Ameet's blog

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.

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.

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

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.

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 & ...

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 'simulate...