The Sublime Will

Just read an article on the Roast for the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over at the Onion. It was hilarious. Of course, since it is the Onion, do not, for heaven's sake start thinking that this was real.

Ofcourse, the article ends with Mahmoud's closing statement:

"It warms my heart to see all of you here tonight," Ahmadinejad said to boisterous applause. "I know some of you have been worried that I may be developing a nuclear program to use against you, but I would like to take this opportunity to assure everyone that its sole, peaceful purpose is to provide the Iranian people with energy."

How nice, I thought until I read the next line.

Added Ahmadinijad, "We're gonna need all the electricity we can get when we nuke you fuckers back into the Stone Age, you blood-sucking infidels. Good night, everybody!"

Haha.

This is satire at its best. The article should take your mind off real world problems for say 3 minutes ! Thinking about it, wouldn't it be fantastic if there really was such a roast, without the shields of diplomacy at the U.N. I sure as hell wouldn't want to miss that live telecast...

I recently read an article on the Scientific American on "Why we kiss" and it is interestingly controversial. Fortunately, it does address some of the common questions I've heard before and hence, this might be interesting enough to read on a sunday afternoon.

One of the first questions that is answered is "Why do we do it ?"

Excerpt from the article:

Whatever else is going on when we kiss, our evolutionary history is embedded within this tender, tempestuous act. In the 1960s British zoologist and author Desmond Morris first proposed that kissing might have evolved from the practice in which primate mothers chewed food for their young and then fed them mouth-to-mouth, lips puckered. Chimpanzees feed in this manner, so our hominid ancestors probably did, too. Pressing outturned lips against lips may have then later developed as a way to comfort hungry children when food was scarce and, in time, to express love and affection in general. The human species might eventually have taken these proto-parental kisses down other roads until we came up with the more passionate varieties we have today.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. I believe that a lot of the actions we perform are deeply influenced by what animals did out of survival which later became acts of luxuries and a part of social behavior itself. So I'll leave this at that.

Another interesting quote from he article is as follows:

“Kissing,” said evolutionary psychologist Gordon G. Gallup of the University at Albany, State University of New York, “involves a very complicated exchange of information—olfactory information, tactile information and postural types of adjustments that may tap into underlying evolved and unconscious mechanisms that enable people to make determinations … about the degree to which they are genetically incompatible.” Kissing may even reveal the extent to which a partner is willing to commit to raising children, a central issue in long-term relationships and crucial to the survival of our species.

There are few other interesting tidbits of information about how human sensory organs behave and the reactions of the brain during a kiss. Useless, but fascinating nonetheless.

Well anyway, at the end of the day, it really does not matter what these studies come up with for results. Since perceptions are averaged over thousands of people and there is a high probability that me or you do not perceive like any of them or the person you kiss, all you can do is read it and move on :)

It is interesting enough following through the new developments in the nuclear industry with innovative GEN4 reactors sprouting out concepts little explored before. But then again, there is nothing like a hoax that seems very genuine from one of the biggest heads in the nuclear industry. Here's an excerpt.

A blog called Next Energy News leaks a story about Toshiba building a "Micro Nuclear Reactor" that would be nothing short of a miracle.

The 200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy.

via Gadgets-Weblog

Sad that this news was a hoax but in reality, if such a design were to be made in a feasible manner, this could be wonderful in lieu of the growing concerns on global warming and move towards greener energy. Well, it still would create new problems in the nuclear non-proliferation regime but lets deal with this one step at a time.

Dilbert, the ever so true picturesque depiction of an engineer's mind has done it again. I guess this is strip is one of their oldies but I was riffling through some of the old files in my hard drive and found this gem.


Hopefully, to the technologically minded, this should send a resonating lol twitch.

So what do you say we give another shot to kill 'em writer's block.

Am hearing Satriani with a bottle of good wine, after watchin a fantastic movie, and here's me talking sane, as my insane hands type all by 'emself.

No I ain't drunk. Or atleast not yet. But definitely am bitter at the feeble self typing this message. Feedback of sorts, I've been promising for months to keep this blog aloft and failed quite miserably. And now, I come to realization that maybe I should write no matter what, since all those beautiful thoughts in my head need an outlet.

