The Bucket List

Fitter
happier
more productive
comfortable
not drinking too much
regular exercise at the gym
3 days a week
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries at ease
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats)
a patient better driver
a safer car
baby smiling in the back seat
sleeping well...no bad dreams
no paranoia
careful to all animals
never washing spiders down the plughole
keeping in contact with all friends
enjoying a drink now and then
will frequently check credit at, moral bank hole in wall
favours for favours
fond but not in love
charity standing orders
on Sundays ring road supermarket
no killing moths or pouring boiling water on ants
car was also on sundays
no longer afraid of the dark
or midday shadows
nothing ridiculously teenage and desperate
nothing so childish
at a better pace
slower and more calculated
no chance of escape
now self employed
concerned but powerless
an empowered and informed member of society
pragmatism not idealism
will not cry in public
less chance of illness
tyres that grip in the wet
shot of baby strapped in back seat
a good memory
still cries at a good film
still kisses with saliva
no longer empty and frantic
like a cat tied to a stick that's driven into frozen winter shit
the ability to laugh at weakness
Calm
fitter
healthier
and more productive
a pig ..in a cage... on antibiotics

The next big thing! - Virtual Sound

We all are witnesses to the revolutionary change that digital camera bought to photography. And now brace yourself for a similar one,  this one about how we hear sound.

What it's about?
This idea enables one to focus the sound to a specific location, just like we focus light using reflectors and lenses.

What's the big deal?
Since its invention, some 80 years ago, loudspeakers have been giving out sound in all directions. If you have a loudspeaker turned on in a room, you will undoubtedly hear it regardless of whether you want to listen or not. With this revolutionary idea for a  speaker by Woody Norris, we can actually focus the sound to a particular person or area and them and only them will be able to hear the sound, as if the sound source was right next to them!!!. No one in the room will even hear a whisper! Check out the video talk by Woody Norris below.

Brace yourself for change!


The patent details for this invention is available here
 
About Woody Norris (from TED.com) :When Woody Norris won the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2005, his official prize bio called him "a classic independent inventor ... self-educated, self-funded and self-motivated." His mind seems to race toward things the world needs, though we don't know it yet: a nonlethal acoustic weapon that has been used to ward off pirates, a bone-induction headset, radar that can scan the human body, a tapeless tape recorder ...

Norris' educational background is a key to his restless mind. He is not quite "self-educated" -- he's taken many classes, but always at his own speed and in his own style, studying the things he knew he wanted to know and working closely with professors. Ironically, it's a model that cutting-edge colleges are now embracing.

His inventions have seeded several public companies. Recently he has been working on the AirScooter -- a sort of propeller-powered counterpart to the Moller SkyCar.

Corporates X panded

Here are some of the famous brand's acronyms and their expansions:

• ABN - AMRO (banking) : Algemene Bank Nederland -                 AMsterdam ROtterdam Bank
• DHL (logistics) : Dalsey Hilliblom and Lynn . The names of the three founders of the company
• TDK (Electronics, media) : Tokyo Denki Kagaku. Japanese for Tokyo Electric and Chemicals
• SAAB (automotive, aerospace) : Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget. Swedish for Swedish Aeroplane Limited. The 'Ab' acronym denotes the type of corporation, just like we have Ltd. or LLC etc
• IKEA (furniture, home making) : Inguar Kamprad Elmlaryd Aggrenaryd. Inguar Kamparad is the founder of the company; Elmlaryd is the farmhouse in which he grew up and Aggrenaryd is his parish!!
• CEAT (tyres):   Cavi Electrici Affini Torino Italian for Electrical Cables and Allied Products of Turin

More to follow. Coming up with a bumper story!! Do check back. Thanks!

The OmniBrand

This is about something that undoubtedly touches everyones daily life, something that changes the way you live. You will have undoubtedly used it in you daily life, but would be at loss if you were asked a thing or two about it. It might appear in commercials, but you would hardly even notice it. You may see it in hoardings around the city but again hardly ever heed its presence. Invented more than 50 years ago, many regard this as one of the smartest inventions in the world.

This seemingly modest brand to the layman is the 'Tetra Pak', ask any industry expert and they will tell you its 'magic'. And, so it comes of no surprises that Tetra Pak is even featured in curriculum of some design schools. If you are just wondering whats so smart about a juice box, press on and you'll be amazed.

