Has anyone seen the movie "The Kingdom of Heaven"? Besides the thing that the movie is very well made, the character of Salahuddin acted very well in that movie. I liked the character so much that I got tempted to keep the name of this blog after it.

Monday, March 29, 2010

I recently got a good idea, regarding all the interior pics lying around. The daily newspapers, have color interior photos (paper quality is not all that good, but you get the idea looking at the pictures).

At least once a week, my local newspaper gets these photos, and a supplement detailing how various people did it in their houses.

I cut these photos/graphics, and keep them some place. One day, I hope a 3d software (free-one) comes that can be used to model these things. (I think google has a closest software to this, check out "google sketchup" at http://sketchup.google.com/. Can someone come up with a set of drawings of interior items, which can be used to build up rooms and such), using which I can re-construct these models, into 3d houses, comprising of rooms/decks/gardens/landscapes/elevations, all combined.

That is my long-term dream, but, however, I am cutting and keeping the interior pics, as a first step to it.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Folks of the west (US mostly), think that they are more civilized/suave than the people of the east. Many of them, talk about the plights of 3rd world countries like India etc..., in a pretty sad (even derogatory) tone. But, when you think of it, one thing that surprises is that, the Orient is far more civilized than the Occident, and that is the reason why many of the Oriental countries are under-developed (at least developed but, xenophobic).

You read it right, civilization has nothing to do with development, and it is negatively related to development, when you think of it.

The other day, an Indian born American comedian joked, "Indians do not hate America, they just hate each other". Sadly, that is true. When Richard Nixon visited India (50-60 years ago, I think), he commented about Indians as "Treacherous, underhanded and never showing their true face". There might be some sizable cold-war connotations of that statement, however, these are not entirely false. However, you should not worry about visiting the East, remember "they just hate each other".

Today, India is a country of inaction, because, there is no significant good (or bad) that can be done in this country. If a guy kills another, and undergoing trial, there will be some 'human rights folks' etc... in India, who support him. If a guy takes money out of his own pocket, and spends that to alleviate the conditions in a slum, there will be at least a couple of tabloids, thrashing him for 'having ulterior political motives', and say, he wants to make money as a politician holding office.

Nothing is trusted in India, neither good nor bad. This kind of keeps the country, in a stable state, where, the rest of the world is going in either progressive or regressive direction. (You think there is no nation going backwards, what about the nations which militantly urge about "going back to medieval days", Afg....an)

Why do people behave treacherously, hiding their original intentions, never trusting others in India? Why are Indians so touch to get convinced? Why are people of the west, so easy to convince, tell them something good, and they almost always do it, without asking 'what's in it for you?'. Why are the people of East, not trusting anyone, they see or hear or talk to? Is that what civilization and a social history of 2000 years teaches you? May be yes.

I have the following lines of thought:

1) Humans are animals, in groups.
2) Civilization does not change people to be more human.

Does the civilization make our appetites, thirsts any smaller? No
Does the civilization make a greedy man, not greedy? No
Does civilization reduce the crime rate? No.

All that civilization does is 'it tries to ensures fairness to all'. This is important, since, societies are groups of people, which need some amount of fairness, to sustain (We have many examples of civilizations which had no-fairness, crumbling, be revolutions or something else). The way it ensures fairness, is to build systems of people, like, religion men and folks, king and his folks, your boss and you, family system, judiciary etc...

These systems ensure fairness, within their reach. Before Julius Caesar was assassinated, there was no importance to the concept of body-guarding rulers and religion-men, and after that, it has become important. A family system, was the natural offshoot of the instinctive men, when they need to survive together in a group. Religion, is like, an explanation about the inexplicable, you have a huge storm, and to think that it is fair, you invented religion.

However, people are people. There are many men, whom races/civilizations trusted, and moved to their tunes. To their utter dismay, those men cheated them, just to satisfy their own greed. The lesson is very hard to a 'Germany of Second world war' or, to the 'Troy losing by devious means, with a trojan horse'. These lessons can never be forgotten by people. Next time, if such a ruler/fighter is spotted, he/she is obviously doubted, for the well-being of oneself. And, looks like that is the lesson of History.

But, people are smart and the greed always gets the best of them, right? So, after the systems institute a protocol (law, may be) to punish such men, there will be 10 more loopholes staring in front of the greedy. Don't tell me, once the original flaw is closed, it is one less, No. See, how many bad ways of making money are there today, vs, 200 years ago. Today, people know that their jobs get fake news, and they are loathsome bankers to people, and they charge lot of fee in the name of your child's education, but still do that. All civilization teaches people, is to "just hate each other", sadly.

Calculate, how many such incidents happened in the history-rich East and middle-eat, vs, how many in the USA. USA, does not know, men, as it should, and thinks it is cultured. It still has a lot of potential to (:-() trust men, who are no good.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Do you know that minimizing number of colors is important in Interior? Of the 4 photos got by googling, check for yourself how many are using 3-4 colors at max!

And of the things that are using more, imagine, how would it look like, if you removed the colors used in small quantity. It would surely be better looking. Folks thinking of making their homes look good, but, can't do it, use this simple trick. Follow 3-4 colors to the brim, whatever you put in the room, should have one of these colors, down to the exact shades (shown in the lighting used).

Often times, we do not recognize how much of color clutter, we put in a room. We just keep piling things in a room, till the scene falls apart visually. We sure do know each individual item kept, looks great by itself, but, 'why is the whole thing not working'? People get confused about their ability to choose interior accessories, since, the thing just does not look good in the room, it only looks good in the shop.

Happy decorating!
Hi all,

This is my blog. I will be posting tidbits for simple folks. Let's keep it fun.