Psychs' Thoughts

Universities as Sponsors

2009-06-08T02:02:00.004+05:30

I used to watch TV quite regularly when I was doing my schooling. I completed 12 standard in 2002. Since, then I have watched TV only now and then and during the vacation time I spent at home. When I was still going to school I saw that various programs on TV were sponsored by giants in the business world like - Pepsi, Coke, Goderej, Reliance, etc. These companies would get slots between the program to show-off their brands.

But, nowadays a lot of universities are seen to be sponsoring TV programs. I could see more advertisements of various universities and educational institutions than those of Coke and Pepsi. These universities are spending a lot on adervtising in all forms TV, newspapers (some of them give full page advertisements) and the internet. The private universities in India adopt the business model - in which fees is their primary source of earning. So, they want more and more people to know (hence, advertising) about their university, so that more and more number of people would join them and be a revenue source to the university.

I believe a university must be known by the work it does not by the number of places it advertises. But, unfortunately that is what is happening.

Orkut goes for a toss!!

2009-03-04T10:54:00.000+05:30

Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world. But, in India Orkut is the biggest hub. People in India are more loyal to Google (although Facebook is catching up). Orkut has a number of flawes I do not know if people have noticed it or not.
Orkut counters (the ones that show you the number of fans, number of scraps on your home page) are hopeless. The number of scraps keeps fluctuating between the real value and plus-minus 2 scraps. The number of fans sunndenly become less.
The best of all, Orkut cannot differentiate (sometimes) between male and female. For and example consider the image posted above - It has been cut from the feeds that I received on my home page, it says "Varun.. received comments on her photo". Varun is a guy (even as per what Orkut has in its database).

Google Hacked or What??!!

2009-01-31T20:12:00.004+05:30

I attach a screen shot of the google search for 'Google'. The results have a link "This site might harm your computer" for every result that is shows even for Google itself!!!

What happened to google? Have they been hacked or their algorithm has gone for a toss??

The Journey (Part II)

2009-01-03T15:37:00.003+05:30

The next day I had plans to go to Ranganathitu (a bird Santuary) in Mysore. In the peak season there are about 13000 birds in the santuary (I do not know how many species). I had to use my new camera - The Sony CyberShot H-50 to capture some pictures of the birds there. Arpan and I went to the sanctuary by 3:00 pm. I was so disappointed on reaching there, very few birds were there. The people at the sanctuary told us that December is not the season. The birds will be back in feb. "Oh Shit!!!" (what a bad time for a vacation). We did take the boat ride and tried to capture whatever birds were there. There were number of bats hanging from the tree and of course a few crocodiles.

Here are some pictures taken at Ranganathitu:

MORE TO BE ADDED...keep watching..

The Journey (Part I)

2008-12-21T14:04:00.008+05:30

In this post I mention about my journey from Mumbai to home (Jamshedpur). The route I took was from Mumbai-Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore-Jamshedpur. Your really do not have to take this route; there are direct trains from Mumbai to Jamshedpur (Tatanagar, is the name of the station); but I have my reasons. The earlier plan was to go to Mysore and then to Jamshedpur from there. I earlier worked at Infosys, Mysore and I had not completely shifted from the place i.e. I still had some stuff (mostly cloths) to be brought from Mysore, so I had planned to go to Mysore. Plus this would give me an opportunity to meet old friends. I later decided to stop over at Bangalore because there was a conference (FSTTCS) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus.

I reached the IISc campus in the morning of 8th December 2008. I was accompanied with Chinmoy (grad student at TIFR) and Shreyas (grad student with IITB). I was alloted a room at the Hoysala Guest house. Some of my friends had received accomodation in hostle on a sharing basis. We went around the campus, met Kavitha (earlier a grad student at TIFR now a faculty at IISc) and then we went to the Microsoft Research Bangalore because Chinmoy had to meet someone.

The next day we went for the presentations at the conference. And in the evening IISc had a movie show ('A Wednesday') in the gymkhana. The next day I had to go to Mysore. I reached Mysore at 6:00 pm the next day. I reached home (my home when I was in Mysore). No one was there but I knew where the key was (the same old place). And then I called Arpan because his bike was parked in the parking area, he was not to be seen anywhere. He told me he would be coming home in some time (it took around an hour for him to come home).

