Vers de Société

His name is James Bond

2012-01-19T18:00:00.001-05:00

Hilarious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT8lJEgEuTk&feature=colike

Pit-bull reviewing, the pursuit of perfection and the victims of success

2012-01-19T17:55:00.001-05:00

(Yet) Another editorial decrying the excesses (or insufficiencies) of the peer review system:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/9/84

The main thesis of this article is that :

the success of a postdoctoral Fellow in finding a good academic position is perceived to depend, and to a large extent probably does depend, on his or her having published a paper in one of the three highest-profile general biology journals; but getting a paper into one of those journals can be extraordinarily difficult because - it is widely felt - referees seem to see it as their responsibility to insist on time-consuming additions and revisions, and editors are unable or unwilling to judge for themselves the justice of the referees' advice.

2012-01-04T20:49:00.001-05:00

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

-- Samuel Beckett

The tell tale heart

2011-11-03T18:47:00.001-04:00

The spookiness of this Edgar Allen Poe story is enhanced many-fold by
the haunting narration of the inimitable James Mason in this animated
short.

http://vimeo.com/12254194

Falling Man

2011-10-27T19:08:00.001-04:00

An interesting "biography" about Manmohan Singh and his present bundle of woes:

http://www.caravanmagazine.in/PrintThisStory.aspx?StoryId=1103

Beautiful graphic

2011-09-04T14:19:00.003-04:00

Aside from the content of this graphic – the info-vis aspect of it really caught my attention. It succinctly and clearly conveys so much information. Truly – this is an case of when a graphic can be worth a thousand words.

2011-08-17T22:10:00.001-04:00

They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They're not laughing now.

-Bob Monkhouse, comedian (1928-2003)

Mark Twain's autobiography

2011-07-23T16:28:00.001-04:00

One can only hope that the autobiography is as witty as this review of it ...

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/At-Grandpa-Twain-s-knee-7055

To move on

2011-07-19T18:19:00.000-04:00

I’m reading this book – Beyond Closed Doors – detailing the wheeling-dealing between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt during the WW-II that led to much of the inequity that happened during and in its aftermath. The main focus of the book is the villainy perpetrated by Stalin – of how he outshines Hitler as the greatest of the genocidal psychopaths of that era (including Mao in this line up).

The main thing that struck me – in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts – is a quote from a Red Army Tatar soldier (the Tatars were at the receiving end of one of Stalin’s brutal purges) – “We have a great ability to endure and to forgive”.

It almost sounds as he is proud of this. And this is the same thing one hears of Mumbaikars and Indians in general – “we get on with things”.

And I’m not sure this is such a trait to be proud of. It reflects an fundamental inability to see that the joke is on you. An inability to learn and adapt and grow. This “business as usual” attitude is an indication of a moral and intellectual weakness. Because to do things – to change – to fight – “to take up arms against a sea of troubles and in so doing end them” requires courage and effort. To forgive and forget – is just laziness. It is akin to that time when - I was living in Bangalore – that someone broke into our flat early one morning and stole all our shoes. I woke up a roommate who was sleeping and informed him of this . His response – without even fully wakening “acha ? theek hain – aaj shaam jaa kar naye jutey kharidengey”. And I agreed with him. We could even be bothered to be bothered. Shameful.

2011-06-30T17:07:00.001-04:00

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. -William James, psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910)

The argumentative theory of reasoning

2011-06-17T16:39:00.001-04:00

The Argumentative Theory of Reasoning

"Reasoning was not designed to pursue the truth. Reasoning was designed by evolution to help us win arguments. That's why they call it The Argumentative Theory of Reasoning. So, as they put it, "The evidence reviewed here shows not only that reasoning falls quite short of reliably delivering rational beliefs and rational decisions. It may even be, in a variety of cases, detrimental to rationality. Reasoning can lead to poor outcomes, not because humans are bad at it, but because they systematically strive for arguments that justify their beliefs or their actions. This explains the confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and reason-based choice, among other things."

… A lot of people in psychology were accumulating evidence that the mind, and reasoning in particular, doesn't work so well. Reasoning produces a lot of mistakes. We are not very good in statistics, and we can't understand very basic logical problems. We do all these irrational things, and despite mounting results, people are not really changing their basic assumption. They are not challenging the basic idea that reasoning is for individual purposes. The premise is that reasoning should help us make better decisions, get at better beliefs. And if you start from this premise, then it follows that reasoning should help us deal with logical problems and it should help us understand statistics. But reasoning doesn't do all these things, or it does all these things very, very poorly.

And the beauty of this theory is that not only is it more evolutionarily plausible, but it also accounts for a wide range of data in psychology. Maybe the most salient of phenomena that the argumentative theory explains is the confirmation bias.

http://edge.org/print/conversation.php?cid=the-argumentative-theory

2011-05-31T23:30:00.001-04:00

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

-Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)

127 Hours

2011-05-21T08:51:00.001-04:00

What a terrible movie !

James Franco is such a superman – in fact he's so Awesome that I would have feel more empathy towards Superman. He's standing there for 5 days with his hand crushed. But he's experiencing no pain, no trauma, no fatigue – nothing. His legs are absolutely fine. Just a little perfunctory thirst – but don’t worry it’s not too serious. Why not, it’s entirely plausible to go 5 days on a quart of water in a bone dry desert without experiencing massive emergency-care level dehydration :-/

And then he chops his hand off like it's a walk in the park. Again – a little perfunctory yelling and grimacing to connect with us humans in the audience. And then – he literally gets up and goes for a walk in the park, as if nothing happened. After 5 days of thirst - he drinks a gallon of putrid water - and continues merrily on his way. Killer cramps are for losers, no?

Really Danny Boyle ? Maybe they could have brought some real human beings on as consultants to the movie. They would have told you how ridiculous the entire thing is.

If you want to watch a good survivor movie, I would rather recommend Touching the Void. Even though it seems to have been a TV-docu-drama – it is so much more compelling and empathetical. You can feel the pain and desperation of the guy. Or even Lost in the Wild – which is a beautiful movie.

Here, all that I see is a super-dude doing super-unbelievable-stuff. Not a human being. Not to mention all the over-wrought camera angles, meaningless flashbacks to his childhood, a highly contrived soliloquy and the gratuitous love-angle.

This trash after the badly-acted clichéd exotica nonsense that was Slumdog … is making me seriously reconsider why I liked Trainspotting. Oh yeah now I remember – coz there was shit load of profanity and a lot of scatological humor. How can you not like that? The problem begins when this moron goes out and make idiotic films and then seriously gets considered for (and wins) film awards.

Despair leads to an idea

2011-05-09T23:54:00.001-04:00

This article in this month’s Outlook India on the telephone scam initially filled me with a great deal of despair and dismay. Malfeasance and corruption have been committed not only by politicians and bureaucrats – and by the corporations who stood to profit - but even by the journalists who were supposed to report on them – and now, in a twist of recursion, possibly by the bodies that are investigating them¹.

And it makes complete sense, through a perverse logic. For example, why would any CBI officer go after the PMO when he has everything to lose from prosecuting them (as if it would ever stick) – and everything to gain from colluding?

This makes one wonder – is there a point, from a theoretical standpoint – that the environment of an organization becomes so toxic that no recovery is possible whatsoever ? For example in India, I think, we all in our hearts believe that to get ahead you have to take shortcuts. “Ghee seedhi ungli sey nahi nikalti hain”. Given half a chance anyone of us would quite readily do the things we condemn in others. An attitude born of Darwinian natural selection.

But this series of depressing thoughts leads to an idea (among the many such I have had vis-a-vis India) – based on a belief that behind every handicap lay a hidden opportunity.

Adam Smith showed how greed and self-interest can be harnessed, under appropriate conditions, for social good. Could it be possible that there exists a system that does not do away with corruption, but on the contrary creates public good through private turpitude. It would require a very cynical foundation, no doubt – but I’d say even preliminary theoretical work in this direction would be Nobel prize worthy.

¹ This brings to mind the phrase “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies.”

