Ambimama - India

A group of blind men (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one touches a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes on what they felt, and learn they are in complete disagreement. The story is used to indicate that reality may be viewed differently depending upon one’s perspective.

Various versions are similar, and differ primarily in how the elephant’s body parts are described, how violent the conflict becomes, and how (or if) the conflict among the men and their perspectives is resolved.

Buddhist version adds:

The men come to blows, which delights the raja. The raja says

O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing.[2]

One of the most famous versions of the 19th Century was the poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887).

The poem begins

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind[4]

They conclude that the elephant is like a wall, snake, spear, tree, fan, or rope, depending upon where they touch. They have a heated debate that does not come to physical violence. But in Saxe’s version, the conflict is never resolved.

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen![4]

Microsoft Zune Demo Video

Microsoft Zune Demo Video : Social Networking Zune, Landscape Views Zune, FM Radio Zune… Cool Zune :)

Discordianism

Discordianism is a modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. It has been described as both an elaborate joke disguised as a religion, and as a religion disguised as an elaborate joke. Some of its followers make the claim that it is “a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion” (or “a joke disguised as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as…”). It has also been described as “Zen for roundeyes,” and converges with some of the more absurdist interpretations of the Rinzai school.

Although most religions revere the principles of harmony and order in the Universe, Discordianism can be interpreted as a recognition that disharmony and chaos are equally valid aspects of reality

Anand talks about Microsoft Zune

Question:
Where will Steve Jobs take Apple Computer in the 21st Century?
- asks Mercury News here

Jobs says

“Your den, your living room, your car, your pocket”

…in front of a a select audience of technologists and journalists who had been summoned to San Francisco for a secret announcement on Tuesday

Now, if you think that’s cool. Then think again, Cos Techcrunch says here that Microsoft has called the press to discuss about Zune - supposedly the iPod killer machine.

Microsoft Zune - iPOD killer? Sony PSP compete? fight Apple iTunes? and more

Yet even as Microsoft gets ready to release Zune in time for the holiday season, Apple is grabbing attention with reports that it is about to offer downloadable movies that can be played on a new version of iPod with a bigger screen. Microsoft says that Zune will be compatible with video formatted for an iPod or any other media player. But the company is focusing on music, which it believes makes more sense for a device that people use while jogging or riding their bikes. Still, even in the music space, Microsoft has its work cut out.

Also, watch the cool “Coming Zune” videos here. www.comingzune.com

Anand here talks about the Chennai Blog Camp 2006

Bloggers from around the world will participate via video conferencing, live blogging, webcasting and podcasting of all the sessions.

There will be sessions on how to conduct Podcast interviews, branding via blogs and next generation marketing.

Topics like blogging as a form of journalism, making a journalist of everybody, blogging as a vibrant medium on disaster management and social media, will be extensively discussed.

‘We hope to provide a forum where bloggers can share their stories and be inspired by innovative and successful blogging experiences,’ BlogCamp volunteer Kiruba Shankar said.

Participants will have the choice of simultaneous workshops and sessions that will be held in small groups, and use relatively informal ways of engaging each other, in conversations around the various themes.

The convention of the blogging community will take place at the Tidel Park premises, an IT hub in the city’s south that houses more than 700 IT and associated services firms.