Rope tricks, Breakin, and Feb 5th
I’ve been slow with this mail!
Sorry about that. Name, Place, Animal, Thing- the book launches in exactly a week- on Feb 5th. This has been consuming me in many good ways and I’ve elaborated on that below- including the first pic of the book, and the only preview of the launch web-page and video.
What’s fast, though, is the speed at which this email got into your inbox after I clicked “Send”. For that, we owe thanks to the translucent spinal cord of the communications industry that we take for granted- fiber optics.
For fiber optics, we owe a debt of gratitude to the father of fiber optics, Narinder S Kapany. He co-invented fiber optics in the 1950s and recently passed at the age of 94. The last few words of his obituary are so beautiful, I had to share them verbatim:
…Whenever he demonstrated fiber optics to visitors, he called it his “Indian optical rope trick.” And he adopted an American accent, retaining just enough of his Indian and English tenor to make him stand out — an aptitude for code-switching that, his son said, contributed to his success in both the science lab and the boardroom.
“He used that turban like a lethal weapon,” his son said. “When you see a guy who looked like that and who spoke like J.F.K., you’re not going to forget him.”
Sat Sri Akal, Mr.Kapany.
Another recent passing had me nostalgic about my childhood and listening to this 4-song-Spotify -playlist over the last few days. Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quinones, the man responsible for introducing words like windmill, baby-swipe, robot, wu-tang, and worm to the body’s lexicon of calisthenic possibilities, starred in the movie, Breakin’. He was Ozone, Street Dancer.
Thanks to his tribe, breakdancing will be an Olympic sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yes, you heard that right! Baby-swipes and Windmills will soon be scored.
Moving on to our tribe here…
Name, Place, Animal, Thing is launching on Feb 5th.
Some of you very kindly read various early versions of the book and gave me invaluable feedback. This is now real, and I was thrilled to get the first copies of the book last week:
Here’s the work-in-progress web page for the book (please don’t share it publicly yet; it’s unfinished and many links are inactive). It includes some early review excerpts and the (not-yet-public) launch video that be published on Feb 5th. This is a for-your-eyes-only preview.
I’ll be in touch again on Feb 5th. Heads up - I’ll be requesting your help with the book launch.
PS: I just realized that we’re already 8% into 2021. Cheers to that vaccine.