Nostalgic Bickerings.

First things first, I hate my CD Writer and Burner since they take a period equivalent to 20 long minutes to fully erase a CD-RW; and in the corresponding temper vs. time graph, temper rises as time increases. In order to avoid dangerously high temper, I usually tend to use the “Quick Erase” feature most of the times, when I feel that the customary multi-session schedule is not working as expected.

On a brighter note, I have started reading The Da Vinci Code; although I haven’t been able to see the movie yet, considering the stupidity of the PVR Priya management which decided to rather show X Men 3: The Last Stand than Code. What’s more, the only other quality theatre that is premiering the movie in South Delhi is PVR Saket to which I very occasionally go to, owing to the distance separating the center of mass of my house and that of PVR Saket. Priya would have surely amassed a fuller house for Code than they did for The Last Stand. Fools.

A few days back, I had dinner at TGI: Friday’s (Connaught Place) with my parents. Though I must say that this particular “dinner” was unique, since TGI does not have any regular meals that you may expect at any regular Indian restaurant. The pizza was good; the dessert was especially good (I forgot the name); the music was good too. Oh yes, they also had their walls covered by an assortment of inanimate objects ranging from a cycle to a Red-light to the pest-sprayer used in farms.

Interesting, eh?

-| AG.

PS: Ya Ali from Gangster is a nice song. And I don’t really hate my CD Writer and Burner.

Robots and Aircrafts I

Lately, robots and sleath fighter aircrafts have been attracting my intellect, thereby making me aware of the developments in their respective fields. Owing to the magnitude of each, I will be posting 2 separate posts pertaining to each. Presently, as aircrafts are hovering around in my cerebral region, I will discuss them.

A 103 years after the Wright brothers made their first "controlled, powered, heavier-than-air" flight, aircrafts have evolved phenomenally in power, design and agility. Defense aircrafts such as the F/A - 22 Raptor and the B-2 Spirit are touted as the dramatic leap forward in technology, considering the mesmerizing features they sport, I will agree hands down. F/A - 22 Raptor, the aricraft envisioned as the ultimate air superiority fighter, is equipped for ground attack, electronics attack and signals intelligence. According to a National Geographic interview, Raptor is so fast that it will pass over the adversary aircraft even before it appears on the radar. In the interview, the army test pilot refers to it as "the mighty duck", the concept behind it being that a normal flying duck will get shot easily by the hunter, but this particular duck is so fast that it will get away before the hunter can even lock his aim on it. The B-2 Spirit aircraft is equally evolutionary.

In the commercial airplane industry, Boeing and Airbus are the largest aircraft manufacturers, with revenues of $52.4 billion and $34.4 billion respectively. Boeing has 49% of orders for civil aircrafts and it is also the second largest defense contractor. Another interesting air-wonder is the Tilt Rotor aircraft that is capable of vertical take-offs. It has the speed of a normal turboprep airplane and uses rotating propellors for lift and propulsion. Due to a shady history of the Tilt Rotor aircraft, it is under experimentation and is not commercially used.

National Geographic (December, 2003) has a stack of defense and commercial aircrafts' photographs. The close-up shots of the F/A - 22 and B-2 are particularly nice.

- AG.

What. Ever.

With MTNL Broadband set up (after much frustration, cursing and wicked schemes to blow up MTNL headquarters) on the new laptop, I decided to hop around the Internet a bit more than usual, in order to cherish the victory of my structured thinking over the complexities of the ADSL Router. What I did find on my hopping spree was a feedback form from RamjasRKP's Website that said "I really liked this website" and a bunch of other not-so-notable crap which included downloading a (bad quality) trailer. Shifting off the hopping spree, I will lunge into the discussion regarding the Return of the King DVD I rented last night in celebration of successfully sitting for two and a half hours at one of the worst schools the Examination Center for IP Entrance Test. The Test was alright, better than others anyway.

Despite the number of scratches and marks on the back of the DVD, I was able to play it without any irritating flickers or stops. ROTK is a spell-binding movie, to say the least, though I must confess that I didn't feel this way when I went to see it at the theatre a few months back. The absence of crying babies and silly exclamations perhaps added to the unmistakable aura of Peter Jackson's legend. I particularly enjoyed the Rohan-Gondor-Sauron War (surprise, surprise!). The movie is an unforgettable eloquence consisting of twists and turns, Orcs and Men, Nazgûls and giant Eagles.

"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship ... but it is not this day. This day we fight!"

- Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

-|AG.

Tap, Tap. This thing on?

From Kaavya Viswanathan's much publicised plagiarism coup to Alexander Graham Bell's much unheard-of support for Eugenics, there is a lot to write about. The irony being that I will discuss neither of the extremities as they do not interest me as much as they did a few days back. I will settle on the Rain. The Spring Rain, the Winter Rain, the Monsoon Rain, whatever you may refer to it as, I will take pleasure out of its existence this way or that. Though I tend to feel just the opposite ("aggravated" is perhaps the right word) while standing outside in the rain, in the company of a dozen others who budge around under the sidewalk-shed trying to get out of getting drenched to the skin. But, generally speaking, I like Rain. I feel content on hearing its soft drumming and I often, depending on the hour of the day, walk out onto the porch and feel the cool breeze that accompanies this capricious phenomenon. It inspires me and tells me how beautiful this World is, and I instantly feel good about being a part (geographically speaking, I might not even count as a speck) of this Universe. Perhaps its only human to feel this way. Perhaps everyone does feel this way, with the exception of a few who distractedly wave it aside and say with heavy sarcasm, "Oh, My God! Water falling out of the Sky and going into the sewers. How very interesting!"

-| AG.