I have been following the soccer world cup with a certain degree of regularity over the last few days. Now, I have never been as ardent a fan of soccer as a lot of my friends have been but I have been sucked into the maelstrom by the waves of passion which must necessarily exist [...]
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Gulf Oil Spill
It has been 50 days since the Gulf oil spill started and the news media and the internet have since then been inundated, often confusingly, with various estimates of the amount of oil leaking into the ocean every day. We heard 1000 barrels in the beginning, then 5000, then 12000-25000. I was watching CNN today [...]
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Neutron stars, sugar cubes, and squeezed humans
The wikipedia article on Neutron star says the following, ‘The density of a neutron star is approximately equivalent to the mass of the entire human population compressed to the size of a sugar cube.’ I hope we can all agree that whoever came up with the idea of measuring the density of stars in the [...]
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Feynman
If I could have one wish fulfilled, listening to this man in person would be at the top of the list. Above world peace and unlimited chocolates!
Bishop’s gambit
Throughout the last 4 years I have been fortunate enough to have had the company of friends who are not only smart people but have an intelligent and curious outlook towards the world. I think that it is relatively easy to be good at something, anything if only you start early enough and work relentlessly [...]
Art-less
It bothers me to think that for all the mystique and hazy beauty that is often endowed to ‘Indian art’ by nostalgic emigrants and westerners too eager to latch on to the infinite ocean of eastern wisdom, it is actually quite a barren field where new ideas almost never come along and old ones are [...]
Science as a belief
It’s interesting how much one doesn’t know of oneself until he is asked specifically and has to think about it. So the other day Khatri bhaiyya asked me why I get so flustered whenever the topic of homeopathy comes up. As it turns out, I really do get irritated but if he had not mentioned [...]
Progress
There is an ancient Egyptian poem, written in the 19th century BC, which translates to: Had I unknown phrases Sayings that are strange Novel, untried words Free of repetition Not transmitted sayings Spoken by ancestors. I wring out my body for what it holds, Sifting through all my words; For what has just been said [...]
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A rant
I went to a show today at the Price Center ballroom in UCSD. It was a humorous, informative effort at raising awareness about social issues like violence against women in some parts of the world with a distinct undertone of strong feminism. Now there is nothing wrong in advocating equality of opportunity and status between [...]