A republic vs a democracy

2011-05-06T09:19:00.001-04:00

This op-ed article by David Brooks in the NYTimes talks about the distinction of a democracy versus a republic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/opinion/06brooks.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

It article addresses a weakness about democracy that has always concerned me. That is, in the words of Isocrates: “Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.” I have never been a big fan of the concept of a democracy – as is commonly understood – “rule of the people”. Primarily in my opinion, the “common man” really doesn’t have enough information, foresight and wisdom to make consistently good decisions at a scale larger than himself.

To quote

The United States, as you know, was founded as a republic, not simply as a democracy. The distinction has been lost over the past few decades, but it is an important one.

The believers in a democracy have unlimited faith in the character and judgment of the people and believe that political institutions should be responsive to their desires. The believers in a republic have large but limited faith in the character and judgment of the people and erect institutions and barriers to improve that character and guide that judgment.

America’s founders were republicans. This was not simply elitism, a matter of some rich men distrusting the masses. This was a belief that ran through society and derived from an understanding of history. As Irving Kristol put it in a brilliant 1974 essay called “Republican Virtue vs. Servile Institutions,” “The common man is not a fool, and the proof is that he has such modest faith in himself.”

…

As (Irving) Kristol points out in the essay, the meaning of the phrase “public spiritedness” has flipped since the 18th century. Now we think a public-spirited person is somebody with passionate opinions about public matters, one who signs petitions and becomes an activist for a cause.

In its original sense, it meant the opposite. As Kristol wrote, it meant “curbing one’s passions and moderating one’s opinions in order to achieve a large consensus that will ensure domestic tranquility.” Instead of self-expression, it meant self-restraint. It was best exemplified in the person of George Washington.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy ....

2011-04-18T10:50:00.002-04:00

As Ezra Klein wrote, "two of every five dollars goes to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, all of which provide some form of insurance. A bit more than a buck goes to the military. Then there's a $1.50 or so for assorted other programs -- education, infrastructure, environmental protection, farm subsidies, etc. Some of that, like unemployment checks and food stamps, is also best understood insurance spending. And then there's another 40 cents of debt repayment." The business of the U.S. government, he concludes, is insurance ... and military.

Is it just me – or the spending chart of the US government totally out of whack ? It spends less than 20% on things that matter – education, environment, infrastructure, R&D – and flushes the rest down the crapper.

GOD SAVE AMERICA.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/04/where-do-your-tax-dollars-go-a-long-story-in-5-quick-graphs/237128/

Jon Stewart outdoes himself in this episode

2011-04-12T21:07:00.000-04:00

You need to watch his segment on Basistan (March 30, 2011) … if you want to die of laughter induced asphyxiation

http://www.hulu.com/watch/228597/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-wed-mar-30-2011#s-p2-so-i0

Another reason why Hashing is awesome

2011-04-09T13:20:00.001-04:00

The Telegraph is running an article on a study proving something a lot of us have experienced firsthand … that a nice cold beer after some heavy exercise is probably the best thing you can consume – high in sugar and fluid – and the low alcohol percentage act as an endorphin booster.

Another reason to go Hashing. I’m sure some day some study will prove that the combination of running, drinking, flashing, sea-shanty-signing, lewd-joke-telling and pizza-eating is the most awesomest thing you can do to your body.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3312579/Beer-after-sport-is-good-for-the-body.html

In a rare piece of good news for those who like a pint, Spanish researchers say beer can help someone who is dehydrated retain liquid better than water.

Prof Manuel Garzon, of Granada University, also claimed the bubbles in beer help to quench the thirst and that its carbohydrate content can help to replace lost calories.

2011-03-31T08:53:00.001-04:00

There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys; they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked out the sum for themselves.

-Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher (1813-1855)

Re: The role of math education in CS

2011-03-14T13:46:00.001-04:00

As much as it pains me to agree with you, computer *scientist* => Math.
If someone wants to be a non-engineer/non-scientist "programmer",
that's fine too. They should enroll in the proper program instead of
complaining about being trained as a proper engineer/scientist.

~Jim.

On 3/13/11 11:24 AM, firdaus.janoos wrote:
> Here's a posting by a CS student talking about the need and the role of
> math education in CS. Here he talks of calculus math - but from his tone
> - I assume he extends this to other fields of math in general -
> including algebra, probability theory, statistics , etc.
>
> http://ocirs.com/2011/03/11/computer-science-education-and-math/
>
> I would completely agree with everything that he said if he were to just
> replace "Computer Science" with either "Software Engineering" or
> "Information Technology".
>
>

The role of math education in CS

2011-03-13T12:24:00.001-04:00

Here's a posting by a CS student talking about the need and the role of math education in CS. Here he talks of calculus math - but from his tone - I assume he extends this to other fields of math in general - including algebra, probability theory, statistics , etc.

http://ocirs.com/2011/03/11/computer-science-education-and-math/

I would completely agree with everything that he said if he were to just replace "Computer Science" with either "Software Engineering" or "Information Technology".

Sigh ... drool ... sigh

2011-03-03T15:52:00.004-05:00

From the Modernist Cuisine, by Nathan Myhrvold

2011-03-03T11:59:00.001-05:00

If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

-Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

Jon Stewart sucks

2011-02-28T12:13:00.001-05:00

Let me say first up - that I love Jon Stewart on the Daily Show - he is the most brilliantly incisive commentator on American and world politics today - an upholder of the great tradition of political farce and satire. But every such opening sentence heralds a mandatory "but". And here comes that mandatory "but"

But he absolutely sucks donkeys balls at interviews. He is the worst giver and taker of interviews. Especially of interviews on the Daily Show. He seems overly eager to please and be affable - and ends up making a total hash of things. He gets some real big name guests and one always hopes that he will take them to the cleaners. Hold them accountable for their deeds - or at least make them sweat under the collar for a few moments - and disturb their self-satisfied pompous equilibria. Instead, he gives them an opportunity to acquit themselves - and make their opposition (lead by J.S) seems like a bunch of greenhorn fools.

Take for example his interview of Donald Rumsfeld.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-february-23-2011/donald-rumsfeld-pt--1

How many hours of TV time has JS devoted to mocking DR and making transparent his vile odious smug certainties and condescension - while all along he was utterly completely full of bovine excrement? And this was the time and place to do it. And JS opened the innings strongly - by quoting a line from DR's autobiography where he describes the "certainty bordering on arrogance" of a Nixon staff member - and asked DR if that wasn't a perfectly apposite description indeed of him and his administration. You could see DR was beginning to squirm. But instead of finishing him off - JS as is typical - let the ball slip and got totally confused about what he was asking and what his point was. And DR, being an old hand at this game, capitalized on this fumbling and ran rings around JS. It was truly embarrassing watching JS trying to regain his composure - and more over trying to remember what he was asking.

DR parried JS's question about "certainty bordering on arrogance" by saying "Oh - but you didn't see all the internal deliberations and hand wringing the administration went through - how hard we tried to grapple with the uncertainties of the intelligence we were receiving and of the military solutions we were proposing." And JS seemed to go along with this a bonafide acceptable answer - and let it go but following up with a question of some terrorist training camps - apparently about which he was less well-informed than DR.

NO DAMMIT - YOU MORON. YOUR ORIGINAL POINT WAS THE DUPLICITY AND CONDESCENSION OF THIS ADMINSTRATION. AND THEIR TREATING OF ANY ONE WHO OPPOSED THEM AS TRAITORS. And DR has handed you the ammo you needed to finish him off. He told you exactly what you wanted to hear. This is how the interview should have gone down - allowing for some poetic license:

DR: "We didn't know what the fuck was going on."

JS: "Oh yeah - but listening to you - one would have believed that you had personally gone and inspected Saddam's weapons - and the outcome of the war was already a done deal."

DR (sweating) : "No no no - it was never like that."

JS: "Oh yeah mother fucker ? Watch this" (plays some stock footage of this asshole and Dick "dearth vader" Cheney making their proclamations and dismissing dissent as treachery)

DR : "We had to do it this way- we couldn't reveal all the details about our internal deliberations and our ignorance - emboldening the enemy and whatnot, old chap."

JS: "So basically - you sold us the war with a spiel built on thin scaffolding of lies and propaganda."

DR: "But we were doing what we thought was right. It had to be done - knowing what we knew then."

