Saturday, February 27, 2010


On a Rainy Day...

Gregory Thielker's Paintings 

Gregory Thielker on his art:
"My most recent paintings and drawings explore the sensation of seeing from a car while driving through the rain. I am fascinated with the constantly changing, yet particular landscapes seen from the car and also the way that the water on the windshield interacts with that landscape. The water creates a shifting lens for the way we see the environment- both highlights and obscures our viewing. Perspectives slip and compress, while shapes and colors merge into one another. I also work with relationships between surface and depth, between flatness and illusion. These works are born out of real experience and have a close relationship with the medium of painting- its fluidity, transparency, and capacity for layering, mixing, and blending. I draw upon a lineage of painters from Caspar David Friedrich to Gerhard Richter.
The paintings themselves are compiled from hundreds of photographs taken while driving in rainstorms with the windshield wipers turned off. While these moments are commonly ignored or deemed a necessary part of reaching our desired destination, they are powerfully charged with weather, light, and color- all experienced at a great velocity. This combination of speed and subdued calm, as the world goes past, creates a kind of transcendental moment that I hope to tap into with the fluidity of the painting medium."

Under the Unminding Sky
Route 7


Cash Only


Mass Pike Toll


McGrath Highway


Coming to a Complete Stop
Harrison Avenue Study
Vortex
www.gregorythielker.com



The Derrick Redmond Story from

The Power of Attitude



August 1992. Derrick Redmond from Great Britain was favored to win the 400-meter race during the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, but as he powered around the backstretch his hamstring snapped. Derrick tried desperately to finish the race, but he still had half the distance to go. Because he couldn't walk, he began to hop. One step-a grimace. Two steps-a yell.


Jim Redmond had to get to his struggling son. He doesn't remember all the steps down from Section 131, Row 22, Seat 25 of the Olympic Stadium. He doesn't really remember leaping over the railing or pushing off security guards who were too stunned to stop him. He was not just a spectator at the Olympics anymore; Jim Redmond was a father, and he had to get to his son.
"Dad," Derrick said, "Dad...Get me back to lane five. I want to finish."
And leaning on each other, father and son made their way around the track as the crowd, with the whole world watching, rose to their feet cheering. Olympic Organizers can light the skies with fireworks, they can invite kings and queens...but this was the magic of real life.
That day people saw an example of great courage, but they witnessed an even greater story about love.
Love, simply stated, is the essence of life. It can put the smile on your face, the bounce in your step, and most importantly, the joy in your heart. Even when your whole world is crumbling around you, one person holding your hand, looking into your eyes, saying "I love you" is enough to get you through.
Love is to attitude as the rain is to flowers. Surround yourself with people who love you, and whom you can love back. This, more than anything else you can do, will provide the music for your life and the fuel for your soul.
I wish you the courage to be warm when the world
Would prefer that you be cool.
I wish you successes sufficient to your needs;
I wish you failure to temper that success.
I wish you joy in all your days; I wish you sadness
So that you may better measure that joy.
I wish you gladness to overbalance grief.
I wish you humor and a twinkle in the eye.
I wish you glory and the strength to bear its burdens.
I wish you sunshine on your path and storms to season
Your journey.
I wish you peace in the world in which you live and in the
Smallest corner of the heart where truth is kept.
I wish you faith to help define your living and your life.
More I cannot wish you, except perhaps love, to make

All the rest worthwhile
-Robert Ward
.ww.MotivationInAminute.com

Saturday, February 20, 2010



I write your name

in tracks in the dark...

On flat, wet sand,

in breath on window panes...

Sunday, February 14, 2010

V-DAY

Today being Valentines Day, planned to dedicate
a few lines to the love-struck romantics of this world. 
But a skeptic like me could only churn out a parody :D

Love is in the air
Everyone is with their pair;
The young and the old
feel love moves the world,

Rack my brain I did,
for verses to fill the grid;
Thoughts have fled my mind
leaving me in a bind.

Pages threaten to be wordless
like our lives which are loveless.
Love verses broke mid-way,
like dreams of our lives blown away

Set out to write love ditty
but lost the plot, what a pity!
Tried to keep up with the rhyme
and ended up with a whine!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

CONTROL FREAKS

There are people and there are people.  The first category people are the normal, sane, homo sapiens who exist on our Mother Earth.  The second one, ah, this category is probably created to make Hell on earth for the first category folks. Yes-THE CONTROL FREAKS.

