I found Papa Smurf's ancestor in Singapore

I was wandering around in Singapore's wonderful Asian Civilisations Museum and found this statue of a central Asian Warrior dating to 648 AD. This was recovered from the tomb of Doudan, a general in the Tang Army and a son in law of the Emperor Gsozu.

so now that i have got the history bit out, take a look at him

See? doesnt he remind you of Papa Smurf?

Damn! I'm an introvert

More cities should have more of these signs

Instead of putting in photo spots or ooo ahhh points like this.

which reminds me of the joke about Japanese tourists who stop whenever they see this sign on British Roads to take photographs

which is ok when the landscape is like this but …

But I am sure the Japanese tourists will be puzzled with this view.

Now there’s my bank

I am proud of serving the community, whether with cash or with hay

Now that’s a compliment

Diya

You want to be a writer and illustrator. See what a great compliment one writer got :)

Won an award for communications

So I receive this press release.

 

I was just going to delete it when I saw something and burst out laughing. Check out the spelling of Communications and Professional.

Good heavens, Lauren Rutter will get into serious trouble…But the irony of a press release claiming being the leader of communications and professional services and making a typo on that was just too delicious not to point out.

Niven's laws

One of my friends shared this link with me. Very amusing some of them son. Perfect to sprinkle in your conversation or essays. Provides a bit of zest. Btw, a bit of a sneaky tip. In your exam papers and essays, just a small hint of humour increases your marks. Marking papers is a bloody boring job. One of the main reasons why i couldn't be full time in academia. So when I read something a bit amusing, it increases my marking generosity. And many other teachers have said so to me as well. 

Love

Baba. 

Niven's laws - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niven%27s_laws#Niven.27s_Law_.28re_Time_travel.29

---

Niven’s laws were named after science fiction author Larry Niven, who has periodically published them as “how the Universe works” as far as he can tell. These were most recently rewritten on January 29, 2002 (and published in Analog Magazine in the November 2002 issue). Among the rules are:

Never fire a laser at a mirror.

Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naïve.

It is easier to destroy than to create.

Ethics change with technology.

The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.

Others

Niven’s Law (re Time travel)

See also: Novikov self-consistency principle

A different law is given this name in Niven’s essay “The Theory and Practice of Time Travel”:

Niven’s Law

If the universe of discourse permits the possibility of time travel and of changing the past, then no time machine will be invented in that universe.

Hans Moravec glosses this version of Niven’s Law as follows:

There is a spookier possibility. Suppose it is easy to send messages to the past, but that forward causality also holds (i.e. past events determine the future). In one way of reasoning about it, a message sent to the past will “alter” the entire history following its receipt, including the event that sent it, and thus the message itself. Thus altered, the message will change the past in a different way, and so on, until some “equilibrium” is reached—the simplest being the situation where no message at all is sent. Time travel may thus act to erase itself (an idea Larry Niven fans will recognize as “Niven’s Law”).

Ryan North examines this law in Dinosaur Comics #1818.

This proposition is also extensively examined in James P. Hogan’s Thrice Upon a Time.

(stories)

is also the title of a 1984 collection of Niven’s short stories.

Included in the 1989 collection N-Space are six laws titled Niven’s Laws for Writers. They are:

Writers who write for other writers should write letters.

Never be embarrassed or ashamed about anything you choose to write. (Think of this before you send it to a market.)

Stories to end all stories on a given topic, don’t.

It is a sin to waste the reader’s time.

If you’ve nothing to say, say it any way you like. Stylistic innovations, contorted story lines or none, exotic or genderless pronouns, internal inconsistencies, the recipe for preparing your lover as a cannibal banquet: feel free. If what you have to say is important and/or difficult to follow, use the simplest language possible. If the reader doesn’t get it then, let it not be your fault.

Everybody talks first draft.

In the acknowledgments of his 2003 novel Conquistador, S.M. Stirling wrote:

And a special acknowledgment to the author of Niven’s Law: “There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is ‘idiot’.”

(from Known Space)

Drawn from Known Space: The Future Worlds of Larry Niven

1. Never throw shit at an armed man.
2. Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.

Never fire a laser at a mirror.

Mother Nature doesn’t care if you’re having fun.

F × S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa

Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.

It is easier to destroy than create.

Any damn fool can predict the past.

History never repeats itself.

Ethics change with technology.

Anarchy is the least stable of social structures. It falls apart at a touch.

There is a time and place for tact. And there are times when tact is entirely misplaced.

The ways of being human are bounded but infinite.

