Bed Breakfast Podcasts

Excerpt from Smita Jain's debut novel 'Kkrishnaa's Konfessions' with music by Irya Gmeyner. First up is the song, 'Sold My Luck', by Irya Gmeyner from Sweden. It's the kind of tune that plays on autorewind in your head. It's haunting and beautiful like the rest of the songs in her album, 'Basement Takes from Textilgatan 7'. The album name is a pun on Bob Dylan's world and the basement in Stockholm where the songs were recorded. Visit her site: www.irya.se and her MySpace page: www.myspace.com/iryamusic. Following that is an excerpt from screenwriter, Smita Jain's debut novel Kkrishnaa's Konfessions, a wickedly funny, rip roaring read about a dried out scriptwriter, ambition, murder and mayhem. Highly recommended read. You'll like it. Visit her website: http://www.kkrishnaaskonfessions.com for more info. A quick confession... I'm partial to these podcasts. So please leave your comments and don't forget to subscribe. lsquo;There is great festivity in the Sharma household. It is Tanvi's wedding day. The day is bright and sunny in a fitting tribute to the prevailing mood in the household. Tanvi sits outside amidst her friends while henna is applied on her hands. Tanvi studies the intricate pattern on her hands and smiles in approval. lsquo;Observing her elder daughter from the doorway, the comely way her eyes dance with suppressed excitement and her lower lip trembles with bridal bashfulness, Shanti's eyes well up with emotion. Blessed with beauty one could write poems about - sharp features, milky white complexion, thick, long black hair, lithe figure - Tanvi is a rare, precious gem. Infused with an infectious joie de vivre, Tanvi is a livewire who lights up any room she enters. She is traditional in her values and modern in outlook. Yes, Tanvi is indeed a daughter to be proud of. All these thoughts course through Shanti's mind as she stands there gazing at her daughter. And also the melancholy thought that soon Tanvi's effervescence will bubble in her house no longer. She will, from now on, brighten her husband's home. It is just as well that that home is going to be Rahul's. A more satisfactory groom would be hard to find. Shanti remembers the gold bangles that Tanvi is supposed to wear and turns to go and fetch them from Tanvi's room. We intercut this with Gauri entering Tanvi's room surreptitiously. Her entry is accompanied by her characteristic motif sound of a flutter flute. Once inside, her heavily kohled eyes dart around furtively. Once she is sure that she is alone, she marches purposefully towards Tanvi's cupboard and pulls open the door. There, on top of the pile of clothes, lies what she is looking for - Tanvi's wedding dress. The millions of tiny jewels that comprise the delicate kundan work on the lehenga choli catch the light and wink mockingly at her. Gauri stares fixedly at the dress. The dress, to her, represents all the things that her sister Tanvi has stolen from her. Schvoom, schvoom, schvoom, the screen is besieged with successive images, at different angles, of Gauri staring at the dress. Gauri's face is a mirror reflecting the myriad emotions coursing through her mind - hurt, anger, confusion - each vying with the other for supremacy. She feels such intense hatred for the dress that she does not trust herself. Her chest heaves rhythmically with the tremendous effort of her control. But it is a losing battle. She is suddenly afraid of what she might do. Her arms shoot out and bury the dress under other clothes. It is as if, if she banishes the dress she might banish her pernicious emotions along with it. But her sudden movement dislodges the balance and pell-mell, the clothes fall out of the cupboard. The offending dress now lies atop a heap of clothes on the ground, still staring back at her derisively. Dhang, dhang, dhang, zoom in and out quickly three times. Gauri again stares at the dress hatefully, her chest...

