Black & White

Well,in my last post on Photography, I mentioned a photgrapher and his site capturing panoramic views of nature's pristine glory.

Well, this time I am again going to mention a site ,but as my blog hints, with a different flavour altogether. Russ and Marcia's site is basically devoted to black and white photography which is their speciality.Out of all, I found about 90% of the uploads soothing and captivating. Despite majority of the site being devoid of colours,it sets a very good example of displaying natural beauty on a different pedestal altogether.

Link:http://www.russandmarciamartin.com/

Procrastination is the thief of time ! !

Like millions of people checking their google mail account everyday, I was also doing the same last Sunday morning when I saw Google's quote "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."I quickly raced through the searches on the quote that kept me interested till I found a fairly decent excerpt from The Hindu:

"In a positive sense, doubt leads us to the logical truth.In a negative sense, `doubt' is a form of fear. In a positive sense, it causes us to hesitate before acting and apply more rational methods. Logic is called the `Art of reasoning'. Entire science is motivated by doubt and analysis. Rather than accepting the existing theories, experiments always continue to search the logical truth.

Doubt is the state of being unsure of something. It is the uncertainty about the truth or factuality of existence of something. `Doubt', in a pessimistic sense, causes starting trouble. It delays effort. It hampers work. Finally, it hinders result."

"Procrastination is the deferment or putting-off of an action, which requires immediate attention, usually by focusing on some other distraction. The word is derived from the Latin words `pro' (means `for') and `cras' (tomorrow). It is a habit of adjourning work.

"Procrastination is the thief of time," goes a proverb. This conveys the meaning that postponement is both negative and wasteful of time. A philosopher rightly said: "Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." Another lazily ridiculed him: "Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy... Hard work pays off in future. Laziness pays off now."

Link:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2004/07/05/stories/2004070500310300.htm

Einstein To Gandhiji !!

With all the news hovering around Gandhiji's last letter written 19 days before his assassination,here is an interesting letter I found on the net. The letter was written by the eminent scientist of all time ,Albert Einstein and then the reply from our Bapu to Him.


Have a look at it :




The translation of it was :
"Respected Mr. Gandhi !
I use the presence of your friend in our home to send you these lines. You have shown through your works, that it is possible to succeed without violence even with those who have not discarded the method of violence. We may hope that your example will spread beyond the borders of your country, and will help to establish an international authority, respected by all, that will take decisions and replace war conflicts.With sincere admiration,Yours A. Einstein.I hope that I will be able to meet you face to face some day. "

The reply was:
"DEAR FRIEND,I was delighted to have your beautiful letter sent through Sundaram. It is a great consolation to me that the work I am doing finds favour in your sight. I do indeed wish that we could meet face to face and that too in India at my Ashram.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. GANDHI"


The following link also depicts the views of Einstein about Gandhiji -> a very admirable fact that how popular He became worldwide taking into account a wide difference in the means of communication in the past and the present.
Link to the site : http://streams.gandhiserve.org/einstein.html

Blue Moon- Is it really Blue ?

"Blue moon" is a quirky astronomical term used to describe the second full moon in a calendar month, an event which occurs only once every two and a half years.
But it hasn't always been this way.

Up until the 1940s, the term blue moon was used to describe the third full moon in a season.
In 1946, Sky & Telescope magazine mistakenly attributed it to the second full month of the month.

The error was repeated in a 1980 episode of a popular US radio show called Star Date, which in turn appeared as the answer to a question in the board game Trivial Pursuit. As a result, the mistake has stuck.

However you define it, a blue moon isn't a common event. On average they occur once every two and a half years, which probably led to the term 'once in a blue moon'.

So if the moon doesn't change colour, why use the term 'blue'?

Geoff Wyatt, Manager of the Sydney Observatory, believes it probably has more to do with how the moon might 'feel', rather than its colour.
"To have two full moons in a month, means (the Moon) has used some energy so it will be down. It's not a colour reference, it's more an emotive reference," Wyatt says.

Link:http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=274991
My Picassa Album:http://picasaweb.google.com/niveshm/BlueMoonNight

Maruti SX4 Unleashed!!

Here is what I have found out comprehensive info on SX4.

Hatchback is a term describing an automobile design, consisting of a passenger cabin with an integrated cargo space, accessed from behind the vehicle by a tailgate or flip-up window. The vehicle must have at least two rows of seats, with the rear set able to fold down to increase cargo space.
Hatchback vehicles are functionally similar to station wagons (which are intended to carry large volumes), but distinguished by a smaller load area.

A fastback is a car body style characterised by a continuous slope from the roof to the base of the decklid. Fastbacks can be two-door coupés or two- or four-door sedans.
Unlike the hatchback, a fastback car has a fixed rear window and typically a trunk that is separated by a bulkhead from the passenger cabin.Fastbacks provide an advantage in developing aerodynamic vehicles with a low drag coefficient.Mercedes Benz class is one of its finest example.

