Pacing the future

Pranav Mistry - The thrilling potential of sixth sense technology

Please watch this video before reading the rest of this piece

As I watched the video, I felt a sense of confusion, anxiety and thrill all try to run through me at the same time. Mistry speaks of integration of the digital and physical world with unparalleled enthusiasm. He goes on about bringing the digital world out into the physical world and vice versa. All exciting stuff for sure, but also, slightly scary in my view. The limitless potential this technology has is definitely mind boggling but not necessarily completely positive. I mean, as is the case with all new technology, the potential for misuse is usually just as exhaustive. But the thing is, I'm actually worried by something else. What twists my mind is this: do we really possess a latent need to integrate the digital world with the physical world? Is there really a need for more efficiency, predictability, calculability and control? I borrow from Ritzer's McDonaldization thesis here where I voice my concern regarding its horrors. This constant need for better, cheaper and now is usually fulfilled at some moral/ethical expense. But even if we set that aside for a minute, its astounding to see how we've all actually become Elizabeth Schor's 'Time squeezed consumers'. Time is money they say, they really mean that time is a commodity, invented for purchase and sale.

What happened to spending Sunday afternoon doing nothing? What happened to walking on the beach without your iPod? What happened to having a conversation with your best friend while cloud-watching and leaving that coffee shop behind?

Do we really need our commodities everywhere we go? Do we really need to have a web cam around our necks and be able to make hand gestures to take a picture like Mistry does? Why can't we just take a mental picture and cherish it as it takes on sepia tones in our mind?

PS: I am aware of and deeply appreciate the counter argument to my view but I felt like this was one of those days where I just had to say what I just said. I welcome all comments :)

Happy Holidays...

Well as most of us are done with our semester, its time for bye-bye. Happy Holidays! Have a nice time this Diwali and All the Best for everyone's exams! Cheers!

Welcome Aboard

Here's a shout out to the new team. Congratulations! Here's to many more such good times. Cheers!

Join The Fight...

And life has come around a full circle. One of the first few entries on this blog, when it was created last year was about Youth Activism Day and now here's another one. Youth Activism Day this year was held on the 23rd of July 2009 and had 5 participating groups (some very enthusiastic FYs!) supporting a multitude of causes, namely: AIDS Awareness, Campaign Against Female Foeticide, Women Empowerment, Campaign Against Child Abuse and Dyslexia. All the groups did an excellent job of campaigning in college all day as well as presenting their cause before the judges. It was the group Red Alert, supporting the cause AIDS Awareness which took first place. They had an awesome campaign with handmade posters, ribbons, selling T-Shirts, a JAM session in the lunch break as well as the catchy slogan, "Join The Fight". The group campaigning against Female Foeticide was runner up in the tie-breaker. This however does not mean that the other groups cannot continue to work for their causes. If they are passionate about their particular cause, they can most certainly approach the management, who will provide all the help possible. All in all, it was a day of hard work and fun at the same time, with even the guest judge, Ms. Katy Chadwick declaring that she had had a great time.

The Great Divide...

Snapshots from the Great Divide held on the 9th of July, 2009.

After The Great Divide...

After the Great Divide, came the much awaited team outing (and bonding) that was long overdue. The cramped seating area of Bread Story, heard a lot of laughs and both Bread Story and Roll House were richer for the experience. Here's to many more such good times. Cheers!

Iran : A crisis

Iran is at war. Its people are fighting for democracy. It's been over a week since the results of the Iranian Presidential elections were declared stating that President Ahmadinejad had won by a landslide. The Iranian people believe the contrary, they feel corruption has been at play, a majority of them seem to have voted for opposition candidate Mousavi. There have been protests taking place all over the nation and in Tehran in particular. Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of the capital city demanding a re-election. They scream out 'Death to the dictator' and hold signs saying 'Where is my vote'.

The issue has received extensive foreign media coverage as a result of which the Iranian government, a few days earlier, revoked all foreign media licenses. BBC's permanent chief correspondent to Iran has been asked to leave Tehran. It is reported that opposition leaders, their families and supporters are being arrested, tear gas is being used against the protestors and that more than a hundred protestors have already lost their lives fighting for justice. Iran's supereme leader, Ayatollah Kamenei had earlier declared a wish for a partial recount and is now urging the protesters to settle down before strong action is taken against them. Mousavi has cautioned his supporters and asked for their patience while President Ahmadinejad has called for an immediate halt of the protests.