They want absolute order.  They go about their tasks with a magnifying glass probably, or better still a microscope may be.   Even a speck of dust in the farthest nook and cranny shows up in their extra-sensitive radar.  The one-woman/man army swings into action to annihilate the offending intruder.

They have the power to detect the minutest motion of objects-especially if they happen to be articles on tables, shelves, cabinets etc.  The tirade against the unfortunate movers and shakers is best left unsaid.

This demon called OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER or OCD is an uninvited visitor who pitches his tent and refuses to leave, in the process making life miserable for the co-habitants.

Medical research says that the levels of the neurotransmitter Serotonin in the brain are low in people who have OCD.  Interestingly, scientific studies have also established that love also causes Serotonin levels in the brain to drop, which may lead people to obsess about their lover.

So aren’t we drawing parallels here-being smitten by a lover and being afflicted by the OCD?  That makes it sound better - love-struck and OCD-struck! Now, why would I go to such lengths to make OCD look harmless and appealing?  Truth be said, well, I belong to the second category as well!!


Wednesday, February 10, 2010








FACEBOOK STATUS AND THE IMPERFECT ALIBI

Rodney-facebook

Rodney Bradford is a lucky guy. Charged with committing a robbery in Brooklyn last November, Bradford was freed when his lawyer proved that Bradford's Facebook status updated a minute before the robbery began. The computer that sent the update was in Harlem. Since Bradford didn't display the ability to be in two places at the same time, prosecutors dropped the charges.
But here's the kicker: There are several ways Bradford could have updated his Facebook status and have it appear that he was at home the whole time. Before I go on, I should add that based upon what I know of the case, I think he was innocent. But I also think his case sets a dangerous precedent -- a clever person could now orchestrate a crime and create a virtual alibi.
While I don't believe Bradford was involved in the robbery, I also know the evidence that led to the prosecutors dropping the charges wasn't adequate (assuming media reports from papers like the New York Post are telling the whole story). If the Facebook status update was the clincher, that's bad news.
Here are a few ways someone could update his or her Facebook status while simultaneously committing a crime across town:
  1. Have someone else log in and write the update. This is the least technical method. Enlist the help of an accomplice to write your update for you. Split the loot when you get back.
  2. Use a service like LogMeIn or GoToMyPC to access your own computer remotely. You can control your machine as if you were there in person and schedule a Facebook update. It will look like it came from your home computer -- because it did.
  3. Build a virtual networking computing (VNC) server. This isn't as hard as it sounds -- computers running Mac OS X 10.4 or better or Windows Vista Ultimate or better already have the capability to act as a VNC server. You can even use an app like Mocha VNC to connect to your computer through an iPhone. Control your machine as if you were at the keyboard.
In short, a virtual alibi isn't really worth that much. In Bradford's case, attorneys subpoenaed Facebook to make sure the status update came from his home. Facebook confirmed this was the case. But as I point out, that doesn't necessarily mean Bradford was actually home. Right now, the law is lagging behind technology. Many lawyers don't really know what is and isn't possible using computers. As a result, attorneys drop charges for the wrong reasons.
Perhaps the lawyers did know all the possibilities. Perhaps they dropped the charges because the evidence coupled with everything else they knew about Bradford was enough to convince them he wasn't the right guy. It could be another case of the media not reporting the whole story. But if lawyers think that there's no way to create a fake virtual alibi, we may be in for some serious crimes committed by Web-savvy bad guys.
Source: news.discovery.com/

Sunday, February 7, 2010








ONE DAY POEM
Jiyeon Song has created this cool dome shaped contraption.
Using a complex array of perforations, the pavilion's surface 
allows light to pass through creating shifting patterns, which
-during specific times of the year-transform into the legible 
text of a poem. The specific arrangements of the perforations 
reveal different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar.

NOSTALGIA

We had been to the mall one of these days when the printed words on a Tee worn by a shabby, unkempt boy caught my eye. Talking of malls - they seem to have sprouted up all over the city these days, and a few more are in various stages of life- but now I am digressing from the Tee. Well, it read “Of all the things I lost, I miss my mind the most”-from the movie Kiss of Death, if I am right. That set me thinking-undoubtedly one of those rare happenings. What is it that I miss the most?? I started making a mental list-I mean a list in my mind. The more I thought, the longer the list seemed to grow. That surprised me-I have always prided myself on being a very unsentimental person-but this growing list meant that I am a bad judge of character-even mine! There would be time for more such self-analysis later, now on to my list:



