Logic...

Logic...helps us reason.....decide....think....

logic is common sense...logic is the explantion....logic is the key..

But there will always be things that throw logic out of the window.....there are just so many variables..and i guess thats what makes us human or else we would all be Vulcans a la Mr Spock (Star Trek)..

Hey ...even Spock took an illogical step when in dire circumstances (or like he said.... a logical decision to do something completely illogical :))

Hope you had a great weekend...Have a good week ahead.. and while on the topic...here's a song to keep you company.. Listen to it..if you can...its a mindblowin song.....

Peace.

Supertramp - The Logical Song
When I was young It seemed that life was so wonderful,

A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical

And all the birds in the trees

Well they'd be singing so happily

Oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me

But then they sent me away

To teach me how to be sensible,

Logical, oh responsible, practical

And they showed me a world

Where I could be so dependable,

Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical

There are times when all the world's asleep

The questions run too deep

For such a simple man

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned

I know it sounds absurd

But please tell me who I am

Now watch what you say

Or they'll be calling you a radical, A liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Oh won't you sign up your name

We'd like to feel you're Acceptable, Oh respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable

At night when all the world's asleep

The questions run soo deep

For such a simple man

Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned

I know it sounds absurd

But please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am

Atheist ...am I ?

"He who says of me that i am an atheist says and knows nothing of me. The question as to the existence or non-existence of God, the opposition between theism and atheism belongs to the sixteenth and seventeenth century, but not to the nineteenth. I deny God. But that means to me that i deny the negation of man. In place of the illusory, fantastic, heavenly position of man which in actual life leads to the degradation of man, I substitute the tangible, actual and consequently also the political and social position of mankind"

- Quoted by Feuerbach in the book Essence of Christianity

Liberty, Feynman and the Deep Blue Sea

Saw the statue of liberty a few weeks ago. It is imposing and when u stand and stare at it looming down on you with its stelly eyes...it kinda goes through your soul. The celebration of a spirit of freedom that it conveys hits you like the river breeze. There is an abandonment, a defiance in its stance, the broken chains at its feet, the folds of her clothes especially at her sleeves...every inch of it a cry for freedom...every detail conveys a defiance to fight for it

Feynman - I enjoy reading about Feynman...maybe because he was such a character, a showman but mostly because he chose to have the freedom to do things the way he wanted to. Maybe also coz of his irreverence to all things that were deemed to be reverent but not to him. Maybe because he was pretty brilliant, to say the least or maybe most of all, because of his desire, if not his ability, to want to find the simplest possible way to convey even the most complex of topics...he noted once that if he could not put down any topic in a manner simple enough for a freshman in college to understand, then it just meant that he didnt understand it completely...there may be exceptions..but i think that observation holds good...even outside of phyiscs..Read the first chapter of Six Easy Pieces at Amods place....will try and read the rest sometime...:)

Deep Blue Sea...what better symbolism of freedom can i think of..than the unfettered, the unbounded deep blue sea. I love the sea :)

Cheers,
Me.

And what is good, Phaedrus? And what is not good? Need we ask anyone to tell us these things? "
- (Its actually from the Symposium by Plato but most people are likely to remember it from the first page of a very famous book - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

Thinking Apples and Oranges...

I thought of something...and its been years now since that last happened..so I thought of bragging to u all.

If I had 4 apples and 2 people amongst whom I had to equally divide them, then 4 / 2 would mean 2 apples per person.

But if I had ZERO people to divide them amongst, then 4 / 0 = Infinity or Undefined (as per what i remember from school)

Does that mean that anything is infinite / immeasurable in itself as long as there is no one to start dividing it up for ?

Peace,

Me.

Quote : No matter how desperately you may want something at one time, give yourself the chance and with time, you will find that its nothing you cant do without
- Me :)

It tickles me....

there are just so many things....in us...around us...that if we take a genuine interest in them....then there is no way that we can have enough time for them all..

But, should we choose to concentrate on just the select few from the varied many..there are just so many things that we might never know....or feel..or do.......so much time...and yet so little.... (there's a catch...there's always a catch..catch - 22)

I know its been long...and i hope u all doing great...

Till we should be in touch again... have a good time...and do what u like.....and some that you dont....and try everything in between..

Books last read:

The Argumentative Indian = 5/5

Freakonomics = 4/5

Mostly Harmless = 5/5 (but anything related to H2G2 is something that i am totally biased about :))

Songs last heard:

Title song - Fanaa = 4/5

Teri Deewani (Kailash Kher) = 5 /5

Wish you were here (Floyd - Pulse) = 10 / 5

One Dialogue :

Gaonwalon ne kaha gaon chhod do, Bauji ne kaha Paro chhod do,

Paro ne kaha sharab chhod do, Ma ne kaha ghar chhod do.

Ek din woh kahega *pointing heavenwards* duniya chhod do"

Peace,
Me


Quote : Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two - Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Whats in a subject..???

Life is a Toy in the Hands of a Child called Fate - Anon

Quotes from 'After you'd gone' by Maggie O' Farrell;

Sent forward by a good friend of mine...worth a read..so putting it up for all..

---

From: Viswanathan S

Sent: Fri 1/13/2006 3:53 PM
Subject: Quotes from 'After you'd gone' by Maggie O' Farrell;

Quotes from ‘After you’d gone’ by Maggie O’Farrell

I don’t believe in fate. I don’t believe in cushioning your insecurities with a system of belief that tells you, ‘Don’t worry. This may be your life but you’re not in control. There is something or someone looking out for you – it’s already organized.’ It’s all chance and choice, which is far more frightening.

