A Reader's Memoir 2

From the comics I stepped up to reading stories in the long form. At the teenage level I picked up Enid Blyton books. the Famous Five was my all time favorite. Stories of mystery and suspense never failed to trigger the adrenalin. I read book after book with absorbing interest. Chandamama in Telugu published interesting stories and my reading time divided between the two languages. They were entirely of a very different kind, but the stories written in simple language without literary acrobatics and sometimes illustrated served two purposes: no special vocabulary was needed to follow the story and no great feat of imagination was required to recreate the scenes in the mind. The comic strips made the transition from episodic format to a variety of stories in long and short forms.

The itch to read grew at a frenetic pace. To enter into an adult world became an urgent necessity. There were several factors at work here. The story must have an element of mystery, some adventure with suspense, and it must be something that adults read. The language also became a compelling attraction. English is the medium of instruction and in a Christian school a good knowledge of the language is very well appreciated. The native tongue having been relegated to just passing exams and speaking only at home, English assumed a predominant position. The vocabulary grew in response to the need to read. Words became easy to follow from the context and a dictionary at hand — dad kept an Oxford dictionary always on his reporter's desk. Reading and learning new words fueled each other.

Soon I started reading Perry Mason, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alistair McLean, Arthur Haley, Frederic Forsyth and others who wrote stories of this genre. Books from these authors became the daily feed to whet my appetite. What is common to these authors? Their stories were of men who belonged to our time, set in locales far from my own, about things that I never heard in a household, like war, court trial, murder mystery, assassination, corporate world, detective whodunit and so on. My romance with these books is 'seeing' things not there in my daily living. MI5, KGB, Holmes, Hitler, mercenary, lawyers and detectives — these words and more like them thrilled me no end.

Allied to my thirst for mystery and adventure (not of the historic kind, though) was another interest growing and found fulfillment in the books that took romance to the next level. It probably began with Irving Wallace — The Seven Minutes — and later sustained and even stoked further by Harold Robbins — The Carpetbaggers. The road quickly led south to books that provided more explicit content and imagery.






Sent from my iPad

Web implements

Every age provides a set of implements to deal with life in that age. The stone age produced stone implements of various sizes and shapes to deal with nuts, hunting and so on. The age of agriculture developed farm implements to produce better and more crop. The industrial age produced goods and provided services to handle mass production, distribution and consumption. We are now living in the information age and we have a myriad online avenues to explore the vast information repositories around the world. In most countries the right to information is a fundamental right and accordingly we have a spate of tools to harness information of all kinds. This age is still evolving and is impacting every sphere of human activity. Its primacy lies in its ability to generate, preserve and disseminate information and, most importantly, in the facility to garner information through a myriad tools which we may call the web implements. 

Some of the web implements include:

Google for searching 

Pocket to bookmark and read it later

Evernote to keep notes and web page snapshots

Zotero to do research on the web

Diidgo to store web clipping

Sent from my iPad

Homocentric

You understand life better when you have broken through your cultural constraints, the moral injunctions, and the so-called good behavior. 

How will you know what it means to do all the things that people do without doing them yourself at least once?

Go to the pawn shop, the wine shop, the red light area and so on.  You need not be doing that which the people there do, but if you don't go there you will never know how life is lived there, what kinds of thoughts and behaviors are possible by people living there. 

Life is the high and the low and everything in between. A life unexplored is an unfinished business, an incomplete understanding, a myopic outlook, a blinkered existence. It is the totality of life that gives understanding. 

What excites our interest is the out of the ordinary in the context of life that we lead. Though we may condemn it or condone it for whatever reasons, it never fails to Venice interest in us. We are forever curious about the lives led by other people. Gossip is symptomatic of our curiosity. We talk about others in awe, in wonder, in disgust, in reproach, in praise and in contempt. In so many ways that we feel the expression is an indication that we are alive and not just buried under labor and struggling through pain and relieving through pleasure.  

In all our communication the subject most inserting and arresting even is that of ourselves. We are ever in wonder of ourselves. As a species. Much more than we are thrilled by auroras and the marvel of technology. We are a narcissistic species. Our curiosity begins with us and ends in us. 

We have worshipped ourselves as gods and daemons. We love and hate each other. We respect and insult each other. In short, all our emotions - thoughts and feelings - that we experience are directed towards ourselves, more than at anything else. We are self-centered, that is, we are at the center of the universe of our life. We are homocentric. Not necessarily due to arrogance, but mostly due to fascination. A fixation that is shared by all of us and in some degree. 

Sent from my iPad

Web clipping

Most of us today either for fun or for profit live out of the web. For a small price, we have access to online resources like articles, podcasts and videos. If you come across a useful resource by chance, or you have come upon it through hours of searching the Internet, you would definitely want to save it for future reference. This is where web clipping, a feature that does just that, comes in. 

