thescian | September 5, 2009A poem from the book I am reading at present. The Mirror Maker by Primo Levi. I had an epiphany few weeks back--an epiphany that I was unable to describe--, an epiphany that I have now found the words for in Levi's lucid poem: 'between us, for at least a moment, was drawn a segment, a well-defined chord.' It is a privilege to live in this maelstrom of a world where one has Levi, a fellow human, friend, who carried and still carries, with his immortal words, the torch that illuminates the darkest corners of human history and experience.
To My Friends
Dear friends, I say friends here
In the…
thescian | September 2, 2009
From the beebs:
Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city's surveillance network has claimed.
The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.
Bruce Schneider calls this security theater. It makes a good show to be able to show pictures on TV of alleged criminals. We watch it and feel safe: if a criminal is caught on a camera, it wouldn't be long before he is caught physically as well. Right? Wrong. It seems very reasonable and natural but fact is not obliged to follow our misguided…
thescian | September 1, 2009A very limited list of things that nobody knows (as compiled by yours truly, a very limited human). As you may notice, most of the list treads close to things that may be broadly classed as epistemological questions. Do extend it with your own unknowns. There are some other more comprehensive lists: Science Magazine's list from 2005. NY Times list from 2003. A New Scientist list from 2005.
What's the matter with prime numbers. (Reimann Hypothesis)
What are the fundamental constituents of the universe. (see last question)
What is a dimension. How many of it does the universe have.
Can life as…
thescian | August 31, 2009Well, you knew that already. Anyway, here's something to read and fume about.
Here in the island, things aren't great either. The inanely orchestrated coverage at the BBC leading up to the release of the Lockerbie criminal was/is breathtaking in its obviousness.
thescian | August 27, 2009
A few links on the great Uruguayan writer. His latest book is called Mirrors, he explains why in this video, in a voice that makes one to listen to it far into the night.
He is interviewed by Michael Silverblatt for KCRW Bookworm.
Blogging will be infrequent for some weeks due to travel, study and personal commitments. I'll update Today's recs on the left side, if you like to hop-off elsewhere.
thescian | August 18, 2009You'll be docile when horizontal, apparently. So an insult won't move you to action that much when you are lying down. via NewScientist.
thescian | August 17, 2009A celebration of human ingenuity through the life of Benjamin Franklin by Maira Kalman at And the Pursuit of Happiness.
thescian | August 12, 2009From the preface of his Collected Fictions translated by Andrew Hurley.
Reading is an activity subsequent to writing--more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. (1935)
The learned doctors of the Great Vehicle teach us that the essential characteristic of the universe is its emptiness. They are certainly correct with respect to the tiny part of the universe that is this book. Gallows and pirates fill its pages, and the word iniquity strikes awe in its title, but under all the storm and lightning, there is nothing. It is all just appearence, a surface of images--which is why readers may,…
thescian | August 11, 2009From BBC News:
The extra cost of providing security for the three people identified as allowing the death of Baby Peter could rise to £1m a year, a union has said.
For those outside in UK, this is a heart-wrenching case of a baby being tortured to death. After reading the above news, I wonder how far a society can push The Law before The Law reaches its breaking point. What is the justification for protecting those who tortured and killed a baby? If the criminal mother after release decides to have another baby, is it OK?
When I started this post, I was seething with anger. But, one must…
thescian | August 3, 2009There is, I must say, a rather unconventional article in New Scientist called Evolution's third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what? by Susan Blackmore about ... what's the word I am looking for...hmm.. Human Culture + Technology.
Susan suggests that we have unleashed a technoculture goo. Remember Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation? Something like that--with mixed metaphors but without the encumbrances of technical nitty-gritty that Drexler had. So, what's this goo? Let Susan explain, because however hard I tried I could not write a summary (and I tried very hard, trust me).
What do I…
thescian | July 31, 2009Sympathy, help, and a positive engagement. - Robert Louis Stevenson.