I’d like to think that as the lift swooped up the floors I sensed that something important was about to take place, that my life was about to split away from my expectation of it. But, of course, I didn’t. Who ever does? Life’s cruel like that – it gives you no clues.

‘You must come. Please. We need to talk about things and I think we should both get out of London. It’s all arranged. It’s the most beautiful hotel ever. You’ll love it. It’s completely vegetarian.’

‘How did you know I’m vegetarian?’

‘You told me in the canteen when we did the interview.’

‘Did I? I don’t remember that.’

‘Well, I do. Alice, please come. What do I have to do to convince you? Tell me and I’ll do it.’

‘You are the most arrogant person I have ever met. Give me one reason, one good reason, why I should cancel all my plans this weekend to spend a weekend, where it will most probably rain, with a man with a…a…dubious secret.’

‘Because,’ he says softly, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to bear it if you don’t.’

The office is quiet today, everyone’s back bent over their computer screens, and their ears, Alice imagines, turned into her conversation.

‘John, what’s that thing?’

‘What thing?’

‘That thing in the tank upstairs.’

‘Oh,’ he laughs, ‘it’s an axolotl.’

‘A what?’

‘An axolotl. They originate from South America. One of my cousins breeds them. It’s amazing, isn’t it?’

‘But is it a reptile or an amphibian or what?’

‘They’re the larval form of salamanders. If I let him get used to being out of water, he’d become a salamander. They’re the only larval form in existence that can breed.’

‘So he’s stuck in constant adolescence?’ She shudders. ‘What a horrific thought. That’s so cruel. You should let him grow up into a fully fledged salamander and put him out of his misery.’

‘Didn’t you like being an adolescent?’

‘No! I hated it. I couldn’t wait to grow up and leave home.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. I was an awful teenager – horrible to live with and horrible to look at.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘It’s true. I wore black all the time, did nasty things to my hair and didn’t talk to my parents properly for five years.’

‘Have you got any photos?’

‘None that I’d show you. Anyway, don’t avoid the issue: you’re trapping that poor creature in that terrible no man’s land.’

‘Not really. It’s more like he’s permanently in his twenties – he can breed, he can have relationships, he can lead a happy, normal axolotl life. He never grows old, which is a pretty good deal, I think. The Dorian Grays of the amphibian world.’

‘He doesn’t look very happy.’

‘Not at the moment, but wait and see. He’s nocturnal. He’s sleeping just now. In a few hours he’ll have woken up and will be zipping round his tank, churning up the gravel. Just wait and see.’

What are you supposed to do with all the love you have for somebody if that person is no longer there? What happens to all that leftover love? Do you suppress it? Do you ignore it? Are you supposed to give it to someone else?

At that point where Alice’s clothes meet John’s, a red slip dress hangs next to a blue cotton shirt, slightly crumpled. It makes Ann cry, their clothes hanging together like this, it makes her cry a lot. And she’s not sure who she’s crying for: for her daughter, yes, the thought of whose death makes her feel like a glove pulled inside out on itself; for John who should never ever have died when Alice loved him so; and a part of her cries for herself, whose clothes would never hang like this with anyone’s.

Republic day..

hmmn...and i am not ashamed to admit that....though i forget every year what it really means for a country to be a republic..

atleast on the occasion of 26th Jan...i make it a point to go through the wikipedia to confirm...what i recollect from last time..
for those like me whose memory is temporal.....as per the wikipedia...

In a broad definition, a republic is a state whose political organization rests on the principle that the citizens or electorate constitute the ultimate root of legitimacy and sovereignty. Several definitions, including that of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, stress the importance of autonomy and the 'rule of law' as part of the requirements for a Republic.

The Peace inside us all ?

lyrics to a song...that i like....

Creed - Inside Us All

When I'm all alone
And no one else is there
Waiting by the phone
To remind me
I'm still here
When shadows paint the scenes
Where spotlights used to fall
And I'm left wondering
Is it really worth it all?
There's a peace inside us all
Let it be your friend
It will help you carry on In the end
There's a peace inside us all
Life can hold you down
When you're not looking up
Can't you hear the sound?
Hearts beating out loud
Although the names change
Inside we're all the same
Why can't we tear down these walls?
To show the scars we're covering
There's a peace
There's a peace inside us all
Let it be Oh, can't it be your friend?

k-keep it real!!!!

thats exactly what Marshall Mathers aka Slim Shady aka Eminem has been doing since he broke out on the rap scene years ago.
I cant remember anyone else who has drawn his entire music SO DIRECTLY from his own life experiences..
I cant remember ever being any interested in rap (rock and roller by default...only exception - Bob Marley) but Eminem got me interested...and I
have loved so many of his songs...that I can appreciate rap a lot more...and even learned to enjoy it...
lyrics for a new song of his that i find really neat : http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/whenimgone.html



Peace,
Keeping it real...

No matter what you do, you'll never run away from you. - Paul Revere and the Raiders, Kicks

Back in time...

Somehow....as I am passing through this passage in my life...where a lot of things dont make sense to me....why i feel what i feel...why i do what i do... i am starting to realise the truth in a quote i read a few days back....i dont remember the exact words but it was on the lines of " The funny thing about life is that it is lived forwards but understood backwards..."
it rings true...Now, if i could start at the ending ...and live backwards..that might just be such a whole lot simpler...wouldnt it ? :)