Brooklyn Bridge

Last weekend, we spent some time in the city. The highlight was the walk on Brooklyn bridge towards Manhattan. I have this love for bridges that I inherited from my dad. The Manhattan skyline, statue of liberty, Queens and Verrazano bridges on either side does take away an average tourist's attention from the bridge they are on but that does not make the Brooklyn Bridge any less of an architectural wonder.

The foundation of Brooklyn bridge was built using a dangerous and interesting engineering technique called open caisson. An open caisson is a pressurized bottomless chamber that is sunk into the water until it hits the river bed. There are people inside this pressurized chamber digging out clay and debris until the chamber settles on a solid surface like rock. Once that is done, the workers get out of the caisson and concrete is poured into it thus forming a solid concrete foundation for the bridge.Read more about the bridge here.

D's glee says she wasn't bored at all.

Btw Clinton Eastwood and Murugan lives in Youtube. Watch this one.


This blogpost strictly conforms to U.S Television news reporting standards. :)

Thats is a very good question!

How often have you heard a person commenting 'that is a very good question' only to find out that he/she considers it a good question because: 1. its a good excuse to change the subject 2. can show off knowledge while answering that one.

Now, seriously, What does a 'good question' mean? Doesn't it indirectly imply that the other questions were bad or were just ok. Do the questioner then have to fight an inner battle to decide if the question is good before burping it out. We all have been told that there are no stupid questions but isnt the 'good question' comment another way of saying that your previous questions were not stupid but can be classified , at the very best, as mediocre.

Is this an American thing or cross-cultural? Is it done in Asia? Europe? If it is, I must've been a master at asking mediocre questions and surrounded by mediocre people since I never heard it while in India.

To me its as annoying as the quote unquote thing done by people using their fingers while speaking since I now have to figure out where the quotes start and end.

On a different note:





This blogpost strictly conforms to U.S Television news reporting standards. :)

The deficit game

Most of us are aware of the ever-growing gigantic trade deficit that U.S has with China. NYTimes offers an interesting persepective on it:

China imports components, does the low-wage assembly, and then exports the finished products to the U.S. — so the whole value appears in the Chinese trade surplus with the U.S., even though on average 65 percent of the value was imported into China. When a Chinese-made Barbie doll sells in the U.S. for $9.99, only 35 cents goes to China

You can read the full article here.

On a tangential arc , here is a Bruce Lee snippet I like:


If you were in Calicut today and took a walk on S.M.Street, you'd see street hawkers selling Bruce Lee posters along with Rajnikant's and Mammooty's! Such is his popularity

My blogpost strictly conforms to U.S Television news reporting style. :)

Why I like subtitled movies

I like watching foriegn films. According to my friend Nick, every Hollywood movie is technically a foreign film for me. Technicality aside, I mean non-english movies with english sub-titles. According to me and several others, the big difference between books and movies is the how books allow our imagination to run wild while movies limit it by providing us with visual stimuli. Both has its pros and cons. But movies with sub-titles to an extent has a bit of both worlds. As I dont understand the language, I am free to interpret how the dialogue was delivered and what the character really meant.

Here is a movie reccommendation to feel what I am talking about: Pan's labyrinth

Brother ! Odd marketing

While walking through the aisles of the local super market I came across a book that had a catchy name. 'Brother Odd' by Dean Koontz. I flipped the book to find out what its about but instead of what critics say or a short description of the plot, I found the photo of Mr.Koontz and his dog glaring at me. Is he that big a name? I dont know, but I am too lazy to open the book and find out.

Wishing Wanderstruck and VikramVasu a happy married life.

In Kahlil Gibran's Prophet there is a chapter on marriage that I love to point to newly weds. I unashamedly do so again and may life bless you bo-th with a long joyous prosperous life and many kids. :)

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow