My Obsession with Sound.

I am obsessed with sound. Its crazy, everywhere I go, I hear sound. Haha..

Jokes aside, sound is really an amazing thing. Everying from it creation to perception is incredible.

Superfacially, it is very simple and elegant. Sound is vibrations of various frequiencies. It travels as longitudinal waves and is perceived by our ear again as a mixture of frequiencies.

However, if you really look into sound, it's huge. Acoustics, the science of sound is an emense field of study, has applications in many other disciplines, has been studies for years and still an active research field, and NOT persued in NUS by any of the Departments. That's sad, for me as well as NUS.....

Anyhow (as Lulu would said...:p), I have decided to start a sound blog. I'll blog about all the cool things about sound and the related fields... Maybe I should move over to other blogging service like Wordpress and use categories... Maybe.... A lot of 'maybe's shall remain 'maybe' untill 2nd May...

Temptations....

I hate this. Just as I was getting back into the groove for the semester, NUS decides to 'test' me again. They annouce NUS Arts Festival, with a huge line up of events. Its like right in the middle of the Sem....

Its really cool stuff. Local artists, international artists... Lots of interesting performances. I wanna go!!! But sigh....no time...

But then, I will try my best to go for the following events. They seem somthing not worth missing. I mean it is my last sem in NUS.... I better catch them now..

1. CFA Distinguished Visitor: Dr. L. Subramaniam, Saturday, 18 February 2006, 7.30pm

2.A Night of Enchantment by NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) with Konstantin Scherbakov, Friday, 24 February 2006, 7.30pm

3.Bharat Culture ’06 Tatva … The Philosophy of Lifeby NUS Indian Instrumental Ensemble, Sunday, 12 March 2006, 7.30pm

4.Al Bedouin Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 6.30pm

5.West African Djembe Ensemble performanceby Lîla Drum Orchestra, Friday, 17 February 2006, 6.30pm

6.Balawan & Batuan Ethnic Fusion (Bali), Friday & Sunday, 10 & 12 March 2006, 6.30pm

7.Golden Tunes of Yesteryearby NUS Rondalla, Saturday, 11 March 2006, 6.30pm

8.Lîla Drum Orchestra,Sunday, 19 March 2006, 6.30pm

9.Electrodyssey 2006: Beyond The Infiniteby NUS Electronic Music Lab (EML), Friday, 10 February 2006, 7.30 pm

10.Electronic Music Lab (EML) Workshop and Forum, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 4 -6pm

11.Mélange - International Students' Showcase 2006 by NUSSU International Relations Committee,Sunday, 12 February 2006, 3pm

12. Smoke Your Way Through!.... Italy, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 3 - 6pm

13. Smoke Your Way Through!.... France, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 3 - 6pm



Ahhhhh too many to catch!!.... Sigh must choose...:(

Oh and some have tix.... Very ex also.... :(... Sigh...

But anyway....if anyone wants to join me to watch some of these.... you are welcome.... :D

The Change...

I decided that I had enough of the plastic looking Blogger skin. So here is something that looks nicer. At least to me...

And ofcourse HaloScan and LastHalo.. Seem better than Blogger Comments...

Now I have to remember not to post in colour... White is the best colour...:D:D

Back to work now....

Trust your technolust!!

Either I am really bored, or I am gone totally crazy. Or Both..

Anyway, so in the past few weeks lots of cool things happened in tech world. And what have I been doing them?? Following such things instead of studying....ahhhhhhhh

There was CES06... There was MacWorld and other stuff that I just found out about...

CES06 for those who are trying the various combinations is Consumer Electronic Show 2006. It took place in the 1st week of Jan. It was in Vegas.. Only if I had been in Vegas then.... Sigh.. Just 2 weeks off..

Anyway, so I have been watching PodCasts of Dl.Tv's CES coverage (I am not so free...but....) Man its sooo cool. I mean all those gadgets and technology... I want!! Well at least to touch...and play with for a while...

And then there was MacWorld. Who can forgot our friend from the other side of Computing world and their new friend, The Intel Guy in a Bunny Suit.....

The best part of MacWorld was the new Apple MacBook Pros... Hehe..

