Oooh. I want this .. I want this .. I want this …. Someone please gift me $1500 and buy this for me from here.
Model train set in a suitcase
Month: May 2009
Boeing 747 says .. “I is hungry”
A large metal baggage container was sucked into an engine of a Boeing 747 as it was leaving a terminal gate at Los Angeles International Airport, aviation authorities said.
The incident occurred yesterday afternoon as Japan Airlines Flight 61 to Narita was pushing back from the terminal gate. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Ian Gregor, said a baggage cart was being towed by at the same time and the engine ingested one of the containers.
Airport officials told the Los Angeles Times the vacuum created by the air intake of the left outboard engine was so strong it pulled the empty container off the baggage cart. The object was lodged in the outer left-side engine of the four-engine jet.
The 245 passengers were taken back to the terminal.
Wow. I will be defenitely be more afraid, when I am walking the aerobridge to board a flight and watch those huge engines in awe.
(source: guardian ; via boingboing)
(pic source: jandg.net)
Auto logic
Do not let the title confuse you. I am not going to talk about any psychological theory, nor any neurolinguistic programming stuff. This is mainly nuggets of information, that I catch from auto-rikshaw drivers, in my travels within Bangalore. My wife tells me that, I have this knack to get people talking, and I think I agree with that. I am going to catalog interesting bits of my dialogues with these khakhi uniformed men in their mean yellow-and-black driving machines.
In todays edition, I will recapture the conversation from yesterdays ride between Domlur and Koramangala. (I have translated from tamil to English here)
Auto-driver: Look at that moron, honking, when the light is still red.
Me: Yeah, crazy guy.
Auto-driver: Put the same guy in foreign (meaning any foreign country), the guy will behave degently (decently). Why, only here, he is like this. *shaking head*
There is a pearl of wisdom (and truth) in what he says. I have heard this from a lot of folks, but to hear that from an auto-driver was revealing/shocking.
Googleplex tour in 200 seconds
A whirlwind tour of the googleplex, in MountainView, CA – all in slightly more than 3 minutes. Go on, watch it, and drool a bit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFeLKXbnxxg&hl=en&fs=1]
(via GAS)
Wallet optimization
When you are a programmer, and find that your wallet is either aging or bulging more than acceptable limits, that is what you do – wallet optimization. Read Coding Horror’s take on how he has optimized his wallet. I have posted below his before after pics 🙂
Do read his post to see his geeky heart flutter. [link]
Criticism and Praise
Scott H Young in his blog has an excellent post on Criticism and Praise. He notes that, both are the same. One should not let either get under your skin.
If you do anything unique, people will attack you for it. Self-motivation depends on having a thick skin, persisting in spite of criticism. But equally important is the ability to not let praise consume you, either. Because, praise and criticism are just reflections of each other.
He ends the post by saying:
The ideal state of mind is humble confidence. You are humble, because you accept all feedback, searching for actionable suggestions, open to any opportunity. You are confident because you won’t allow emotional praise or criticism to distract you from your goals.
I am reminded of the famous verse from the Bhagavath Gita :
Karmanyeva adhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana
Ma karmaphalahetur bhurma te sangostvakarmani.
“Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits; so let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction attached.” Gita: Chapter II-47.
In other words, do the action, without thinking about the fruits of it. This is exactly the outcome if you proactively practise what Scott says in this post.
Read Scotts post here.
pizza box of the 21st century
.. has arrived. It is completely recyclable. The pizza box top tears down into 4 plates. The bottom can find very neatly into another closable box – for storing leftovers in the refrigerator (if you are like me — this would really not be of much use – but it is a good idea none the less. Check out the youtube video below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBjJjpkjl0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
(source: GAS)