Author Profile : Samuel Beckett

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/03/autprofile.htm

Samuel Barclay Beckett, also known as Andrew Bellis, is perhaps best known for the timeless play ‘Waiting for Godot’ in which the characters wait for a man (Godot) who never arrives. Born in 13th April, 1906 in Dublin, Ireland this famous author was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 ‘for his writing, whichin new forms for the novel and dramain the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation’.

Beckett’s work is stark, fundamentally minimalist, and, according to some interpretations, deeply pessimistic about the human condition. His work grew increasingly cryptic and attenuated over his career.

The perceived pessimism in Beckett’s work is mitigated both by a great and often wicked sense of humour, and by the sense, for some readers, that Beckett’s portrayal of life’s obstacles serves to demonstrate that the journey, while difficult, is ultimately worth the effort. Similarly, many posit that Beckett’s expressed ‘pessimism’ is not so much for the human condition but for that of an established cultural and societal structure which imposes a stultifying will upon otherwise hopeful individuals; it is the inherent optimism of the human condition, therefore, that is at tension with the oppressive world. Peter Brook says in The Empty Space that if you believe that Beckett is pessimistic, then you are a Beckett character trapped in a Beckett play; Beckett was not saying “No” because he wanted to, but was saying no because he was searching for the “yes”.

Beckett played for the Dublin University Cricket team and played two first-class games against Northamptonshire. As a result, he became the only Nobel laureate to have an entry in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the ‘bible’ of cricket.

Beckett is most renowned for the play Waiting for Godot. In a much-quoted article, the critic Vivian Mercier wrote that Beckett ‘has achieved a theoretical impossibilitya play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What’s more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice.’ The play was first written in French with the title En attendant Godot. Beckett worked on the play between October 1948 and January 1949. He published it in 1952, and premiered it in 1953. The English translation appeared two years later. The play was a critical, popular, and controversial success in Paris. It opened in London in 1955 to mainly negative reviews, but the tide turned with positive reactions by Harold Hobson in The Sunday Times and, later, Kenneth Tynan. In the United States, it flopped in Miami, and had a qualified success in New York City. After this, the play became extremely popular, with highly successful performances in the U.S. and Germany. It is still frequently performed today.

Of all the English-language modernists, Beckett’s work represents the most sustained attack on the realist tradition. He, more than anyone else, opened up the possibility of drama and fiction that dispense with conventional plot and the unities of place and time in order to focus on essential components of the human condition. Writers like Václav Havel, John Banville, Aidan Higgins and Harold Pinter have publicly stated their indebtedness to Beckett’s example, but he has had a much wider influence on experimental writing since the 1950s, from the Beat generation to the happenings of the 1960s and beyond. In an Irish context, he has exerted great influence on poets such as John Banville, Derek Mahon, Thomas Kinsella, as well as writers like Trevor Joyce and Catherine Walsh who proclaim their adherence to the modernist tradition as an alternative to the dominant realist mainstream.

Beckett is one of the most widely discussed and highly prized of twentieth century authors, inspiring a critical industry to rival that which has sprung up around James Joyce. He has divided critical opinion. Some early philosophical critics, such as Sartre and Theodor Adorno, praised him, one for his revelation of absurdity, the other for his works’ critical refusal of simplicities; others such as Georg Lukacs condemn for ‘decadent’ lack of realism.

Spotlight : Online Social Networking

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/02/camspotlight.htm

“Oh My God! You are married! From stubborn tomboy to a mother of two!! I am so glad to have found you in Facebook, Anika!” Exclaimed Farah after she finally found her best friend with whom she had lost touch, on one of the popular mushrooming online social networks.

Online social networking has taken the world by storm and Bangladesh is no exception. Hi5, Facebook, Orkut, Myspace, well it’s a never-ending list and don’t worry, I won’t tire you out by mentioning each and every one of them!

