A question of knots

I did it! I finally figured out a permanent fix for that annoying way Word 2008 automatically inserts a space at the end of a paragraph, so that when you copy everything you’ve typed onto something else all those spaces disappear. And most importantly, I figured it out by myself. I know it makes me sound like a bit of a spaz, but then I don’t have to type stuff out all that often. (okay, now that sounds even more old-fashioned. I should stop)

Earlier this week, somebody told me that I’d be the first in our old gang from school to get married. It didn’t make sense to me for two reasons. One, I’m a boy and let’s face it, social pressure comes in a lot later for us boys than it does for girls. And two, there’s no way I’d get married while I’m still studying/establishing myself at work. I’m not willing to compromise on my development as a person.

And yet, and yet, I see so many men around me, somewhat successful in their own ways, settling down to lives of domesticity at fairly young ages. Seriously, there’s something amiss about a man who gets married before 25. (and don’t you dare say there’s nothing amiss, there’s only a Mrs. We do not tolerate poor pjs)

Why do men do it? And not just men, why do people give in to marriages when there’s a whole world out there waiting to be conquered? Why do they give in to moulding themselves to suit the life of a grihasta, when you should really be out there finding yourself? Does anybody out there have answers? Or is it just me, labouring under the illusion that I’ll figure out what I am one fine day in the future?

On a less self-doubting note, the notebook view in Word 2008 is super cool! (never thought I’d say that about a word-processing software)

Going round and round once again

The new Formula 1 season is under way. Brawn GP (formerly Honda racing, (formerly British-American racing, (formerly Tyrrell))) (Man, I do love brackets!) scored a dramatic one-two finish in the season opener in Melbourne on Sunday. And this by a team that almost didn’t make it to the grid, because Honda decided to pull the plug on their F1 program in December last year. Bet there are a lot of people in Tokyo kicking themselves right now, because that Brawn race car was developed with Honda money. And now Honda has nothing to show for it. Poor saps.

Summer is upon us. It’s always funny to watch people agreeing with Al Gore about global warming every April, and then promptly denying it in November. (No really, Madras has had fairly cool “winters” the last few years.) I’ve seen it happen enough times over the last few years. It almost seems cool in a way to blame bad weather on global warming and climate change, without actually knowing anything about either, and then simply crank up the air con. FYI chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant gases are still legal in India, even though there are non-CFC alternatives that will work with existing machinery, forget buying new compressors. So if you’re in the market for a new air con this summer, try to stay clear of those that use R-22.

I’ve been writing a science blog as well over the last few months. Not very regularly, though. If anything, it’s even more irregular than ymitif. Check it out if that part of you which wasn’t quite a nerd, but still liked poking, prodding and looking at things isn’t quite dead yet.