Ameet's blog

Half baked ideas

2008-03-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Just read about apple's research on autostereoscopic displays, which lets us see a 3D image, without needing to squint :) I have been thinking about a pet idea for a long time, which is half baked, and will probably remain so.. Hence I though it might be good idea to spell it out here, so that interested people can work on it/ evaluate it. (and if blog post has any legal validity as a prior art, at least people can't patent it :) I have heard enough brickbats about it from friends, but still it charms me to envision its implementation. Here it goes :(
1. Head tracking pointing: Human computer interface has been trying to replace mouse with gaze for a long time. Usual problems associated with such are distraction and confusion, as cursor follows gaze, and gaze follows moving cursor, which follows gaze and so on. Even gaze tracking is not that accurate yet/ cheap enough to be practical. My solution is head tracking. Head is easier to track approximately, as features/ silhouttes are fairly good indicators. If we put cursor approximately in front of our head. (straightline coming out of our forehead, intersecting the screen), instead of our gaze, the problem is solved much easily and elegantly. All we need to make sure, is with head held steady, the cursor stays steady to a high enough accuracy. It need not be exactly in front. As long as one can keep it steady, and move it about at his will, we are good. The eyes, will track the cursor and move head till it points to the desired location. Thus responsibility of visual-motor feedback is delegated to user, who is much better at it, as he knows where he is going. Distraction is minimal, and computation cost is low enough. If this works, then I can use my Iphone embedded with 2 cameras in two top corners, to track my head, and use very small head movements to focus cursor to the tiny keypad, and type faster than using thumb with little practice. We can also have deliberate head gestures, for common tasks. (wink to click. tilt to left to zoom in, right to zoom out, and so on). All user needs to do for calibration is to snap his own picture, while he is looking at 4 screen corners one by one. When you are gazing out of screen, nothing is affected. Imagine a big art project: A display screen, with cameras mounted in corners, which puts big red globs on yellow background, where visitors' heads are looking. Anyways, enough rant. I would love to see it happen!
2. Keyboard pointing with mouse: So many times, at night, you are typing on laptop, but you cant see the keys due to darkness. You tilt the screen down to give some light, and tilt it back to see what you have typed. Its a bit of a mess. Instead how about, having a backlit keyboard. Each key has a light in it. You can move you mouse to scroll through different keys lit one by one, as if keyboard was an extended screen. When you mouse hits the display bottom, it enters the pseudo-screen of keyboard. Convenient and more importantly, elegant.
3. Breath monitor: You know how your breath is related to your moods. Angry, afraid, stressed lead to shallow breaths. Deep breaths relax the mind. We all know this, but most of the time, we are simply unaware of this pattern. How about a gadget which can monitor your stress level/ breathing pattern and make you aware of it. Breath can be monitored electronically in many ways. In case, bulky instrumentation is acceptable like in a ventilator in a hospital, flow/pressure sensors can be put inside nostrils/ ventilator to detect condition of patient. Are lungs working properly, is there clogging of airway due to sinus, nature of cough, is he agitated/nervous/conscious/sleeping. Or even otherwise, we can have a simple tshirt with accelerometers/fabric strech monitors embedded in front and back, to measure chest expansion. If embedded with small Galvanic Skin Response device, it can even more accurately assess stress levels. A lot of research in pattern analysis is still needed. But such bio feedback devices can be very useful.
4. Smart sweater: 40% of energy used in USA (excluding that for transportation) is used in HVAC, or Heating, Ventilation and Airconditioning. And the most easy and zen way to keep warm without burning fuel is to wear a sweater/jacket. But these are very dumb. They are bulky, we need to take them off and on, as surroundings vary. We cant use them while exercising, as body heat is building up, and so on. One solution is smart sweater, which is very light, and made from fabric which is good conductor of heat. It will have just two layers of cloth, stitched in places with elastic stiches to keep them close, and with air pumped in between. Air pressure dictates the thickness, hence the insulation. A smart miniature two way valve on the wrist, will keep in memory the preferred body temperature, and will measure surrounding and body temperature. Thus when body needs to cool down, it will release the air. When it wants absolutely no insulation, it will prompt you by vibration to press you wrist and vacuum seal the two layers, pumping out all the air. When it needs insulation, it will open the incoming valve and ask you to pump the air in, by pressing your wrist. Thus it will let you manage your own insulation intelligently, and in an elegant manner. And save your electricity bills.

Feynman

2008-03-15T03:55:00.000-07:00

My hero :P I just love this guy! One more video. His quotes ..

-I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
-No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
-Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.
-If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.
-What do you care what other people think! (not exactly quote, but a pact between him and his wife)

Innocence

2008-01-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

A week back, I met a friend, who while reminiscing college days, said with dismay, "all is right now, but the innocence is lost." With this, I started thinking about innocence. What is it? Wikipedia articulates it so well.

Innocence is a state of unknowing, where one's experience is lesser, in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale. In contrast to ignorance, it is generally viewed as a positive term, connoting a blissfully positive view of the world, in particular one where the lack of knowledge stems from a lack of wrongdoing, whereas greater knowledge comes from doing wrong.

This is so intriguing! We treasure innocence, not knowing. We yearn to keep inner child alive, reminder of times when we knew nothing, were cared for, were more full of love & joy, were not so judgmental. We censor our movies, we give spoiler alert before divulging a plot.

This affinity of innocence, runs counter to the doctrine of knowledge, which says that more accurate is our world view, better it is. It also indicates a very fundamental limitation to our freedom. It is very easy to go and learn something, but very difficult to unlearn it. We are bound by our memory, past impressions, stupidity of selective evidence for confirming our theories and vicious cycles of mental processes. Of addiction, of prejudice, of ego, of lust, of guilt, of trauma. Knowing somethings implies undergoing an experience, which changes something in us, which binds us into these vicious loops, and keeps us away from serenity. An extreme example is finding taste of Cyanide, you have to taste it to know the taste, and that kills you. All so called 'Sins' starting with primal sin of Adam & Eve, are usually experiences which may cause us to lose ourselves, if not handled correctly. May be that's why sex education is so tricky..

Is there a way to the knowledge without losing innocence, or freedom to stay serene. Maybe.

Spirituality/ religion can help. Much knowledge starts and is validated by experience. But sometimes we also learn knowledge, which can't be proved by facts, which starts as a belief / blind faith first. Whether God is delusion or not, it sure helps people lead happier lives. Extension of good faith/ trust to strangers can actually encourage good qualities in them. Faith based knowledge, spawns good cycles, countering vicious ones. e.g. love thy neighbor, and he will love you. Smile and world will smile back. Believe in best in people, and that will come true. Or Buddhist precept of not taking your judgement too seriously / keeping an open mind keeps us away from trap of prejudice/ dogma. They can also instill artificial fear to keep you away from Sins, sometimes for your good, but have safety valve of confession to absolve you from the guilt trap, having sinned.

For survival, it is useful to know that fire burns. You can either take your mother's word for it, or stretch your hand and find it yourself. What is important is that this knowledge does not bind you, disturb you. It should not lead to aversion/ phobia of fire. There are people in the world who can hurt you. But having defenses up all the time can drain you of joy & vitality.
Last week, while reading Chinmayananda's book 'SelfUnfoldment', read a very common sense definition of Sin. Sin is something which brings you remorse, either in short or long term. If it doesn't, it is not a sin. Leading a life of a monk without joy, just hoping for long term happiness in heaven is a sin. On the other hand, eating junk food all the time, and growing obese is also a sin. It is very personal.

Globalization !

2008-01-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

The manhole near my lab :-) Inner cover from Mexico, outer cover from India, and outermost ring, from China :)

Tata Nano: 1 lakh Car

2008-01-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

Well what can I say! They said they would do it, and they did it!!
Hats off to them! Ratan Tata, Tata group, Engineers and designers.
Here is a very good interview of Ratan Tata by Charlie Rose. Is this the beginning of manufacturing led growth in India? Now if only government steps up with infrastructure projects, India can go the China way.

