Can you light petrol with a cigarette?

How many times have we seen petrol lit with a cigarette in the movies. It begins likes this: there is a running car which is leaking petrol. The hero, who has already ensured the leak, lights up a cigarette and waits with screwed up eyes till the car has almost gone out of the frame. Then with a stylish flick of his hand, he drops the cigarette to the ground. And then you get this close up: Of a cigarette turning in slow motion and falling on the black tarred road. It lights up a long line of fire leading up to the car, which is usually a white Ambassador in Indian movies, and bham: the whole thing goes up on fire. Usually the sound effects for the entire sequence is carefully composed to give us an impression of reality.

But scientists have now proved that this is impossible. Go here.

I can remember this happening in the Malayalam movie starring Mohan Lal, Vandanam, and the Mel Gibson-starrer Payback. How many more can you think of?

Again and again

Here is a link that is doing the rounds in the blogosphere. Discuss in the comments section

Links again

I fervently wish I was a quick writer. But no, words don't come to me as easy as they did to Shakeaspeare. So I find myself linking to other stuff that I found interesting on the Net. My outclick meter shows that only a few readers ever click on these links. If you found any of these links good, please leave a comment on my blog.
Here you go then,
Just have a look at the sidebar of this blog. It's the best collection of official websites of writers I have seen on the net.
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My grandpa now has an official website. He was a Tamil writer mind you, but has a very long English article about himself on the site. I love that article. Hope you find it good to read too.
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The Guardian is home to some of the best blogs in mainstream media. Have a look here.

Back in office

Am back in office after two and a half months. Regular readers of this blog would know I was at a yoga camp in Bangalore. I also got to spend time in my hometown of Nagercoil. Now, I am itching to go and chop chop chop some copies.

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You may have seen this huge tome called A Thousand Days in book shops. If you are the voraciously reading kind, you may have even read the Pulitzer award winning work. The author of that book on the JFK administration, Arthur Schlesinger, died in Manhattan last night. I read his obit in NYT today. There are geniuses that we come to know only after their death. Historian Schlesinger is one such. Do read the obit. I am sure you will find him fascinating too.

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A close friend has started linkr. The site is in Tamil. If you know Tamil, please check out his blog.

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Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, has written this very long critique of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. I am just putting this on the blog to remind myself to read it.
Link via: Dabbler