It is mid-afternoon in an airy, lower-Manhattan flat, on the ninth floor of a posh-looking building with a doorman.
It is a bit dark and there are no lights on. There is a strange quiet feel to the flat, perhaps due to the lack of any appliances - no fridge humming, no TV interference, even no air conditioning, though it is hot and humid outside.
Walk into the bathroom, and you will notice that there is no toilet paper, no bottles of shampoo or toiletries.
In the kitchen, berries and cheese are laid out on the counter and there are candles on the dining table.
This is the home of No-Impact Man, aka Colin Beavan, who describes himself on his blog as a "guilty liberal who finally snaps, swears off plastic... turns off his power... and while living in NYC turns into a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears".
While there are a lot of people who think that we're freaks, our friends have been really supportive, and they do come over and play Scrabble with us in the dark - Michelle Beavan
He has dragged his wife, Michelle, and young daughter Isabella, along for the ride.
"The concept is that we should have no net environmental impact, which is, of course, technically not feasible," says Colin.
"So the idea is that we would reduce our negative impact and increase our positive impact."
Cutting the trash
The 43-year-old writer says he is not manically trying to offset everything, but he tries to get involved in environmentally friendly or sustainable projects around the city.
The first stage of the one-year experiment was to reduce rubbish. The family buys only second-hand goods and takes a hamper to the market.
Colin uses a glass jar he picked up from the trash as a reusable cup when he orders take-out coffee or juice.
Food is bought every other day from the nearby farmers' market on Union Square, and put in the hamper without wrapping.
The family then stopped using all carbon-producing transport, so they now walk or cycle.
They then shut down electricity in the flat - no more dishwasher, fridge or washing machine.
Now they are trying to reduce the amount of water they use, from the 80-100 gallons (303-379 litres) a day used by the average American, down to seven.
The more the experiment advances, the more drastic the changes become.
"I was a typical American consumer - I shopped a lot, I ate most of my meals in take-out containers, I took cabs everywhere," said Michelle, a journalist with a weekly business magazine.
Although she still goes to the office every day (on her bike), uses the elevator to get to the 43rd floor, turns on her computer and uses a mobile phone, she has had to redesign her whole life.
"It has been a shock to the system."
Michelle admits there were times when she regretted agreeing to the no-impact experiment, but says it has been one of the best adventures of her adult life.
"In essence, the project has really slowed down time, which is pretty amazing considering how fast time has become, and especially with us living in New York - you come home to a quiet, soothing cocoon."
Worm farm
For news from the outside world, there is the solar-powered crank-up radio, although the family rarely uses it.
A solar panel on the roof provides power for a laptop and one light.
From the kitchen, Colin brings out a wooden box with air holes on the sides. He opens the lid and scoops up a handful of dark brown matter that looks and smells like earth. In fact, it's a combination of fruit and vegetable peels and worms.
"This is the compost box, the worms take the food scraps and they turn it into compost," explains Colin.
What happens in the toilet, where there's no toilet paper?
"What I'll tell you, is this: There are many places all over the world that don't use toilet paper," is all he will say at first.
He then adds that because people wash, it is a lot more hygienic.
For detergents, laundry, body soap and toothpaste, they use a combination of vegetable oil, baking soda, vinegar and borax.
The Beavans realise that not everybody can afford to embark on a similar radical experiment or live like that long-term.
They also make clear that it is an experiment, and they have had their doubts about what works and what really makes a difference.
They insist they do not want to force their ideas on anyone else, but they feel happy about the difference it has made to their own lives.
Their life is now centred around the kitchen table, as well as activities such as riding bikes together.
"While there are a lot of people who think that we're freaks, our friends have been really supportive, and they do come over and play Scrabble with us in the dark," Michelle says.
Creature comforts
But is it really possible to have no impact on the environment while living in a city where any resident is inevitably part of the system?
"There's no question that this city has an infrastructure and some of the impact of the city itself should get credited to us," said Colin.
"But the fact is that it is actually easier to live an efficient life in this city, and this is well documented. Here in New York, we emit about a third of the carbon per member of the population of the rest of the country, and it's because of the efficiencies of scale of this city."
We're not going to bring the air-conditioner back. We're going to continue to ride our bikes everywhere. The fridge will come back, but will be used minimally - Colin Beavan
The Beavans say that when the experiment is over, they will not simply revert to their old way of living.
"We're not going to bring the air-conditioner back. We're going to continue to ride our bikes everywhere. The fridge will come back, but will be used minimally," says Colin.
Michelle cannot wait to turn on the washing machine again. Hand-washing clothes has been the toughest change and a chore that has meant laundry is often not done, though Isabella enjoys stomping the clothes in the bathtub.
Colin is planning to write a book about his year as No-Impact Man - his publishers are looking at sustainable ways of publishing.
It may be a worthwhile experiment in the eyes of some, or a total waste of time by a tree hugger for others. But whatever you think of the Beavans, somehow when you leave their flat it feels like there is only one option - to walk down the nine flights of stairs
By Kim Ghattas, BBC News, New York
Birthday tickers
PC - MASCULINE OR FEMININE?
A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. "House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa." "Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."
A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay check on accessories for it.
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
LOL
Lets do what India needs from us !
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our Achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success Stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice.Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a Self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements But our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. IWas in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the DayAfter a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. TheHamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of aJewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid And a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The Gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in theNewspaper, buried among other news.In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreignThings? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign Technology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that Self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this Lecture,When a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal In life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, You and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. IndiaIs not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you Have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice isYours.YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him aFace - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International Best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in The stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of MahimCauseway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking Lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or A shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore youDon't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head coveredIn Jeddah . YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange In London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD Calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell Anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and NewZealand .Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use Examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still Talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system In other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be thesame here in India ?Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage allover the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food andtoiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related towomen, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego mysons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and thegovernment. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a greatdeal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians..... 'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIAAND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY' Lets do what India needs from us.
P.S - extract from some talk from APJ
Ramblings....Relationships why do we have it?
Love why do we love, fall in love, fall out of love. People have always gone in and out of relationships in their lives. Not talking about family or friends but more like boy friend and girl friend relationship and the furthermore into marriage. People are simple beings and in a way flawed in many ways. Why do we love? Its because we have a sense to belong. We want to have a person next to you to know you to be with you and to love you. We want people to know more about us. Not all but just a certain individual. To know everything so when you see them they know when you are happy when you are sad so on and so forth whole package basically.
We are weak so we always have to depend on someone or something to help us along our life. Some are weak in a sense that when they have enough of the relationship thing they just end up being alone. People have their own reasons. Maybe they didnt find somebody, maybe someone broke their heart until it cant be fixed, some just want to be alone and some just were never asked out, some just want to work and build their career and some other reasons i may have missed.
Now i see people who are in good relationships, bad relationships, some just had enough of it they just want to enjoy it alone, and of course some are getting married.Congrats to them though.
Now i see my friends who are in relationships. If its good then good for you. If its bad then why dont you stop? Why do you go on and cling to this so called fake hope like things will be better?? I know people who have been in rough relationships. I have been in one which i got dumped but i cant give 2 shits about it right now anyway. Things i watch do disturb me. Things i hear disturb me just as bad.
