Foundation-Part 1

' The Foundation Series' was originally a series of 3 books written in the early 1950. It was later on expanded with sequels and prequels after nearly 40 years of the original series' end.

I believe it is a hallmark series of science fiction, and millions of people in many generations were entertained and influenced by its storylines, technological predictions and underlying themes.

In fact, having read the very first book 'Foundation', I was surprised and embarrassed at not having read it earlier. Here I am attempting a re-telling of the story purely from memory, and I might miss or mix up things, and SPOILER alert for those plan to read this soon...

The story starts off in the city/world of Trantor, which is the capital of the now dying Empire. We are not given much context of when in the future of human race these events are set, but it is made to seem quite advanced into the future. The surprise is that human beings still seem to be the dominant species and have long colonized and settled multiple worlds(planets) across the Milky Way galaxy.

The Empire seems to be the central ruling power for almost every world in this realm, in spite of various political aspects involved. We are also introduced to the Harri Seldon, a psychohistorian who states that the empire is in a state of decay and that he was working on a plan to revive it sooner than it would be if he didn't interfere.

He set up what later comes to be known as the Seldon Plan ( known only to a secretive group of scientists ), and sends out young scientists to a fringe world, which gets named the Terminus.

Eventually, after many years, this fledgling planet (known as Terminus) is just a library of sorts that needs massive support of all neighbouring worlds. The only resource this planet is rich in, is the scientific findings and inventions based on Atomic energy which only Terminus controls. Soon this prosperity gets it into conflict zone with its neighbours  and thereby triggering the series Seldon crises.

The first of this crisis comes in the form of a neighbouring world Anacreon trying to annex Terminus to gain the Atomics. This crisis is successfully mitigated by an internal power shift and external alliance with other neighbours to prevent any one world being stronger by huge margins.

After many years, the crisis repeats itself with a much stronger Anacreon planning an attack with more sophisticated weapons acquired from the dying empire. By now, the Foundation has made itself a religion by forming a religious hierarchy for its technological advancements, and expecting strict obedience and reverence of the Foundationers. Using this influence on the soldiers and common folk, the Foundation manages a spectacular last minute victory by turning this fear of defiling the gods against the rulers of Anacreon.

The next crisis boils over once all other worlds become wary of the missionary power of the Foundation and either bans them altogether or in completely under its sway with no way to claw out. It is in this wiggle space that a conflict looms ahead, and Foundation defeats it by the charms of a Trader. This begins the deviation of Foundation from a scientific religion to a purely trading power. The aggressor Korell is purely restrained by the threat of an embargo of trade goods.

to be contd..

Reading in the time of Corona

The months of lockdown also meant months of reading hundreds of magazines and books from free eBOOK apps and physical ones. I was extensively using Magzter and Juggernaut apps on the phone. I continue to use the latter while the former was stopped after its free version ended. Since there was a deadline, I also read feverishly and later sat down to vomit it all out to a diary to see how much I could recall. Now I am just digitizing some of those notes .. for fun.

In fact, as of today, I have 40 books marked Read in Goodreads, compared to the usual maximum of 20 a year. This doesn't count the hundreds of magazines and books which are not in Goodreads. If I try to recall the genre of magazines, I can quickly recall Architecture, Landscape, Science, Travel, Technology, History, Facts, History, Sci-Fi, Historical Fiction, Indian Mythological Fiction, Health Foods, Crime and even some Malayalam Literature.

There was this article I read about the Archer fish, originally found in the Sundarbans.
The fascinating aspect of this fish is that it beats refraction aspects and manages to shoot perfectly at insects high above the water line even while its eye is below it.

Then there was the article on the Basilisk lizard that has perfected running over water with a mechanism of running. It helps it to survive and gives more options of escaping compared to other similar organisms.

I also came to know that Band Aid was created by an employee whose wife kept having cuts and bruises at the kitchen. It was prepared by sticking pieces of gauze with anti-septic stuck on small tapes for easy application.