In today’s fast paced world, the computer has become an integral tool for doing practically ANYTHING! Starting from office work to school home-works to entertainment, the PC is the answer to every single thing. Its utility increased manifolds with the easy availability of the Internet and sending letters and photos became just a matter of clicks. Then came the world of Online Social Networking and the definition of ‘friendship’ had an all-new meaning to young people all across the world.

The main purpose of Online Social Networking is to connect with friends old and new, and interact with people who have the same or similar interests. Members are often divided into groups or networks according to their institution or geographic location. And in the process when you finally meet your long lost friends, the trip down memory lane becomes much more than just bewilderment and discovering.

Of the major sites, Facebook has an estimated number of 34 million active members worldwide. It has gained an upper edge over the other sites because of the customizable privacy settings, easy exchange of information, photo tagging and a whole range of interesting applications which can be installed. Gone are the days of sending emails containing photos. On the last School Reunion I attended, I was loaded with a camera and everyone kept telling me, “Mahdin, upload the photos on Facebook and tag them”. And thus Communication is reaching new dimensions and being redefined.

Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, a Computer Science student of Harvard University to keep in touch with his friends. Although the membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard University only, it was subsequently expanded to other Boston area institutions like Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all Ivy League Universities within two months. Many individual universities were added in rapid succession over the next few years. Eventually, people with a university (e.g: edu. ac.uk, etc.) email address from institutions across the globe were eligible to join. Networks were then initiated for high schools and some large companies. Since September 11, 2006, it has been made available to any email address user who inputs a certain age range.

Recently, news has come out that the owners of ConnectU, a rival social networking site, are seeking to shut down Facebook after alleging that its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, stole their ideas. The founders of ConnectU said Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and founder, agreed to help finish a computer code for their Web site but stalled and eventually launched Facebook. The lawsuit against him includes fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. ConnectU’s founders are asking the court to shutdown Facebook and give control of the company and its assets to them. Whoever wins the court battle, it is not too likely that such a big business will be permanently shut down. It is guessed that the worst that can happen is the change of ownership instead of a complete shutdown. So all the ardent ‘facebookers’ can rest easy.

Currently, Facebook is thought to be the fastest growing online social network and has a number of interesting applications (some consider them evil) and a wide range of exciting groups.

Just to name a few:
“I hate getting random calls at 2am from people wanting to create friendship!”
“Anti-Nekami Corporation”

“I love my parents, but sometimes I just don’t like them”
“30 things to do in an exam when you know you are going to fail it anyway!”
“If all falls in life, open a Roti-stand”

People invite their contacts to these groups to have discussions about the respective topics or just whine about it in general.

Some of the widely used applications are: Funwall, Superpoke, Boozemail, Graffiti walls, Gifts etc.

You can also compare yourself with your buddies or better yet, Superstars, including Disney characters, Cars, Drinks and so much more. Then there are applications where you will be attacked by zombies and vampires and you can bite back to win points!

Before there was any Facebook, there was Hi5. Well, at least in the case of Bangladesh it is very true. Almost everyone had a Hi5 account; in spite its limited features and the fact that it gave very little privacy. In Hi5, users can create an online profile in order to show information such as interests, age and hometown and upload user pictures where other users can post comments. Hi5 also recently added features, which allows the user to create personal photo albums and set up a music player in the profile. Users can also send friend requests via e-mail to other users.

Hi5 was very popular in Dhaka and the other major cities in Bangladesh until Facebook arrived.

Orkut is another popular social networking site and is owned by the Search Engine Moguls, Google.com. It is named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. Orkut claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Similar to Facebook, hi5 and MySpace, Orkut goes a step further by permitting the creation of easy-to-set-up simple forums (called “communities”) of users. Since October 2006, Orkut has permitted users to create accounts without an invitation. In April 2007, Orkut introduced opinion polls in communities.