2008

2008-01-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Johnny Lee: HCI for masses

2007-12-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

HCI is Human Computer Interaction, and Johnny Lee from CMU, is making it damn cheaper and fun! And he is making all the code, tools available for hobbyists freely on the web! Now, you can turn any laptop, computer, wall projection into a touchscreen. Or you can wave your fingers at it like in Matrix, click, zoom and pan. Why limit to fixed, flat surfaces? You can take a blank paper, a tablet, an umbrella or mini clay model of a car and turn it into a movable projected display, giving it virtual skin, zoom, pan, doodle on it, move it, tilt it, twirl it! He also has figured a way to use wiimote to turn the flat, drab 2D screen into a 3D display using head tracking, offering custom views for each perspective. Now ducking and strafe from oncoming bullets in Doom, can be much more real life! And all this without the expensive price tag. All above projects are doable with access to off the shelf hardware like computer, projector, wiimote or Umbrella :-) he has also made a 14$ steadycam, which takes steady shoots even while cameraman sprinting! That is the boon for all wannabe speilbergs with great ideas up the sleeve, but no money in the pockets. Cheers to you, Johnny!

US vs John Lennon

2007-12-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

All he was saaaayyying, is give peace a chance!

freegans!

2007-11-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

America is a cauldron of exotic people.
Yesterday at a party celebrating my friend's completion of permanent head damage (aka Ph.D.), I had piece of delicious icecream cake on my plate, and I went into kitchen and started talking to a very warm girl doing the hardwork of shuttling pizzas in & out of oven. Considering how high up I am towards my progress in Ph.D. (read above full form again :-), absendmindedly the plate tilted in my hand, and splat! Icecream cake was on the floor.

Now listen to what happened next! I was searching for tissue to grab the cake, put it in trashcan, and wipe the floor, when in swooped this young lady, picked up the remains of cake from the floor, and took it on 'her' plate, and said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I will eat it!" I was aghast! Now, my standards of cleanliness and what is hygienic are below the world average, but this was even beyond me! and being the sensitive person that I am, I was not going let anyone suffer for my mistakes. I started to grab at piece of the cake. We almost got into a tussle, when I sensed her resolve, and backed up for the fear of hurting her.
"You would throw it in trashcan!", she said. "I can't allow that. I am a freegan. I believe in not wasting any food."
"But it is unhygienic! You might get a food infection!"
"Dont worry", she said,"I do that all the time. My stomach is made of steel."
Aghast at this ordeal she was going through, due to my mistake, and surprised by strength of her beliefs & resolve, vague thoughts about satyagraha, and my father chiding me for leaving few grains of rice in my plate hovered in my mind. But I was too dazed to think through :-)

Then she started telling me about her principals. "I used to do dumpster diving earlier." (i.e. Searching dumpster for food thrown away because it is beyond expiry date, but perfectly edible.) "I don't do that anymore. But I can easily do this. Don't worry about me."

I offered to eat up the rest, but she was doubtful :-) "You would throw it in trashcan." So she would not budge. Now I am looking up freeganism on the google, and can see where she was coming from. I am simply amazed at her passionate belief of what was right, and her readiness to act for it despite fear of what others think/ risk of food infection, and all this with smiling generosity of spirit. How many people can show such courage! I for fact know, I can't :-)

I am just hoping, her stomach is fine... :-)

IWoz

2007-11-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Steve Wozniak, the guy who designed Apple computer, rocks! Listening to him is almost like revisiting childhood. His innocence, his artlessness, his passion, his evergreen beautiful mind is so rare, and so precious!

Blues

2007-11-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

Blues, mood swings, depression are states of mind. They need not necessarily define people. One can come out of it.

Sherwin Nuland, the surgeon and author, talks about the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression. Midway through, his story turns personal. It's a moving and deeply felt talk about relief, redemption, second chances.

YES+ !!!

2007-11-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, I attended a week long course called YES+! It stands for Youth Empowerment Seminar, and is designed by Art of Living Foundation. It was such fun! Full of energy, dancing, music, meditation, exercise and breathing techniques designed to calm the mind, improve focus, get rid of negative emotions, find joy & peace in the present moment, feel connection and sense of belonging with others. I recommend it to everybody! It was taught by Natalie, a sweet young american girl who has conducted many many trauma relief workshops in New Orleans for Katrina affected people, inner city youth, prisons. I have always been overawed by all Art of Living teachers I have met. They really 'know' what they are talking about! Lets hope my discipline gets better of my inertia in practicing these techniques :-) Below is a music video made in Montreal YES+ course, which captures beautifully the essence of YES+.

Truth about Gujrat Riots : Tehelka

2007-10-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

Ashish Khetan, the brave journalist from Tehelka.com has found out some very disturbing truth about Gujrat Riots & role of government inaction in it. Listen to these people, as they speak about their, cops', Narendra Modi's role in riots, with exhilaration, without any remorse or moral qualms. Their morality is shaped around Hindutva, and its glory, and hatred of muslims, and feral animosity long cultivated by shakhas, history, fable of past glory, and isolation from Muslim community. They are gullible enough to reveal all, to a relative stranger whom they believe is member of their clan. I have known a person who is very nice person in all other aspects, except this. He is raged with passion, and hatred when he talks about Muslims. He talks about their plan to reproduce and take over India, and his willingness to take up arms when the time for war comes. The first time, I heard him say this, I sincerely wanted to ask him to get a psychoanalysis, or convince him of irrationality and phobic nature of his thinking, but it was no avail. Now I know how widespread the problem is...
Bravo to brave Ashish for uncovering this. Now we know what we are up against.. Not the people, but the indoctrination which created them. VHP, Bajrang Dal are extremists for sure. But if RSS ideology has role to play in this, it is truly evil. Lets hope the people who committed this, are brought to justice. Otherwise, these expose will be recruitment material for Islamic jihad.

Oliver!

2007-09-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

the boy who asked for more :-)

Here are some wonderful songs from Oliver!
please watch in larger window.

NGOpost

2007-09-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

NGO Post is the people's platform for sharing and discussing social welfare ideas and initiatives.

NGO Post is more than the traditional news website or mailing list. More than about news, it is about ideas that facilitate action. And because it is You who bring in the stories and You who decide what gets published, we expect the best, and only the best, to be on our frontpage.

Keep up-to-date with ongoing social developments. Learn how people are making a difference. Get inspired. Share insightful stories. Discuss ideas and solutions. Find information. Connect with people interested in common causes. And Contribute to the projects that need your skills.

All at NGO Post..
http://ngopost.org

and now, in a lighter vein :-) A poem composed by Nitin

Keep up-to-date with social work
Learn, get inspired, don't be a jerk!
It's where news is crispy as toast
NGO Post, NGO Post!

You report stories, you rate them too
The good ones remain, you throw out goo!
It's where your participation matters the most
NGO Post, NGO Post!

Stories to discuss, ideas to share
Actions to follow on opportunities there!
It'll act as your collaborations host
NGO Post, NGO Post!

If you are an NGO, share you deeds
Want volunteers? post your needs!
It'll be the site you love the most
NGO Post, NGO Post!

Custom torture :-)

2007-09-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Recently had a very 'memorable' experience with Indian customs, which I was planning to blog about. This was my first firsthand experience with public corruption & bureaucracy, hence quite a learning experience.
So this happened, when on my India trip, I naively carried two laptops (one for a friend & one for my work, as I needed both) without thinking twice about the custom trouble it might create :-) I was vaguely aware of 25000Rs limit, was foolishly optimistic of my falling below the custom radar or overly confident of dealing with any eventuality. Alas, on my way out of Mumbai terminal, when asked forthright, I declared the same, and was promptly asked to come to side & open my luggage.