Also I realized that all dogs are the same species though they vary in lots of characteristics. This is because they are able to inter-breed between breeds.

The invention of MRI is a disputed one between some American and British scientists.

The head feels rotating in the direction opposite to the actual motion as it is still undergoing the cancellation action ordered by the brain to retain some kind of equilibrium.

The reason air is invisible is because it doesn't alter the photons which pass through it. Other materials like water in it does it and causing it to translucent.

There were some tough science topics also that I read about a lot like the Corona Virus, T-Cells, Lymph nodes, generation of antibodies, and the history of deep bores into the Earth. Looking at the vast topics these are, I can justify not having written down lengthy notes at that time.

Then there were the stories of exploration of the Angel falls, detailed full magazines on Ladakhi architecture, garden landscaping ideas and stories on sustainable living environments.

Since I am not able to locate the other notes, I might keep putting more posts on what I am able to recall, more as a memory recall exercise than anything else.

It starts with a crushing feeling

Edit: I put a stupid title as I couldn't find anything more truthful

Considering the enormous pressure of tasks, responsibilities ,and things in general that I get to deal with of late, I thought I should write about them.

The key events are : the Crushing feeling, the sinking feeling,... (more to be added whenever I realize it )

A crushing feeling of sorts is what exhibits itself at these points in life at first.
And that crushing tons of forces turns into a sinking feeling only when one's ground isn't hard enough to hold it up.

So, at the crushing stage, you know that you have mismanaged either schedules, promises or priorities to let that happen. But then, that is the point to re-align priorities, find spare willpower and exert all forces against the crushing forces. This action, when done well at this stage with focus, gives tremendous boost to productivity, and results too are generally good. The reason for talking about results too early is because it is an observation. An observation which has a confirmation bias that when shit happens and you manage to get out without falling into the pit, you generally would have done better than the average lot who avoid shit altogether.

So there it is;how to handle a crushing feeling. If not handled, what could happen, you ask?

Well, some of them lead to a sinking feeling if the crushing lasts for a while and you haven't really done anything to alleviate it. I would first be concerned why you didn't do anything. Are you incapacitated due to multiple crushing issues, or is the sheer intensity of some of them so high as to blow your defensive fuses, or did some of them trick you using a bias and made you fall quicker than usual?

There are specific solutions to each of these types, and more to be found for any new types that do come up. Anyway, we are only concerned with the ones you can't handle at this stage.

This brings us to the sinking feeling. Now if this is in spite of all your efforts at the early stage, then boy, you have something to deal with. If not, go back to those steps (I know, I didn't write any steps) and try all of them until you get over the sinking feeling. Well, for trying well you might even cut down the sinking feeling to a crushing one, which you already know how to deal with. Voila.

Now for the ones that haven't reduced significantly, or haven't at all. I would now apply all cognitive tricks rather than try to face it emotionally, as most of the emotional tricks would already have failed. Now cognitive tricks are neat little lies that you tell yourself( quite like those you tell yourself everyday anyway), to deal with nasty truths( or lies that are hard to disprove ). I won't be able to give a generic trick here until I figure out how to write about them in that fashion.

Tips? Be smart, think wacky. Question the improbable and impossible ones, without worrying about consequences of unraveling even the most closely held beliefs. After all, most of the pain comes from closely held beliefs on ideas, people, things, and sometimes yourselves. Just be careful on what you are unraveling. So how to be careful without worrying about what it leads to? Well, in my software mindset, I can ask you to keep a separate namespace, or virtual environment to do the experiments with the hazardous material. If it doesn't work, you should have rollback stacks which allow you to forget what you saw inside. What is said,seen and done inside your namespace, remains there. You commit it to main DB..ahem neurological system only after a period of trials,contemplation and building enough checkpoints and identifying potential symptoms of early disasters.

