Must listen song -"That's Amore" by Dean Martin
song "That's Amore" on wiki
""That's Amore" is a 1952 song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Jack Brooks. It became a major hit, signature song for Dean Martin in 1953. Amore means "love" in Italian, giving a general translation in English "that's love"."
lyrics of song "That's Amore"
In Napoli where love is king
When boy meets girl here's what they say
When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella
When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool
That's amore
When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk down in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli
That's amore
(When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella
When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool)
That's amore
(When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk down in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli)
That's amore
Lucky fella
When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool)
That's amore
(When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love
When you walk down in a dream but you know you're not
Dreaming signore
Scuzza me, but you see, back in old Napoli)
That's amore, (amore)
That's amore
Sunday, November 8, 2009
IIT and IIT KGP
article on IIT (KGP) by its alumunus-editor of Outlook
Article on IITians life ( more insight on IIT KGP --since writer is Deputy Editor of Outlook Sandipan Deb, KGP alumunus)
Though I don't agree with many of the things(especially "the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives" part ), still it offers good insight.
Opinion
The Best Of Worlds
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives...
Sandipan Deb
The Best And The Brightest
Near-complete autonomy and a fanatical focus on quality make the IITs the cradle of some of the world's best talent
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives. Indeed, many of them became IITians because their parents told them that's what they should mug their butts off for, and aim to hit the US of A, so that's what they did. They attended classes, took notes, passed exams, took the GRE, applied to a dozen American universities, and disappeared into that country's vast technological underbelly, to reappear only in the matrimonial columns of Indian papers with a dollar salary multiplied diligently by the day's exchange rate. Or they stayed in India, working at unexceptionable jobs, doing reasonably well. In either case, they got beautiful brides (often from rich families) and presumably lived happily ever after, meeting classmates once a month and chatting about their IIT days, and how Hippo has just changed jobs, and Zap is three rungs away from the top in Cisco Systems. Each of them had intelligence well above the average, and most, exceptional academic tenacity.
A decade and a half out of IIT, I wonder how many of us IITians achieved our potential? How many went to seed in remote dusty townships, tending massive pipelines and drinking in the township club? How many wilfully walked away from their natural talents in favour of safe MNC jobs selling diapers and hire-purchase schemes? How many, trained to think rationally and without bias, never managed to figure out the nuances of Indian office politics, and were relegated to obscure corridors in huge buildings? How many, obsessed with the American dream, settled for second-rate US universities, hung in for a green card, and today work at unfulfilling jobs in Idaho?
There's another angle too to this. How many IITians, determined to stay engineers and in India, ignored the siren songs of the USA and the IIMs, and joined Indian industry, only to find that all the technical designs came from abroad, that you couldn't change them even if you knew they were flawed, that all the engineering you got to do was maintenance, and knowing all that, they either settled into mediocrity, or went off to the US or the iims?
What was my IIT education all about? It was about IITians: 400 academically exceptional boys (and 12 girls) on a campus, which, in the case of Kharagpur, where I went, was far enough from civilisation to have very interesting effects on our coming of age. Many of us were truly extraordinary. There were boys from village schools who were leagues ahead in knowledge of the urban convent-educated type. There were those who mugged night and day, or simpered at professors from first benches, and there were those who also had a vibrant and busy life outside academics. I've found that the latter did better in life, even in fields like pure research. I also had friends who never needed to study, they had been apparently born with engineering wisdom in their genes. There were guys who spent most of the semester in a drug haze, but sobered up a few days before the exams, cracked them, and went back to their pharmaceuticals. Others did not have such control. Like Allen Ginsberg, I too saw some of the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness. A few dropped out (I met one of them years later in Shillong, a stridently devout convert to Catholicism, and a lowly government clerk, but he seemed happy), a few killed themselves. But, most of us survived. I suppose we became tougher, more mature, more knowing, and more aware of our dark sides.
We lived and ate together, and shared our joys and heartbreaks and good times and bad times, in competition and camaraderie. We compared our philosophies and, bit by stumbling bit, developed our value systems. Never were stronger bonds forged between young people. Years from now, if I meet an IIT wingmate on the road, I know we will carry on as if nothing had changed, and nothing actually would have. A couple of years ago, there was a small visual trick on an Outlook cover, which was my idea. A close IIT friend, whom I had not been in touch with for years, called up from Singapore: "Some other name is mentioned in the cover credits, but it was your idea, right? I know the way you think." No one knows me better than these mates of mine from IIT.
IIT was also a whole insular world in itself, complex and complete, and it sucked us in. As The Chosen, we lived a full life with no necessity of any contact with the outside world. Totally cut off from politics and "the bigger issues", our delights remained in competing fiercely on the field or the stage with other hostels or other colleges. There were few material pleasures. Lifestyles were spartan, the food abysmal. The vast majority of males were totally deprived of female company. The girls lived a strange life-on the one hand, they were hounded by dozens of would-be suitors; on the other, they faced the petulant hostility of the majority which saw them as undeserving of so much adulation and so many free lunches.