The officer, Mr.B was way too good for his job. The free & black market prices of all electronic valuables & accessories were on his fingertips. His knowledge of dell, hp, toshiba, ibm brands alongwith innards of chipsets, ram, dvd specs would compete with authorized salepeople. He asked me net value of my hp laptop. 25000Rs. I underquoted, since I knew that was the limit I could carry without duty. Obviously aware of my insincerity, trying to keep straight face, he started inquiring about configuration, and adding up costs on a piece of paper. So much for ram, so much for chipset... there is no way your laptop costs less than so much. Humbled by his encyclopedic knowledge & authority, I figured the best way for me was to come out clean. I told him, "you are absolutely right, officer. Pardon for underquoting(lying about) the price. It costed me 850$(34000Rs), i do not have receipt. I am carrying laptop for friend, if needed, I am ready to pay duty, as I have crossed the legal limit"

Accustomed to rather lengthier theatricals, he was rather surprised at my naivette, and he said, "I am glad you admitted your mistake. I am taking your word for the price, though I believe it is much higher. Now wait a while till I come back." Thus he made clear, he was making me a favor, and probably expected favor in return. He came back after 10 min, started making rough calculations, asked me to open my luggage, where he found camera lenses I was carrying for a friend, for which I had no receipts as well. He called over an officer, Mr.C, expert in Camera lens pricing. After asking all specs, he quoted a price. (which I suspect was at least 50% higher). He also mentioned that 25000Rs. exception can not include laptop, as government already allows one free laptop. (which I later found out was an outright lie) I was now really scared. Because, customs duty is draconian (33%), which I was not aware of until then.. So started adding value of nonexempt goods I was carrying. After tax, the duty was about 9000Rs. That too after, believing my word on laptop price. Thus he scared me about the consequences of 'following the law', which is first step in corruption. never mind if he had twisted the law/ exploited my ignorance of it/ overhyped the gravity of my mistake.

Then he asked me how much can I pay. I said, right now I don't have any money on me. This upset him, "where do you stay, can you contact your parents? anybody in Bombay? any friends? Go ahead, if you want, use my cellphone." He emphasized consequences of not paying duty immediately. your lugguage will be sealed, its 'proper' value stamped on it along with duty, you will get it back when you come & pay duty. I might not be there to 'help' you, then." I told him, "my parents are going to be outside to see me, but since my flight was preponed, it will still be an hour before they come here. So they are not home, I don't have my father's cellphone, so I can not contact them." Just when I remembered, somewhere deep inside the luggage, I had a 100$ bill stored away for such emergencies, almost 3 years back. I told Mr.B about it, and cheer returned to his face. Unsure of next course, I was kind of hoping, he would let me get away by paying just 100$=4000Rs, almost half the duty. He almost seemed to.. he worked the numbers again, lowered his valuations, overlooked certain items, to bring figure down to Rs.4500. He said, he can take the money, and with a straight face he said, but he wont be able to give any receipt for it. This was when, I 'realized' that this money would go in his pockets, and I was engaging in corruption. My immediate reaction, was of impulsive revolt, without heeding the 'practical' voice that this was an easy way out. With a nervous helplessness, I said "No officer, I have to have receipt. I just cant give money w/o receipt. I am so sorry. If needed I will pay the whole duty, if not today, then sometime this week." He sensed my insanity, and said, "Its time for my break, I have to be gone for 10 min. Think about it. What will you take, tea/coffee? I will send it here."

Waiting there, with hawkish constable watching over my luggage, I glanced around. On wall, were signs that gave warning to passengers. "All payments have to be made against receipt in SBI branch located nearby. If you have any grievances about custom procedures/ harassment complaints, contact the chief custom officer in white uniform." This was to prevent the widespread harrassment which used to happen earlier at Mumbai customs, which received widespread media publicity, forcing officials to make changes like this. That was when the cap on exempt luggage was raised from 1000 to 25000, and one personal laptop was made duty free, which stopped torture most people underwent through. But for people like me, falling outside that bracket, Indian customs was going to make sure I pay without receipt. Their aim was to minimize harrassment to a level where corruption would thrive without public/media outcry, not to eliminate corruption.

Tea came, and so did Mr.B, along with his seniors Mr.D & E. Mr.D who was native Maharastrian, said, "B told me about your case. Usually I am very busy. But I heard your surname, and I came to see how I can help marathi friend." He in his friendly glibness tried to convince me all virtues of taking the easy way out. "We are here to help you... compare how much you need to pay with/without receipt. How much time will be wasted, getting extra money, going to pune, coming back. your friend might be upset, he maynot reimburse you for the extra customs duty, and so on" I said, my friend will, as I know him well, and he will respect my decision. He even offered me to take his cellphone & call my friend, which I declined, citing memory loss :-)" This was when I realized, that this is a collective initiative. Everybody has his cut in the bribe predetermined. I said, with sheepish grin, walking tightrope between stubbornness & not giving offense, " Officer, call me madman. But I just cant give money without receipt. Treat it as my personal illness, but please give me another way out." Finally, he threatened.. "we don't have all all time in the world. Next flight will be here in 10 min. When it comes, I wont have time for you. (I will have new bakras to milk :-), so better decide and act fast. If you want it with/without receipt your choice. We are not forcing...". I realized my time was running out. I did not have enough money to pay full bloated duty, but enough to pay bribe.

Almost ready to give in, I decided to give my luck last chance. "Can I visit my family, which might be outside, and see if they have some money?".. sure, he said, and gave me a pass to return inside, and let me go. I went outside, and found my parents waiting. I briefly stooped to touch their feet, and asked them for money :-) How much do you need? Give as much as you can, I said. Luckily, Mom had 3000Rs. I took them, and returned inside customs. I told about to Mr.B. He angrily refused... "No way, I can get you away with paying just 3000Rs duty and give receipt." I clarified that, I meant to pay 3000RS +100$=7000Rs, and that was the maximum I could muster up in short term. He was surprised... He realized that, I sincerely meant to pay amount of duty he stated, and was not playing/ faking honesty to go scot free. All games were off. He realized, there was no use persuading me, as I was insanely insistent on paying duty, none of which would go in his pockets. He had less time to go through paperwork of paying duty, as new airlines had arrived, and people were lining up the xray booth, all potential bakras. He asked me to wait.. He will be back.

After almost 30 min, he came back. Realizing, my patience was running out, and I might be troublesome if I tell about such harassment to people, he decided to appease me. He worked numbers again. "So Mr.Deshpande, How much money do want to pour down the government?" "As less as I can, without breaking the law", I said. He smiled.. He accounted the new laptop cost, within 25000Rs exemption, (which was the correct way), and duty came down. He adjusted here & there, to make it 4000Rs. He made sure, I understood he was doing me a favor. "You are lucky Mr.Deshpande, to get officers like me". I agreed. I took the valuation, went to bank, deposited money, took the receipt, went back. The receipt had to be signed by chief customs officer, standing by turnstiles. Myself & Mr.B walked over, and I showed the receipt. he carefully looked at it, and frowned (as I was probably first person in many weeks to pay the duty). Just as he was about to object to something, Mr.B gestured, and said something in soft voice. He signed the receipt, and I was good to go almost 2 hours after I arrived at Mumbai :-)

On my way out, everybody constables, doorsmen was giving me strange glances, when I showed them receipts for passage of luggage. It probably was a rare event. I was glad it was over, and without my having to pay bribe.

Lengthy post... but lessons to learn are.
Corruption will not go away. It is there for a reason, because rules are stringent, people cross the rules, and want an easy way out. But if you want to, it is possible to go through customs without paying bribes. Know the rules. Stay within legal limit. Take receipts. Laptop can count in the 25000Rs exemption. 33% duty is levied on everything above 25000Rs. They will try to scare you, by using your ignorance of rules, leeway they have in making valuations and their ability to keep you waiting. Don't let them. Customs are scared of media/ public outcry too. Be sincere, be assertive & refuse to play games.

