Technology

The issue of whether technology is a boon or a bane to today's society is a controversial one. I have been brought up mostly in the golden age of technology and hence strongly believe that it has improved my life to a large extent for the reasons mentioned below. My stance mainly considers the consumer level technology- which includes the internet, computers, the mobile age, etc.There is a whole different area of technology in the industrialization realm, but i wont go there.


First, I have been fortunate to have lived in a decade where a computer was seen as an instrument only available to the highest of officials ranked in a certain top organization to proliferation of computers, more recently, into the hands, or should i say laps?, of 10th grade students with the $200 laptops. The potential that the internet offers to learn is enormous and wealth of information is literally an arms length away. Children have been able to easily discover and learn more about questions and dangling thoughts, rather than wait until going to the school the next day.WIth the growth of the internet is the growth of huge publishing stream of intelligent and informative content and info portals like Wikipedia.

Second, technology has allowed mankind to connect more than ever before.
It gives me and my close friends immense pleasure to live chat once in a while. This kind of happiness would unaffordable in most cases where i would have had to take a flight to visit them at home and in the process miss out on other important chores. Hence, allowing to maintain and strengthen emotional bonds.

Third, technology allows people to find the right "fit" for a lot of the personal services to offer. With the growth of services like Craigslist and Facebook,, advertising has gone to a whole new level. I had to hardly wait for interested people over a weekend before i posted for an available room in my house.
If i were to compare a website like Craigslist to the traditional newspaper system,its clear that the former has a hands-down win in many divisions like, personalization, turnaround time and cost, to name a few. Gone are the days when you would need to wait for a couple of days to post in the weekly neighborhood newspaper which used to drill a hole in your wallet.

On the other hand, i have seen advocates who believe that technology in the negative light. A lot of kids these days are avoiding to go out and play and rather sit at home surfing the internet or play video games live via Xboxs and such. This could have a detrimental effect on a child's health , interpersonal communication skills, reading ability etc, to name a few.

In sum, the disadvantages above are all valid points to be noted, yet are something that can be avoided and restricted by either supervision, for children or introspection, for grown ups. The advantages that technology brings us are tremendous and i can say this with conviction because i have become more productive, happy and richer than i could be without technology.

* This is something i wrote while preparing for the essay writing section of an exam ( what a drag!), nonetheless, does express my thoughts on the topic.

Watch my watch.

I've not worn a watch for almost 2 years now, just because i couldn't find the right one i needed. This took this long, obviously because i only had a very vague idea about what i wanted from a watch.
i was looking around the watch collection in Sears and to my (craziest of the year so far )surprise, i saw a Casio watch model that somebody ( don't even remember who) bought for me from the US when i was in the 7th grade.I used it for 3 wide years.Never saw or thought about it after that.
I went nuts.I was so happy to see it today.It costed just 20 bucks and was on sale, but i wouldnt have thought twice to spend an exponential multiple of the same for the day made.
Even though its not exactly what i want out of a watch for the past 2 years, this watch is way more than what i could have expected out of any watch in the world.




Strange things and places you find happiness.

Shakti - Ultimate.

This one HAD to go into the blog.



These guys had so much fun doing what they did - So pure, so genuine. Each one of them has an abstract theory about what Shakti is, but no one is conclusive to describe exactly what it means , yet they are successful in getting their message across to be what they want to it be seen as.

Shakti is all about improvisation but nobody that i know of has come to their class in classical(pun??) music even when orchestrated.
John seems to have such a minor part to play amongst such boisterous instruments around him, yet he adds that subtle acoustic guitar touch now then which adds so much beauty to the tune.
i could go on - but see and feel for yourself.

Zakhir puts it really well - " We are not a band - we are one".

Ayn Rand

"A man's character is a product of his premises."

1 giant leap

There are very few bands that stand out these days from the cliche genre that you are used to listening. 1 gaint leap is a band i stumbled across listening to a Pandora station on - Afro Celt Sound System- another beautiful band,many lovely songs, but it' ll have to wait for its turn.

The concept, i believe, behind 1gl is essentially this ( lets see if i can express this right) - Spreading love that is en-laced with spirals of the beauty within music.Good luck on making a meaning out of that.
They have produced a number of popular artists featuring tracks including Baaba maal, Robbie williams, Stipe, et al.
The song below is going down as one of my all time favorites. It just fills you with so much joy.



Most of their songs have a bunch of people from around the world dispensing their thoughts on problem statements that, i think, we all acknowledge in a subtle form but never really try to find a solution to. (Well, man happens to be inherently reactive, only on a disturbing stimulus i guess.) These thoughts by all these different people at different instances on all these songs listened to at sporadic moments kicks off thoughts in my head which i previously took for granted.
Try this song out - Braided hair- for example - see if you are able to connect at all - The people i have recommended stuff like this so far always come back with a boolean response at an exaggerated level.Its either "thank you so much for this stuff " and i know they really do mean it - else its "you are turning gay":)



"I am you and you are me i see".

Songs by this band just radiate so much happiness that i have made it a point these days to listen to this band first thing in the morning and contrary to my theoretical beliefs - it does make a difference.Sucks that they don't have too many songs out there - but i think ill leverage this as long as i can.

Give it a go!

Grrr

It is very frustrating to realize time and again that i haven't been able to blog for a while now. Some introspection gave me some answers and am looking forward to see them in action.
So here we go - another honest attempt to post more frequently.

Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun

This track blew me away- a couple of times today.

Instructions for use : Prepare a pitch dark room and light a small candle in the corner of your room. Watch the flame dance from a distance listening to it.