So do you like to read the paperback or hard copy or the eBook is ok?
Hard core readers like the feel and look and the general appeal of a book to read! They like to turn the pages slowly and feel the book!
Which is maybe why even now with the advent of so many options to read; we still have book stores all over the world! Starting from the most isolated streets to the posh airport lounge!
Previously while travelling which was usually bus or train; a book in hand was a must! Even if it was not there; buying of the comics from the railway station was a ritual!
We all used to buy one each and finish it as soon as possible and exchange!
Then it became thick books! The bigger or thicker the book, the better for book lovers like me! Even during bus journeys it was a constant companion unless it was a night journey! You had to stop reading when the lights were off! The story would be in the crucial phase but the old folks need their sleep!
Finally I am very comfortable now with my kindle! I have the scribe and it is god send!
Though my first ebook reader was this amazing one by Sony gifted by my brother! It was a super cool contraption and I would have read hundreds of books in that! I literally have used that device to its literal end!
Then again kindle is now the go to device for reading and now scribe is also for writing and the occasional sketch when you think that you may not have time!
The eBooks are cheaper and though you do not have the feel of the real book; they are compact and you can take thick volumes without much space! Not to mention the fact that night or day; you can read whenever you want!
So when the in flight movies get boring; my daughter and me pick up our kindles and get lost in our literary world!
You may feel reading is fun or fun is well, fun! Like maybe Mashoor Gulati or Sunil Grover!
A quick sketch and blog while travelling between two countries and continent!
This work of imperfection is now a world heritage site and one of the most visited monuments in the world!
How sometimes a defect or a flaw makes it your or someone else’s or something’s biggest asset!
Imagine travelling over 700 km both ways from Rome just to see a building which in practical sense is actually falling!
Luckily it is safe for the next 200 years!
That is the Leaning tower of PISA!
By the way, the tower has been leaning from 1178! And now the greatest discovery is that it is straitening! Then again who would want to see a straight tower of PISA!
Which is why the tower has been officially allowed to lean!
So apparently the construction of the Tower began in 1173. Originally designed to be a bell tower, it stood upright for over 5 years, but when the third floor was completed in 1178 it began to lean!
The thing is the foundation of the tower, which is only 3-meter deep, was built on a dense clay mixture. This mix impacted the soil and furthermore the clay was not strong enough to hold the tower upright. As a result the weight of the tower began to diffuse downward until it had found the weakest point!
Due to this problem, construction works stopped for 100 years. The government decided to focus on its war with Genoa and hope that the soil would settle in the meantime.
Then another Engineer tried his hand at correction but the lean got bigger! Engineer Giovanni di Simone started to add more floors to the tower and tried to compensate for the original lean by making one side of the upper floors taller than the other. This only caused the tower to lean over even more!
Other engineers still unbothered by the lean further added more floors and a bell tower! Adding height and yes! More lean!
The mistakes and leans continued even through 1838 when architect Alessandro Della Gherardesca, dug a pathway at the base of the tower to allow people to admire the intricately crafted base. This caused the tower to lean even more, probably due to the digging of its base!
Then again you would think so much lean would have made the tower to fall!
The real astonishing fact is that the tower in spite of being a little tizzy all the time for so many years still stood its ground! In fact it even withstood the world war when its other sober and straight mates fell!
In fact when American soldiers invaded Pisa, they were ordered to destroy all buildings as to prevent enemy snipers to find suitable places to hide. There were no exceptions to this rule, and many buildings were blown up everyday, as the US forces advanced over the Italian countryside. However a retreat took place shortly after the arrival of the Americans, making unnecessary to destroy the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Twenty years after the end of the war Italy asked help to avoid the Leaning Tower from toppling. They didn’t want the tower to lose its leaning though, because it is now the symbol of the city, a landmark loved by tourists from all over the world. As a temporary measure engineers and architects installed a leaden counterweight of 800 tonnes!
After that, no other stabilization work was performed since that was the first time that the leaning correction not only worked; it went one step further! In the year 2013, engineers that are monitoring the Tower reported that the straightening motion hadn’t stopped yet, and the monument leaned back an additional 2.5cm!
The lean is what makes this tower special! The greatest flaw you could ever have in a building has now made this one the most famous in the world!