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins

2007-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Awesome poem!! Here is the text :-)

Shelter Associates

2007-08-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

Recently on visit to India, I visited a superb NGO from Pune, Shelter associates. Started by architects, they helped in creating most up-to-date maps & surveys of slums in pune. Now they also have ability to create layered GIS maps of slums, with any possible information starting from family size, occupation, move-in history, rental/own house, toilets, water taps, electricity connection and so on. Such surveys helped create tailored, optimal solutions for slum developement/relocation/hygiene improvement projects for which SA acted a facilitator. Two of their success stories have been made into documentaries by Yashada, pune. Please watch them, and spread the word amongst your friends about this superb good work. Dr. Pratima Joshi, director, SA was recently awarded 'Ashoka' fellowship for this useful work.

Kamgar Putla slum relocation project

Sangali slum sanitation improvement

Stupidity

2007-05-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

I was browsing wiki entry on stupidity, and found such gems. Why was I searching so in the first place, you ask? well, I was testing myself for it :-)

Stupidiy can be lacking or flawed intelligence, tendency to groupthink (trying to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas), confirmation bias (rational thought being derailed by strong opinions or rigid beliefs which adhere to selective evidence), unwitting selfdestruction or the ability to act against one's best wishes.

Modern science specifically evolved to combat confirmation bias. During scientific thought we should constantly criticize our own beliefs and assumptions (attempt to disprove hypotheses), while also using humility and extreme self-honesty to reduce our ego-based biases.

Is a fool same as stupid? I don't know... But I starkly remember this cryptic story from Chandoba which drove me nuts as a child.

Once a king had two sons, elder being studious, sincere, respectful and the younger being unruly and arrogant. Worried about their rearing, the king decides to send both to the gurukul of a distant wise sage. 6 months later, to see their progress he visits the ashram, and meets his two sons one after the other. The young one is delighted. "Father, I love this place. Studies are so easy. Guruji gave me some texts to read, they all talked about tales of foolishness, and I was able to finish them faster than anybody else. At this pace, I think I can finish all the studies within 1 year." When asked about his elder brother, he said, "He has immersed himself in studies. He takes them a bit too seriously."

When king met elder son, and asked how he was doing, he said, "Father, I have understood how much I have to learn still, to be a good king. Hence I spend all the time learning, reading books, discussing & internalizing. I think I still have long way to go. I will need 3-4 years to complete my studies."

When the king met the sage himself, he said "Your elder son is progressing well. Within 3 years, I feel he will be adept at ethics, politics and other duties of a king." "What about the younger son?", king asked. Sage paused a moment, and said, "Oh, he is too brilliant for my school. His retentive powers are superb, and so is intellect, and is already way ahead of his peers. I don't think, he has any use of my teaching. Instead of wasting his time, I suggest he return and continue his studies at home." This surprised King, but after a while, he acted as suggested. End of story.

This story drove me nuts. Was younger son a fool? Did he not realize the texts he read are talking about people like him? Can Fools be intelligent? Can fools help their being fools? Is this some uncurable disease that sage washed his hands off? So many questions... That was beauty of Chandoba. It taught us ethics with such stories .

Please watch this. Arvind Eye Hospital

2007-05-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

Art of Electronics

2007-05-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Came across a superb site, American Science & Surplus. These people are excited about electronics, and visit their site and you will get too. Whatever they are selling, be it parts from a used radio to a mere thermistor, their sketchy doodles, and humorous, to the point, honest to goodness sales pitch filled with vital-stats will make you see the 'value'. Truly a Trader Joe for online electronics.

Annie Hall

2007-04-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

Something happened today to remind of this line from Annie Hall.

"I would never wanna belong to any club
that would have someone like me for a
member." That's the key joke of my adult
life in terms of my relationships with
women

Self-esteem is a tricky business.

The Air Car

2007-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

The age of air powered cars is upon us! What I thought was April fool's joke is true!! These run on compressed air, do not pollute, run 200-300km on single refill, which can be done at air station in 2-3mins for Rs.90 or at home! (in 4 hours by plugging to the wall socket). Check out this & this video to see them in action. Developed by french MDI group, Tata group will be marketing these in India! Read the astounding specs in this story on rediff.

Pachelbel's canon in D Major

2007-03-18T20:06:00.001-07:00

Whew!

2007-03-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

Just finished writing my first paper, and man.. it was such a hard work. But just the process of writing it down, refines your thoughts, points out the gaps and makes it more complete. The paper is about doing faster optimization. If this theory matures in future, your cellphones, airplanes, stockbrokers will be using it to 'optimize' something (signal estimation error, trajectory error, fuel, minimize risk, maximize returns). I have been penning some generaaal thoughts on 'optimization' here. Shall be glad to receive any feedback.

Superb Monologue from Good Will Hunting

2007-03-09T01:57:00.001-08:00

How many people really care where the chain of actions they are starting leads to..

My first Wiki

2006-12-14T22:39:00.001-08:00

Last week I created my first Wiki at http://editthis.info/mozda_converter , and I am hooked on to the simplicity & beauty of whole approach. On this Wiki, we are collaboratively designing a low cost Dc-Dc converter for Mozda collective in Gujarat. This converter will help boost the efficiency & power output of the pedal power generator system being developed at Mozda.

Aba's Wisdom

2006-12-06T00:45:00.000-08:00

Today, watched Albert Finney in the movie 'Big Fish', and he reminded me strongly for my grandpa, or Ajoba/Aba in marathi :-) hence am sharing this treasured memory of his.

I think I was around 13 years old when this happened. We had Satyanarayan Pooja at our house. After his retirement, my Aba had learnt scriptures and used to perform all family poojas. So he conducted this one too. (an elaborate 2hr ceremony, involving decorations, mantras, many eclectic fruits, flowers and leaves, a sacred story telling session, and prasad) After the pooja, all neighbors /relatives are expected to come and bow before the god, so the door was kept open, and a steady stream of visitors started.

At that age, I was often at odds with my brother :-) Sometime in the evening when there was a brief lull in the visitors' arrival, we broke into a fight whose cause I now forget :-) All I remember is raged passions, raised voices and arms, and at the end of that whirlwind, we had disarrayed & nearly uprooted the pooja. Being elder, I understood the gravity of situation earlier, and just stood there paralyzed with shame & regret over my actions, humiliation and most of all the fear of what will happen next. I sensed that we had violated something very important, not just symbol, but probably God himself. Guests would arrive any moment, and Aba who conducted the pooja so piously would probably kill me/ shun me :-) That was when he arrived from the next room!

He saw what hath happened, saw the look on my face, and without a word or a scorn, and without pausing to think, he started cleaning up the mess and restoring pooja. He did not scold us then or ever again about the incident, nor did he held a grudge against us. For me, this was most bewildering, and just did not fit my view of the way world worked. When I thought long and hard about why Aba did, his wisdom dawned on me. He knew that pooja was merely a symbol for channeling good thoughts & actions, hence he set about restoring it without feeling angry, chose to counter our passions with his calm, thus stopping the chain of worse consequences! Today Aba is no more, but his wisdom has been a constant guide to me.

Brain & Mirror Neurons

2006-11-26T00:33:00.000-08:00

Brain research has turned a new leaf recently, and is now a hotbed of meaningful research. Some people might argue if it is philosophically possible for a brain to understand itself. But frankly it is already happening. 'Introspection' is going on both in labs & in minds. Ray Kurzweil has projected at TED that we will be able to reverse engineer the brain by 2020. Being in UCSD, the mecca of biotech & neuroscience; I have had the superb opportunity to hear Dr.V.S.Ramachandran speak on his unique research, and the inflection point neuroscience is poised at. One of his most deep findings is "Mirror Neurons". Do watch a PBS documentary on the same, here.

