Brew it

Dhruba chala pardesh... well almost (california)

2007-10-11T06:58:00.001-07:00

With tears in our eyes (almost) we bid Dhruba adieu. With him came an end to an era at NC State. Dhruba has graduated several Phd students in his stay here for the past 8 years and almost a million master's students. He has seen his friends get married, have children and watched their children go to school while he continued his pursuit towards higher education (2 Master's + 1 Phd). All through this Dhruba was a pillar of strength for his friends. People could take comfort in the fact that no matter what happened or how fast things changed, there were two things that would never change (Dhruba at NC State and his bachelorhood). One thing changed and Dhruba moved to California and now with Dhruba in India the second feature might change soon.

Open a bank account and get a free DON dvd

2006-10-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

I would have to agree with the fact that Indians are the most innovative people in terms of marketing. And nothing really sells better than Bollywood. I have not seen the new DON yet so will hold on the reviews, but I thought this advertisement was priceless.

Amartya Sen interview on NPR

2006-08-26T02:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the audio interview of Amartya Sen on NPR. (Click on "Listen" and RealPlayer gives the best results).

The interview principally deals with his book "The Argumentative Indian". Makes for good listening. And of course, eases the way for more debate.

Update:
Enjoyed his dressing-down of that Derek dude.

Happy Birthday Dhruba

2006-08-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

Happpyyyyy Birthday to you...

A Vyery Vyery Yappy Burthdayh Meeetaah...

2006-08-16T01:24:00.000-07:00

...in true south Indian shtyle !

Brownies!

2006-08-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

"Let's go home and make some brownies!" is by far one of the best lines I've heard in recent memory! In fact, this could be a pick up line for single desi men in the US trying to hit on women:

"Hey Baby? You wanna go back to my place and make some brownies?"

Actually that sounds more like a crude proposal of sorts. Well, I'm not going to risk testing that statement! :) Good luck to whomsoever tries that line. And if it works, don't forget to make me some too!

What?! I'm talking about baking brownies in the kitchen-oven? What'd you think I was talking about?

Hee hee!

Zidane Vs Materazzi

2006-07-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that annoys me more than people passing verdict on things they really have no interest in and dont understand. In other words they dont know what the F*@# is going on. But they still have to say things as if it is their duty to pass a verdict, judge someone and say something. I almost got into an argument with someone (who has no interest in soccer) at work about Zidane. I must confess I have the habit of idolizing people. Maybe it is the perfections in them that draws the perfectionist in the imperfect me out. I have been a Zidane fan for a couple of years now. I admire him and adore him. Watching him on the field is a treat to the eyes. This world cup I made sure I watch france play just cause it was Zidane's last worldcup. It was quite surprising that the usually mild mannered Zidane would head butt Materazzi with just 8 minutes to go.He should not have done it but I guess I understand. There are moments when anger rushes to your brain like there is no tomorrow and all that matters is the moment you exist in. I still believe Zidane is a great player, disappointed that he lost his temper but I personally would not judge him.

Ek Cup Coffee

2006-07-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ek Cup Coffee

Drop in Rape cases...statistically at least.

2006-06-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Statistics Show Drop In U.S. Rape Cases!

Apparently the number of rapes has delined from 2.8 rapes every 1000 people in 1978 to 0.4 rapes every 1000 people today !!!

Some excerpts...

Many criminologists and victims' advocates say that these numbers could be a statistical mirage, because rape is still underreported and poorly understood. But others say they have been convinced that there is real improvement and that a devastating crime has been receding from American life.
...
Not everyone is convinced that things are getting that much better. Many who work with rape victims say they do not believe there has been a widespread decline in the number of attacks. Instead -- despite the years of attempted outreach to rape victims -- they say the crime may be as hidden now as ever.
...
Now, though, some experts are saying they have been won over by decades of data showing the same encouraging thing: Rape in America is receding, and rapidly.
One measure is the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, which asks thousands of respondents 12 and older about crimes that have happened to them. This survey, which is meant to capture offenses that weren't reported to
police, is the one that depicted the 85 percent decline in the per-capita rape rate since 1979.
Another way to track rape's apparent decline is through the nation's police reports, which are aggregated every year by the FBI. Their reports, dating to the mid-1980s, show that rape reached a peak in about 1992, with 0.4 rapes reported to police per 1,000 people.
Since then, reported rape declined about 25 percent by 2004, the most recent year for which data were available. In that year, the rate was about 0.3 reported rapes per 1,000. Besides the fact that not all rapes were being reported, the two studies' differ because the FBI reports define rape more narrowly, excluding instances involving male victims. Both classify attempted rapes as "rape."
Last week, the FBI released its preliminary crime data for 2005, which showed that reports of rape had again fallen slightly -- even as other violent crimes such as murder and robbery ticked worrisomely upward.