How many of us remember seeing a sparrow in our neighborhood? Or for that matter, a squirrel-how long ago was that? Where have these sweet chirpy little creatures gone? Squirrels invariably bring my grandma to mind. She had mastered the art of nocturnal story telling-actually by repeatedly telling the same story. She probably took Bruce Lee’s advice too seriously-to practice repeatedly and master one single stroke so that you become unbeatable in that. Her story every single night was from the Ramayan-the rescue of Sita by Ram from Lanka with the help of the Vanarsena by building the Sethu across the seas. The most eagerly awaited part of the story was the part played by a little squirrel which contributed its mite to building the bridge. My grandma’s hand would turn into the squirrel and playact the tiny animal jumping into the water, wetting its skin, rolling on the sand, rushing onto the bridge and shaking the sand onto the bridge adding its humble contribution to the mighty construction activities. Our little fella catches Lord Ram’s eyes with his enterprising endeavors, who lifts it up and strokes its back fondly. So, that’s why you see the lines on the squirrels back even to this day, says my grandma and we are thrilled to bits to hear that. Now there are no squirrel stories and no squirrels either. With the electro magnetic waves from the mushrooming mobile towers effectively driving out sparrows, we are resigned to watching them on the NatGeo channel.

The next in my list is darkness and silence-doesn’t the very mention of these words bring back our childhood phobias? I’ve figured out why children are smarter and bolder these days. The absence of complete darkness and silence must be the primary reason. Wonder how many households still use a night lamp with the zero-watt bulb? We’ve all heard of great men like Abe Lincoln who studied under the street lights at night (and probably wondered why the heck couldn’t they have studied at daytime). These days you don’t have to go as far as your street. Your entire neighborhood is almost floodlit through the night. May be your future doesn’t look so bright but your city definitely looks so. Our city slickers are star-struck and would love star-gazing, no doubt but not by the heavenly kind but the celluloid kind. The stars and planets were just out of reach in those days, but now they are out of sight too. With the city lights burning so bright all through the night, the stars have lost out to them-yes, the city lights outshine the stars. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Milky Way-what’s that-sounds like an ice cream parlor? The city never sleeps? You bet! Add to it the cacophony assaulting our ear drums every waking and sleeping moment. And no, I’m not talking about what goes in the name of music these days. There’s no respite from the traffic noises, electric/electronic appliances and add to these the worst of all-a high decibel assault from your spouse all through the night-yes, the dreaded snore. It helps not only to develop a thick skin in today’s world, but also an extra-thick ear drum.

I’m just half-way through my list but I’m already feeling so overwhelmed with nostalgia. I would have loved to rave and rant about watching the home-coming birds, wading through dirty puddles of rain water, community-viewing soporific programs on black and white television sets, listening to the transistor radio (is it already extinct?), life with snoopy but entertaining neighbors etc. etc. But I’m glad that I appreciated the amazing experiences that I’ve gone through. Because we see many of our friends who failed to enjoy their life and realize rather late in life that yesterday’s scraped knees are better than today’s broken hearts.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

13 Amazing Facts about Burj Dubai – The World’s tallest building

– Is the tallest man made structure on earth as of today, January 4th 2010, when it is being inaugurated. Dubai was recently in news for its economic crisis, but even amidst all the chaos the Arabs have made it happen. Opening the Burj Dubai (Meaning the tower of Dubai) to the world. And when Dubai does something, it does it overwhelmingly well, and this one is no different. Read about the Burjj Dubai facts here.

BurjDubaiHeight

1 – US$800,000,000.00 was pumped into building this architectural marvel.

Now, who’s talking about economic crisis.

2 – The Burj Dubai Adress – P.O Box No. 1, Burj Dubai, Dubai

Easy to remember, is it not ?

3. How would it look, had Burj been in the US ?

burj-dubai-in-new-york

4. Building consists of 57 elevators, 1,044 residential apartments and 49 floors of office space.

5. An office space costs US $4,000 per square feet.

6. Giorgio Armani opens his first ever Hotel chain in Burj Dubai.

7. The building is 818 m tall but can be reached at 60 seconds by elevator

image

8. The entire building consists of 162 floors.

9. Burj Dubai is said to have used 330,000 cubic meters of concrete, which would be equal the weight of 100,000 elephants.

10. 293 2.93 Eiffel Towers should be stacked one after another to match Burj Dubai’s height.

image

11. From the top of Burj, a total of 80 Kilometres can be seen around it.

image

12. 28,261 Glass panel cover the entire outside panels.

Burj-Dubai-14

13. The Burj Dubai design is based on a flower calledHymenocallis a.k.a Desert Flower

burj-dubai-flower-design

image

Image courtesy – Dubai Tower