Six blind men

"You need every edge in a terrorism investigation, and a blind officer with languages could be a powerful weapon."

Yes, you read that right. The Belgian police have taken on 6 blind men, because the blind have a more acute sense of sound and can thus be far more effective when listening to wiretaps. For instance Sacha van Loo can not just figure out whether the suspect the police is tracking is driving a Mercedes or a Honda, he can even tell you which number has been dialled, by just listening to number tones on a mobile phone. He's a linguist as well, which enables him to identify the nationality of kidnappers and terrorists just by listening to them speak.

Sort of reminds you of the Six blind men of Hindoostan, doesn't it?

A candlestick for Uncut

For a little more than two and a half years, my daily regimen in office has been: walk in, switch on comp, chat with colleagues and login to India Uncut, the moment the machine's warmed up. And so I'm chuffed that Amit Varma has won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism, 2007 for his columns in Mint.

I met Varma while covering the 2005 India-Pakistan test series. During the first test in Mohali, this long-haired friendly chap, mentioned he had a blog. Since then, IU has been a regular fixture in my life. His writing points me towards where I hope to go some day.

Here's his post on winning the prize. More power to him!

Writers & Editors

Writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr. scoffs at those who feel creative writing courses are infra dig:

"Listen, there were creative writing teachers long before there were creative writing courses, and they were called and continue to be called editors."

Read the entire piece at New York Times, which talks about how life need not be the only 'school' for writers.

In Rainbows

If you'd asked me, same time last year if I listened to any Radiohead, my answer would have included the standard Creep (go ahead say 'hah'!), High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees. Just three songs, and only because of incessant TV-watching during my college-going, MTV/Channel-[V] days.

I'd pretty much given up listening to music regularly in the years after leaving Bangalore. Mainly because,
a. I shared an apartment with a guy who digs astrology and little else.
b. I didn't have a music system or even a tape recorder.
c. My music-loving pals weren't around to push me into discovering anything new.

And so on and on until about 4 years later, facing the prospect of a two-hour daily commute, I bought an I-pod Mini. Thus began a musical renaissance - now I was listening to stuff because I wanted to, and not because someone said Van Morrison (or someone else) was cool. I listened to lots of old bands, scoured the net for new ones and eventually made my way to Radiohead. Around the same time, a friend presented The Bends and OK Computer as a wedding gift, so I ended up logging a few kilometres in the neighbourhood park with these guys.

So a few days back when Radiohead announced they would be offering their new album In Rainbows only via downloads, for any price we were prepared to pay, I jumped. Offered my credit card for two pounds (and 45 pence for the online transaction fee) or roughly 170 rupees.

“Digital technology has reintroduced the age of the troubadour. You are worth what people are prepared to give you in the digital age because they can get it for nothing”, the New York Times puts the band's new gamble rather neatly,

Although a third of those who downloaded the album decided to pay nothing for it, I at least have the moral high ground + I'm really happy that Radiohead will get all my money since there's no record company to take a fat piece of the pie. All in all, a great idea, and hope pals Thermal and a Quarter will do something similar. They offered their third album Plan B free to download originally, and I sincerely hope they will choose to sell album IV through the net.

First impressions, the album seemed to pick up where OK Computer left things. But having not heard Kid A and subsequent releases, I don't know how accurate my observations are. It certainly gets better with every listen and my current favourite is the insidious Nude. I think I will reserve my judgement for later. For the moment, only one grouse - am I the only person who thinks Thom Yorke's crooning makes it difficult to pick out the lyrics?