That night we had plans for the dinner outside but this lead us to another problem, one which we always face in such a situation, - 'Where should we go?' . There were certain constraints that we had to fulfill. We could not go to some places because some of the friends were having party the next day and they were not ready to go to the same places. Ashish came up with a place, he wanted to try a new place (because is the new restaraunt explorer) but we were not ready for that. Our experience with new places had been really bad, and we were in no mood to have a bad time. We finally decided to go to 'Jewel Rock' a new restaurant to me but not to the others. The food was good. And once we finished the dinner we went to Chamundi Hill. There is a temple at the top of the hill. But we were not going to the temple and any ways at 10 in the night the temple is not open. But the view point at the top of the hill was kind of our hangout place. Had a lot fun there, and gossiped about people :-). I had to catch up on things that I had missed. Here are a few pictures that I took at the Chamundi Hill.

Some pictures at the Mysore Palace.

The Second Day (War On Mumbai)

2008-11-28T14:30:00.000+05:30

An hour or so ago there was news about fresh firing at the CST railway station. But the authorities have confirmed that it was just a rumor and nothing actually had happened. To prevent spread of panic all news channels in Mumbai has been blocked. But, I can still watch them on the internet. As most of the channels provide live feed on their respective websites. The softwares like 'LiveStation' also have feeds from the news channels.

Last night had been a sleepless night for me. I was tired and wanted to sleep but was not able to. So, I went back to the common TV room and as I had expected, there were a number of people in the room glued to the news channels. The security forces had rescued some people from the Nariman House. NSG had still not taken the control of the building. There was another operation going on in the Oberoi hotel where the floors were being cleared from the top. The drama continued for a long time and it was 3:00 am when I finally decided to go to sleep.

Today morning I got up by a call from my aunt and uncle. I asked them what the situation was? They told me that the NSG forces were dropped onto the Nariman House via a chopper. I got up and went straight to the TV room to find out the condition. The operation was still on. The police said there was altleast on terrorist in the Taj and number of people still in the hotel although not as hostage. The police have now confirmed that the Oberoi hotel operation has been completed. About 108 hostages have been rescued from the Oberoi. The gun shots can still be heard from inside the Taj. The battle there still continues. I just hope that it will get over soon.

A Wednesday!! (Terror in Mumbai)

2008-11-27T14:00:00.001+05:30

I was sitting in my office at the TIFR when I heard a loud sound. The windows of the room shuddered. It could not have been a cracker. But, as I heard it I still continued to work. A few minutes later a second sound was heard. And then my cellphone begins to ring. I was getting a call from my uncle. I picked up the phone and my uncle asked me if I was alright and where was I? I replied, that I was fine and in the institute. I asked them what the matter was and he told me about the news he was watching. There was gun firing going on in the region not very far (about 4-5 Km) from where I live. He also asked if my sister (who also stays in Mumbai) was fine too as they were unable to reach her on the phone. I said that I will find out and let them know.

A few hours ago my friends had asked me if I would go to “Naturals Ice-cream Parlor” and I had declined the offer. Naturals is on the Marine Drive not very far from the Oberoi Hotel at Nariman Point. I remembered that even after one and a half hour they had not returned back to the institute. It was about 10:30 pm in my watch. I tried to reach them on phone but the network was generally busy; I was unable to reach them. Worried I told another friend to contact them if he could. He too was unable to reach them. We became a little worried. News was coming in from many places. Many people were on phone informing there family and loved ones of their well being. But some people were caught up in the middle of the action and I had no way to reach them. We could only hope. We tried calling them a few more times before at last Rakesh finally managed to get them. They told us that they were fine and there were reaching the institute. That was a big relief to us.

On their arrival we heard their story. One of them was still shaken by the incident. They told us about the blasts they heard and the people they saw running around who were just asking everyone to run. They took shelter for sometime near a building and then found a way back to TIFR. Got into a taxi and reached the institute.

In the meanwhile people around were trying to get as much information as possible from the internet news services. Thanks to "LiveStation" I was watching CNN IBN live on the computer. We learnt from the news that terrorists had attacked various places around Colaba - Cafe Leopold, Oberoi Hotel, Taj Mahal Hotel, Metro Cinema Junction, CST Railway station, Coma Hospital and Ville Parle. We then moved to the TV room in the hostel where a number of people were glued to the news. Everyone interested in knowing the latest development. It was then we learnt that some of the people were stuck in a theater; they had informed that they were fine and they did would be spending the night in the theather. The theater was closed from within so that no one could enter it. This theater was not a place of attack.

