thescian | March 17, 2008Tata's are paving the way for WiMax networks in India (WiMax is an alternative to cable and DSL. See). Like the televison and mobile phone networks, India is poised to leapfrog over old technologies and land right into the future of high speed wireless networks. It is fantastic. India's developmental model is unique. While we get WiMax, we also get temples and prayers.
It's a shrewd business move by the Tatas. In India, religion sells. That aside, it is interesting to note that religion may once again prove to be a developmental tool. I say 'once again' because there are precedents.…
thescian | March 14, 2008It's Pi day, everyone. Go do something irrational. If a circle doesn't bother to make sense, why should we.
Sciencebloggers on PI. An old post by yours truly on the distribution of digits in PI.
thescian | March 14, 2008 Checkout the In Our Time discussion about Ada Lovelace, the enchantress of numbers who envisioned the advent of modern computers. What a cool woman!
thescian | March 12, 2008Religion and Reason are sitting on a bench facing an ocean. What a pretty sight! They both acknowledge human fallibility, acknowledge each other and share a laugh. After a bit of chat about the weather, affairs of mutual interest, culture, ethics, society, daughter's marriage, etc, they fall silent. In a short while, one of them turns to look at the vast ocean in front, then bends down and picks up a pebble to examine it. The other turns back to look at the world, jumps up and picks a fight with a passing stranger.
Of course, not all people of faith pick fights with strangers and not all…
thescian | March 12, 2008Writer Shoba Narayan was born in India and came to the U.S. as a student. She settled down in the U.S., became a citizen, wrote for publications such as Time, Newsweek, Gourmet, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and authored a book, while her husband Ram had a successful career on Wall Street. After 20 years in the U.S., the family moved back to India in 2005. This is their story.
A honest account of every immigrant's dream. It is an illuminating read. I was mildly surprised when I read that she took her daughter to a Temple although she herself is an agnostic.
I wasn't…
thescian | March 11, 2008It's not very far off. From MIT TR:
Scientists can accurately predict which of a thousand pictures a person is looking at by analyzing brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The approach should shed light on how the brain processes visual information, and it might one day be used to reconstruct dreams
thescian | March 11, 2008NY Times publishes a fictional account of a fictional account assuring us that it's a real account. Kafkaesque? Whatever. The man was beyond bizarre and certainly a brain shattering phenomenon; he reached into the human mind like those tentacles we see in our worst nightmares. Anyway, I wasn't sure if Indian Express syndicated it knowing what the piece was really about. I am not a regular reader of Indian Express. Maybe, they knew.
thescian | March 11, 2008The letter below is from Perfectly Reasonabe Deviations From The Beaten Track, a book of letters of Richard Feynman. It is one of the most moving letters that I have read. Tomonaga mentioned below shared the 1965 Nobel prize for physics along with Feynman and Schwinger.
A former student, who was also once a student of Tomonaga's, wrote to extend his congratulations. Feynman responded, asking Mr. Mano what he was now doing. The response: "studying the Coherence theory with some applications to the propagation of electromagnetic waves through turbulent atmosphere... a humble and down-to-earth…
thescian | March 10, 2008
Of course you do! You are such a good soul! Head over to TheScian.com. It's a two-part translation of the English essay 'Leaping into the void'. I had a long post in mind on how this is an attempt to start a discussion on science with my extended family back home in Namakkal, how language shapes culture and provides a vessel to hold those momentous thoughts, etc. But, there was a bit of trouble at scienceblogs.com today. Software glitches. We weren't able to post anything all day. All those exuberant words of self-praise have evaporated from my brain into thin air.
I don't know how many…
thescian | March 10, 2008I was checking who has linked to my blog (using technorati, which has recently improved from worse to bad). There were the usual link farmers growing penis pills and such, but one cowboy website stood out for its brazen display of daring and contempt for reason and sanity. It was a silly website peddling things like 'Crystals', 'Coils' and 'Monay Magnets'. They seemed to have decided that they must woo customers with the latest news on astrology and what-not. So, they have diligently setup a page which displays 'astrology' news (probably, a RSS feed grabber that takes in posts from all over…
thescian | March 7, 2008A Conversation with Jorge Luis Borges at Habitus, A Diaspora Journal. [via The Elegant Variation]
thescian | March 7, 2008A discussion about why 42 is the answer to everything at the BBC:
...The answer can be interpreted in two ways. One is that it is a bad joke, implying that there simply is no answer, no meaning, no sense in the universe, and you would be no worse off if you jumped into the nearest black hole.
But the other interpretation is that the joke was wise. It shows that seeking numerical answers to questions of meaning is itself the problem. Digits, like a four and a two, can no more do it than a string of digits could represent the poetry of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's work was the product of a life,…
thescian | March 7, 2008 From Economic Times:
The Kerala method of delineation of horoscopes using 'cowries' (sea shells) is highly valued for its accuracy, according to astrologers from India and abroad.
Well-known astrologer Kailasnath from Parappanangadi near Kozhikode said that no time of birth or place of birth is required for doing the predictions.
...
Kailasnath, who describes himself as a student of astrology since 24 years, says the workshop is an effort to teach delegates the unique aspects of the state's rich astrological wisdom, particularly 'prasnam vekkal' (suggesting causes of certain events and…
thescian | March 5, 2008One of the India's eminent female scientists Indira Nath is to be named World's top women scientists by UNESCO. From Telegraph
In her role as Director of the LEPRA - Blue Peter Research Centre in Hyderabad (built with money raised through an appeal on the BBC children's programme) she works at the fore of India's fight against leprosy.
Of the numerous people who may contract the leprosy bacillus, not all of them develop the same form of the disease. Among those who develop lepromatous leprosy, its most serious form, Professor Nath identified a deficiency in the immune response system that…
thescian | March 4, 2008It's true. You can't. I tried it on a Nokia and it suggested 'shiv' (which, incidentally, is a shortened form of Shiva, a name that's in use in India). Watch below for a hilarious take on this. [via Language Log]
thescian | March 4, 2008When I was about 12 or 13 years old, I was fascinated by dreams. My father had a book on dreams (Interpreting Dreams, or some such title) that was pure psycho-babble but I didn't know that. Even a bad book can fuel our imagination. I played the interpretation game every time I woke up and remembered a dream. Childish hope on the wings of ignorance.
One cold December night, I was sleeping and apparently dreaming of knights and swords. A battle scene and I was in the middle of it. When would a 12 year old be in a battlefield? When he has just watched a historical movie with an impressive…
thescian | March 2, 2008 I was listening to a discussion with Umberto Eco on his phenomenal book The Name of the Rose. [Real Audio here] At one point in the interview, Eco answers a question on the numerous Latin phrases in the book spoken by the monks that were left untranslated. The question was: why weren't they translated. Eco answers by saying that the Church has done well - has been remarkably successful for the past 2000 years - by conducting all it's affairs in Latin. He was, of course, implying (for comic effect) that his book is a success due to the Latin phrases.
Ensuring people don't understand what is…
thescian | February 28, 2008You may have seen the WIRED interview with Psychologist Philip Zimbardo and the mind-numbing pictures of torture linked there. A recent New Scientist interview of Darius Rejali( more, his book) is a necessary read on how torture deeply breaks both the sufferer and the torturer. Part of the NS interview:
Why is torture so hard to control?
Usually the top authorises it and the bottom delivers. Then it's a slippery slope as torturers quickly become less responsive to centralised authority. One reason is competition between interrogators. When policemen track down information, they cooperate. In…