The black drongo- an elusive bird of Kerala

The "black drongo" is a name that is new to me. I did quite a bit of internet search to find the name of this cute looking bird. ALso called the "king crow", it looks like the crow, but is smaller and has a split tail (bifurcated tail). I took a video of this rather elusive bird from my balcony, yesterday morning.




I tried my hand at capturing this bird- with an odd name (who would call this little black bird a- black drongo?)

Some good 3D videos- this is really good:

3D videos are now available on youtube.....And the effects are perhaps better than the one I saw when I watched AVATAR.. the 3D movie. Watch this amateur video made a guy....you have to wear read and cyan (blue) 3D glasses to view the 3D effects. But man, this is really good....How come this did not get publicity from google. Enjoy and view on......

Hands on 3D video of the Nintendo 3DS game machine

Nintendo has launched a 3D gaming machine with a 3D digital camera built into the game console. So one can supposedly use this Nintendo 3DS gaming console as a 3D digital camera also. This you tube video is in 3D and to get a 3D view you would need  3D glasses.....However the actual Nintendo 3DS gaming console does NOT need  3 D goggles to use it.
See the video below:

Visit to the hills of Vagamon

A video of the Indian pond heron:

 
I found this Indian pond heron foraging for food in the marsh near our home. A not uncommon bird, that flies around ponds and marshes. 
I took this 2nd video clip of the pond heron flying away:

MP3 Xmas carols and songs- free:

http://songsofpraise.org/christmas.htm
I've visited a number of web sites on google search for free MP3 Xmas songs. But most of them including amazon's so called free mp3 downloads have hiccups or demand a credit card before the downloads. The link above actually offers mp3 songs with both lyrics and music. An I could not only download it, the songs worked beautifully. There may be other sites out there.. will add them to this blog as I find where these "gems" are hidden.

Video of Helicopter aerial display

Managed to grab this video from my Western balcony. Fun  to watch.. enjoy.

Apathy, indifference and today's world:

We are already there- this is the brave new world of Aldous Huxley. In this world, especially in secular, democratic countries like India, thinking the wrong thought could become a crime. There is not much or rather, no thought working in anyone's minds. The thinking process has come to a standstill- full stop. A devastating road traffic accident, or other misfortune, and nobody has the time to think, to ask the inconvenient questions- what was the cause of this road traffic accident? Did the police do anything to prevent it? Was every step taken to prevent it? Will we, as citizens and the keepers of the law take steps to prevent these incidents from happening again? The degree of negativism with respect to any or every event is amazing. The typical attitude is -firstly one of indifference. If there has been a bomb blast- it is not in my city, so who cares! Or this road traffic accident occurred on that road, not mine.. or worse.. the victim was not one of us.
   The police are seen as indifferent or worse....and since nothing more is expected of them...they dont seem to care one bit. The municipal (city) corporations are considered as a means of acquiring wealth quickly, for the scheming no goods, the scum of society.. "who else would want to work there?"
The result is obvious- you can find in my own city (Cochin)- telephone poles bending precariously, waiting for the next wind, to fall onto the road or onto somebody. High voltage fuses and wires and contact points are left open, on roadside posts, waiting to zap the next unsuspecting passerby. A friend of mine, a college student, had the misfortune of stepping on a protruding spike of iron from a roadside slab - the result was serious foot injury. But who is complaining? Who is there to listen to complaints? Is the government listening? Does the government have funds to maintain roads, make life less dangerous for the common man? Where do the massive funds allocated to maintain our cities, go? Is anyone answerable for all that goes on in the name of government.
    Again, does anyone think? Is thinking about these things one of those no no areas in today's society? I believe social decay starts with the mind. A dead mind leads to a dead, decaying society... no I am not referring to the USA.. it is very true of modern day cities in India. Without the process of feeling, thinking and expression of thought, society undergoes the same thing that the individual experiences, .. it is called a "death wish". (to be continued)......

Converting waste plastic to oil- a novel invention:

If anyone or anyone you know has used this machine please comment here...We would like to hear more about this machine.
I managed to get hold of their email id and website:
  Blest Co., Ltd.
      Sales Manager  :  Minoru Aoyama
      7-3-1, Shinomiya, Hiratsuka-City, Kanagawa-Pref.,
      Japan  254-0014

Tel:81-463-51-5604   Fax:81-463-51-5607
E-mail:aoyama@blest.co.jp
URL: http://www.blest.co.jp

Slideshow of the visit to Thommankuth falls:

Thommankuth water falls:

Visit to to Thommankuth water falls:

A video clip of the waterfall at Thomankuth in Thodupuzha, Kerala. I managed to capture this video from up close. I reached these falls after a 20 minute trek through the forest from the entrance gate.