Interesting statistics...but for me the jury is out on this one...while the numbers are going down, I shall sit on the fence for something more concrete to convince me of either reasoning.

Numbers in education.

2006-05-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

In response to an article in the Washington Post, I sent an email to the author, and was pleasantly surprised to see his reply, acknowledging the fact that perhaps my thuoghts might have been correct in pointing out some factual inaccuracies in his article, and asked for more of my thoughts on the issue...

So, I did some "research" (extensively on Google) and came up with...

Numbers in Education.

Plagiarism....bad, bad very bad

2006-04-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

She is 19, pretty and had the world at her feet. Signed $500,000 contract with her book publisher, got into Harvard and signed a movie contract. There was nothing else she could have asked for. Everyone was awed and slightly envious of the girl. Now the young author finds herself in the middle of a plagiarism allegation. She says that she was un-intentially influenced by the book. So un-intentially influenced that even some of the lines are similar as reported by NYT. It sounds similar to when a professor caught people cheating in my class (they even had the same typos).
I am sure things will work out in the end thanks to goddess Laxmi. But, will I ever pick her book up?

I was wondering in the random world

2006-04-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

I was wondering yet again, one click after another took me into the depths of the virtual world. I lost track of where I had begun, how I had started and why had I wondered away. I then found myself on the wiki of the true father of Pakistan. The guy who dreamt of a muslim state and passed the torch to Jinnah they say. He is no other than the man who gave us "Sare Jahan Se Achaa". I was in disbelief, having sung that song in my terrible voice all through my childhood in school assemblies; I now realized that this man was the one who never really believed in the true hindustan or did history corrupt yet another story of Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal.

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India...

2006-04-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

The mere thought of watching her fills me with revulsion. The word "Mayawati" brings to mind the ugly woman who is worse looking than Kashi Ram himself (he would make a prettier woman than her). The self crowned Mumtaz Mahal is now making an attempt to immortalize herself and her boyfriend Kashi Ram by having their statues erected next to B.R.Ambedkar's all over U.P. She blames it yet again on the caste system. This move according to her is a revolt against the upper castes. Isnt there anything anyone can do? I will need a blind fold next time I drive through U.P. It will be much better than having to look at that face.

Herb Sendek moving to Arizona State?

2006-04-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

NC State men's basketball coach Herb Sendek has reportedly accepted an offer to coach at Arizona State University - ending almost a decade long stint here at NC State.

Herb's career was marked by 5 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in his last 5 years, Herb did hold his own somewhat on arguably the toughestcollege basketball neighborhood of Tobacco Road (Wake Forest, Duke, University of North Carolina along with NC State) - all teams that have held the national championship at one point or the other. In that sense he took a program in the doldrums and took it to respectability and some level of consistency. He was also instrumental in ensuring that his teams remained disciplined and well-behaved year after year. But his career here was also marked by his perceived inability to take the team to the next level - ACC and NCAA title contenders.

Thanks Herb for helping create a good, solid team from the broken pieces you inherited. But this team needs to go further. Good luck at ASU.

2006-03-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

The Dutch labour party has proposed that educated women, i.e. ones with college degrees, should be fined if they decide to stay at home instead of joining the workforce !

Excerpts...

MP Sharon Dijksma, deputy chairperson of the PvdA's parliamentary party, believes the punitive measure is needed to stimulate more women to join the workforce. She outlined her ideas in 'Forum', a magazine published by employers' group VNO-NCW.
"A highly-educated woman who chooses to stay at home and not to work - that is destruction of capital," Dijksma said. "If you receive the benefit of an expensive education at the cost of society, you should not be allowed to throw away that knowledge unpunished."