Now, some of you might think: "I get the problem, but what did you say did for it?" or "Damn, how do I do that mumbo-jumbo?". Some of you may not even catch what is being talked about all through out. If you are in the first group with questions, which I assume might be the case with most of you who have read it till this point, I can help. For the others, well, not time yet for you to grasp this. Skip.

How to build yourself a nice HAZMAT(exciting term) area or sandbox(meh) environment?
Well, you do that simply by allowing generally toxic ideas to be formulated in your mind without judgement, and extract useful, positive information/messages out from it. Now, if you haven't tried it before, or have a fragile and emotional mind, I would tread carefully with these suggestions. What works for me may not work for someone else. Same way, what works for a serial killer's mind doesn't work for me. So take my advice with that in mind. I am not asking you to think of murdering someone you dislike, or doing something nasty beyond your normal range of aggression (God save me, if my reader turns out to be a psychopath, and doesn't read beyond this step).
Now, in order do that activity without damaging your own conscience( though I do admit that I haven't been able to make 100% leak-proof HAZMAT area, often poisoning my mind for a short period at times with that activity ), you need tools and belief systems adaptations.

In terms of tools, I can throw some terms like meditation, deep visualization, keenly observing own responses, reactions of people around, and general changes in mood/tone of yourself and people you interact with. Also being able to visualize your mind as being outside yourself helps you see yourself objectively and then on questioning provide subjective inputs which help you in diagnosis. It helps if you are generally suspicious or curious about anything in the nature, people, yourself, and all mumbo jumbo without judgement on sensibilities and external validation. Just play cool.

Belief system adaptations would be a major one if you have beliefs which disallow such practices. Moral codes, fear of judgement, believing in external validations, stereotypes etc. obstruct your ability to lift heavy mental weights with different and opposing ideas. So I have observed that people who are shunned from certain sections of society due to whatever conditions of non-compliance often have a very high mental resiliency, and if applied correctly they usually have a huge mileage in life.
But, don't try to force it. It is the non-compliance part that is important, not the getting kicked out part. If you are willing to not force a compliance just to stay put, then it also means you believe in your own methods, without which there is no way for you to go ahead. These paths seldom have guides or gurus to lead you.

Of late, I have felt that the path of certain religious orders, mystical sects and a multitude of non-compliant groups that defy definitions are similar in that sense. The availability of a teacher/guide is a boon as well as a bane. If not chosen or acquainted with the right person with the right level of independence given to the individual, its all a waste. Most of the frauds happen because people choose for compliance even in the exotic wings of life which are meant for non-compliance.

What a comedy. hu ha ha

act of God

The noise was deafening. People who were until then drunk in the rhythm of the festival drums were now staring at each other and looking all around, waiting for someone to start fleeing.

From a distance, I watched the smoke plume form over the main building and I knew it was a matter of time before the crowd reacted. As expected, soon the crowd went berserk, causing a classic stampede. I quiety congratulated myself for the well executed mission.

People would read about this as a local incident now and maybe forget it after a while. But my moment of glory and satisfaction would come when the truth gets unrevealed to the entire world, in the next couple of decades. My plan is foolproof and now I should think about getting back to normal life and gel into the crowd, and await my fruits.

Anyway the change has been set in motion. I have triggered the next series of evolution required for the ultimate triumph of the human race, without even their knowledge.

I would be known as the father of modern humanity.

Sunday shopping in 2500 AD

Meanwhile, in the lab, Lana was busy preparing a list of things she wanted to buy. The central market was going to open in a few ticks and then she wouldn't get much of a chance to get the cheap deals if she stumbled with the list. The list, that was the key to efficient shopping at the market. Very few people knew this and it meant Lana had no problem getting the things she wanted in time and at the cheapest price.

She knew the system that run the central market in and out. After all, it was her husband Mani who designed it. He would never discuss details of his work with her. But she wasn't part of the central investigative council for no reason. Her skills of 'persuasion' ensured that she had the necessary details of everything she wanted to know about everything out there.