People fall in love because they want someone to know them well. They also want to know the other person just as well. Share things together, talk for hours, buy presents and stuff, go for a walk and stuff. Well there are nice things in life, beautiful things in life more than the ugly things in life. Our lives are just as short as a candle in the wind waiting to be blown out and we try to enjoy it as much as we can.
They say its better to love and lost then to not have loved at all. Maybe its true maybe its not. It could be better to not have experienced something bittersweet than to experience it. I have been here in Singapore for a bit now and i could say my views have changed. It could be twisted and maybe it is but I am sort of enjoying it. The loneliness is good. It is good not having someone to cling to you. It feels very troublesome because you have to take care of the person's feelings and you have to do things for that person to make that person happy. Then you have to take care of what you say because even the slightest mistake can cause an argument. Shit happens. Guys do their best to understand girls....most of the time maybe girls try to do the same. Its like when a guy says yes it means yes and a no means a no. When a girl says yes then it either means yes or if you do it you are so in trouble. When she says no it means yes or no. Very confusing and vexating.
Feels Like A Beautiful Sadness
Congrats to my friends
P.S. I am writing this coz I am low on sugar. I need a fix.
They good old days when ,i was alone and my thoughts and opinions made me rite .......
Learn Chinese in 10 Minutes!!
1) That's not right...............Sum ting wong
2) Are you harbouring a fugertive..........Hu Yu Hai Din
3) See me ASAP...............Kum Hia Nao
4) Stupid Man..................Dum Fuk
5) Small Horse..................Tai Ni Po ni
6) I bumped into the coffee table..........Ai Bang Mai Fakin ni
7) Did you go to the Beach?...............Wai Yu So Tan
8)I thought you were on a diet...............Wai Yu Munchin
9) I think you need a face lift..................Chin Tu Fat
10)This is a tow away zone....................No Pak Kin
11)Its very dark in here..................Wao So Dim
12)Our meeting is scheduled for next week........................Wai Yu Kum Nao
13)Staying out of sight.................Lei Yin Lo
14)He's cleaning his automobile..............Wa Shin Ka
15)Your body odour is offensive..............Yu Stin Ki Pu
16)Great....................Fa Kin Su Pah
How do you define success?
Society, in general, tends to equate success with material wealth and possessions. And while those things can be an outward sign of your own career or business success - or that of your family - it reflects only a small piece of the bigger picture that is your life.
A successful life should encompass far more than your work or finances, although they are important. A successful life is one in which you are fulfilled and living purposefully in your relationships, health, finances, work and spiritual life. Come up with your own definition of personal success so that you can measure your success on your own terms. As you ponder your personal success definition, ask yourself some key questions:
1. Do I enjoy my life?
Our journey through life may not always be just what we want it to be, but we can still choose to experience contentment and joy on a daily basis. Identify the things that bring you joy in your life, and be sure to incorporate them into your everyday life.
2. Am I making a difference in the lives of others?
Life becomes meaningful when your actions impact more than just you. Your mission in life is using your gifts and talents to make a positive difference in others' lives. Whether the gift you give is a listening ear, a skill you teach or an encouraging word, make a difference to at least one person every single day.
3. Do I persevere in the midst of challenges?
Life is a learning journey. If you focus only on your challenges or problems without asking, "What am I to learn from this?," then you will continually feel frustrated and sorry for yourself. Those who persevere, grow. And as you grow, you increase your capacity to handle more and have more good opportunities come into your life.
4. Do I have an abundance of the things I need to live comfortably?
The term "comfortable" means different things to different people. Make it a goal in your life to not aim for "enough," but to have "more than enough" of what you need - whether it's time, money, love, space or other precious resources. When you live in abundance, you can focus more clearly on what you want. It empowers you to share yourself, your time, talent, and love more generously.
5. Am I successful in God's eyes?
A test that can help you focus on what's most important in your life is to consider it from a spiritual perspective. It is said that everything God asks can be summed up in two commandments: Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind; and secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself. When you are curious about how truly successful you are, ask yourself if you are doing
these two things.
________________________________
My Challenge to you
Rather than allowing others to define success for you, take time today to create your own definition. Make a list of what success looks like to you, and have the courage to measure your success by standards that are meaningful for your life.
________________________________
Heart Attacks & Drinking Warm Water
This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about heart attacks . The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating. 
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine . Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer . It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.
A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this message sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this & Send to a friend. It could save a life. So, please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care about.
P.S :Extract from a mail from a friend...
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine . Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer . It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.
A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this message sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this & Send to a friend. It could save a life. So, please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care about.
P.S :Extract from a mail from a friend...
33 Facts about Guyz !!!!!!
*Belive it or not....... it was sent to me by a gal after her analysis
1. Guys don't actually look after good-looking girls. they prefer neat
and presentable girls.
2. Guys hate flirts.
3.When a guy says he doesn't understand you, it simply means you're not
thinking the way he is.
4. Guys may be flirting around all day but before they go to sleep,
they always think about the girl they truly care about.
5. When a guy really likes you, he'll disregard all your bad
characteristics.
6. Guys go crazy over a girl's smile.
7. Guys will do anything just to get the girl's attention.
8. When you touch a guy's heart, there's no turning back.
9. When a girl says "no", a guy hears it as "try again tomorrow".
... so true.
10. You have to tell a guy what you really want before he gets the
message clearly.
11. Guys love their moms.
12. A guy would sacrifice his money for lunch just to get you a couple
of roses.
13. A guy often thinks about the girl who likes him. But this doesn't
mean that the guy likes her.
14. You can never understand him unless you listen to him.
15. If a guy tells you he loves you once in a lifetime. He does.
16. Beware. Guys can make gossips scatter through half of the face of
the earth faster than girls can.
17. Like Eve, girls are guys' weaknesses.
18. Guys are very open about themselves.
19. It's good to test a guy first before you believe him. But don't let
him wait that long.
20. Guys hate it when their clothes get dirty. Even a small dot.
21. Guys really admire girls that they like even if they're not that
much pretty.
22. If a guy tells you about his problems, he just needs someone to
listen to him. You don't need to give advice ... very true.
23. A usual act that proves that the guy likes you is when he teases
you.
24. Guys cannot keep secrets that girls tell them.
25. Guys think too much.
26. Guys fantasies are unlimited.
27. Girls' height doesn't really matter to a guy but her weight
does! ... very true.
28. Guys tend to get serious with their relationship and become too
possessive. So watch out girls!!!
29. Guys are more talkative than girls are especially when the topic is
about girls.
30. You can truly say that a guy has good intentions if you see him
praying sometimes.
relationships.
REVITALIZING THE EUROPEAN CITY
THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW CONFERENCE
Speakers included Renzo Piano, David Mackay, Meinhard von Gerkan, Nicholas Grimshaw, Gert Wingårdh, Louisa Hutton, Niels Torp, Adriaan Geuze, John McAslan, David Chipperfield
Sutherland Lyall reviewed the morning of the conference
The Architectural Review’s mid-March one-day conference, Revitalizing the European City, packed the RIBA’s 250-seat lecture hall. Among an impressive list of names the morning platform was made up of Renzo Piano, Meinhard von Gerkan, paying a flying visit between conferences with the mayor of Moscow (where Piano had also been several months before), Norwegian Niels Torp, who was working in Shanghai, among other places – where the opening speaker, Anglo-Spaniard David Mackay, also had a master planning interest. None of these connections was coincidental. These are fully paid-up members of the master planning and architectural inner circle, which operates worldwide and, as they discovered, often in the same cities.