The news channel then reported that three High ranking Police officials had been killed in the encounter. This included ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, Mumbai's additional commissioner of police (east) Ashok Kamte and celebrated encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar. The news channels were screaming that this was the worst thing that had ever happened.

It was 2:30 am and I went to sleep. In the morning I went back to the news room and found that the situation was no better. Infact the hotel Taj Mahal was on fire. Firemen were trying to putoff the fire. People were kept hostage in the hotels and at Nariman House (Nariman Bhavan). The NSG (National Security Guard) had been called, the army had been brought in and the battle was still on. There were gun shots from withing the buildings. A number of people were rescued and many more remain to be rescued.

As I write these last sentence the operation is still going on at the Taj, Oberoi and the Nariman House.

Timex India Website Reported as Attack Site

2008-10-24T16:52:00.001+05:30

I was looking for Timex India page and google warns me that its and Attack site. So, what does this mean? Has the www.timexindia.com site been hacked? Or they are just distributing malware...

All are equal

2008-09-11T18:36:00.001+05:30

Everyone in this world is equal. Not all of them have the same social status, not everyone has the same economic status but they all have the same amount of time in a day.

If someone wants to be good at anything or with anybody they must spend this precious resource with it or them.

You will become good in your subject if you spend time with it. If you want to build up a relationship you have spend time with the person. If you are in love spend time with your partner.

Firefox Discarded

2008-09-04T11:26:00.000+05:30

I have been facing some issues with FireFox 3.*. It would crash every few minutes after running. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but the problem was never solved. So, I have switched from FireFox to Opera. Opera seems to be a great browser now. I have also changed the side bar which earlier looked like this (supporting Firefox).

Flower

2008-08-21T18:09:00.003+05:30

Flower, originally uploaded by shishir pandey.

This picture was captured in the XLRI campus, Jamshedpur. The campus has a good collection of beautiful flowers. Me and my cousin sister decided that we would exploit it for our photography experiments. Some of the pictures have really come out well.
In fact it was my first time that I was taking macros.

Since then I have taken a number of macros which can be seen here.

Working with Comodo Firewall

2008-08-21T11:57:00.000+05:30

I have installed the Comodo Firewall Pro on my system.

I mistakenly marked Google Desktop as an Isolated Application (I do no know what it means even now). Google Desktop stopped working. I did not know what to do. I uninstalled the application and then installed it again (hoping that it might work), but it would not work. So, I googled in one of the forums I found how to change the status of an application. Then fixed it hope it works now.

All those who are new to Comodo Firewall may want to have a look at the link.
Comodo is an excellent firewall.

My Rankings...

2008-07-19T00:45:00.000+05:30

I read in "The Google Story" that most of us at some point of time have tried a search on our names on the internet. I also tried to search for Shishir Pandey on various search engines. Its good to see this blog ranked second on Google (subject to change without notice, it might have changed as I write this). A few days ago it was on rank one in Google search but I did not take the screen shot of it then. I hope it will get back there some time soon. I also tried the search on Yahoo and this blog is ranked one there (YAHOOOOOOOO0000!!!!!!!!). I also tried other search engines like windows live search and ask.com there results were bad.

I attach the two screen shots of results from google and yahoo..

From today I shall start using Yahoo as my preferred search engine..

Some Unanswered Questions!!

2008-07-15T00:59:00.000+05:30

I have started thinking of the basic mathematical operations again. The thought process began when my father asked me - "why does negative number multiplied with a negative number produce a positive number?".

The basic reasoning on which we are taught multiplication does not seem to work here or if it does I just do not understand how? As per how we are taught multiplication if some one says 'a x b' then it would mean what is the value of adding 'a' 'b' number of times or what is the result of adding 'b' 'a' number of times. This scheme works perfectly when both a and b are positive. This is how we are first taught multiplication and once we understand this concept we start overlooking many things.

It works well even for if one of then is positive and the other is negative. For example 'a x -b' would imply -b added a number of times. As adding a, -b number of times seems absurd (the commutative law of multiplication seems questionable).

What if we have both the numbers negative. We all know because our teachers told that negative number multiplied with a negative number will give us a positive result. But, if I reason the way I have done before I can do no further how do I add something negative number of times. After all you can do a thing once, twice, etc.... or not do at all but how do you do it -1 time?

I am still stuck with this question. Answers and suggestions are welcome.