Mani was out there somewhere in the outer Andromeda on his TIME project. He rarely drops a signal when he is out working. He is a real fanatic.Yet she was ensnared by his charm when they met during a TIME conference. He was also the most popular techie endorsed by the council and the legendary Captain Vikram. She still remembered the conversations with the captain with thrill. After all, he is the single person on whom
the entire mankind owes its existence. If it was not for his foresight and strategy, this settlement wouldn't have existed as the last foothold for mankind.

Thinking of the mindless violence and exploitation of the Formers always upsets the day. So she forced her mind back into preparing the list. But as she was hooked to the Dreamfix machine, which was yet another innovation of Mani, the screen started showing all the disturbing images and facts about the days of the Formers. But it didn't last long as the machine detected her stress levels and moved onto Chumpa Hoolo tracks, which she found the most soothing.

The 'list', for the benefit of the readers was not something to be typed up or written on paper. Paper or papyrus was an ancient material used to write things down either using the dark colours from a mineral called graphite, or at later times with a combination of chemicals that generated liquids of various colours that stuck to the paper material on drying. People used it extensively for communication and keeping records. The 'paper' was produced out of another existent artifact called 'trees'. Ah, those are the interesting things one gets to learn from the History of the Ancient Formers course at the academy.

To create the list Lana required, she has to first hook herself unto the Dreamfix apparatus.
Navigation of interface is to be done by simulating the memories and encoded nerves to select the various offers and combo deals out there. As for the list itself, all that needs to be done is to imagine the object and its name. The machine automatically flashes details about matched products and their prices, availability etc.

Last time, they had run out of the fancy Oxy Pro 2 models and Lana  had to pull some strings with the council to release a quota for her. She would have felt naked without the latest Oxygen mask for the game of Gravo-o-Ball that everyone on Mars enjoyed during the Open days.


Anyway, she quickly composed the required mental images of all the stuff she had planned. Once she was done, she added them to the queue and ran a mental check if something was missed. "Perhaps an extra dose of Anti-Cancer cell shots would help Mani in his busy schedules." - she decided. But she was out of luck as all the cell shots were out of stock. She was annoyed at these frequent shortages at the market, especially for drugs. She recalled a finding in the recent council meet about rapidly increasing drug consumption and decline in stocks over all bases. The investigative council itself was poised to raise this issue to the head council about these.

"Ah, these days, work is too stressful. Maybe I should take a vacation to system B with Mani". She recalled his narration of the distant System B which was used for forward exploration and research by the TIME scientists. The view of multiple nebulae and disintegrated objects floating in the exospace also made it a much sought after romantic hangout, if only someone could afford it. But it also bears the marks of a completely destroyed object named Earth in the ancient days and was believed to be the original home of the Ancient Formers. 

Hearing the timeout beeps,  she quickly paid for her items through the central credit numbers and disconnected the dreamfix. The new Archo slippers would be waiting for her at their slots
and she was eager to try them out, one finger waiting on top of the SatLink to her sister...

----
The above article is an extension of the story "Life in 2500 AD" narrated from the point of view of the spouse of Mani, the lead scientist who starred in the original story. The extension was inspired by the contest "The future of Shopping" by Ebay India, but as usual doesn't qualify due to deadlines :-)
All images are obtained from Google Images and copyrights are retained by their original owners.

Feel the earth

Walking outdoors for long distances on bare foot has always fascinated me. But I didn't think too much of it..until now. I see people not recognizing it as a talent, but madness and lowliness.

They don't realize the pleasure of feeling the ground with your feet. It too has nerves you see.
You can perceive the lay of the land, the temperature and the level of traction it provides by just standing still. You feel as a part of the Earth, and it becomes easy to mould Earth chakras :-) or do Earth bending :D

Walking bare foot is challenging. You have the heat on the tarmac, the cold of the water and the weather to handle. Also there is the uneven land, the pointy stones, rocks and random dirt. Just walking fast on the tarred road can bruise and tear the skin off the smooth soles.