For years we have been familiar with the Favorites or Bookmarking as it is sometimes called, a feature of the web browser that allows us to save the web address. We could return to this saved address any time that you are connected to the Internet and view the resource once again. However, it has a limitation. You need to be connected to go back to the resource. It is useless when you need it for offline work, like when there is no possibility of connecting to the Internet.  

Bookmarking has matured in recent years and we have seen a slew of tools and applications that provide offline access to Interney resources. Primarily  we need bookmarking for the following reasons:  research, share and learn. 

Research

You are doing research on a subject and spend a lot of the time on the Internet looking for the necessary material. You ask: what are the ways in which I could clip the web page including the web address?

There are tools to help you with that but you need to figure out at the outset what kind of research you are doing. There are domains of research and the tools mostly are tailored to them. He we will discuss some of the generic tools that fall somewhere between the needs of a hobbyist and the research scholar. 

There's one more thing to consider when you are looking for a tool for bookmarking. some are free and some as you may have guessed cost a bomb. We will stick to the free tools that have stood the test of time in delivering what they have promised. 

There are tools called browser extensions available for the desktop computer. These tools are also called add-ons or plugins. The tool allows the web page to be copied in a storage provided by the tool. The web page copy also stores the web address of the resource so that it can be used in citations. 

The tools are specific to a browser. That is, if you have more than one browser, then you will need a different plugin for each. Sometimes the same tool may not be available for different browsers and you end up having your notes scattered in different browsers. 

Sent from my iPad

We love you

We love you We love you - meaning, Though you are not lovable, we are magnanimous enough to love you. You are cheap, blinded by ignorance, narrow minded, stupid enough to be led on, an idiot who understood nothing of life, uncultured, uncouth, yet we love you. You destroyed everything we cherished, fleeced dear mother of her health, time and money, ran over the house like primates grabbing whatever they touch, you are despicable, but we all love you. We wanted you to live in that house that belongs to all three of us, it is mother's and you are living with her, but you occupied it violently, brutally pushed us aside, clung to the property like a leech, sucked the life out of mama, romped through the house like a maniac, you lorded over it and we never objected except to save mama from your butchery, your ruthlessness, your callous indifference, your moronic attitude, your infantile habits and insensitive heart, but we love you as much as we love mama. We are capable of much greater love and will care for you but you must change, stop your antics, cut the bonds with the family, step out of the house that became a dungeon, be off with your monkey troops, with your ungrateful, fowl and incorrigibly mean partner, and let mama live a life of peace and harmony in the house which is hers by right, by law, and you are there by cunning, by brute invasion, harboring seedy thoughts, scheming to push mama into a corner, to take over the house and break it, sell it, plunder it and get away with the loot, the spoils of destruction. You have reached the pinnacle of degeneracy, for you have no morals, no class, no bank balance. Nothing to prove that you are worth anything in the world, yet we are willing to let go, forget the past, the heinous acts against mama, and work with you to come out of the mess that is your life, the dark miasmic pit that you have made of it, we will help you because we love you, we all do. You lived a cheap life, not knowing the finer side of life, the real value of things, can't discriminate between original and duplicate, you are blind metaphorically speaking, you know you are color blind, you said so many times. You lead a shallow life, there is no depth in it, a deep and rich life of principles, knowledge, understanding of life, a life of culture and erudition is utterly lacking, you live on the surface, scraping through life like a floatsam in the a current of filth, of mess, of disorderliness, of ineffectual effort, of inconsistence and indifference, a life of emptyness, of barrenness, in which nothing grows or flowers, which has not seen or felt or understood the best in life. You have been abroad but little did you know about the places or the people, or their language and culture, you floated through life like a will o' the wisp, something stirred up by passing winds and dropped in the most barren wastelands of existence. You cannot and can never comprehend the complexity of life. If you are given some crumbs to eat at regular intervals and medicine to see that you can prolong your jejune existence, you are satisfied, even have the gall to think that everything is fine, all is hunky dory, that there is nothing to disturb the illusiory peace you seem to feel. You cannot grapple with life's struggles so you ignore them, you hide behind petty theories and feeble philosophies, behind others who do all the dirty work for you, to keep you going in your shoddy life, in continuing your life that matters little, of no consequence to anything or anybody. You expect everything to be given to you on a platter, to be spoonfed, to be brought to you and to wait on you, you are too lazy or incapable of doing things for yourself, you are an imbecile, a physically mature, but otherwise an invalid, lethargic and insufferably selfish thing. You think of nothing except the peace you seek in the midst of turmoil, and you get it at any cost, whatever may be the circumstances, but we love you and have put up with your idiosyncracies, your nurotic habits, your mundane activities, your idotic outlook and your impossibly obtuse thoughts. - from the dairy of a vagabond Sent from my iPad

Writer on the web

I must write a story using this web app. It seems a great idea. Wow! Just to write in a browser feels good. No app to start up. No waiting time. Just start the browser, which is open most of the time, and open the bookmark to this writer, and you are good to go. It is minimal. No distractions. Nothing to other you orntakenyour mind away from what you are writing. There is a full screen mode for the browser on a laptop or a PC. But for the iPad there is no such thing and I have to look at the browser head when I am not writing. 