Myspace is believed to be the world’s biggest Online Social Networking site but strangely, it has much less appeal in Bangladesh compared to US, UK, Canada and other English speaking countries. According to different sources, Myspace employs 300 staff and does not disclose revenues or profits. The company announced the creation of the 100 millionth on August 9, 2006, in the Netherlands and the site reportedly attracts new registrations at a rate of 230,000 per day. As of September 7, 2007, there are over 200 million accounts!

So it’s all about your status and having your friends to know about it. And as far as birthdays are concerned, no more going through the calendars!

Source of information:
wikipedia, facebook, hi5,
myspace, google

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Eid on Foreign Terrains

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/02/pfeature.htm

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/02/feature_eid.htm

Many of us to go to foreign lands, thousands of miles away from our friends and family, to seek higher education. There, in spite of the fact that we are far away from our beloved parents, comes Eid and other celebrations. This is what Eid looks like, in a home away from home…

Special thanks to Faiyaz & Bilash (Canada), Saikat (Malaysia) and Nafid (Netherlands) for sending in their Eid Pictures.

Two Bangladeshi students, who spent their first Eid outside the country, express their feelings

Nafid Haque (Graduate Student, University of Groningen, Netherlands) :

This Eid was very different from all the other Eid’s of my life. This time no one was there to wake me up and push me to get ready for the Eid prayer. The first time in my life I went for the Eid prayer cycling, the first Eid where I did not get to hug my dad and my brother on the Eid day. It is just about two months I have been living in Holland and here I met Mr. Asad who is well settled here for over 15 years now. He has been very kind and helpful to me since I arrived here though I met him after I came here. He invited me to his house on the Eid day and finally I felt somewhat like home while I spent my first Eid with them.

Sonia Sharmin Islam (Graduate Student, North Carolina State University, USA) :

Eid at Raleigh was not that bad. Every year, on Eid, there is a big Jamat and around 5000 people including both men and women gather there. On the Eid day, I went to the Eid prayer and there were Muslims from several countries including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia. People were gathered to pray and see each other. There are several Bangladeshi families here. Usually the people cook food at home and they try to see each other by turn. Each family fixes a time slot and other families go there in that alloted time. Students really enjoy Eid here. Most of them are unmarried or live single. So they go to these families at each time slot and move around the whole day .

I went for breakfast and dinner only and we had lots of fun since it was a weekend. If eids are on working days and children have important classes and exams at school, parents like to send their children to school. Otherwise, they just take one day’s break from everything (office or chidren’s school) and try to celebrate the great festival.

Tech Wise [21st October 2007]

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/02/techwise.htm

Beautiful Japanese Building with a 200 feet fall!

Japan is set to launch it’s first building-mounted free-fall ride in an exterior wall of Osaka’s $157 million 12-story namBa H!PS entertainment complex set to open this December. The ride will provide guests with a beautiful view of the city right before it drops them 200-feet down the side of the building at 50 mph. Surely not for the weak hearted!

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“Vice Versa” Digital Clock Only Needs Its Hands To Serve You

A lot of designers have taken a minimalist approach when it comes to wall clocks these days, and China’s Yiran Qian certainly fits into that category with his “Vice Versa” clock. However, the inclusion of a digital interface on the hands is surely appreciable. It’s a truly unique way to blend the aesthetics of an analog clock with the functionality of a digital. It’s only a concept at this point, but it looks to become popular once it is out in the markets.

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Milestones in Cartography [Compilation]

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/02/feature_cartography.htm

Compiled by Mahdin Mahboob

Most of us have been acquainted to World Maps since Grade School. But little did we know the history behind the evolution of Maps over the passage of time. Cartography (the art or technique of making maps or charts) has seen many revolutionary changes since the earliest maps made by the Turkish people in 7,000 BC.

Scientific and technological advancements and the discovery of different new places by explorers have all accounted for this issue.

Here is an article from the UKTV History Website on how Maps have evolved to their present state.

Mapping the world has been as essential to man as our desire to build or travel, and this need to understand the way our planet is shaped goes back to prehistoric times. From crude cave paintings filled with religious symbolism to virtual maps electronically designed by computer, the art of mapmaking – or cartography – serves as an ongoing record of humanity’s intellectual development.

