Ever felt what you see or experience was felt already? Hope you remember the scene in The Matrix in which Keanu Reeves sees a cat moving twice, repeatedly, and then they sense that there has been something wrong. We sometimes experience a state of mind in which we feel familiar with what we see or experience. It gives us a weird feeling. This is called déjà vu.
It is a feeling quite common among adults and a study shows that 70 percent people have experienced it at least once. This may result due to an overlap between the neurological systems responsible for short-term memory and those responsible for long-term memory. The events might be stored in memory even before the conscious mind receives and processes it. Some say that It is related wih extra-sensory perceptions; they argue that it is evidence for psychic abillities in normal people.
It is also claimed to be the memory of dreams. Dreams enter the long-term memory directly and these vision might be due to a match between such dreams and the current experience. Last but not least, some believe it is pieces of past-life memories that re-surfaces due to familiar surroundings! So, when did you feel one last?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
For the boys and for men as well.
In one of my books, I found a very interesting work by William Hazlitt. Let me share it with you.
You seemed to take no notice of school fellows, or rather set yourself against them because they were strangers. They knew as little of you as you did of them. It would have been the reason for their keeping aloof from you, which you would have as a hardship. Never develop a prejudice against other because you know nothing of him. It is bad reasoning and makes enemy of half the world. Do not think ill of them until they behave ill to you. And then, strive to avoid the faults you see in them. This will disarm their hostility sooner than resentment or hatred. To criticize the dress of some the boys as not as good as your own is impolite. Never despise anyone for anything he cannot help. Keep up appearances yourself as a defence against the sneers of the world, but don’t value yourself upon them. I had rather said, “Never despise anyone at all”; for contempt implies a triumph over and pleasure in the ill of another. It means that you are glad and congratulate yourself upon their failings and misfortunes.
You have been used to have your own way a good deal at home. Now that you get among others who have something else to attend to besides humouring your whims and fancies; and you feel this as a repulse or piece of injustice. But it’s a lesson that you learn here that there are other people in the world besides yourself. The more airs of childish self-importance you give yourself, you will only expose yourself to be more thwarted and laughed at. True equality is the only true wisdom. Remember always that you are but one among others and you can hardly mistake your place in society. In the world you will find competitors at every turn. You can only share their fate, or settle your differences amicably with them.
You seemed to take no notice of school fellows, or rather set yourself against them because they were strangers. They knew as little of you as you did of them. It would have been the reason for their keeping aloof from you, which you would have as a hardship. Never develop a prejudice against other because you know nothing of him. It is bad reasoning and makes enemy of half the world. Do not think ill of them until they behave ill to you. And then, strive to avoid the faults you see in them. This will disarm their hostility sooner than resentment or hatred. To criticize the dress of some the boys as not as good as your own is impolite. Never despise anyone for anything he cannot help. Keep up appearances yourself as a defence against the sneers of the world, but don’t value yourself upon them. I had rather said, “Never despise anyone at all”; for contempt implies a triumph over and pleasure in the ill of another. It means that you are glad and congratulate yourself upon their failings and misfortunes.
You have been used to have your own way a good deal at home. Now that you get among others who have something else to attend to besides humouring your whims and fancies; and you feel this as a repulse or piece of injustice. But it’s a lesson that you learn here that there are other people in the world besides yourself. The more airs of childish self-importance you give yourself, you will only expose yourself to be more thwarted and laughed at. True equality is the only true wisdom. Remember always that you are but one among others and you can hardly mistake your place in society. In the world you will find competitors at every turn. You can only share their fate, or settle your differences amicably with them.
The Art of War
The patterns in the way nations fight reflect their cultural and historical traditions. These are deeply rooted attitudes that collectively make up their strategic culture.
The Asian way of war was described by some British historian as one of the indirect attacks, avoiding frontal attacks. This traces back to Asian history and geography; the great distances and harsh terrain have often made it difficult to execute the sort of open field clashes allowed by the terrains of Europe.
Bow and arrow were extensively used in Asia. The arrow is an indirect weapon, fired from a distance of hundreds of yards. Thus it can be fired from hidden positions and takes the enemy by surprise.
In the Sun-Tzu and other Chinese writings, the highest achievement of arms is to defeat an adversary without fighting. Actual combat is just one among many means towards the goal of subduing an adversary. War contains too many surprises to be a first resort. It can lead to ruinous losses, as has been seen time and again.
