Astrology, Palmistry - Is it science

Astrology, palmistry are these scientific subjects? I hear people saying a lot, I don't believe in palmistry, Astrological predictions are all fake. I say that at times. These are fun to discuss subjects. Belief in the subject if they motivate you, or shun the thought as absurd if it is not motivating.

But I am taking side of these subjects not being scientific? I guess yes I am. But I also believe in observation science. Over the years you have studied a pattern and then generalize them as a concept. So we accepted the fact that sun rises from east. It was after observing the sun rise from same direction, day after day. So why not accept facts put by palmistry as close to being good. Astrology is an ancient subject. So its history is older than modern day science.

There may be crooks, who try to make money out of ignorance of common man. But then we have crooks using modern day science as well.

So should we start believing in astrological predictions? I would say don't ask questions like will I succeed or not when looking at predictions. Use them to know generic talent, qualities of people like you and use it for your benefit. Belief is the key word and you should belief in yourself in whatever you do.

Lets see what the world thinks of such subjects.

Skiing - Dec-25-2005

Best way to enjoy christmas - go out for a winter game. And what winter game is comparable to skiing. My first day at skiing will be marked as 25-Dec-2005.
An hour drive from my home Snoqualimie is beautiful ski mountain.

Sumeet, Basav and I reached there by 8:30am. We were in full doubt if the skiing would be open. It was christmas day and we were afraid that everything will be closed. At such an early hour, it was all deserted and our suspicion increased. But, rental shop was open and we were delighted to know that rest of the day would be spent skiing.



After putting on ski shoes, we felt as if we were doing moon walk. They
were really heavy. At end of day when we took off the shoes, it was real relaxing. But snow shoes are must and I can imagine our sports shoes would have got all wet in snow.



The sight of snow covered mountain was inspiring.

Sumeet gave basic introductory lecture on how to walk and get comfortable with skies. We had enrolled for ski class which was supposed to begin at 9:30am. We used available time to play with skies on. In the class we were among the bright students who picked up pretty fast. Walking with skies on, making wedge to stop ourselves, we were picking it up fast. At the end of class at 12:00pm, Michael, our instructor, said we are ready to go up the mountain and ski down.

My first round down the slope - I started nicely talking big that i shall not fall at all. Uptil now i had not fallen and was determined to prove people wrong that you have to fall to learn ski. I started confidently. But after some moments, i gained speed and my wedge shaped art was not working. I tried tunring and started going all towards right. On right side it was all icy and was leading down to some houses and roads. I was continuosly heading towards right. Some mexicans were making snow man and i was about to hit their creation. Aah, finally I could control my speed and managed to stop just before hitting the snow man. Aah, what a relief it was. I took as an oppurtunity to take the snap of snow man. And after that i slide down in controlled way.

My second and third trip down the mountain was great. I did not fall at all. With this positive note, I took a break and had my lunch.

Post lunch I again tried skiing 7-8 times. I fell in these roundss. But i was picking up confidence and able to take good turns. I am waiting for my second and third classes in coming weeks.

Universal studio and Sea world trip details

My long trip began on Friday, 18-Nov-2005. The trip was planned to last till Sunday, 27-Nov-2005. Yes, it’s been long time since I went for such long tour. My first destination was LA – Las Angeles. I reached there by flight at night. I met old friend of mine, Nahush, at airport. Hey, Hey, we were supposed to meet there, it wasn’t surprise kind of meeting. So here I am in LA, for second time.



The trip begins by our visit to Universal studio – A beautiful place to see sets of big Hollywood movies. I could see cities of New York, Europe, Railway Station flooded river at one place. The best part was live demonstration of film making. They actually showed how a person can be made to look smaller then cat. Do you remember Ed Murphy in nutty professor? They showed us how Ed Murphy could play multiple roles in nutty professor. I think same technique was used for multiple roles of Govinda in ‘Hadh kar di aapne’. How sound is added into already shot movie was demonstrated to us. Site of plane crash was so realistic that even with my simple digital camera someone would think, I had been to place to capture the photo.