I won't have you guessing the name of the app: it is called simply Writer and it is available at http://writer.bighugelabs.com/

Now I am going to send it to my blog right now from here. Oops! It didn't work. I will find out other ways to do it. You bet!  

Because the app failed to post to Blogger, I went through a lot of acrobatics to get this posted to my blog. I wouldn't go into the details, but I simply hope the chaps at Big Huge Labs get their act together for folks to keep using this app.

Silence & Noise

Silence is what we say when we are actually at the end of noise. After all the fracas that noise produces we seek silence in an effort to regain composure, a semblance of peace. But that silence usually ends up as a truce, an interregnum in the unending fallout of noise. Silence at the end of noise is really like a calm after the storm that has left a wreck in its wake.

Silence is an escape from the noisy outburst which leaves us tired and spent. It is a period in which we want to recuperate from the devastating outcome of noise that preceded it. It is a time when we let the noise subside and allow the abrasions to heal. It is actually a shield to protect us from the debilitating effects of noise. It is a lull that comes inevitably after intense activity. A resting period when the nerves cry out loud to let lie dormant. A time of inactivity, of a temporary incapacity. A time to go back into the cocoon, to hibernate, a winter night of rest and recuperation, of conserving available energy.

Silence is the name we give to the absence of noise. It is the silence we experience after the music reaches a crescendo. To produce an enduring effect of the sounds that preceded it. It is the quiet of a night that follows a noisy day.

Silence is considered the opposite of noise. But noise can be made, not silence. Not making noise is not making silence. Being silent is thought to be the same thing as being in silence. Silence is considered the end of noise. Noise is like a wave. The crest and trough are the manifestations of the same thing. Like light, the opposite ends of the spectrum are mere variations of the same thing. Opposites are different aspects of the same thing. Noise and its absence can be created, but not silence. Unlike noise, silence cannot be created, or destroyed. The trough of a wave peaks as a crest which again plummets into a trough. Opposites can only be of the same thing. Noise and silence are as different as the earth and the sky. Incomparable. Opposites can be compared, measured. Noise is measured in decibels or the impact on another thing. Silence is neither measurable nor its impact assessed.

Silence is not something that we can control. It is beyond our reach. You cannot grasp it by any means. You cannot touch it or experience it. It is not a thing nor it is an expression of a thing. It is indescribable, for it has no form, color, weight, depth or any measure that we use to quantify something. Silence and noise are not related. One is not the outcome of the other. They have nothing in common. No thing in common. Noise is born of a thing. Silence is not material. Matter cannot possess it. It is not a quality that can be expressed. It is not an experience that we can share, talk about or debate. It is not pleasant or unpleasant like sound, which can be noise or music. It cannot be enhanced or subdued.

We can only talk about noise, its effect and its rise and demise. It exists in silence, but is not of it. A quiet mind is aware of its romp through noise. It is easy for it to delude itself into thinking that it is in touch with silence. A quiet mind is just a mind at rest, in a limbo, in a state of suspended animation. It is simply not making noise. There is no path from quietness to silence. It has a path only to noise, where it came from. Silence cannot be the goal of a quiet mind. Quietness is the opposite of noise and therefore it is the same thing in reverse. Like the obverse side of a coin. Both sides belong to the same coin. One side is not superior to the other, nor is it unrelated. They are just two aspects of the same thing. So is quiet and noise. Two aspects of the same mind. A silent mind is a contradiction in terms. Mind is conscious of itself only through its noise or the absence of noise. It cannot be not aware of silence, for it is not an experience that can be remembered. It can recall quiet moments, since quietness leaves a trace in the mind, as a period of tranquility after unrest. Silence cannot leave a trace for it is not born of a thing. Only a mind that is completely free of noise can be said to be in silence. All other states of the mind are a delusion or a presence.

Life's Undo button. Where is it?

