MIT's I/O Brush

This is so awesome!



This is the MIT Media Labs I/O Brush. Amazing technology that uses movement, image and color recognition to paint a new world.

[+] MIT Tangible Media Group;[I/O Brush]

[+] I/O Brush

2006 Department of State Human Rights Report

Read the full report here and find out how your county fared.

On a related matter, US calls the Darfur genocide the worst crisis now, and still doesn't do anything about it. I think for sure they don't do anything about it because it doesn't involve oil, Israel and America. In a few years when it turns into a holocaust, the world will call it a holocaust level crisis and still never do anything about it.

[+] The report

Evoloution of Marriage [contd.]

This post is to bring to fore a very interesting theory put forward by Uma in addition to the 2 theories proposed in an earlier post.

She says

The theories you have posted are nice, but I think they are not strong enough, if you see it in the evolutionary point of view. Biologically the concept of ‘marriage’ is more favoring women than men. The basic animal instinct is to propagate their genes. For male, more they have sex, the chance of propagating their gene is more, but for women, she is fertile only 3days(even less) a month and even if she is successful in that period, she has to wait for another one year to reproduce again (after child birth etc.) So, naturally man worry about the quantity of partners he can get, but women more about the quality of the partner. If you see the sexual behavior of our ancestors, there were always fight between men to get their mating partner. The male have to prove their strength, to prove that their genes are worth and are the fittest to transmit to the next generation. Then why and when this concept of marriage came into existence?

The theory of “population control” is good, that can be justified biologically. The concept of marriage controls males and hence the population. But in nature always the sex ratio is maintained, so, the population control theory can be justified with an assumption that something terribly went wrong with the sex ratio.

But to have a women as a slave, might have evolved when man started being ‘lazy’ to fight with another male every time, when he wanted to have a mate. But to manage slaves is a big disadvantage for him. Also this is against the psychological evolution of men. Men’s psychology always makes him feel confident, only when he gets success after a fight by proving himself. So the “slave theory” favors only a smaller group of weaker men. So, biologically and psychologically marriage is a big compromise a men make and a big favor for women. Why the entire ‘male dominated’ cultures are favoring marriages? When we relax the cultural constrains (like in the western world) we can see less and less men are opting for marriage. I think there should be a stronger reason for the evolution of marriage. This comment is purely based on my readings and discussion I had with my fellow biologist. Please write if there are any flaws in my comment.

So do post your thoughts on the same.

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Marriage- The Evolution

I have two theories to propose as to how the current concept of 'Marriage' came about.

This Photo of a Marriage is from DeviantART done by SoundofSanity.



Both the theories are based on my reading and interactions and discussions i had with with people on the same subject.

Centuries back, there were tribes roaming this earth. They used to hunt for food and copulated when ever they felt like. As a result, the population increased. Food started becoming scarce.

There was one tribe leader who noticed this phenomenon. He came to a conclusion that for his tribe to survive, sex [As it led to a large number of children] should be controlled. Initially, he must have allowed 3 or more women for a man; which as time passed reduced. As of now, it stands in most places as one.

A picture depicting a tribe or tribes:


[Source:University of Texas]


Long long ago, tribes used to raid other tribes for jewels and precious things. And women used to be taken as slaves. More slaves implied that they had more wealth. By and by, a slave leader came to be. Probably the importance of the slave leader grew and grew and transmogrified into the 'wife'. [Women being taken as slaves and how the prominence of a 'single' slave grew is documented in Thorstein Veblen's 'The Theory of the Leisure Class']

This painting by Gustave Boulanger portrays a 'Slave Market' of olden times.

[Source:Wikipedia]


NOTE: Readers, if you have any other logical explanations, both accounted and unaccounted, please post them as comments.

LOVE IS BLIND

-dedicated exclusively to my sweet heart ‘Roger’!!