JS: "Ah ha - so you asswipes admit it. That you thought we were a bunch of idiots who don't need to know the truth - and that you know what's best for us. That it's OK to tell the people a few white-lies to protect them. We went to war because we trusted you clowns. We thought you knew what you were doing. And now you tell us - that you knew how full of shit you were all along."

Jon Stewart - you truly suck at interviews. Stick to interviewing celebrities trying to sell their silly movies. This doesn't mean I won't watch the Daily Show - I'm just going to skip the last 10 minutes.

Microsoft CTO takes on the french fry

2011-02-26T18:06:00.001-05:00

In the book of encyclopaedic dimensions "Modernist Cusine", theoretical physicist and ex-CTO of Microsoft, Nathan Myhrvold, places the art of cooking firmly in the realms of the hard sciences.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_myhrvold/all/1

Some excerpts from this article:

It's a big book—2,400 pages big. Six volumes big. Big like the original slipcase failed Amazon .com's shipping tests and had to be replaced with acrylic. Big like it weighs nearly 50 pounds and costs $625.

If Modernist Cuisine lives up to Myhrvold's hopes when it's published this March, it'll be the definitive book about the science of cooking—the Principia of the kitchen. It's dense and beautiful and inspired, and even though Myhrvold assembled a team of 50 chefs, writers, photographers, designers, scientists, and editors to create it, the final product is in fact an eerily accurate recapitulation of how Nathan Myhrvold thinks.

... he's primarily a scientist. Myhrvold has a master's degree in geophysics and space physics and another one in mathematical economics. He got his PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics from Princeton at 23 and did a postdoctoral fellowship with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge. He started a software company that Microsoft bought in 1986, founded Microsoft Research in 1991, and left the company as its CTO and chief strategist in 1999. He has hundreds of patents issued or pending. Oh, and he's also a photographer, a patron of paleontology research, and a world-champion barbecue chef. Seriously.

That's a big change from cooking's artisanal roots. "You were taught how to make a hollandaise sauce, and you were never really taught why it works," says Thomas Keller, who runs Per Se in New York City and the French Laundry in Northern California and is generally considered the best chef in the US. "You were just taught how to make it, and you were taught how to fix it if it broke, and that was it." Myhrvold and his team want cooks to understand the science behind the technique.

"If all you want to do is follow recipes, you don't need insights," he says. "If you want to do new things, you have to understand what the hell you're doing."

Speechless

2011-02-17T23:04:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DBuk91phkI

The absorption method

2011-02-14T19:53:00.001-05:00

I’ve always wondering about the logic behind the standard style of cooking pasta – to first boil it in a shit load of water – then drain the water and then fold the sauce into it. It always seemed a tad wasteful – of time, energy (heating) and probably of nutrients in the pasta that are being thrown away.

My preferred method is to cook the pasta in just enough water so that it become pre-al dente and then finish it off by simmering it in the sauce for 2-3 mins. The advantage of this method is that it is less wasteful, takes less time and importantly – lets the sauce infuse the pasta better.

Well – today I did some research about why most people use the classical method. I read some unconvincing arguments about washing away excess starch which makes the pasta sticky. I’ve never experienced that – if you stir often and diligently – the pasta shouldn’t stick. And the pasta tastes pretty much the same either way. I would say most people seem to do it because that’s the way their mom’s did it and so that’s the way they do it

Anyways, to cut a long and pointless story short – it seems my (more intuitive method ? ) has a pedigree of its own that has been forgotten in the age of Barilla … it’s called the absorption method:

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/05/cacao_zucchini_absorption_pasta.php

To quote:

Finally, and more to the point, this technique allows a delectable coating of starch to develop around the pasta, giving it a toothsome, silky texture

The cult of genius

2011-01-30T19:46:00.001-05:00

On the comeuppance grad school gives you – that you’re really not as smart as you think – and on how people handle it …

During high school or college, many aspiring physicists latch onto Feynman or Einstein or Hawking as representing all they hope to become. The problem is, the vast majority of us are just not that smart. Oh sure, we’re plenty clever, and are whizzes at figuring out the tip when the check comes due, but we’re not Feynman-Einstein-Hawking smart. We go through a phase where we hope that we are, and then reality sets in, and we either (1) deal, (2) spend the rest of our career trying to hide the fact that we’re not, or (3) drop out.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/25/the-cult-of-genius/

Ten reasons why conference papers should be abolished

2011-01-30T13:26:00.001-05:00

A monograph by Donald Geman on why peer reviewed conference submissions are not necessarily a good idea :

http://www.cis.jhu.edu/publications/papers_in_database/GEMAN/Ten_Reasons.pdf

The decline of wind

2011-01-27T09:52:00.001-05:00

From the IEEE Spectrum:

Wind is free, abundant, nonpolluting, and you don’t have to extract it from the earth. It’s easy to see why the people who built businesses on the promise of wind turbines as an energy source said, “What could go wrong?” Little did they know that global wind speeds would decrease, cutting the maximum amount of energy that can be gleaned from gusts.
Read more.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/wind/a-less-mighty-wind/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=012711

RE: Can the Fed go broke.

2011-01-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

From: H M Janoos

------------------------

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/couldus-central-bank-go-broke/121782/on

The answer in a nut shell is; In the worst case it can incur only accounting losses on paper. In reality, never - it has to simply print more money.

It seems that the economy and economics and Wall Street are mere paper tigers. The question is who are the real producers of wealth?

In one movie I saw recently saw (a nice comedy) the mother explains to her daughter sarcastically about the father's job who is a successful banker on Wall St.

He produces nothing, he sells nothing. He is like the man who hands around the cake. He doesn't bake the cake, he doesn't eat it. But he gets to keep the crumbs.

The big money is in the crumbs. It all comes down to the cost / value / price of capital. Capital is expensive. Moreover, trading capital is hard. And heavily regulated to prevent newcomers. And then there is the trust issue. That’s their USP. They can do it. You can’t. Ergo, their insane profits.

Also, the question of who are the producers of wealth requires answering the question : “through what processes is wealth created”?.

Wealth is valued in money – in dollars – and wealth involves the notion of ownership of “things”. But what “creates” it – in the sense what creates the capacity to “own”? Adam Smith gave it a shot almost a 150 years ago and many, famously including Marx, have tried since. I think that wealth creation, especially in a more advanced economy, gets increasingly abstracted. It has – to put it in equally vague terms – got to do with the creation of value – again a highly abstract and subjective concept. “You make money if you do or have something somebody else is willing to give you money for”.

Now, the “having” component supposedly is limited, assuming finiteness of material resources. But the “doing” component is potentially unlimited, due to the theoretical infiniteness of human invention.¹ Therefore, the creation of wealth is not about material goods but in value generating action. “Paper money” is not a pejorative – it is still a real kind of money. Money doesn’t have to boil down to a purely material basis (e.g. a gold standard) because matter is mutable – and sometimes the act of mutation has more “value” than the base matter itself (e.g. gold jewelry is more valuable than the gold it is made of).

A purely matter backed system – while more secure – is also more primitive. For example, a barter based economy is an easier concept to understand and to implement , but is also far more limiting in how it values wealth and in what it can achieve. You have to make the notional jump to “paper” money to create the far more creative economies of today.

Now, does Wall Street perform value generating action – that is debatable. Most probably much of it is simply rent-seeking behavior. They control a key asset in the modern economy – capital – and they extort profits by exploiting their position of privilege.

¹: It is this potential infinitude that is one argument against wealth redistribution as a social policy. It implies that wealth is fixed and finite and therefore must be taken away from the rich to give to the poor. I feel that redistribution must happen only at the most minimal level – only because of its capacity an enabler of wealth creation, since to make money you need money. But apart from that – if motivated by the canard of “social justice” – it is an entirely odious proposition.

TED

2010-12-29T23:53:00.000-05:00

Is it just me - or are so many TED talks just touchy-feely hokum ? Specifically, I’m referring to the kind of talk that starts off with the promise of giving hard information and real knowledge – a new insight or a fresh perspective - and then quickly devolves into feel good foo-foo – about how wonderful and lovely and wonderful and beautiful and lovely everything would be if we could just <blyaahg>.

