I am back... almost

Hey people,

Wish you all a very happy 2006!!

I missed you, and hope you missed me too :-).
I shall be back and posting starting 3rd Jan evening, LA time.

Abhi posting from a Reliance cyber cafe in Delhi, sitting with my cousin, who also has started blogging.. more abt that later.

The India trip has been nice, I gave talks at my high school, and several at my college.. hopefully the kids will learn from the mistakes I made. It was heartwarming to see them at the point where I was some years ago. Still cannot believe I passed high school 6 and a half years ago!

ITBHU now has online access to all journals, IEEE, ACM, Springer.. you name it... we are going for wireless access in hostels soon.. things are looking up.

I have some interesting pics too, will upload when I get back.

And now, back to shopping and meeting people... see you all when I get back!

Love and Luck,
Animesh

On my way... @HKG

Hong Kong airport is a pretty place... u can see the runway with the planes, with ships in the water behind... with mountains still behind.. all in one view!

Net access is free on the terminals they have provided, but wireless had to be paid for, a far cry from singapore airport.

Anyways.. I am sleep deprived [thanks to the economy class leg space] and busy working on my quals proposal which I have to show to Prof. in Goa.

Back to work now... keep smiling :-).

Luv and Luck,
-A

Yaar main India Chala!

Okay folks.. it is time for a small break.. I shall see how frequently I can blog from India, but internet access will be limited.

As promised, here is my itinerary:

Dec 15, 16 : Bombay
Dec 17, 18, 19 : Goa
Dec 20 : Air
Dec 21 - 26 : Mankapur [where my parents are, a place near Lucknow]
Dec 27 - 29 : Varanasi, where my alma mater is :-)
Dec 30 - Jan 1: Mankapur again
Jan 2 : Delhi
Jan 3 : taking off back to LA!

As I said, I would love to meet you folks when I am in India. If you are going to share the same city with me at the same time, please email me and we can meet.

Yeh thi khabrein aaj tak, intezaar kijiye kuch din baad tak!

Love and Luck,
-A

Today's run.. and today's style

Ran 12 miles today... too tiring... finished my Gatorade in the first 3 miles... must remember to carry bigger bottle next time. As usual, here is the link.

In other news, I decided to get a new look after a long time. So here it is, my new beard style. Zack was kind enough to do a photo-shoot [those are his glasses :-)]






So.. whaddaya say?

I shall be landing in Bombay on 15th Dec evening and taking off from Delhi on 3rd Jan Afternoon. I shall soon post a detailed schedule, so that I can meet some of you when I am in India.

Already thinking of the samosas ..mmmmm..

-A

The new.. and the old

Short post, since I am busy typing my wrist off on a paper due soon.

Go and see this video about the new meeting the old on the Indian-American scene. Hilarious. A really good job.

Thanks to Salim for the link.

back to typing...
-A

An eye for an eye!

[Info: The religious facts were initially told to be during a USC rapport group meeting by a Rabbi from the USC hillel center.]

Today I read this article [and many others] about the guy from Kerala who is stuck in Saudi Arabia and is sentenced to have his eye gouged out because he had a fight with a Saudi youth which resulted in the latter's eye getting hurt.

From the article:

Naushad, 33, hailing from Anchal in Kollam district, had been asked by a Shariat court in Saudi Arabia to give one eye to the person whose eye was damaged during a scuffle with him.

Now on to some discussion.

- On the surface, this seems barbaric, but this is the law in that country, isn't it? I mean we can say that death is too barbaric to someone smuggling drugs [as in Thailand], but then that is the law of the land.

- But then, one wonders, where does this law in Saudi Arabia come from? The answer is also simple, since we all have heard the oft-repeated phrase "an eye for an eye"

- And this is where it takes an interesting turn, when we read the details of the phrase.

The oral law of Judaism holds that this verse cannot be interpreted as mandating exact physical retribution. The rabbis of the Talmud ask, "How can any person be certain that the punishment they inflict is definitely no worse than the initial injury?" They answer that this is one indication that the Bible, when stating "an eye for an eye," does not refer to physical retribution. They proceed to cite several more indicators for this thesis.

