Humouring Nietzsche

Nietzsche's complete quotes revealed

God is dead...
...because that blonde King of Jews was crucified wasn't he ?


Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule...
...because how else do you explain English Fotball Season.


Only sick music makes money today...
...as seen from the new Britney Spears music video


The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others...
...guess who I am.


In heaven all the interesting people are missing...
...ever since Adam Sandler played the Devil's Son.


Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself...
...that's why American Presidents talk about terrorists.


The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends...
...because the former don't mooch off my cigarette stash.


One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes...
...uh; I forget my point here.


Not by wrath does one kill, but by laughter...
...die Seinfeld die you show about nothing.


What does not destroy me, makes me stronger...
...so lets continue surfing channels.


To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity...
...you do realise now how I died of mental illness.


Man is the cruelest animal...
...Mommy, can I have a cookie yet ?


What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil...
...so accept me as your father Luke Skywalker.


Plato is boring...
...so am I after 100 odd years


Morality is herd instinct in the individual...
...claimed Dubya Bush after winning elections.


We are always in our own company...
...now where's Waldo ?


Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?...
...don't mistake my predicament for philosophy.


When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you...
...because we didn't have video games in our time.


Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one...
...but otherwise avoid reading too much into Anne Rice's Mythologies.


Poets are shameless with their experiences: they exploit them...
...now only if I could break into publishing.

Laughable News

Humour they say is the most difficult to write and enact. With the plethora of Jokes sites online you may wonder if this is true. But yes there are a talented lot of individuals online who take great efforts to make your daily grind enjoyable through gags. So if you are one of those busybodies who get to the latest news at the start of each day, you may find more interesting news at some unique websites.

Specialising in the bizarre, farce and satire, the below news links provide great relief from the more serious notes of BBC and CNN.
The Onion America’s Finest News
News Biscuit The News before it happens
Uncyclopedia Content-free encyclopedia
Encyclopedia Dramatica “In lulz we trust.”

For those still craving real news, go to http://news.yahoo.com/ and click on Odd News section for real offbeat news.

So there, No News need not be Good News, as you can see its not always bad stuff that get reported but also funny stuff that is caricatured.

The Search beyond Google

Searching the internet had never been simpler after the success of Google.com which indexed and suggested content beyond any other web search tool’s ability and better more accurate links returned through Google’s database in innumerable servers. They even cached webpages for unaccessible links. But can everyone Google.

Imagine searching for a needle in a haystack; that seems difficult but possible. Now imagine looking for a needle lost in the Milky Way galaxy. That’s akin to looking for exact and specific information on the world wide web. The vastness of the web, like space, is ever-expanding, growing and inter-linked.

To find the best possible website/webpage that matches your requirements you need to use good keywords and understand the Search Engine’s logic. Here comes some basic research that will allow you to lookup data faster and with more efficiency. Also, as always with computers, the GIGO rule applies; Garbage In Garbage Out. Without proper input there can not be proper output.

Enter http://www.searchlores.org/
Fravia’s Search Lores provides help for advanced web-searching strategies and resources for basic as well as advanced searchers.

Another good way is to use Metacrawlers or MetaSearch Engines which Search across popular search engines to return better results.
Example:
Dog Pile Searches Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask

More on Meta Searches here

Hope these sites helps you get to where you want to be online.

BBC takes over our Lonely Planet

There are travel guides and then there are travel bibles. You can’t imagine a backpacker trekking through unknown lands without a Lonely Planet book firmly ensconced in his pouch. The success of this book series is unique and unmatched. Starting in the 70’s, the first book was created when a couple (Tony & Maureen Wheeler) where hounded with questions about their Australian trip. They sold hand-stapled copies of their first guide for only 96 pence. Now a major publishing phenomenon and Discovery Channel’s most recognised program, Lonely Planet will be taken over by BBC Worldwide.