Take for example the talk by Jill Bolte Taylor¹ describing her experience having a stroke. It starts off interestingly – as she recounts, minute by minute, what went on in her mind as she was experiencing a stroke. And then it all of a sudden ventures into rubbish-land as she propounds some fantasy theory about how the world would be paradise on earth if we were all to lobotomize our left brains and just become right brained zombies.

The one that really got under my skin was the utter drivel by Brene Brown²– who makes some pretty inane observations in her talk – spends 70% of the time just talking about herself, making silly jokes, giving boring anecdotes and then concludes with some b.s. about how we can live wonderful lives by being sincere vulnerable idiots. Firstly – her “brilliant” conclusions are something even the most thick observer of human nature would have observed … she’s regurgitating ideas that were written about like 6 million years ago. Secondly – as a “serious” researcher – one would expect more quantitative and practical suggestions – not the same bunch of worn out platitudes and clichés issued with such high authority.

1: http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

2: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

How to be happy

2010-12-29T23:17:00.000-05:00

In the vein of the wag who said "If you can keep your head while all "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you ... then you simply don't understand the problem", comes this deep insight from Gaustave Flaubert:

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

The brain explained

2010-12-20T15:55:00.001-05:00

John Cleese gives a brief but incredibly lucid explanation about the structure and function of the human brain

UK Classified Ads

2010-12-17T13:21:00.002-05:00

These are classified ads, which were actually placed in a U.K. newspaper:

FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER.
8 years old. Hateful little bastard. Bites!

FREE PUPPIES.
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbour's dog.

FREE PUPPIES.
Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd. Father is a Super Dog,
able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED.
Also 1 gay bull for sale.

JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer £100.

WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE.
Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.

**** And the WINNER is... ****

FOR SALE BY OWNER.
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes. Excellent condition,
£200 or best offer. No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.

RE: Indeed!

2010-12-02T13:12:00.001-05:00

Brilliant !

----------------------------
From: H M Janoos

Ø I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a
bike and asked for forgiveness.

Ø Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat
you with experience.

Ø I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming
and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Ø Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a
garage makes you a car.

Ø The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Ø Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak.

Ø If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

Ø We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public

Ø War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Ø Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a
fruit salad.

Ø Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to
tell you why it isn't.

Wagner

2010-11-23T07:53:00.001-05:00

An interesting – albeit a little bombastic article about Wagner in First Things:

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/11/why-we-cant-hear-wagnerrsquos-music

To quote:

That is what Rossini meant when he said that Wagner has beautiful moments and awful quarter-hours. (He also said that Lohengrin couldn’t be appreciated at first hearing, and that he had no intention of hearing it a second time.)

The insanity virus

2010-11-17T12:29:00.002-05:00

Like so many other conditions previously thought to be genetic, it seems that schizophrenia too is acquiring a viral explanation:

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus

To quote:

Beyond that, the insanity virus (if such it proves) may challenge our basic views of human evolution, blurring the line between "us" and "them," between pathogen and host.

The danger of cosmic genius

2010-11-12T16:52:00.002-05:00

An article about that wonderfully inventive and strange “mad scientist” – Freeman Dyson

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/the-danger-of-cosmic-genius/8306

2010-11-04T06:26:00.000-04:00

Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.

-RD Laing, psychiatrist and author (1927-1989)

Tiresome sameness

2010-10-25T13:31:00.000-04:00

While doing a crossword puzzle, I asked for my husband's help.
"The word is eight letters long and starts with m, and the clue is 'tiresome sameness'."
"Monogamy," he answered.

-Donna-Van Note

Michael Palin

2010-10-01T22:28:00.000-04:00

Palin is primarily known for his role in Monty Python … he was usually subsumed by John Cleese and Terry Jones, but in my opinion he was the funniest and the best of the bunch. He was also brilliant in “A fish called Wanda” and “Fierce Creatures”.

However, I’m writing about Palin in the context of his travel shows. I had seen him many years ago in “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Sahara” – wonderful, funny, engaging and very genuine recounts of his travels through the world. And now, I’m watching Himalayas – where starting from the Khyber Pass in Pakistan he travels across the Himalayas all the way to their foothills in Sikkim, through Kashmir, India, Nepal and Tibet.

The photography is excellent and the locales simply breathtaking. But – it is Palin who steals the show. With his warm, down-to-earth and open style … you really feel you are getting the essence of the places he visits. The only complaint one could have is that every episode is too short and that 6 x 1hr episodes fail to do the topic justice.

The series is available on Netflix.

Isocrates

2010-09-18T08:50:00.001-04:00

“Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality, and anarchy as progress.”

Isocrates

Sounds familiar ...

2010-09-15T07:14:00.001-04:00

The theme of this article – the prevalence of pseudo-scientific crap under the guise of “traditional wisdom” sounds very familiar

http://newhumanist.org.uk/2365/lies-damn-lies-and-chinese-science

Re: Carl Sagan

2010-09-14T12:48:00.002-04:00

For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. ... That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.

-Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

I read this quote in today’s AWAD, and it made me realize that I’m not sure I’ve ever understood the point of this extreme Copernican viewpoint. As far I am aware – Copernicus himself asserted no such truth – he merely showed that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not vice-versa. The only point, I feel, is to use this metaphor to imply that we are not special.

But we are ! In spite of more than a century of searching, not including SETI – we have not found trace of intelligence anywhere in the universe. And there’s the Fermi paradox to boot. And Earth is by no means a “routine planet” - we don’t even have conclusive evidence of life anywhere else, leave along intelligence. All that we have Sagan’s assertion that intelligence must exist – based on speculation and an “that’s the way the universe ought to be” attitude. But Sagan probably knew, better than most of us, that the universe does not really care of how we think it ought to be. And if there is no intelligence or sentient life anywhere else in the universe, it quickly becomes a mighty boring place. After all, if you’ve seen one quasar you’ve seen them all.

And from the subjective viewpoint – we are the center of *our* universe. The ultimate question in cosmology is asking why do *we* exist. If we were not to exist, the universe would be moot.

This statement is about as pointless as the kind that claim we are just apes. No, we are not simply another kind of ape¹! We share a common ancestor with apes (i.e. modern apes are our cousins, *not* our ancestors) – but we are so much more than apes, in every way that matters to us. We are as much an ape as an ape is a dog. That 1% DNA difference is not trivial. Increasing the brain-size of an ape will not produce human being –our brains are qualitatively different² – and remarkably so.

So, please can we acknowledge that we are different and special and stop with this fake and disingenuous humility.

¹ Jonathan Marks, What It Really Means To Be 99% Chimpanzee, Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association , Nov 1999 http://personal.uncc.edu/jmarks/interests/aaa/marksaaa99.htm

² D.Premack, Human and animal cognition: continuity and discontinuity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2007, 104, 13861-13867 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955772/

Latex fonts for MS Office

2010-09-11T14:57:00.002-04:00

If you have struggled with making your MS PowerPoint or Word document
look visually compatible with the fonts used for math in LaTex - you
might want to get the AMS set of LaTex fonts for MS-Office

http://www.ams.org/index/tex/amsfonts.html

Hafez

2010-08-31T03:23:00.002-04:00

Now is the time to understand

That all your ideas of right and wrong

Were just a child's training wheels

To be laid aside

When you finally live

With veracity

And love.

-Hafez, poet (1315-1390)

Ad hominem?

2010-08-28T09:36:00.001-04:00

Reading this from an NY time article on the genocide in Rwanda – I was wondering what exact fallacy of logic this would qualify as? Ad hominem, may be?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/world/africa/28congo.html?ref=world

This statement was made by Rwandan spokesperson in response to a UN report containing claims about a counter-genocide by Rwandan forces against the Hutu ….

“It is immoral and unacceptable that the United Nations, an organization that failed outright to prevent genocide in Rwanda and the subsequent refugees crisis that is the direct cause for so much suffering in Congo and Rwanda, now accuses the army that stopped the genocide of committing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Ben Rutsinga of the Office of the Government Spokesperson.

2010-08-18T01:48:00.002-04:00

Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly.
Let it cut more deep.

Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.

Something missing in my heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
My voice
So tender,

My need of God
Absolutely
Clear.

