Category: Fun Stuff

This Amazing Web — 1

Check out this site. Click on the little square after the site has finished loading. Like that instruction on the shampoo bottle, repeat. Isn’t the web an amazing place? Why? Because the world is full of inventive, amazing talent and it allows people to showcase their ingenuity, and because we get to share in the joy of discovering those nifty ideas.

Le Parrot Est Mort

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who resigned in protest from the National Knowledge Commission, quoted Tom Paine that “We pity the plumage, but forget the dying bird.”

Mr Mehta, the plumage don’t enter into it–it’s stone dead. This parrot wouldn’t voom if you put four million volts through it. This parrot is definitely deceased. It is no more. It’s bleedin’ demised. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It’s shuffled off this mortal coil. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. All statements to the effect that this parrot is still a going concern, are from now on inoperative. Visavis the metabolic processes, this parrot has had its lot. This is an ex-parrot.

[Rarely, if ever, does one get a chance to quote Monty Python and do so with such devastating accuracy. 🙂 ]

Don’t Drive Like My Brother

“Don’t drive like my brother” is usually the last bit of advice that “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers” give to their around 2 million listeners of their weekly National Public Radio show Car Talk on 370 radio stations.

I used to listen to them religiously. They are funny and irreverent and clever and poked as much fun at the callers as they did at themselves. In the closing credits, they acknowledged the research done by Paul Murky of Murky Research and thanked their law firm Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe. They would also thank random people such as their adopted son from Sweden, Bjorn A. Payne Diaz, or their airline reservation manager, Will Price Randomly. (See this for a complete list of credits.)

I was pleasantly surprised when I recently learnt that Tom and Ray Magliozzi (Click and Clack) were the speakers at MIT’s Commencement Exercises in June 1999. Here is part of a MIT news item on the event.

They received tongue-in-cheek letters from MIT President Charles M. Vest explaining that both the United Nations and the President of the United States had “really spiffy flags” that came in handy to “cheer up a drab corner of the campus.”

So, not to be outdone, the Magliozzi brothers created a flag. Their flag — purple, red and black on a white background — is 4-by-6, emblazoned with the slogan Non Impediti Ratione Cogitatonis (Unencumbered by the Thought Process) surrounding a seal showing the fins, taillights and bumper of a 1959 Cadillac, complete with a raccon tail on the trunk. They say it memorializes the rear end of Tom’s recently deceased 1963 Dodge Dart. The flag flew on the podium alongside the US and state flags.

In their rambling, hour-long address, the brothers occasionally jockeyed for position at the podium, yelled “Stop it!” and “Behave!” at each other and laughed harder than almost anyone in the audience at their own jokes. Their speech was accompanied by hand-made graphs on posterboard that showed the relationship between happiness levels for “left brain vs. right brain” individuals.

Although each brother seemed loath to give the other the last word, Ray finally managed with: “Have fun, enjoy the ride and don’t drive like my brother.”

The address is a must read. I read it because it was delivered at what C&C said “is the world’s foremost institute of technology on Massachusetts Avenue” but I guarantee that you will not have wasted your time for having read it as well.

Raural Development

I have been associated with India Rural Development Fund (IRDF) from its very inception many years ago. IRDF was started by my friend Uday Kumar when we were both working for HP in the Valley and it does a remarkable job of providing primary education to many villages in Andhra Pradesh.

Since I am listed on the “About Us” page of the IRDF website, I do occassionally get emails from various agencies working in rural areas. I got one today which I think is too good to keep to myself. Here it is — for the record — the email with the subject heading “Raural Development.”

sir,
first of all my heads off to u and ur team.
i shall take this opportunity to introduce myself,
i m a citizen of village thaura, block rewsa.
sir, v villagers wana do some innovative task for the development of our village for this v need ur guidence. v have some good projects which v wana excute through our gram panchayat.
sir v also wana meet u personally to explore areas of our interest.
it wil b our pleasure if r given a chance and i shall promise on behalf of ourt villagers that if v given a chance v shall leave no stone broken.
thanking u,
anticipating ur kind cooperation as always.

[name]
village thaura
block rewsa
distt sitapur.

The image of headless people and unbroken stones is priceless.

Moving around in Mumbai

Best Mode of Transport in Mumbai
Well, thank goodness that there are options when it comes to transportation around here. This SUV is not going to be stopped by streets with 6-foot deep water levels. At water levels that would leave cars totally immersed, this fellow will barely notice it.

Now aren’t you glad that we did not go with those compact Japanese models of elephants? Sure they gave more miles to the bale of hay, and were easier to park in the crowded streets, but they were useless when it came to crossing overflowing creeks.

Bush Phone Home

I make no representations about the authenticity of the picture above. Any idiot can doctor up a photo these days. Even then, it is funny. Kind of goes with the image that one has of the prime chimp President of the United States of America.

Google Moon

So if you are all done with Google Earth, it is time to see Google Moon.

Those guys at Google do have a sense of humor. See the moon at max maginification. 🙂 Don’t forget to visit the Google Moon Help page and the Google Copernicus Center if you are looking for a job.

Optical Illusions

Want to have some fun and waste time and learn all at the same time? Check out these optical illusions.

When I come across these sorts of things, I cannot stop marvelling at the amazing power of the world wide web.

Interesting Games

Here are two interesting items. The first is from Burkhard Schipper, an economist at the University of Bonn. He created a game where you play as a firm against other firms and find out how you did against the computer and how you stand relative to other players. It takes about 5 minutes.

Talking of internet games, I came across something that is really spooky. I cannot figure this one out. I am pretty clever but that one has me totally puzzled.