BBCW will have 75% stake in Lonely Planet while the founding couple will have 25% stake and will continue as non-executive members of the Lonely Planet group. BBCW intends to turn all the books contents online for all and believe that travelers will still buy the books as it is an invaluable tool when you actually are in a foreign land.

Read Mr Tony Wheeler and Mrs Maureen Wheeler’s statement to the fans here.

Harihareshwar: Stairway to Heaven

THE PLACE:
Known as the Kashi of Western India, Harihareshwar is known for its seashore where the river Savitri enters the ocean. The town is surrounded by four hills named after Lords Harihareshwar, Harshinachal, Bramhadri and Pushpadri. Nearby is Shriwardhan, another place of interest and beauty. This was the Peshwa residence who governed for their King. Also there is the ‘Peshwa Smarak’ and the Bankot Fort at Bagmandala, about 4 kms from Harihareshwar. Approximately 230 KM from Mumbai the NH17 takes a smooth fast road through Panvel-Mangaon-Goregaon Phata on Mumbai-Goa Highway to reach this holy place.

THE TRIP:
As we had spoken with the Media at Peace Rally 2007 that our next trip was to Harihareshwar, we were set to visit this place soon. Date was decided as 13th and 14th October 2007 for this ride, an overnight camping at Harihareshwar. Ashish coordinated with all the members of Bombay Bikers (http://www.bombaybikers.com/ ) to prepare for this 230 KM road trip which would be our longest this year so far.

Trip Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ujjwal.dey/BBHarihareshwar

Meeting Point:
Center One Mall, Vashi, Navi Mumbai at 7 AM
13th October to 14 th October 2007

Saturday 13th October:
On the early hours of Saturday, 8 riders showed up on time with 3 pillions. There were 4 Royal Enfields; my Bullet Electra 4s, Kamal’s Bullet Deluxe, Ashish’s Std Bullet and Vishal’s newly acquired Lightning 535 with alloy wheels. We had a few cameras clicking the group photos as passing people wondered where these bikes were heading with so much luggage. We had 2 tents with capacity of 4 people each and foam rolled up for others. We had brought our spares and ration of Maggi noodles, biscuits, chips and coffee. Ashish’s Bullet’s cranny was incredibly loaded with his spares, the 2 tents and clothes and food stuff. Later on villagers on the road to Harihareshwar commented that “he must have been thrown out of his home”. Such was our meticulous preparation that we were ready to camp just about anywhere remote from civilisation.

NH17 was as always welcoming and smooth as butter on baby’s butt. We passed Panvel and got on the Highway and raced ahead at good speed with the Pulsars and Hondas racing ahead as the Bullet-eers enjoyed a relaxing cruise through Karnala Bird Sanctuary with monkeys peeping at our thunderous Royal Beasts.

The nice sunny weather was a God send after the disgusting monsoon season. Soon we had our first problem with Shijo’s RX 100 having its piston broken. Luckily a mechanic was a KM away and we reached there and surrendered the bike for fixing and moved on. This was a major delay and while I and 3 other bikes reached Harihareshwar by 4 PM, others were to reach only by 6:30 PM. The Ghats past Mangaon was enjoyable. The road had some very bad patches but overall a better Ghat experience than what we saw in Trambakeshwar during Independence Ride 2007. Some of the climbs were very steep and the turns were almost in opposite directions.

We had originally planned to visit Shriwardhan as well but we decided due to the RX100 delay that we might as well head to Harihareshwar and install camp. Meanwhile we had bought groceries of potatoes and lime and stuff at Mangaon for body fuel. There were many stops till Harihareshwar since we lost contact with the group accompanying Shijo (who were with the mechanic) and mobile networks failed us after the Ghats.

At Harihareshwar we went to the MTDC hotel and had snacks for lunch. After a few cups of coffee and water we decided to head towards the beach. The village and temple would have to wait till Sunday. We rode into the beach area where the Tourism Authority has ingeniously charged a Rs 10 parking charge per head. We rode on through stones and mud to get to a concrete platform touching the sea-bed. This was a derelict cremation ground with tree-lined mountain on one-side and rocky depths of the ocean on the other.