Shams al-din Hafiz

Fat is delicious

2010-08-15T16:47:00.002-04:00

This article - along the lines of those by Michael Pollan - points out the delusion of a fat-free diet and why a certain amount of sanity is called for with respect to fat consumption ...

http://tablematters.com/index.php/plate/cc/ccfat?tmpl=component&print=1&page=

To quote:

Fat in its natural state is not the enemy. You need it, and you love it. It makes all food taste better and even feel better. You crave it. The key is to use it well and to eat well. To eat well is to eat moderate amounts of real food made by you, or someone you trust, from primary ingredients.

...

because in the end, it's calories that make you fat. Too many in and not enough expended. We may be a nation of fatties, but it is not because of an overindulgence in glorious gorgeous fat: It's overindulgence in general. Eat a little less; eat much better. Put fear of fat behind you. Eat fat for flavor. Eat fat for life.

And then there’s this article which asks “why are you so scared of saturated fats and cholesterol ?” Just because next-door know-nothing Joe Nobody told you it’s bad? Because you heard it on TV ? Well, TV also tells you that global warming is a myth and Obama is planning death camps … so.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/40/Saturated-Fats-Cholesterol-and-Heart-Disease

FW: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty

2010-08-09T23:55:00.001-04:00

This is one of the best paragraphs from the article

The real test for Romer’s attitude toward democracy is not whether it conforms to Western ideals, but whether it appeals to the poor people whom Western aid agencies claim to be serving. And on this score, the answer is clear. In fact, you could say Romer’s assertion—that voting with your feet can be a palatable alternative to casting a ballot—already has 214 million adherents, for that is the number of people who have chosen to leave their home countries and settle as migrants in places where they have no political vote. Real development, as distinct from the idealized vision of development, involves hard personal choices. If people are willing to live as legal or illegal immigrants, with rights that range from limited to none, then logically, they should be even more eager to move to a Romerplex, which would promise most of the economic gains of uprooting to another continent while allowing migrants to stay closer to their families and cultures.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty

2010-08-09T23:36:00.001-04:00

An interesting article in last month’s Atlantic about the ideas of Paul Romer regarding a sustainable way to end poverty in endemically misgoverned and mismanaged countries:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/07/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-ending-poverty/8134/

In the 1990s, Paul Romer revolutionized economics. In the aughts, he became rich as a software entrepreneur. Now he’s trying to help the poorest countries grow rich—by convincing them to establish foreign-run “charter cities” within their borders. Romer’s idea is unconventional, even neo-colonial—the best analogy is Britain’s historic lease of Hong Kong. And against all odds, he just might make it happen.

I have, in my spare time (of which I had lots) toyed with many of the ideas presented here (albeit with a much lower degree of sophistication and formalism) – that one way to deal with crushing poverty is to create enclaves of prosperity and lead by example. But more important than eliminating poverty – it is a means to cause a cultural revolution. Because, as Romer points out, much of what ails the third world are cultural problems (an obvious fact that the modern politically correct economist is over hasty to deny).

To all perfectionists ...

2010-08-03T16:06:00.001-04:00

I quote Voltaire : Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien -- Perfection is the enemy of good.

India gets a new Rupee symbol

2010-07-15T21:22:00.001-04:00

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/rupee-getsnew-symbol_470128.html

Very smart design – combining the Latin R with Devnagiri “Ra”

A 28 minute trance

2010-07-01T01:30:00.001-04:00

I’ve just finished watching La Jetée – a short film 28:11 minutes long – by Chris Maker made in 1961. Shot in black and white – as a photo-montage of stills – except for one brief scene where she blinks – it is somehow the most vivid and compelling film I have seen in a long time. He – obsessed with childhood memories of seeing a man killed on an airport pier – and now living in a dystopic post-apocalyptic world - goes back from the present into the Paris of his childhood – to fall in love with a woman of the past – and to be killed on the airport pier – and be seen by his child-self.

This movie is supposedly the inspiration for Twelve Monkeys – similar in plot – but so different in feel. This movie is like a dream – ethereal choral music – unnamed characters, silent throughout – and the disembodied voice of the narrator. It has a wonderful pace – like a majestic requiem – flowing rhythmically towards the inevitable dénouement. The narration is abstract – like a poem, almost – and yet explains better than a detailed recounting of events. Though nothing is truly explained – the whys – the hows – the whos – it nevertheless makes perfect sense. So much is depicted with so little and with such simplicity. It is juste.

This is the power of good art – to communicate ideas without using ordinary words or symbols – but at a level more vague, more intangible, more fleeting and therefore paradoxically, more precise.

Prohibition

2010-06-11T13:54:00.003-04:00

If you were around in 1919 and came upon this poster..........I mean seriously, Would you quit drinking?

And yet another convert to barefoot running and the Vibram Five Fingers

2010-06-05T18:38:00.001-04:00

This time it's James Fallows of The Atlantic ....

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/06/running-again/57201/

Dammit - these shoes are beautiful and they make you want to run. I
should post a picture of my Five Fingers up sometime. I think I'm in
love ...

sigh

If you're still interested in barefoot running and why it's generally
better for you (given that you haven't already read Christopher
McDougall's book about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico ) you might
want to look at this:

http://runningquest.net/2009/10/16/12-step-program-to-run-shodless/

And a nice bonus to running on the balls of your feet - awesome calves !

A pressing question

2010-05-29T02:09:00.001-04:00

Ok. I have to take time out from multiple papers and thesis writing to put this question out there. It’s that important. It’s that pressing. It’s that irritating.

What’s up with bus-stops ??!!

Why the fuck are all Boston MBTA bus stops right before traffic signals ? That is without doubt the worst possible place to put a bus-stop. Right before a traffic light ! – in order to add as much as possible to the bottleneck at the intersection. Now, I know that city-planner and these public transportation people are smart people – at least I hope they are – they all seem to have PhDs in urban planning and whatnot. Although I know, from personal experience, that PhD’s are fucking dumbasses, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

But seriously. What’s up with that ? A traffic light / intersection is a scare and precious resource – and traffic flow there needs to be made as efficient as possible.

And this how a typical stop at Fenmore Road in the Longwood Medical Area plays out – with probability 1 (wpo). Bus heads towards stop – stop is right at intersection. There is a red light. It’s a typically busy intersection – nothing extraordinary – and there are at least 15 cars waiting between the bus and the stop. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait for a few mins before the light turns green. The cars move on and the bus pulls up. The light is still green – and the bus stops right in front of the intersection blocking the traffic behind it. People get on. And there’s always that idiot who fumbles with his Charlie Card. In the interim the light turns red. And now we wait again. And there are now 23.24x10²³ cars behind us. A stop that should ideally have taken 30s ends up taking 3-4mins. And maximum inconvenience for all the other traffic on the road.

Seriously. One sometimes really feels that these folks have gone out of their way to be as big a nuisance as possible. Even a random allocation of bus-stops would have been more efficient than this purposefully idiotic system. Somebody please put me out of my misery and tell me what are these people thinking. I spend innumerable hours every day agonizing about this. Please !

Homogenization of food

2010-05-01T14:19:00.001-04:00

There is an article in the April New Yorker titled the "Memory Kitchen" by Elif Batuman - describing this food journey through Turkey with a Turkish chef Musa Dağdeviren. The main thesis of this article is the Musa’s quest to preserve the old Turkish foods, varieties, cuisines, against the homogenizing forces of modernization.

Musa rants not only against the McDonald’s culture but he has equal disdain for those dégustateurs who make food more intellectual and sophisticated than it should be. For example, against the dozens of varieties of olive oil based on regional appellations that really have no significant differences, while the true differences and traditions are being lost.

Musa, who read Hegel as a young man, sees the plight of food culture in Marxist terms. The forces of industrialization and commodification have alienated people from what they eat, and labels like “organic”, while seeming to offer the promise of overcoming alienation, end up as yet another market-imposed barrier between people and food.

…

Musa despises fusion, a concept that, in his view, treats culinary traditions not as living processes but as finite objects to be manipulated in the name of creativity or revolution.