There is no undo button in life. You cannot rollback something that happened. Life is like the clock that never turns back. It is ever flowing like time. There is no way you can erase a portion of your life. No delete button. It is like lines and curves drawn on a canvas that is moving away from you by every tick of the clock. Every action of yours is a mark on the canvas - a dot, a slash, a line crooked or curved, a splotch, a drip, a dash or a period. Nothing can be changed; nothing can be undone, redone or removed. With the movement of the canvas, it is ever presnt and forever gone. What is visible on the canvas is your dance through the life - a cultured one or a neurotic one, a mad frenzy or a stupid sashay - it is all over and it is all there. No words of explanation can alter the display. No justification from philosophy or comfort from genetic science can make it look different from what it is. No interpreter is needed to explain it, nor any judge to condone or condemn. Nothing you do - pray, sacrifice, renounce or flagellate, can give a different shape, texture, color or breadth to what you have drawn. On the canvas of life you splurged, evaded, sneaked, rushed, slept over, panicked, felt cheated, betrayed, thrilled, hated, pushed, and you floundered, hurled against rocks, melted like wind in the willows, you did not see that you were drawing on the canvas of life. No new lines can undo the effect of the previously drawn lines. In life, there is no undo button.


Sent from my iPad

Discover Yourself

"Happy is the man who has found his vocation." So goes the saying. Life is dreadfully boring when you do the same thing over and over again. But when you do something new, bring into the world something that never existed before, when you are creative, you feel a satisfaction that can never turn sour, never fade or go stale. That something is YOU expressed in a way that only you can do, something original and refreshingly new. No method, no formula, no design that you can follow or imitate. Just do that something that best describes you. YOU express YOUR-SELF. That is what this is all about - discovering yourself.

Discover what you can do (and do it in a way that only you can do):

Things to try ---
1. Draw
2. Write
3. Photograph
4. Speech, singing, story-telling, a raconteur.
5. Teach with text, drawing and voice over
6. A short video as a documentary
7. Music

Apps you can use ---
1. Draw apps - choose any one that best suits you, create a character, profile a real person, landscape, an object of interest
Bamboo Paper, SketchBookX, Sketch Pad, Draw Pad, Draw Free

2. Writer app - choose any one, you may write an article, an essay or composition, a story, a play, a skit, or a research paper (test your research skills)
Simplenote, PlainText, iAWriter, Knowtes

3. A photo app - either built in app or any other, you may also consider editing, framing, making a collage etc.
Camera!, PS Express, Instagram, Pic Collage, Photo Booth, Photo Editor, CuteShot

4. Dictation app - One of the voice recording apps
Dictamus, SmartRecord, Evernote

5. One of the teach and learn apps - you may draw, talk and text and record the whole thing for a replay, you may do the whole thing in private at a place and time of your choice.
ShowMe, ScreenChomp, Educreations, Brainscape

6. You may use the video recorder to shoot a short documentary. The topic and the duration you may choose. You may also add a commentary while you shoot, create a video skit.
Vimeo, built-in video recorder

7. You may use a digital musical instrument to try
Virtuoso, DJP, Cool Electric Guitar,

Note:
In addition to the above, you may also suggest something that you can do with a touch screen tablet and the available apps. All the apps shown above are written for the iPad. You may find similar apps for the device that you love to use.


Sent from my iPad

Touch Screen For Self-Discovery Of Talent

It just occurred to me that given the variety of apps for a touch screen device it may be possible to discover for oneself one's talent in the arts. Some art work like sculpting or clay molding will never be possible to try out on a touch screen, though it may be possible to provide a virtual environment suitable to elicit an interest at the least.

I have in mind those arts that can be quickly and easily tried out with the plethora of apps available, many of them free on the app store. Although I would certainly be interested in an app that helps discover your talent with access to different tools suitable for the purpose, for now it is worthwhile to look at those apps which provide this opportunity for self-explorers.

First let us consider the word talent in the context of arts. It is a special ability that the artist possesses which finds expression in drawing, writing and photography, for instance. Now I believe everyone has at least a rudimentary ability in some forms of arts. The objective of discovery is to find out which form suits one's temperament and how much we can express in that medium. Talent varies in degree - the expert is already a professional on the one hand and the aspirant on the other is pushing through to find the right and unique expression for oneself. Beyond these extremes is the person who believes has no talent to speak of, but is ready to explore, to launch on the journey of self discovery, to find out what he or she is good at. At the end the person may find out that such and such medium is the best in which he or she can find expression for their thoughts and feelings. This is the talent discovery that I want to talk about through the use of apps on a touch screen tablet.

The arts that are most accessible on a touch screen device by way of apps are readily apparent: drawing, writing, pictures, moving images, animations and so on. There are apps that are entirely devoted to one or more of these arts, but I have not come across one that allows you to try out all of the above or more. the dedicated apps are more likely to provide a great number of tools to explore a particular art, while the apps that provide multiple functions may provide only the basic tools to work with. I prefer a multi-functionality app when I am starting out on a self-discovery path, because that is where I have ample opportunity to try out possibilities or a combination of them one after another without leaving the app. It also makes me become more acquainted with the app's working which makes it easy for me to be more comfortable to try out things.

In the subsequent posts I will write about a few apps that provide this opportunity for self-discovery with regard to one's talent.


Sent from Knowtes App on 2012-06-01 07:50:51 +0000


Sent from my iPad