Pain

So. Now, I have a new camera. I have always been trigger-happy. But, I never expected my pictures to be spectacular.

I have been grazing through online photo galleries for a few days. Some pictures have had a certain effect on me. I will try to explain.

I take pictures with my camera. I download them to my Mac. I look at them. I wonder why they are so empty, meaningless and uninteresting. I lose interest in my own pictures and move on to online pastures. I see a picture or a whole gallery of pictures that grabs my attention. Slaps me on the face. Tugs at something deep within me. Makes me despair. I resign to the thought that I will never create a picture that will have the same effect on me.

I've known that there is no artist in me. That I'll always be poorer for that. I don't know if I have felt so strongly about it before. I mean, I've walked through a full day of Rembrandt vs Caravaggio at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I admired, but I barely flinched.

Maybe, the difference is that I now have the tool in my hands. Is the pain from knowing what masters can do with a tool, which is as good as lifeless in my own hands? The way I'll enjoy a well-written book, but will pull out my hair when I place a QWERTY and a blank screen in front of me. This time, it's real. And, worse. I can almost cry. The eyes tear from not seeing.

The technical details are straight enough. Aperture. Shutter speed. ISO speed. Exposure compensation. Dynamic range. Give me enough time and I'll have a gold medal to show for it. That's not the point.

A creativity void. A composition jinx. An abundance of mediocrity.

As always, there is hope. "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.", said Ansel Adams. I'll settle for one. Watch this space.

Distance

I was reading a friend's blog. I don't know if she knows that I follow her blog.

I could feel her pain in being so far away from her loved one. In fact, I know the loved one. More than I know her.

I know that pain. I have been through it myself. And, I want to tell her that in the end, it will be alright.

Maybe I will tell her. When I meet her and her loved one when my loved one is here too.

Dammit. I should use names.

But, that won't be fun, ha?

Imagine

I like this guy's simple idea:

Guy

Idea

Informed Opinion

I see some sense in concentrating CO2 emissions. Managing CO2 afterwards might be easier - applying economic penalties, testing new technology for power generation, expanding renewable share of the power generation base, capturing CO2,... The electricity grid offers just that option, naturally with some limitations.

In a way, hydrogen was supposed to do just the same thing for us.

Imagine... You are on a long and lonely highway. Maybe in the Cappadocian valley. Your indicator shows you are low on fuel. You seek out the next service station (preferably the one with the yellow pecten). A robot opens up your car's bonnet, lifts out the compact battery pack, drops a replacement pack in its place and off you go.

He has imagined. He is 41.

After TED 2007:

"Indeed I was so anonymous, that a young Google employee told me at one of the dinner events after a conversation on the world of software that “You are pretty good. Would probably make a good manager at Google, maybe even a VP” and offered to put in a good word for me. Given that I was the president of products at SAP at that time, I guess she meant it as a compliment, somehow."

Doors

I take the train everyday. During peak hours, there is a mad rush on the platform. Kia-su passengers try to force their way in, even as alighting passengers rush to get out.

At the above-ground stations, passengers step across the yellow lines and muscle their way as close to the edge of the platform as possible, as soon as they sight the arriving train. This becomes particularly dangerous for passengers at the head of the boarding queue - who might not be as afraid of losing, as of losing their lives under the wheels of the train - when they get pushed forward to the edge. A handful of passengers have regrettably lost their lives this way.

The powers-that-be quickly decided that it was time to recruit some hapless old screaming uncles who would yell at every passenger who ever dared step across the yellow line, while lining up their own frail uniformed bodies between the mass of afraid-to-lose passengers and the greedy open abyss behind. This morning, I even saw one of those uniformed uncles (who once complimented me on my Bose QC3 while we both waited for the train) preside over and brief a bevy of yellers-to-be, now smartly bedecked in fluorescent jackets.

I've always wondered (on those long train rides, assuming I get INTO the train and not UNDER) when the powers-that-be would take the natural next step...

Not to worry. Coming soon to an above-ground station near you... Platform screen doors.

From today's TODAY:

"The Land Transport Authority has plans to install platform screen doors at all 36 above-ground stations by 2012. Work to install the 1.5m-tall doors at Pasir Ris, Jurong East and Yishun stations will be completed by this year."

By then, the recession might be long gone, and the yelling uncle, who'll surely lose his job, will just become a statistic on the economy's way back up.

Meanwhile, stay safe and thank uncle.

Survival Aloo

Guys, try this. It is too simple. Your moms probably never told you how easy it was.

Boil 4-5 medium potatoes for about 25 mins. Drain and peel as soon as they are cool enough to hold. Mash in a bowl with a ladle or fingers.

Chop 2 medium onions. Add a few mustard seeds to two tablespoons of oil and heat until the seeds burst. Stir fry the onions. Dice one medium tomato and add to the onions with small amount of water. Add turmeric, cumin seed powder, coriander seed powder, garam masala and asafoetida to taste. Stir until gravy has a fine consistency.

Add mashed potato and some water to make it easy to stir. Keep stirring until all ingredients are well-mixed. Add a finely chopped red chilli and one teaspoon of salt. Stir for five minutes.

Cook until all the water is gone. Serve with chapatis.

Images

My feeble first attempts on my new Canon Digital SLR.

Google Ads

I just finished reading Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, on Telegraph.co.uk.

The first Google Ad at the bottom of the speech:

"Meet Muslim Ladies
Beautiful Muslim Women Seeking Men for Love & Marriage. Join Free Now!"

Nice.