This is a topic that resonates deeply with me – in my objection to the “Butter-chickenization” and “Biryanification” of Indian food. There is so much heritage of food in India, but you would never know it, if you talked to an average Indian. But then again, there are so many things you would never know if you talked to an average Indian … :-/

Follow this link for an audio slide show of this journey: http://www.newyorker.com/online/multimedia/2010/04/19/100419_audioslideshow_batuman

Are all religions fundamentally the same ?

2010-04-26T11:21:00.001-04:00

Many times you come across the drivel that all religions are fundamentally the same - different ways to the same path. Well - I have (as an outsider) argued against this view point as a statement of the "probably true (in some very vague and arbitrary sense) but definitely useless".

Now this article http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/04/25/separate_truths/?page=full argues the same point - but from this time from an insiders point of view.

To quote:

To claim that all religions are basically the same, therefore, is not to deny the differences between a Buddhist who believes in no god, a Jew who believes in one God, and a Hindu who believes in many gods. It is to deny that those differences matter, however. From this perspective, whether God has a body (yes, say Mormons; no, say Muslims) or whether human beings have souls (yes, say Hindus; no, say Buddhists) is of no account because, as Hindu teacher Swami Sivananda writes, "The fundamentals or essentials of all religions are the same. There is difference only in the nonessentials."

This is a lovely sentiment but it is untrue, disrespectful, and dangerous.

...

I understand what these people are doing. They are not describing the world but reimagining it. They are hoping that their hope will call up in us feelings of brotherhood and sisterhood. In the face of religious bigotry and bloodshed, past and present, we cannot help but be drawn to such hope, and such vision. Yet we must not mistake either for clear-eyed analysis.

This reminds me of a passage from (now disreputed) Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel - which to paraphrase - goes something like this. The Gandhi/Bhishm character (Ganga Dutta) makes a statement that he is both a Hindu and a Muslim (and probably a Christian too) to which the Jinnah/Karna character (Mohammad Ali Karna) replies that only a Hindu could make such a statement.

The way of music

2010-04-13T22:54:00.001-04:00

An excellent and very educative comparative demonstration of Western vs. Indian music ... and the treatment of tones (from TED)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXnV5HzS7nA

Convusions in nature

2010-04-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

Convulsions in nature, disorders, prodigies, miracles, though the most opposite to the plan of a wise superintendent, impress mankind with the strongest sentiments of religion.

-David Hume, philosopher, economist, and historian (1711-1776)

Desiderata ?

2010-04-13T00:25:00.001-04:00

I’m sure you have heard of the Desiderata by Max Ehrmann. Well, I recently came across another version of that famous poem (attached here side by side). I’ll leave it to you to consider which one is better

"Desiderata" – Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender,
Be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others -
Even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons - they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career -
However humble, it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is.
Many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection, neither be cynical about love.
For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
It is as perenial as the grass.
Take kindly the council of the years,
Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune,
But do not distress yourself with imaginings -
Many fears are borne of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe.
No less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life,
Keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be happy.

"Deteriorata" - National Lampoon

Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss, and when.
Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold.
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.

Remember The Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate.
Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you -
That lemon on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore. It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan.
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
Hire people with hooks.
For a good time, call 606-4311. Ask for Ken.
Take heart in the deepening gloom
That your dog is finally getting enough cheese.
And reflect that whatever fortune may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.

You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Therefore, make peace with your god,
Whatever you perceive him to be - hairy thunderer, or cosmic muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.
Give up!

God's Debris

2010-04-10T13:43:00.001-04:00

This is a book by Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) - as he claims, it is not humorous - but more of a thought experiment.

http://nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf

To quote:

The target audience for God's Debris is people who enjoy having their brains spun around inside their skulls. ideas. That certain age varies by person, but if you're over fifty-five (mentally) you probably won't enjoy this thought experiment. If you're eighty going on thirty-five, you might like it. If you're twenty-three, your odds of liking it are very good.After a certain age most people are uncomfortable with new

A rather grandiose claim - but an engaging read nonetheless.

It contains a series of propositions - some true, and some only seemingly so. And it's for you to decide. And sometimes, it's the simplest explanations that are also the wrongest.

It's based on Einsteins' famous dictum - make things simple, but no simpler. Which is essentially a caution against misinterpreting Occam's Razor - or the principle of parsimony. Many people mistake it to mean "Always favor the simplest explanation" - when actually the statement is "Always favor the simplest explanation that explains all the facts". But worse, many times it taken to imply "Always favor the easiest explanation".

And that's where the crux of the issue lies - of what do you mean when you say "simplest". Simple is not the same as easy. When using this criteria, one needs to compare between equivalent explanations. For e.g. even though the four element theory of physics is simpler, it is not an equivalent to the very daunting models of quantum mechanics, mainly because it lacks explanatory power. Similar arguments could be made vis à vis the theory of God. But let's not go there :)

By the way, this topic is quite heavily studied (with rigorous formalism) in mathematics, statistics, machine learning and other allied fields under the rubric of model selection. And is the cause of a lot of debate, argument and confusion among its practitioners.

FW: a bursty invite

2010-04-09T12:33:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends and Colleages

some of are aware that I have spent the last two years working on a general audience book, Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do, that will be published in three weeks, on April 29, 2010. Yet, it is not the book that I am writing about, but rather an experiment motivated by it that I hope you will join and enjoy.

BuRSTS is a performance in human dynamics, a game of cooperation and prediction, that will gradually unveil the full text of Bursts. In a nutshell, if you register at http://brsts.com/, you will be able to adopt one of the 84,245 words of the book. Once you adopt, the words adopted by others will become visible to you -- thus as each words finds a parent, the whole book will become visible to the adopters. But if you invite your friends (and please do!) and you are good at predicting hidden content, the book will unveil itself to you well before all words are adopted. We will even send each day free signed copied of Bursts to those with the best scores.

I am fully aware of the chronic lack of time we all suffer from. Yet, I do hope that you will join us in this fascinating experiment, being part of this collective Burst!

truly yours,

László

--
Albert-László Barabási
www.brsts.com

Albert-László Barabási is a Hungarian mathematician / scientist who is credited with discovering the scale-free and small-world properties of so many networks we encounter in real-life. If you are interested, you should read his 1999 article in Science http://www.barabasilab.com/pubs/CCNR-ALB_Publications/199910-15_Science-Emergence/199910-15_Science-Emergence.pdf

The Vanishing

2010-04-09T01:07:00.002-04:00

There is this movie I recently saw that has, I can say without hesitation, the best ending EVER !

It’s a Dutch film Spoorloos – released with English subtitles as The Vanishing¹. It is a 105 minutes long – shot in France (Nimes) – partially in French, partially it Dutch – and nothing much happens really for a 100 minutes. You’re in fact quite bored. And then bang ! … it takes such a bizarre turn all of a sudden. Don’t want to say more for fear of spoiling it. But believe me – watch it and it’ll get burnt into your psyche. You’ll think about it for days. You’ll lie in bed and shiver. Like Memento or The Descent.

These days, it’s very rare that films still have the power to surprise and stun and totally fuck with your mind. This is one of that endangered species.

¹It was remade as a Hollywood film starring Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland. I would definitely not recommend that movie.

Pedantry vs. Mastery

2010-04-02T21:21:00.002-04:00

Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry... To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery.

- George Polya, professor of mathematics (1887-1985)

My PhD ...

2010-03-24T15:40:00.001-04:00

From Mumford's "Dawning of the Age of Stochasticity"

2010-03-24T12:14:00.001-04:00

[Human] thought is the weighing of relative likelihoods of possible events and the act of sampling from the `posterior', the probability distribution on unknown events, given the sum total of our knowledge of past events and the present context. If this is so, then the paradigmatic mental object is not a [logical] proposition, standing in all its eternal glory with its truth value emblazoned on its chest, but the random variable X, its value subject to probabilities but still not fixed.

Madame Bovary

2010-03-20T19:34:00.001-04:00

A friend forwarded me this beautiful passage from Flaubert's Madame Bovary ... it reads really well in English but is so much more expressive in the original French:

"Parce que des lèvres libertines ou vénales lui avaient murmuré des phrases pareilles, il ne croyait que faiblement à la candeur de celles-là ; on en devait rabattre, pensait-il, les discours exagérés cachant les affections médiocres ; comme si la plénitude de l'âme ne débordait pas quelquefois par les métaphores les plus vides, puisque personne, jamais, ne peut donner l'exacte mesure de ses besoins, ni de ses conceptions, ni de ses douleurs, et que la parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles."

