I salute Team Hoyt

There are several inspiring moments that motivate me everyday, to run and push myself, greater and beyond what I thought was physically possible, for me. But this story about a father and son, who have run 60 marathons (25 of them the Boston Marathon), 6 Ironman Triathlons (composed of 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 116 mile bike ride and then a 26 mile maraton), and other races for a total of nearly 1000 events, takes pushing the limits, to a whole new level.

Kudos to Team Hoyt.

Don’t swear in Texas

Every now and then, you hear how conservative Texas is. But you do not realize the stark reality until something like this comes up.

Read the article about a guy who got cited for Disorderly Conduct, a misdemeanor, for swearing in a Texas restaurant.

Reminder to self: The next time you are in a restaurant, watch what you say !

Tiger tickler ?

For a long time, I’ve wanted to have an Indian Tiger as a pet. And how awesome is this 🙂

Whoever he is, I am so damn jealous. Photo via PROTO-JP TUMBLER.

Atomic John

There has been quite a furore about an unknown truck driver delivering a thorough account of the first 2 nuclear bombs ever built on the face of the earth. Intrigued and excited, I searched google to read more about him and stumbled on this gem of an interview/article that brought him to light.

Read David Samuels’s account about the truck driver, John Coster-Mullen, who conducted more than a decade of research to successfully build the first accurate replica of Little-Boy, the master-blaster that annihilated Hiroshima, ending WWII. The article itself is quite interesting and leaves you wanting for more. Here’s an excerpt:

I recently wrote to Coster-Mullen and suggested that we take a trip across the country to visit his Little Boy replica, which is currently housed at Wendover, a decommissioned Air Force base in Utah. After some negotiation, we agreed to ride together on his late-night delivery route between Waukesha and Chicago. We would then drive to Wendover. Along the way, he would explain the inner workings of the first atomic bombs, and I would learn how he got it right and the experts got it wrong.

Atomic John: The New Yorker.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the his book “Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man”.

The legend of Faust

I have heard about the legend of Faust before but never had the chance to read it. As destiny would have it, I recently stumbled upon Faust again, one of the works by Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), the one that made him apparently famous in the literary world of then Europe.

For the past few days, piecemeal I’ve read and it is beautiful. My only regret is that I did not discover this gem before.

The tale of Faust is supposed to be Goethe’s greatest work into which he poured a lifetime of experience; the entire work took him his whole life and he finished the second part only a year before his demise. The literary work is written as a play (a poetical drama actually) and it portrays an interplay of religion, the supernatural, love, tragedy and the surreal. To give you an introduction about Faust, here’s a brief synopsis.

Faust is an old man, a sage or an alchemist, wise, learned and very pious. We see a conversation between God and Mephistopheles (satan) in which God remarks that Mephistopheles may try all he likes to tempt Faust; God is confident that Faust is too moral an individual to be tempted by anything. Mephistopheles sets to work, appearing to Faust and conversing with him. Faust is weary of life, and Mephistopheles is soon able to convince him that he could sample something more.

The story concerns the fate of Faust in his quest for the true essence of life. Frustrated with learning and the limits to his knowledge and power, he attracts the attention of the Devil (Mephistopheles), who agrees to serve Faust until the moment he attains the zenith of human happiness, at which point Mephistopheles may take his soul. Faust is pleased with the deal, as he believes the moment will never come.

In the first part, Mephistopheles leads Faust through experiences that culminate in a lustful and destructive relationship with an innocent and nubile woman named Gretchen. Gretchen and her family are destroyed by Mephistopheles’ deceptions and Faust’s desires and actions. The story ends in tragedy as Gretchen is saved and Faust is left in shame.

The second part begins with the spirits of the earth forgiving Faust (and the rest of mankind) and progresses into rich allegorical poetry. Faust and his devil pass through the world of politics and the world of the classical gods, and meet with Helen of Troy (the personification of beauty). Finally, having succeeded in taming the very forces of war and nature Faust experiences a single moment of happiness.

The devil Mephistopheles, trying to grab Faust’s soul when he dies, is frustrated as the Lord intervenes — recognizing the value of Faust’s unending striving.

This has been one of the most interesting drama’s I have ever read. It portrays one of the imminent weaknesses of the human kind; The quest for knowledge and the impossibility to attain enlightenment without the passion. And It punches in all that with philosophical poetry. Enough said. Go grab a copy now and enjoy it.

Download from Google for free.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

–Dylan Thomas

Beautiful !

A gesture unlike anything i’ve seen before

<p>
  Rather than pass on his $44 billion fortune to his adult children, whom he notes are already quite well-off, Buffett announced Sunday that he is giving away the bulk of his assets to a foundation run by his friends, Bill and Melinda Gates. This will double the $1.5 billion that the world&#8217;s richest foundation spends annually — mostly on health and education programs.
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<p>
  The gift is notable in several ways.
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<p>
  First, its sheer size. The donation makes industrialist benefactors such as John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie look almost stingy and is rivaled only by the Gateses&#8217; own gifts of $25.9 billion. Calculating the impact that money might have is impossible, but neither Buffett nor the Gateses think small. &#8220;There&#8217;s no reason we can&#8217;t cure the world&#8217;s 20 deadliest illnesses,&#8221; Bill Gates said Monday.
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<p>
  They might.
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<p>
  The gift also underscores a little-noticed trend: a renaissance in philanthropy. In 2004, the latest year for which data exist, the USA had 70,000 foundations — double the number a decade earlier. They gave away $33 billion.
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<p>
  But perhaps most striking is the way Buffett&#8217;s decision stands out in this greed-is-good era, in which, to cite one example of gross excess, the average pay for top hedge-fund managers last year exceeded $360 million.
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<p>
  To a large degree, of course, wealth-building — if not outright greed — is good. Before they gave away a dime, Buffett and Gates created jobs and raised people&#8217;s living standards by building spectacularly successful companies. But when should the wealth-building stop?
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<p>
  &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe in dynastic wealth,&#8221; Buffett has said, likening inherited wealth to choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold medal winners in the 2000 Olympics. That&#8217;s why he opposes efforts to repeal the estate tax, saying that without it, America would have an aristocracy based on inherited wealth instead of a meritocracy that rewards ability and drive.
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<p>
  As Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, said in 1759 of generous capitalists, Buffett feels it&#8217;s in his self-interest to help others &#8220;though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.&#8221; Here&#8217;s hoping others heed the message.
</p>

Another prejudiced anti-Nuclear article

Why nuclear power is not the answer

Physics’ sharpest mind since Einstein

<p>
  &#8220;I think he is as close as you are going to get to a living Albert Einstein today.&#8221;
</p>
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Daniel Tammet : A genius unravelled

<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html">great article</a>, more like an interview with him where he actually explains how he is able to do the things that he does.
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