The Oral Law explains, based upon the biblical verses, that the Bible mandates a sophisticated five-part monetary form of compensation, consisting of payment for "Damages, Pain, Medical Expenses, Incapacitation, and Mental Anguish" - which underlie many modern legal codes. Some rabbinic literature explains, moreover, that the expression, "An eye for an eye, etc." suggests that the perpetrator deserves to lose his own eye, but that biblical law treats him leniently. - (Paraphrased from Union of Orthodox Congregations website [1])

It should be noted that Judaism, while not allowing physical retribution for torts, does contain provisions for corporeal and capital punishment to be carried out for certain crimes under rare circumstances.

- So you see, the Jews interpret it differently, and say that God did not mean to literally remove the eye, but to provide compensation for it.

- But then, why should the Muslims in SA follow it?

- Actually, the verse comes from the Torah, which is held holy by the muslims also.

- So why is the punishment for this guy not a fine "equal in amount to the fee needed for a surgery to correct the injured youth's eye"

I wonder.. I wonder.., a nation which can boast of the highest scholars in the religion.. follows the trivial interpretation of a law written in hebrew and translated in english. [The literal translation from Hebrew means "an eye under an eye", with the word "under" interpreted in different ways]

Note that this is not a post against islam or shariyat laws, but the interpretation of this one particular law.

I would appreciate if people can shed more light on this topic.

here's hoping that things work out for the better for Naushad.
-A

Don't even think of touching my basmati !

Slashdot has a nice reference to this article on BBC about how India is developing a database of ancient medicines to prevent stupid patents like the one on the healing powers of turmeric.

Lets hope this helps stop bio-piracy. Make sure to read the related articles mentioned on the BBC page.

-A
P.S. Ran 7.8 miles today morning. Here is the route

The X people are coming!

Yipee... if the trailor is anything to go by, X-III is going to be awesome.. I shall wait for it!

Here are links to the official movie site, the teaser trailor and the wikipedia entry.

Cheers,
-A

P.S. Also check out hoodwinked .. a nice cute story.

Half a Marathon, and Indian Highways

Today we were supposed to run 10 miles, but thanks to Zack not realizing that the baseball field which we were supposed to see just before turning back was obscured by bushes, we ended up going a "little" over and the entire run was finally 13.1 miles! Here is a link to the path.

Now since a marathon is 26.2 miles, I think I can say that I just finished my first hald marathon! The time taken was 3 hours and 15 minutes, and I hope to improve it in time for the real marathon, but boy... it was fun! The run was along the Los Angeles river and it provided a nice atmosphere, although a bit stinky sometimes. Sad to see a river reduced to a drain.

Huge thanks to Mary Ann, who kept pushing me to keep running, and waited for me in the many times when I stopped to catch a breath. Thanks buddy!

In other news, I came across a nice article in the New York times yesterday [or today super-early morning] in the New York Times about the recent construction of the highway system in India. Read it here. If it asks for registration, use bugmenot.com :-).

From the article

The highway itself brings change. For a nation inured to inefficiency, the improved interstate saves time - for Kailash Pandey, a milk-seller, one-third off a 90-minute commute to market; for Imtiaz Ali, 15, half off the bike ride to school; and half off the travel time for Sarjeet Singh, a trucker.

These micro gains make for macro benefit: some $1.5 billion a year in savings, by one World Bank estimate, on everything from fuel costs to faster freight delivery. More intangibly, the highway may turn India into a society in a hurry, enslaving it to the Western notion that time equals money.

Also, make sure u click on the "interactive feature" link ... nice audio commentry.

As usual, comments appreciated :-).
-A

Postcard from Varanasi

[Info: Ran 7 miles yesterday morning. Here is the route.]

Gaurav sent me this link to a nice video about Varanasi.

Makes me nostalgic about all those years spent in ITBHU, and also about India.

Also it was interesting to see how westerners react to the Hindu way of cremation, since it is something new to them. I wonder when he will show a clip about the excellent food available in Varanasi :-).

Well, I shall be there in December.... yipee!!

-A

Failing ocean current raises fears of mini ice age

[submitted on slashdot just now]
New Scientist is reporting here that the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream are "stuttering", causing fears of an mini Ice Age style temperature reduction.

From the article:

Nobody is clear on what has gone wrong. Suggestions for blame include the melting of sea ice or increased flow from Siberian rivers into the Arctic. Both would load fresh water into the surface ocean, making it less dense and so preventing it from sinking, which in turn would slow the flow of tropical water from the south. And either could be triggered by man-made climate change. Some climate models predict that global warming could lead to such a shutdown later this century.

