and lo! My shiniest new toy

My ever increasing impatience climaxed today as I unboxed the camera that I ordered on Amazon a few days back. The camera is Canon elph 300hs. It's a lovely camera with some really neat features packed in a small form factor and a lovely design.

and my camera is RED in color!

Before you folks jump to any conclusions about my choice of color, there is some clarification in order. The camera is available is three colors and I have been watching the price of each of these three models on amazon for some time. At the risk of giving away the analytics guy in me, I should tell how I went about it. Went to Amazon about a month and half ago and started noting the price everyday. Entered it in the spreadsheet and made a plot. Did the same for used models as well. After a few days realized that the price isn't dropping beyond $164 and the used camera was being sold at $154. Now, armed with this data, I decided to buy the camera whenever it approached $164 and one day it fell to $161. Next thing I know, I got my credit card out and bought it. Felt happy because now the camera is being sold for $177 :P. Now, only the red model was available at this price and taking the red one seemed like the best choice.

I had this model in my mind for quite sometime. Went to a variety of review sites before zeroing in on this model. I went as far as going to Flickr to see the tendencies of this camera. In addition to a graph of people using it, it gives you different photos to look at. A great tool if you are thinking of buying a camera. For example, you might wonder if the camera you are interested in is good for motion photos. No sweat, go to this place in flickr and select the action category. Good right...! I haven't come across many people who have Flickr as a kind of review platform.

Ok, this post is about my camera and taking pictures and it wouldn't be fair on the world of sayings if I talked too much. After all a picture is worth a thousand words :) Throwing in a few pictures and one lovely video.

Colors seem to come out really well and not washed out

A lovely photo of the parking lot and the buildings beyond as seen from my apartments. The photo has wideangle written all over it thanks to the wide angled lens that this camera has

I'm starting to like this picture a lot. The orange which I kept on the table seems to grab my attention. Same there for you too? I discovered this video after the arrival of my camera. I was searching youtube on red canon elph 300hs and landed on this video. It does a good job of summing my excitement at the moment.

How far is too far for Google?

Today's topic of discussion in one of my courses was search engines in general and Google in particular. And while we started off the class by the need to examine the implicit-ness of the crowdsourcing aspect in Google, there was ample digression during which a lot of other things were also discussed. While I'm inclined to talk about almost all of them, I personally feel attached to some privacy issues that Google is dangerously toying with.

There is a very interesting debate on how far will Google go in its pursuit to store and index everything. Google's grand vision is to understand web and understand each and everybody who is using the web. However, there is a growing feeling that this intrinsic desire on the part of Google mission's statement is what will bring it down one day. Look at the number of the anti-trust lawsuits that are coming to light. Look at how fast privacy policies are changing in facebook. Look at why diaspora is becoming such a hit. Why was the second challenge of Netflix cancelled? Privacy is becoming the focal point of consumer and industry alike. However, while the consumer, an unapologetic stickler to risk aversion, doesn't want any of his/her data to be used, there is the industry, which is equally inveterate when it comes to using the data of the user. By summoning the best paralegals and asking them to write (in perfect prose!) hard to dissect User Agreements, companies are hell bent on using every piece of the information of the user and infer whatever, they can't extract.

Add to it the fact that Privacy laws in US, like all other laws in the country, are bent heavily in favour of the industry. Under the umbrella of these companies, some of the most intelligent people sit and design algorithms that threaten to divulge all the information that there is to anyone on the web. If one looks at the evolution of the research in social networks and the aspect of being able to mine information from these networks, US has always been far ahead. On the other hand, Europe with its stringent privacy laws, has been shining example which has wreaked the complexions of companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. for violating various privacy agreements

The truth is that this is not the first time, companies have had a jolly good time in US. United States, in its zeal to demonstrate values of "liberty", "freedom" and all that jazz has gone out of its way to create a market that is a free-for-all. Today, Google has a lot of money. So, it sucks in Bachelors, masters and PhDs in its company. It has the money, so it brings in the lawyers from the best law schools, businessmen from the finest business schools and sociologists from the most well known universities. While this paints a beautiful and utopian picture of a perfect melange, where great people meet and do great things, we need to take a few steps back to look at the big picture.

The big picture is that these people are all trying to figure out the genomes of the collective intelligence of the people that the world wide web is made of. Google with its fingers, hands, legs in almost everything from android to blog to mail to search to chat to documents and to offers, it is trying to figure out the social DNA of each and every person. And that is where I have a problem. I don't want my social DNA to sit in some computer and be used. Worse still, used at the expense of my time. I absolutely don't want my social DNA to be used in some multivariate Gaussian distribution to figure out the parameters of some graphical model that will help Google earn more revenue.

