journey of a jat, the warrior

This was one book I had been wanting to read for a while. My gf happened to notice the book on the walk-in shelf of the local library. Walk-in stuff is only issued for 7 days and can not be renewed. Also, late fee is hefty $1 a day. To my surprise, book turned out to be only 206 pages and I ended up finishing it in next 28 hours :)

Book has no theme and stresses on looking at things in a different way. Conventional wisdom is not always right. Levitt has drawn on some interesting examples and studies to make his unconventional explanations and points. My favorite was his crime-drop explanation. But, I would say that after reading all those fantastic reviews, I had come to expect more out of it. May be because I was an unconventional thinker already :) Moreover, the book seem to be more US focused than international. It has one too many examples based on Blacks' social position/history in US. International readers not very familiar with Blacks' American history may find it difficult to understand author's points. Overall, book makes an interesting read, and I would recommend you to check it out if you have not already done so.

My favorite quote from the book: If morality is how the world should work, economics is how the world actually works.

Yes, that has been my long weekend till now.

Saturday, it was Franklin Institute in Philly. I rode the sky-bike, where you ride a weight-balanced bike on a rope. At the end of 2-minute ride, I had a smiling face having kept my body upright on the rope (thought I was good at it)... that expression soon changed when I learnt (courtesy my gf) that real fun was tilting your body side-ways and it wasnt me, but the counterweight below the bike that kept my body balanced. oops.

The Giant Heart was another attraction. Its of the size of the heart of a 220-foot tall man. You can walk through the heart and see different chambers inside. Sports section was fun as well, I played the soccer goalkeeper for a bit. Best part of the visit - I learnt how to send Morse code. :) SOS in morse is ... --- ...

Day ended with 'Superman Returns' on the huge IMAX in the museum. My neck got tired trying to capture all the screen. It was fun and flying scenes looked coool. What I did not like was Superman wasting his time saving petty robberies. If he has the kind of power they showed he has (he lifted a continent-size rock in the movie), shouldn't he go to Sudan and Somalia and stop genocides and other big-scale serious crimes elsewhere.

Sunday, it was Museum of Natural History in NYC. Overall, I was not much impressed by the museum. Big bang show was a dud. Some sections were worth looking - Rocks, Dinosaurs, African and Asian mammals and also Indian culture. I most liked learning about Plates' movements beneath the ground. Its interesting that in the beginning, earth was one huge land mass, named Pangea, before it broke apart to form continents. It explains how some species are common across the continents.