The world’s dullest subjects, in order:

Somebody else’s diet.

How to make money for a worthy cause.

Special Interest Liberation.

The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.
Niven’s corollary: The gene-tampered turkey you’re talking to isn’t necessarily one of them.

Fuzzy Pink Niven’s Law: Never waste calories.

There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
in variant form in Fallen Angels as “Niven’s Law: No cause is so noble that it won’t attract fuggheads.”

No technique works if it isn’t used.

Not responsible for advice not taken.

Old age is not for sissies.

Sari bich nari hai ki nari bich sari hai

I read this here.

 

In his 1872 short story “Dr. Ox’s Experiment,” Jules Verne mentions a curious tradition of marriage within the Van Tricasse family:

From 1340 it had invariably happened that a Van Tricasse, when left a widower, had remarried a Van Tricasse younger than himself; who, becoming in turn a widow, had married again a Van Tricasse younger than herself; and so on, without a break in the continuity, from generation to generation. Each died in his or her turn with mechanical regularity. Thus the worthy Madame Brigitte Van Tricasse had now her second husband; and, unless she violated her every duty, would precede her spouse — he being ten years younger than herself — to the other world, to make room for a new Madame Van Tricasse.

Is this a series of distinct marriages — or one immortal union?

reminded me of the old hindi quote, sari bich nari hai ki nari bich sari hai, sari hai ki nari hai…an immortal union…

Then related to that is the complicated relationship which Mark Twain mentioned:

Many many years ago when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
And soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother,
For she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.
Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.

And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.

Because, although she is my wife,
She's my grandmother too.
If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.

And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.
For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa!

Economists operate in a fact free environment

So I read this with interest.

ECONOMISTS love to argue. Indeed, since the crisis, it has often seemed they cannot agree on anything, and especially not on important matters like how best to boost a sickly economy or when to trim government borrowing. “Schlock economics” was the judgment bestowed by Robert Lucas, a Nobel prizewinner, on the stimulus proposals of Christina Romer, then Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser. Another Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, labelled a rival view of business cycles “Phlogiston economics”, a reference to a debunked 17th-century theory of chemistry. More soft-spoken economists worry the bickering may carry a reputational cost: the public may simply conclude that solid, fact-based conclusions are beyond economists’ reach.

Such concerns were discussed (politely) at the latest annual meetings of the American Economic Association. Dismal scientists throng together each year (this time in not-so-dismal San Diego) to gossip, test the job market and hear presentations on hundreds of new academic papers. Among them were a handful focused on economists’ image problems. They suggest that economists, in fact, agree on quite a lot but that the public is resolutely unimpressed when they do.

I started laughing like an idiot on the tube when I read this part.

Economists might conclude from this that they just need to shout their views more loudly. But communication is only part of the problem. Ms Sapienza and Mr Zingales note that when Americans are told what economists believe before answering a question, their view scarcely budges. Told that economists favoured a carbon tax, the share of the public supporting the tax rose only marginally, from 23% to 26%. The public actually grew more confident in its ability to pick stocks successfully after learning that economists think it is close to impossible. Americans seem to believe that economists operate in a fact-free environment, a bit like Buddhists, commented Robert Hall of Stanford University.

As an economist (well its a fairly specialised branch that I mess about in, financial economics, but also relating to international trade and macro-economics), I find this fairly distressing. For example, the idea of too much debt being bad for the economy is something that people simply do not get. And I find that absolutely gobsmacking. Painful, but then the flip side is, looks like when I talk about debt, a glazed look comes over people’s eyes..

This can be a close second to bubble wrap

Every manager needs this on his desk. There is something so hypnotic about it all..

Is god male or female?

Firs the story

Just in time for Christmas, Germany's conservative Family Minister Kristina Schröder has sparked a contentious debate about the word most central to the Christian faith: God.

In an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit in which she discussed gender roles in children's literature, Schröder also took on God's gender, and fellow members of her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, are not impressed.

The German language has three definite articles for nouns to indicate their gender -- der (masculine), die (feminine) and das (neuter). The noun der Gott, or God, is masculine. But Schröder told Die Zeit that the article for God shouldn't matter. It could just as easily be the gender-neutral das Gott, she said, saying the article "doesn't mean anything."

Such a suggestion is an outrage, her colleagues say.

"This overly cerebral nonsense leaves me speechless," Bavarian Social Minister and CSU member Christine Haderthauer told the mass-circulation daily Bild on Friday. "I find it sad when our children, due to blatant insecurity and political correctness, have the strong images that are so important to their imaginations taken away."