A beautiful area was developed as snow covered area. Note it was bright sunny day and no snow was there elsewhere. Even then photo below gives image of snow covered area.


There is Mummy ride, kingdom of dinosaurs and much more to do. It was evening and park closing time. On our way out I sat on bull (not real one but robotic which turns, jumps as badly as real one). I tried it two times and made good sitting on top it. I cannot tell you now where all it pained next day.



Next day we were all set to go to Sea world in San Diego. Shamu, a killer whale, is most famous across US in sea world (http://www.shamu.com/ca/). Its amazing to see killer whale, dolphins dancing to human music. Fishes were jumping, throwing water on audience at instructors command. Many were giving small fish to Dolphin and they were eating from our hands. It was really unique experience.



Next I was surprised to see Penguin’s here in US. They had maintained closed area where temperature maintained was zero degrees Celsius. We could see big colonies of penguin walking, swimming in water.

How can I miss describing cars I drove while describing trips in US. Universal studio and Sea world was covered in friends own car – a Hyundai. We had great music to keep our spirits high. We had great food in evening at some good restaurant. There are many more days of trips left and many photos to share with all.

Keep waiting for more mails from my side on this space. Hopefully I should be able to describe all 9 days in this year itself. See again I have set tight deadlines for myself. I am left with only 9 days to finish this task.

My buddy Nahush has been ahead in blogging though delayed in publishing. Read more stories of our trip in http://nahush.blogspot.com/2005/12/california-trip-those-9-golden-days-of.html

Sayo nara

Bye

Have great days ahead,

Shobhit

Communication

I wake up in morning with a miss call from my brother. Its a signal for me to logon to my yahoo and start chatting. Ditto, I do that. I logon to yahoo and start talking with them. Yes! I talk with my brother and parents over yahoo messenger. So nice feeling. Then I see my friends start calling them. We have long converstions and gala time as if I am face to face with them.

I love playing chess and used to miss partners. For ignorant chess cannot be played alone and I am not that good that I can play with blue supercomputer. Now I just logon to yahoo and enjoy the game.

Ten years past no one would have imgained anything like this. As school kid I had never thought that world would be so small. I used to get astonised by pen friends concept itself. Now we have email friends. Being in touch, getting to know about others, knowing about the world has become so easy. So what should I expect in wordl when I grow older? Will be able to find another another earth? Will people start travlling to moon as if someone is going to paris or autralia. Cars I am sure would be running on solar energy. Dependency on coal and petroleum is bound to reduce to minimal. So many things can happen differently. Who knows what lies for us in future.

Small things matter

So what are things which make you feel you are in familiar environment. I was amazed when I noticed presence of crow on west coast of US. I suddenly realized I was missing the sight of crow on east coast. Now does crow have any value in my life. Not at all !!! Its just that having brought up in Mumbai ( old Bombay) I am used to seeing them all around. Does hectic life of traveling in bus or watching tram go by relax someone. Yes !!! Traveling in bus, reading novels in bus, listening to Music in bus reminds me of my college days where most of the studies and timepass happened in local train travel.

Somehow a bit of business in life is good for health. Atleast I feel that way. One cannot sit idle, relaxing a lot for days together. So here goes my Salute to another hectic day ahead :-)

Bengalaru Vs Bangalore

I read the news today morning that government is again planning to change Bangalore to some other name. <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1328843.cms>

I cannot spell that place right now. What kind of patriotism is this? Under what pretext these Babus are trying to change all popular places in India?

I fail to understand whats the reason for doing this. What difference in economy and image did someone see after Bombay was changed to Mumbai? People still tend to use Bombay. Are politicians refering to some Numerologist to get good score on city name?

Too many questions crop up in my mind when I hear something of this kind.