Sun-Tzu advocated war only after most thought preparations. The army is just an instrument to deal the final blow to an enemy already weakened by isolation, poor morale and disunity. The unwitting victim, focussed on the day-to-day events, never realises what’s happening to him until it’s too late. I believe this is a better way to approach war when compared to the horrible steps nations are taking nowadays.
The Asian way of war was described by some British historian as one of the indirect attacks, avoiding frontal attacks. This traces back to Asian history and geography; the great distances and harsh terrain have often made it difficult to execute the sort of open field clashes allowed by the terrains of Europe.
Bow and arrow were extensively used in Asia. The arrow is an indirect weapon, fired from a distance of hundreds of yards. Thus it can be fired from hidden positions and takes the enemy by surprise.
In the Sun-Tzu and other Chinese writings, the highest achievement of arms is to defeat an adversary without fighting. Actual combat is just one among many means towards the goal of subduing an adversary. War contains too many surprises to be a first resort. It can lead to ruinous losses, as has been seen time and again.
Sun-Tzu advocated war only after most thought preparations. The army is just an instrument to deal the final blow to an enemy already weakened by isolation, poor morale and disunity. The unwitting victim, focussed on the day-to-day events, never realises what’s happening to him until it’s too late. I believe this is a better way to approach war when compared to the horrible steps nations are taking nowadays.
Are you a goldbrick?
A goldbrick is a person who’ll make all sorts of excuses for not wanting to work. Some golbricks spend more energy trying to escape work than they might have used in working. Of course, hard work is probably not the pleasantest thing that can befall a man. That’s why there are so many happy idlers in the world. The idlers are however a different breed of men from those of goldbricks. Your idler wants no responsibilities. He takes his ease and does not care much what the world thinks of him. But the goldbrick does. He wants the good opinion of his fellow workmen, trying to show that he is really a good man on the job, while making excuses for not doing any work. In short, he is a fake
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Infrastructure Development in Dubai
You would have heard about the breathtaking development that is happening in Dubai. Have you ever bothered to take a look into what is happening out there? Let me show you..
click on image to get a full view
Dubai in the 90's..
The same place in 2003..
Last year
Currently, Dubai is said to have 15-25% of all the world's cranes.
The Dubai Waterfront, when completed will become the largest waterfront development in the world.
Hope you already know about this island. All of this was built in the last 5 years.
The Palm islands in Dubai. New Dutch dredging technology was used to create thewe massive man made islands.
They are the largest artificial islands in the world and can be seen from space. Three of these Palms will be made with the last one being the largest of them all.
Upon completion, the resort will have 2,000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and many other facilities. It is expected to support a population of approximately 500,000 people.
It is advertised as being visible from the moon.
The World Islands. 300 artificially created islands in the shape of the world.
Each island will have an estimated cost of $25-30 million.
The Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai. The worlds tallest hotel.
Considered the only '7 star' hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world.
It stands on an artificial island in the sea.
Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel.
Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai,
it is scheduled to be completed by 2009 after many delays.
The Burj Dubai. Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be complete by 2008.
At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily be world's tallest building when finished.
It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Yaipei 101.
This is what downtown Dubai will look like around 2008-2009.
More than 140 stories of the Burj Dubai have already been completed.
It is already the worlds tallest man made structure and it is still not scheduled to be completed for at least another year.
The Al Burj. This will be the centerpiece of the Dubai Waterfront.
Once completed it will take over the title of the tallest structure in the world
from the Burj Dubai.
Recently it was announced that the final height of this tower will be 1200 meters.
That would make it more than 30% taller than the Burj Dubai and three times as tall as the Empire State Building . This is a city on crack.
The Burj al Alam, or The World Tower. Upon completion it will rank as the world's
highest hotel.
It is expected to be finished by 2009. At 480 meters it will only be 28 meters shorter than theTaipei 101.
The Trump International Hotel & Tower, which will be the centerpiece of one of the palm islands, The Palm Jumeirah.
Dubailand. Currently, the largest amusement park collection in the world is Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, which is also the largest single-site employer in the United states with 58,000 employees. Dubailand will be twice the size.
Dubailand will be built on 3 billion square feet (107 miles^2) at an estimated $20 billion price tag. The site will include a purported 45 mega projects and 200 hundred other smaller projects.
Dubai Sports City. A huge collection of sports arenas located in Dubailand.
Currently, the Walt Disney World Resort is the #1 tourist destination in the world. Once fully completed, Dubailand will easily take over that title since it is expected to attract 200,000 visitors daily.