Can god have a gender? Have X chromosomes, a penis? A desire for a female? If there can be a male god, where is the female god? Here’s an idea, convert to Hinduism, we have gods of all types, shapes, sizes, genders and and and..

Can you be a martyr if you die of heart disease?

heh.

Military Communiqué

Al Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the mujahed Eyad Barhoum

As Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzeddeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy ... Today, Al-Qassam Brigades mourn the death of the Mujahed:

Eyad Juma'a Barhoum [39 years old]

Yibna neighborhood – Rafah City

The mujahid Eyad was martyred of heart disease in Egypt. He was martyred at dawn on Wednesday September 26^th, 2012. He was martyred after a long bright path of jihad, hard work, struggle and sacrifice.

Al Qassam Brigades mourn the death of the Mujahed, reaffirms the commitment and determination to continue the resistance against the belligerent occupation forces.

Finally, may Allah (swt) accept him and his blessed efforts for the path of Jihad and may Allah grant his family patience and solace for his lose.

"To God we belong and to him we shall return."

Ezzeddeen Al-Qassam Brigades

Information Office

September 26th, 2012

I thought you can only be a martyr if you die in action? like killing innocents? Or fellow Muslims? or in some remote cases, actually fighting? But no, if you pop off having a heart attack while shagging a bird, then you can also be a martyr..

how amusing

btw, what happens to the virgins in Heaven? Do they still get allocated to heart attack martyrs? Or is a lesser allocation given? How about if you are called as a martyr but die in a car accident? I am sure when the houris talk to each other after the bonkathon, they must be complaining about how any odd sod riff raff appear and want their services.

I am sure there must be a pecking order. Actual war, you get 72 of the birds, blow up some innocents, you get 32, blow yourself up while making a bomb, you get a safety manual, die of a heart attack or car accident, you share some unwanted sheep? or something?

What a cool machine

now if only we can do the same for bacon and brownies

Books need to be cool again

Let me add to John Water’s brilliant quote

If they don't have books, give them books till they have sufficient books that you feel comfortable in boinking them.

When you run out of money, you can do this

When you run out of money, your bank card is useless, no? not really, see what you can do with bank cards

I have both

I have both, but only one of the former and two of the latter, so perhaps I should think of having one more of the former but I suspect its safer and easier to have one more of the latter because if I end up trying to have one more of the former, I will end up with none of the former and useless latters.

decisions, decisions.

Your shoes do tell me about you

Some years back, I blogged about shoes and somebody I know said that I was a perv. I told them that shoes do tell me a load about the person, just like feet do.

First, look at the blog post. And this one from London Fashion Show. And then I read this. I quote

Yes. Someone's age, gender, income, and attachment anxiety can be determined at an above chance level just by looking at photographs of their shoes.

Surprisingly minimal appearance cues lead perceivers to accurately judge others’ personality, status, or politics. We investigated people’s precision in judging characteristics of an unknown person, based solely on the shoes he or she wears most often. Participants provided photographs of their shoes, and during a separate session completed self-report measures. Coders rated the shoes on various dimensions, and these ratings were found to correlate with the owners’ personal characteristics. A new group of participants accurately judged the age, gender, income, and attachment anxiety of shoe owners based solely on the pictures. Shoes can indeed be used to evaluate others, at least in some domains.

Highlights

► Ratings of shoes correlate with shoe owners’ personal characteristics.

► Age, income, and attachment anxiety can be judged from a picture of a person’s shoe.

► Shoes convey a thin but useful slice of information about their wearers.

Source: "Shoes as a source of first impressions" from Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 46, Issue 4, August 2012, Pages 423–430

HA!

Survey: Meet 'The Perfect Man'

I read this amusing article, here is a list of things that you need to be a perfect man.  

1. 6 feet tall
2. Toned and athletic
3. Brown eyes
4. Short dark hair
5. Smart dress sense
6. Beer drinker
7. Non-smoker
8. Wears smart jeans, shirt and a V-neck jumper
9. Gets ready in 17 minutes
10. Stylish
11. Wants a family
12. Earns £48,000 ($77,000) a year
13. Loves shopping
14. Eats meat
15. Clean shaven
16. Smooth chest
17. Watches soaps
18. Enjoys watching football
19. Drives an Audi
20. Educated to degree level
21. Earns more than his other half
22. Jokes around and has a laugh
23. Sensitive when his wife/girlfriend is upset
24. Says 'I love you' only when he means it
25. Admits it when he looks at other women
26. Has a driver's license
27. Can swim
28. Can ride a bike
29. Can change a tire
30. Calls mom regularly

I am SOOO screwed. Thank God I got married before lists like this came out. How many did you tick off?

