Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Bye bye F-14 Tomcat…

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Today, the 22nd of September 2006, is the last day of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

 

After more than 30 years of good and active service, it is being retired by the US Navy. There are many (ex-)pilots and military people who are still fond of the F-14 and some of them have even created a farewell website.

I can say that the F-14 has had a major influence on people of my age. Have a look at the discussion on Slashdot for proof. I have so many good memories of the F-14. It was so impressive. When I was a kid, my dream was to become an F-14 pilot. With my cousin Aman, we improvised dogfights in the backyard mimicking the US pilots against Russians with their Migs and Sukhois. It was fun!

The defining moment was 1986 when the fantastic Top Gun film by Tony Scott featuring Tom Cruise and (aha!) Kelly McGillis was released. It immediately became my favourite film and, in fact, still is (just don’t tell Christina…)

Like all kids at that time, I wanted to become like Tom Cruise and have a girl friend like Kelly. I have not been successful with the Tom Cruise part but I think I’ve managed to get a girl friend (who is my wife now) as fantastic as Kelly McGillis was (n’est ce pas Christina?)

Thanks for everything F-14!

Charlie: Excuse me, Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?
Maverick: Yes ma’am, the data on the MiG is inaccurate.
Charlie: How’s that, Lieutenant?
Maverick: Well, I just happened to see a MiG 28 do a…
Goose: We!
Maverick: Uh, sorry Goose. WE happened to see a MiG 28 do a 4g negative dive.
Charlie: Where did you see this?
Maverick: Uh, that’s classified.
Charlie: It’s what?
Maverick: It’s classified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.

Who is Jonathan Ive?

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From Wikipedia:

Jonathan Ive was born in 1967 in London and is Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Computer.

Jonathan Ive is, simply said, one of the best designers in the world. I’ve just stumbled upon a fantastic article from Business Week which explains who really is Jonathan and how he comes up with his fantastic designs for Apple.

By the way, Ive led the team that designed the iMac and the iPod! And, of course, the MacBook (Pro) and the Mac Pro.

I always say to my students that computer science (and especially programming) is Art. And that it’s no coincidence that many of the best computer scientists are good musicians. It’s also no coincidence that many hackers are switching to the Mac. Macs are so good to look at (and to work with) that you are inspired by them to excel in your own work. It’s (nearly) metaphysical. But I know it’s true for me…

… thanks to Jonathan Ive :-)

Noulakaz Podcast (16 September 2006)

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Lo and Behold!

Kyan, Anya, Christina and I are finally releasing our Noulakaz Podcast (16 September 2006) to the world! It’s only 800Kb!

It’s actually Anya, aged 4, telling a small story. Listen to her. She’s funny :-)

As expected, I’ve used Garageband to create the podcast and it is really a brillant application.

By the way, you’ll notice that I’ve used the MPEG-4 AAC format (at 64 kbit/s) for the podcast because AAC has been designed as a better MP3. AAC files sound as good and are actually much smaller in size than MP3 files. You can listen to the Podcast using iTunes, VLC, MPlayer, Real Player, etc…