Fun

George Carlin : Philosopher, Comedian and a Genius

George Carlin, probably one of the most intelligent comedians around, passed away on Sunday due to a heart attack. If you don’t know who he is, check out his page on WikiPedia and his website.

In addition to being a great comedian, George had a “thing” for languages.. Here is a snippet from his website

Some favorite oxymorons:

  • assistant supervisor
  • new tradition
  • original copy
  • plastic glass
  • uninvited guest

Some favorite redundancies:

  • added bonus
  • total abstinance
  • young children
  • exactly right
  • subject matter
  • revert back
  • true fact
  • honest truth
  • sum total
  • join together
  • ferryboat
  • free gift
  • general public
  • bare naked
  • unique individual
  • new initiative
  • end result

RIP George..You will be missed.

June 25, 2008 by Fun Rantings Uncategorized 0

Trip to Michigan

Over the memorial day weekend, I and some of my friends from IIT along with their better half’s and parents, went on a trip to Lake Charlevoix in Michigan. The weather and company was great and it turned into a perfect weekend. Here are some pictures..

Place we stayed at. Frost Castle. Would highly recommend staying at this place if you travel to this region. The owner, Al Frost, is friendly and has done a great job with building the whole log cabin by himself. BTW, I don’t know if I would call this monster a log cabin :). It has 7 bedrooms and 4 baths.

How many engineers does it take to put up a volleyball net?

Winners of the Volleyball match..

Clear skies and water during a hiking trip

Getting ready for BBQ

Some Rafting..

Hare Krishna.. Hare Ram.. In front of the campfire..

Jet Skiing..

If you really have a lot of time on hand..here’s the link to all the pictures..

June 1, 2008 by Fun Travel Uncategorized 0

Europe : First trip : Thoughts

I recently got the chance to visit Barcelona, Spain for a business trip. Being my first real trip (I have had a lot transit layovers), I was really excited about the trip. Did it live up to my expectations? Yes and No.

  • Architecture : One word.. beautiful!!!
  • Food : Two words.. healthy and small portions.
  • People : Friendly
  • Public Transportation : Clean, Efficient, Affordable
  • Technology : I personally thought that the technology in US was more advanced.

And yes, Europeans wear suites to a football game :). But then, I guess, I shouldn’t be generalizing after just visiting one city in Europe.

If you get a chance to visit, Barcelona, I would highly recommend visiting the Barri Gotic (old part of the city with Gothic architecture) and Sagrada Familia  (unfinished cathedral by Guadi). And don’t get intimidated about taking the public transportation. It is easy to figure out and the people are very friendly.

And do ensure that you have a ton of money :). With the exchange rate at today’s rate, it is not cheap to visit Europe :)..

Here are some pictures from the trip. For a complete list, click here.

The Hotel, I stayed at

Hotel Hesperia Presidente

Subway station in Barcelona

Door knob on an old building

Graffiti (it seemed to be everywhere and apparently is considered art here)

Column (with Christopher Columbus at the top)

Street Musician

Ecofriendly taxis 🙂

The Cathedral

Paella (the real deal)

April 24, 2008 by Food Fun Travel Uncategorized 0

Overheard : Comment about degrees

Last Saturday, I attended a charity event at the VanderCook College of Music, a music college associated with my Alma matter, IIT. It was a fun evening with live music and a silent Chinese auction. But the best part was that I was seated next to a very old and very funny professor from IIT. Dr.McKee is probably in his 80s, but is one of the most active persons I have seen. He had this infectious booming laughter, that would crack every one up. This picture with him, should say it all

Here’s what he said about degrees

B.S = Bull Shit

M.S = More of the Same

PhD = Pile high and Deep!!!  🙂

April 14, 2008 by Fun OverHeard Uncategorized 1

The Few..The Smart.. The Kudithipudi's

Alright.. I blatantly stole that tag line from the US Marine Corps. But for the folks that know me, you know that I am extremely proud of my family name, even though it is so difficult to spell :). Here is a scan of an article from the 26th Feb edition of the “Border Mail“, a Australian local news paper. It is an article about some local high school kids that got a scholarship for their college education based on their overall merit. And right in the middle of them is my niece, Kavya. Congrats kiddo..

Kavya Kudithipudi

March 9, 2008 by Family Fun Rantings Uncategorized 0

Restrooms and subliminal messaging..

On my recent trip to India, I had a layover at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam. We had a long layover and while we were whiling away the hours, my friend Hareesh asked me, if I noticed anything about the restrooms in the airport. I told him that I thought they were unusually neat for a public restroom. He went on to explain that this “neatness” was the result of a fake “fly” in the Urinals.

Here’s a long shot and a close up of the fly.

Apparently, the Airport administration got a lot of complaints in late 90s about the state of the restrooms and did a study on how to improve the cleanliness. And lo and behold, they came up with this idea of a “fake” fly. Apparently, when people see (on purpose or subliminally)  the fly, they try to “clean” it up :).. I think the real reason is a that men just need a target to piss on :). So there are less spills and the restrooms end up being cleaner.

I noticed the same thing at the MindTree offices in Bangalore. But here the message was a bit more direct and blunt :). But it got the job done. The restrooms in that office were also spotless.

On a larger scale, subliminal messaging can be used to bring around huge changes. There is a whole wing of the US military (and am sure in  governments around the world) dedicated to Psychological Operations. Check out the WikiPedia link for some interesting projects this unit worked on.

March 8, 2008 by Fun Rantings Travel Uncategorized 0