This started from a study in Monkeys. When monkey engages in motor activity (like grabbing a banana), very specific neurons fire up in his cortex. One day accidently, instructor grabbed the banana, and lo behold! Exact same neurons fired in the monkey's brain. Thus monkey went through the 'simulated experience' just by watching somebody else do it, or his motor neurons 'mirrored' the motor neurons of person actually doing it, hence the term.

Thus mirror neurons, give us a tool to rewire mental maps by simple observation & imitation, which is the recipe for all our progress. Plus they give us a very 'real' way to put ourselves in other person's shoes, walk around, live his life, feel his happiness & his sorrows. Thus they could be the neurological basis of compassion, love, empathy which are all uniquely human qualities, which help us connect with others, and which we ascribe to the 'heart' instead of head.

Rama's feat was to understand such deep value in a novel experiment, and articulate it. He is now working on autistic children. There seems to be initial evidence that in autistic children, mirror neuron activity may be limited, leading to difficulty in social interaction, avoidance of eye contact and other phobias. I myself am, a mild sociopath, and have had age old stammer, which keeps me company at oddest occasions :-) Thus I know the loneliness of not being able to connect with others, and importance of understanding its cause.

So for the first time, the brain research is coming out of jargons, and talking about things which make real sense. Now we can look forward to answers to many many deep questions like what makes us human, what makes us different, what makes us happy/depressed/scared, what makes some of us criminals, what is morality & does it have a neural basis, where do desires come from, how to differentiate between a bad hardware (neural disorder), bad operating system (psychiatric disorder), and just an easy to fix bug.

Lets hope we use this research for good. (because I just finished watching original "Manchurian Candidate", and I am psyched at the ill-use people can put hypnosis to.)

ZAMM

2006-11-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

Today del.icio.us brought this delicious treat. Interview of Robert Pirsig, author of "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainance" (ZAMM for short)! Bob's book is perhaps the most articulate & genuine documentation of quest for meaning in life, I have read. I cant claim to have understood it, but it has given me a superb tool to look at life, make sense of it, accept it and rejoice in it. I can hardly paraphrase experience of reading this book. But let me try.

Our actions are guided by either deliberate or subconscious goals. Goals are the ones which lead to a higher 'quality' (perceived value). Quality is simply what we like.

In other words, quality/value/passion can not be defined in terms of anything else. It is the very core of our preferences, and has to be accepted as is. It is too sacred to mold into conformity, or taken for granted. It is our dharma. We have to mold our thoughts around it, instead of fighting it. The book shows in a very hands-on way how to find your calling/dharma & act on it. It is not an easy read, but it drives home the point if you stick with it till finish :-) Having read ZAMM, I now much appreciate the importance of statement "I like to". It suddenly explains people, their vagaries, their brilliance, their passions and triumphs when they pursue those. It does not quite explain where in brain these desires (or 'Junoon' in Ankit's words) emerge from. But it puts a spotlight on primality of these desires in controlling our actions, and the fact that we know absolutely nothing about them, the need to keep away the prejudice while studying them and
skill to know a pure passion when you see one!

Pedal Power

2006-11-12T21:45:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I gave a presentation at Udai study group on Pedal Power. I tried to find the various designs, their specs, economic opportunities they can create in rural / off grid areas. Though I barely touched the top of the iceberg, I was dazzled by the scope & diversity of Pedal power. People have been running wireless networks and VOIP telephony in Ugandan villages using pedal power! Here are notes I made for the same.

After I posted this entry, I was contacted by Nick from off-grid net, a superb online magazine supporting alternative sustainable lifestyles. Read this story from Ladena, to see how wise economic & technological choices can lead to a 'thriving' life in the middle of nowhere, and can solve financial crisis. Click on the link below to visit this wonderful site.

Barracuda: Indian Race car

2006-11-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

I am SO proud of these guys! They are Indian college students, and planning to build a racecar. The car they have built now, combine pulsar absorbers, toyota steering column, and Rickshaw engine. This is true learning and spirit of enterprise at its finest!

Joy of Soccer

2006-11-11T22:05:00.001-08:00

Just finished a wonderful game of Soccer. May be it had to do something with the fact that we won :-) But maybe it does not. Because Soccer is not a zero-sum game.

I have always been an underdog in sports. And like all underdogs, I always hated loosing. I remember a childhood incident. I was playing cards with my Mami (aunt). It was the simple game of Bhikar-Savkaar. (each player takes turns playing the card on top of his stacks, and if your card has same type as the card below, you win) and I lost... and then I burst up in a fit of rage, tore the cards and shut myself in the room :-) I was angry with this game, with the winner for having won, and mostly with myself for having lost it. So then on, I have tried to avoid games I loose, and found perfect ally in this quote from "Catcher in the rye", as a balm over all past lost games.

Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right - I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game.

and thanks to Soccer, the mental maps are changing a bit. Firstly, it was solely for exercise. I used to run up & down the field, sometimes without touching the ball during the entire play :-) But that used to tire me out, sink my energy, and give a sound sleep. Thats the beauty of Soccer. No matter who you are on the field, you have somewhere to run, unlike Cricket :-)

Then slowly dawned on me that I have a decent shot at being good at this. As a defender that is. I discovered I have good focus to stay with the ball, and mark players. So I started studying passes, interceptions, charging, blocking lines amongst offenders. I tried this & that, and found what worked.

It also teaches how to play as a team. How to coordinate with mid fielders and other defenders to do more than one alone possibly could. You take pleasure in others' triumphs, and taste the team spirit. Earlier, I just used to observe the ball, now I observed players, understanding, appreciating the beauty of their game, understanding their intuition and guessing their next actions. All that helped me as a defender of course, but it also helped me enjoy the game at each step.

Lastly, it got rid of some nasty habits. When you goof up, there is some regret which keeps ringing in the memory. It used to ring a little too loudly for me :-) That made me bask in undue glory at smallest triumphs, and sink in undue regret over smallest mistakes, both of which made me a bad defender, because I lost my focus. When I realized this, I made an effort to be memoryless, just try to be in the present moment, and may be next 10 seconds, and by jove.. thats is such a great habit! I recommend it to everybody :-)
Soccer is indeed a beautiful sport... and I am learning sportsmanship. Joga Bonita

Grand man of Grand canyon

2006-11-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

I am reading a book, Grand Canyon: Early Impressions. These are writings of intrepid explorers who saw Grand Canyon, the mile deep furrow in Arizona, carved out by Colorado, literally, the 'red river'. Col. John Wesley Powell made the first river run of Grand Canyon in 1869. Without the buffers of dams, Colorado ran way too fast & turbid than it does now, making its river run almost impossible task. But Powell & his ragtag friends ventured into this great unknown river, and penned his travelogue.
The funny thing about this piece is that, it has all the seeds of great novel; heroism, drama, nail biting tension & anticipation, conflicts of egos, judgment as well as trust & steadfast fraternity. But the very fact that it was a nonfiction, and written not as an afterthought but as a daily journal, makes it a dry, barebones, matter of fact document sans verbal embellishments :-) This makes each word & sentence carry its weight in gold, sinking down the mind with tremendous gravity. 2/3rd way in the journey, Powell's crew had lost 80% of rations to the water, just when Colorado entered into granites. Granite is hard to erode, leading to a very uneven river bed, hence a dangerous & turbulent ride. It scared three people so much, they decide to climb the canyon walls, and somehow survive through vast dessert. When they decide to leave, Powell writes

As last daylight comes, and we have breakfast, without a word being said about future. The meal is as solemn as a funeral. After breakfast, I ask three men if they still think it is best to leave us. They think it is. Two rifles & shotguns are given to the men who are going out. I ask them to help themselves with ration, and take what they think to be a fair share. This they refuse to do. The last thing before leaving, I write a letter to my wife, and give it to Howland. Sumner gives him his watch directing that it be sent to his sister, should he not be heard from again. The records of the expedition have been kept in duplicate. One set is given to Howland. For the last time, they entreat us not to go on, and tell us that it is madness to run a boat in this place. Few miles of these rapids will exhaust our entire stock of rations, and then it will be too late to climb out. Some tears are shed; it is rather a solemn parting; each party thinks the other is taking the dangerous course.