The International community has been very opinionated on their views regarding this subject matter. Many European countries, along with Canada have openly pledged their support for the Iranian people. President Obama's stand has been, in my honest opinion, the best stand taken by an American President in the recent past. He is of the opinion that the Iranian people must fight their own war, he does not want the US to 'meddle' with Iran's affairs.

Technology has played a big part throughout this revolution. Iranians have been posting videos of the protests on YouTube, Twitter is being used to spread information and even Facebook is playing a part in their communication. But this of course, has been subjected to heavy censorship by the Iranian government. All websites supporting the protests are blocked or in the process of being blocked. Text messaging facilities have also been shut down within Iran. The Iranian people still continue to fight, protest and get their voices heard.

The unrest taking place in Iran has affected many. People all over the world are showing their support for Iran. On twitter, many users have changed their profile pictures to include the color green (color of the opposition) or images displaying 'where is their vote'. Iranians residing abroad are holding rallies to show their support for their countrymen back home and are being accompanied by their foreign friends in their pursuit for justice.

Living in India, I am very grateful for my freedom. Corruption is still prevalent here but I believe that on a basic level, democracy does manage to function. The recent elections which ushered the Congress back into power showcased India's belief in the actions of the ruling government. If the current situation taking place in Iran were to happen in India, I am sure we would appreciate all the support we could get. Hence, I urge you: please show your support for the Iranian people and pray this crisis ends soon.

I stand for Iran. I hope you do too.

A New Year...A Good Year

And we're back in business people! Like they say, "a job well begun is a job half done", so I guess we're going to do an amazing job on the newsletter this year. We had a great meeting today, although the fun quotient (in the form of our Tribe Queen) was noticably missing. I don't think we'll ever fill that hole that you've left behind. But life kinda goes on, so once again the words 'Cover Feature', 'Great Divide', 'Press Release' et al were heard and discussed in the reading room of SCMS(UG). Added to that were some never before words like 'Sponsorship', 'Increased Pages' etc, which is definitely going to be the highlight of this year. On the downside, this is going to be a very short semester, hence the pressure is ON with no respite in sight. But the motto has always been to turn obstacles into opportunities, so I don't see why it should be any different this time. Lets just leave it at that then...next update will be posted in a week.

Eylo

Yellow People!

Its been awhile. I have finally exited SCMS(UG). I hope. And before you ask, the answer is 'nothing'. I am doing nothing. Will keep you posted on the developments. If there are any that is. 

Anyway, so, I finally decided to write here coz of DJ. This girl is awesome. Shes gotten an internship with the Gulf News, Dubai. And shes doing amazingly well. You can find her work here:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/05/08/10311656.html

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/05/08/10311575.html

So, Deej, we're all extremely proud of you. The best part is, this is just the begining! :)

On a side note, hope everyone's enjoying their summer. Updates would be appreciated :D

Thats all from me for now.

Cheers!

A vision that rests in my mind

hey guys,
been a while. as the holidays are going by i realise that i have not put much of my mind to use. as time has passed i feel this urge within me to do something different next year. with all the shit we went through, in my opinion we pulled off an awesome issue. i for a fact have seen the team bonding in a way in which we never would have if all went to plan. the adversities have brought us closer, closer as a team and closer as a unit. we have accepted each other for our flaws and for the simple awesomeness as well.
ok, for the reason of this post, as i think, in my imagination i see a 24 page newsletter on the stands. it is far fetched and difficult coz of the associated permissions and costs, but i believe we can do this. we are a team and it is upto us to make this happen.
we are fortunate that all the four of us who will be in ty will be fully committed to the newsletter, and we will do all we can to make this happen.
there are many ideas that need to be put forth and many questions need to be answered, but we can do this, i believe we can.

at the end of it, all i want to ask is when we say "at 361Degress we encourage cray" when was the last time we did something really crazy?

The Newsletter is FINALLY Out!