There and Back Again - A Travellers Tale (Part I)

2008-07-07T00:03:00.003+05:30

The Journey to Ayodhya

My Journey began at 9:30pm when I left with my Aunt and sister for Ayodhya from Tatanagar (Jamshedpur). The remaining berths around were empty and I thought that they were empty and someone will later occupy in the night as it was departure time already but then immediatly two more people (mother and son) came in and occupied there seat next to ours. Then after some time it was time to sleep.

As I knew that we would reach our destination earliest by 11 O’clock. I tried to sleep as long as I could, because its really hard to pass time in the train. I got up after we had passed the Varanasi (Banaras) station. Although my sleep had been broken when a vendor came it the compartment shouting "Paper - News Paper, Hindi newspaper english newspaper". It was July and the monsoons had arrived, the view of the country side was really amazing; green fields, ponds filled with water and people working in the fields. Here are a few pictures I took with the help of my cellphone from the train.

My sister had given me a copy of "Angels and Deamons" which I haven't read till then. I started reading the book to pass some time. The train was suppose to be at Faizabad (my destination) by 12:00 pm or so. But, it was now running late by at least an hour. Ayodhya (the I had to reach) station comes on the way but the train does not stop there so we had to get down at the next stop i.e. Faizabad. Sometimes the train stops at Ayodhya, due to some signaling issues, so we had planned if it does stop we will get down at Ayodhya itself. To our disappointment the train did not stop in Ayodhya. But, it stopped at 'Acharya Narendra Dev Nagar' the only station between Ayodhya and Faizabad for about 20 minutes. That's when we were really annoyed. After sometime we reached Faizabad and then took an auto to Ayodhya and then a cycle rickshaw to our home in the village. It was about 2:30 pm when we reached home.

India's Education Crisis

2008-07-06T23:36:00.004+05:30

In this post I will try to put forward my views on the current crisis Indian Education sector is facing, what is the government trying to do about it and what it is not doing.

First of all the government seems to be too complacent about the quality of higher education. It believes in using the already established names than creating new ones. Its something like selling all the sports shoes in India by the name Nike. This is not a very good idea after all we all know the difference between the Rs.100 tennis shoes I used and the Rs.3000 tennis shoes Nike provides. Of course unless until we want IITians to be omnipresent, like God. But, then one also has to make arrangement (of teachers and facilities) so that all IITians have God like properties.

Why do we need reservations in higher education? Isn't primary education that must be given importance and the higher must be left for the student to work hard and secure admission to. If quota is all about giving opportunity to people who have not got it then primary education is it. Not higher education. There must be scholarships for meritorious students and based on needs, not quota. Imagine how would a student feel if he sees his classmates doing well and he is struggling; either he will work hard or he might have some mental problems. But, if he were to work hard he would have done it earlier. All, you would be doing is spending lot of money on resources then

Arjun Singh wants to open up more and more IITs in the country, the question is, is it really going to help anybody or its just a political stunt to get the votes. I personally believe Arjun Singh wants to give a feeling that he is trying to provide quality education to many people. No matter how noble his intentions may be, the question is will he be able to provide quality education? I think he is mislead by the idea that India is lacking only good institutes of higher education, little does he realize that India does not have qualified teachers (after all good teachers are a must for good institutes). There are only a few places which provide quality education that can be compared to the best in the world. IITs have lost there position in the top 200 universities in the world (in 2007 each IIT was ranked separately). I really do not think that Arjun Singh is doing anything to get or create good quality teachers to India. He has only made things worse by introducing the quota system for the faculty position at IITs, TIFR, IISc and BARC, another Times of India article can be found here. The directors, students and alumni of these institutes have protested the rule but we will have to wait and watch.

These acts remind me of the forward that I had recieved sometime back. If he were the sports minister he would have introduced reservation in the nationals teams too (as it would be really hard that to implement if in the cricket team first. He would have tried other sports). If he becomes the Civil aviation minister he might reserve 40% of the seats in Air India and Indian for the SC, ST and the OBC.

I really hope that the quota is not implemented for the faculty.

Intelligence vs Hard work

2008-06-26T22:29:00.002+05:30

I have heard this all my life (I am still very young there is a lot of life still left) from various sources...

"Intelligence is an asset, but, it is not a substitute for hard work"

This might be true...but I strongly believe that

"Hard work is not a substitute for intelligence"

Updated: My friend Vinay believes that hard work can substitute intelligence but it would require tremendous effort (like in the movie Forest Gump).