Mapping the stars
The earliest maps were not of Earth but of the heavens. Around 16,000 BC, illustrations of the night sky were discovered on the walls of the Lascaux caves in southern France. Drawings of constellations have also been discovered in the Cueva di El Castillo cave in Spain, dating back to 12,000 BC.

The earliest surviving map of earth was created in the 7,000 BC in Anatolia (modern Turkey). This map is also the first ever plan view – drawn from a bird’s eye view – and since then virtually all maps have followed this template.

The Babylonians: striving for accuracy
Archaeologists believe the ancient Babylonians, who lived in what is now Iraq, were the first people to attempt an accurate survey of the land in map form. In 1930 a single clay tablet dating back to at least 2,500 BC was discovered and appeared to depict a river valley between hills on which attempts had clearly been made to accurately measure size and distance between features.

The Babylonians are also credited with creating the earliest surviving map of the world. Created around 600 BC, this map is more symbolic than accurate; it omits references to other neighbouring tribes such as the Persians and Egyptians, even though both were known to the Babylonians.

Fact from fiction
The first significant influences on early mapmaking were not explorers but the works of great Greek writers Homer and Hesiod.

Although neither actually made maps, they both wrote epic poetry describing the world, as the Greeks knew it. Homer’s classic poems Iliad and the Odyssey showcased an advanced geographical awareness which was later used by Anaximander and Hecataeus, early mapmakers from the Ionian city of Miletus.

Miletus: city of Mapmakers
Miletus, a major trading destination located in Asia Minor, was in prime position to absorb Babylonian influences as well as Greek literature and Mediterranean culture. As a result, the earliest ancient Greeks were ideally positioned to construct the first world maps.

The first of these was Anaximander. Born around 611 BC, he believed Earth was like a stone pillar suspended in space. Many believe him to be the world’s first proper mapmaker.

Fifty years later another native son of Miletus called Hecataeus produced an ‘improved version’ of Anaximander’s. Hecataeus’s map describes the earth as a circular plate – with Greece at its centre. Distance was measured in ‘days of sailing’ on the encircling ocean and ‘days of marching’ on dry land.

Ptolemy: setting the standard
The Greeks later used astronomy and mathematics to prove Earth could be mapped very accurately. Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek living in Roman Egypt during the 2 AD revolutionised maps by introducing lines of longitude and latitude.

It’s also fair to say that his eight-book atlas ‘Geographia’ was a prototype for modern mapping. It included an index of place names and the positioning of north at the top and east to the right still a universal custom.

Islamic mapmaking
The next major evolutionary stage in the history of mapmaking came from the east. During the Middle Ages, Muslim scholars combined Ptolemy’s mathematical methods with knowledge gleaned from explorers and merchants in their travels across the Muslim world, from Spain to India to Africa, and to China and Russia.

In 1,154 AD, a significant Islamic cartographer, Abu Abdullah Ibn Idrisi, published a medieval atlas with the catchy title ‘The Recreation for Him Who Wishes to Travel Through the Countries’. In compiling this work, Idrisi actually paid draftsmen to make journeys and map their routes.

Chinese Wisdom
Around the same period the Chinese were making similar advancements in mapmaking. During the Song dynasty (960 to 1,279), maps were Carved in stone depicting the Chinese coastline with remarkable accuracy.

In 1579, Luo Hongxian published the Guang Yutu atlas. It included more than forty maps, a grid system, and a systematic way of representing major landmarks such as mountains, rivers, roads and borders.

Age of exploration
The birth of the Renaissance and the discovery of the Americas by Europeans revived interest in scientific mapping methods. Significant figures of this age of exploration include the monk Nicholas Germanus, who in the fifteenth century added the first new maps to Ptolemy’s ‘Geographica’. And Spanish explorer Juan de la Cosa’s Mappa Mundi of 1500, creator of the first known European cartographic representation of the Americas.