"Since he had heard those same words uttered by loose women or prostitutes, he had little belief in their sincerity when he heard them now: the more flowery a person's speech, he thought, the more suspect the feelings, or lack of feelings, it concealed. Whereas the truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars."

André Michelle Laboratory

2010-03-13T01:34:00.001-05:00

One of the most fantastic sites in a long time

http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

Go through each of the apps - they are all awesome in their own right
- but the tonematrix is by far the best. I played with it for about an
hour now without getting bored. And I think I'm going to play with it
some more tonite

Chair Beware

2010-02-25T08:46:00.001-05:00

In addition to the old saw that exercise is good for you, it turns out that just sitting is bad for you – in the sense that even if you exercise a lot – but then sit a lot during the remainder – not such a good idea.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/?pagemode=print

Barefoot Running

2010-02-12T14:33:00.002-05:00

After I posted a link to an article on how shoes may have changed the way we run, along with my own experiences with barefoot running, I have come across a whole host of stories about how so many people have found barefoot athletics to be more comfortable and dynamic, once your feet get re-adjusted to it. There seems to be a growing awareness about this fact with more and more people switching to barefoot running. There's even a company manufacturing feet shaped shoes, which by the way, look AWESOME !

In an interview, barefoot marathoner Leif Rustvold said:

"It totally changes the sport of running. Everything I love about running is enhanced by being barefoot. The mental awareness of being barefoot encourages/requires you to ditch the iPod and listen to your inner dialogue." Rustvold finds himself reaching a "runner's high" more efficiently, having more fun, and the movement feels more natural and less likely to cause injury. While there are still the occasional minor injuries from stepping on a sharp rock, he sees it as a fair trade-off for the reduction in major injuries.

Recently, National Geographic also ran a very good article illustrating the benefits of barefoot athletics.

How to report the news

2010-02-10T16:22:00.002-05:00

Planning to produce a TV news segment - here are some invaluable tips
from BBC 4's Charlie Brooker:

Goldman Sachs and the American Bubble Machine

2010-02-03T06:57:00.001-05:00

A very compelling and engaging, if not entirely factual, read from the rollingstone magazine:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print

The Great American Bubble Machine

From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again

The tone of the article is well represented by its opening lines:

The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.

2010-01-30T00:07:00.001-05:00

Do you know that 87.166253% of all statistics claim a precision of results that is not justified by the method employed?

2010-01-29T02:09:00.001-05:00

Losing one love
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding
the first one again.

-Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

Shoes may have changed how we run (BBC)

2010-01-28T21:46:00.002-05:00

About six months ago, I started running barefoot after watching an interview with a guy who wrote a book on the Tarahumara. They are a South American tribe of born long distance runners. These chaps, wearing only open flat slippers, take off on day long runs - just for the heck of it. And the author says he discovered that the partial secret to their ability to run was that they ran barefoot.

I have found this to be true. And it has definitenly changed the way that I run. My calves burn like hell after 30-35mins - but neither my feet, knees nor back hurt. And i have started to land on the ball (front part) of my foot - giving me a better lighter easier stride. And I get less tired. Whereas earlier I'd have real trouble doing an 8 min mile for 30 mins - now it's a breeze.

One would almost believe that this sport shoe technology mumbo-jumbo is a conspiracy by shoe companies to make one buy ridiculously expensive shoes that are actually bad for you.

2010/1/28 maureen wrote:

Wearing cushioned running shoes may have changed the way in which many of us run, new research suggests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8483401.stm

From the article:

The researchers showed that runners who have trained barefoot tend to strike the ground with their forefoot or mid-foot, rather than their heel."

By forefoot or mid-foot striking correctly, one can almost completely eliminate that collision, making barefoot running comfortable," said Dr Lieberman.

He explained that the style adopted by barefoot runners may, in some respects, be less damaging.

Many successful distance runners have competed barefoot, including the South African-born athlete Zola Budd.

This has caused researchers to question whether barefoot running might well be more efficient.

dressing up

2010-01-08T13:04:00.001-05:00

BusinessMan Unable To Wear Nice Clothes Without Everyone Asking Questions

From The Onion
January 5, 2010 | Issue 46•01

MENASHA, WI—Expressing his growing frustration, IT support technician Chris Brennan, 28, told reporters Monday that he is incapable of wearing a button-up shirt and khaki pants without every person he knows asking him why. "If I wear anything at all besides jeans, people are like, 'Where you going? Got a big night out?'" Brennan said. "Or they say, 'Ooh, look who's all dressed up. You have some kind of job interview or something?' I mean, Christ, come on. It's just a shirt with buttons." Brennan conceded that, on a positive note, some of his coworkers were extra nice to him because they assumed he was going to a funeral service.

Amazing mirrors

2010-01-01T15:50:00.001-05:00

The NewScientist recently ran an article about a mathematician who has used advanced modeling techniques to create mirrors that don’t simply reflect but that manage to do far more sophisticated imaging tricks – like super-wide angled and distortion free panoramas

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16585-amazing-mirrors

John Passmore

2009-12-26T13:33:00.001-05:00

Men have sought to demonstrate their love of God by loving nothing at all and their love for humanity by loving nobody whatsoever

Books

2009-12-09T15:25:00.000-05:00

Well, anyway, I was reading this James Bond book, and right away I
realized that like most books, it had too many words. The plot was the
same one that all James Bond books have: An evil person tries to blow up
the world, but James Bond kills him and his henchmen and makes love to
several attractive women. There, that's it: 24 words. But the guy who
wrote the book took *thousands* of words to say it.

Or consider "The Brothers Karamazov", by the famous Russian alcoholic
Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It's about these two brothers who kill their
father. Or maybe only one of them kills the father. It's impossible to
tell because what they mostly do is talk for nearly a thousand pages.
If all Russians talk as much as the Karamazovs did, I don't see how they
found time to become a
major world power. I'm told that Dostoyevsky wrote "The Brothers
Karamazov" to raise the question of whether there is a God. So why
didn't he just come right out and say: "Is there a God? It sure beats
the heck out of me."

Other famous works could easily have been summarized in a few words:

* "Moby Dick" -- Don't mess around with large whales because they
symbolize nature and will kill you.

* "A Tale of Two Cities" -- French people are crazy.

-- Dave Barry

PS:

In a recursive vein:
* "Dave Barry" -- Books are too verbose

Hafez

2009-11-10T12:32:00.002-05:00

Don't surrender your loneliness
So quickly.
Let it cut more deeply.
Let it ferment and season you
As few human
Or even divine ingredients can.

-Hafez

The unanswered question

2009-11-09T15:21:00.002-05:00

Trolling through the nether-regions of YouTube - I stumbled across these series of lectures by Leonard Bernstein on the Language of Music presented at Harvard,in the 1973. Meant for a lay enthusiast not trained in classical music theory - he explores musical structures and meaning through analogy with natural language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14VhzlcSuT0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gES6TI-Gc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ZE38BQmvQ&feature=related

I could find only bits and pieces of what is a longer series. While, it is indubitably worth the time spent watching it as is - I wonder where I can find the complete set ?

http://www.amazon.com/Unanswered-Question-Harvard-Charles-Lectures/dp/0674920015

Conservatism and intelligence

2009-10-31T10:12:00.001-04:00

Yet another study along the lines of the (negative) correlation between religious views and intelligence:

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/october/are-liberals-smarter-than-conservatives

To quote:

"The Conservative syndrome describes a person who attaches particular importance to the respect of tradition, humility, devoutness and moderation; as well as to obedience, self-discipline and politeness, social order, family, and national security; and has a sense of belonging to and a pride in a group with which he or she identifies. A Conservative person also subscribes to conventional religious beliefs and accepts the mystical, including paranormal, experiences."

...