You got to be more careful when you do more intense activities like running, jogging or overcoming obstacles in the path. The stress signature on your feet during these activities is different from that experienced when you wear shoes.

I have seen many an expert runner, hiker, biker or climber turn to bare footed versions to get maximum kick out of it.  The simple joy of bouncing on your bare feet, jumping off your bare toes or tipping and balancing on the bare heels is worth the pain.

So today, I just walked out of my home and decided to explore my area. The same area that I covered on foot and on cycle all throughout my childhood. Good that it was already dark as I had the coolness of the night to support my goal. I walked a good 5-6 kms through residential areas where people eyed me suspiciously for walking through the busy streets bare footed and in shorts and a dingy shirt, with even the hair in shabby condition. I ended up exploring the newly completed railway over-bridge to the KSRTC bus stand.  It was a good experience to again walk through the place I used to pass by frequently and almost always in those lonely journeys to and fro Mysore. Walking amongst the crowd in the bus stand was fun, checking out cordoned off areas and keeping a keen eye on the ground for hostile terrain.

All throughout this mad walkathon I was thinking about why people despise the simple and natural ways of life, and embrace the built up and artificial setups. People walk smartly in their good dresses, drive in their good cars and look down upon people who don't seem to have similar possessions. They assume and build a position of power and confidence for themselves through such acts. I feel pity for the souls whose sole satisfaction on being alive is derived from the confirmation that the presence of these possessions provides them with. tch tch

I ended up reaching home feeling good and it was anyway in between a scheduled power cut. So i rested well and ended the madness with a tumbler of hot and strong home-made tea and got refreshed after washing. The sole and the heels have some injuries, that shows I have a long way to go before I attemptthe mad stuff I imagined in my head. :-)

Hope to see more bare foot adventures in immediate future ..

a silent strongman speaks out

Disclaimer
this post is purely for the martial minded, highly energetic readers who don't mind subjecting themselves to some pain and don't find such indulgences sadistic.. just challenging.

its been in the dry docks for many hours together. hence ended up quite big. if readers get bored, head on to the last for some juicy philosophy instead :P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i wonder if people out there know these things or not. anyway i share what i know..

you ever tried punching walls? if so, have you reached a point where pain doesn't appear until a good amount of blows? and mind it, punch on the columns of the wall for your good and for the good of the building you are in(telling this based on some bad experiences).

well, you might observe that during and after these exercises your knuckles would get bigger and pointier. this is because the bone fractures inside on impact and then reforms as bigger formations with tighter connections. this makes your bones much stronger than their original form and often allows you to surpass the normal resistance levels obtained by natural properties. I have very pointy and tough knuckles, especially on the middle fingers.

a down side of these hard hands is that, it would become next to impossible to take innocent jabs at your friend's fat tummy without making them cry with serious pain. its really true what spiderman said about power. :( restraint and patience. you need to bring them along when imbibing such strength into yourself.

anyways, that part is always there for us strong men of the world to handle. lets get on with our stuff..

i don't know how many of us natural strong men go to gyms to maintain and condition the body. atleast those stuck in the lazy IT industry which involves almost no action should be continuously upto something to live our 'natural' lives. but I don't fancy gyms. i kinda feel bad being in there. maybe i didnt find the right reason or trainer yet. well, I haven't even tried to :) thats the least my ego can do for me :D

but its very necessary to not lose the various strengths of our bodies. it is not just about being presentable.  its about being comfortable, being full of our energies and upto the task when the time comes. and each one of us has a reason to stay strong. lets remember them as they are the flames of our passion for strength.

another key strength point is the forearm. it helps in our day-to-day tasks. strong hands help in umpteen ways. also the arms are part of the body that is mostly visible to others and people form impressions based on appearance of the upper body. but leaving the appearance part, a fully functional and powerful upper body is key to any practitioner. from power abs to help you balance weights and lift yourself ,to strong fingers for tight grips, each part along the upper body plays an important part.

