Artemis - 2 : The Space Race of our time

I am just bookmarking this for myself.  

Also, this site provided the best live tracking of the mission.

https://issinfo.net/artemis

Starry Night

There is this scene from  the 2004 movie, Around the World in 80 days, where Phileas Fogg sighs that they are in the wrong place. "This is isn't science, this is art"

Some time later, he declares the Monique's work is far better than those of the other amateurs. And we get this scene:

Cracks me up everytime !

The movie might have been a box-office bomb, but for me it is one of those under-appreciated treasures from that time. It is based on a classic Jules Verne book , one which I enjoyed reading as a kid. It is an adventure comedy, which never gets serious, but does get emotional. It features star actors from the time: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent...and cameos from so many others..  Arnold Schwarzenegger , Kathy Bates, John Cleese, Owen Wilson. They got the start and the climax of the movie faithful to the original story, but everything else is just made up ! I don't think they were trying to make a faithful adaptation, but rather a fun, laugh in your seats movie very good just enjoy travelling the world in the 1870s.

But I find this particular scene extremely funny because that person in the last scene is supposed to be Vincent Van Gogh, who has put his famous painting "Starry Night" in the art museum. And I adore that painting.

That is probably the single painting every generation since the boomers will be able to identify today, simply because it is kind of everywhere now. There are cups, mugs ,t-shirts, pillows available in its design. 

And the reason this is not illegal is because the artwork is now in the public domain. Yes, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night (1889) is in the public domain worldwide because the artist died in 1890, far exceeding the 70-year post-mortem copyright rule.

Now there are numerous paintings about the night sky, like Pissarro, Millet (who also painted a Starry Night), and Hopper's Nighthawks. But it is Van Gogh's interpretation that everyone knows of. He died the year after he painted his masterpiece, his wife apparently struggled to sell the rest of this work. It would take decades after his death for his work to gain recognition.

This is the joke that the scene in the movie above is trying to make; Phileas calling Van Gogh an amateur is point on, because at that point in history, Van Gogh's work  was yet unappreciated.

Now I am trying to recall where I saw this work and learnt about its doomed artist; I am going to venture a guess that it was in college. One of my roommates was an artist, he did pencil drawings, but he had books of great artists. He might have been the one who showed me the night. 

Neil degrasse Tyson is a fan of Gogh and the Starry Night.

       

And there are multiple songs titled "Starry starry night", my favourite being the cover by Lianne la Havas

And BBC's Dr Who had to have an episode only for Van Gogh, an episode that might have helped spread his fame among millenials.

It is clear that what captures everyone's attention is Van Gogh's distinct style, using those short brush strokes to create those circular patterns, which one cannot really see in a clear moon-lit sky. Its nothing special, its just the night sky. This is what he saw out of his little window that night, yet it is presented as a grand spectacle, using the simplest of strokes. Sure, anyone else could have done it, but it probably takes courage to break the conventional rules that others adhere to.

So tonight, when you get some time, look up at the stars, and try to see the beauty up there. 

...and also watch the movie. :D

LinkedIn is the worst social network. Here's a doco.

I quit all my social media more than a decade ago. But the place where I spent the least time online was.. on LinkedIn. Personally I felt it was the worst social media site ..ever. Having seen the linkedIn profiles of most of the folks I used to work with, it was obvious to me that their online profiles were all bogus. It is a place to brag about what you do, hoping to get your next big job.  And now , I hear the place has turned into an AI slopfest with fake jobs an fake applicants.

Someone else has took the time to make this doco, so here goes:

Remembrance Day

Nov 11 was remembrance day. It is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. Remembrance Day is celebrated with ceremonies, a one-minute silence at 11 a.m. on November 11, and the wearing of a poppy. People gather at memorials and cenotaphs, schools hold commemorations, and many tune into broadcasts of services to remember those who died in service.  

If one looks up the wikipedia page of remembrance day, it can be see that this day is observed by all commonwealth countries, which does include India. But while I was growing up there, I cannot recall this being observed any year. There is no news coverage either. The world's largest democracy is completely clueless to how close the world was to coming to an end the first time, the great war. India's flag day, observed on Dec 7, definitely has more recognition. Our history textbooks have little coverage of why this day needs to be observed too.

I grew up thinking that India did not really have any role in both of those great wars, we were too busy fighting our own battles with the British crown back then. It was only later, much later, that I got some access to books and articles on the role that at least some Indians played in both World Wars, albeit fighting for the Brits in a strange irony. Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers - Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians - served in WW1, and 2.5 million in WW2. Participants from the Indian subcontinent won 13,000 medals, including 12 Victoria Crosses in WW1

By the way, did you know that there were already some Indians living in Australia before the First World War ? In June 1917, Private Nain Singh Sailani and Private Sarn Singh were killed in action on the Western Front. These men were among at least 12 Indian Australians who are known to have enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War. They were also the only Indian soldiers known to have been killed in action while serving as members of the AIF. Other men, such as Desanda Singh, made it through the war and returned to Australia. We may never know what motivated these men to enlist, but their stories add to the richness of Australia’s wartime history.