I do not agree to it. I am not saying that "Intelligence is a substitute for hard work". All I am saying is "Hard work is not a substitute for intelligence" you might keep working like a donkey if you are not intelligent.

Getting support or applying pressure

2008-05-29T19:19:00.003+05:30

What do you think this picture actually represents are the bigger slabs getting support or are they applying pressure to the smaller stones?
I think that larger slabs are 'getting support' and 'not applying pressure' because if the supporting stones are removed then the bigger slabs will fall they cannot stand by themselves.

On Reservation in India

2008-05-23T10:11:00.000+05:30

OLD VERSION
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant 's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant ' s house .

Medha Patkar and Tan Shyamoli goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers..

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act ' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant; fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the

Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice ' .

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice' .

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

MANY YEARS LATER
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ....

because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!

Free Download Manager

Rules are made to help governance

2008-04-11T11:46:00.001+05:30

At my home we have a kind of rule that we can have breakfast only after having the bath.
The incident I am going to tell about happened when I was in college and had gone home during the semester break.

I got up late and was feeling hungry. I was ready to have my breakfast when my sisters objected and said I could eat only after having bath, as they were not allowed in such a scenario. At that time my father took my side and said this amazing line.

“Rules are made to help governance, not to govern.”

Come to think of it. Isn't it a beautiful thought?

Switching Minds

2008-04-09T13:35:00.001+05:30

I think most of us have heard about sayings like - "One must always leave the problems of an office at office and should not take them back home or viceversa" OR
You might have seen the add of 'crabtree switches' (crafted to perfection). In the advertisement they show a bride who is crying when she is saying goodbye to her family members and as soon she sits in the car with the groom he rubs on her hands and she becomes happy. In the add the person hopes that life to be like the 'crabtree switches' where you could easily switch minds.

Although the ad is good. If you analyse the add carefully you will find some flaws in comparing life with switches. If you have had a course on digital electronics then you will realize that there are differences between combinatorial logic and sequential logic. The reason being the later has memory. And anything that has life has memory. So the switching would not be so easy as shown.

Now, let us assume what it was so easy to switch moods. Which would mean that we have very less memory. Imagine what are the problems that we would face.
1. You might not remember the path to your office. (no work then ;-))
2. You might not remember your parents after staying away from them for months.
3. You might forget what the requirements of the project are by the time you start coding.
4. Best of all the client would forget to which company they have given the project after giving the money....(outsourcing jindabad...
....etc..etc...

Software to measure Women's Attractiveness

2008-04-01T20:41:00.004+05:30

Yes, you read it right. Now you have a software to measure how attractive a women is. Nice advancement in AI. I still believe that my eyes will good enough, I do not need a software for judging how attractive a women is.

If you are a women may be you must try the software.

Read more about it at Primidi or Haaretz.

StumbleUpon

2008-02-28T11:40:00.000+05:30

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -The Tagline of StumbleUpon!

Luckiest Day of My life

2008-02-01T13:59:00.000+05:30

In India almost everyone loves cricket (I am not talking about the insect). Although I do not love the game so much anymore but, thats a different story.

The incident I am going to tell happened long ago when I stayed in the IRMA campus. We were playing cricket in the campus. One of my friends, I do not remember who, hit a shot and the ball went onto the terrace of one of the houses where no one stayed. We needed the ball and so some one had to get to the terrace and get it (it is quite easy to climb to the terrace there). For that you have to first climb to the top of the building and then come down to the terrace that you need to.

I went to get the ball. I climbed the top of the building and then I got down to the terrace where the ball had gone via the parapet. Little did I know that there was a bee hive under the parapet. But luckily my legs did not hit it or else I might not be writing this blog now. Even after I got down from the parapet I had not seen the hive. I took the ball and threw it to my friends and went back the same way, it was only then that I actually saw the bee hive and for a moment could not think what needed to be done and how I would get back. Some bees stung me. If had not seen the other way to climb to the roof I would have jumped from the building.

After I got down from the building I got first aid.

I drew it!!

2007-12-31T11:32:00.000+05:30

This is a drawing of Albert Einstein I drew when I was in 9th standard.

And the sun rises!!!

2007-12-04T17:32:00.000+05:30

I have a question to ask. Are sunrise and sunset symmetrical? What I mean is that given the fact that one never visited the place in the photograph will he/she be able to tell if the picture is that of sunset or sunrise?
There may be few factors like fog in the morning that helps determine this but if there is no fog will it still be possible?