sometimes you can't tap the complete potential of one part without developing another. to know of such key points and train accordingly is where you need expert support of trainer and equipments. but these need not come from traditional gym environment either. as I have been always looking for alternatives to a gym, I know quite a few stuff to train myself with ,without too much advice and equipments. thanks to the internet and random things all around us :)

there are lots of simple things you can do if you are lazy as I am. stretch a lot whenever you feel like. you should get back to your comfortable level after these stretches. they help relieving pain and stiffness caused by prolonged sitting, laying down etc, which is natural in our sedentary lifestyle. a series of air punches can return the life into your system anytime. punch walls if you have a chance, because they do more for you :D

frequently clench and unclench your fists to strengthen the wrists. check if you are automatically clenching and unclenching your jaws as well. this, as far as I know is a sign of aggression. if you observe such a relation, practice slow clenching of fists to get rid of the connection and after sometime you will yourself being calm even when you clench your fists. also when you get angry you would no longer clench your fists, the way normal people do. that way you suppress one obvious gesture that gives away your intentions. very useful during street arguments :) you obviously need every advantage possible to have.

and for the biceps, triceps and shoulders, all must be knowing the pushups and many such well known exercises out there. i love mixing them with some extra moves to make em difficult so that instead of repeating them, i end up exerting same effort by doing just a few. talk about laziness being the mother of innovation. but right now, I am not sure if repeating simple exercises is better than doing a few complex ones.

my understanding of the body, its functions and its limitations come from the Ayurveda and the Eastern martial arts areas. The modern workout practices, as with most things modern focus on exterior and individual aspects, without considering a holistic view. A select few trainers understand the body well, and they lavishly mix concepts from East and West to customize workouts as per individual person's body and character. I wish some such trainer would come by and make me a superhero martial artist.. sigh..

the various forms of Kung Fu use the knowledge of the body to train the various parts rigorously. Although the various styles differ in many aspects and you have to find the right style to suit your body and personality type, they all involve lot of common work outs. The same goes for Yoga, which has umpteen variations. Even all the well known and not-so-well-known martial arts and healing practices stem from the basic concepts. Knowing one allows you to tap into the larger cauldron eventually. I am sure not many are aware of such variations. Yoga is not just about stretching,bending and breathing on yoga mats with meditation. Kungfu is not just about flying,kicking and fast moves that take the breath away. There are lesser known forms of the two where the roles are reversed.

I realize this is such a vast topic and stuff keeps coming out of my head continuously. Alright, moving on..

Abs. Now there isn't a single part of the body more closely scrutinized and lauded than this in terms of fitness. Six packs and eight packs are the definitions for fitness nowadays. Nothing less matters. I say that is a bag of dogshit. Pardon my language, but such narrow views only damage the ability and motivation for many of us to remain healthy. Please don't follow wealthy celebs in building bodies. They get paid and their entire lives depends on their looks and appearances. Lets not get our heads too high. If you already have good abs, then its good for you. Focus on other aspects of health too :)

If your abs allow you to balance your upper body against the lower and perform movements and stuff you love to, you have done enough to strengthen it. Let another layer of fat remain on top of it, if you like. Don't you sacrifice your favourite dish for that. :-)

To strengthen it, do only the crunches of various kinds. Anything that places load and pressure on the abs point also helps. Its fun to exercise your abs. I am testament to the fact that you can have rock hard abs under layers of fat tummy :)

Next comes my focal point, the lower body. Starting with the strong thigh,stable knees,big calf muscles and flexible ankles plus rigid foot. Its a killer combination! Legs are everything. They propel, they balance, they give you poise, they help you climb over anything, kick open stuff, break things and what not!
 
A mountaineer lives and dies by the strength of his toes,calves and every single part of his legs. A wrong twitch can end everything for him/her. A footballer, a cyclist, a martial artist, a dancer, and what not. Everything we do involves our legs. Losing it, thereby is the largest blow that can be given to someone. Pray no one gets such a punishment.