One observer at the lunch break casually summed up the collective message: ‘We have serious reservations about very big/tall buildings in cities – providing they aren’t by us.’ Piano has a very tall ‘shard’ up for discussion for a site over London Bridge and he was plainly bemused by the ferocity of the local conservative nay-sayers. Why, he asked, ‘has London such a fear of modernity? Sure, modernity has been responsible for disasters. But if we give up we commit suicide. We have to survive. The only place we have left to develop our cities is internally. Now the implosion starts.’
Piano was referring in part to the creative deployment in Germany by von Gerkan of inner city land which until recently had been occupied by railway stations, marshalling yards, power stations and warehouses. Coincidentally the practice is also redesigning the immensely complicated Lehrter railway station in Berlin. The von Gerkan & Marg practice offices in Hamburg are located in a former riverside beer garden and restaurant, an example of one of his main themes: converting existing structures. Others included the combination of different uses rather than the mono-functionalism of conventional zoning – and the notion of what he called ‘urban attraction’ best illustrated by the dramatic leisure complex for the middle of Moscow, which he had been discussing in the Russian city the day before.
Niels Torp posed a number of relatively conventional questions, not all of them with answers: Who owns the town? Who has the right to build? and so on – and he warned against making facile judgments about a city from its plan.
He pointed out that on paper Barcelona (Mackay’s home town) is a tight-packed and apparently boring grid – but the reality is that it’s a vibrant place. Here he introduced his notion of the urban section in which an understanding of the grain and texture of a city, its cross section, is crucial. As in the case of his annular master plan for a satellite city outside Shanghai, the cross section is much more important than the formal layout of the plan. Torp kept his largely architectural audience on side by reminding them that they were engaged in a profession – and also in an adventure.
You might expect David Mackay to have settled down to grand-old-manhood. Yet he was the only speaker to offer anything like a revolutionary master planning methodology. He embraces the reality that planning is a political activity which architects cannot wish out of existence. He is also deeply suspicious of the conventional notion that it is inevitable that you must first develop a plan and then guide and nurture it into existence. Those sorts of plans take 20 years to develop and are never implemented. What the master planner needs to do, as Mackay’s practice has done in Barcelona with the Hundred Projects in collaboration with the Barcelona mayor (as well as in a number of Italian cities), is to start with the small issues which can be dealt with immediately by whatever professional team is to hand. When enough of these have been completed you put them together as a strategic plan for a zone of the city and do the same elsewhere. By the time someone has produced the big master plan it has, if you have been following Mackay, already been implemented. He is comfortable with the fact that he may have little control over the architecture – the really important thing is that something gets done.
At the back we searched the attendance lists to see if someone from the new London mayor’s office might have heard this. Ominously, no one had come.
Timothy Brittain-Catlin reviewed the afternoon of the conference
Nicholas Grimshaw kicked off the afternoon’s proceedings. Before presenting his office’s latest projects he cast an eye back over some of his work from the late 1980s, showing how he had attempted to weave new ideas into ‘the tapestry of the cities’: the Sainsbury’s complex at Camden Town was a demonstration of the ‘warmth and interest’ that an architect can generate. An architect’s perspective of 10 or 15 years is an unusual one and it gave Grimshaw a magnificent opportunity to demonstrate a canon of principles which on the one hand is almost Puginian yet on the other is engaged with the challenge of the diminishing resources of the planet.
David Chipperfield has worked in some of the most sensitive sites in the built world; he suggested that the fashionable polemic of the free market city, which is about movement and change, can become a fig leaf for architects’ own submission to market forces. The direction a city goes in is by no means clear, and the way in which decisions are taken neither predictable nor efficient. In recent American projects, he has sought to re-establish historic centres through public schemes, essentially a reinvention of the modern downtown through an intriguing investigation of scale and association.
John McAslan is doing remarkable things with inherited space, coping with old fabric in a robust way and yet with respect, at the Peter Jones department store in London, within the confines not only of Crabtree’s 1930s facade but also those of a number of highly irregular neighbours; a commission which owes something perhaps to the success of his practice’s successful refurbishment of Mendelsohn and Chermayeff’s Bexhill Pavilion. Other recent projects included the complex reworking of part of the Greenwich Hospital for Trinity College, as well as the vast new-build project for the MaxMara cosmetics company in Bologna.
Peter Davey introduced Gert Wingårdh by saying that more than any other Swedish architect, he is already reclaiming for Sweden its ‘wonderful’ preeminence of the early 1950s. Wingårdh began by presenting two schemes in Gothenburg, demonstrating his ‘eco-urbanism’ expressed through a witty, expressive, simplistic structure, with natural ventilation and negligible energy consumption, vast windows and generous canopies. He also related how his somewhat ironic scheme for Sergel Square in Stockholm so caught the public imagination that he was asked to compete in the second round in spite of not having been an official competitor in the first place.
Louisa Hutton prefaced her presentation of Sauerbruch & Hutton’s GSW building in Berlin with a thoughtful and critical historical survey of the development of the city, particularly along the site of the Wall, which had led her to retain the existing late 1950s tower on the site, both to commemorate the Cold War and to signify the changes that have come through the end of East Germany. The ecological lessons learnt on this project are being elaborated at the partnership’s new Federal Ministry of the Environment at Dessau.
Finally, landscape architect Adriaan Geuze presented Moscow as ‘the European City’; his version of Red Square encompasses references to technology, celebrity, society and context, a highly enjoyable and unpredictable tilt at the themes of the conference.
Cities are in crisis, some collapsing, others exploding. The AR's conference on Revitalizing The European City will provide a wide range of ideas and projects from some of today's most creative and provocative urban thinkers: architects, planners and landscape designers. Distinguished speakers will come from both the Continent and the UK to focus on the crises that face almost all European cities: pollution, deracination, decay, congestion, disintegration, destruction. Discussion will reveal the remarkable variety of built and unbuilt proposals for healing urban sores and scars and how to make the city a wondrous place to live in again. As Europeans (the people who invented the modern city) we can share experiences and ideas, and learn from the masters.The transformation of our cities will need huge resources, both physical and imaginative. Cities are (by definition) the sources of civilization. Where are the forms and spaces for the civilizations of the twenty-first century? Should cities be tall or broad, condensed or dispersed, resonate with the past or with imagined futures, be concerned with locality or the global economy? We shall try to find out.
Renzo Piano (Genoa and Paris)
The most amazing and popular (among architects) architect of our times, Piano has designed an astonishing range of buildings from Kansai, the vast airport in Osaka Bay, Japan, to small and sensitive interventions in Italian cities, housing in Paris, the multi-use Cité Internationale in Lyons and Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the landmark development of the reunited city.
David Mackay (Barcelona)
David Mackay is partner of MBM, Barcelona, the practice that showed how, with imagination, persistence and the involvement of the citizens and local authorities, a run-down city could become an example of urban regeneration to all of Europe.
Meinhard von GERKAN (Hamburg)
Partner in von Gerkan & Marg, one of the best practices in Germany, with great experience in inner-city building, commercial and ceremonial, large and small. At the moment, the firm is working on the mighty Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin, the crossing of the main east-west and north-south European rail routes.