So we set camp and made coffee and noodles on a portable stove. The tent couldn’t go up because we were not about to dig holes into concrete and the beach was dangerous as the locals warned of high tide and quicksand. We decided that no one will go swimming in this beach which has seen a loss of 250 lives over the past year.

Jeepers Creepers:
Soon darkness enveloped our surroundings and we could see an incredible star lit sky above. City dwellers can’t imagine how many stars are there to gaze at and admire. But in the darkness of the village of Harihareshwar I spotted not just this network of heavenly bodies but also about 5 shooting stars. The latter probably were meteorites burning as they enter Earth’s atmosphere and thus light up like comets zooming briefly and disappearing abruptly.

The camp was buzzing now with everyone sharing their experiences and the demand now grew for Ghost Stories. Bhavin started with his folklore tale of the creatures known as ‘Jhand’. They can’t take human forms and they grow smaller and smaller as you look down and taller and taller as you look up. He shared a tale where this evil creature got inside the home of one of his relatives in a village of Gujarat after the relative callously gave matches when the scheming Jhand asked for it in a dark street.

Soon Uday (Rambo) joined in. Already he had convinced us that this camp was on an erstwhile Hindu cemetery and he had told us of how whirlpools suck tourists in at the ‘Swarg ki seedi’ (Stairway to Heaven) where Pandavas supposedly went through to the afterlife. Passionate discussions raged on spirituality and how we are trapped in 3 dimesnions while the spirits roam free beyond. “The ghosts are those spirits trapped with us in these 3 dimesnions and hence haunt these places” Uday informed.

Stories told, we spread out our foam and blankets for a sound sleep for the ride on Sunday. At about half past midnight everyone wound up for snooze. The stars enveloped us like a warm blanket on this moonless night (Amavasya) as we slept on the cremation concrete pltform while loud angry waves lashed at the rocks below. Mysterious sounds kept disturbing us after we put out the lights. Sometimes it was a stray dog scavenging on our camp and sometimes it was a lazy rider rolling over plastic or bottles. Every time the noise came we would have 3 guys flashing their torch lights around to look out for thieves. Thankfully the stray dogs didn’t piss on our lazy riders snoring to compete with the loud lashing waves. Some of us awoke again to check the wave height as the water level rose up to the steps on the cemetery platform. I slept for about 2 hours and woke up at sharp 6 AM on the faintest sunlight. Though the night was warm the early dawn was chillingly cold with dew decorating our bikes with random shapes.

Sunday 14th October:
As all the lazy heads slept I sneaked away to shit on the rocky beach and came back to disturb everyone and wake them to smell my prized cigarette. The riders were dying for smokes the night before and I had rationed mine to last till the morning. After sharing my stash in the morning the gang had biscuits and set out after freshening up to see the Holy temple and the village of Harihareshwar.

There is a small entry fee to see the temple and we walked towards the old gate to enter a modest temple premises. This wasn’t as grand as Trambakeshwar but the presiding deities gave us ‘darshan’ (sight of deity) without any queues. The presiding deity is said to ward off bad horoscope signs including Sadhe-Sati by darshan. Unfortunately here too we were not allowed to take photographs of the deities.

A long steep stairway awaited behind the temple which we climbed to have a majestic view of the beach and mountains. From the top we descended the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ which ended on the rocky ocean. On the rocks we sat and bantered and majority sinful riders decided not to complete the ‘parikrama’ of walking round the rocky beach which I found disappointing but ultimately time saving action. After climbing back up and down into the temple we had a heavy breakfast of poha, misal, wada, coffee, etc and started our journey home at 10:30 AM.

We rode fast on the Ghats this time and reached Mangaon very quickly. At the end of the Ghat we had a 2 hour long swim on a stream that ran under a bridge. Soon, all the riders together rode on to the Highway towards Panvel. Uday, we found out, had his tyre puncture in Mangaon and was still there as the tyre had completely torn away. With a quick-fix job he rode on with a pillion to reach us on the Highway where we were at the mechanic’s garage testing the RX100 post repair.