The MP said a fine for non-working mothers is a logical consequence of the PvdA's intention to introduce a 'feudal system', under which graduates repay money dependant on their earnings. "If someone chooses not to work, then a substantial repayment is in order," Dijksma said.

Hmmm...don't the Dutch make claims about having freedom of expression and choice, and all that supposed nonsense ?

As Chequer-Board asks...

Stay-at-home mothers could agree to make use of their degrees by home-schooling their children. Think that would fly in the Dutch parliament?

Well, if women won't make much of the opportunities provided to make them "equal" in society, then perhaps we should force them, eh ?

This was also an interesting statement in that article...

A high proportion of Dutch women traditionally favour working only part-time or staying at home to care for their families.

Original link via Pajamas Media.

Cross posted on Context Switch.

Trying New Things

2006-03-29T10:54:00.000-08:00

I am bored ...so I will try new things .....

Wine and food is not my thing.

Wanted to learn Salsa/Tango/Cha-cha-cha - May be in couple of years
since all there is these days is "50 cents" (and they are good)

Thinking of taking some basic course in farming / growing crop etc.
Any other idea(s).

Scariest Ghost Story

2006-03-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

List the most scary (someone's personal experience or yours) ghost story you have heard ever. The winning entry will get a cup of short coffee which has been kindly sponsored by DC.

ENDULKAR booed and abused!

2006-03-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. Is it getting close to the time that Mr. Tendulkar announces his retirement? Or is he still willing to produce that form that made us celebrate as a country that nothing else ever did? I dunno. What I do know though is that he probably isn't ready to stop making money from all his endorsements and what not.

Today is day 5 of the last test between India and England on England's Cricket tour of India. India have 295 to get in 90 overs, with 9 wickets in hand. Tendulkar has one more chance to redeem himself after his string of abysmal scores for the last several innings. Given that the test is in Mumbai - Tendulkar's hometown, it would be extra special for the erstwhile master batsman to show one more trick of mastery. But given his recent form though and his susceptibility to good pace bowling, the chances of a match-saving/match-winning performance from this man looks increasingly bleak.

I wish things were different. But reminiscing Tendulkar at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai is one thing. (I saw him score a century against South Africa in 1996 at Wankhede. Believe me - the welcome given, at least until recently, to Sachin Tendulkar at Wankhede is like few other things you'll ever see!). Recognizing that there is a slide that has begun that seems to be irreversible is another. Classic case of the heart and the head not agreeing. But I think the head has started to finally convince the heart, especially if India loses, this may just be "e n d u l k a r" for Indian cricket fans. Sadly, I don't even feel sad about it anymore.

To sleep or not to sleep

2006-03-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

The popular sleep prescription drug Ambien has a serious side affect. It apparently makes some people walk, talk, drive, shoplift in their sleep.

Happy Birthday Sibin

2006-03-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Daffodils by William Wordsworth

2006-03-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

Spring is here...here is one of my favourite
poem by William's Wordsworth.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er valleys and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

JJ Redick and WolfPack

2006-03-19T13:13:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it. It's like the sun rose from the west or something equally inanely improbable.

JJ Redick of Duke missed 5 of 7 free throws in last night's win against George Washington in the NCAA tourney. He missed 5 free throws!! Wow! I don't think he's ever in his life missed that many free throws in a single game. This coming from a guy who's been averaging in the 90% or more all his college life. In fact, prior to tonight, I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen him miss free throws in all the Duke games I did see. God listens to the (WolfPack) fans once in a while! Only it's been a little too late though!

Meanwhile, I sure hope the Wolfpack win against Texas tonight. Or at least go down fighting. It would totally screw up my picks for the NCAA'06 tourney challenge (on ESPN.com), but this will be one time I will be absolutely happy to lose! Sweet 16 - here we come!

Also, with the wife being around for the weekend, I doubt if she'll be terribly pleased with us just sitting around watching hoops all day and all evening. I admit, if you put it that way it does sound boring. But it might also have something to do with the sad fact that her school Tennessee was knocked out last night from the tournament. Still, in case I don't get to see the game hope someone's recording it.

