Monday, September 27, 2004

Robotics - No Nerd Stuff

Thats it..post "Da Vinci Code" (which i hear is a one-time hit book by the author..other books by him aint that good..izzat true?) am hooked,eyeballs and fingertips (to turn pages) to Isaac Asimov. I remember reading his short stories in junior school, but sortof got weaned into Nancy Drew and magazines before i could hit books again...reading his collection of short stories (called Isaac Asimov Gold collection or smtg..ha!who said reading helps memory?)..a couple of interesting stuff from the man...he contributed the words Psychohistory and robotics to the english dictionary..cool huh? what does it take to contribute to the english dictionary i wonder...have a neat set of words that i use myself, at selective inopportune moments with the sole aim of embarassing myself.. would they qualify? anyyways..i digress again (now THAT is my middle-name..digress).some stuff about his approach to story-writing...analogies..Now, take the theory of psychohistory (his preferred definition of the term is "a phenomenon not dissimilar to mob psychology- wherein you cannot predict the individual choices but can predict the mass psychology) ..he pulled it out as an analogy from quantum theory of gases, where you cannot predict the movement of one gas molecule but can fairly accurately define the theory of the whole mass of molecules based on known parameters..
Not nerdy stuff mind you..its a method to writing stories..just as people research into historical events and place their characters in it (ala Robert Ludlum or Fredrick Forsyth) or the totally frilly imagination of Sidney Sheldons..am no B.A in storywriting but the analogical way of story writing seems quite fascinating..more on Asimov as i devour books!

Anyways..the reason i was hungrily devouring books was a certain entity's undying interesting in Golf PGA tour..Couldnt bring myself to watch Golf too, so made myself comfy with a book with regular peeks into the telly when ads came on (its crazy i tell ya..i can watch ads for hours and skip hte actual show..i actually spend atleast a couple of hours a week watching ads incessantly while swiftly switching channels when the show comes on..adaholic anyone?) In anycase...i simply HAD to sit up boltright when the guy who came second or smtg (who cares?) excitedly tells the interviewer " yeah..i was on FIRE during the last few holes"..now! i know this common american phrase as used popularly..Unless its me cooking, when it has to be taken literally...it usually is something that a Mike Tyson says when he punches out someone..or when a race-car driver is zipping into the finish line..now thats being on fire...ever heard of a chess player suggesting he/she was on fire in the last game? Forgive me Vijay Singh wannabes, but when a golfer says he was on fire, i gotta smirk..not unlike how i would if my mom said she was on fire when she cross-stitched (which she doesnt btw..she figured she has a daughter, and outsourcing,like charity might as well start from home).

now for the weird news...a guy who was run over by a train, loses his legs, but still is fined for causing the train delay..wha?? nope, not kidding..think about it..the guy was beaten up in a bar, left on the tracks to die..gets run over..loses both legs..and hey presto! get a fine for train delay in his mailbox..heartless i tell ya..check it out here


Legs fine and unfined yet,
Sapna

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