Ashutosh Nilkanth’s Blog

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Solarium

As much as I like thought provoking films, I also like thought provoking animations. Yesterday night, lying in bed, I was pondering over how the day went, and what I have for tomorrow, for the weekend, for the next few months. Caught up in the loop of thoughts, while randomly searching Vimeo, a slick video website like YouTube, I stumbled upon a short animation titled “Solar”. Solar pulled me back from my comatose. It gripped me, and left me orbiting on a different line of thought.

Solar is a tale of the sun, the moon, and two characters who inhabit a world that relies on day and night perhaps more than it would seem. It is one of the best short animations I’ve seen in the recent past. The CG work is pretty cool, but most importantly it has a subtle yet intriguing concept.

Watch this award-winning short on its official website, or on Vimeo.

Some other noteworthy short animations that I’ve liked a lot are:

• Balance, by Lauenstein brothers
• Father and Daughter, by Michael Dudok de Wit
• Harmonica, by Leevi Lehtinen
• The Box Man, by Nirvan Mullick
• Falling in the Woods (live action short)
• Reflections (live action short from India)
• Match (stop motion)
• Android 207, by Carrotkid Films (stop motion)

Enjoy!

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Contrast by Nature

People get in their own way. So says a group of researchers, who also highlight the value of not overthinking a decision. The brain, they have found, appears to make up its ‘mind’ 10 seconds before we even become conscious of a decision.

And we think, and think, and overthink, till the last drop, when infact we already have a decision in our mind much in advance. This new study brings an interesting question in light - should we act first, and think later?

In the past few weeks, I came across two contrasting pieces of real-life incidents that loosely show this void in the human behavior of thinking and action.

In the first incident, as frightening as it may sound, an 81 year old Australian man built a robot to kill himself. You heard it right. A man built a machine to commit suicide. Reportedly, he built a robot that could fire a gun repeatedly, then laid down in his driveway and let the robot attack. Sadly, yet ingeniously, he died.

In the other incident, as bizarre as it may sound, a young man spent one year following every rule in the Bible. Much, much harder, he soon discovered, as he found himself growing his beard, struggling not to curse and asking strangers for permission to stone them for adultery. I suppose his intention was not to mock religion, but atleast he liked something about a forced day of rest.

I feel that its this sort of contrast in our thinking and action that creates a dillusion of stimulation in our minds to start with. I wonder if my dad is right about offence being the best defence. Maybe, maybe not.

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The Universe is Fractal

A recent news article suggested that the matter in the universe ‘may be’ arranged in a fractal pattern. With all the randomness of nature, that might not just be a coincidence between fact and fiction.

The other night I was hurriedly trying to watch this sci-fi film called “Primer“. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish it as I had to return the rented DVD the same night. But I quite enjoyed a good sci-fi film after a long time. I’ll have to watch it again sometime soon. Made with only $7000, the film has a raw and natural feel to it. The film seems to put a basic question in place:

If you always want what you can’t have,
what do you want when you can have anything?

I’ve always been a fan of sci-fi cinema, be it subtle or a bit loud. Sir Arthur Clarke, who passed away this year, will always be one of my favorite science fiction visionary and author. His thoughts were not only ahead of the future, as needed for good sci-fi writing, but his vision was purely provocative. His predictions about the future of science, technology and human society are extraordinary.

I’m eagerly awaiting the 2009 release of the sci-fi film “Rendezvous with Rama“, which is based on a novel by Arthur Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves a cylindrical alien starship that passes through Earth’s solar system. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers, who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.

“Rama” is the name given to alien starship, after the Hindu God Rama. Clarke mentions that by the 22nd century, scientists have used the names of all the Greek and Roman mythological figures to name astronomical bodies, and have thus moved on to Hindu mythology. Peculiar and vivid details like these, along with the larger imagination, have made Clarke such a great sci-fi writer.

The novel itself is considered to be very difficult to narrate visually, due to its slow yet visually enriched theme. I’m sure it will be a challange for the film maker to put it on screen with all its abstractness.

Model image by Eric Bruneton

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Don’t Fail By Default

The author of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, recently gave a commencement speech at Harvard.

An excerpt …

Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the same scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well have not lived at all. In which case, you failed by default.

