[mobilePic] Off to India for 4 days.

enabled by AP-PIC

Revisiting Maxims

This post is a redux. Because some maxims should be re-remembered. [ref: old post]

++++++++++++
But I guess the part that has been bothering me the most are maxims such as the one above, which make very strong claims, which are not true, at least not to the extent they claim.

...

As another case, take the following

Good things happen to good people.

or its much stronger cousin

Bad things do not happen to good people.

WTF?! That is _such_ a strong claim. How about saying

Bad things can happen to good people, but usually they have a strong social net of similarly good and understanding people to rely on, and that helps reduce the recovery time.

which, in my opinion, is much closer to the truth than its simple, absolute version.

Yes, I understand the above is hard to fit on a bumper sticker or a motivational poster, but some of us here are trying to lead more logically rigorous lives!

Well, enough of my rant. Have _you_ seen maxims that you think should be altered/improved/deleted?

And to end, I leave you with the song of the day, my favorite one from Ek Chalees ki Last Local (must watch, for desis and non-desis)


++++++++++++

This post goes out to all those who are going through tough times. I hope that with time (and support from friends), things will start to look up.

[mobilePic] Fajitas for dinner. Yum!

enabled by AP-PIC

[mobilePic] The aloo vadi curry turned out awesome. And my French neighbors liked it too. :)

enabled by AP-PIC

Oops for Indian Electronic Voting Machines

I was pointed to the video below by an article on slashdot on this topic. The researchers show how to tamper with an EVM so that it shows wrong vote counts after the elections. Let me know what you think, especially about whether this can be done in a real scenario on a meaningful scale.

Update: Link to website, which has abstract, and link to paper.



[Note their use of an Android app to reprogram the display :)]

Personally, I would prefer a EVM-based system where the machine also printed out a paper ballot, which the voter could see and then put in a box. The main counting happens via EVM, but in case of a lawsuit, the paper ballots could be used to verify the results. Total cost will not be much more than the earlier system, while still retaining the security and anonymity.

So, what say?
-A

[mobilePic] Indian sweets, snacks, and mom's pickle at work. :)

enabled by AP-PIC