Thinking about a Box!!

I was recently confronted with a situation where someone ordered me to ‘think outside the box.’ Those thundering words hit me hard and all I could think of is a box. More specifically, it was a wooden cuboid box, just like the ones the movers use. I conjecture that my box was about 20 x 12 x 8 and needed some finishing and a paint job as well.

I don’t know if this only me, but I could tell you it took me some time to get out of the non-existent box and back to where I was. Essentially in the process of thinking outside the box, I created a box and found myself thinking how to get out of it!

I don’t want to dissect the box further but I realized that an effective way to impose roadblocks on a thought process is to hurl something that has a colorful metaphor attached to it. In fact you can use this technique to direct a thought process. For example, imagine that your boss asks you for a status update on one of the projects. If you don’t know what to say, you can tell him that it is about time to something be done about the entire dog and pony show as enough money was spent to choke a cow. You can also tell him that the company must embark on juggling picked onions and ensure that from soup to nuts no one is hitting the hay. It may not get you the raise that you wanted but you may have sucessfully confused him so much that now he can’t even see his nose in front of his face!

As you probably figured out, I’m not a big proponent of idiomatic conversations but when leaders of nations say on national television that they’ll hunt ‘em, smoke ‘em out of their holes and kill ‘em, it makes me rethink. Beating around the bush is not necessarily a bad idea especially when you don’t necessarily know who and where the so called "‘em" are! It is atleast better than getting the wrong "‘em" and claiming that this is what you meant!!

Before I digress too much, here is a list of idioms that you can hurl at people that you talk to. The most effective way to use them is in the middle of a heated conversation and thus control the tempo and the direction of the discussion. Even if you don’t intend to use them, it does make some interesting reading.

If your wondering what happened to me when I couldn’t think outside the box, I was subjected to a 1 hour seminar where they taught me various methods to think outside the box. I was also given a multi-page handout that illustrated the difference between thinking outside the box and thinking inside it! Well, they may have defined the box for me, but I still don’t seem to do any better. Wonder why?

Of Maori Chieftains and Titanium Bricks

I havent posted for a while now and if you are wondering what exactly on God's Green Earth I 'm doin', then you are in luck. I am going to tell you something so profound that you'll even fail to understand what I intend to mean. Thats okay, dont maim yourself for that. But if you are one of those nasty egotistical individuals who doesnt really care about the platonic activities of fellow mortals and yet find yourself reading this then, my dear friend, you are not really what you think you really are! Now I think must go easy on 'really', really. Oh well...

As you probably figured out, I'm try to beat the extraordinary ennui surrounding me by trying to come up something so boring that'll even make Night Shyamalan's piece of absolute crap, The Village, look good! For those who havent seen it, make sure you take your sleeping bag with you. Might come handy, trust me!

Anyways, coming back to my recent engagements, I was wondering if anyone would believe if I told them that I am actually a Maori Chieftain and have been hired by the CIA to spy on those I shall not speak of! If you dont believe me, then I'll have to warn you to watch your back the next time you enter an empty elevator! But if you do believe me (please let me know who you are) then I think you must have hit your head with a Titanium Brick. Get it straightened out, buddy, and if possible give me the Titanium Brick! I'm sure I can come up with better uses, maybe after knocking you down.

Well, I think you can see exactly where I'm headed next - thats right absolutely nowhere. So before you issue a bunch of fatwas, I promise to post something lil' less demented the next time.
Oh btw, the CIA story is all but not true.

1.6180339887498948482045868.......

The title is not some gibberish. On the contrary, it is the most amazing number in the world. In fact, it is so mysterious that some people even have atoned it Godly status. It is not for nothing that it called the Golden Ratio or the Divine proportion.

Read this article that appeared in The Guardian and you'll know what I mean. For those interested in a Mathematical Explanation, you can read it here at Mathworld's website. Understandably, people have been fascinated by this number for a very long time and this website contains some very interesting history about the Golden Ratio.

I was more than amazed when I first stumbled across this number. It seems that in all the apparent chaos that the world seems to be in, there actually exists an underlying order. An order that we are not aware of or may be something that we know, yet dont recoginize! This number definitely provides food for some philosophical thought.

Obviously, lots of books have been written about it. Mario Livio's book, The Golden Ratio : The Story of PHI, the Worlds Most Astonishing Number, seems to be extremely interesting. One of the book's reviewers said that Livio leads us through innumerable examples of the golden number in the book - examples as varied as the breeding patterns of rabbits to optics of light rays - where the same golden ratio appears again and again and finally Livio asks the question, "Is God a Mathematician?" I intend to read the book as soon as possible and will let you all about it - if I feel like it!

Before I warp this post, this is by far the most accurate calculation of the golden ratio I found. A never-ending number indeed!

Indeed a Grand Canyon

Earlier in the day I was sorting the pictures of my recent visit to Grand Canyon. Just a look at the photographs makes me want to go back to the place. Oh! What a sight it was.

There's something for everybody to marvel at the place. Geologists will love to study the rock formations at the canyon, Naturalists will want to research the complex ecology that the canyon supports, Explorers will want to unravel the mystery that surrounds the canyon, Historians will seek to understand what the canyon has recorded for centuries, Artists will seek inspiration from this wonder and the rest of us can just stand there and be mesmerized by its the majestic presence!

None of man's creations can ever come close to this truly extraordinary sculpture that nature has created. Standing there at the canyon, you see life in all its glory. And the Canyon stands there, like an ol' grandfather, smiling at the life forms that thrive on it, that live on it and those that it has seen evolve. Way down below is the artist that created the canyon - the River Colorado flowing with vigor and youthful zest, continuing to wind its way around the canyon. One of the most enchanting sights is to watch the entire Canyon sparkle gloriously as it greets the sun in the morning and later bids adieu to it. I was lucky to witness the latter and hope to go back to see the former as well.

The documentary, the Hidden of Secrets of Grand Canyon, by Destination Cinema throws a glance at the history of the Canyon. Information about the documentary and a trailer can be found here. While it is very well made, it is all but a feeble attempt to explain the canyon. No movie, no book can describe it. There is indeed nothing like being there and witnessing it solemnly - away from the mayhem of life. If there is any place in the world that is worth re-visiting, this one surely is!

Why, Robot !?!

I recently saw the Will Smith movie I, Robot and I tried very hard to find one good reason why the movie was made. The producers, in a single-minded quest to create mind-blowing action scenes, forget to add a motive behind the 105 min crap they dish out. This movie will deeply scar Asimov's soul for it claims to be inspired by one of his stories. But the fact, however, is that no one needs any sort of inspiration to come up with story like this.

This is one movie where you'd find popcorns much more interesting and much more exquisitely designed. If you don’t buy popcorns at the movie theatre and end up at this movie, God save you and your kind.

As one movie critic beautifully puts it, after the movie, I, Robot, "maybe I should have my own wiring examined."

Thus I enter the world of blogging...

Blig, Blong and Blog. That is pretty much the reason why I've begin to blog. If you didnt quite get it, think about it. If you have even have the slightest inkling as to what it may mean, do let me know. I'm quite as eager as you are to find out! But till then, I think I'll go ahead and start rambling, mumbling, grumbling and perhaps even try spreading something intellectual in the future posts.