Secondhand book stores in New York

Today I went to two secondhand bookstores on the 12th street and Broadway. Strand, the first store where I went was huge. Saying huge is not enough. Imagine, a stand for book, having books on each side. Each side accommodating 7 rows of books and each row spanning some 3 metres. Fathomable...? Well, now in a room, there were about 20 such stands and the bookstore had 4 such rooms. Now, I wouldn't want to dive into the calculations and estimate the number of books. The site has made our life by saying that they have about 18 miles worth of books. Now that's a unit of measurement I have never come across!

I knew about Strand bookstore but I had never really gone there. I had earlier been to Housingworks bookstore in SoHo which is a really good place too. It's not as vast as Strand, but definitely boasts of a good many books. Coming from a family of thrift shops, it has this really great window for bargaining too. A sizeable portion of whatever money is earned here goes towards charity as the books that sold here arrive through various book donation programs.

 And another book shop I went to was the Alabaster book shop. It was the best of the lot as it stocked a lot of authors whom I actually knew. Blame my ignorance but I like to believe this bookshop is where my home is if my home were ever to be a book shop.

I went to these bookstores with a person I met a few days ago. The person told me that killing time in these places is one thing on will never regret and spending time here discussing books and authors. Styles and preferences was an afternoon well spent. I didn't step out empty hand either. I bought two books -

Looking forward to completing these two books and going there again. I bought The Memory Keeper's Daughter from Housingworks which wasn't that great. Furthermore, its not one of the books I would like to be around in my "book shelf". I will most probably donate back to Housingworks where they can get a few more bucks by selling the book to someone else. Maybe that money will go to educate a disadvantaged child or rehabilitate an HIV/AIDS person.

The issue of being able to help someone indirectly is gratifying in a way because I might never be able to give money directly. For example, take Greenpeace. The other day, a guy and a girl hounded me near bryant park and told me about their agenda of stopping Mattel from getting land in Indonesia which would mean cutting down the rain forest. It's a great idea and while I fully support it, I can never come to donate money to them. Getting money out of me in indirect fashion would be the best way I guess...

last few months

I opened my blog and read a few posts. I realized that I could either sit on my ass, read my previous posts and let my feebly developed writing skills rot or I could try putting a few sentences on a regular basis. Wouldn't be too bad right? Afterall, if there is one thing I'm learning through dance it is that too much practice can never hurt you. Practice, practice and if you can practice a little more, practice a bit more!

It's actually a departure from what I might have said a few months ago. I believed in what came to you naturally. I still believe in that, but with the ferocity that has gone nimble in the past few months. I have definitely learnt a few things at the expense of some decisions in life. Gone are those days when I saw myself in exalted light and as someone would change the world in the years to come. Believe me I did! And now, I just think that guy is gone. In the place of an incorrigible optimist stands a 25 (!!!) old guy who is starting to get tired with the infinite chinese boxes game that life is playing out. He wants to just sit on the bench by the road and rest his body and take a break.

With my two close friends, loneliness and despair, I have set out on this long voyage in a far away country, uncovering dilemma at every step. Everything right now seems so strange and precise. Mind you, I'm not saying my life is precise. It's far from precise. If chaos was Mordor, I'm right somewhere between the black tower and Mt. Doom. I walk sometimes, wondering if I have that walking spirit in me. I get tired. Tired not because I haven't walked in sometime but tired of fighting the natural tendency of slowly slipping into a rut.

running from an unseen devil

As you step into the complex, you see the sparkling clean glass buiildings glowing in the morning sun. You are asked to stick to the pedestrian path along a perfectly manicured, green garden decorated with an assortment of pebbles and a large immaculately maintained fountain. Cars move in proper lanes slowly arranging themselves into geometrically perfect arrangement in a parking lot. Not one car lying orphaned on the road. You step into the foyer and walk towards the elevators. Some elevators take you only to the odd floors, others take you to the even floors. You take an elevator and step into the machine. Grab your seat and switch on the machine. You can do only certain things in the office and in your computer. Keep your nose in your business and keep your life simple. Your work is cut out for you. Do what is asked and leave the rest to the others. You get up and go to the restroom and see a bunch of charts hanged to the wall. How to wash your hands! How to dry your hands. Instructions to do all these. Loads of instructions elsewhere too.

You look at all this and ask yourself - why all this discipline? Why so many  howtos. Why this desperate need to break down everything into a bunch of instructions? Why make everything so rigorous and structure it around half a dozen rules. Don't go there. Don't do this. Don't walk there, ada ada ada... Where has all the chaos gone?

What has happened to all those small uncertainities in life and where the hell are all those people who thrived on uncertainities? You know there are people who like to live on the edge and believe in taking risks. Where are all those people? Where are those people who want to try something new and experience life.
Everything about office life is so predictable. You know it is boring but you still find people tagging along. Why? They look forward to weekends to do something new. How can they do that? How can they shut off their creative and racy urges during weekdays and unleash it on weekends? Have they reached that next level of monotonicity and disciplined their chaotic mind?