"Intel Core Duo processor at either 1.67 or 1.83GHz, 512MB - 2GB RAM, built-in iSight, FrontRow, FireWire 400, two USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard/34, MagSafe power, 802.11g (AirPort Extreme), Bluetooth 2.0 EDR), gigabit Ethernet, backlit keyboard, Apple remote input, 15.4-inch 1440 x 900 display, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with either 128 or 256MB of RAM and dual-link DVI (for 30-inchers), an 80GB or 100GB drive, and dual-layer DVD burner"

And being an x86 processor...you could, people speculate, run your good old Windows on it!!! That would be nice would'nt it??

But, don't hold your breadth and hold on to your WinXP cds... Due to some firmware compatibility issues, XP wont be able to work with it..... Damn it... Wait for Vista they say...

Wait for Vista...Haha.. Vista sounds like Vishta... Windows Vishta.... how appropriate.. (Sorry Marathi only Joke...:P)

Maybe I will.. Then I can have a triple boot machine!! Use the best of each OS...

I cant wait for that...

So much for updates from the techworld... So Trust your Technolust!!

Cooking...an Art or a Science??

I read this off a friend’s blog a couple of days back....

"WHAM!!!!....ok so following instructions and cooking is not cooking..." (hope you don't mind..)

Really?? So following a recipe from a book or a TV show is not cooking either?? What about making instant noodles or heat-n-eat meals?? Putting toppings on ice-cream before eating it??No??........ That means I can’t cook !! :'(:'(:'(:'(

That makes me wonder if cooking is an art or a science?? If it is an art then I have valid reasons not to be able to cook...:p. But if it is a science, then I need to find an excuse..

I remember one of my friends, a great cook and a chemical engineer, saying that for him, his kitchen is his second lab. To him every dish he made was an experiment. Many times he would not know what he was making until he made it. Just like some chemist mixing stuff to get something interesting.

But then, he also said that all food has to be artistic. He used to say that for any food to taste good, 1st it has to look good. There is a great effect of the colour of food on the satisfaction of the person who eats it. Colourful food always seems more appetising. So he said.

Popularity of food is very subjective. That makes it artistic. Art is subjective. It’s easy to draw a parallel to music. There are as many types of food as types of music and as many songs/compositions as dishes. There are people who like rock and there are people who like
Mexican food. And some can’t stand rock and some who can't stomach Mexican food.

What about recipes?? They seem very scientific. It reminds of the chemistry lab reports from secondary school.

Aim: To make great Tiramisu.
Apparatus: Bowls, Spoons, Whisk; Eggs, Cheese, Biscuits, Coffee.
Method: Whisk the eggs; Mix with the cheese; Pour over biscuits dipped in coffee.
Results: Tiramisu.
Discussion: If you want a healthier option, leave out the egg yellow....
Conclusion: This makes great Tiramisu.;)

Sigh... all this discussion of food makes me hungry... I have to stop here for a 'lunch' break. But here is some food for thought..

Do you eat to live or do you live to eat??

Frankly?? Think about it...

The flight back....

It’s really great to be back!!

The best part is the way I came back. OK, except for the fact that I almost did not have a New Years Countdown. I had to fly on 31st Dec so I missed the celebrations. And since I flew west, I was afraid I would reach the dateline before 12 midnight and thus miss it. Luckily the route took us north and we were near Anchorage when 'clock struck twelve o o'.

Anyway, the cool thing was my flight back. I was booked to fly the normal flight with a stop-over at Taipei. But, we went to the airport early and tried to get the non-stop flight to Singapore. We had to wait for 2 hours, but in the end we got it!

So I flew 18hrs non-stop in a really nice A340-500. It was very comfortable. Great leg room, better than the 777s. Good food, and by that I mean Ben&Jerry's ice-cream!. Great service, including a self-service food counter for that midnight snack that you always crave for. They even had Champagne before the dinner.

And they had Ethernet and power connections on every seat!! I should have had my laptop with me. But anyway, I managed to catch some sleep on the flight, that’s new. Overall the flight was not as tiring as I would expect an 18 hrs flight. Plus, I saved like 5 hours on travel time.

So, if you ever get a chance, try it out. It’s really a great experience. I would surely like to fly it again, and next time I would surely bring long my laptop. Imagine playing WC3 at 36000 feet!!..;)

Happy New Year....and a Jet-lagged NTT

Wishing All of you a very Happy New Year. Hope you will fullfill all your resolutions....

I am too jet-lagged to blog now. I will blog about my flight back to Singapore soon.... When I am able stay awake enough to type a few more line....