Help yourselves

I'm stuck in a terrible mess, that's why you are not seeing any new posts for the past couple of days. I'm still shaking myself off from all the heap. Meanwhile, I want you to listen to this song by 'Sad Brad Smith' from the movie 'Up in the Air'. And in case you have yet not seen the movie, I highly recommend that you do. Fabulous film, splendid mix of humor and messages on life. Cheers!




Lyrics | Sad Brad Smith - Help Yourself lyrics

Helmets should be given for free!

How would you feel if you bought a wonderful necklace, and the jeweler didn't even care to give you a jewelery case. Or if he says "Sir, the shop down the street has a good selection of jewelry boxes. I really recommend you to buy one before you take the ornament home". You might have just paid for the gold, but isn't it obvious that the jeweler provide at least the basic case to protect your precious metal.

Thinking on this line, I don't see a reason why helmets should not be sold with the motorcycle!  After all it is an essential safety requirement and the law mandates that a helmet be worn at all times while riding a motorcycle, though seldom enforced. Similarly don't cars come with seat belts and head restraints as standard. You don't buy a car and then retrofit it with an essential safety equipment like a seat belt from a shop down the street, well at least not since the past ten years. Then why so in a motorcycle? I think the manufacturers must supply the very essential head gear while selling the vehicle.

Think of it in India, where half the people who own a motorcycle(forget wearing one) don't even own a helmet. Most of then just purchase some phony headgear when entering big cities (where the helmet rule is more or less enforced) or when they come across a police barricade, from a strategically placed street vendor. And most of these, it surprises me, don't even offer the protection of a construction site hard hat. Another instance that comes to my mind is when hand painted clay (yes!!) helmets were sold off the streets some years back in Delhi.

So when the authorities wake up one day and enforce the helmet rule (for the n-th time)do you think the average Indian will invest in one. I don't think so. You don't need to be an American to tell the difference between shelling out a 50 to a cop and some four grand on a decent ISI mark helmet. Which anyway after two or three days of heat the authorities would go back to snooze mode again (for the n-th time). So practically, what is the point of implementing a rule when half the owners don't even have a helmet and find it more profitable not to invest in one!

Now what if the bike you bought with came with its very own helmet. A helmet that is suited to the particular motorcycle, a nice open faced helmet for a scooter and an apt full faced one for your sports bike, possibly even carrying the same colour or graphics scheme from the vehicle.  So then everyone would have a helmet and if you are an Indian I'm sure you will see the difference between shelling out a dear 50 to a cop and wearing that nice new helmet resting in your broom cupboard.

I don't see a reason why this wouldn't work, after all we are the kind of people who wouldn't let go of anything with a 'free' badge, be it even a burger with a health club registration. I mean, how hard would it be for them to throw in a basic ISI mark head gear with every bike. The question is not 'why' but 'why not'?

When Parker stirred a martini - Vintage Advertising

In the early 70's when television advertising was unsophisticated and very much in its teenage years, the Parker Pen Company came out with one of the most discussed ads of its time. This simple ad showed a hand using a Parker Pen to write the above 'mathematical' formula on a piece of paper.

The ad generated a lot of talk among the scientific community as to what the formula would have meant. The result? Parker's letterbox was filled with queries from  chemists, mathematicians and physicists all asking for the meaning of the formula, as they could not figure it out. The creators of this ad, however had the last laugh. The formula was actually a humorous representation for the recipe of a Martini: 3.5 shots of gin and half a shot of vermouth over 4 parts H₂O³ (water cubed = ice), finished off with three stirs (the 3×360°)!!!

I have been hunting the original TV ad on the information superhighway, but that ended up in vain. 

Interesting trivia about the Parker Pen company:

• Contrary to popular belief, Parker is originally from the USA and not from UK. The company was founded in 1888 in Wisconsin by George S Parker.
• Did you know that the Hero pen that we are very familiar with is actually a Parker design. The design of the Hero pen resembles one of the American company's best selling model, the Parker 51.

Press Release - Unequal Halves and LG sign new sponsorship deal

Friends, It is my pleasure to announce this landmark sponsorship deal between LG and Unequal Halves. As you may have observed, the website now sports a header with the logo of its principal sponsor. The new colour scheme is also carried in rest of the blog's design.

The Coffee Connection

Gone are the times when you could walk into your neighborhood cafe and wave for a cup of coffee. Because in today's obscenely popular coffee culture, all you get is a cup of confusio-ccino. You will be bombarded by not less than 20 to 30 varieties and sub varieties of coffee, making you spend more time actually deciding on what you would drink. You came in for coffee right!?