Here, now, I vow to write to my heart's desire once again to reclaim this space I've ignored for so long.

Life has been harsh but has not taken a toll on me yet. I've seen worse compared to where I am currently and so have prevailed life's cruel efforts to keep me down. This coming year, I promise thee to deliver worthy content, enlightening enough to defeat buddha's words ;-)

Here's another drink, to a happy new year !

I am not sure if I should be happy or sad about this recent finding. Apparently, Cockroaches are quite intelligent during the night while are quite retarded during the early hours of the day. Well, the article reminds me of someone I know. ME !

Yes. I am probably one of those weird offsprings in the evolution of nature who has adapted to live quite contended during the night while needing atleast 3-4 coffee's to keep myself awake during the day. And hence, productivity suffers as a function of my clock.

Sadly, most people around me are quite happy working during the day, causing me great concern. If only everyone didn't evolve individually, they'd all be just like me and loving their wonderful nocturnal life. But then, where will the vagary in nature come from ;)

I am sure you've heard the news already and seen the video of the explosion a million times. That is unless you are living under a rock. The new bomb is supposed to be completely free of nuclear materials but still delivers the "boom" that would be expected of a nuclear device. Quite interesting and a little scary considering that Putin has been sacking and shuffling his cabinet recently to fit the profile he wants. Is this an attempt by Putin to bring Russia back into a state of global power ? Time will tell.

Anyway, without diverging further, let me give you an excerpt from an article on the new Russian test. From CNN

The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday.

The bomb's detonation is shown in this image taken from videotape.

It was the latest show of Russia's military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States.

Channel One television said the new weapon, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."

"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks. Video Watch Russian bomb test »

Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment, he added.

Read more ...

<sarcasm>YESSS ! It doesn't hurt the environment ! That should keep the global warming fanatics quiet. You showed them Russia. Way to go.</sarcasm>
Retards.

Btw, also found a nice video of the test, an official release from the Russian government. I should say, the mushroom clouds get me all tingly every time I see it on video. Let's hope I'll never have to see that in person during my life !!

Independence. Something taken for granted in this generation, without that aching for freedom beyond chains, that sweet memory almost lost in the sands of time. Pride fills my chest thinking about what we have accomplished over 4000 years, with her culture strong, her diversity numerous, I salute, all those faded heroes my backyard red sand holds.

Vande Mataram.

No excuses but apologies again, and again, for those innumerable days of absence this and past year on account of severe work constraints. I believe that once there was something in me that pushed me write so frequently, something that fervently held my brains in position to come up with the motivation and insight to write interesting articles. Where did "that" hide itself is a question I ponder ! In hopes of reviving that which was lost within me, here, I start again.

This year has been quite a ride overall and have met quite a few pros in my field during one of my visits to a national lab at Idaho. The trip was fantastic and got to meet some nice people to hang out with, to play, to cook and to drink. I could not ask for more. The work has been state-of-the-art for the most part but every now and then, I find myself at the bleeding edge. We still have a long way to go !

Life has resumed back in Texas and my semester starts in another 2 weeks. Research is the primary focus now and have very few courses left. Several papers await completion and I need some very good sleep. Until tomorrow, peace be with all of us.

Whatdya know ?! Its PI day again. I remember posting on this day, last year about the same event and now, here we are again ! And in case you didn't know, today is also the birthday of 'Dr. Einstein' of the E=mc² fame ;)
Here's a tribute to this magic number, :

History:

• Biblical References: I Kings 7:23 II Chronicles 4:2
  In Kings, it states, "And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from one brim to the other: it was round all about, and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about."
• In 240 B.C, Archimedes of Syracuse, Sicily (287 - 212 BC) did the first theoretical calculation of . He used methods similar to the ones used by Euclid by inscribing a regular polygon inside a circle. He started with a hexagon and then polygons of 12, 24, 48, and finally 96 sides. He also used one of Euclid's theorems to develop a numerical method for calculating the perimeter of the polygons. Archimedes obtained the approximation 223/71 < < 22/7.
• 150 A.D. Ptolemy found pi to be approximately 377/120 (or 3.1416)
• 480 A.D. In China, pi was found to be approximately equal to 355/113 or 3.1415929 ...
• 1150 Bhaskara (a Hindu) gave 3927/1250 as an accurate value of pi
• 1579 Viete used polygons having 393,216 sides to evaluate pi correct to 9 places
• 1610 Van Ceulen used 2^62 sides to compute pi to 35 decimal places
• 1949 ENIAC (first modern computer) spent 70 hours to compute pi to 2,037 places
• In September 2002, Pi is computed to 1,240,000,000,000 decimal places by Professor Yasumasa Kanada at the University of Tokyo. It took over 400 hours on a Hitachi Supercomputer.

Facts and interesting stuff:

• All the digits of Pi can never be fully known.
• William Jones, a self-taught English mathematician born in Wales, is the one who selected the Greek letter for the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter in 1706.
• Thirty divided by ten gives a value of 3. However, it is interesting to note that the word circumference happens to be spelled with an extra letter. Since in Hebrew all letters are also numbers, if we take the ratio of the value for the word as it is written (111) to the normal spelled word (106) we get the number 1.047169811... If you multiply this number by 3 you get 3.141509434... An amazingly close approximation to !
• The 1983 Guinness Book of World Records lists Rajan Mahadevan from India as having recited 31,811 places of pi from memory !
• PI poem by Lorreen Pelletier: The number of letters in each line corresponds to a digit in the number pi, up to 35 decimal places.
• The value of can be computed using the fibonacci sequence ! Link.
• How do you prove that the exists ?? Here's an interesting theory.
• Can you decipher the digits of using a Sanskrit sloka ? Here's a demonstration. Interesting read !
• Here's to 1000 digits:
  3. 14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 59230 78164 06286 20899 86280 34825 34211 70679 82148 08651 32823 06647 09384 46095 50582 23172 53594 08128 48111 74502 84102 70193 85211 05559 64462 29489 54930 38196 44288 10975 66593 34461 28475 64823 37867 83165 27120 19091 45648 56692 34603 48610 45432 66482 13393 60726 02491 41273 72458 70066 06315 58817 48815 20920 96282 92540 91715 36436 78925 90360 01133 05305 48820 46652 13841 46951 94151 16094 33057 27036 57595 91953 09218 61173 81932 61179 31051 18548 07446 23799 62749 56735 18857 52724 89122 79381 83011 94912 98336 73362 44065 66430 86021 39494 63952 24737 19070 21798 60943 70277 05392 17176 29317 67523 84674 81846 76694 05132 00056 81271 45263 56082 77857 71342 75778 96091 73637 17872 14684 40901 22495 34301 46549 58537 10507 92279 68925 89235 42019 95611 21290 21960 86403 44181 59813 62977 47713 09960 51870 72113 49999 99837 29780 49951 05973 17328 16096 31859 50244 59455 34690 83026 42522 30825 33446 85035 26193 11881 71010 00313 78387 52886 58753 32083 81420 61717 76691 47303 59825 34904 28755 46873 11595 62863 88235 37875 93751 95778 18577 80532 17122 68066 13001 92787 66111 95909 21642 01989 ...
• Here's a palindrome for you : "I prefer PI" !!
• e raised to the i*pi power equals -1 (e is the base of the natural logarithm and i is the imaginary number which is the sqare root of -1)

Alternate addendum:

Book:
The life of PI - Here PI is a real Indian guy's name who gets stranded in the sea for more than 250 days. Its a good read although the writing is a little too tedious for my taste.
Movie:
PI - The movie starts with the line "When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun, so when I was six I did...". Now with a line like that, how could i not watch it ! I'd recommend this movie to anyone who's a little perceptive and frankly, a bit obsessed on math or anything for that matter. I watched the movie and loved it but few of my friends hated me for recommending the movie. So, there you go. But seriously, if you get some time, and are a math fan, watch it !

