Hari's Corner

Papa Hari News Service

Concluding a path-breaking research probing deep into the human mind's innermost secrets, the Papa Hari Brain Research Foundation has finally revealed a 30-second "Idiot Test" which would conclusively prove whether a person is an idiot or not. Far simpler, far more accurate and more technologically advanced than any other IQ test devised by man, this test goes to the root of all human behaviour - perception and self-analysis.

"This is one of our major achievements," said a Papa Hari Research Foundation spokesman at the press conference revealing details of the research, "This new Test is not only simple, it requires no computational algorithms, no equipment, no calculations, nothing except the participant's answer to a simple question. It has been translated in all major languages of the world and can be administered to anybody from a mere child of 5 years to an octogenarian. It relies heavily on the principle that underlies all human psychology, namely 'You are what you think you are.'"

Releasing a 400-page white paper analysing the impact of sample test results conducted by the foundation on 500 volunteers, the spokesman further said that this Test has proven to be 99.5% accurate on the volunteer group and expects an overall success ratio of 99% when conducted in an uncontrolled environment. Saying that the Test required no "mathematical or analytical ability" he said that it was meant for all people, not just the educated folk. "Very simply, to take this test, you have to answer just one simple question:

"Am I an Idiot? (Yes/No)

"By answering 'Yes' or 'No' to this question, you are fully aware of whether you are an idiot or not. There is no necessity for peer review, although such a review might provide an extra input for analysis. It is based entirely on the individual's perception of his own levels of intelligence which is just about as conclusive as any other sophisticated or complex IQ test out there in the market. And the results have proved extremely positive."

"Candidates who took this test were chosen at random and administered the test in a controlled environment free of external disturbances. Within 30 seconds they had to submit the feedback forms. Writing down their names and addresses took longer than answering the question," continued the spokesman with a smile as he revealed the sample test results. "The whole scientific community has been taken by storm at the long-term implications of this revolutionary research."

When asked for reactions, members of the international scientific community were divided on the validity of the test. "Certainly it appears to be a foolproof and extremely simple test, but we have to take the subjective bias into account when evaluating the results. Peer review might help reflect a more accurate picture of reality as far as human intellect goes. Traditional tests are far more effective at objective determination of intellectual capacity," said a professor from Princeton University who attended the press conference. Other members of the international scientific community were far less complimentary about the techniques used by the evaluator. "Any IQ Test that does not torture the subject's intellect, does not rely on highly complex computational algorithms or does not mystify the Test subject are bunkum!" said one scholar who is currently involved advanced brain research at a renowned international university. However members of the public were extremely pleased at the new Test which gave them an opportunity at self-analysis and improvement. "Using this Test, my sons has gained immense self-confidence at school," said one father of two. He was silent when asked about what his sons' teachers thought of the results.

When asked why this Test was dubbed a "30-second Test" when it could be concluded in just 3 or 4 seconds, the spokesman explained that filling up the feedback form along with the name and other personal details of the participant took that long. Moreover it is a known fact that "some candidates require deep soul-searching" before being able to answer the question.

I've been watching the just-concluded NKP Salve Challenger series which pits the top domestic cricketers in India against each other in a triangular tournament and during the commercial breaks, I've noticed a couple of new fairness cream advertisements that target men. While I've always detested products that promote discrimination on the basis of skin colour whether they target men or women, these new ads have taken them to a nauseating new low.

It's not just the racist aspect that annoys me. I can accept that racialism will always be a part of our societal make-up, but the fact that these ads assume that the potential customer is dumber than a flea really gets to me. To put it a little crudely, no matter how much cream or lotion you apply on a buffalo, you cannot change it into a white cow. These skin creams are nothing more than glorified sun-protection lotions with mild bleaching agents to remove tan. But going by some of these ads, you would think that a black-skinned man or woman can transform into a perfect caucasian within seven days. On second thoughts, I think the marketing agencies which cooked up such messages might have understood the intellectual capacity of their target audience better than I have.

Apart from that, these ads always kindle the baser instincts of human nature, glorify a disgusting form of discrimination blatantly and unashamedly and spread all the negative stereotypes associated with dark skinned people. A sad reflection on society's obsession with peculiar notions of physical beauty.

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Talking of cricket and the Challenger series, I wonder why the National selectors couldn't wait till the end of the tournament before announcing the ODI team for the home series against Pakistan. The whole tournament was over in just 4 days and surely the selectors could have given prospective players the extra match opportunity to prove their ability and worth. Sadly for players like Dinesh Karthik who had one bad game initially, their performances came too late in the day to make an impact on selection. So long as selectors stick to this bizarre policy, we'll continue seeing some strange decisions being made.

The series itself was interesting because it highlighted a couple of good prospects in the seam and spin department, notably Praveen Kumar and Amit Mishra. The former is a skiddy kind of bowler who has enough movement in the air to trouble the best batsmen at the international level, but he needs to add a yard or two to his pace to be really effective. As for Amit Mishra, his leg spin has seen vast improvement and I can see him giving Piyush Chawla tough competition during the rest of the season. On the batting front, Badrinath was really unlucky to miss the call from the selectors as was Suresh Raina, but I'm willing to bet that their opportunities will come quite soon.