The designer of the leaning tower can now rest in PEACE! or rather lean in peace!
Designer reminds me of Pingali Venkayya; the amazingly talented designer of our flag!
Are talented people arrogant or rude? A time honored belief is that if you have talent or you are the best then you can afford to be rude!
Some of the world’s greatest sportsmen or artist who are extremely talented are known to be rude or just not social! Rarely would you see a talented person being very social or many times you would not realize the talent which is easily available or accessible! In fact if you get something easily then you may not be able to appreciate the talent!!
Which is maybe why artists like to be elusive so that people can think that they are privileged to get to listen or see him or her in those rare occasions!
One such talented artist who was known to have a sultry attitude was Michelangelo! But real talent will be seen and appreciated at the proper time! It is just that the attitude may be different! In fact his competitors during the time like Leonardo and Raphael were also very popular and though their rivalry is been touted; it has been seen that both had mutual respect for each other!
Though Sistine Chapel art work is simply amazing which is courtesy Michelangelo; Raphael’s works also are really nice!
There have been many accounts of their supposed rivalry but still they had mutual respect for each other.
It is actually a very interesting story as told by our Guide in the Vatican Museum at Italy.
In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned the then 26-year-old Raphael to paint frescoes in his private library, he had won the commission despite competition from masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarotti!
His works earned him great reviews that portrayed him as superior to Michelangelo in coloring and painting in general! Did you know that by the way!?
Michelangelo lost several commissions to Raphael when an ambassador erroneously made the announcement that the Sistine Chapel was to be painted by him. This led to a resentment that kept growing as Raphael kept getting rave reviews of his works of art!
While Raphael’s affable, life loving personality earned him the support of Pope Leo X, humanists and poets, among many others, Michelangelo’s self-imposed isolation and sultry attitude created tensions!
Despite bearing Michelangelo’s negative reactions to his success, the young Raphael maintained a vivid interest in his artwork and arranged a secret visit to the Sistine Chapel with the help of Bramante, the architect commissioned by Pope Julius the II to build the new Saint Peter’s Basilica. Young Raphael made this choice so that he could admire the work which was at the time off limits by order of the artist himself!
After being greatly inspired by the ceiling frescoes he secretly visited, Raphael decided to pay tribute to Michelangelo by portraying him as Heraclitus in the “School of Athens”, as if to match him to the legendary bad temper and competitive nature of the “The Weeping Philosopher”!
The School of Athens also is an amazing ode to many great philosophers and great thinkers of that age! But that is a whole blog for another day!
Despite their rivalry, when Johannes Goritz of Luxemburg, Head Chancellor of the Papal Court requested Michelangelo’s estimation of the value of Raphael’s “The Prophet Isaiah” painting, since he considered the price too high, he received an unexpected reply.
Upon analyzing the painting, Michelangelo explained to him that it was worth the price simply for the knee alone. This shows that, despite resenting Raphael’s success, Michelangelo too admired his skill!
One of Raphael’s last paintings, “The Transfiguration”, depicting Christ surrounded by an aura of light while floating on Mount Tabor as well as the miracle of the possessed boy shows characters that have imposing bodies with detailed muscles as influenced by Michelangelo’s splendid Sistine Chapel finishes!
So people with real talents do respect those with the same!
Now if you think you are a talented artist you can simply visit the Vatican Museum to get a giant dose of Humility!
Or see a Delhi Ganesh movie for a giant dose of fun!
Another travel blog and sketch! Legs are tired but hands are fine!
One of the biggest and most ancient amphitheater was actually made to be like the biggest idiot box in the world!
It is of course one of the wonders of the world and of course so huge that at one point you would wonder how can we walk more! Plus it is an amazing place!
The whole trip though is only walking and then some!
This is the Colosseum!
The Colosseum which is ultimately from Ancient Greek word “kolossos” meaning a large statue or giant is an elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheater ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheater in the world, despite its age!
Our guide who was a brilliant fella with a non stop zeal to talk! He started by praising Rome telling how even our calendar is based on Roman culture and then he proceeded to tell how they actually liked to kill and ‘take’ all the culture they conquered!
He then stated how the whole idea behind the Colosseum was to keep the people busy so that they would not ask what the empire is doing!