Top 10 Books in the world /facepalm

I am ok with every book and the choices are understandable and explainable but THE TWILIGHT SAGA?????????? I am ashamed of you world!

Why Hindu’s should give up terrorism

I lost a bet to a friend of mine after a discussion about Hindu terrorism. 2 years back, I said that there will be at least 2-5 cases of Hindu terrorism, but sadly, I lost the bet. Happy in a way because hopefully the bottle of single malt (the stakes) will be shared

But then that led me to think about religious terrorism and violence and went back to check on the terrorism databases. Pretty much every religion is fairly heavy on minority violence and terrorism. Whether we are talking about Christianity (down the ages and say Northern Ireland), Buddhism (Sri Lanka and Thailand), Judaism (Palestine), Confucianism in China, Islam in a bewilderingly large number of countries, they have all shown an impressive grasp of the skills required to terrorise and act with extreme prejudice and violence on minorities. Heck, even godless communists were great at popping off people. Hindus, on the other hand, are pretty useless at this terrorism business. Seriously crap.

I know its all relative, but a small peep of an attack by the settlers in Palestine and 52 countries and countless rage boys boil over in anger and go about attacking cars and other assorted people. Now that’s an impressive reaction. What have the Hindu terrorists and rage boys managed to do? They popped off Mahatma Gandhi, bombed the Ajmer Dargah, a train ironically called as Samjhauta Express, Malegaon, the Staines murder and if we are talking about state directed violence, then Gujarat. I mean, look at the statistics of Gujarat from Wikipedia. I quote:

790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were ultimately killed and 223 more people were reported missing.^[4][5] 523 places of worship were damaged: 298 dargahs, 205 mosques, 17 temples, and 3 churches. Muslim-owned businesses suffered the bulk of the damage. 61,000 Muslims and 10,000 Hindus fled their homes. Preventive arrests of 17,947 Hindus and 3,616 Muslims were made. In total 27,901 Hindus and 7,651 Muslims were arrested. Nearly 10,000 rounds of bullets were fired in police shootings that killed 93 Muslims and 77 Hindus

What is this? What kind of a stupid incompetent pogrom is this? The idea is to kill the others, not your own co-religionists to die.

Here’s another example of a stupid exercise.

Hyderabad, April 29: It was not ‘jihadis,' but four Hindu youths, instigated by two local leaders, who planted the legs of a cow and sprinkled green paint in a temple at Madanappet, sparking communal clashes in the old city three weeks ago, the police have said. The youths have been arrested, and the police have launched a hunt for Niranjan, a wine merchant, and Srinivas, a moneylender, accused of masterminding the desecration.

/facepalm. #wtf. legs of a cow? What on earth are you doing with a frikking legs of a cow? What’s wrong with the standard protocol of dropping the head of the animal? When Muslims do it to Hindu’s, then cow heads are used (see here and here). Heck, there is even a bloody wiki entry on Cow Head Protests. When others do it to Muslims, they use pig’s heads ( see here and here). See? heads. Use your head and use heads. But no, our worthy Hindu rage boys use the frikking legs. What the hell? Didn't you guys organise it? I quote

Investigators said the youths met in a wine shop and finalised their plan on April 7, allegedly at the behest of Niranjan and Srinivas.

Ah! ha!, wine shop, now the penny drops, so this was a drink fuelled planning session. chuckles, LEGS! and green paint! I am just imagining these two muppets walking around with two legs of a cow.

Even the terrorist events that I mentioned above like the Ajmer Dargah Blast, the Samjhauta Express Bombing, Malegaon Blasts and the Mecca Masjid events have a strong alternative explanation of the Pakistani ISI involvement or from Muslim Terrorist groups. I know wikipedia is suspect, but its good enough for this argument. /wtf? even the bloody terrorist incidents which are considered to be Hindu terrorist events couldn't be carried out without the help of Muslim terrorist groups or Pakistani Muslim secret agencies? What kind of stupid, incompetent morons are you?

So seriously, they should give up, just give up. Admit you are crap at this, and go back to worshipping your 300m gods and pumping out kids and doing the maya thing. Think about it, a billion Hindu’s and we cant even produce a decent terrorist campaign. Shameful. Even the tiny, peace loving, non violent Buddhists are better at this terrorism stuff than you. Useless morons