Nicholas Grimshaw (London)
Grimshaw has a most distinguished record of innovative urban building, ranging from Sainsbury's in Camden Town, London, where a supermarket was made to be part of the urban fabric for the first time, to the Berlin stock exchange building, in which a huge and diverse business building has been inserted into one of the city’s most delicate streets. He is the architect for the controversial high-rise Paddington Basin scheme in central London.
Gert Wingårdh (Stockholm)
Wingårdh is perhaps the most brilliant of the young Swedes who are trying to lead the country's architecture out of the terrible dark pit into which it had been forced for quarter of a century by the domination of bureaucrats and contractors. Among his urban works are the Swedish Embassy in Berlin, the Universum Science Centre in Gothenburg and the best housing block in the residential expo Bo01 which took place at Malmö this year.
Louisa Hutton (Berlin and London)
A partner in Sauerbruch & Hutton, Louisa Hutton is one of the most dynamic architects of her generation in Europe. The practice has been hailed for its innovation and imaginative contributions to the centre of Berlin, and to other major German cities.
Niels Torp (Oslo)
Torp's work ranges from sensitive housing, through the huge new airport for Oslo to the reconstruction of a major city centre quarter, Akerbrygge, perhaps the most successful and complex mixed-use urban development of the last quarter century.
Adriaan Geuze (Rotterdam)
Geuze is a partner in West 8, a remarkable urban design and landscape practice that has already made a major impact on the townscapes of Rotterdam and other European cities. Their Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam, and their new square in Tiborg, show new and exciting ways of creating urban space in European cities.
John Mcaslan (London)
Principal of John McAslan + Partners, McAslan combines considerable experience of working with historic structures, such as the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, with a body of new work both in the UK and abroad. Projects such as the Yapi Kredi Bank in Turkey are underpinned by technological invention and a sensitivity to place.
David Chipperfield (London)
David Chipperfield Architects is an international practice which has worked on urban schemes, large and small, in Germany, Italy Japan, Spain and the USA as well as the UK. Among their most prestigious projects are the Neues Museum on Berlin's Museumsinsel, and the regional headquarters for the Bundesbank in former East Germany. They won competitions for the extension to Venice's San Michele Cemetery and the Palace of Justice in Salerno, and have been appointed as architects for the Davenport Museum of Art in Iowa.
These distinguished speakers talked about their work in relation to the key issues in urban regeneration:
o Architecture of democracy – parliamentary buildings, courts, civic centres
o New environmentalism – green architecture
o The evolving workplace – offices, mixed home/work spaces, remote working, adaptable buildings
o Representing culture – museums, galleries
o Homes and housing – exemplar projects
o Transport – railroutes, airports, docks
P.S : extract from a fellow architect
Speakers included Renzo Piano, David Mackay, Meinhard von Gerkan, Nicholas Grimshaw, Gert Wingårdh, Louisa Hutton, Niels Torp, Adriaan Geuze, John McAslan, David Chipperfield
Sutherland Lyall reviewed the morning of the conference
The Architectural Review’s mid-March one-day conference, Revitalizing the European City, packed the RIBA’s 250-seat lecture hall. Among an impressive list of names the morning platform was made up of Renzo Piano, Meinhard von Gerkan, paying a flying visit between conferences with the mayor of Moscow (where Piano had also been several months before), Norwegian Niels Torp, who was working in Shanghai, among other places – where the opening speaker, Anglo-Spaniard David Mackay, also had a master planning interest. None of these connections was coincidental. These are fully paid-up members of the master planning and architectural inner circle, which operates worldwide and, as they discovered, often in the same cities.
One observer at the lunch break casually summed up the collective message: ‘We have serious reservations about very big/tall buildings in cities – providing they aren’t by us.’ Piano has a very tall ‘shard’ up for discussion for a site over London Bridge and he was plainly bemused by the ferocity of the local conservative nay-sayers. Why, he asked, ‘has London such a fear of modernity? Sure, modernity has been responsible for disasters. But if we give up we commit suicide. We have to survive. The only place we have left to develop our cities is internally. Now the implosion starts.’
Piano was referring in part to the creative deployment in Germany by von Gerkan of inner city land which until recently had been occupied by railway stations, marshalling yards, power stations and warehouses. Coincidentally the practice is also redesigning the immensely complicated Lehrter railway station in Berlin. The von Gerkan & Marg practice offices in Hamburg are located in a former riverside beer garden and restaurant, an example of one of his main themes: converting existing structures. Others included the combination of different uses rather than the mono-functionalism of conventional zoning – and the notion of what he called ‘urban attraction’ best illustrated by the dramatic leisure complex for the middle of Moscow, which he had been discussing in the Russian city the day before.
Niels Torp posed a number of relatively conventional questions, not all of them with answers: Who owns the town? Who has the right to build? and so on – and he warned against making facile judgments about a city from its plan.
He pointed out that on paper Barcelona (Mackay’s home town) is a tight-packed and apparently boring grid – but the reality is that it’s a vibrant place. Here he introduced his notion of the urban section in which an understanding of the grain and texture of a city, its cross section, is crucial. As in the case of his annular master plan for a satellite city outside Shanghai, the cross section is much more important than the formal layout of the plan. Torp kept his largely architectural audience on side by reminding them that they were engaged in a profession – and also in an adventure.
You might expect David Mackay to have settled down to grand-old-manhood. Yet he was the only speaker to offer anything like a revolutionary master planning methodology. He embraces the reality that planning is a political activity which architects cannot wish out of existence. He is also deeply suspicious of the conventional notion that it is inevitable that you must first develop a plan and then guide and nurture it into existence. Those sorts of plans take 20 years to develop and are never implemented. What the master planner needs to do, as Mackay’s practice has done in Barcelona with the Hundred Projects in collaboration with the Barcelona mayor (as well as in a number of Italian cities), is to start with the small issues which can be dealt with immediately by whatever professional team is to hand. When enough of these have been completed you put them together as a strategic plan for a zone of the city and do the same elsewhere. By the time someone has produced the big master plan it has, if you have been following Mackay, already been implemented. He is comfortable with the fact that he may have little control over the architecture – the really important thing is that something gets done.
At the back we searched the attendance lists to see if someone from the new London mayor’s office might have heard this. Ominously, no one had come.
Timothy Brittain-Catlin reviewed the afternoon of the conference
Nicholas Grimshaw kicked off the afternoon’s proceedings. Before presenting his office’s latest projects he cast an eye back over some of his work from the late 1980s, showing how he had attempted to weave new ideas into ‘the tapestry of the cities’: the Sainsbury’s complex at Camden Town was a demonstration of the ‘warmth and interest’ that an architect can generate. An architect’s perspective of 10 or 15 years is an unusual one and it gave Grimshaw a magnificent opportunity to demonstrate a canon of principles which on the one hand is almost Puginian yet on the other is engaged with the challenge of the diminishing resources of the planet.
David Chipperfield has worked in some of the most sensitive sites in the built world; he suggested that the fashionable polemic of the free market city, which is about movement and change, can become a fig leaf for architects’ own submission to market forces. The direction a city goes in is by no means clear, and the way in which decisions are taken neither predictable nor efficient. In recent American projects, he has sought to re-establish historic centres through public schemes, essentially a reinvention of the modern downtown through an intriguing investigation of scale and association.