So does a Cappuccino differ from an Americano? Is a Latte Macchiato any different from a Cafe Macchiato? Let's place our orders

Espresso [ehs-PREHS-oh]
This is the mother of all confusio-ccinos. Often misspelled and mispronounced as expresso, this strong coffee is brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee beans. As a result of the pressurized brewing process, all of the flavors and chemicals in a typical cup of espresso (usually a small 30ml cup, also called a shot of espresso) are very concentrated. For this reason, espresso is the base for other drinks, such as lattes, cappuccino, macchiato and mochas.
Trivia: Espresso has more caffeine per unit volume of most beverages. A shot of espresso, i.e 30ml has three times more caffeine than a standard cup (180ml) of coffee.

Caffè Americano [ka-FAY ah-mer-ih-KAH-noh]
This is essentially a diluted Espresso, made by diluting a shot of espresso with with three parts hot water. The dilution gives it a distinctive flavor.
Trivia: The name came about after American soldiers started adding water to the Italian Espresso coffee, that satisfies the American preference for more sips in every cup.

Caffè Latte [ka-FAY LAH-tay]
A caffè latte is simply a shot or two of bold, tasty espresso with fresh, sweet steamed milk over it. If you are skeptic about the coffee to order, Caffè Latte is a safe bet.

 Trivia: Latte is Italian for milk. And so Caffè Latte is coffee and milk.

Latte Macchiato [LAH-tay mah-kee-YAH-toh]
Consists of hot frothed milk into which a shot of espresso is dribbled over. The coffee colors, or stains the milk in faint, graduated layers, darker at the top shading to light at the bottom, all contrasting with the layer of pure white foam at the top

Caffè Macchiato [ka-FAY mah-kee-YAH-toh]
Essentially an Espresso topped with just about  half an inch of milk foam.
Trivia: The word Macchiato means stained. Here it implies espresso stained with a little milk. In Latte Macchiato(above), it implies milk or latte stained with espresso.

Caffè Mocha [ka-fay MOH-kah]
A blend of two of the worlds most romantic flavors of coffee and chocolate. A cup of Caffè Mocha consists of  espresso (1/3rd) combined with chocolate syrup and a liberal amount (2/3rd) of foamy steamed milk. The chocolate used is either milk chocolate or dark chocolate depending on preparations. It is often served with fresh whipped cream as topping.
Trivia: A few centuries ago, Mocha was actually a port in Yemen that was a major center for the coffee trade and its name became associated with the chocolatey-tasting coffee bean that was its hottest export.

Cappuccino [kap-poo-CHEE-noh]
Possibly the only variety of coffee the average Indian has frequently come across. Cappuccino is essentially a Caffe Latte, with comparatively lesser steamed milk and topped with milk foam. Arguably the most important part of a Cappuccino is the velvety foam atop the cup that gives you the milky moustache that clings to your upper lip. The foam's surface may be dusted with sweetened cocoa powder or cinnamon
Trivia: The name Cappuccino comes from Cappuchin priests who have the center of their heads shaved (white milk foam), surrounded by a ring of brown hair (the ring of coffee).

These are the basic varieties of hot coffee. Every other item on the menu are more or less derivatives of these.

Cafè Frappè or Frappe
These basically refer to varieties of cold coffee, usually made from instant coffee that may be topped with whipped cream. The types of cold coffee vary from coffee shop to coffee shop. 

You may not find the following trio in your neighborhood store, but I felt it is essential to write about these two. You will find them interesting

Irish Coffee [Coffee + Whiskey]
Beware - This is essentially coffee 'spiked' with whiskey! Irish Coffee is a cocktail of hot coffee and Irish Whiskey topped with thick cream.
Trivia: Sugar is added to Irish coffee to enable the thick cream to float atop the cocktail.

Kopi Luwak [The world's most expensive coffee]
Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling as high as Rs. 27,500(600 US$) for as little as 450grams!  
Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee and Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm Civet (a small cat like mammal). If you were wondering why there is a cat connection in this coffee, here's why. These fussy foragers feed on the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system break down the flesh of the fruit, read on, before the animals expel the bean along with their stools.Workers now collect the faeces and the beans are washed away from the dung, and roasted to produce a unique drink that devotees might say is good to the last dropping. Very very interesting!!!

Kahlua [The coffee liqueur]
Kahlua is a liqueur made from coffee and is originally from Mexico. The alcohol content of Kahlúa varies between 20.0% and 35% depending on individual markets. Kahlua is used to prepare well known cocktails like Baby Guinness, Mudslide, Black Russian etc.