Time to get that fur coat out?

-A

Guest Post: Why does it happen?

Sanjay Dani, the founder of ITBHU.org [and a friend, philosopher, guide to me*] recently sent me his comments about a recent article in the Indian Express on the IOCL incident. This post is a reproduction of his mail [with permission]. Read on for an interesting take on the root cause of the existance of such a mafia.
-A
* [update] The above statement has lost its validity as of Dec 2006, when he and I had a split [he choosing to call me names because I stood up to his autocracy]. The article is still good, and I ask you to read on.

---

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82819

Flawed policies and incentives to make billions through
illegal arbitrage and quality compromise in more civilized
countries rarely make their mafia/cartels justify murder risk.

1. Floating, i.e. unsubsidising, kerosene can't fully
insure _all_ adulteratives like pentane, benzene, heptane, etc.
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1557027,000900010004.htm)
will be priced at par with diesel and petrol. It may reduce
the financial incentive, not eliminate fully.

2. The author should consider rephrasing her statements (double
quotes are suggested additions) in order to not give undeserved
policy cover to the oil mafia in state/central govts:

a) The profits "and a non-enforceable criminal justice
system, as evident how the CBI/state policy let the
murderers and conspirators behind Satyendra Dubey's killing
get away" make murder an acceptable risk.

b) The responsibility of the murder lies with economic
policy "and the non-functional criminal justice system
that doesn't allow honest officers and prosecutors to
convict not just the murderers of Manjunath but the entire
conspirating mafia behind, even if leading to the CM's or
PM's office".

3. Market forces can deal with adulteration, i.e. the
recent decriminalizion after the anti-adulteration
CBI cells themselves were found to be corrupt, can work
only if the oil company management starts taking explicit
responsibility to shut off supplies to offenders based
on a mandatory sampling policies instead of leaving the
honest lone rangers like Manjunath to enforce the
raids/shutdowns physically on the site.

4. Market forces can deal with quality control only if
shareholders feel the heat from customer rejection and
are incentivized to make their management enforce quality.
When the shareholder is the government, i.e. no realtime
accountability that market forces depend on, the rakshaks
have more incentive being bhakshaks. So public sector
management can have it both ways: be on the payroll of
the adulteration mafia, as is surmised based on the fact
Manjunath was a rare exception, blame the lone rangers
for not enforcing quality control, and "the govt".
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82644

Despite all the flak (am sure much deserved) given to
private oil companies like Reliance it might be worth
reflecting customers are flocking to their petrol pumps.
Guess the Ambanis have more incentive to make money
from larger market share away from competition with
better service and product quality (unfortunately
monopolizing the supply side and abusing import policies,
irrelevant here) than splitting profits with the adulteration
mafia. That is how market forces have to be made to work.

We can't continue to have the bastardized systems: a
democracy with a sold-out justice system, market
forces with unaccountable shareholders like govts, and
"pro-poor" subsidy policies made by elected decision
makers on the take from the mafia that abuses subsidies.
-
Sanjay Dani
San Francisco

PS. It is okay to redistribute this message as long as
attributed to the author.

Another One Bites the Dust

I guess a lot of you know by now about the basic news about the IOCL guy who was shot for standing up to the truth... but read on for some recent developments. If you are not aware of this, make sure you read on!

It started when Ram and Karthik, my roommates, told me about their school and college friend who was gunned down recently. The story took some time to sink in, and it was evident that these types of incidents are what brings shame to mera bharat mahan. Makes one wonder if it is worth to choose to not take a dollar-paying MNC job after an IIML MBA and instead work for a PSU like IOCL in a place like U.P.

Well.. enough of my talk, here is what I would like you, the reader to do :

1. Visit the site that his friends have set up in his memory. Leave a comment to show your support.

2. Sign the petition that has been created for this effort. I know it may not have a concrete result, but trust me, a show of solidarity never goes waste. The higher-ups know that there are people who care. So sign it.

3. Spread the link of the website [http://manjunathshanmugam.blogspot.com/] to all you know. It matters.. it really does.