Happy Holi

2006-03-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Holi everybody.

Jessica Lall - Rang de Basanti Style

2006-03-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

I had to write something after the endless discussions at the adda and Sarat's pointing out the fact that our country is absolutely and completely filmy. Jessica Lall was killed by Manu Sharma 7 years ago, after 7 years he walked away from it. The price of a crime 7 years of bail time. Well, that happens when your father is a rich sugar cane mill owner and a congress minister in Haryana.

The newspapers have been splashed with stories of anger and resentment against the release of Manu Sharma. The vigil at India gate brought wide publicity to the event. Rang de Basanti was still fresh in the masses mind and this was their turn to protest against the killing of a "pretty face" working in an fancy restaurant that did not even have the license to serve alcohol. Why India Gate but? What did Jessica do for the country that a vigil was held at India Gate? Sarat says sex sells but good looks sell even more. Was this the first time that justice was denied to someone? What makes the Jessica Lall case so different then? Are we all victims of appearances? Does a pretty, popular face deserve more justice than another person? Why could Matto not do what Jessica did?

$185K

2006-03-09T23:16:00.000-08:00

Some of the conversation this evening (initiated by Salil) was about the news that new IIM-A graduates were offered salaries of up to $185,000 this year. That, for a fresh graduate, is a sh*t-load of money!!

It also baffles me that there's so much of money floating around. More importantly, it begs the question: Mera number kab aayega?!(Translation:"When will my number come?" i.e. "When will my turn come to be paid that kind of money?")

Update by Sib : Well, $185K is old news by the looks of it.

What is a Life Really Worth?

2006-03-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

It confuses me over and over and over again, I have not been able find an answer to it. I was just reading CNN and it has a little link that says "Faces of the Fallen". They are just a picture on a website for some and for others beginning of the end of their lives. How does one quanify the worthness of a life? Why arent the first daugthers figthing the fight for Iraqi freedom that their father so strongly believes in.

Abortion Ban

2006-03-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

South Dakota's new abortion ban in my opinion is absolutely ridiculous. I feel it encroaches on woman's rights in so many ways. I have a firm belief that if a woman does not want to have a child then is should be her decision. No law should force her to give birth to a child she does not want. Maybe she is a scared seventeen year old girl who got pregnant by accident, maybe she was raped and did not realize it till later that she was pregnant or maybe she was raped by her boy friend and is so confused that she does not even report it and half blames herself for it. This law expects this child to stop her life and give birth to a child that will probably end up with social services and innumerable foster homes. In my opinion abortion is a woman's right and she should have the right to choose if she is ready for a child or not.

The Circle

2006-03-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

The circle was really interetsting last evening. The conversation ranged from indian trains to F16s vs Sukhois. It would be interesting to record this conversation and listen to it maybe 10 years from now and publish "Chronicles of the Circle".

Catcher in the Rye

2006-03-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

Just like Bob got to Becker today, someone got to me today. Phew! I cant seem to get over it, It is exhausting to be mad. Catcher in the Rye.

"an historic event" or "a historic event"

2006-03-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

The rule of grammar is that "an" should be used in words starting with "h" only if "h" is silent. However, people use "an" all the time. Guilty of this crime is the President of USA he said " It is an historic event" after signing the nuke deal with India. Sometimes it sounds right, doesnt it?

Controversial cartoon...

2006-03-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

This is what is causing all the uproar...the original article from the Danish Jyllends-Posten newspaper. I am suprised that the American media has completely shied away from showing these images...even Malaysian and Australian newspapers showed the images...if not for anything else - at least to keep their readers informed. Since when does the media do this kind of self-censorship ? Since when do they make decisions about what must be reported and what must not be ? Isn't it their role to actually report the news and let the readers make a choice and form opinions ? I believe that the American media has fallen short of the high expectations that journalists are usually held at. Even the so-called liberal newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post didn't have the guts to go through with a fair reporting progress. And what about Faux (Fox) news...that great defender of democracy ?

[Click on the image to enlarge.]

Original link via Wikipedia.

Update : My remarks about the American media completely shying away from publishing the cartoons is inaccurate. Apparently the very well-read Rocky Mountain News and the Philadelphia Inquirer did publish the images and got appropriate responses...picketing, slogans and the kind...perhaps I should have stated...