That partial quote is from a fascinating essay called My First Book by the same author. A must read for all young writers. Here's a bit more:
The accepted novelist may take his novel up and put it down, spend days upon it in vain, and write not any more than he makes haste to blot. Not so the beginner. Human nature has certain rights; instinct--the instinct of self-preservation--forbids that any man (cheered and supported by the consciousness of no previous victory) should endure the miseries of unsuccessful literary toil…
thescian | July 27, 2009Even with all it's shortcomings, democracy matters because there is hope of representation for everyone, however poor one is. Unlike this disgusting corruption reported at NY Times that ruins poor young lives in China with no way for them to get back their future.
thescian | July 24, 2009In India snakes charm you. Yes, they do, especially if you are a legislator in Orissa state assembly.
Have time to hear a personal anecdote of the charms of snakes? Here we go.
When I was about 6 or 7, I used to roam around the fields in my mother's native village (google map). There were two rocky mounds, each about the height of a four storey building covering perhaps five football fields. It was a magical space for young children. At times, the magic would be enhanced by a fight between a snake and a mongoose (mongoose eats snakes, there were days as a child when I wanted to be one). So…
thescian | July 20, 2009Yesterday night I happened to listen to the BBC programme called The Bottom Line. Mr James Dyson was on. For those who are not aware, he is one of the finest engineers around. His company makes many things, most famous of all the Dyson Vacuum Cleaner. So, he was asked what gets the creative juices flowing for an entrepreneur. Mr Dyson said "anger". Anger at something that does not work well. Chanelling that anger to come up with a better solution is creativity, it is the entrepreneurial spirit (in software, it is sometimes called scratching an itch). Great to listen to. Check this video where…
thescian | July 17, 2009Do you think you ought to 'own' your digital content the same way you own material content? Take ebooks from Amazon stored in the Kindle. Recently, Amazon snuck into users Kindle and removed a book with questionable copyright (the book is 1984, feel free to laugh with irony). Pogue writes: "As one of my readers noted, it's like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we've been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table."
This is a PR disaster for Amazon and they have recognized how offended consumers are.
You'…
thescian | July 16, 2009Bill Gates has made it available online. You need to install Silvelight (the flash alternative from Microsoft). It's worth it.
thescian | July 15, 2009Recently discovered the works of Raqib Shaw. Raqib Shaw was born in Culcutta, spent his youth in Kashmir and now lives and works in London.
There are conflicts at so many levels in Raqib Shaw's paintings that, as we look at it, we are drawn deeper and deeper into a strange, fantastical and unsettling world.
One can detect a potent mix of western and eastern influences in the the paintings. Raqib Shaw explains in an interview: "Japanese look at my work and think it's Japanese, Indians look at my work and think this is Indian. But, [I think my art is ] a very mediocre example of what is to…
thescian | July 15, 2009Rock musician Andrew W.K's take on Bach at NPR. For a blissful ten minutes, listen to the linked 'Bandenburg Concerto No.5: Allergro'. You would know that Bach was a deeply religious man. Reminds me of what Harold Bloom said of genius*, (I paraphrase): Genius is not bound by culture or religion.
*You may want to pick up the book, 'Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds'. The book is a tough read and Bloom is nauseating at times, but as G H Hardy said, great things are not done by humble men.
thescian | July 9, 2009The world is serendipitous, for those who explore it sideways, that is. Two of them explorers are Dr Richard Wool of University of Delaware and Erman Senöz. One fine day, Dr Wool (is his name a great nominative determinism, or what) unplucked a chicken, threw away the meat and kept the feathers. He then cooked the feathers at 400 degrees and out came noodles of fine carbon nanotubes which can be used to make great many technological marvels a reality. The Economist has all the nuggets.
thescian | July 8, 2009Never thought about the cover page of a book as much as I am doing now. With the upcoming TheScian Stories book, all things bookish has become an obsession. Yesterday evening, wife was plugging away at the numerous things that need to be arranged before publishing a book and she had covered the table with the covers of various SF books (Neuromancer, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, The Dispossessed, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, and more). I noticed a theme in all the covers (except Neuromancer): diffused backlight as if a star was lurking behind. This thematic convergence, I…