How vel kan you spel?

Fascinating language that English is, and given its continual evolution into a repository of words from every which language/dialect of the world, it is no surprise that we have ended up with a ton of words with weird spellings.

Courtesy MSN Encarta, comes a test for your spelling acumen.

Have fun!

Necessity...

...is the mother of invention, or so I was told when I was an itty-bitty kid. Is it true any more? Or are we at an age when the script has flipped?

Invention is the mother of necessity?

'Stop them before they invent again!' is an excellent critique. I was bowled over with laughter on reading some of the things that are being "invented". "RipeSense, a technology to tell you if a fruit is ripe". Just so happens, our noses are geared to do a similar activity..discern smells.

Read on..

Tornado!

Courtesy the National Geographic Magazine.

Inside a tornado. A live look || Thrill of the chase

Maybe we are now ready to de-mystify tornadoes once and for all. Just. Maybe.

Bobbing at the Barbers

You go to the barber shop to get your hair cut, trimmed and primed into place and shape. You wait in the seating area, reading Popular Science, Fortune and other what-not magazines. And then one fine minute you are beckoned to the hot seat. You know, quite like Hot Seat during Senate committee depositions.

After you provide the directions (short on sides, medium at the top or 1 on the sides, 3 at the top, or whatever else you have set between you and your barber), you lie back on the cushioned chair and relax.

Wham..a protective cloth (well, protective for the hair, at the least :P) is put on you, and velcroed around your neck and the barber sets to work...carving your mop of hair up into an artful yet shortened display of style. And then it begins..the endless bobs of your head as they work around, on and all over your head.

Working on the left side of the head? Bob your head and tilt to the right..working on the back? lean forward..working on your right? tilt left. And they put a mirror on the wall facing ou so you can peep at yourself becoming a puppet. The nerve of those people :)

Ever since I struck up a rapport with my favorite barber at my favorite barber shop, I have tried to anticipate her every move and get my head ready for her, and yet I can hardly avoid becoming a puppet in her hands. And so I went..bobbing, weaving and turning everywhich way but here...a puppet without strings.

In about twenty minutes, the puppet show ends, with an excellent haircut and a nice little neck massage to boot. I guess a small reparation for all the puppetry she made out of my head (my poor neck!).

Been there, seen that, heard that, done that

Seen on TV tonight in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Zell "The Sellout" Miller peddling his book "The Deficit of Decency". The masterful irony in this even more ironic meeting between ideological opposites (Jon Stewart summed it up best - "we disagree on every issue") is that the sell-out politicians book has a foreword by Sean Hannity. Yes, that Fox News talking head. Yes, that channel with about as much decency as a hooker on Broadway peddling her wares.

Heard over the phone during a conversation with my brother earlier today - "Irregular medical claims filings in India are on the rise, especially after men are filing for maternity claims." I knew we were making progress in medicine in my country, but I never knew we advanced so much that now men were able to get pregnant and have babies. Jokes aside, apparently the rationale for the claim was that during their wife's pregnancy, they were under duress as well. I can imagine now the insurance industry in India following their US counterparts to the letter in fleecing the customers. Afterall, when they get fleeced first, they do tend to bite back..HARD.

Done today - (cooking with a healthy alternative to the native Indian cheese a.k.a paneer) Matar Tofu nee Matar Paneer (Peas cooked with spices and tofu). Just as long as the tofu is of the extra-firm variety and you remember to stir-fry it separately before using in the main dish.

Been there too, you know, faced with a tempting offer. This one, from American Express, is an offer for its card-members and it seems too good to pass up. A 42" Sony HD Wega TV, for $1150, reduced from $2500. I just looked up its retail price on Amazon and it was $2200. A small disclaimer (from AmEx of course) - quantities are limited. A standard buzz word to get people to queue up and buy quicker I suppose. I have until Tuesday May 10, 2005 to decide if I want to buy it. Now, thats a quandry, albeit a not-really-a-loss-if-I-dont-have-the-TV one. Now..eeny meeny miny mo....