John McAslan is doing remarkable things with inherited space, coping with old fabric in a robust way and yet with respect, at the Peter Jones department store in London, within the confines not only of Crabtree’s 1930s facade but also those of a number of highly irregular neighbours; a commission which owes something perhaps to the success of his practice’s successful refurbishment of Mendelsohn and Chermayeff’s Bexhill Pavilion. Other recent projects included the complex reworking of part of the Greenwich Hospital for Trinity College, as well as the vast new-build project for the MaxMara cosmetics company in Bologna.
Peter Davey introduced Gert Wingårdh by saying that more than any other Swedish architect, he is already reclaiming for Sweden its ‘wonderful’ preeminence of the early 1950s. Wingårdh began by presenting two schemes in Gothenburg, demonstrating his ‘eco-urbanism’ expressed through a witty, expressive, simplistic structure, with natural ventilation and negligible energy consumption, vast windows and generous canopies. He also related how his somewhat ironic scheme for Sergel Square in Stockholm so caught the public imagination that he was asked to compete in the second round in spite of not having been an official competitor in the first place.
Louisa Hutton prefaced her presentation of Sauerbruch & Hutton’s GSW building in Berlin with a thoughtful and critical historical survey of the development of the city, particularly along the site of the Wall, which had led her to retain the existing late 1950s tower on the site, both to commemorate the Cold War and to signify the changes that have come through the end of East Germany. The ecological lessons learnt on this project are being elaborated at the partnership’s new Federal Ministry of the Environment at Dessau.
Finally, landscape architect Adriaan Geuze presented Moscow as ‘the European City’; his version of Red Square encompasses references to technology, celebrity, society and context, a highly enjoyable and unpredictable tilt at the themes of the conference.
Cities are in crisis, some collapsing, others exploding. The AR's conference on Revitalizing The European City will provide a wide range of ideas and projects from some of today's most creative and provocative urban thinkers: architects, planners and landscape designers. Distinguished speakers will come from both the Continent and the UK to focus on the crises that face almost all European cities: pollution, deracination, decay, congestion, disintegration, destruction. Discussion will reveal the remarkable variety of built and unbuilt proposals for healing urban sores and scars and how to make the city a wondrous place to live in again. As Europeans (the people who invented the modern city) we can share experiences and ideas, and learn from the masters.The transformation of our cities will need huge resources, both physical and imaginative. Cities are (by definition) the sources of civilization. Where are the forms and spaces for the civilizations of the twenty-first century? Should cities be tall or broad, condensed or dispersed, resonate with the past or with imagined futures, be concerned with locality or the global economy? We shall try to find out.
Renzo Piano (Genoa and Paris)
The most amazing and popular (among architects) architect of our times, Piano has designed an astonishing range of buildings from Kansai, the vast airport in Osaka Bay, Japan, to small and sensitive interventions in Italian cities, housing in Paris, the multi-use Cité Internationale in Lyons and Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, the landmark development of the reunited city.
David Mackay (Barcelona)
David Mackay is partner of MBM, Barcelona, the practice that showed how, with imagination, persistence and the involvement of the citizens and local authorities, a run-down city could become an example of urban regeneration to all of Europe.
Meinhard von GERKAN (Hamburg)
Partner in von Gerkan & Marg, one of the best practices in Germany, with great experience in inner-city building, commercial and ceremonial, large and small. At the moment, the firm is working on the mighty Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin, the crossing of the main east-west and north-south European rail routes.
Nicholas Grimshaw (London)
Grimshaw has a most distinguished record of innovative urban building, ranging from Sainsbury's in Camden Town, London, where a supermarket was made to be part of the urban fabric for the first time, to the Berlin stock exchange building, in which a huge and diverse business building has been inserted into one of the city’s most delicate streets. He is the architect for the controversial high-rise Paddington Basin scheme in central London.
Gert Wingårdh (Stockholm)
Wingårdh is perhaps the most brilliant of the young Swedes who are trying to lead the country's architecture out of the terrible dark pit into which it had been forced for quarter of a century by the domination of bureaucrats and contractors. Among his urban works are the Swedish Embassy in Berlin, the Universum Science Centre in Gothenburg and the best housing block in the residential expo Bo01 which took place at Malmö this year.
Louisa Hutton (Berlin and London)
A partner in Sauerbruch & Hutton, Louisa Hutton is one of the most dynamic architects of her generation in Europe. The practice has been hailed for its innovation and imaginative contributions to the centre of Berlin, and to other major German cities.
Niels Torp (Oslo)
Torp's work ranges from sensitive housing, through the huge new airport for Oslo to the reconstruction of a major city centre quarter, Akerbrygge, perhaps the most successful and complex mixed-use urban development of the last quarter century.
Adriaan Geuze (Rotterdam)
Geuze is a partner in West 8, a remarkable urban design and landscape practice that has already made a major impact on the townscapes of Rotterdam and other European cities. Their Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam, and their new square in Tiborg, show new and exciting ways of creating urban space in European cities.
John Mcaslan (London)
Principal of John McAslan + Partners, McAslan combines considerable experience of working with historic structures, such as the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, with a body of new work both in the UK and abroad. Projects such as the Yapi Kredi Bank in Turkey are underpinned by technological invention and a sensitivity to place.
David Chipperfield (London)
David Chipperfield Architects is an international practice which has worked on urban schemes, large and small, in Germany, Italy Japan, Spain and the USA as well as the UK. Among their most prestigious projects are the Neues Museum on Berlin's Museumsinsel, and the regional headquarters for the Bundesbank in former East Germany. They won competitions for the extension to Venice's San Michele Cemetery and the Palace of Justice in Salerno, and have been appointed as architects for the Davenport Museum of Art in Iowa.
These distinguished speakers talked about their work in relation to the key issues in urban regeneration:
o Architecture of democracy – parliamentary buildings, courts, civic centres
o New environmentalism – green architecture
o The evolving workplace – offices, mixed home/work spaces, remote working, adaptable buildings
o Representing culture – museums, galleries
o Homes and housing – exemplar projects
o Transport – railroutes, airports, docks
P.S : extract from a fellow architect
Bangalored - a new word
Did u know that?
"Bangalored" is a verb which recently got added in the dictionary. A
person is said to be bangalored if he lost his job because the work got
outsourced to bangalore or any other city in India.
"He got bangalored last week" is an example of its usage.
U can also type this word "bangalored" in Google search n see.
Lot of people in US got bangalored that it became an issue during the US
presidential election. That's exactly when this word was coined.
The Haircut !!!!! lol
28 years ago, when people did not have electronic shaving racers, I was
only 7 months old, when my parents took me to a temple named "edyur"
near chikodi, in Karnataka, where for the first time in my life, a guy touched
my head with his knife. Earlier people used to touch my head and feel its
softness. Sometimes I used to laugh and most of the times, I would rather
be more irritated, not by the touching sense but by the nonsense things
they would speak to me, rubbing my head.
Here, when the guy touched my head with his knife, I felt the pain and
started crying. It was a very loud cry and even my mother did not console
me, instead she put a banana into my mouth, when I opened my mouth to cry.
I would not control my anger and I started hitting around me with my legs,
when my father got hold of that too. They were physically strong and I was
only 7 months old, not having the power to fight back. When all these
emotions were going on, suddenly the same barber pierced a pin into my
ears; it was like a sudden thunder hitting me. I was not able to bear the
pain. Louder and bigger the cry, bigger the size of banana went inside.