Oh my! I am falling in love, all over again. But still he is my ‘first love’. I drive him crazy. He makes me drive him crazy! He has been my constant companion in the past year. A year has flown. It is totally unbelievable. I saw him the first time when I was in my 11th std. Sleek, shiny, handsome and striking with his silver streaks he was. I wasn’t all over him at the first sight. He understood this, so he went to befriend my brother first. And I starter seeing a bit more of him when he accompanied me and my brother to the theatres, malls, to my grandma’s place, and very rarely to my college. He must have had a delight when he visited my college, it being a complete girl’s college.

Three years flew. Nothing great happened. Then my brother had to go abroad. So my brother acquainted me and him a bit more. We both started going out at times with my brother tailing behind us to see if everything is alright! Once my brother went abroad, it was celebration time for him. He has become mine. No more of my brother intruding us! He now accompanied me where ever I went. He used to wait patiently for me with love and concern in the rain and sun.

When I come out, he used to flicker at me with joy. At times he was angry with me; he wouldn’t come out with me. I would have to kick him hard and start him out of his lazy slumber to come out with me. Still I am grateful to him, that because of me he had to meet with an accident with another big macho man. But still he doesn’t grumble at me when he wears that scar that accident rewarded him. He wears that big white scar with pride and almost gleams at me!

There have been days, when he has been filthy and uncouth. There have been days he will have this rugged, unkempt look. There have been days when he looks like he has come straight out of the mud and dust. There have been days when he could not run properly, that he gallops like a horse as he is getting older. But always he will have that striking appearance, that makes him stand apart however filthy and dirty he is, and how much ever he gallops like a horse*. (*courtesy: my gang of friends)

Whatever happens, He is mine and will be mine forever. Yes. This entire blog is dedicated exclusively to my ‘Roger’. My sleek, shine, handsome, AY 8291 Scooty pep, black. He will be there with me and stand with me wherever I go. We have an amazing relationship. At times he may grumble to come out with me, but in the end he will definitely give in to my tantrums and start to accompany me wherever I go. Wherever I go he follows me. As long as he gets enough Air, petrol and oil to help him survive. He will be there for me.

Love you loads Roger

Zany child
Driving people insane as always.

The Economics of Advertisements

Advertisements is not an uncommon thing of today. We find it on all kinds of media and also in the very close proximity of our houses, on walls, buildings etc.


[Read about this ad here]

The business houses are not stingy in providing free goods along with the goods and services they supply. Do they have an impact on the choices, we, the consumers make? Do these advertisements affect our choices?

A research done by Montague, a neuroscientist, stated that the brand overrode the actual quality of the product.

To see if there is a high dependence between our choices and advertisements, read more here.

Who Killed the SOLO?

Why did the 10 minute solo become a 5 minute one?
Followed by the even more annoying 50 second one?
And now since the 5 seconder i stopped listening to em'

Is it just me or are the solos dying?

Most musicians, and i mean those aged 30 and above who actually experienced the golden years of music if not lived through them, feel that there aren't any good guitar players out there, let alone solos.. Ever since the arrival of RnB, HipHop, Rap, and Michael Jackson, the mainstream success of bands/guitarists has diminished. Now, even that wouldn't be too bad... but the skill/talent is also diminishing..... or isit??

Worse up. Many bands are giving too much importance to vocalists and not enough to drummers, bassists, and guitarists. It's considered corny these days to solo or to incorporate solos into your songs, and even if you think you must, the crowd/producers/who ever's involved cuts you down to within a minute....

Artists who were known for long solos, be it complicated or simple bends.. :

Jimi Hendrix

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin

David Gilmour, PinkFloyd

Eric Clapton

B.B. King

Steve Vai, White Snake, G3

Joe Satriani, G3

Frank Zappa, and The Mothers

Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore's Night

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Duane Allman, The Allman Brothers Band

Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead

Slash, Guns 'N' Roses, Slash's Snakepit, Velvet Revolver


And god Damn the list is endless... but the point i'm trying to prove is that, no guitarist, has shined or soloed like those mentioned above.. within the last 5 - 10 years. Every legendry guitarist's time of recognition was before the late 1990s.. not one has emerged after..