Excerpt from Dr. Daniel H. Wilson's book- How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Alien Invaders, Ninjas, and Zombies. Music is by New Model Army. Dr. Daniel H. Wilson is the author of 'How to Build a Robot Army'. He has also authored 'How to Survive a Robot Uprising', which will be made into a movie soon. He wears a tie and glasses to look smart and intimidate people who visit his site- www.howtobuildarobotarmy.com. The book is very intelligent, you'll be laughing about something and then suddenly realize the deeper meaning. Links to buy the book are on the linked site. New Model Army from UK has provided the song 'Bloodsport'. Their new album 'High' is out and you can buy it from their site- www.newmodelarmy.org. They are alternative and wild and the songs on the album are awesome. Check out their store for some cool t-shirts and bling. Aayush Iyer has read the excerpt on behalf of Dr. Wilson. He's a cool guy and is one of the 2 people who've helped me set up IdeaJugglers.com. Catch him here- www.aayush.name. How to Command Robot Minions in Battle It may be easy to think of the robot that's guarding your back as human, but it's a mistake that could cost you your life. A good commander understands the mind-set of every trooper - human or robot. Listen up and learn how to give effective commands to your squad of robot henchmen. Use a wireless headset. A wireless microphone delivers clean, crisp sound directly to your robot, regardless of hearing range. Wearing a bone conductive earphone will transmit robot replies directly to your inner ear through the bones of your skull, even over the shrill screaming of alien overlords. Give commands from the robot's perspective. Rapidly switching between perspectives (e.g., my left versus your right) is tough for a robot, although human children learn to do it around age five. Researchers at the US Naval Research Lab found that two astronauts used each other's perspective to give directions about a quarter of the time. Unless speaking to a human, stick to using the robot's perspective or an absolute system without ambiguity, such as latitude and longitude. Avoid "embodied" metaphors. "I'm feeling down," "Keep up," and "There's trouble ahead" are all spatial metaphors that stem from your physical embodiment as a human. A robot will understand literal speech faster: Say, "I feel sad," "Stay within ten feet," or "There is trouble ten yards to the north." Be emotionless. Shouting a command implies forcefulness to a human listener, but it will just make you harder to understand for a robot. Work out a priority structure and emphasize commands with priority levels, e.g., "Find my severed arm, priority red." Be literal - avoid sarcasm. Sarcasm relies on a high-level knowledge of context, something a robot is not likely to glean. Sarcasm or veiled threats will only confuse your robot ally. No baby talk. Humans naturally speak slowly to babies, helping the little ones learn to talk and understand language. Your robot has learned to recognize human speech, not baby talk. Similarly, do not exaggerate facial expressions - unless the robot was trained to recognize emotions by watching soap operas. Face the robot and stand at speaking distance. Look directly at the robot - emotion recognition and lip-reading are drastically less accurate at a larger than 30-degree deviation from frontal face image. In addition, scaling a faraway image up to size loses pixel information, while standing too close introduces irrelevant details that confuse the robot. Ask simple questions. "What time is it?" may seem like a simple question, but how to decide whether to answer "noon," or "11:59 P.M."? Both answers reside in what researchers call the halo of truth, but one is more precise. Humans choose an answer based on its truthfulness, the current context, and by modeling the intentions and knowledge of the person asking the quest

Hindi poetry with its English translation against a background of modern classical music. Groovy duet for a Sunday evening. NOTE: If this Podcast or any other on IdeaJugglers.com seems to play in Fast Forward... please download it and it'll play fine. If anybody has a fix to this problem PLEASE share it with me. It's driving me up the wall. Virendra Gupta is a Mumbai based poet who writes in English and Hindi. His new book "The Unknown" has been published by Poets International. He's been awarded as one of the Best Poets of the Year for 2003 and his huge body of work has been published many times and received numerous other accolades. Read his poetry to make sense of a lazy Sunday. The Flashbulb plays a variety of music and the song played here "8 Empty Beds on Old Reels" is a modern classical piece. He has his own label- Alphabasic and enourages you to buy his music from there or from Bleep. Check out his MySpace page. Pratishtha is a regular on IdeaJugglers.com. She's read the English bits. Follow her fashion blog- ShotCouture.com for a funky perspective on styles and statements. #160; Ice freezes not- in my dreams For it melts and melts The maroon mountain But a merry vale- My heart belongs to the mountain For you dwell on its other side And my dreams dwell in you For you live in my dreams. Dreams so dear, so very bright But hazy like a fading star- Leave an empty horizon within me. For my eyes- You are a dream And my dreams rest in you So near, yet far-so far. A lake descends in my dreams Every night- So my eyes are teary Each morning. A mountain melts and A brook flows- A lake forms when the flow stops. My inner flow too has stopped For- my dreams have frozen For -you are a dream And my dreams rest in you. Poem copy; Virendra Gupta., all rights reserved. Music copy; The Flashbulb., all rights reserved.ShareThis