We rode on to find a good restaurant for lunch and found one on the Highway. We ate a hearty meal and discussed who owed how much to whom. All settled we set off for a speed run to Mumbai.

The 4 Bullets led this time with the Lightning 535 racing at over 110 KMPH and Kamal, Ashish and myself close behind. I had used up my film-based SLR camera’s roll and regretted not getting more pictures of the Ghat and scenic Highway (NH17). My Cramster was packed now with things used up and no longer helpful. As the group sped at stretches of road at constant speeds of 100 KM it was an incredibly awesome trail with thundering Bullets roaring and revving.

Soon dusk had us with headlights on going through the Karnala Sanctuary and leading into Panvel. We parted ways and everybody headed home as Kamal, Ashish, Uday and I went on to Vashi where I separated to head home through Airoli bridge.

I reached home by 9 PM and after a hot shower crawled into bed to a sound peaceful sleep.

This was a wonderful camping road trip and we had no serious problems with everyone riding well in groups and reaching home safely.

Peace Ride 2007: Trip Log

Peace Ride: BombayBikers.com
30 September 2007
In celebration of Gandhi Jayanti
By Ujjwal Dey and Bombay Bikers team

Bombay Bikers (http://www.bombaybikers.com ) has completed just over one year riding the roads of Free India in the expanded freedom of Motorcycles. As we meet many youthful riders and a diverse demography of citizens in our trips, we wanted to add the element of a ‘distinguished purpose’ to our rides. As is, we ride to see the beauty of our vast culture and geography. But then why stop there when we can ride further into the mind-space of our fellow Indians.

Peace Ride 2007 is our effort to bring to focus the invaluable cause of truth, justice, human rights and non-violence as propounded by our greatest of leaders during India’s Freedom struggle. The voice that still echoes across schools and villages is of course of Mahatma Gandhi and his eternal, devout and memorable message of peace and brotherhood for all mankind. It will be our endeavour to reach out to our busy workaholic nationals and inform them about their basic human rights and privileges as covered by the Constitution and Laws.

Bombay Bikers will be riding with support for ‘Save India Family Foundation’ ( http://www.saveindianfamily.org/ ) across Mumbai streets. Save India Family Foundation is a pioneer in informing and assisting people who are victims of misuse of legal procedures. The Foundation aims to help victims get justice by applying the legal process as it should be and not how it could be as done by miscreants who find loopholes to forward their vindictive agenda. In celebration of Gandhi Jayanti, Bombay Bikers will spread this NGO’s scope and purpose with the Peace Ride. October 2 marks Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation in India.

INTRODUCTION
Bombay Bikers is a team of riders with a desire to ride whenever, wherever. We encourage riders to be confident of their ride and riding. We ride in formation and in teams, the lead rider leads the team and the rest keep pace. No rider is left behind and there will always be someone to lend a hand when the need be.

The idea is to form a weekend getaway team of riders and distance has never been a constraint. Emphasis is on riding on your much loved wheels and exploring interesting places. Honing our mechanical talent and discovering trusty friends, we chart a route out for the long road ahead.

Why motorcycles? Why not? These wheels let you feel the road, breathe the atmosphere, live the location and we are close to nature. The thrill of riding is only known to a rider.

We come together for a journey that stays with us through the highway of our memories.

PREPARATION

Thursday Night
Ride was on Sunday 30th Sept 2007 and on Thursday we decided that we need to be prepared for the peace ride 2007. Preparations involved, road permissions, gathering around 50 bikers, arranging T-shirts and caps, printing stickers, making instructions and very importantly making a road plan. So keeping all these in mind we started working on our preparations. The tees, caps, stickers and banners got done in 2 days. Till then we also had around 30 confirmations (bikes and bikers). The ride was a Peace Ride 2007, so we teamed up with a NGO called Save Indian Family. They confirmed another 10 bikers. This now seemed like a good number to ride on Bombay roads showcasing peace and promoting Gandhi-giri.

