Indecision?
A Psychological Tip

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.

No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping
-- Piet Hein

WARNING: Do not try this if you're diffusing a bomb.

- posted by Rallix @ 10:09 PM 0 comments

 
*Shudder*
A G Sachs report claims that there are 5 million cars in India (2000 figures) and all things going well (i.e. assumptions coming true), this will go up to 610 million cars in 2050.

Guess the implicit assumption is that there'll be 100 story flyovers to accomodate these cars, and 100 story parking lots (With petrol pumps at floors 20, 40 , 60 and 80?!).
Alternatively, the average width of cars will come down a 100 times, i.e. to about 2 cm wide each. Hmm are we talking cars or (motor-powered) roller skates here?!

Well, OK, to be fair the US has 135 million cars (2000 figures) and they don't need 27 storied flyovers.

The article here. See page 23 for the table on number of cars.

- posted by Rallix @ 4:01 AM 3 comments

 
Genndy Tartakovsky!
I haven't seen Samurai Jack, but Dexter's laboratory and Powerpuff girls are awesome.. Now I just have to watch Samurai!

"Tartakovsky was hand-selected by George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. to create Star Wars: Clone Wars, a one-of-a-kind 20-episode "micro-series" that continues the saga where the live-action feature film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones left off. His new cartoon creation -- the first-ever animated property involving the leading Star Wars characters -- will cover the beginning of the Clone Wars, an epic civil war that pits the old Republic against a vast Separatist movement led by the forces of evil.

In addition, Tartakovsky created the critically acclaimed animated series, "Samurai Jack," as his follow-up project to the massive success of "Dexter's Laboratory." "Samurai Jack" originated from his desire to create the best action-adventure cartoon ever. With "Samurai Jack," Tartakovsky created an animated action television show that is cinematic in scope and that incorporates action, humor and intricate artistry. A two-time juried Primetime Emmy Award winner for layout and production design, "Samurai Jack" is currently in production on a total of 52 episodes.

Named one of Variety's "50 To Watch" as a future leader in the entertainment industry, Genndy Tartakovsky served as creator/writer/director of "Dexter's Laboratory" and co-creator of "Dial M For Monkey" and "Justice Friends." "Dexter's Laboratory," Tartakovsky's first professional cartoon creation, has received four Emmy nominations and an Annie Award. Tartakovsky has been called "one of the industry's rising stars" by People and was tapped as one of the most creative people in entertainment when he was named to Entertainment Weekly's "It List" in 1999. A total of 78 episodes of Dexter's Laboratory have been completed.

Tartakovsky also served as a producer and director on Cartoon Network's Emmy-award winning series "The Powerpuff Girls" and as animation director for The Powerpuff Girls: The Movie.

Tartakovsky was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, until his family moved to Chicago when he was seven years of age. After high school, Tartakovsky studied film at Chicago's Columbia College before moving to Los Angeles to study animation at Cal Arts. At Cal Arts he wrote, directed, produced and animated two student films. One of his student films, which was selected for the Cal Arts Producers Show, was the basis for "Dexter's Laboratory."

Another interview here

- posted by Rallix @ 8:38 PM 1 comments

 
Partition - W.H. Auden
"Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission,
Having never set eyes on the land he was called to partition
Between two peoples fanatically at odds,
With their different diets and incompatible gods.
"Time," they had briefed him in London, "is short. It's too late
For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:
The only solution now lies in separation.
The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter,
That the less you are seen in his company the better,
So we've arranged to provide you with other accommodation.
We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu,
To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you."

Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day
Patrolling the gardens to keep the assassins away,
He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate
Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date
And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect,
But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect
Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot,
And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot,
But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided,
A continent for better or worse divided.

The next day he sailed for England, where he could quickly forget
The case, as a good lawyer must.
Return he would not,
Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot."

(About Radcliffe's unenviable task...)
P.S. See Krishna, I promised to make this blog serious and deep ;)

- posted by Rallix @ 12:03 AM 0 comments