'Edge of Darkness' trailer

Just thought to share this trailer [Mel Gibson’s new movie] with you for now as I will not be making posts till end of Nov. This is the busiest period of the semester. Hope you enjoy watching this trailer. Edge of Darkness Trailer See you in December with some new posts. Read more

Aussie writer says modern male inadequate

In his new book Manthropology: The Secret Science of Modern Male Inadequacy, Australian writer Peter McAllister shows that modern man is not what we claim him to be in terms of, how we men believe us to have evolved and developed into a more intelligent and better being than we were yesterday.He utilizes scientific evidence derived from archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary psychology to prove that men from the past were smarter, stronger, faster and did everything better than men from today.Some of his analyses shows that a Neanderthal woman would have beaten Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm-wrestle. David Beckham would have come last in a Fulani tribesmen beauty pageant.What more? He even claims that modern men are lying about their parenting claims. He shows an example of how the men from past carried out the task of parenting as the Congo Pygmy men carrying their babies for 47% of their time awake.In another of his examples he says that some Pygmy dads developed lactating brea… Read more

Most beautiful object in the world!

Believe me! As usual, I am not bluffing.  The fireplace seen in the picture here, designed by Dominique Imbert in 1968  [founder of Focus] has won a public vote to be named the most beautiful object in the world.  The voting was done in a beauty contest reportedly as the first of its kind organized exclusively for objects. Why not a beauty contest for objects?It is designed to be suspended from the ceiling. It can rotate freely around in a full circle illuminating the whole room, at the same time providing warmth. It is truly a revolutionary object in terms of the innovative ideas applied to its simple but pleasant looking form and technology. This beautiful and marvelous piece of work is manufactured by a French contemporary fireplace maker Focus and they call it the gyrofocus.It is now a featured item in several exhibitions of modern art and design including the world famous Guggenheim Museum in New York. Read more

A few quotes on politics

“In Mexico an air conditioner is called a politician because it makes a lot of noise but doesn't work very well.” - Len Deighton quotes (English writer, b.1929 "Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason." – Unknown "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." - Earnest Benn quotes "When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow quotes (American lawyer, speaker and writer, 1857-1938) "(The Weakest Link) is fascinating program. They ask a bunch of people questions and they keep getting rid of the dumbest person, so just the smartest person is left. It is kind of the opposite way we elect a president." - Jay Leno quotes (American TV host and comedian, b.1950) "Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candi… Read more

Carefully chosen words make real differences

Never under estimate the power of words. Words can make real differences when chosen in the right combination. Please watch this video which was voted No. 1 for the Special Award at the Cannes 2008 Film Festival. It demonstrates the power of words by means of a very touching movie. I bet the memory of this video will last for a very log time if watched completely because of the strong sensation and feeling it gives to the viewer. I certainly had that kind of experience. Enjoy! Read more

How far would you go loving your god?

An Indian man named V. K. Saxena from New Delhi shown in this picture says  “I can't put it into words properly but I feel more holy dressed as a woman” He also says “The Lord told me he wanted me as his bride.” Don’t be too surprised yet! Saxena is not the only one. In India a new cult for men to act as transvestites for religious fulfillment and imitating the Hindu Goddess Radha [the lover of Hindu God Krishna] is becoming a big thing.These men are imitating Radha and acting like her to please their God Krishna. Isn’t this a little too much for these guys? I find it extremely hilarious.Picture courtesy: Weird Asia News Read more

Dynamite inventor’s Peace Prize and Obama

The president of the United States Barak Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But, Al Jazeera reports that he himself does not believe he deserves the prestigious prize. One of the first to come out and declare the same was the Taliban group from Afghanistan who says Obama only managed to send more troops to Afghanistan and did nothing for peace in the country.Obama on the other hand reportedly accepts the fact that the United States deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for the country’s leading role in international peace keeping efforts and especially in the area of stopping the spread of nuclear and Weapons of Mass Destruction to more countries.So it seems the Dynamite Inventor’s Peace Prize is in fact awarded to the right person representing the right nation. Read more

The good news of a Dhivehi blog

I have been monitoring my visitor statistics a bit more thoroughly recently and found that a lot of my visitors come from the beautiful Maldives. It doesn’t come as too much of a surprise though given the owner [that is me ] is after all from Maldives.I think some or most readers from the Maldives would very much like to have Dhivehi content as well. That thought made me think of a way to have Dhivehi content available on the domain nafix.com. The idea I have used here is to simply create a new blog at Blogger and forward my new sub domain dhivehi.nafix.com to that blog. The new blog will use a different layout and theme to suit the Right To Left text direction as Dhivehi is written that way. The url of my Dhivehi blog is http://dhivehi.nafix.com. I am working on it currently, finding time by making use of very short breaks taken during my heavy schedule of architorture assignment works and in between classes. Some times even during meal time. So it is understandable that it is progre… Read more

Please vote for Maldives

Give your vote while the nation still exists! The small island nation of Maldives comprising of about 1,200 islands is said to be one of the first to submerge and disappear from the face of the earth into the sea due to sea level rise according to many climate and global warming experts and scientists. It has a wonderfully friendly population of around 300,000. It so happens that I come from this fragile country with a proud people. We are proud because our beloved country has these characteristics completely  unique to it and we consider them as gifts of nature. The beauty of Maldives may be categorized within one of the movements of Modern Art or often used interchangeably with Architecture and Art called Minimalism. Maldives’ scenery offers a pleasing sensuality of a perfect balance with just a few simplistic looking artistic shapes in colors of mainly Blue, White and Green. The land area is small cutting down the complexity of urban scenery as seen in most other countries making i… Read more

Download ArchiCAD for free!

I am making this post mainly for my uni mates because I have met many students who have no idea whether ArchiCAD is available for free or not. And no idea at all how or where to get it from.