As a mountaineer,hiker,cyclist and a martial artist, I too love my legs. Among the parts of my body, I have always been partial to my legs. Hence they are still strong after years of relative inactivity. Recent cycling adventures helped regain the lost endurance. But they need to be regularly used and kept well oiled like rifles for perfect action.

Weak points are the knees and the ankles. They get bent,sprained, broken or swollen easily with impact. Such injuries can render you useless and prone to mortal danger. Hence always take good care of your feet. Run, exercise, lift weights on your feet, stretch, kick, do whatever you want to keep them in good 'running' condition.


Stances which involve balancing your body weight on individual legs, the knees or the ankles and toes are some basic stuff which can significantly increase their reliability on the field. And you don't need special time or equipments for any of these. That is another reason why I fancy leg training. Even sitting in the traditional Indian way is very good for the legs.


You can walk on your toes occasionally for fun and training the tendons.
Run occasionally. Jog. Hang by your legs.
Take longer strides than usual while walking. Walk fast. Walk really slow.
Hop over tiles, jump over obstacles instead of climbing over.
Kick things at different heights, kick backwards, kick sidewards.
Bend you leg backwards, lying down and with your arms bring them over your shoulders.
Bend your legs and touch your shoulders with your knees.
Jump up so that you can hit your palms kept at face level with our knees.
Do splits.

Jump over low walls.
Sit on slightly tall tools by springing onto it than climbing.
Cycle. Climb rocks. Climb really tall peaks.
Climb a vertical wall use bare hands and foot..
Raise your right leg 90 deg to right and hold it for long.
Raise it forward and hold it longer.
and many many more :-)

phew. been writing this from morning! i think i had enough, and I assume that you too have. if you have read till here with interest, then contact me. We can train together :)
 

nowadays people don't respect strength. they only end up fearing strength. i hate the kind of strength that can only inspire fear and no respect. such a strength is caused not by pure strength, but when weakness causes you to use your only strength and impose your will upon people with lesser strength. I can only see the pure strength in select few, and the number of such people are dwindling. I think the older generation had more understanding of such a strength. I find such references in lots of characters and stories from various books etc.  and idolize them.

To be a real strong man, you don't just have to have large muscles and lots of physical strength. Even with a little less of it, what you need most is a large heart to accommodate people with all their imperfections and hateful views. A strong man should be able to take it all in and give out good vibes. He/she should be the filter that cleans things around them. It takes time to become one and the path is full of struggle, pain and isolation. I am on the way I believe and I have seen many others too. Believe we will meet up sometime :-)

PS: Here, by using the word 'strong man' , I don't intend to isolate women from this role. In fact strong women are more common than strong men.

Refer to this article from Lifehacker for some very useful follow-up information from a more credible source about things I have spoken about here  :-)

Smiling Moon

It look so special...I have never seen such a sight in my life.
I noticed the smiling moon,on the clear western sky while going to the library after 6pm today.It was quite amazing and funny at same time.

I felt as if the sky itself was smiling at the world below.Don't know why the peculiar shape occurred. I never have seen two planets(Venus and Jupiter) so close by the moon,that too in crescent. This is a pretty sight occurring due to the alignment of these planets.Those who missed the view would have to wait for someone to upload images soon, or for a newspaper with an observant photographer.

What I noticed was that,not many noticed the peculiar sight on the clear sky.People were busy and had frowns on their face,obviously worried about the hectic lives. I felt the sky was saying "Smile Please" and I am sure the peculiar sight would have brought a smile on anyone's face.

Lets' take it as a message to ourselves.Keep Smiling and go about doing our jobs with a smile on our face...