4. If you have a blog/website, please post about it. If you have already talked about it, re-talk about it and post the link to their website. The more people visit it, the better.

Here's to you, Machan!
-A

8 miles.... many more to go

Ran 8 miles [12.88km] on Sunday morning with the USC marathon team.

Here is a link to the route.

It was fun... especially since my quads were still hurting from the cross training at the swimming pool on Friday evening. I could barely walk on Saturday... and seriously doubted by prospects for the 8 mile sunday run, especially since I had run only 4 miles in the whole week.

However, thanks to the support from Pankaj, Zack and the others... [thanks to Mary Ann and Cleo too, who constantly motivated me to run more.... I just envy their ability to be able to run slowly and steadily].. I finally made it.

I cannot quite experience the feeling you get after such a run... you just have to do it for yourself.

Looking forward to more such experiences... well.. we are training to run a whole 26.2 miles finally!

Gatorade is the friend... running is the dharma!

Love and Luck,
-A
P.S. My quads still hurt... but I still managed to attend the first practice of "Vidushak", our Indian improv comedy group :-).

Colored Bubbles

Saw this on slashdot today. An inventor [and his Indian PhD friend] have invented a technique to make bubbles with color. See here for cool pictures, but if you want to read the whole article at once, go here.

From the article:

Tim Kehoe has stained the whites of his eyes deep blue. He's also stained his face, his car, several bathtubs and a few dozen children. He's had to evacuate his family because he filled the house with noxious fumes. He's ruined every kitchen he's ever had.

In other news, IT workers have been dubbed the worst dressed corporate employees.

That's it for now folks... I am going to order by color bubbles now :D.

Love and Luck,
-A

Meditation Builds up the Brain

New Scientist is reporting about a study conducted recently that clearly shows the benefits of meditation. Read it here.

From the article:

They found that meditating actually increases the thickness of the cortex in areas involved in attention and sensory processing, such as the prefrontal cortex and the right anterior insula.

“You are exercising it while you meditate, and it gets bigger,” she says. The finding is in line with studies showing that accomplished musicians, athletes and linguists all have thickening in relevant areas of the cortex. It is further evidence, says Lazar, that yogis “aren’t just sitting there doing nothing".

I myself have felt a difference in attitude, if nothing else, after starting meditation. The natural path group at USC is really a nice opportunity for students to enjoy the benefits of this great technique.

Enough typing... going off to the group meditation now!

Love and Luck
-A

Israel Chooses Indian PSLV To Launch New Spy Satellite

Space.com is reporting that Israel is going to
use the PSLV for its new satellite.

From the article:

In a controversial break from a longstanding military space policy of strategic self-reliance, Israel has decided to launch its next spy satellite aboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rather than its own indigenous Shavit rocket.

Great news I say... hurrah to Antrix Corp.!

-A

Heated Eco-Friendly Bras to save the world

Just submitted this on slashdot, lets see if this gets accepted.

According to this story at the BBC, Triumph has announced a bra with in-built gel pads that can be easily heated in a microwave or a hot water bottle.


They say this will reduce air conditioning costs, thus saving the environment.


From the article:

The bra comes with matching shorts, but is not being offered for general sale. Instead the set is being viewed as a prototype product, the first step towards mass-producing eco-friendly clothing.

I for one welcome our hot-bra'd overladies :-).

Picture Time

Okay all,
Here are two of my latest snaps.



Snap 1: My snap from the 100 year celebration of the Viterbi School of Engg. I was among the 10 odd students among a huge number of faculty and administrators. The stand-up comic was an engineer before, and he uses a powerpoint presentation :-).

---

Snap 2: This is from the 4 mile run during the marathon practice on Tuesday. Thanks to Zack for the snap. We run short runs thrice in the week and do a long run on Sundays. The aim is to finish the 26.2 mile run on March 19, 2006.

That's it for now folks.. back to work now!
Luv and Luck,
-A

Worst Software Bugs Ever

Sorry people for not posting for a while now, but things have become too hectic, with my quals proposal taking shape.

Anyways, here goes:

Wired news has a nice article about the worst software bugs in history [here].

Here is the link to the top rated posts on slashdot.

Love and Luck,
Animesh
P.S. Read this article about how two women were arrested for going topless during a protest in Sacramento, while their male friend, who was also topless, was spared. A case of inequality of the sexes?