Well 2nd law of thermodynamics is at work and you know that no matter what people do to cap chaos, it will emerge in unknown ways and there will be a bunch of people looking at these unknown variables. Keeping life simple is a thing of past. Right now you are clueless and have no idea of where you are and what you can do. You are only afraid that before you unravel this puzzle, you'll be one of them...

A world Built on Fear

It is known that fear is a very good stimulus for working hard towards a goal. But how far is going too far? Is it okay to induce fear and pain to push oneself? Is it okay to fidget with with our primal instincts (directly or indirectly) to achieve perfection?

 
In 1984, O'Brien used fear to convert Winston to Big Brother's side. O'Brien knew that fear is the key to controlling people and he used it when he threatened to unleash wild rats on Winston. Every person has a fear and something that disgusts him to the core. That fear can be used against the person to achieve things. Abhishek, a friend once reasoned that it's probably the reason why society is always suspicious of love and passion. It's love and passion that takes a person to what he is. When a person is in love, he is not scared of anything. Nothing can intimidate him. Well, nothing except that most disgusting thing. That is one reason why society keeps check on love and how far it can go.

Obviously, there have been examples when love and passion have gone too far. Hitler was madly in love with idea of a perfect Aryan race ruling in Germany and it being over every other country. He used this idea to instill a wrong sense of patriotism in the minds of people. He used fear to keep them working towards the goal. Again, the use of fear is so strange here. He himself worked hard to undo what fear could do to Hitler and he himself subjects his citizens to fear. As they say, one becomes a monster while trying to fight a monster :)

Historical contexts aside, the whole thing came to my mind because I recently saw Black Swan and it reminded me of how fear and anxiety can be used. Nina is afraid Lily might snatch her position of prominence. It's like an authority who refuses to relinquish his power. He induces fear in the minds to make sure, he is not threatened.  Nina in her wake to achieve perfection does things which she dearly pays for in the end. It is strange, how one can bear and undergo the idea of doing bad to oneself and others to smell and taste that slice of perfection... 

From the way I see it, it is being considered okay to channel one's anxieties and fears to work towards the goal. It is becoming okay to adopt the sith philosophy and embrace the dark side to get something done... It is only when we give in to our fear and hatred do we really work towards what we desire and bring in our most violent side to make things happen.

Creation and Destruction of Macondo

I completed reading One Hundred Years of Solitude today. Gabriel Garcia Marquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for this book. The book explores many themes of South America and though many ideas are universally applicable, some ideas like people getting caught in endless spirals of time and doing the same things over and over again allude to the history of South America. Incest among the characters of the movie is another factor which shaped the book and its text.

Reading this book is definitely a test of patience. Nothing seems to happen and narration in the first 200-300 pages was done in monotonous history textbook style. Some moments worthy of attention (both story wise and literary wise) might be lost if the reader goes on reading to cover the pages. I don't know about others but I often read portions fast where narrative tends to get boring. If it is boring to the extent that even fast reading doesn't help, I usually leave the book. That has what happened to me several times with the book. I have to admit it that I took about an year to read this book. It was an endless soap of reading the book and throwing it away. Picking it up, re-reading aspects and reading a bit further before throwing it away again. Having read the book, I am beginning to realize why he wrote the book the way it is. It's frustrating to read. Alliterative and highly confusing names make one's head spin with confusion. A lot of things also keep happening which adds to the overall chaos levels. However, the author does a great job of rewarding the reader with a very good ending. I think, the book's climax changes the way you read the book. Although strange things keep happening throughout the book, events take a stranger turn in the last 100 or so pages. When Aureliano confines himself to Melquaides' room and resolves to decipher his writings. The decadence of the Buendia home, children being levitated when they attempt to destroy the parchments, etc. add the dimension of the mystery to the story which makes one want to race to the ending.

As a reader, some of the high points of the book were the points where you can't but feel helpless like the fast shrinking Buendias. When Aureliano goes to Pilar Ternera and tells her about his love for Amaranta Ursula, you can't help but laugh (along with her) at the repetition that the Buendias are caught in. You can't but feel bad when Aureliano makes love with Amaranta Ursula inspite of the taboo and also when the child is actually born with a pig tail. Their ignorance of their own past is highlighted by their dismissal of the pigtail. But the worst part was saved for the last page where we see Aureliano rushing through the parchments to know what will happen to him. At that point, though what happened was expected, it affects you and you can't but feel sorry for the prison that he will be confined to and the slow fall of the house that was already lost.

The one part that I really loved was how the author put himself in the story too. He was Gabriel, descendent of General Marquez and who along with Aureliano was the only one who knew the history of Macondo. He is the only person who actually leaves Macondo and is there to narrate the story. Lovely extrapolation. Overall the book is a great read and can be read to improve patience and also get a glimpse of the Psyche of South Americans. Actually I need to read others' opinions about the book too in order to understand the full bearing of the it.