Links:

• Wikipedia
• The Joy of PI
• The story of pi
• 14 different ways of computing

I realized today that i haven't posted any more than 10 posts in the last 8 months and that kinda sucks. I frankly wanted to do more but life hasn't been very helpful in that respect either. Anyway, i just recently found out that my sister reads my blog very regularly and she is upset that i don't post more often.

So for her sake and whoever else reads this blog often, i swear, i'm going to post atleast once every week. But, if you are a reader, leave me a comment and let me know that i'm writing this not just for myself.

My last post, i mentioned about going to India. Of course, i went to India, stayed for a month, stayed out of jail, had some great times and am back to the same old hectic schedule i started off with. I've been pretty busy writing papers, completing assignments on courses and whole bunch of writing code apart from sneaking some time off to drink beers and read novels and there lies my reason for not posting regularly. And not to mention, the remaining time i have, i sleep my ass off.

But all that WILL change soon, if you as a reader leave me a comment. This ain't no plea but just something i want to find out to see if this is worth the time. If not, i'll just start maintaining my site and stop blogging here. So there you go. It's your call. Less than 10 comments, then i'll have to scrap the blog i've maintained close to 2 1/2 years :(

Update: Apparently, my template was a bit messed up and no one could actually post any comment. I just recently ditched my old template and got a new one.

Thanksgiving. What is it ? Why is the dinner on Thanksgiving day such a big deal here in the U.S ? I've asked many people about that and have received varying interesting answers. Here's a brief analysis of this holiday from my perspective.

History

The fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day, in the US is celebrated traditionally to give thanks to God for the things one has at the close of the harvest season.

Parallels

US - Thanksgiving : Fourth thursday in November
India - Pongal : Middle of January
Canada - Thanksgiving : Second monday in October
UK - Harvest festival : Full moon day in September
Germany - Erntedank : First sunday of October

A holiday by any other name, still is sweeeet !

Evolution

The modern day Thanksgiving seems to have diverged far from its origins and is usually marked with parades, huge family meals, wall-to-wall american football. The festival has become a commercial event bringing together family and friends for feast and marks the start of the official holiday season in US.

Nonetheless, in the basic principle of thanking God or whoever else they feel most obliged to do so, families do get together even amidst rigorous schedules. And that is probably the important aspect about any holiday - bringing people closer.

My Thanksgiving nostalgia

I was invited to a very informal Thanksgiving dinner by few friends. For my part, i made few delicious Rasagulla for dessert which by the way did not hit it off among everyone here. Sigh. Anyway, the dinner eventhough did not involve any traditional thanking speeches and toasts, still brought a deep nostalgic feeling that claws the heart. And needless to say, i watched a lot of american football games over the past few days even if i still think that it does not match the intensity of a soccer game. But hey, thats just me.

The point of that short ramble is that even a very informal dinner on such an occasion managed to bring back sweet memories into my fragile little mind. These new friends remind me of those old ones and family, so far away in India. And there lies the beauty of a holiday !

The closer the day of my visit to India draws in, the more i feel nostalgic over every simple action. 12 days and counting ...

My dear fellow bloggers and readers, i sincerely apologize for the long absence from posting the kind of junk i usually do around here. I completely intend to make up for the lost time in the coming days by blogging about some very interesting things i have learned till now.

Apart from improving my formal English by writing one kick-ass thesis, i have managed to read and understand a lot of Math on linear algebra, iterative methods, time discretization schemes and of course better coding practices. Although, these might seem unimportant in the daily scheme of things, my friends, they place themselves at the heart of my research.

The point of all that rambling is that i have successfully managed to finish my M.S research after delivering one awesome defense. My thesis still awaits some aesthetic corrections but apart from that, it is quite complete in its coverage on "Nonlinearly consistent schemes for coupled problems in reactor analysis". And that my friend, is my sweet topic !

Bummed. Worry not, you. I shall provide some interesting bits of information, totally unrelated to the above topic, to sate the hunger you bear for weird science and trivia.

The point of the post: I am well and my life is probably at one of its high points. In another month, i could officially call myself a "Nuclear Engineer" ! And there i shall rest this post. Until later, hold thy peace.