No history of mapmaking would be complete without a mention of Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer who in 1569 used mathematical formulas in a process now called Mercator’s Projection to create a map that first illustrated the world as we are used to seeing it today. In fact, Mercator’s projection is still the basis used by US scientists to map satellites.

Cartography in the modern age
During the 1900s, the USA experienced great advancements in cartography, with explorers mapping trails while army engineers surveyed government lands. As a result, two agencies were established to provide detailed, large-scale mapping. In 1884 the Greenwich prime meridian became the international standard reference for cartographers. But it was in the twentieth century that we were truly able to make accurate global maps.

The Computer Age
The role of technology is intrinsically linked with the development of cartography. While the first maps were manually made with brushes, stone and parchment, they varied in quality to the point no two maps charting the same area were completely identical.

Thanks to the invention of the modern compass, printing press, telescope and so on, we can create and reproduce far more accurate maps. Computers have helped to record, store, sort and arrange vast amounts of data for mapmaking. Specific computer hardware devices allow for scanning, processing and spatial analysis and continue to greatly expand our cartographical abilities.

Source : UKTV History Website

Fantasy Kingdom Revisited

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/01/feature_fantasy.htm

Theme parks offer a great way to take breaks from the hectic city life that most of us are indulged in. Starting from the morning till late at night, we tend to be busy with classes, quizzes, projects, assignments-work, work and more work! Sometimes this becomes quite unbearable and we start badly craving for a break.

So, when I got an offer from Mr. Mahfuzur Rahman, Deputy Manager Marketing of Concord Entertainment for an all-expense-paid trip to the Fantasy Kingdom Complex, I gladly accepted. Eventually, on a bright and sunny Wednesday morning, me together with my friends Farzeen, Shohan, Rajon and Rony, were off to to Ashulia, where Fantasy Kingdom is situated.

The Fantasy Kingdom Complex mainly consists of three parts: the main theme park called ‘Fantasy Kingdom’ which has most of the rides, the water park with different water-based rides called ‘Water Kingdom’, and ‘Heritage Park’, a unique combination of Bangladeshi heritage and culture. The Complex also houses a resort called Motel Atlantis.

We spent almost the entire day at these places, thrilling ourselves with the different fun-filled rides. There are 21 different rides in the park and some of them are really scary! In my opinion, The Roller Coaster and the Magic Carpet are the best of the lot although Santa Maria, Giant Splash, The Bumper Boats and the Crazy Bump are pretty good as well.

I had two rides in the Roller Coaster and the feeling I got sitting in the first row was a completely different experience compared to being seated in the other rows. Magic Carpet is almost like the Urban Legends-people who have experience about it do not usually want to try it again. Shohan, who was very reluctant at first about that ride because of his previous experience about it, was later convinced (read ‘forced’) by me to try it again. Although Magic Carpet did not seem too scary to me, but it sure was big time fun!

Later, we moved on to the Water Kingdom, which thankfully has all the facilities that you can possibly ask for. Complete with changing rooms, lockers and showers this park has a wonderful array of different water rides including the Slide World, Tube Slides, Multi Slide and the Family Pool. The Wave Pool, with its exciting range of artificial waves, has a class of its own. It’s almost close to a sea beach experience there.

The Heritage Park has some amazing replicas of Ahsan Manzil, Kantojir Temple, National Parliament House, Shat Gombuj Mosque, and Paharpur Boudho Bihar. It also has some international standard rides including the Bouncy Slide, Giant Ferris Wheel, Pirate Ship and the Dry Slide. Different restaurants offering a variety of cuisines are also present in different parts of the Fantasy Kingdom Complex.

Mr. Sharif Mollah (the Sales and Marketing Executive of Concord Entertainments) who showed us around the parks informed us that they have big plans for the upcoming Eid. A big concert will be arranged and there is also a special offer for Visitors being able to enjoy two rides free with each entry ticket during the Eid. Before realizing it was over, it was soon time for us to return and thus ended the hectic and fun-filled day. Thanks again to the Concord Group for arranging this trip for us.