After my tears gland went empty, I was not in a position to cry and I
consoled myself saying that I would one day find this barber and pierce him
with a bigger pin and make him cry for a year. Having seen me stop crying,
mother was happy and I was further humiliated in front of all my relatives,
when I was made completely naked even without the hair to cover my head. I
was not able to understand why these many people have gathered to watch me
tonsured and laugh while I cried. It was like a big feast, when my parents
have arranged even big feast serve my relatives on this famous
occasion of making me tonsured.
For another three to four months I was not able to move freely with people
and wherever I go, people would touch my empty head and say “Motai”. I was
very angry with all those who insulted me, especially with the smaller
children in the age group of 5 to 8, who would humiliate me and torture me
every time by rubbing their dirty hand on my soft head.
Days passed and slowly I would feel some extremely beautiful soft hairs
rose on my head. I became more and more smart and my age group girls
started seeing me. Then afterwards, I was not tonsured, but would go to
some barber shops for getting my hairs cut.
I would not remember the exact day, when I was first taken to a barber
shop. I would remember the shop where I used to shape my hairs when I was 9
years old. It was just nearby my house in a shopping center and he would charge me
only Rs 2.00.
I hate to go to barber shops, as these guys would torture me by asking me
to sit straight, not to move the heads and give so many irritating
instructions.
Moreover, my parents would catch my hair, after I take bath and would sense
the length of my hair. As of them, they must not be able to hold the hair.
As my age got increased, more hair styles were introduced by the Hollywood
hero’s and the bollywood hero’s, when sometimes I was even the prey to
these styles of hair cutting.
Always the most preferred hair style for me is to have very short hairs. I
was a great fan of navy & air force style hair cuts. It was very easy for
me to explain people in a word by saying “Military cut”, even to the people
who would not understand the language I speak. Because all over the world,
military is the only dept where people used to have less hairs and all
eccentric hair cuts.
When I was in kolhapur, the usual way of explaining my hair style, indeed,
helped me a lot, as the barber doesn’t understand English and I can’t speak
the local language “Marathi”. I would say “military cut” and sit on the
chair when he starts to torture me. For everything he says, I would only
give a smile and sit quietly, as I don’t understand what he has spoken.
My recent haircut in Singapore was also an unforgettable event that made me
write this blog. It was the first hair cut by a woman. I was bit scared
seeing a woman cutting my hair. As I went to the barber shop (now-a-days
referred only as “Hair stylists”), I saw two woman hair stylists and one
guy stylist shaping hairs. Here there is token system, whereby you have to
get a token from an automatic machine by inserting 10S$(Equivalent to Rs
295, by which I would do hair cutting for more than 10 times).
Also you would find many girls/ladies coming to these hair stylists to trim
their hairs. It was a big surprise for me to see these ladies in barber
shops, as in India you don’t have common hair stylists shops both for men
and woman. As this shop is bisexual, there was relatively bigger queue
even in a rainy day. I was to wait long for my turn, when a lady hair
stylist was about to cut my hairs. I was bit scared and worried whether she
would cut to my expectation. Moreover here the hair styles are entirely
different. I don’t have words to explain them. Only way to explain is to
send a photo...which I sent u . But to my surprise, she was very good and would ask me every
time after she finishes whether I am Ok with what she had done. It turned
out to be a really good one.
These are all some of my memorable haircuts in life and there are many more
to follow… yet my search for the first barber who pierced my ear would
continue……………..
only 7 months old, when my parents took me to a temple named "edyur"
near chikodi, in Karnataka, where for the first time in my life, a guy touched
my head with his knife. Earlier people used to touch my head and feel its
softness. Sometimes I used to laugh and most of the times, I would rather
be more irritated, not by the touching sense but by the nonsense things
they would speak to me, rubbing my head.
Here, when the guy touched my head with his knife, I felt the pain and
started crying. It was a very loud cry and even my mother did not console
me, instead she put a banana into my mouth, when I opened my mouth to cry.
I would not control my anger and I started hitting around me with my legs,
when my father got hold of that too. They were physically strong and I was
only 7 months old, not having the power to fight back. When all these
emotions were going on, suddenly the same barber pierced a pin into my
ears; it was like a sudden thunder hitting me. I was not able to bear the
pain. Louder and bigger the cry, bigger the size of banana went inside.
After my tears gland went empty, I was not in a position to cry and I
consoled myself saying that I would one day find this barber and pierce him
with a bigger pin and make him cry for a year. Having seen me stop crying,
mother was happy and I was further humiliated in front of all my relatives,
when I was made completely naked even without the hair to cover my head. I
was not able to understand why these many people have gathered to watch me
tonsured and laugh while I cried. It was like a big feast, when my parents
have arranged even big feast serve my relatives on this famous
occasion of making me tonsured.
For another three to four months I was not able to move freely with people
and wherever I go, people would touch my empty head and say “Motai”. I was
very angry with all those who insulted me, especially with the smaller
children in the age group of 5 to 8, who would humiliate me and torture me
every time by rubbing their dirty hand on my soft head.
Days passed and slowly I would feel some extremely beautiful soft hairs
rose on my head. I became more and more smart and my age group girls
started seeing me. Then afterwards, I was not tonsured, but would go to
some barber shops for getting my hairs cut.
I would not remember the exact day, when I was first taken to a barber
shop. I would remember the shop where I used to shape my hairs when I was 9
years old. It was just nearby my house in a shopping center and he would charge me
only Rs 2.00.
I hate to go to barber shops, as these guys would torture me by asking me
to sit straight, not to move the heads and give so many irritating
instructions.
Moreover, my parents would catch my hair, after I take bath and would sense
the length of my hair. As of them, they must not be able to hold the hair.
As my age got increased, more hair styles were introduced by the Hollywood
hero’s and the bollywood hero’s, when sometimes I was even the prey to
these styles of hair cutting.
Always the most preferred hair style for me is to have very short hairs. I
was a great fan of navy & air force style hair cuts. It was very easy for
me to explain people in a word by saying “Military cut”, even to the people
who would not understand the language I speak. Because all over the world,
military is the only dept where people used to have less hairs and all
eccentric hair cuts.
When I was in kolhapur, the usual way of explaining my hair style, indeed,
helped me a lot, as the barber doesn’t understand English and I can’t speak
the local language “Marathi”. I would say “military cut” and sit on the
chair when he starts to torture me. For everything he says, I would only
give a smile and sit quietly, as I don’t understand what he has spoken.
My recent haircut in Singapore was also an unforgettable event that made me
write this blog. It was the first hair cut by a woman. I was bit scared
seeing a woman cutting my hair. As I went to the barber shop (now-a-days
referred only as “Hair stylists”), I saw two woman hair stylists and one
guy stylist shaping hairs. Here there is token system, whereby you have to
get a token from an automatic machine by inserting 10S$(Equivalent to Rs
295, by which I would do hair cutting for more than 10 times).
Also you would find many girls/ladies coming to these hair stylists to trim
their hairs. It was a big surprise for me to see these ladies in barber
shops, as in India you don’t have common hair stylists shops both for men
and woman. As this shop is bisexual, there was relatively bigger queue
even in a rainy day. I was to wait long for my turn, when a lady hair
stylist was about to cut my hairs. I was bit scared and worried whether she
would cut to my expectation. Moreover here the hair styles are entirely
different. I don’t have words to explain them. Only way to explain is to
send a photo...which I sent u . But to my surprise, she was very good and would ask me every
time after she finishes whether I am Ok with what she had done. It turned
out to be a really good one.