Friday Night
Friday night it was decided to have a dry run to form the riding pattern, halts and route map. Around 11 bikers and total 16 members were present. It was a good number for the test ride. The most marvelous thing was that, we had newcomers coming for the test ride. Meeting time was 10pm and we started at 11pm. A formation on 2, 1, 2, 1, was decided and the first halt was Mahalaxhmi race course.

Formation:

@---------@
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@---------@
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@---------@
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Riding speed was 20 kmph. It was so slow even walkers-by were overtaking us. The route taken was Tulsi pipe road. Then suddenly we raised the speed to 40 kmph. A halt at the race course was taken. Riding pattern was accepted by all. The leader was accepted by all. But still everyone had their inputs to be aired. After a lot of discussion the riding speed was decided on 30 kmph. Some more riding tips got cleared and we continued (This all by 12.30am).

We proceeded further and at Bachelors juice center, we remembered that we were hungry. We still rode further to get more practice of riding. And finally we halted at Regal theatre for more views and corrections. At that time there were not many errors and we proceeded to Parag juice center to fill ourselves at 2am. Few plates of pav bhaji and few glasses of juices were sufficient to fuel us with energy. We bid adios to all and reached home by 3.30am.

Saturday Night
We again decided to take another test ride with another set of bikers. We wanted to be perfect. We again had 10 bikes and 15 people. The meeting time was 9pm and the ride started at 11pm post discussions. One biker went across 12 police stations taking acknowledgements for police stations. It was very nice of Bombay police to be so supportive towards our cause for the ride.

The test ride, through the same route got over by 1.30am. We all left, to meet again on the big day. Few friends stayed back with us. And full with vigor and excitement we were not able to sleep till 4am. Finally we had to force ourselves to take some rest, as morning was to bring a very important endeavour of our biking experience till date.

Constraints
Our efforts with the police resulted in the route being modified to weed out VIP sensitive areas and group riders limited to a maximum of 30 bikes. We had positive & good intentions for the ride so decided the riding pattern to cause minimal problems for Mumbai’s routine life.

Final Route
Bandra Reclamation >> Mahim Church >> Mahim Station >> Matunga Station >> Tusli Pipe road >> Lower Parel Flyover till Big Bazar and Pheonix Mill >> Mahalaxmi Station >> Haji Ali Signal >> Tardeo >> Nana Cowk >> Wilson College, Chowpatty.

PEACE RIDE 30th Sept 2007 Sunday
Sunday morning we woke up to phone calls of riders who were already on their way and were about to reach the meeting point - Bandra Reclamation, end of the flyover. We hurried, got ready, had breakfast and were all set to ride. Rally was to start at 10:30 AM. Ashish, Ujjwal & Vishal had stayed overnight at Kamal’s home for last minute co-ordinations. We stepped out on Sunday morning only to find front tyre of Ujjwal’s Bullet punctured; so others carried on while he got it repaired.

We reached by 9.10am. It was amusing to see a good amount of crowd already waiting for us. Hat’s off to the volunteers! We reached Bandra Reclamation and saw bikes lined up in the formations like we had decided. Babu, Karan and Reema took the responsibility of distributing the t-shirts and stickers. Ashish distributed instruction sheets to volunteers who explained other riders how to follow them, on wearing helmets, following all traffic rules and since it is a peace ride no one wiould honk, only hand signals. We were to ride in single file on flyovers to avoid traffic jams. Afraz, another Bullet-eer took responsibility to check if all bikes were in good condition also checking air pressure and fuel in all bikes. Those who wanted to ride without helmets were politely turned down.

The Media reached on time as well as the SIF representatives. There was a crowd of 47 bikes and flashbulbs of cameras while SIF guys gave interviews.

As decided Hussain and Sid (Pulsars) were at lead and as usual Kamal and Ashish were at the sweep. And Big guy’s Ishmeet, Bawa, Rajat (Bullet-eers) decided to reach the end point and welcome the rally.

