress is a state and change is not instantaneous. It’s not necessarily just a state of mind, but a real situation: job, money, people. So the change is gradual, facilitated by my own actions and thoughts.

Thoughts:
Is freedom of thought consrtained by an easy way out. Most desirable is a quick fix than the commitment to slow cook a change.
How does the survival instinct kick in if the optimism clings on to hope? When does one take the matter in their own hands and declare a full scale war? Is all this faith and hope just another form of fear? Fear that a complete war may result in a complete loss?
Why is there a belief that justice will prevail that prayers will go answered? Why do we all believe so badly in miracles?

People:
This stale mate in my personal life could have been avoided, by being more cynical about the human beings.
Why is there is much faith in people doing their own work? Will people do what is right? What motivates anybody to be ethical?
Do I have the luxury to beleive in people? Do I trust people and let them control aspects of my life?

Now What?
Its easy to say NO. And yet I am here stuck with people and situation that is driving me nuts!

Stress might disappear but what will remain is the actions I take.

What do I do with this blog?

Its difficult to imagine an audience for this blog. Then the question is, "Is this blog for some audience?". I guess until there is an audience its difficult to say anything. So for the most part this blog is empty...

Let this blog, perhaps, be a mere record of the random urges to write something.

Memories

"My Memories!"

I painted this, and somehow it always makes me nostalgic.