The Dubai Marina is an entirely man made development that will contain over 200
highrise buildings when finished. It will be home to some of the tallest esidential
structures in the world. The completed first phase of the project is shown.
Most of the other high rise buildings will be finished by 2009-2010.
The Dubai Mall will be the largest shopping mall in the world with over 9 million square feet of shopping and around 1000 stores. ?? It will be completed in 2008.
Ski Dubai, which is already open, is the largest indoor skiing facility in the world.
This is a rendered image of another future indoor skiing facility that is being planned.
Some of the tallest buildings in the world, such as Ocean Heights and The Princess Tower, which will be the largest residential building in the world at over a 100 stories, will line the DubaiMarina.
The UAE Spaceport would be the first spaceport in the world if construction ever gets under way. I'm not joking...
Some other crazy .. The Dubai Metro system, once completed, will become the largest fully automated rail system in the world. The Dubai World Central International Airport will become the largest airport in size when it is completed. It will also eventually become the busiest airport in the world, based on passenger volume. There are more construction workers in Dubai than there are actual citizens.
click on image to get a full view
Dubai in the 90's..
The same place in 2003..
Last year
Currently, Dubai is said to have 15-25% of all the world's cranes.
The Dubai Waterfront, when completed will become the largest waterfront development in the world.
Hope you already know about this island. All of this was built in the last 5 years.
The Palm islands in Dubai. New Dutch dredging technology was used to create thewe massive man made islands.
They are the largest artificial islands in the world and can be seen from space. Three of these Palms will be made with the last one being the largest of them all.
Upon completion, the resort will have 2,000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, movie theaters, and many other facilities. It is expected to support a population of approximately 500,000 people.
It is advertised as being visible from the moon.
The World Islands. 300 artificially created islands in the shape of the world.
Each island will have an estimated cost of $25-30 million.
The Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai. The worlds tallest hotel.
Considered the only '7 star' hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world.
It stands on an artificial island in the sea.
Hydropolis, the world's first underwater hotel.
Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai,
it is scheduled to be completed by 2009 after many delays.
The Burj Dubai. Construction began in 2005 and is expected to be complete by 2008.
At an estimated height of over 800 meters, it will easily be world's tallest building when finished.
It will be almost 40% taller than the the current tallest building, the Yaipei 101.
This is what downtown Dubai will look like around 2008-2009.
More than 140 stories of the Burj Dubai have already been completed.
It is already the worlds tallest man made structure and it is still not scheduled to be completed for at least another year.
The Al Burj. This will be the centerpiece of the Dubai Waterfront.
Once completed it will take over the title of the tallest structure in the world
from the Burj Dubai.
Recently it was announced that the final height of this tower will be 1200 meters.
That would make it more than 30% taller than the Burj Dubai and three times as tall as the Empire State Building . This is a city on crack.
The Burj al Alam, or The World Tower. Upon completion it will rank as the world's
highest hotel.
It is expected to be finished by 2009. At 480 meters it will only be 28 meters shorter than theTaipei 101.
The Trump International Hotel & Tower, which will be the centerpiece of one of the palm islands, The Palm Jumeirah.
Dubailand. Currently, the largest amusement park collection in the world is Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, which is also the largest single-site employer in the United states with 58,000 employees. Dubailand will be twice the size.
Dubailand will be built on 3 billion square feet (107 miles^2) at an estimated $20 billion price tag. The site will include a purported 45 mega projects and 200 hundred other smaller projects.
Dubai Sports City. A huge collection of sports arenas located in Dubailand.
Currently, the Walt Disney World Resort is the #1 tourist destination in the world. Once fully completed, Dubailand will easily take over that title since it is expected to attract 200,000 visitors daily.
The Dubai Marina is an entirely man made development that will contain over 200
highrise buildings when finished. It will be home to some of the tallest esidential
structures in the world. The completed first phase of the project is shown.
Most of the other high rise buildings will be finished by 2009-2010.
The Dubai Mall will be the largest shopping mall in the world with over 9 million square feet of shopping and around 1000 stores. ?? It will be completed in 2008.
Ski Dubai, which is already open, is the largest indoor skiing facility in the world.
This is a rendered image of another future indoor skiing facility that is being planned.
Some of the tallest buildings in the world, such as Ocean Heights and The Princess Tower, which will be the largest residential building in the world at over a 100 stories, will line the DubaiMarina.