All those who get inside had classes and different sections and even those who were in the lowest sections used to feel privileged! He told how the two lowest sections were of women and beggars!
But even they used to feel good or privileged! Since many were not allowed to see the fights inside the Colosseum! They would think that even the kings and queens of different countries have not seen the fight inside the Colosseum so they are so much better than them!
It was the same with beggars who would rather be in the lower sections and still made to view than be defenseless baits for the animals which usually were the slaves or prisoners from another country!
Everyone used to think about the person or people below themselves in the social structure and feel privileged and finally not question the empire!
Their brain and time was occupied by the ancient idiot box and the empire would do as they please! He ended up by saying that not much has changed apart from the fact that the Colosseum has become portable and available in your fingertips!
Something to think about or well, let us just binge watch the latest season of Squid Games and not do any mental mathematics!
Mathematics reminds me of this great legendary mathematician!
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the Kosambi map function!
In statistics, he was the first person to develop orthogonal infinite series expressions for stochastic processes via the Kosambi–Karhunen–Loève theorem. He is also well known for his work in numismatics and for compiling critical editions of ancient Sanskrit texts! Now while watching the mobile idiot box did you know about him!?
Do read about him if you can or do what the Romans did!
Better know it if you want to get a job fast and for sure!
You use AI for everything! Just when you thought AI may take your job, people have started to use AI to get job!
We were on our travel route and landed on this airport at Italy! Everything here is automated including the check out! We were amazed at the automation which is actually the norm in many airports like even my favorite the BENGALURU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!
Then we were waiting for our bags to come and one of our bags was one of the first ones to come! Then suddenly one bag from the belt came at an angle! It then got stuck in the middle! We thought the bag behind it may make it up but it could not overcome the block and then the whole belt stopped!
It of course took a HUMAN to come and correct the whole situation amidst claps!
Apart from being relived to have got the bag, I was also relieved that AI taking over humans is a long way or may not be even complete! A block here and a short circuit there and it all comes down!
Of course they will make it easier and easier everyday! So make AI your necessary friend who needs you and you can use it to make your life better!
Now coming to the white fonting!
Increasingly companies are using AI for screening job applicants and since AI uses the key words to search, if you have all or most of the keywords then your selection is highly probable!
Some have understood this and what they do is that they take the requirements from the job notice advert and paste it in their document but make the font white! The concept is simple; because the AI bots or digital filters in applicant tracking systems read the white text and surface the résumé for human review.
Because keywords are in white, the résumé will look normal to human reviewers! This is called White Fonting!
The name white fonting comes from the practice of adding keywords to a webpage, using a white font on a white background! It can also be used as a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in webpages, to create a higher ranking in search engine results and can also add unrelated, but often searched, keywords to a webpage in order to gain additional traffic! This is one of the simple hacks!
What is not simple and in fact amazing is the work and contribution of Sri Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, also known as Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV who was the 24th Maharaja of Mysore, reigning from 1894 to 1940.
He is highly regarded for his progressive rule and contributions to Mysore, often referred to as the “Golden age of Mysore”. He was known for his administrative reforms, focus on education, and patronage of the arts and sciences.
Now that is a great natural intelligence!
Another quick blog and sketch since travel is not easy!
Street shopping is great only when you have cash and lots of it and in small denominations!
Most parts of the world will have such places where you do not have brands! All you have is stuffs you need to buy on an international or national trip!
Some small token or gifts to give to everyone to tell them that we remembered you!
It could be a keychain or some famous monument or the fridge Magnets!
Then you have the small coin purse or the bags! Or if you are lucky some great can openers or pocket watches!
The issue is that you need to have cash and that too of small denominations!
That is a big headache!
Even in a big city like Paris! Cash talks!
Which is why it’s a breeze to shop in Bharat! Here even the smallest of the smallest shop owner or even a person with shop on a cart would have a code for you to scan and pay!
I never carry any cash in India! But during these trips; cash is a big headache!
The UPI revolution with the QR code is an amazing work by India!
QR code or quick response code consists black squares and dots which represent different pieces of information. When scanned, the unique pattern on the barcode translates into human-readable data.
Invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara, chief engineer of Denso Wave, the original purpose of the QR code was to track vehicles and parts moving through the assembly line!