A pretty good speech on the whole.

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What Does It Mean to Be Human?

What does it mean to be human? However vast this question might sound, the answers are infinite. This infinite nature of thoughts is the basis of humanity. Can science illuminate the answers? A panel of scientists share their answers in a nutshell.

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From XP to Vista to 7

Windows XP is the most popular, and in many ways more reliable, than any other computer operating system offered by Microsoft. Windows XP is also one of the largest consumer software applications.

But, let’s face it, Microsoft has had a hard time selling Vista, their most recent operating system. The sales have been lower than expected because XP is still the preferred choice by home users in particular. When Microsoft stated that it sold more than 20 million Windows Vista licenses in the first month of availability, more than twice the initial sales of Windows XP, but that doesn’t sound quite right.

Anyways, to make things worse for XP users, Microsoft will officially end the lifecycle of Windows XP in June 2008, to make way for their future operating systems. That means there will be no more XP security updates, no more XP technical support, and no more XP on new computers. At some point you’ll be “forced” to upgrade to Vista, which is slower (on most computers that are 2-3 years old) and incompatible with many hardware devices.

If you love Windows XP, considering that you are not yet an open source junkie and still stuck in the Windows world, and would like Microsoft to hear you say, then join the “Save XP” movement. Close to 200,000 people have already signed the petition to show their support for Windows XP, but the petition needs more substance, from you and your friends.

Coming over to some breaking news, CrunchGear has released screen-shots of Windows 7, Microsoft’s next major OS after Vista. Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky was interviewed by CNET about Windows 7 sometime back.

Windows 7 is expected to be released by 2010. Go figure!

Update: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates will demonstrate Windows 7, tonight at Dow Jones’ D6 conference. Checkout the D6 Highlights blog for more details as they emerge.

Update-2 (29/05): Ballmer And Gates Demo Windows 7: Multitouch, Pie Menus And a Piano

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Oil Price Bubble?

Around the world, except for the Middle-East, there’s a bubble building up around oil prices (and real-estate costs). Oil prices are rising, like never before. And the world is worried.

Futures speculation has created frenzy, unless you are driving a Prius. Supply fears have sent oil past record $135 a barrel, likely to reach $200 soon.

So, how much would it cost to convert the entire U.S. fleet of passenger cars, which collectively burn 40 percent of the oil that we use, to electric cars?

Zero dollars! Instead of spending $400 billion each year for importing oil, the US could spend it on electric car production locally. Atleast, that’s what Philip Greenspun from Harvard thinks. A bit far-fetched I feel, but a creative outlook none the less.

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Make Money Doing What You Love

The past few weeks have been utterly busy, but the road get’s a bit easier when you are passionate about what you are doing. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing (your profession for that matter), you’ll never stimulate your passion to its limit-less state, and eventually you cannot enjoy the money you (can) make.

I was reading Simone Brunozzi’s blog post about his adventure from a virtual gig at Second Life to becoming a Technology Evangelist for AWS. Its an amazing testimonial that simply reinstates the golden rule: choose what you love.

Here’s another interesting article with 101 Tips to Help You Make Money Doing What You Love. Most important tip for me was to ‘Seek Answers Within‘!

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Menwhopause, Downtown

Downtown
waiting
at your
window
strain to
drop by
while you
ask why

You’re reaching
for stars now
try to
hold on
ahead

Can’t
can’t we
can’t we be
can’t we be dreaming?

That’s Menwhopause‘ unreleased track titled “Downtown” (mp3 here, courtesy Shree Mulay). Two other unreleased songs titled “Time” and “Floating” are up for streaming on their MySpace profile. After their gig at SXSW 2007 (the first Indian rock band to do so), this talented bunch is currently on a US tour. While I was in India last year, I heard them live. A tour downunder next?

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Startup School 2008

HackerTV is broadcasting Startup School 2008, an all-day event that covers pretty much everything one would ever want to know about technology startups. A crowd of over 650 developers, writers, and entrepreneurs packed Stanford’s Kresge Auditorium for a chance to pick the mind of tech-industry greats. A streaming video of the entire event (also see schedule of talks) can be found at the HackerTV channel. Update: Omnisio is streaming the SS08 videos, synchronized with slides and questions.