Knowing - By Design Or By Chance

Recently Nicholas Cage starrer Knowing has hit the theatres.I came to know about this movie from my Flixter updates.After reading the storyline I just can't wait to watch this movie.Not sure,when'll that happen.It deals with a very basic question of philosophy and science that has been a constant source of debate among scholars.To me a constant source of quest.Are we here today as part of grand scheme designed by some divine force or just by chance?Let me quickly try to explain the two school of thoughts.

Music Wood Coalition Project - Green Guitars

I think guitar is the most popular among all musical instruments in the world.Unlike most of my observations and statements this is not backed by any well researched (googled so to say) data.I think this way, because I feel so, of course based on my small world of friends and foes.Guitar is the instrument I love to listen and my inability to play it is one of the topmost items in the list of my have nots.Till date I have never thought about what impact it's manufacturing process can have on our environment or how it's raw materials are obtained.But today an article in Scientific American changed my perception about this.

Intelligence Amplification over Web

Yesterday I bought a copy of Richard Dooling's "Rapture For The Geeks:When AI outsmarts IQ".This book discusses about technological singularity which is one of my topics of interest.The idea of machine intelligence surpassing that of their human creators seemed interesting to me when I first saw Terminator back in school days.The term technological singularity was not known to me then.I have not yet completed reading Mr. Dooling's book but the discussion on Intelligence Amplification in context of Web 2.0 helped me to understand the term in newer and better way.

Finally Sunday To Rashomon

Last Friday night I watched Francois Truffaut's Finally Sunday in UTV World Movies.It is a black white movie with a brilliant combination of film noir and comedy with a tinge of romance.This is the story of Julienne Vercel who is the prime suspect of his wife and her lover's murder and Barbara,Julienne's secretary who tries to prove his innocence.One particular sequence in that movie left me thinking for the past one week.This is the scene where Julienne tells Barbara that his wife's death has become inconsequential in the context of solving the mystery to prove his own innocence.

Mumbai Attacks & Terrorism

Now it's more than 37 hours since it all started in Mumbai Wednesday 9.30 PM in the night.One of the most fierce terrorist attacks in the history of the country with 125(if not more) reported dead and 327 injured.The hostage situation still continues in Taj Mahal Hotel,Oberoi-Trident Hotel and Jewish centre at Nariman house.
I came home quite late on Wednesday night and was not at all aware of what was going on in Mumbai.Yesterday's local morning newspaper caught my attention.But somehow the report was not very detailed explaining the magnitude and gravity of the situation.Throughout the day in office we were going through the blogs/twitter and online media to get a detailed description of the events.