                                                                       This was the view at the entrance to the falls.

And this Jamie's new, improvised air boat:

The air boat doing its thing in the bath tub.

Another creation from my son Jamie's labs:

Jamie managed to create this toy motor boat from a few junk items obtained from old toys. Video shows the motor boat with submerged propeller speeding in the bath tub.

Online auto insurance comparison

Auto insurance:

Online comparison of auto insurance companies is the new buzzword when selecting an insurance policy for your car. I found this site ideal for auto insurance comparison-

http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/compare/ It has a very short video presentation which tells you the plus and minus points of comparing various auto insurance companies.

Selecting auto insurance can be a headache, what with scores of policies from dozens of auto insurance companies. However, with this site, a few clicks and strokes of the keyboard, takes you through a number of leading insurance companies, to help you compare the pros and cons of each policy right on your own desktop. Just enter your zip code in a box and you get to compare the auto insurance from a number of companies. Among the details covered on this page are- prices, service, reliability and financial strength of the company etc. Additional benefits are that this process is absolutely free with no obligations at all. For auto insurance comparison, this web page: http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/compare/ gives a very good option.

Of wounded "Tigers" and Presidents

The story is all too familiar - a big shot is the all American hero...and suddenly he is made out to be the bad guy, just because of some dirt under the carpet. I am referring to the Tiger Woods episode and Bill Clinton of yesteryear. There is a lot of hypocrisy in both these stories and a lot of slime that is smeared not on the so called "culprits" but on a whole system that revels in edification of a hero, one moment, and ready to tear him down the next.
Despite all the so called modernization and liberal values that countries like the US profess, the basic culture smacks of a lot of conservatism and a familiar repeat of the mob culture. Why does a country like the States, fear or condemn a person like Clinton or Tiger Woods when the vast majority of the population have accepted teenage pregnancy and loss of virginity in an unwed woman is considered a virtue. Interesting and definitely worth thinking about. After all, the women involved were not minors but consenting adult females. Surely, the leaders in today's society will only reflect the culture that surrounds them!

Amphibious vehicle in action:

This was my son's test of the toy air car converted into an air boat.. in action in the old water tank on the terrace. He made the device from the motor of another toy and coupled it with a powerful battery pack of his own design.

Air car of the future:

Jamie built a toy air car...using the motor of an old toy copter..connected to a battery pack.
The video is a bit grainy as it was taken in the night. Enjoy.

Some natural art:

This is one of the best rainbows I have seen.. and it lasted more than 40 minutes in the early morning sky..
Managed to catch a crow flying against it.

A personal review of AVATAR -the movie

Just managed to see the movie AVATAR in 3-D in Sridar theater in Cochin. I must say it was a good piece of work with the animations (the aliens) and real people (the humans) merging well into the movie. I expected fantastic 3-D effects..but that part (3-D effects) were a a bit of a disappointment. I have seen 3-D movies before, in Kerala..like the Malayalam film " My dear Kuttichathan" more than 2 decades ago, and the effects in that comparatively primitive local movie were fabulous. There were fireballs and missiles hurtling at the audience which made us sit at the edge of our seats.
But AVATAR with its massive budget could have done better for its 3-D effects. Agreed, the storyline was original and in tune with contemporary themes like the "war on terror" and the problems between indigenous peoples and exploitation of natural resources. But again, that could have been made more simplified.
One more thing, this is possibly one film (in Cochin) where most of the tickets (balcony) were sold out in advance , mostly online. See http://shenoys.in/
Overall, the movie was expensive priced at Rs. 115/- per ticket (including the 3-D glasses).
But I might purchase the 3-D DVD version if got the chance.
Out of a total of 10 points, I would rate the movie avatar- at +7
3-D effects I would rate the movie at + 6 out of 10.

2012: -- The movie and the facts

The movie 2012 - and its doomsday scenario is based on a lot many "facts" accumulated over the years by various researchers from across the globe. How real is the threat of a doomsday even in December 2012? The frightening part of the whole theme is the fact that this prophecy is now entering mainstream thinking. Watch this youtube video (a part of a series of 6 video clips), recorded from a documentary on History channel.
That a major TV channel considered a serious study of the Doomsday predictions of prehistoric man, from the ancient Mayan and Chinese calendars and finds common ground in such a possibility with Einstein's theories on Polar shifts of the earth, shows that the whole theme deserves more than scorn.
But, didn't the doomsday prophets predict the end with the Y2K bug (year 2000 bug) in computers and its disastrous consequences?
Joe.