They make it through the worst rapids. On 13th day, with rations exhausted, everybody is near starvation and are staying alive just on coffee, when they finally reach a Mormon settlement! and for the first time, Powell feels free to express his emotions, which are so powerful, that they almost ridicule the the verbiage they are expressed through. Listen to this

The relief from danger, and the joy of success, are great. When he who has been chained by wounds to a hospital cot, until his canvas tent seems like a dungeon cell, until the groans of those who lie about, tortured with probe & knife, are piled up, a weight of horror on his ears that he can not throw off, cannot forget and until the stench of festering wounds and anesthetic drugs has filled the air with its loathsome burden, at last goes out in the open field, what a world he sees! How beautiful the sky; how bright the sunshine; what "floods of delirious music" pour from the throats of birds; how sweet the fragrance of earth, and tree, and blossom! The first hour of convalescent freedom seems rich recompense for all - pain, gloom, terror. Something like this are the feelings we experience tonight.

One more funny incident was when Powell was climbing nearby mountains to scout the course of river, when he looses his footing and is hanging in air by the rope. When he writes,

Finding I am caught here, suspended 400 feet above the river, into which I should fall if my footing fails, I call for help. The men come, and pass me a line, but i cannot let go off the rock long enough to take hold of it*

and the * in above statement was explained in the shortnote at the bottom:

* It should be remembered that Major Powell had only one arm. (Ed.)

My deep respecks :-) for this man!

Who killed the electric car?

2006-10-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching this eye opening documentary, and I am choke-full of pity & disgust. Pity for the pettiness with which science & technical jargons are paraded to mask the truth & serve short term economic interests, and disgust for the big behemoths who do so with impunity. People might call this documentary conspiracy theory, but I have seen enough of corporate culture to know that it is not. Let me write a summary for you.

Technology for electric car was born in 70s. Like all technologies, this was a serendipitous discovery built in a garage and was disruptive. Disruptive because it gave a new option to the people, which was in long term interests of the environment, in short term interests of people using it for its speed, mileage & convenience. Disruptive also because it would change many games in town, games in which auto companies & big oil would probably loose, and who likes the loosing games? Hence they decided to stop the game.

As long as these cars increased the pie of sold cars, everything was hunky dory. But as soon as California enacted law to made it mandatory for auto giants to go more aggresive on sales & sale certain percentage of total cars sold as electric vehicles; the car & big oil sensed trouble. They understood that increased sales would come at cost of gas vehicles and economy of oil distribution. They twisted all the knobs they can. Decreased the supply by creating artificial shortage, creating waiting lists, tried to decrease the demand by creating dismal ads, dissuading people on the waiting lists, overemphasizing limitations of the car and by increasing price, all of which worked to create illusion of decreased demand. The perfect anti salesmanship!! To downplay long term environmental benefits of EV, they paid lobbying groups, politicians, pseudo environmentalists to campaign against it. (very very similar to people who claimed global warming is an hoax) and they killed the electric car. An invention which very good for people & nature was forced to go in oblivion because it was simply too good to be profitable in short term. That is economics & I understand it, but the way institutions which bear the responsibility to serve long term interests, namely courts, governments & public perception were compromised by lies, bribary & twisted logic is despicable...

Now EV is making a comeback in terms of hybrid vehicle. Partly because some companies like Toyota decided to stand up for it, and offered hybrids, which saved some part of the pie for the big oil economy. And understanding that they cant stop the game, auto giants decided to play by its rules. But still the importance & media hype given to hydrogen/fuelcell hybrid compared to gas/electric hybrid, smells to me of conspiracy. They might be deliberately discouraging expansion of electric charging stations to keep oil distribution system intact, while faking long term public interest by pointing to this pie in the sky of hydrogen economy, enough to keep people distracted; hardly denting the bottomline.

What is it about American organizations that makes them so ruthless & evil, and
unmindful of long term public interest? Or is that curse of all big corporations? Company like Google whose motto is 'do no evil' is an admirable exception so far. But can easily fall prey if they are not absolutely clear as to 'What is evil'.

Conspiracy theory & practice

2006-09-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Returned from a gruelling trip to Tijuana yesterday, and have some distinct sour & sweet tastes in the mouth :-) (sol & churros respectively). In the long day, met two people who gave fodder for this post.

First a curious old man of African descent while roaming near Cultural Center. On premise of inquiring a bus route, he started talking to us in Spanish, and after our vocabulary ran out, in fluent English :-) He said he was translator of Hebrew texts for the Fed & Rand. He spoke of his Indian friend in Tehran university, who started Indian nuclear program! (yes.. we were as surprised as you are!) After checking for mistaken identity with Pakistan's A.Q. Khan & Homi Bhabha, he remembered the name to be Shankar Subramaniam. We were taken aback by eclectic life of this character, who had to now use Mexican public transport. While we were started wondering about his sanity & credibility, he started on Two Rocks heading for Earth to annihilate us. "Thirty years.. thats all we got." Then he veered off to holy vedas, and huge airplanes in time of Ashoka (43000 years ago.. he said) and wisdom of indigenous people in various continents. Then he said, he was planning to start a Space research company in Mexico.. after which he wished us luck & left.

I had had a similar experience with a homeless man in San Diego seeking alms who got into a brief discussion. He was a son of millionaire he said, and he was working for FBI. His younger brother robbed him out of his inheritance and his agency fired him, because he has 'extraterrestial' genes within him, and that's why he was on streets.

It is amazing how unreal beliefs get formed in mind, and get cemented. In words of Rob Pirsig, the ghosts in the mind haunt us all. Ghosts are entities that exists only in mind. Even the so called 'science' are just concepts/ghosts in our mind, which are models of reality. So are all the desires, morals, trust, religious beliefs, conspiracy theories. The software in your mind controls your worldview & your progress in the world. The above examples, I think are results of the Bayes networks of belief assignment in mind gone horribly wrong. Once formed, such beliefs are very very difficult to shake, despite evidence. It takes enormous courage, to question those, like the John Nash from "Beautiful mind", who found that the girl in his alternative reality never grows old ! and thus pulled himself out of insanity. That's why, the Buddhist precept of "Cyat va" or "it could be true" for keeping open mind is so useful, and practise of rational doubt important. It sure robs you from security of complete sureness, but also prevents you from pitfalls of unreal faith.

But from my personal experience in life, I have also found that, sometimes the conventional wisdom, popular opinion can be horribly skewed because of people's tendency to believe what many others believe, blindly, and sometimes due to insecurities in believing otherwise. Therefore I prick my ears whenever I hear a conspiracy theory, a voice of descent, a doubting thomas, a madman, a dreamer who questions status quo. Because there is a good chance, that he is right, coz once upon a time I was one, and I was right.

Now the second person. In the returning bus yesterday, we met a kind & talkative old bearded man, who was heading to VA hospital. Our talk started with a recent demise of Croc Hunter, Steve Irwin in a freak accident. Later it veered to India, and his desire to visit the country if he had money. He was a soldier who fought in Vietnam. "I truly loved those two years", he said. He later worked with defence contracting company, General Dynamics, married, bought a house. And one day, General dynamics cut down the jobs across the board. He lost his job, his house and later his wife, and could never recover from the shock. Now he stays with his sister. "Welcome to the ugly underbelly of the Capitalism, which noone talks about", he said. It was very sad to hear his story.. His was the thorny case study in free market capitalism, usually addressed by retraining & greater common good. But it remained a fact, that capitalism had failed him.