These are all some of my memorable haircuts in life and there are many more
to follow… yet my search for the first barber who pierced my ear would
continue……………..
Dating - any doubts ???
Most people begin dating when they are in their teens. These relationships can be fun, exciting and a great way to learn more about yourself and your values. But dating can also be a source of worry and confusion.
If you are dating someone, or thinking about starting to date, here are some questions you might be asking:
There are lots of things to think about when you start dating someone.
What do you want in a partner?
Figuring out what you want in a partner can be tricky. There are some things you may be sure about like:
- you want someone who loves sports as much as you do
- someone of the same religious beliefs
- someone who has a great sense of humour
and some things you aren't so sure about like:
- can you date someone with different tastes in music than you?
- can you date someone who doesn't want to go to college or university?
While it's important to find someone who you are compatible with, remember that you don't need to make any life-long commitments right now � you have lots of time to find the "right" person. If you relax and have fun, you'll enjoy getting to know lots of different people and you'll learn a lot about yourself and your values/needs too.
It can be lonely and frustrating when you are ready to be in a relationship but can't seem to meet the right person.
It is important to keep socializing and doing the things you like to do. You can also try meeting new people:
- through friends and family
- through clubs, teams and social events
- at school
- at parties
What if all your friends are dating and you're still single?
It is ok to be single.
Sometimes it's hard for other people to understand that you're happy being on your own right now � enjoying other areas of your life until the "right" person comes along � or that you're just not ready to date yet. Try not to let other people's expectations pressure you.
If you're really shy or nervous about dating, why not talk to someone you trust like a friend, parent or Kids Help Phone counsellor?
Apple iPhone
Apple iPhone released on 29th June 2007. The most awaited phone, this phone has some really cool features. Talking about features following are some highlighted features of this phone
GSM phone which runs on the OS X platform, it’s a multi - touch screen phone (which obviously most of the people know :)). Most of the people have gone crazy just for the multi-touch part of it, surely it gives you more control, and now can you do whatever you please, with the highly sophisticated imaging software in place, you can expand those pictures with your finger tips.
Display
o 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display
o 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 160 dpi
o Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Capacity
o 4GB or 8GB flash drive
o Video
o Many formats supported (LOL)
o Wireless data
o Almost all widely used wireless protocols (:))
The coolest features of this phone are the imaging and the iTunes it really rocks. So it combines the features of the iPod with the iPhone and a imaging software. A true treat for all the music lovers and Apple followers. Of course there are a lot more features that makes it stand apart from it opponents, but unfortunately I don’t have an iPhone to give you those details (;))
But there have been all sorts of drama going on with this phone, firstly the stores were shut down at 4.30 PM on 29th of June the launch date and re-opened at 6 PM bcoz the delivery of the iPhone was expected in this time frame, and this was done specifically to avoid any pre-release sell of the phone. Secondly, it broke all the sale records, it was so liked by everybody that the stores nearly flooded on the day of the launch, soon the stock of the over, and the stores still had a high demand for it, most of the people hence were put on hold. (Wow!! what a success)
Lastly, within a week of the launch of the phone, it has already being hacked, though in the premature stages, but the file system of the phone can be scanned, the services can be stopped, people can play with the interfaces, and many more. Oh man these hackers are awesome.
Life - has diff meanings
Life has always been said and known as the never-ending. It will stops - only when you're having symptoms of difficulty in the body causes. Or when you get some sort of unexpected disease. Insane. Asylum. And if you are a criminal.
The wise man (whoever is this so-called wise man) said that life must be fruitful and go spread among the others and to wherever you can go to occupied. Sounds like Jesus eh? Maybe. The same goes with other mystical god's saying. Yet the world is still round with earth and water. You got the Indian version, the the Chinese , romans, the muslims and other crazy people in the world about the earth creation. But still everything's just the same. The only thing that make it so different is ideology and philosophy and influence.
During the ancient times, people listens to the strong ones because the strong ones will be the leader of the pack. So you see, they uncivilized people. Reminding you KoRn's Follow The Leader album. Well it's also even today that this shit still happens. Yes and at least we vote for our legit leader and with capability. A woman running for presidency?
So we are living in a world of reality by dedicating our entire life to work and study, for children, for weddings and for our coffin and funerals too. Sounds so right and pathetic? You bet!
So the only thing that is left to make yourself feel more relax is to do the thing you have always wanted within the law? The boundaries of knowing right and wrong. You might say "Hey! What the fuck is this!?"
What about virtual reality? That's what the 20th and 21st century people are doing about. The world wide web (WWW) - gone are the days of the "Chalkuya'' style. The internet is a massive media productivity to do and upgrade life and connected to anyone in the world. Far way much better than newspaper which only comes out the next day when we get to view it on the spot. A better way of propaganda is to blog / orkut and see how many pings you did be getting so far. And then get interrogated by some stupid government servants who might think it's not appropriate to talk something which is not true.
Blogs - the alternate living diary! Does diary still exist? Yes it does. I still write on them and that. Times may be different and change but things still exist.
Business Logic - is it needed !!!!!!!
It's been running thru my head lately that I heard this word more than once in my work experience.
"I have learnt enough business logic; it's time to move on."
"This company offers me a lot of business logic experience."
Many people would agree that being a fresh architect, you need to learn as much as the business logic/knowledge as you can take. Therefore, on your next job, you can tell you interviewer that you have working with this, this and this industry with a lot of business logic experience.
Having a lot of business logic experience, nevertheless, it's good. But I think it's not the key point for a architect. In my view, I think a architect/interior designer job is to change the business logic/requirement from the client into a useful solution that would able to help them. Furthermore, I bet the client has an expert or people who has more business logic experience than any architect has.
So, does more business logic experience helps a architect?
I have switched for several jobs and no any business logic from the first have any similarity to the current one. Unless you're moving the end user position such a project manager, where you can work in a large project rendering solution and change jobs once you're bored with the architecture industry. Until then, having the skill of turning the user requirement/specification into practical and feasible solution has far more advantage than simply just learning the business logic.
Then again, people would argue that you can use your business logic experience to your new company in the same industry. This, I wouldn't agree more except you want to stick with same industry for the rest of your life. Of course, the chances of getting new job will be shrank since the job scope is limited to one industry. Not to mention that the employment contract usually stated you can't work with the same industry for a period of 1 to 2 years after your resignation. Does having more business logic helps a architect? I don't think so.
Next time, if some architect told me that they work in a company just to learn the business logic, I will have myself a really good laugh, quietly.
"I have learnt enough business logic; it's time to move on."
"This company offers me a lot of business logic experience."
Many people would agree that being a fresh architect, you need to learn as much as the business logic/knowledge as you can take. Therefore, on your next job, you can tell you interviewer that you have working with this, this and this industry with a lot of business logic experience.
Having a lot of business logic experience, nevertheless, it's good. But I think it's not the key point for a architect. In my view, I think a architect/interior designer job is to change the business logic/requirement from the client into a useful solution that would able to help them. Furthermore, I bet the client has an expert or people who has more business logic experience than any architect has.
So, does more business logic experience helps a architect?