Trust me to interpret anything with a useful message.. ;)
PS:
Got a photo taken by Cyriac and posted it(he admitted to not have taken it well)

Memoirs of a lost civilization

The beautiful red sun that lit the sky is no more.Dark clouds,as dark as the Xenorians clung to the moist air....
It burnt their eyes and souls alike,but the last few survivors of Storbia still stared at the dark sky,as if waiting for some miracle to occur and save them from doom.I had no emotions watching people die of suffocation and the deadly Aphestaxix.30 long years of battle has left me emotionless....and helpless in this case...

I still remember the day the Xenorian swarm landed on the shores of Entripaga.If Zomanga had heeded to the advice of the Science Guild....we could have fought off the swarm for a longer period of time...alas...now even Stevens is no more...he was the motivation of all the natives...

They have virtually destroyed every sign of biological life on the archipelago,rendering us useless and obsolete.There aren't enough supplies to survive for more than 2 weeks,let alone make an assault.The last time such an effort was made,only two off fifty Royal Militia men returned to base...now we just sit here...haphazardly living..... awaiting complete biological degradation ....

............

.............


i miss Nancy and the kids.....



~~~Excerpts from the diary of Captain Demoran,2nd Storbian Regiment
~~~Dated 2200 AD

PS:He was one of the last survivors of the legendary Storbian civilization.His diary was preserved in the snow and retrieved 50 years ago by a team of explorers.

Life in 2500 AD

I was woken up from my alpha slumber by Mito-3 at exactly 10.30 ZIT.The ZIT,introduced in the late 22nd century is still in use in this part of the world.
I faintly recalled the details of the TIME project that I had joined yesterday.It has only been 5 moons since I had graduated as a system design engineer from the Alpha Technology Institute,a premier institute for research and design.My skills in recreating thought patterns accurately on any system were rewarded with a work at the dream project.

The project was started off by Captain Vikram 10 suns ago,aimed at recreating the story of ancient mankind which officially ended in a thermonuclear war which spanned 2 centuries.My work would be to identify and recreate stories and events of those times.I don't have much idea about how to go about with this.I expect to be briefed today by none other than the Captain himself.

He was my hero and role model from the very beginning of my Advanced Scientific Research Training,5 suns ago.Now that I have joined my dream project,I can meet him face-to-face.What an exhilarating experience it would be.I can't wait to get ready for the meeting today.

Enough of this banter,I should check Dreamfix for any ideas.I should have spawned something interesting in today's sleep.After all,yesterday was one of the most important day of my life(flick the button on Dreamfix...whhrr...this is a recorded message...you have 15 unprocessed dreams ..press A to process all..B for interactive...).I press A and move to the Mind-pod.
It is one of my favourite inventions,and also the one which fetched me enough appreciation from the council and a lot of publicity.In a way,it led to me being selected for TIME.

I activated the device from its hibernate mode.The Health-monitor displayed 'fair'.Hm..I would need some bio-chip shots today.The last one was taken 1 moon ago.Everything else seemed normal.The total number of users for this machine has become over a hundred,that is about 30% of total human population on Mars.No wonder,I get so many mails talking about enhancements and compliments.

My thoughts about Captain Vikram and the TIME project was detected by the device and it started displaying various news casts,articles,thoughts,dialogues and other information related to them and available on the public information highway.The 360 degree display made of organic carbon nanotubes is such a wonderful creation.Though a tad expensive compared to other displays,natural display suits me the best.I blindly filled in some precautionary checks against diseases on the screen.No one knows how or why diseases used to affect ancient man.So this effective system monitors cell life and administers special pills by itself.

By the time I finished reading the mails and articles,the Dreamfix outputs were ready.I went through them...most of were based on my future in the project.I would be travelling around researching about the mysterious minds of the ancient man.Then I could recreate the sequence of events that led to its downfall.Few of them were about Captain Vikram.

It is almost 11.I took my diet pills ,one red and two blue...enough for a hectic day.I should be going now..the asimov craft leaves in a couple of zeons...I shouldn't miss it...as there is only this one mode of transport to System B from Andromeda..especially because I am the only living being here...bye...hope to see you soon