Two troubled souls in one day. I could hardly understand their troubles... writing them down was the least I could do.

Tierra Miguel

2006-09-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to visit Tierra Miguel Foundation, an organic farm near San Diego, as a part of monthly seva at local Art of Living chapter. We gladly sweated under the watchful sun, to create a state_of_the_art circular herb garden :-) A few amazingly aromatic rosemary herbs already there, added aromatherapy to this outdoor sauna! It was a blast..

This is a agriculture project, mainly aimed at education & research in Organic farming & community living. They treat it a necessary expense which they cover by selling farm goods. They avoid the age-old problems of fluctuating demand & calamities by a network of CSA customers, each of whom receive a weekly box of fresh farm produce for an annual fee.

Our herb garden was in the frontyard of Peter Dukich, a 92 years old farmer! Wait.. read that again :-) He was a wonderful man, in pink of his health, with all his teeth intact and taught us real good tricks in digging, to conserve the efforts and maintain the pace. He also told us his lifestory. He was a selfmade man of Serbian & Irish decent, who once was a professional barber (men & women he said :-), a musician, a gardening teacher for a school of autistic children and finally organic farmer! "This is a way to live" he said, "we meet, we work, we have fun, have food, shake hands and make merry. Too many people are living alone these days." His very kind wife Charlotte & Milijan's wife treated us to the best nut-cake & cheese pie I had in my life!
I also met Mukul Senapati on this trip, whose hobby is gardening. He jumpstarted my plant collection, as we visited Home depot on way home. It is a real funny feeling, being responsible for something (5 lovely plants, in this case) for first time in my life!

TED

2006-08-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design conference. This is where each year, 1000 brilliant, passionate, creative people with original ideas meet and share those. It is an experience which only be recreated by listening to them directly. So, do watch Al Gore emphasize on global warming, Sir Ken Robinson discuss infusing creativity in education, Majora Carter on her sweet project of greening the south bronx, Larry Brilliantine who led the smallpox eradication campaign and now heads Google trust, the pastor Rick Warren ("The purpose driven life") and philospher Dan Dennett wrestle with meaning of idea of God & role of religion, Cameron Sinclair ('Architects for humanity' fame) describing his open souce architecture initiative, Jahane Noujaim, director of 'Control Room', documentary exloring the 'other side' of Iraq war; 100$ laptop visionary Nicholas Negroponte, Amy Smith on low cost clean fuels in developing world, Jeff Han prof at NYU on amazing multi-touch interfaces, and designers Ross Lovegrove & Joshua Prince-Ramus, and comedian Julia Sweeney and musical geniuses Sirena Huang (age 11) on violin and Jennifer Lin (age 16) on piano, as well as many other superb speakers! Enjoy & get inspired..

J Krishnamurthy

2006-06-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

I was reading collection of his "Talks with students" given at varanasi school in 1954, where he is talking passionately with school children about what is education. I have read just a chapter, and its message is driving me nuts. Purpose of education is to get rid of fear. To discover your interests, abilities, nature of the world and how to interact fruitfully with it. But primarily to learn to stop acting based on fear and start acting on knowledge. Like avoiding a ditch by walking round it, instead of being afraid of it. Even courage is not opposite of fear. And here I am, with so many subtle insecurities that some of them have become part of the nature. Education should help us understand them and get rid of them. Fear of competition, fear of opinion of others, fear of losing job, fear of beasts in our nature, fear of loneliness, fear of morals.. so many fears.. But being aware of them is first step in freeing oneself from them. I found two of the talks online here & here.

Jimmy Carter at UCSD!

2006-06-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Ex President of USA, Jimmy carter was at UCSD, spreading the word about Carter foundation, which has been doing amazing work in developing countries. Just to cite a few, coordinating the eradication of Guinea worm from Africa, building one of largest public latrine systems in African villages to eradicate river blindness and trauchoma, and fostering democratic process around the world by acting negotiator between rival groups, laying out of constitutions, ensuring fair elections in many countries, most recent one being Palestine.
Carter foundation bites what it can chew, and aims for efficiency and efficacy. Now that malaria bednet with 7 year impregnation roundtime has arrived, it has ambitious plans of rolling it out. It does not put names on the works it does. One of most heartfelt remarks he made was, "Through this process, one thing I intensely realized was that, we tend to gravely underestimate the quality of people in say Ghana, Nigre. They have same integrity, family values like me . And once we show what is good for their future, they adopt it with as much competence, alacrity and with a sense of appreciation!" A true honor to hear a good man. Watch the video here.

Charlie Chaplin & Gandhi

2006-06-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

had met! I was surprised, shocked and then overjoyed to know this. For some reason, I had kept both of them in two disjoint compartments in mind. They seemed so different personalities. But now I know that similarities were probably more potent than differences. Its time to go into prejudice basement again, and do some repairs :-) Also found this superb clip by Chaplin in his movie "Great Dictator" made in 1940s, as act of defiance in face of fascism.

Potraiture

2006-06-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is made from a b/w photograph of my mother in 70s, when she was a NCC cadet. My fondest memories of childhood are associated with this picture, thinking of all heroic deeds she did wearing that uniform. At one time, I believed she was a soldier in Indian army :-) If I have been able to reproduce even iota of her calm, steady, sure gaze, I consider it task well done. Drawing this picture has been truly a joyride in corridors of memory. The black corners in sketch are due to autocontrast in Picasa, sketch being too faint for contrast.

Subtractive sketching

2006-06-12T02:09:00.000-07:00

A kurta sitting on a chair, with a hand on his tummy, and a pat on his back, can truly come to life, not so much on paper, as so much in person like a cheshire cat with a wicked grin, as I sored my thumbs erasing away the charcoal :-)

Trotmap

2006-06-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Found this timepass code on net today! I am glad my trot-map is quite space filling, thanks to Indian Railways, and astute vacation instincts of my family :-) Far north, and north-east are still untouched :-(

Brought to you by pratibha75, quizling and teemus.

Which states in India have you been to?

Magic of Ink sketching :-)

2006-06-05T01:05:00.000-07:00

My first one :-) The lovely clay dear was made by Shankar, in UCSD crafts center. This one took an ink bottle (half of which got my carpet drunk, in one brush of impatience) and a wooden chopstick. So I would dip the stick into bottle, nip it again on both sides at the edge of bottle to drain the excess ink, and start dr..rr.. (oh.. that only went that far.), so dipping again.. dRRRRRR (damn! overdid this time.. blob of ink all over the deer nuzzle).. Patience.. ddrraawwiinngg.. (Completed it finally :-)

Argh!!

2006-06-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

It seems only way to upload an image in your profile on blogger, is to create a post embedding it. So here it is :-)

Reminiscing Dr. Carver

2006-05-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to Dr. George W Carver by his biography in Marathi, 'Ek Hota Carver', by Veena Gavankar. He lived during late 19th century, when Civil war had just ended, and slavery still rampant in south. He struggled against all odds to gain education, and was probably the first black person to get PhD from US University. He was an agriculturalist, microbiologist and a prolific inventor, and a very humane person. He taught at Tuskegee University, a newly founded school to impart trade and craft skills to black community, and truly revolutionized local agriculture by his methods of crop rotations, and singlehandedly created industries by his inventions. He touched lives of those he came in contact with by his humbleness, wisdom, wit and spirituality. Today while surfing found one of his favourite poems, "Equipment" by Edger Guest. It is humbling to know to that Dr. Carver, lived by these verses.