A standard QR code is identifiable based on six components: Quiet Zone – This is the empty white border around the outside of a QR code; The Finder pattern , the Alignment pattern – It ensures that the QR code can be read, even if it is skewed or at an angle. The Timing pattern – this makes it possible for a damaged QR code to be read. Then you have the Version information and finally the Data cells – with the actual information, i.e., the URL, phone number, or message it contains!
And you can use them to make a payment like in UPI!
These black and white patterns make complex messages just like how Anoop Jalota makes beautiful bhajans using complex old poems!
A quick sketch and blog after close to 12 hours of waking and touring and amazed by the Pyro and laser display at Disney World @Paris!
We were doing street shopping in an art lane of Paris called the Montmartre! All right! Not much shopping but load of snooping!
If you thought you are an artist and that too of a good caliber then this may be a humbling experience for you!
The oldest bloke to the young artist here would sketch masterpiece after masterpiece!
Each and every stroke of brush creates a beauty which would make even Van Gogh proud and keep his ear for a change!
The street begins with a dedication to Van Gogh says a lot!
Plus the range of art is simply amazing! You have a set of profile makers to caricature artists to portrait makers! Then you have a bunch of them with modern art and then another bunch with different variants of the classics like the Mona Lisa or the scream!
Then you have the modern artists with the modern monuments which in Paris is the Eiffel tower with its grandeur in different viewpoints not from the tower but from the point of view of the artist!
Then you have those who are not even in the art lane but in some side street with quick sketch of your profile of simply a landmark of Paris as seen from the side! These sketches are actually the ones who were not deemed ‘worthy’ of the art street can make you question your own artistic talent!
Be it water color or oil pastels or even a stroke with nothing but a piece of chalk, or a crayon or even coal! I saw an old man with shaky fingers sketch a girl looking at him in green crayon while standing on a side street in less than five minutes!
Then again art is art! The best part of art is that it is an expression! It does not have to be the best if you can show what you want to see! While some would simply love a rough profile, many would even find flaws on a hyper realistic sketch!
In the end, all any art needs is an audience who appreciates the effort! Who sees the moon and does not see the spots!
Another quick sketch and blog after a busy day of travel in honour of another ‘artist’ Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar or A V Meiyappan!
Many times you want a do over! Just like a game! Life must have more than one life and a do over! You can start from the start!
You make a mistake in a level and then you go back and correct it as soon as possible!
The only way actually this will be possible is by Time travel!
But do remember that Time travel is not a simple thing because of something called the Grand father paradox or the fact that you MUST in no way meet your older self!
A consistent factor in most time travelling situations except maybe in TENET; is that you must not meet yourself of the past!
Another great paradox if called the temporal paradox!
A temporal paradox, time paradox, or time travel paradox, is an apparent or actual contradiction associated with the idea of time travel or other foreknowledge of the future. Temporal paradoxes arise from circumstances involving hypothetical time travel to the past. They are often employed to demonstrate the impossibility of time travel. Temporal paradoxes fall into three broad groups: bootstrap paradoxes, consistency paradoxes, and free will causality paradoxes exemplified by the Newcomb paradox!
Now the other paradoxes are little complex for my small brain but I am particularly interested in the Grandfather paradox!
It is also called the consistency paradox and this occurs when the past is changed in any way.
The paradox of changing the past stems from modal logic: if it is necessarily true that the past happened in a certain way, then it is false and impossible for the past to have occurred in any other way, so any change to the past would be a paradox.
So effectively a Consistency paradoxes occur whenever any change to the past is possible.
A common example given is a time traveler killing their grandfather before their parents’ conception, thus preventing the conception of themselves. If the traveler were not born, they could not kill their grandfather; therefore, the grandfather proceeds to beget the traveler’s ancestor who begets the traveler.
This scenario is self-contradictory. One proposed resolution for this paradox is that a time traveler can do anything that did happen, but cannot do anything that did not happen.
Another variant of the grandfather paradox is the “Hitler paradox” or “Hitler’s murder paradox”, in which the protagonist travels back in time to murder Adolf Hitler before he can rise to power in Germany, thus preventing World War II and the Holocaust. Rather than necessarily physically preventing time travel, the action removes any reason for the travel, along with any knowledge that the reason ever existed!