Mathematical Induction

2007-11-30T17:13:00.001+05:30

I feel like demonstrating "Mathematical Induction", i.e. (n+1)th cycle will fall provided (n)th has fallen and I have kicked the first one. ;-)

Global Warming: A new approach

2007-11-26T13:13:00.001+05:30

Almost everyone knows about global warming. And everyone thinks that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the culprit. I have a different view of the scenario. My reasoning is based on the law of conservation of energy and the kinetic theory of gases.

Background:
Our present idea of global warming is based on the fact that heat radiations are trapped by the greenhouse gases and hence, the average temperature of the atmosphere is rising. If we look into this we are actually referring to the heat radiations from the sun being trapped. We are not considering any heat that is being generated on our planet or we are simply ignoring it; assuming that it is too less compared to what greenhouse gases trap (well I do not know how correct this is). I have a different view of the problem and it related to mainly the heat that is generated on earth.

Important Laws:
Following laws should be noted:
1. “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed from one form to another” – law of conservation of energy
2. “Kinetic energy of a molecule is directly proportional to the absolute temperature” – from the kinetic theory of gases

My argument goes like this:
Any process that occurs on earth uses some energy. A part of the energy is used to do the work while the remaining part is lost in some unusable form. These unusable forms can be any form of energy. Consider for example the horn blown by an automobile; it is a conversion of electrical energy to sound energy, i.e. compression and rarefaction to the air. The sound would travel some distance and ultimately fade away. Now this energy which was sound energy earlier is lost into some form of energy. Well what is it? The sound energy is lost into the motion of the components of air (which are mostly gases and water vapor), hence the average kinetic energy of the molecules increases. From (2) we have that the temperature of the air has also increased. Other processes that occur might directly heat up the air resulting in the increase in the temperature.
I do not disagree with the fact that the amount of increase in the temperature would be really less (0+ for all practical purposes). But there is not just one process that is going on, there are infinite such processes. Hence, the temperature increase now becomes

Infinity x Zero = (which might be finite)

Our problem is now to determine what is this finite value and how well can this model predict rise in temperature.

I strongly believe that the heat generated by various processes occurring on earth is big reason for global warming and hence, less blame must be given to the greenhouse gases.

Cambridge to launch scholarship in Manmohan Singh's name

2007-11-23T21:04:00.000+05:30

In a unique honour to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Cambridge alma mater St John's will launch a scholarship in his name in New Delhi next week to help spot and develop potential Indian leaders in the fields of science and technology, economics and the social sciences.

The privately funded Manmohan Singh Scholarship will send three deserving, means-tested scholars every year to St John's College, Cambridge University, where a young Singh read economics and won the Wright's Prize for distinguished performance in the mid-1950s.

"There has always been an important tradition at Cambridge University of identifying, developing and nurturing leaders," said Stephen Teal, Development Director of St John's.

"There have been leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Amartya Sen and Rajiv Gandhi and, of course, Manmohan Singh. We want to continue that tradition in the areas of science and technology, economics, and social sciences," Teal told IANS.

The scholarships, sponsored by private sector giants British Petroleum, Tata and Rolls Royce, will initially fund three PhD places beginning January 2008, but seek to take the number up to at least four by 2009. The closing date for the first year's applications is the end of January 2008.

The prime minister as well as St John's Master, Prof Christopher Dobson, will attend the Nov 27 launch.

"This scheme has been named after one of our most notable alumni -- and we are very proud of our association with Dr Singh and of what he has done for India," Teal added.

The idea of the scholarship came jointly from an ex-student and an ex-master of St John's. Both wanted to help bright young Indians who could not otherwise afford to study at Cambridge.

Indian-born student Abhijit Banerjee, CEO of Immediance, the world's first online stock exchange for shares in private companies, and former master Richard Perham wrote jointly to Singh in 2004 suggesting a scholarship in his name. The proposal was developed during a meeting of St John's alumni over dinner at the prime minister's residence last year.

Subsequently, Singh visited Cambridge in autumn 2006, where he spoke fondly of his years at St John's and of the "inclusive character" of Cambridge, which had welcomed both Nehru, who had had an exclusive schooling at Harrow, as well as him.

"Before the First World War, a young man from Allahabad came up to Trinity via Harrow. After the Second War, a simple young Indian came to St John's from an obscure university in Punjab. Cambridge University embraced both," he said in a moving speech on 'inclusive globalisation'.

