2008: a year of my life in pictures

Thank you for looking at these pictures. For those of you, who may find yourself somewhere here, a special note of thanks. For those of you who should be here, but somehow, aren't; it is probably my fault that I did not capture a moment that I should have. But then again, some of those moments cannot be captured, can they? They can only be lived and relived in memory. Hope to see you in 2009. Have a nice New Year.

Things to say, people to mention, thanks to be given

The year draws to a close. This has been a year of discovery, happiness and some pain, too. This was the first time, I was able to see the sun disappear into the horizon on the West Coast. I dropped to my knees and ran my hands in the warm waters of the Pacific. I was able to go home in summer. I got to meet my niece for the first time. She was just over a year old. I was able to congratulate my cousin after his wedding. I was also able to attend the wedding of yet another cousin. Another kid who will grow up and (probably) call me 'uncle' smiled at me. It was somewhat surreal. It was also wonderful. We sat down together, old friends, at Shreya's our favourite old bar and got hilariously sloshed. It was one bloke's graduation party: he had just defended his thesis. It was also celebrating another bloke's wedding. My sister and I saw the Colosseum, and walked through the Forum Romanum. We had dinner with a new friend near the Fontana Trevi, and walked up the Spanish Steps at dusk. I discovered that espresso and pizza mean something totally else at Rome. Also, that given sufficient motivation, I can crack a Samsonite suitcase's lock. We toured a Cold War era former Soviet diesel sub, moored at Hamburg. I spoke at Notre Dame, TIFR, IISc and western Michigan about my work. There have been reconciliations. Two people, I never thought I would ever speak with again, are again, paradoxically, friends. Have I made any new friends? I think that I have. Do they compensate for the one sleazy bastard, I will not name here, who has engaged in backstabbing? I would like to think so. There has been illness in the family. Difficult times. But we are coping, or at least, trying the best we can. But there is much that is good to look forward to. There is much to thank the Gods for. I am grateful for all that has come to me, and my family.

Fun leetil test!

Try it out!!

Of terrorists and other awful things.

Two weeks ago, this time, I was in Chicago with friends, all sitting around a TV. We were watching CNN-IBN's live coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. All the talk was that this time, "they" have stepped too far. But have they? Our country has been bleeding for a long time, longer than most people remember. Remember the 1993 blasts? All that changed this time was that they wanted some really worldwide attention, and they clearly have it. But even two years ago, when terrorists set off almost simultaneous bombs in the Mumbai train system, more than 200 people died: the death toll was higher. But the difference is that they were commoners. "Aam junta", as people would describe it. No one cared enough on the worldwide stage. But this time around, they took hostages at the Taj and other posh places. That did get their attention.

Pirates again!

From the Statesman, Calcutta, yesterday's report:

Navy foils pirate attack, 23 captured

Statesman News Service
NEW DELHI, Dec. 13: Striking another blow against the pirates infesting the waters off the Horn of Africa, an Indian Navy warship not only repulsed an attack on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, but nabbed 23 Somali and Yemeni sea brigands.
The pirates, in three boats, were attempting to hijack the Ethopian-flagged merchant vessel around noon today, when the destroyer INS Mysore intervened and repulsed the attack, a Navy spokesman said here.
The incident took place about 150 nautical miles off Aden.
After the Mysore picked up a distress call from the merchant vessel, MV Gibe, at around 11 a.m. saying it was under attack, it immediately lauched its helicopter and headed for the scene
On sighting the helicopter and the Mysore, the pirates broke off their attack and attempted to escape, but the warship chased them down. Marine commandos boarded two of the pirate vessels to nab 12 Somali and 11 Yemeni pirates. Nine assault rifles, a grenade launcher, 13 fully loaded magazines and a GPS receiver were seized from the pirates, the Navy spokesman said.
The larger boat, a 10-metre dhow, is named the Salahaddin. It had a smaller boat, a skiff, under tow, Navy sources said.
The INS Mysore later escorted the MV Gibe to safety.
The pirates are being held on board the Mysore and will be handed over to appropriate authorities ashore, possibly at Djibouti in Ivory Coast, the warship’s next port of call.
Today's operation is the fourth successful offensive by the Navy in the heart of the pirates' zone of operations. Last month, the INS Tabar, a missile-frigate, had sunk a Thai trawler that was being used as a mothership by the pirates and also rescued two merchant vessels that were under attack. The Mysore, a 6,900-tonne destroyer, replaced the Tabar on patrol in the region about a fortnight ago. Dozen of warships of several countries are also patrolling the shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.
India's recent pro-active approach against piracy reflects the concern of the maritime community over a new surge in hijackings off Somalia. The International Maritime Bureau has reported that pirates based in the lawless African nation were now “out of control”.
New Delhi had taken a serious view of piracy-related incidents in the region following the hijacking of MV Stolt Valor, with 18 Indian sailors on board, by Somali pirates in September this year. On 23 October, the government gave a go-ahead to the Navy's request for a pro-active approach against the pirates.

The 21st century achiever: oh, wait, I meant something else...

Two people, Aleksey Vayner and John Fitzgerald Page, who have achieved a peculiar degree of notoreity by means of their colossally (mis)inflated ego.

As Vaynar puts it: "ignore losers, live your life openly; go all out; do it with passion".. dear Gawd, but he spouts cliches like.. I don't know.. I am out of cliches here.

Kissing makes you go deaf?

Apparently.. read here.

Indian English

Suggested to the casual reader with some time on his hands: this highly informative article on Indian English, and also this other article on Madras Bashai, the street language of Chenai.

So we went to Hell

Yeah, on the 2nd of November, just for a lark. Hell is a tiny hamlet in Michigan, occasionally a popular tourist destination. They even boast a tiny post office where you can send yourself or anyone else a postcard marked from Hell. And if you ask for 'the works', they will be happy to singe the edges of the card with a jury rigged cigarette lighter which fires a scary 8 inch long flame. Quite cool. Highly recommended to everyone.

More b/w pics

to colour your day! Watch and enjoy.

Is it my newly installed Firefox or..

has Youtube just turned widescreen? I should mention that I already like the Mac Firefox 3... the interface is just awesome and polished.. like everything else made for Macs. And yes, I turned on the Read/Speech utility on a JBNMR paper from the Bax group that I was presenting at group meeting today. Unfortunately, my Speech utility was set to 'Demented', so that resulted in no small amount of hilarity.

All things weird and wonderful

If I have not already mentioned it, then one of the main sources of weirdness in human endeavour is Dark Roasted Blend. Read on and enjoy.

Meteor lights up Canadian skies...

Look at this viddy!

Space: the final frontier... eh?

Three years after Bush canceled the space shuttle programme, read this article about the now defunct former Soviet shuttle programme Buran.

Et tu UBS?

The Swiss are disgusted with the way the UBS has been involved in the US subprime crisis: something viewed as a very un-Swiss thing to do. Read this BBC article.

Zombies!

I saw the new version of the Dawn of the Dead last night... and I am going to stock up on canned food, batteries .. the works... maybe a shortwave radio...

Snyder has given us totally badarse zombies.. these mothers move FAST.. no dickin' around waiting for live meat to walk by.. they come and get what the want... and like Ben Johnson on steroids (oh, well, we all know what that is like... ).. but seriously, George Romero's social commentary was wasted.. but what we got in turn were awesome characters and some great action... this is much closer to 28 Days Later than the original Dawn of the Dead, but no complaints from me! Go Snyder!

This is why I louvv reddit soo much!!

A random open Thanksgiving invitation leading to a discussion about marinading people and gay Mormons...