East Vs. West

The following icons were designed by Liu Young who was born in China and educated in Germany. They represent his view of the many differences between Asian vs. Western cultures. Some of this is truly insightful- thought you'd be able to relate, since many of you live/ work across both worlds too. Blue --> Western Red --> Asian Opinion Way of Life Punctuality Contacts Anger Queue when Waiting Sundays on the Road Party In the restaurant Travelling Handling of Problems Three meals a day Transportation Elderly in day to day life Moods and Weather The Boss What's Trendy The child

 

 

Amusing Ourselves to Death

"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

   But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies
that undo their capacities to think.

   What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so
much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drownd in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's
almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

   This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."

-- excerpted from Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman

A Bit

A bit is defined as a limitless notion of time, uniquely varying based on the situation.

I will be back in a bit may mean an hour, few minutes or a few days etc depending on what chore is being performed. Usually a common sense judgment maybe applied. When going to the loo a bit may range between 5 to 15 minutes an when going grocery shopping the same may mean a few hours, when travelling a few days, or during busy season more.

The curve

I just thought that I should use this for a while to see whether I could get used to it fast enough, and as luck would have it for some reason this feels so tactile and easy to use that it is immediately lovable. I've always been a fan of windows mobile with it's functionality and multiple input methods. However have not really been able to use those methods over the years due to its slow OS and lack of enterprise support. With this all of it is easier. The web, email, etc have become easier and more fun. Blogging my favorite thing is at the top of the list. And I can do it whenever I find a few minutes.

The Curve.

This is a test message.

Playing Squash with world no 7

I I recents
I recentlly took up squash. That's one thing I like about this Island. No matter what you like, you can do it here, be it taking up a new sport, or community service, they have it all and they have it good.

So I took up squash, and lo and behold, in the one month that I have been playing, I also got to play with an olympic goldmedalist who has been at one time ranked world no.7. It was a treat in itself getting a run around by Mark Chaloner, on one of the club nights arranged by the Squash club.