Author Profile : Gabriel García Márquez

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/01/autprofile.htm

Gabriel García Márquez born on 6th March 1927 in Magdalena, Colombia is one of the most popular Spanish authors of all times. His second novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), is the best-selling of all books originally written in the Spanish language (36 million copies sold as of July 2007). Widely credited with introducing the global public to magical realism, he has secured both significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success. Many people hold that García Márquez ranks alongside his co-writers of the Latin American Boom, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa and Julio Cortázar as one of the world’s greatest 20th-century authors.

García Márquez began his career as a reporter and editor for regional newspapers El Heraldo in Barranquilla and El Universal in Cartagena. It was during this time that he became an active member of the informal group of writers and journalists known as the Barranquilla Group, an association that provided great motivation and inspiration for his literary career. García Márquez then worked as a foreign correspondent in Caracas, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, India, and New York City.

García Márquez’s first major work was The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (Relato de un náufrago), which he wrote as a newspaper series in 1955. The book told the true story of a shipwreck by exposing the fact that the existence of contraband aboard a Colombian Navy vessel had contributed to the tragedy due to overweight. This resulted in public controversy, as it discredited the official account of the events, which had blamed a storm for the shipwreck and glorified the surviving sailor. This led to the beginning of his foreign correspondence, as García Márquez became a sort of persona non grata to the government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. The series was later published in 1970 and taken by many to have been written as a novel.

Several of his works have been classified as both fiction and non-fiction, notably Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) (1981), which tells the tale of a revenge killing recorded in the newspapers, and Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del cólera) (1985), which is loosely based on the story of his parents’ courtship. Many of his works, including those two, take place in the “García Márquez universe,” in which characters, places, and events reappear from book to book. The works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez often cross genres and most integrate at least a few elements of magical realism. Furthermore, many of his novels and short stories integrate actual history as well as complete fabrication, making his genres sometimes difficult to pin down.

His most commercially successful novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) (1967; English translation by Gregory Rabassa 1970), has sold more than 36 million copies worldwide. It chronicles several generations of the Buendía family who live in a fictional South American village called Macondo. García Márquez won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1972 for One Hundred Years of Solitude. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, with his short stories and novels cited as the basis for the award.

García Márquez is noted for his friendship with Cuban president Fidel Castro and has previously expressed sympathy for some Latin American revolutionary groups, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. He has also been critical of the political situation in Colombia.

Source : Wikipedia

Tech Wise [7th October 2007]

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/10/01/techwise.htm

Suissa’s Wooden Enlighten PC

Like other Suissa PCs, the Enlighten’s case is made of wood meant to last through many cycles of component gutting and upgrading. Unlike the others, this one is built around a MicroATX mobo. This qualifies as art, and is therefore above a certain amount of practical criticism. But wood isn’t going to dissipate heat nearly as well as aluminum. And its priced at a whooping $16,500(BDT 11,500).

For that, you get an Intel Quad core CPU or AMD X2 6400+, Nvidia 8800GTX or ATI Radeon HD2900XT, with 4GB of RAM, DVD burner and a Tera Byte of HDD. The power supply is hidden in the block below the plexiglass-faced wood ring. I think this is the kind of computer an architect might want in his mid-century house, a very rich architect at that!

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Kenwood Response Kettle Changes Color As it Heats

Bangladeshis are as much into tea as the British folks (for whom this Kenwood Response Kettle was made for) and so we should definitely be looking forward to marveling at its color-changing capabilities. Not only is it a container to keep water from spilling all over the place while you heat it, the exterior actually shifts from blue (cool) to red (hot) while it’s being heated. Plus, it also has the option for shutting down when it gets to 80 degrees, which is supposedly the perfect temperature for coffee and herbal tea. Sad thing is, it is only available in the UK for now.

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