The UAE Spaceport would be the first spaceport in the world if construction ever gets under way. I'm not joking...
Some other crazy .. The Dubai Metro system, once completed, will become the largest fully automated rail system in the world. The Dubai World Central International Airport will become the largest airport in size when it is completed. It will also eventually become the busiest airport in the world, based on passenger volume. There are more construction workers in Dubai than there are actual citizens.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
IT - A Disaster to the Masses?
The emergence of Information Technology is a boon to the industrial world and the economy of several nations. The extent to which IT has leveraged the GDP of some developing nations of the world is phenomenal. The life standards of thousands of families in these nations have improved and so has the flow of money into the markets. Notwithstanding this, the net effect of the IT industry on the lower sections of the society remains murky.
Four years ago, we shifted to a local suburb, 10Kms from the city. What was a high price for a family to pay as rent is now no amount when compared to the alarming sums that are demanded by the landlords. The reason is the emergence of IT parks and buildings in the neighbourhood in which the employees get heavy pay packages. They flock to the nearby areas in search of accommodation space. The prices of essential commodities like food, medicine and that of transport has risen unreasonably. The pathetic part of it is that there is not a single soul who would raise his voice against the price rise. Those who pay out such high prices for essential commodities, do so unmindful of the lower sections of the society that struggle to make ends meet.
With a steady increase in demand for space, land prices have also risen making the dream of a house a dream forever, for many. With people flocking to the city in huge numbers from different places for jobs, the woes of the over-burdened class of the society will continue to fall in deaf ears. If this is what IT has in store for the people of my neighbourhood, I guess it will be a disaster to the masses when we speak of world at large.
Four years ago, we shifted to a local suburb, 10Kms from the city. What was a high price for a family to pay as rent is now no amount when compared to the alarming sums that are demanded by the landlords. The reason is the emergence of IT parks and buildings in the neighbourhood in which the employees get heavy pay packages. They flock to the nearby areas in search of accommodation space. The prices of essential commodities like food, medicine and that of transport has risen unreasonably. The pathetic part of it is that there is not a single soul who would raise his voice against the price rise. Those who pay out such high prices for essential commodities, do so unmindful of the lower sections of the society that struggle to make ends meet.
With a steady increase in demand for space, land prices have also risen making the dream of a house a dream forever, for many. With people flocking to the city in huge numbers from different places for jobs, the woes of the over-burdened class of the society will continue to fall in deaf ears. If this is what IT has in store for the people of my neighbourhood, I guess it will be a disaster to the masses when we speak of world at large.
Friday, January 16, 2009
“Benjamin Button” for the Oscars
The romantic movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is well known as the front runner for the Academic Awards. The movie bagged a whopping 13 nominations including best picture, best actor and best director.
The film which is about the life of a man who ages in reverse, is all set to make a big mark in the industry with 13 nominations for the Oscars. It has bagged just one short of the all time record of 14 nominations held by “Titanic”. Historically, it is observed that the movie which bags the most nominations makes it to the top ranked, best picture Oscar.
“Benjamin Button” star Brad Pitt will be up against Mickey Rourkey, who acted as a prize fighter in “The Wrestler”, Frank Langella, who play former President in “Frost/Nixon” and Penn for his role in “Milk”. Taraji P.Henson was nominated for best supporting actress.
With a host of other competitors such as The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Frank/Nixon and Milk, Benjamin button is posed with tuff competition. Nevertheless, my heart is always with the action stunner “The Dark Knight”, which failed to earn either the best picture or best director nominations. The posthumous Oscar nomination for the Australian actor Heath Ledger comes as a consolation.
The film which is about the life of a man who ages in reverse, is all set to make a big mark in the industry with 13 nominations for the Oscars. It has bagged just one short of the all time record of 14 nominations held by “Titanic”. Historically, it is observed that the movie which bags the most nominations makes it to the top ranked, best picture Oscar.
“Benjamin Button” star Brad Pitt will be up against Mickey Rourkey, who acted as a prize fighter in “The Wrestler”, Frank Langella, who play former President in “Frost/Nixon” and Penn for his role in “Milk”. Taraji P.Henson was nominated for best supporting actress.
With a host of other competitors such as The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Frank/Nixon and Milk, Benjamin button is posed with tuff competition. Nevertheless, my heart is always with the action stunner “The Dark Knight”, which failed to earn either the best picture or best director nominations. The posthumous Oscar nomination for the Australian actor Heath Ledger comes as a consolation.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
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