Making the Pyramids of Giza More Interesting

My vote for coolest thing I have seen on Flickr in a long time? There exists a group called Make it Interesting Challenge Group, which holds contests to alter a submitted image, in order to make it more interesting.

One of the challenges features a photo I took while visiting Cairo, Egypt. It is amazing what has been done to my "starter image". Here is the original.

My original photo of pyramids at Giza

Two Days in SF

I spent the weekend in the city: biking up, through and back on Saturday; walking around on Sunday. Bicycling has become part of my routine, and Saturday I biked sixty-one miles. My plan to bike to Sausalito and back did not happen, but I think getting lost is one of the first steps in any true adventure. A bit tired of biking, I decided to walk around the city a bit on Sunday. Wanted to share some photos I took while up there, as there is so much to experience in San Francisco.

Artwork entitled "Just Nuts"

Hinduism Artwork by Sanjay Patel at Asian Art Museum

Hurry, before the exhibition closes (April 2012). The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco presents Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts. An impressive collection of pieces dating back to the 18th Century, the exhibit highlights royal family life.

Another exhibit you'll want to catch is from Pixar animator, Sanjay Patel, entitled Deities, Demons and Dudes with 'Staches: Indian Avatars. His cartoon artwork, derived from Hinduism, is simply amazing! And, by strategically placing stickers throughout the museum, kids can link historical artifacts with the fun and accessible imagery Sanjay provides.

Asian Art Museum News Story

Need a Photograph of Buddha

Visited San Francisco's Asian Art Museum the other day. And, I came across some very different-looking statues of the same thing. It is interesting how various cultures depict Buddha.

Click images for larger versions

Interesting indeed. If only we had a photo of Buddha...

Unknown Writing

Unknown Indian Writing, a photo by s_w_ellis on Flickr.

I took a picture of this writing in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. There was no translation nor context nearby. Anyone know what it says? I would guess it is Sanskrit, but am not sure.

kya meri hindi itni kharaab hai

I am slowly (comfortably) learning Hindi. That means, I am not studying, just having fun picking up words and phrases, listening to music and watching Bollywood films. I want to understand the basics, so I have some books, software and MP3 files. The other day, I was asked if I have ever thought about using Rosetta Stone software. Well, I have Rosetta Stone software installed. I am not the biggest fan.

I stopped using Rosetta Stone early on in my learning days. It hates my accent, which is more my problem than its, but was frustrating to work around. I also did not find the exercises engaging. "Writing" in Hindi using the keyboard was a bit painful as well.

But, I was recently asked, so I tried it again. After returning to it after all this time, and knowing more Hindi now than then, I was surprised to learn a lot of the training is simply wrong. Yes, incorrect. Maybe you learn something, enough to build on, but you aren't going to properly learn the language.

January #lspe Meeting

I decided to give public speaking a go by presenting at the January meeting for Large Scale Production Engineering (#lspe). The evening's topics were on Load Balancers, and my presentation was on using anycast as a load balancing solution, without the need for load balancers.