The art of the invisible

Humans are a blip in the history of our universe. The same way we think of a bacteria in our breakfast cereal. What bacteria? Exactly, invisible.

However, we continue to flex our muscles and battle nature, instead of living in harmony, like other creatures. What other inhabitants? Precisely, its an overdose of vitamin I.

Nature has her own art form, a kind of magic realism. Can you spot the flounder fish? Interesting, you take notice, big deal. However if you were told, this invisible fish was made in a laboratory, somewhere west of the Atlantic, you would be amazed. You may even think, what will they think of inventing next. Hmm, why do we underplay nature and her wonders? I don't know, but I will make it a point to be conscious and be more aware, will you?


In the battle of stealth, where have human's reached, a few million years after nature's invention, here goes:



9 of 10 people are more amazed watching a fellow man invent an invisibility cloak than the wonders of the natural world. Wonder why? Could it be the selfish gene? What's in it for me?

I say Democacy, you say Shamocracy

If there ever was a 'Politics 101' class in civil service school, it would most certainly involve watching and imbibing every show of 'Yes Minister'.

Yes, you heard it right, 'Yes Minister', the venerable British comedy about the tennis match between her majesty's civil service and the wily ministers.

James Hacker: This is a democracy, and the people don't like it.
Sir Humphrey Appleby: The people are ignorant and misguided.
James Hacker: Humphrey, it was the people who elected me!
[Humphrey nods]

This conversation between James Hacker (Minister of Administrative Services) and Sir Humphrey Appleby (his civil service counterpart) sums up the essence of modern Demo'n'ocracy.

And if you wonder that 'integrity' is but a word in our government's dictionary on a page that's gathering dust since 1963, the day the dictionary was printed, here is an affirmation:

James Hacker: Elbows: the most important weapon in a politician's army.
Annie Hacker: Other than integrity!
James Hacker: Integrity?
[bursts out laughing]

Apparently in the same dictionary, the example for 'humor' and 'joke' inadvertently refer to integrity, followed by muffled loud guffaws.

Is all lost? Is there a brotherhood of thugs who can hold these custodians of public accountable? Yes yes yes, in theory:

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Bernard, Ministers should never know more than they need to know. Then they can't tell anyone. Like secret agents, they could be captured and tortured.
Bernard Woolley: You mean by terrorists?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: By the BBC, Bernard.

Unfortunately, we do not have a BBC, however we did try to create a Prasar Bharati (custodians of Door Darshan, a dinosaur waiting to be privatised if the commies let it).

If some of you think private news channels are the watchdogs of democracy, think again. They are after TRP's, and TRP's reside in sensational 'breaking news' broadcasts (as per their definition).

This just in: The state of MP is considering banning a new condom claiming it is a 'sex toy'. This is one of India's most backward states, where women are slaves to men, and lesser men are slaves to upper caste men. From the forgotten land of the kama sutra, another cloudy day in India's democracy.

Google AdSense - Lost in Translation

At times, the best of technology falters to the humble word.

The word here is 'Devil' the topic of my previous post.

Google Adsense matches ad themes to content and blam, it's a cookie-clutter marriage where advertisers pay for a click.

However, at times, this marriage is acrimonious and unbelievable.

Guess which ad showed up for the 'Devil' post?

Monster.com

Devil without a Star

A single choice can mean a world of difference. Of the 11 questions, if I change the result in 1, I can get a personality transplant.

A star or a dreamer if I pick moon as my favorite 'heavenly' body, however I will stick to saturn and live with the consequences. My tarot describes me as a half-goat half-greek god. All for picking saturn, my ruling planet, since I don't really have a preference in 'heavenly bodies'?

I think I'll stick to material hedonism for the image, it's a little bit of gothic meets grunge in a shady motel in hell.

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

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