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One way communication gets a bit tiring in my opinion. I know I've said this before, but an amazing number of people never respond to e-mail messages (or even seem to read them!), never seem to return telephone calls and to top it all, don't seem to think it's a big problem in the first place. This notion of being "too busy to respond" seems to have become fashionable these days. Well, I have news for such people: it's not a question of being busy or otherwise: it's a question of effective time management. If you cannot find time to communicate, then either you're a lousy time planner or you're just not interested in the communication. I would much rather prefer a negative response than no response at all.

The reason I raise this issue again is because it seems to be spreading to blogs as well. A couple of years back, bloggers seemed keen on promoting two way communication and social interaction by actively participating and commenting on other people's blogs. These days, the same people seem to be getting more and more self-centred. And then they blame the RSS and Atom newsreaders for this! No use blaming technology for something that is fundamentally a social issue. If you can find time to blog, you can find time to comment on other people's blogs. Anybody who tells me otherwise fits into the same category that I mentioned above: they're just not interested in the interaction.

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I'm trying to find hosting for my brother's website ToonsAndComics.com. While his hosting expired a couple of weeks ago, I've still not been able to recommend a suitable host to move his forum to. He signed up for brinkster but the basic plan did not feature MySQL databases so we were back to square one.

If anybody can recommend a good, fairly reasonably priced host, please do so. I've identified a couple of free hosts for temporary hosting, but I would like a long-term solution to his problem. Hopefully within the next few days, we can get back ToonsAndComics online! For those who've been wondering what's been happening to that forum, my sincere apologies for the delay in restoring the service.

என் புதிய பட்டம் "கவிப்புயல்". ஏனென்று கேளுங்கள்! கேட்காவிட்டாலும் நான் சொல்கிறேன். இந்த இனிய, கருத்துள்ள, தத்துவம் நிறைந்த பாடலைப் எழுதியுள்ளேன். படித்து மகிழுங்கள். கவிஞர் கண்ணதாசன், வாலி, வைரமுத்து போன்ற பிரபலங்களே வியக்கும் அளவுக்கு இந்த கவிதையில் அழகுள்ளது.

தினமும் பாடி வாருங்கள். பாடிக்கொண்டே, "ஹரி வாழ்க வளமுடன்" என்று கூறுங்கள்! )

ஓடி வா ஓடி வா ஓடி வா ஓடி வா,
ஓடி ஒடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி வா! (2)

ஒடி வா! நீ ஓடி வா!
ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி வா!
ஓடி வா! நீ ஓடி வா வா!
ஓடாமலே நீ ஓடி வா! (ஓடி வா)

ஓடி ஓடி வா, நீ ஓடி ஓடி வா,
ஓடாமலே நீ ஓடி வா!
ஓடி ஓடி வா, நீ ஓடி ஓடி வா,
ஓடாமலே நீ ஓடி வா (ஓடி வா)

ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி வா,
நீ ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி வா!
ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி ஓடி வா,
எப்பொழுதும் நீ ஓடி வா! (ஓடி வா)

நவராத்திரியை ஒட்டி சென்னையில் மழை காலம் ஆரம்பித்துள்ளது. வெப்பம் குறைந்துவிட்டதனால் எல்லோறுக்கும் மகிழ்ச்சியான காலம் இது. ஆனால் அதே நேரத்தில் இந்த காலத்தில்தான் கொசுத்தொல்லை அதிகமாகும், சாலைகளில் மழைநீர் தேக்கம் ஏற்படும், மக்கள் அதிகம் கூடும் பொது இடங்களும் ஊழலாகிவிடும்.

மாறும் வெப்பநிலையினாலும், கொசுக்களினாலும், குடிக்கும் தண்ணீரில் பர‌வும் கிருமிகளாலும் நம் உடல்நிலை பாதிக்கப்படும் வாய்ப்பு அதிகம். எனக்கே இரண்டு மூன்று நாட்களாக தொண்டை சரியில்லை. பொதுவாக இந்த வானிலை மாற்றத்தின் முதல் கால கட்டத்தில்தான் இப்படியெல்லாம் நோய்கள் அதிகமாக பரவும். மேலும் மழை வந்தால் கவலை இல்லை.

Since b2evolution features multi-blogging, I thought it would be a good idea to create a separate blog for my (too infrequent) tamil writings. I know I should be writing more in my mother tongue and maybe creating a new space for it would be a good way to push myself to write in Tamil. I know I enjoy writing in Tamil, but I need a separate audience for such posts. Now with b2evolution, I no longer have to look out for a separate blog installation.

If you're looking for the URL, it's here: http://harishankar.org/blog/index.php/tamil/

The blog title translates as "Hari's World" which is in keeping with the creative blog titles that I come up with so often! )

Instead of explaining in a hundred words why I love Vijaykanth's movies (a popular South Indian actor and politician for the uninitiated) here's a video which perfectly illustrates the reason. Dealing with rogues and thugs, he has his own style, Take a look at this video.

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OKE1pUnkoQ

You don't need to know Tamil to understand the scene above. And here's another classic: Where our hero gives even electric current a "shock" when threatened by his foes

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EKHebxZOJY

Ah, well. I don't want to link to more videos and go against my own principles. But all you have to do is search for "Vijaykanth" in YouTube if you want many more gems like these where the Gabtun takes on evil-doers, terrorists, wicked politicians and criminals with ridiculous ease. I don't go in for high-level intellectuality when watching movies. When it comes to entertainment, there's nothing to beat this for sheer laughter.