Anand

2006-05-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ananth, I started my day by lines from movie "Anand" :-)
"Babu Moshai.....zindagi aur maut ooparwaale ke haath hai Jahaanpanaah, use na aap badal sakte hain aur na main. Hum sab to bas rangmanch ki kathputliyaan hain jinki Dor ooparwaale ke hathon bandhi hai. Kab Kaun Kaise uThega, ye koi nahin bataa saktaa...hahaha..."

"Zindagi baDi honi chahiye, lambi nahin. Maut ek pal hai Babu Moshai. Maut ke Darr se zinda rehna chhoD doon to maut kise kehte hain? Jabh tak zinda hoon, tabh tak maraa nahin. Jabh mar gayaa saala main hi nahin, to phir Darr kis baat ka?"

Tutoring at Preuss school

2006-04-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Started today the tutoring at Preuss school near UCSD. The school & kids are amazing. The school is for children from lower income group, and is till 12th grade. I am planning to help in science fair projects and math tutoring. Met Lurisa, Lisa, Guam and Briana.. my tutees :-) They are in 12th grade, all on their way to college, and we were working on conics. It was refreshing to revise my knowledge, and help them along, and teach them how to think about the problem. My mind was drawn to my math teacher, Prof. N.M.Kulkarni who taught us in most interesting style. We literally used to sing formulaes in class :-) Anyway, I found I was able help them reasonably well when it came to solving the problem. But learnt an important lesson as well. When I was trying to emphasize to one of the girls, importance of learning completion of squares by heart, I stressed the point too much, and she took offense :-( So the lesson is, in teaching, it is very important to constantly gauge the mind of listener for alertness, interest, boredom, frustration, and never belittle and point mistakes, because, students especially in 12th standard have some touchy egos :-) It is better to engage them by positive reinforcements, pats on backs, and interesting chats.

Google Pages

2006-04-01T10:08:00.000-08:00

I tried brand new pages.google.com, and loved it. For lazy people like me, it is the best way to create aesthetic webpages, without the hassle of learning html. Thanks to it, I was shaken out of my inertia to create a webpage, that has passed the phase of "under construction" :-) It is ameet.deshpande.googlepages.com

Fareed Zakaria

2006-04-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

Got introduced to Fareed Zakaria through daily show, and since then I have been his biggest fan. This person can see through the big picture of international affairs, and separate chaos from pattern, reason from rhetoric, and offer most insightful analysis and unbiased perspective. His TV show "Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria" has free streaming videos of all his shows. One excellent article by him in Newsweek. "Why they hate us".

Some thoughts on tree people

2005-12-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

Counting days to return to India! It is a funny feeling.. Tossed & convoluted by jump functions in life, one stays at so many places, develops a routine, makes friends, 'settles' in a new life.. but there is always a place in mind to go back to.. The place, where so called 'roots' lay..

Roots.. funny word :-) Imagine them sprouting out of your toes, breaking the ground and cementing yourself on the spot! Though not a happy prospect, to some extent, we all are such 'tree people'. A generation ago in India, people didnt used to venture much far.. They would grow up, work, live & age in and around the same town.. some hated it.. some loved it.. but there was a sense of fatalistic reasoning in this.. "This is how it is supposed to be, and it is good in the long run" The 'roots' lay deep.. continuous with the land which connects all.. They sustained the happy life, fruitful work, familiarity, sometimes boredom.. Relations were strong, kinship encouraged and ambition subdued..

Now much has changed.. people can now 'choose' with much lesser constraints, where to work, live, whom to befriend and avoid. America is much elder in this tradition. In USA, around 30% population migrates within a decade to far places for work, love or weather. Partly this acts as an efficient labour allocation mechanism; but for the 'tree people', people who need to fix roots, this has been a turbulent ride. Such people face dilemma between next career move and wish to keep family 'rooted', making the children grow up in same school, neighbourhood. And all this while, the neighbours, are becoming more alien & transient. It becomes hard to invest in a relation if it is sure to be short-lived. Similar to an old lady, I met, in an old age home in SanDiego, who told us, that she did not wish to interact much with neighbours, as many of them die, and remind her of fruitlessness & irony of it all.

For a tree, being 'rootless' is equal to being dead, nonexistent; as having roots, staying grounded is a part of its persona.. It is not a choice, but an inevitability, part of personality, a dharma.. Humans are not trees, but we too have set souls, with preordained dharma.. It is wise for us to know it as soon as possible, and stick with it, come back to it. As Gita says, Even though of lesser value in eyes of the world, stick to your dharma, because 'pardharmo', 'any other dharma' is scary.. May we all find our dharma, and have courage to follow it! Perils of freedom of choice can only be countered by clarity of choice; as J. K. Rowling wrote, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

San Diego

2005-01-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

Am now in San Diego... suddenly at the opposite face of earth... Life has queer jump functions built into it! Am here to study control theory & (hopefully) do PhD in it.. am here for last 4 months... and am missing old days... Well... enough melancholy! hope to make best of it by studying hard, making friends, and keeping in touch with old friends. Plan to get back to India as soon as I finish it. All the professors I saw only on webpages are suddenly cubicle away, and dont look too overbearing :-) Am making ends meet while doing coursework & research.. Plan to write this more often, just for myself to keep track of my thoughts.. coz I am very forgetfull.. (if not memoryless;-) and some thoughts are uplifting in dark times.

Log

2003-02-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

I have been in Bangalore for 6 months now, and Lots of water of water has flown through Cauvery, (some of which went to Tamilnadu ;-) Had EEDP Goa trip recently. A course has been a bumpy ride so far. We are now counting days for it to finish. Meanwhile got a new project, this one definitely more interesting than the previous, causing my blues to fade a bit. Changed lab from AMT to EPST. Yup, thats about it.

Bangalore

2002-07-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

So there, I am here at GE, and here in Bangalore. Words like six sigma, master black belts, patents, disclosures are floating in the air and I am typing this sitting in my cubicle, having nothing else to do (till my project gets defined, at least :-) Bangalore is the city of gardens, pubs, mains and crosses, and (sob..) brokers. We had some tough time in playing politics with them and the landlords ! Otherwise all is cool. Went to trek to Makalidurga on last Saturday with a nature club natureadmire, and also to the Shiva temple (with a skyhigh statue of Shiva, as opposed to Linga observed at other places). At company met a lot of IITians (JB, who took my ragging, jimmy, nikhil, suvrat, shodhan et al). People here are really very highly qualified. nearly 70% with global exposure. But this being my first brush with corporate life, I haven't yet settled. Indeed, everytime I hear about siggy, minitab, fishbone, EMS and zee scores, I break into a sweat..

Tadoba

2002-06-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

Came from tadoba sometime back. I hope I will write the report soon. Had great 10 days, and saw tigers,chitals (this is same as spotted dears :-),sambars,sloth bears,crocs, barking dears,flying squirrel (I spotted this),langoors,wild boars and a lot others. Sat 18 hours on machan on 25'th May, full moon night from 2pm to 8am. Narrowly escaped a sloth bear attack. Saw infinite birds, and got to learn their names, too. Met some really good people, and also witnessed some EP clashes. Basically loved the whole of it. Nari has scanned and uploaded quite a few photos.
We also met Manohar Sapre an amazing old man who in 10 minutes talked to us about his life and philosophy, and sounded very genuine. He has recommended a bunch of books. After reaching Bangalore, will buy them w/f after first salary!! Well, I have a job now, and will be joining on 1'st. (hopefully) But before that, I have a BTP to complete.

2002-05-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

I am left alone with a few others in wing. Really looking forward to go to tadoba sactuary on 21'st. Seriously, I am going to miss all this, once out of IIT, maddu mess, CC, and whole lot of friends! Yes, since my login will soon be khatched, have moved my same old rusty homepage here.

2002-03-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

Captain Ameet's log starting 14:52 Indian Time on day 22/3/2002
Hope to post here sites which I find interesting, some musings, daily happenings and fundaes !
Currently I have a halfhazardly maintained, old rusty homepage