Can you believe it? The sheer jubilation that went through us like an electric shock as soon as we heard that OUR newsletter would be in college within 10-15 minutes was nothing like what I had imagined it would be, it was much better. After an entire morning spent in anxiety over the fact that the printer was refusing to commit to the time of the delivery, it was heaven when we actually held in our hands the glossy pages of our precious (and uptill then almost extinct!) newsletter. The 10-15 minute wait for the delivery would have been torture if it hadn't been for the fact that we had balloons to blow up, which is never without incident or fun. Anyway the balloons were covered in graffiti and put up in all strategic locations and finally after almost a year, the buzz in college was all about 361 Degrees and it's Special (read FREE) Spring Edition with better quality paper, revamped attitude and dare I mention it, fresh faces on the team! (Just kidding about the last bit) It was certainly a day to remember in every aspect, right from the fact that everyone was forced to be attired in bright shades of Yellow (we're Yellow People!) to the fact that Anuja wore a T-Shirt that bore the legend "Chief Editor - 361 Degrees" and most importantly a message from someone that said that it had been worth the wait. I find that last statement so true for indeed inspite of all that we've been through, the delays, disappointments and downright humiliation, it was finally all worth it! So I guess there is a life lesson to be learnt from that: A little bit of patience can work wonders if only we keep the faith alive. So keep the banner flying high and here's to even better work next year!
The response to the newsletter was spectacular and we're hoping for more of that when we sell again on Thursday. Bye the way, all newspapers are hereby reminded that the dress code for Thursday is GREEN. So till then, it's Bye-Bye and a Very Happy Holi!

Happy Birthday!

As 361 Degrees turns 3 today, I can't help but wonder how it must been in the begining, when it was just an idea like a wisp of smoke before it took the form of a solid living, breathing (well almost!) newsletter. I had the chance to look through last year's yearbook, and having read Dheeraj Ramchandani's write-up about 361 Degrees really only re-emphasises the point that this newsletter is something special, something that will remain so for many, many years to come. On that note, many, many happy returns of the day!

Happy Birthday 361!!

Something which had to go up on the blog..

Happy Birthday 361 degrees!!

Little Black Bag

R's 'magic bag!!'

Can't say much..It doles out amazing stuff..'Symbol', and something else, which will remain inside this little bag for a few more hours..

- Smiley

P.s: GOsh!! this has to be like the dumbest post ever!

7th March is approaching. It'll be three years to the newsletter then. I think fun things must be done. I hope everyone else seconds that. 

Cheers!

Anuja P.

P.S. : Let us all pray to the gods of words that the newsletter gets printed real quick. We shall perform virgin sacrifices if required. I call undibbs :P 

A Year Gone By....

It has almost been a year since we, the first year recruits of 361 Degrees have been working for the newsletter but alas due to some cruel twists of fate we are yet to see one in print. Hi, I'm Rohini Dasgupta and this is probably one of the world's worst introductions. Anyway coming to matter at hand, ie, the printing of the newsletter; today was supposed to be our day of triumph, the day when we finally presented the newsletter to the printer and be assured that we would see it in print by Friday....But lets just say, fate had other plans. You see apparently there are some minuscule mistakes in the designing which allows them not to accept it until we make the necessary changes. Hence our erstwhile reporters returned empty-handed and are currently engaged in searching high and low for a solution to the problem. The point of this story dear readers was not to attract sympathy but to simply state the facts...Cold, hard facts that have been slammed in our faces every step of the way. First there was no printer, then there was a printer, but no designer and then there was a blessed soul who sacrificed almost an entire week towards the noble cause and now we are stuck with a few 'minor changes'. We have big plans to market this issue as this is the last (and ONLY) newsletter of the year but they are temporarily shelved until we hear the 3 magic words, "We Are Printing!". We are still referred to as the 'Fresh Team' although the only thing fresh right now is disappointment. Lets just hope and pray that things work themselves out so that we may finally be able to tell our friends that, YES, there is a newsletter, it is called 361 Degrees and you can collect your copy on so and so date. I see that I have been bordering on the cynical and so would like to end on the optimistic note that, "Things are always fine in the end; if they are not, then it's not the end".

Three Cheers to Team 361 Degrees for we are the only ones who know that wasting time is not all we do (and hopefully some other people now know that as well!)

Cheers,
Rohini

PS # I think I need to make an official mention here that the "Cheers" is the Trademark of the Tribe Queen Anuja Anil Pradhan and here's hoping that she will continue to allow her loyal subject to sign off with it.