Fastback is a U.S. term - in the UK, true fastbacks are so unfamiliar that no word exists for them. They are often mislabeled as hatchbacks, which by definition are different vehicles where the entire rear portal or 'fifth door' including the window will open. For example, the Rover 800 liftback is not a fastback.A hatchback that looks like a fastback, but has a rear window integral to the hatch and a luggage compartment integral to the cabin, is properly termed a liftback. All liftbacks are hatchbacks with a fastback's profile, but a true fastback is neither a liftback nor a hatchback.

Now another term ->A sedan car, American English terminology (saloon in British English), is one of the most common body styles of the modern automobile. At its most basic, the sedan is a passenger car with two rows of seats and adequate passenger space in the rear compartment for adult passengers. The vehicle has a separate for luggage at the rear.Both the above automobiles are types of saloons.

Now, the pride lies in that India has its first saloon launched by Maruti in the form of Baleno-the saloon version of SX4.

After all ,it is the first car to be sold with an M class engine.SX4 is the critical product for Suzuki not only in India but also in US where it has lost its edge.

Yes the Honda dominance has finally been broken atleast for may[however see no reason why it cannot continue],the sx4 has outsold the Honda city,coupled with the fact that Hyundai Verna diesel sales have
also picked up means gloomy days ahead for the present honda city in India.Precisely why Honda is going in for another facelift by this diwali[a little unscheduled] before coming up with an all new platform by 2008. So prospective Honda city customers be warned you will sit with an old model in just a few months time.

SX4 is created by the same Suzuki team that won many awards all over the world with the Suzuki Swift. Success of swift lies in its sporty nature, Suzuki has chosen the same for its SX4 sedan.Here is the link where detailed comparison b/w Honda City and SX4 has been given:

http://www.autocrust.blogspot.com/2007/05/maruti-suzuki-sx4-vs-honda-city.html

5 Love Notes to My Grandmother

This was posted on a blog http://www.helpothers.org/story.php?sid=6932 that was really inspiring and touching:

"I was just in France to visit my grand-mother who is very dear to me. I don’t get to cross the Atlantic very often, and she’s now 96 year old, so every time I go visit, the two of us are very aware that it might be the last time we see each other. Last time I visited her in December of 2004, I did a series of short video interviews about her life. I asked her what it was like to grow up with her father in the 1910s (her mother died during labor), to live through the German occupation alone with two young children with a husband away in a prisonner's camp in Germany. I asked her about her greatest memories and life learnings so far, her favorite books, foods, stories. I also asked her about her spirituality and her thoughts about death. I learned a lot of amazing new things about her I never knew before. These were very intimate conversations and a very special time for both of us.

This year, I did not really have questions, only a great urge for her to know how loved she is. I cooked for her, and read her stories. I gave her a foot massage, which I was amazed to discover was her first ever! Before leaving, I was looking for a way to leave something meaningful to behind besides the memory of our time together. So I wrote her five different love and gratitude notes to let her know how much she means to me, and hid them in different places where I knew she would eventually find them… One under the sheets, on her pillow. Another one hanging from the lamp shade by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her mailbox which she eagerly checks every day. And a last one on her car’s steering wheel (she still drives to the nearby village a couple of times a week to run errands!). I left really joyous knowing that these cards would surely cheer her up after I left (she lives by herself). She called me as I was traveling back to Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said (in French of course): “I found your three cards! By the time I discovered the third, I was laughing out loud! They did me so much good. Thank you so much!” I smiled to myself, knowing she still had two more to go! It was Sunday, so my guess is that she had not checked her mailbox and had not yet driven her car!

As I was sitting on the plane back to the United States, I remembered that one of my friends' guiding principles is to treat everyone like family, and so I was thinking about ways to practice that in different settings, including on a plane ride. I decided that on my next flight, I would bring and write five anonymous appreciation cards for different people on the plane, including the pilot who probably does not get thanked enough for taking us safely to our destination."

Capturing The Beauty Of Nature ! !

I have been thinking to add this post as my first one but waited for the right matter to add to it.

Being a great photo enthusiast, I am passionate about capturing aesthetic beauty endowed by HIM to us.

Photography has been greatly enhanced by the invention of the digital cameras and the famous photoshop software .One of the most beautiful aspect digital cameras provide to us is that they let you experiment various modes , tuning between zooming,brightness,exposure,etc. and more importantly,you can delete the images you feel, are crap. This has brought the photography experience to an entirely different level.

Recently,I found a website of a photographer Marc Adamus whose marvellous work made me spellbound. They really depict the extra-efforts that are required apart from camera for a successful snap.Each and every snap taken by him depict a perfect blend of rich colours and a flavour of freshness one senses in one's cornea.

Here is the link:http://wildphoto.smugmug.com/

He had won the monthly contest of April organized by popphoto.com :http://www.popphoto.com/photocontests/1575/your-best-shot.html

So,to all photography enthusiasts, here is the podium to show your talent. Go and get going with the contests on http://www.pophoto.com/