"It was then that we realised just how fond Dr Singh was of the place," said Teal. "We knew that the university was trying to set up ties with India, and we came up with this scheme, which is the first of its kind for PhD students."

As possibly the most academically qualified head of government in the world, Manmohan Singh is thought to be a fitting candidate after whom a scholarship that seeks to spot and grow potential leaders from among academics should be named.

"We hope it's the first step in greatly increased cooperation and collaboration between India and the UK," Teal added.

Hindustan Times article
Official page of the scholarship

Clothes Don't Make a Man

2007-09-24T17:25:00.000+05:30

Click on the image to read the article

I must also state (now that I know) that, the above story is not correct. Please follow the links for the real story:

http://www.harvard.edu/siteguide/faqs/faq19.html
http://www.harvard.edu/siteguide/faqs/stanford.html
http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/history/begin.html

Trip to Sikkim

2007-09-22T13:53:00.001+05:30

Trip to Sikkim

2007-09-22T13:51:00.000+05:30

Few pics of my trip to Sikkim.

73939133

2007-09-12T12:24:00.000+05:30

73939133: I came across this fact. This is really cool. The specialty of this number is not just that it is a prime number but, every number that is produced by removing the last digit one by one is also a prime number. So, the following numbers are all prime.

7393913

739391

73939

7393

739

This is the largest such number known (as of today).

Every natural number is interesting

2007-09-07T13:21:00.000+05:30

There is an interesting theorem in Mathematics. It states that every number is an interesting number. The proof is as follows and is based on the principle of mathematical induction:

One is interesting because it is the first natural number. Two is interesting because it is the first even number. Three is interesting because it is the first odd prime number. Let us now assume that the first ‘n’ numbers are interesting so that ‘n+1’ can possibly be uninteresting. But, this number will also be interesting as it is the first uninteresting number. Hence, by the principle of mathematical induction the all natural numbers are interesting.

Decisions....

2007-07-10T11:41:00.001+05:30

Somewhere I read this

"There are no right decisions.
You have to make your decisions right."

I believe that whenever an out of the box decision is made. People always ridicule it. It is the responsibility of the person to prove that his idea was great. Fools will think the people are right.

Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai

2007-07-10T11:36:00.000+05:30

अपने प्रोजेक्ट के बोझ टेल दबा जा रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

ज़िंदगी से हरा हुआ है,
पर "बग्स" से हार नही मनाता,

अपने ऍप्लिकेशन की एक एक लाइन इसे रटी हुई है,
पर आज कौन से रंग के मोजे पहने हैं , ये नही जनता,

दीन पर दीन एक एक्सेल फ़ाइल बनता जा रह है
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

दस हजार लाइन के कोड मैं एर्रोर ढूँढ लेते हैं लेकिन,
मजबूर दोस्त की आँखों की नमी दिखाई नही देती,

पीसी पे हजार विन्डोज़ खुली हैं,
पर दिल की खिड़की पे कोई दस्तक सुनाई नही देती,

satuday-sunday नहाता नही, वीक देस को नहा रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

कोडिंग करते करते पता ही नही चला,
बग्स की प्रिओरिटी कब माँ-बाप से हाई हो गयी,

किताबों मैं गुलाब रखने वाला , cigerette के धुएं मैं खो गया,
दिल की ज़मीन से अरमानों की विदाई हो गयी,

वीकेंड्स पे दारू पीके जो जश्न मन रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

मेज़ लेना हो इसके तो पूछ लो,
"सलारी इन्क्रेमेंट" की पार्टी कब दिला रहे हो,

हंसी उड़ाना हो तो पूछ लो,
"Onsite" कब जा रहे हो?

वो देखो Onsite से लौटे टीम-मेट की चोकोलेट्स खा रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

खर्चे बढ़ रहे हैं,
बाल कम हो रहे हैं,

KRA की डेट अति नही,
इन्कम टैक्स के सितम हो रहे हैं,

लो फिर से बस छूट गयी, ऑटो से आ रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

पिज्जा गले से नही उतरता,
तो "काके" के सहारे निगल लीया जाता है,

ऑफिस की "थाली" देख मुँह है बीगाड़ता,
माँ के हाथ का वो खाना रोज़ याद आता है,

"स्प्रोउट भेल" बनी है फीर भी, फ्री "Evening Snacks" खा रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है,

आपने अब तक ली होंगी बहुत सी चुतिकिया,
सोफ्त्वारे एन्ग्ग. के जीवन का सच बताती ये आखरी कुछ पंक्तियाँ,