None of the larger media conglomerates with broad reaches took it upon themselves to report it.

Original link via Instapundit.

Europe divided...

2006-03-02T03:06:00.000-08:00

After the cartoon controversy that started in Europe and spread across the world, the new divide...Vodka wars !

The Polish, supported by the Danish (they just can't stay off any controversy can they?), Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Finns, Swedish and the Germans, have a complaint...they want the promiscuous definition of Vodka to be tightened...

The Polish side says that vodka should only be defined as an alcoholic beverage derived from cereals or potatoes. Any loosening of this definition, argues Poland, leads to ingredients such as grape marc being used, which result in a final product that has different ‘organoleptic characteristics’

Hmmm..."organoleptic characteristics", is probably fancy speak for "different tastse".

Apparently Hungary and the Brits do not want any such definition...the Poles, though, have a very valid question...

why vodka should have a more watered down definition than, say, whisky or rum

I mean, after all, V does come before W, doesn't it ?

Original link via Pajamas Media.

Cross-posted on Context Switch.

Ganguly - Six Feet Under?

2006-03-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sitting, nay, mostly lying down on the bed trying to sleep, while being curative I am sure, does have other effects too. For instance, the sheer boredom of doing nothing, and the sheer effort it takes to "try and relax". Of course, the furstration at missing out on the daily discussions with the ol' bitches (and ladies) at Cup-A-Joe. And finally, all that lying down on my back (a vocation for some) isn't all that pleasurable, especially if the back starts hurting after a while. (No. No. No "Brokeback" mates assisted me in or contributed to my condition. At least not this time.)

Fortunately, since there's broadband, I can indulge those sleepless sweaty hours when the medicine's bringing the temperature to normal environs, in that mindless pleasureful activity called surfing. This afternoon in particular, stumbled on this article in the UK Guardian where Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell talks about the Ganguly situation in some candor, which since then has been lapped up by the Indian media.

I had a thought before I read this article that what would happen to all his endorsements and stuff now that he isn't really the captain anymore. I guess he could still milk his image in Bengal for all its worth. Moreover, perhaps he wants to fight it out in the domestic cricket circuit to improve his image that he has of himself which may have been transplanted more by the media and less by his assessment of his own qualities.

Poor Gangs.

But someone's gotta remove Dravid from the one day team though! Hee Hee!

Black Hole Simulator.

2006-02-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Andrew J Hamilton, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado, has merged video game techniques with video game technology, to create visualizations of black holes and other astral bodies/phenomena. He calls it his black hole flight simulator. This is part of a new show at the Denver museum of Nature and Science.

In an interview, he mentions...

"What if you could take people through a wormhole the way Einstein's equations said it would be? And what if you could bring art and science together in a way that compromised neither?"

Some interesting excerpts...

The show is built on the crunching of numbers that even a black hole might envy: some segments produced by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois required 90 hours of supercomputer calculation for each second on screen.
...

The simulator, to be featured this year in a "Nova" program on PBS about black holes, seeks to lift the veil. Using Einstein's equations and a graphics language called Open GL, developed by Silicon Graphics, Dr. Hamilton told the computer to show how individual vectors of light should behave at the no-man's frontier of the black hole, called the event horizon, and inside the hole itself.
...
That meant not only creating a visual representation of Einstein's work, but also in a real sense creating from scratch a world that cannot be known. "When I started this, I had no idea what would emerge from the equations," Mr. Hamilton said. Part of the thrill was the exploration. The computer would go where the human mind by itself could not.

Original link via the New York Times.

Watch a trailer to the show.

Cross-posted on Context Switch.

Human Efficency

2006-02-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

From a friend -

I was running through a calculation last night using a handy Lisp program and discovered that if you're on a 2000 kilocalorie per day diet, you've used up the equivalant energy of 25.4 gallons of gasoline within one year. A University of California at Berkeley surveyed the nation's walking habits and found that people in the United States walk an average of 75 miles per year. This means that the average American gets around 2.95 miles per gallon.

- Joshua Griffith

Bus Panch Minute Aur

2006-02-28T08:29:00.000-08:00