At 10:30 AM, all engines were started and bikes roaring to go. Narial (Coconut) for Shri Ganesha was cracked for good luck. Final instructions were given to all riders to follow the rules. We left and cop’s vehicles were behind us to make sure that every thing went smoothly.

We were being noticed by passersby and people from cars and pedestrians were waving at us. A smouldering snake of motorcycles rode through the ‘naka-bandi’ at Lilavati. Soon we reached Wilson college past 2 traffic signals where we were greeted by our big fellows and a Cop Van. Since we were on a busy street, after some bonding all riders were asked to disperse and ride home safely leaving a memorable picture in the minds of Mumbai citizens who witnessed the Peace Ride.

Special Thanks to all who contributed their time and efforts for this event. Our sponsor Sundaram books has supported us crucially and the Mumbai Police were very cordial at this idea even though it meant extra work for them on a Sunday.

Comic Book Idol 3 shortlist

Sponsored by Comic Book Resources, this online competition sees graphic artists face off in a 5 week, 5 round elimination process to find the new Comic Book Idol. This includes commentary from a panel of judges and voting on the website’s forum by the internet audience. Screening is done out of the wave of submissions to shortlist 10 participants who will compete to work on an art assignment each week with deadlines in place.

Previous seasons had assignments such as designs, covers, pin-ups, but there has been growing demand for sequential art since last season and this will be the focus in season 3 as well. Eligibility is wide with exceptions to professional graphic artists or those connected to the many sponsors. Self-published or Webcomics artists can also participate.

The shortlist has now been announced for the 10 contestants which includes a security guard, a freelancer, an unemployed artist, an account’s assistant, a part-time waiter, etc.

Watch out for all the action at Comic Book Resources website unfolding in coming weeks.

On a comic note – here is a page full of comics to celebrate this year’s Talk Like a Pirate Day.

US Legislation on Smoking: Belmont CA

Belmont, California passed the toughest legislation against smoking. Now you can't smoke in your own home.

Rat bastards in Government always want to have their cake and eat it too.

No consideration is given to using legislation to stop Production and Sale and Advertising of Tobacco products. These are revenue generators through various Taxes.

So the layman who wants a puff after having been screwed by the State can't; he is supposed to probably pay tax on smoking after having bought it retail including taxes.

Also other ideas of denying smokers healthcare is also similarly scoundrel-ous. Would you deny a liver to a dying alcoholic or any other medication for them ?

Prohibition didn't work back in 20th century and 21st century won't succumb to fascist policies of bigoted Gestapo politicos

Where is the Freedom in Free America anyway ?

CSI 4: Hard Evidence

CSI: Hard Evidence release for the PC, X-box 360 and Wii will be this Friday, allowing the gamer to control the characters from the popular TV show (with incredible number of spin-offs and copy-cats) to solve new mysteries. As with the previous games, the gamer has 5 cases to solve, each filled with twists, misdirecting evidence and dead-ends. This interactive and exciting game version of the hit TV series not only has gunfights and action but also you get to solve cases that have already happened, and the fun is finding the clues. Lot of intense investigations and fun for all age groups CSI 4 has realistic Videos as well.

The PC version is on a DVD. For PC you will need 2.0 Ghz or better processor and plenty of RAM. I am looking forward for this to hit Indian shores soon.

Product info From the Manufacturer:
” Break down the evidence and bring suspects to justice in five all-new, bizarre crimes. Unravel longer cases, search bigger crime scenes and uncover hidden evidence in unique locations like never before.

Master new forensic tools and find more evidence. Use the new Garage Lab to examine large pieces of evidence like cars and trucks. Recreate gunfights with ballistic lasers, uncover shocking secrets with video analysis, and much more.

Experience your very own CSI episodes as you piece together clues with the real CSI actors. Take part in dramatic interrogations, create grisly crime reenactments and explore atmospheric crime scenes inspired by the show. “