My theory on why the solo and guitar talent is fading.

• DRUM MACHINES.. killed the acousticity.. destroyed motivation

• Rise of RnB, Hip Hop and Rap genres of music albeit a different one but one which is killing rock music in general.. though i do appreciate some of the older rap, the one these days is from the bottom of the music pit.. yes you people listening to H***.fm are listening to S**T, may you die in agony... pah.
  
• Worse up, there is no encouragement for people to pick up a guitar for a living, every parent is urging their son/daughter to run into the corporate jungle where lions and tigers have suits these days, and where you climb a ladder for a living.. i mean what kind of life is that?!

Whatever happened to Sex. Drugs. and Rock n Roll.... well i intend to live that life, after i reach the top of the corporate ladder... or i might just start living that life right now....

So to all you people out there, i beg you to start playing an instrument, be it a fender or a piano.. just whatever.. even pearls.. just pick up and play.. who knows.. the next legend could be from our generation..

ah.. who am i kidding, 99% of us are nothing but brainwashed freaks who
think braces with shiny diamonds are cool..

On a lighter note, it was raining today, so i some how got a few Decent if not good pictures for your viewing pleasure.

And lastly as ever i leave you with todays song.. comfortably numb.. song is about 6 minutes with the solo being 2 - 3 minutes.. it comes inbetween and towards the end.. god damn this was the best solo ever in the history of music, yes its not fast but the technique is mind blowing and hence puts gilmour's solo on top of the top.

Come back solo... please ?

,\m/

25 years ago....

I got this is from my friend...


A program was ... a television show
An application was .. for employment
Windows were..... something u hated to clean
A cursor ... used profanity
A keyboard was ...a piano
Memory was..... something u lost with age
A CD was... a bank account
If u unzipped in public u went to jail
Compress was something u did to garbage
A hard drive was a long trip on the road
Log on was adding wood to fire
A backup happened to your toilet
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
Cut.. u did with scissors
paste.. u did with glue
A web was a spiders home
A Monitor was some one who used to keep watch on classmates in absence of teacher or
A Monitor was class (School's)representative
A Desktop was desk's top surface.
And a virus was the flu!!

Hobbes is real and lynyrd skynyrd is dead

This is the first time i'm posting up here so be nice =D

Every day there's a newspaper in my house i read it. Calvin and Hobbes. These Guys are THE BOMB, the hotstuff, whatever you chose to call it. They're brilliant and so is they're creator Bill Waterson. For those of you who still don't know bloody ignoramouses Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip, and NO its not a STUPID COMIC... it's a comic STRIP.. a WORLD of a difference.

These Strips not only handled childish behaviour but also politics, death and consumer rights.

Calvin's a six years albeit a very smart one, who has a vocabulary as vast as the Sahara.

He feels the world's out to get him and is very anti social except with his Tiger Hobbes and the girl next door Susie Derkins.

The question of hobbes existance is one of long fought debates. The fact is, it doesn't matter whether hobbes is a real tiger, a stuffed one, or simply calvin's imaginary friend. It just matters that the character is there and his existance is more on a deeper plane of understanding rather than physical.

Now i leave you with some Famous Strips, Enjoy.

Recently, i've found my self interested in amateur photography, and the below are two of my best so far i've taken.

The first is called Reflections, for Obvious reasons. It's just a tumbler and me reflected innit.

However with a DSC P150 sony, life's pretty tought because 90% of pictures are blurred in the Manual mode. Sad..




This one below, correct me if'm wrong, is taken with a slow shutter and a quick flick of the wrist. Very, ' tres chic' non?

Am i avant-garde yet??

Lastly, here's a song i love, "sweet home alabama" a blues/southern rock anthemn by ever green

Lynyrd Skynyrd

The band is divine and not in a holy sense. They're casual riffs and bluesy piano blend so perfectly it makes me cry to think that 3/4 of the band, including lead singer johnny van zant died in a horribly plane crash.

SONG REMOVED : SWEET HOME ALABAMA by LYNYRD SKYNYRD