Physicist John Garrison et al. give a variation of the paradox of an electronic circuit that sends a signal through a time machine to shut itself off, and receives the signal before it sends it!
Paradox or paradoxical is actually when all this makes it very confusing! You can’t even laugh! Of course if you do want to laugh then check out the spontaneous humor of Mandar Chandwadkar!
A quick blog and sketch during a cross country and cross continent travel!
One of the most common decisions we face while driving is the dreaded yellow or orange light! The indecision here is not the color by the way!
Did you know that the same indecision has been studied and faced by a Donkey!
Now the paradox called Buridan’s ass!
And no! The donkey’s name is not Buridan!
Buridan’s ass is an illustration of a paradox in philosophy in the conception of free will. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass that is equally hungry and thirsty is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water.
The donkey will always go to whichever is closer, it dies of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision between the hay and water if the supposed distance between them is the same!
The paradox is named after the 14th-century French philosopher Jean Buridan. Other philosophers have also discussed the concept before him, notably Aristotle, who put forward the example of a man equally hungry and thirsty!
If you thought that only the ass is indecisive then you are mistaken! We are also like the ass many times!
There are some experiments and examples!
In a study called the the Jam Study when presented with either 6 or 24 varieties of jam, customers were more likely to approach the table with 24 options. However, they were also more likely to actually purchase a jar of jam when presented with only 6 options. This highlights how an abundance of choices can lead to indecision and ultimately inaction, even when the desired outcome is to make a purchase!
Another dilemma which we face day to day as told above is the traffic light dilemma!
This case happens when a driver hesitates at a yellow light, unsure whether to stop or proceed. The driver might waffle between the two options, ultimately making a decision by either slamming on the brakes thus risking a hit on the back or speeding through the intersection, potentially running a red light risking a hefty fine! Which is why the best situation is either red or green!
There are several other examples like people trying to improve their fitness might be torn between joining a gym or going for a run, and indecision could lead to them doing neither which is the case most of the time!
It can be also as simple as washing your ass or ‘bottom’ this time! The environmentally conscious is torn between saving water or saving paper! Let us just hope that he or she makes the decision on time!
Now if you thought it can happen only to living things well, you are wrong! There is something called the Metastability in Digital Electronics!
Now metastability is a state where a circuit cannot decide between two states, similar to Buridan’s ass. This can lead to errors if the circuit spends too long in this undefined state!
Then again there is no indecision when it comes to wishing and being proud of those who protect our nation!
Like our dear war veterans! One of them is Captain Vikram Batra PVC! A big salute to him and others on the Kargil divas! We are so proud of you!
Do you know who are ‘white knucklers’ and ‘dark copers’?
Not much to do with knuckles or anything racist so do not worry!
Have you watched series like the walking dead or some movie like the Conjuring series!
If you have and want to watch more then either you are crazy or well, very crazy!
Or not!
Apparently that is a thing!
Why do some people (like me!) like to watch horror movies and get scared only to do it again!
According to research It is a combination of an adrenaline rush and an opportunity to learn about dealing with scary situations in a safe environment!
The first types are called “adrenaline junkies,” while the other two are the “white knucklers” and “dark copers. For white knucklers and dark copers, feeling fear for fun is more about self-learning and self-efficacy.
White knucklers try to “lean out” of the experience by trying to find the situation funny or lessening their exposure to the scary stimuli. While Dark copers seem to use scary media to help them deal with anxieties about the world or their own lives by focusing on a more concrete threat!
These fans are drawn to the experience of fear itself, using it as a way to confront and understand their own reactions and develop resilience. They often report learning and personal growth from engaging with horror!
This group uses horror as a coping mechanism for managing negative emotions, particularly anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed. They find a sense of control and comfort in the controlled environment of horror experiences, allowing them to process difficult emotions related to real-life situations.
Essentially, while both types of fans find enjoyment in horror, they do so for different reasons and with different outcomes. Research from Psychology Today suggests that these differing motivations and experiences highlight the diverse ways people engage with and benefit from horror as a recreational activity!
Now we may not know many white knucklers or Dark Copers but I am sure Krishnan Madhavan Nair used to do stunts who can raise your adrenaline! You may know him as Jayan!
now stop watching Squid game and sleep peacefully!
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