"Conservatism and cognitive ability are negatively correlated … At the individual level of analysis, conservatism scores correlate negatively with SAT, vocabulary, and analogy test scores. At the national level of analysis, conservatism scores correlate negatively with measures of education … and performance on mathematics and reading assessments."

How To Criticize Computer Scientists [or] Avoiding Ineffective Deprecation And,Making Insults More Pointed

2009-10-22T22:46:00.001-04:00

An essay by Douglas Corner at the CS dept. at Purdue on how to come up
with some solid material when trying to insult your colleagues :

http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.criticize.html

The decline of English

2009-10-22T12:43:00.001-04:00

I recently came across this great essay by George Orwell on the decline of the English, language, especially in more formal fora.

http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html

To quote:

Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes:

I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Here it is in modern English:
Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

Great questions for great answers

2009-10-15T11:02:00.001-04:00

A: Go west, young man, go west!
Q: What do wabbits do when they get tiwed of wunning awound?

Andrei Platonov

2009-10-15T10:22:00.001-04:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Maureen Pritchard

"At first the old man had been rather mistrustful of the radio apparatus: How could it be scientific? Could emptiness in the form of sound really be conveyed thousands of miles? Science couldn't be busying itself with nonsense like that- science was an important matter whereas a radio was something accidental, and moreover it couldn't write, it didn't leave you any documents, and so there was no guarantee that the cardboard trumpet was telling the truth."

Brain Mapping

2009-10-15T10:15:00.005-04:00

If only all functional neuro-imaging were like this ... sigh !

On Thinking Big

2009-10-10T17:49:00.001-04:00

A friend recently forwarded me an article by Scott Aaronson titled “Who can name the biggest number?”

Using the example of asking people to write down the biggest (finite) number they can think of, he documents the history of reason and science through the ages (albeit from a Western point of view). How the ability to reason about things with sophistication have shaped our ability to answer that question.

This article struck me because it shows how many great ideas and Kuhnian revolutions are born by the ability to think big and to dream big. The courage to challenge received wisdom and insidious assumptions – that are so ingrained that we oftentimes fail to notice them as externally imposed limitations – rather than some fact of Reality.

Curiosity and openness lead to fascination with big numbers, and to the buoyant view that no quantity, whether of the number of stars in the galaxy or the number of possible bridge hands, is too immense for the mind to enumerate. Conversely, ignorance and irrationality lead to fatalism concerning big numbers. The Bible, for example, refers twenty-one times to the supposed uncountability of sand. Take Genesis 32:12: "And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted for multitude." Or Hebrews 11:12: "So many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable." This notion that the multitude of sand grains might as well be infinite, that it’s fit for dumbfounded stupefaction but not for quantification, is an ancient one. Historian Ilan Vardi cites the ancient Greek word ‘yammkosioi,’ or sand-hundred, colloquially meaning zillion; as well as a passage from Pindar’s Olympic Ode II asserting that "sand escapes counting."

Serendipity

2009-09-25T23:00:00.002-04:00

Today, driving to school, my radio tuned in to WOSU89.7, my head tuned
in to work / research / political problems and other assorted
nonsense, in the background of my consciousness, in the
sub-consciousness, I heard something. As caught up as I was in my own
little ponderings and machinations, some long-lost part of me woke up
and paid attention. As loath as I was to divert my attention from my
viciously cyclical thoughts, I was forced to. The music - the sound -
the feeling - was undeniable.

Listen to it and let me know if there is any part of you that is not
utterly captured and enraptured by the mysterious and haunting
melodies of Rachmaninoff's Piano Trio. I dare you to find another
piece of music as unearthly and yet as compelling and as primal as
this.

Trio élégiaque in D minor:

and

Piano Trio No 1 in G Minor:

Al Jazeera

2009-09-23T10:19:00.002-04:00

There is an article in the Oct 2009 issue of the Atlantic by Robert Kaplan Why I Love Al Jazeera in which he talks about why the "eclectic internationalism", "hustle", and dialog based reporting is so appealing. To quote

The Arab TV channel is visually stunning, exudes hustle, and covers the globe like no one else. Just beware of its insidious despotism.
...
(Al Jazeera) is what the internationally minded elite class really yearns for: a visually stunning, deeply reported description of developments in dozens upon dozens of countries simultaneously.

Regarding, the bias of the coverage (the news is fair and unbiased only when it agrees with your point of view), Kaplan has this to offer:

Yet Al Jazeera is forgivable for its biases in a way that the BBC or CNN is not. In the case of Al Jazeera, news isn’t so much biased as honestly representative of a middle-of-the-road developing-world viewpoint. Where you stand depends upon where you sit. And if you sit in Doha or Mumbai or Nairobi, the world is going to look starkly different than if you sat in Washington or London, or St. Louis for that matter.

At the end of the article, where he attempts to explains that bit about "insidious despotism", it turns a bit incomprehensible. I didn't really follow the argument or even what he means by despotism. But apart from that - a well written article.

I haven't personally seen much Al-Jazeera. But then, in my defense, I am in the USA and heaven forbid I get to watch any news that doesn't revolve entirely around the USA. "News" being a euphemism for the brain-corroding banal rubbish of the "lefty-liberal" stations like CNN or CBS, or the non-stop pathetic comedy that is Fox. As Kaplan puts it:

The fact that Doha, Qatar’s capital, is not the headquarters of a great power liberates Al Jazeera to focus equally on the four corners of the Earth rather than on just the flash points of any imperial or post-imperial interest. Outlets such as CNN and the BBC don’t cover foreign news so much as they cover the foreign extensions of Washington’s or London’s collective obsessions.

Mathy Jokes

2009-09-20T16:37:00.002-04:00

Q: What's the contour integral around Western Europe?
A: Zero, because all the Poles are in Eastern Europe!

Addendum: Actually, there ARE some Poles in Western Europe, but they
are removable!

Q: An English mathematician (I forgot who) was asked by his
very religious colleague: Do you believe in one God?
A: Yes, up to isomorphism!

Q: What is a compact city?
A: It's a city that can be guarded by finitely many near-sighted
policemen!
-- Peter Lax

Re: On Delhi

2009-09-20T13:54:00.002-04:00

An excellent article on the socio-economic stratification, consumerism
and wealth-deification of India - in the metaphor of the automobile
culture of Delhi. And the resulting social turmoil and latent anger at
the stark division between the haves and have-nots.

Manoj Palki wrote:
> Check out this excellent essay. Long, but absolutely worth it.
>
> http://www.granta.com/Magazine/107/Capital-Gains/1

Pig Problems in Cairo

2009-09-20T13:14:00.002-04:00

A very interesting article about swine flu and the Egyptian government's
response to the problem in Cairo, viz. killing all the pigs:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/world/africa/20cairo.html

They're apparently now sitting on mound and mounds of rotting trash that
they are unable to get rid of. Seems like the swine-flu is going to
mutate into the plague.

Mystery

2009-09-12T12:03:00.002-04:00

I came across this very nice quote in Matt Ridley's Genome:

The fuel on which science runs is ignorance. Science is a like a hungry furnace that must be fed logs from the forests of ignorance than surround us. In the process, the clearing we call knowledge expands, the but the more it expands, the longer its perimeter and the more ignorance comes into view. Before the discovery of the genome, we did not know there was a document at the heart of every cell three billion letters long of whose content we knew nothing. Now, having read parts of that book, we are aware of myriad new mysteries.

A true scientist loves mystery. A scientist is bored by knowledge; it is the assault on ignorance that motivates him - the mysteries that previous discoveries have revealed. The forest is more interesting than the clearing.

Unemployment or PhD

2009-09-11T15:04:00.003-04:00

The data is in:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1215

Lost World of Fanged Frogs

2009-09-08T15:59:00.001-04:00

Recently, explorers discovered an isolated ecosystem in an extinct
volcanic crater, amid the lust equatorial forests Papua New Guinea.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/discovery-species-papua-new-guinea

This ecosystem contains a host of unique and unidentified species,
pointing to a divergent evolutionary path. Take a look at some of the
pictures - stunning and incredibly beautiful.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/06/wildlife-endangeredspecies?picture=352597639

It's a shame that all this must be destroyed ...

The great tweets of science - PhDComics

2009-09-05T23:52:00.002-04:00

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1198