History is a strange subject. It is something that is always growing, as everything happening today will become history tomorrow. But the way the subject is taught in schools , especially in places like India renders it completely boring.  I remember our teachers used to prepare one line questions like : In what year did X attack Y ? Or when did this war start ? They expected the correct , once word answers, and expected students to memorise all those useless years. We are so focussed on the dates and places in history, that we miss out the real learning we should be focussed on: they mistakes people made, and what we can learn from them.

The world today would look drastically different had the wrong side won both those great wars. Anyone want to imagine a fascist planet earth ? What if the central powers had won the first world war ? That would have changed the language makeup completely. 

But the most important thing is this : We owe a un-repayable debt to those brave soldiers who marched bravely to battlegrounds , to fight on behalf of civilians all over the world. And this is why days like 11th November, and 2nd September matter. They died, so that all of us could live. And the world has learnt important lessons ;probably why we haven't had a 3rd World War yet.  

And it breaks my heart that most people alive today are so caught up in social media and news cycles, and have no idea that we can only enjoy our freedom today because many millions paid for it with their lives.

Read up on our history. So we don't have to repeat them.

https://theconversation.com/why-remembrance-of-indian-soldiers-who-fought-for-the-british-in-world-war-ii-is-so-political-86885

https://www.indianlink.com.au/remembrance-day-remembering-the-indian-australian-soldiers/

Time to get the bike out again.

 Aaahh... can you feel that ? Spring is in the air. And about time too, cause winter was behaving like a forgetful grandpa , constantly returning to pick up things they forgot. Overstaying their welcome. Its my favourite time of the year.. just warm enough to be outdoors, but cool enough to still have a light jacket on. Goes nicely with coffee.

And bikes ! Spring is undoubtedly the best time of year to get riding again. The humble bicycle should be mankind's finest inventions. It solves problems, is fun to use, and needs close to zero maintenance, and no charging (looking at you e-bike users). Bikes are virtually free, and require no insurance, registration, license, parking spaces, or any other hassle. They are so easy to own, and so incredibly useful and beneficial, with absolutely no drawbacks whatsoever to ownership. And yet somehow, there are adults out there – millions of them, ..... – who don’t even have a bike.I have been riding one since.. I turned.. 5 , I think  ? Can't remember. And it surprises me that most people still don't have a bike.  

Bikes are virtually free, and require no insurance, registration, license, parking spaces, or any other hassle. They are so easy to own, and so incredibly useful and beneficial, with absolutely no drawbacks whatsoever to ownership. And yet somehow, there are adults out there – millions of them, ......... who don’t even have a bike.

The fact is that the bicycle is still the world's most efficient way to travel, 52 years after it was first proven. Back in 1973, Scientific American magazine published an article written by S S Wilson, then a lecturer in engineering at Oxford University, in which he argued  that the bicycle’s purpose was to “make it easier for an individual to move about, and this the bicycle achieves in a way that quite outdoes natural evolution.” 

And along with that article was a graph, which charted the weight vs efficiency of most things that move on this green planet. The classic graph, reproduced countless times by engineers and cycling enthusiasts, has inspired figures as diverse as Steve Jobs, who famously compared the personal computer to “the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”  In the latest edition, the magazine have now updated that for modern times. This graph : 

There are few things more nerdy that hearing an engineer waxing on the benefits of riding a bicycle: and Wilson does an excellent job staying true to form. He explained that while an unaided walking human consumes a fair amount of energy per distance traveled, a cyclist using a bicycle reduces energy consumption to roughly a fifth. In Wilson’s words: the cyclist “improves his efficiency rating to No. 1 among moving creatures and machines.”

Wilson also outlined practical ways to encourage cycling in cities: cycleways to reduce conflicts with automobiles, bicycle parking stations, transport of bikes by rail and bus, and public bicycles for “park and pedal” services. “Already bicycling is often the best way to get around quickly in city centers,” he noted.

His prescription for global challenges of transportation, health, and resource efficiency? “Cycle and recycle.” Wilson even applied his ideas practically, helping develop the Oxtrike cargo tricycle for developing countries.

The bicycle, as both Wilson and modern science attest, remains a triumph of efficiency and human ingenuity—one pedal stroke at a time.

But the biggest benefit of cycling ? Its just fun.

Ill see you down the road.