I have switched for several jobs and no any business logic from the first have any similarity to the current one. Unless you're moving the end user position such a project manager, where you can work in a large project rendering solution and change jobs once you're bored with the architecture industry. Until then, having the skill of turning the user requirement/specification into practical and feasible solution has far more advantage than simply just learning the business logic.
Then again, people would argue that you can use your business logic experience to your new company in the same industry. This, I wouldn't agree more except you want to stick with same industry for the rest of your life. Of course, the chances of getting new job will be shrank since the job scope is limited to one industry. Not to mention that the employment contract usually stated you can't work with the same industry for a period of 1 to 2 years after your resignation. Does having more business logic helps a architect? I don't think so.
Next time, if some architect told me that they work in a company just to learn the business logic, I will have myself a really good laugh, quietly.
Blood !!!!!! - Give your blood !!!!!!!!
Blood donation is a process by which a blood donor voluntarily has blood drawn for storage in a blood bank or for subsequent use in a blood transfusion.
Blood donations may be scheduled at local centres, or at times a "blood drive" will occur. These are events where a blood bank or other blood collecting organization will set up in a convenient location—such as a shopping centre, large employer, university, high school, or a local church—for people to stop in without appointment during their daily routine to donate blood. Sometimes a bloodmobile is used to run a blood drive. Usually a modified recreational vehicle, it is an easy place to run a blood drive because it is already set up for the process of blood donation.
Blood Group Basics
OK, folks, this post requires your full attention as it's all about the complicated differences between everybody's blood types. I've tried to make this as simple as possible.
Here we go.
- We all have these little marker things called antigens on the surface of our red blood cells.
- These are so tiny they can't even be seen under a microscope.
- Everyone's got different ones - blame your parents and grandparents for all that.
- In fact, only identical twins will ever possess all the same antigens.
- All that's very well and good, but when it comes to blood transfusions, there are two very important systems of antigens which need to be matched to avoid any nasty complications.
The ABO System
If you have blood group A then you've got A antigens covering your red cells.
Blood group B means you have B antigens, while group O has neither, and group AB has some of both.
The ABO system also contains lots of little antibodies in the plasma, antibodies being the body's natural defense against foreign antigens.
So blood group A has anti-B in their plasma, blood group B has anti-A (you probably get the picture at this stage).
To complicate matters though, group AB has none and group O has both of the antibodies.
Which means giving someone blood from the wrong ABO group could be fatal.
The anti-A antibodies in group B attack group A cells and vice versa.
Which is why group A blood must never be given to a group B person.
Group O negative is a different story.
The Rh system
Still with me???? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, it gets more complicated here on in, because there's another antigen to be considered - the Rh antigen.
Some of us have it, some of us don't.
If it is present, the blood is RhD positive, if not it's RhD negative.
So, for example, some people in group A will have it, and will therefore be classed as A+ (or A positive).
While the ones that don't, are A- (or, wait for it...A negative).
And so it goes for groups B, AB and O.
This effectively doubles the number of different blood types to be matched, because you shouldn't mix blood type A+ with blood type A-.
84% of the population is Rh positive.
(And yes, that means the other 16% of the population is running around with Rh negative blood.)
My MSc experience !!!!!
My exams are comin up. Am nearly at the end of my 1st sem. If I pass these and 1 more sem, I'll be
People tend to be very disparaging about an Post Grad education. "What's the big deal?" says my ex boss- a architect . "Herd mentality, I say. Herd mentality," "Far too many project managers. MS. has no value at all!"
Crap. An post grad education has given me far more than I ever expected. Read on. Please.
What has been the purpose of my post grad education, as charted out by good old national university of Singapore 
WRe nwlsmg;s shdslk hgn dslfg. I'm sorry, I couldn't see what I was typing through my tears of laughter! (I'm sure my co- mates will be rolling on the floor, clutching their sides and beating on the ground, laughing hysterically.)
WRe nwlsmg;s shdslk hgn dslfg. I'm sorry, I couldn't see what I was typing through my tears of laughter! (I'm sure my co- mates will be rolling on the floor, clutching their sides and beating on the ground, laughing hysterically.)
OK, seriously, what have I learnt? Have the past few months been of any use? I say a clear,YES! I am now trained to pursue not just a career in a technical field, but any of the following...
1. Secret agent
What's so secret about a secret agent? A large part of a secret agent's job is to do things while ensuring that he's not being watched. Sulking around and all that. Sneaking around the campus, hoping one won't be caught by a prof. Charting plans to get out of class unnoticed. Sending Secret Messages and Stuff (SMS) in the middle of class. Passing chits. Using ones ocular skills to the utmost during 'test'ing times. And, of course, slyly pumping the lecturer for the test questions. Last heard, PM link is recruiting people from my batch.
2. Negotiator
Squeezing just one mark more out of a sadistic examiner. Convincing the forbidding class counselor to grant one just another couple days of OD. Trying to get out of having to pay a fine of a several bucks at the library. Again, pumping lecturers for questions... all this makes one such an awesome negotiator and tactician, you'll have terrorists eating out of your hand.
3. Xerox operator
"Watching is learning." Having closely watched more papers being photocopied over the last few months, I am a master of the xerox game. All I need is a machine and confusing reading list given by our proff to refer and study , and the money will pour in... Clever marketing tactics (All paper types xeroxed! Give one paper, get two!) and pricing (5 cents per side. Even less if you bring your own paper.) will make me a millionaire some day lol !
4. Professional athlete
So I've watched the photocopying process. Why was I there in the first place, you ask? Well, taking a photocopy of portions you didn't know existed until the very last minute (read the day before the exam) is a well documented aspect of MS. Running, cycling, biking or driving in the sweltering heat or pouring rain, battling heavy winds and pedestrians, on all types of roads (tarred roads, mud roads, no roads) has elevated my skill levels to that of a pro. And catching the damn bus has also contributed to this.
5. Torture machine tester
Having sat through what seems like gazillions of classes over the course, I can confidently say this - Nothing gets worse than it. Chinese torture? I laugh at it. Breaking my knuckles? Pooh! Tying me up and tickling me with a peacock feather? Huh, child's play to resist it... It's no laughing matter that I've survived so many hours of boring classes. An Masters education hardens you from within.
Please don't mob me, presspersons. I have time for just one more question. Yes, you in the green bowtie and fluorescent pink pants.
Press chap: raags !!!!!, what is the one thing you think you have learnt the most from the entire experience?
Well, the most important thing I have learnt in the few months has to be the value the beauty of friendship. I've met some awesome people... sniff... Had some great times, super fun, lots of memories. Thanks to all those who have made these few months of Masters actually enjoyable! :)
WELL....my motto of life is...!!
It's difficult to understand me......!
Can't control emotions....I m a bit reserved and sometimes confused........!!
Dreams are many...aims are many.....always in search...to achieve them...!
i like take life as it comes ...possessive in nature...!!i m.. unique and one of a kind..!
Takes.. friendship as a wise investment in my life...!
So many dreams are waiting to be realized....!!
Can't control emotions....I m a bit reserved and sometimes confused........!!
Dreams are many...aims are many.....always in search...to achieve them...!
i like take life as it comes ...possessive in nature...!!i m.. unique and one of a kind..!
Takes.. friendship as a wise investment in my life...!
So many dreams are waiting to be realized....!!
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