Having said that, I am sure it will also be of some benefit to any one who wants to find out how and from where to download ArchiCAD for free. I would also like to mention it here that ArchiCAD is not available as a free download for commercial use.

However, it is available for registered students and teachers worldwide. The academic version of ArchiCAD gives the same functionality and full features as the professional version.

And for those who might have stumbled upon here who have no idea what ArchiCAD is please note that, ArchiCAD is a professional software application designed for architects for designing and development of architectural drawings in 2D and 3D complete with project documentation from start to end.  
Steps:
Visit Graphisoft.com and register as a student for a temp… Read more

Who says artwork is piece of cake?

This is a must see video showing pure genius artwork! I have no recollection of seeing anything even remotely like this. Please watch this video and get awestruck. I found this video on the blog of a famous Maldivian blogger/journalist Hilath and couldn’t just resist posting it here. Read more

A truly virtual but real book by Microsoft

Anyway, what is this gadget about? You are right. This is going to be a new addition to the world of computers. Another fascinating product that will perhaps replace most books and pens, if not wipe out all books and pens from the face of Earth!This new product is rumored to be called Courier. What does it look like? ehehe yeah, just like a book or booklet as shown in the above picture if, you prefer. The pictures look very promising. I like to have one like that. Watch this cool video demonstration of CourierHave a look at some more pictures and details about this cool gadget from GIZMODO Read more

Contact lens to browse internet?

A new high-tech bionic lens is being developed by Babak A. Parviz which will enable the wearer to browse internet in addition to  monitoring his/her health. Watch this video by Reuters for details. Read more

Lost Renaissance masterpiece rediscovered

Renaissance master painter Ludovico Mazzolino’s work done in 1522 has been found stored by its owner for 60 years after it had been passed on to him through his grandmother.Experts traced the history of the painting to an 1812 auction in London where it was sold for £20. Its current owner’s grandmother is said to have bought it in Italy in 1862.Possible current value of the painting is said to be worth £40,000 to £60,000.Another masterpiece by Mazzolino was sold in July 2005 for £350,000.Original article and image source at BBC Read more

The largest mud structure in the world

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Photoshop tutorials

Here are a few Photoshop tutorials I found on the web.
These are really handy tutorials that take you through the Photoshop background layer to Creating and modifying text using layers. The whole tutorial list from 1 to 8 shows you how to prepare a nice poster with graphics and text. This might be exactly what some of you out there finding it a little lost when it comes to Photoshop skills, need to follow for making posters and presentation boards for class projects.
So, enjoy watching through these highly professional 55 minutes length of tutorials and learn these basic but vital Photoshop skills to design and make your own project posters or presentation boards.
Understanding the background layerCreating, selecting, linking and deleting layersLocking and Merging LayersCopying Layers, Using Perspective and Layer StylesFilling and Grouping LayersIntroduction to Blending ModesBlending Modes, Opacity and FillCreating and Modifying TextPlease note that these tutorials are based on … Read more

Buffalo’s architectural digest

Here is a nice video to watch if you are too down and tired after too much time without sleep making and remaking models drawings urgh! …enjoy and relaxNice one eh? Read more

Yet another tallest building design proposal

This building is said to be under consideration by the oil-rich middle eastern Abu Dhabi. If the project becomes a reality, plans are to build it on an artificial island. The picture here is showing a scale model of the design with the designer/architect beside it. Picture source is Los Angeles Times. Please visit Los Angeles Times to read the full story by Roger Vincent. Read more

Islam in Maldives

I just read this article on Minivan News from the Maldives which gives details of an interview the paper had with a prominent Islamic scholar Salih Yucel. This article is an interesting read, as Maldives being a so called 100% Muslim country, at the same time claiming to practice a moderate form of Islam is now in a period of radical change politically which, certainly influences freedom of religion in Maldives to some extent. The constitution of the Maldives states that, in order to become a Maldivian citizen a person must be a Muslim which, in my view has some limitations to basic rights of human beings in general, as accepted by the modern democratic societies today. In Maldives one can see that religion is very much politicized, and sometimes being used as a propaganda tool by politicians to win over the unsuspecting Maldivian public in general. Read more

New look

From the new look you can tell that I have just started to become a little serious about this blogging thing. The vast sea of information on the internet is surprisingly helpful for a novice blogger like me to have accomplished this task in so little time and effort.

I found instructions and tutorials straight to the point and very clear in conveying the message across to help anyone looking for the required information. I must say that there are so many good people out their to help you out if you ask nicely.

I support Google books

Here is just one example of a book from Google books. This is an out of print and out of copyright book digitized by Google and is also  available for full download in PDF format. The idea that, Books like this and many others digitized and made accessible with just a click by Google is so good for all seeking knowledge. The Google books project is sadly being opposed by some giant corporations like Microsoft and Amazon for some reasons about which I care the least to understand. I wish Google books good luck and hope they will succeed in the project making me and many others happy. Read more

French Spiderman

This guy is crazy. A daredevil like no other. He climbed the topmost point of one of the tallest buildings in the world without any safety using just his bare hands! He is reported to have done the stunt in the early hours of yesterday morning when it was less likely to get caught by the security.Imagine how wet and slippery the surface of the tower will be during that time making it more dangerous and difficult to climb. Read more

Pushing limits with Lego

Image source: archdaily.com
Architects have used many different kinds of materials for buildings. Even paper have been used by famous architects such as Shigeru Ban.

But it is a different matter when a real building is built using toy parts. Lego is a mass manufactured toy product with complete modules with which different shapes can be formed, literally limited to the builders’ imagination.

I found this very interesting article about a Lego fanatic or master builder from the UK who has built a complete working house with Lego parts.

Check out the complete article at archdaily.com
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