हज़ारों की तनख्वाह वाला, कंपनी की करोडों की जेब भरता है,
सोफ्त्वारे एन्ग्ग. वही बन सकता है, जो लोहे का जिगर रखता है,

हम लोग जी जी के मरते हैं , ज़िंदगी है कुछ ऐसी,
एक फौज की नौकरी, दूसरी सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर की , दोनो एक जैसी,

इस कविता का हर शब्द मेरे दील की गहराई से आ रह है,
वो देखो एक सोफ्त्वारे इंजिनियर जा रह है

Has the world changed

2007-07-04T13:51:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we were discussing whether or not the world has changed? I am not saying technologically. But have the hearts of people changed or are they still as they were. The problem that we faced was how to determine such a thing. There has to be a quantitative basis for such a thing; and how do we do that??

For this I have made the following assumptions:
1. The measurement will be made by some third party. Some one who does not belong to earth (no no...i am not talking about the Jupiter citizen SABU from the Chacha Choudhary comics, neither am I talking about Superman he is from a different plant too but both of them shall be considered as parts of the earth system). Someone else say, an alien.
2. I assume that they have access to all news. For them the earth is a black box news is the only way they can know about anything internal.
3. A ratio good : bad : : 2 : 1 is considered as acceptable good.

Here is what they do. First count the number of good events and the bad events. For simplicity it is assumed that all the events are equally important; this may be later refined- and the front page news might be given more importance. Once, they have calculated the numbers they find the ratio good to bad. If ratio has become larger the world has become a better place, if it has become smaller then it has become bad and remains the same if the world is still the same.

On Image Compression

2007-06-19T16:35:00.000+05:30

"A picture is worth a thousand words."
-an ancient saying
"But, pictures cost you a million pixels."
-Shishir Pandey (on need for image compression)

India and China connect the world!!!

2007-06-15T10:55:00.000+05:30

There is a theory called the "Six degrees of separation". According to this any person in the whole world is separated by any other person in the world by an average of six people.

For e.g : I know my friend Ashish with zero degree of separation. He knows his mother. So, the degree of separation between me and his mother is one. As I know Ashish who knows his mother. Similaretly if you are reading this and you know Ashish and do not know me the degree of separation between you and me is again one.

Let's get back to statistics (a very powerful tool but should be used carefully). We know that every 5th person in the world is a Chinese and every 6th person is an Indian. So, according to the theory "INDIAN AND CHINA CONNECT THE WORLD".

For more details on the theory, please refer to http://smallworld.columbia.edu project

How God used fuzzy logic!!!

2007-05-29T09:31:00.001+05:30

In this post I will be pointing out how Lord Vishnu has used basic ideas from the fuzzy logic theory (that if a point lies on the fuzzy boundary then is not a member of any of the sets that share the boundary) for solving his problem. The article is based on a Hindu mythological story.

The Story:
There was a king named Hiranyakashap. He undergoes many years of austerity and penance. Bramha appears in front of Hiranyakashap and offers him a boon. Hiranyakashap asks for immortality. Bramha says that he will not be able to grant such a wish as everyone has to die one day. Then Hiranyakashap ask that- he should not be killed by any creature created by Bramha. He should not die within the residence or outside it, neither during the day nor during the night; neither on the ground nor on the sky; neither by a human nor by an animal; neither by any demigod nor by a demon nor by a weapon.
Hiranyakashap now considered himself to be god as it was virtually impossible to kill him. He wanted everyone to worship him. To his dismay his own son, Prahalada, was a devotee of God Vishnu which he did not like. He tried to kill Prahalada a number of times but was always unsuccessful. One day the he got very angry and asked his son if the god was there in the pillar he was pointing to. To which Prahalada answered that god Vishnu was there. Suddenly, the pillar split apart and Narsimha (the 4th incarnation of Lord Vishnu) appeared. He was part lion and part man i.e. according to fuzzy logic neither human nor animal. This happened in the evening i.e. neither in day nor at night. Hiranyakashap was taken to the entrance of his residence so that a part of his body would be inside the residence and the other outside the residence i.e. neither inside nor outside the residence. Lord put him on his knees i.e. neither on ground nor in the sky. Then he used his nails (not a weapon) to tear away Hiranyakashap’s body and killed him.

Hence, we see how God used the fuzzy logic to kill Hiranyakashap.