When we graduated, we went out into the world with a rare confidence and strong tribal loyalties. The confidence eroded a bit over the years, and we learnt some humility when we discovered non-IITians as smart as we were, and also people who could outwit us because they were intelligent in a different way-in a sly political way-an acumen we had not developed in our isolated environment which, above all, inculcated a sense of fairness and a respect for ability. We came to terms with a world that compared poorly with our beloved campus, and some of us even went ahead and conquered it. Others didn't do well, but knew that the ties between them and the masters-of-the-universe classmates would never change. They were ties born of the pride of being an IITian. That pride would never diminish.
It never can.
The author, Deputy Editor of Outlook, is an Electronics Engineer from IIT Kharagpur. He also met his wife at IIT.
Article on IITians life ( more insight on IIT KGP --since writer is Deputy Editor of Outlook Sandipan Deb, KGP alumunus)
Though I don't agree with many of the things(especially "the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives" part ), still it offers good insight.
Opinion
The Best Of Worlds
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives...
Sandipan Deb
The Best And The Brightest
Near-complete autonomy and a fanatical focus on quality make the IITs the cradle of some of the world's best talent
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives. Indeed, many of them became IITians because their parents told them that's what they should mug their butts off for, and aim to hit the US of A, so that's what they did. They attended classes, took notes, passed exams, took the GRE, applied to a dozen American universities, and disappeared into that country's vast technological underbelly, to reappear only in the matrimonial columns of Indian papers with a dollar salary multiplied diligently by the day's exchange rate. Or they stayed in India, working at unexceptionable jobs, doing reasonably well. In either case, they got beautiful brides (often from rich families) and presumably lived happily ever after, meeting classmates once a month and chatting about their IIT days, and how Hippo has just changed jobs, and Zap is three rungs away from the top in Cisco Systems. Each of them had intelligence well above the average, and most, exceptional academic tenacity.
A decade and a half out of IIT, I wonder how many of us IITians achieved our potential? How many went to seed in remote dusty townships, tending massive pipelines and drinking in the township club? How many wilfully walked away from their natural talents in favour of safe MNC jobs selling diapers and hire-purchase schemes? How many, trained to think rationally and without bias, never managed to figure out the nuances of Indian office politics, and were relegated to obscure corridors in huge buildings? How many, obsessed with the American dream, settled for second-rate US universities, hung in for a green card, and today work at unfulfilling jobs in Idaho?
There's another angle too to this. How many IITians, determined to stay engineers and in India, ignored the siren songs of the USA and the IIMs, and joined Indian industry, only to find that all the technical designs came from abroad, that you couldn't change them even if you knew they were flawed, that all the engineering you got to do was maintenance, and knowing all that, they either settled into mediocrity, or went off to the US or the iims?
What was my IIT education all about? It was about IITians: 400 academically exceptional boys (and 12 girls) on a campus, which, in the case of Kharagpur, where I went, was far enough from civilisation to have very interesting effects on our coming of age. Many of us were truly extraordinary. There were boys from village schools who were leagues ahead in knowledge of the urban convent-educated type. There were those who mugged night and day, or simpered at professors from first benches, and there were those who also had a vibrant and busy life outside academics. I've found that the latter did better in life, even in fields like pure research. I also had friends who never needed to study, they had been apparently born with engineering wisdom in their genes. There were guys who spent most of the semester in a drug haze, but sobered up a few days before the exams, cracked them, and went back to their pharmaceuticals. Others did not have such control. Like Allen Ginsberg, I too saw some of the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness. A few dropped out (I met one of them years later in Shillong, a stridently devout convert to Catholicism, and a lowly government clerk, but he seemed happy), a few killed themselves. But, most of us survived. I suppose we became tougher, more mature, more knowing, and more aware of our dark sides.
We lived and ate together, and shared our joys and heartbreaks and good times and bad times, in competition and camaraderie. We compared our philosophies and, bit by stumbling bit, developed our value systems. Never were stronger bonds forged between young people. Years from now, if I meet an IIT wingmate on the road, I know we will carry on as if nothing had changed, and nothing actually would have. A couple of years ago, there was a small visual trick on an Outlook cover, which was my idea. A close IIT friend, whom I had not been in touch with for years, called up from Singapore: "Some other name is mentioned in the cover credits, but it was your idea, right? I know the way you think." No one knows me better than these mates of mine from IIT.
IIT was also a whole insular world in itself, complex and complete, and it sucked us in. As The Chosen, we lived a full life with no necessity of any contact with the outside world. Totally cut off from politics and "the bigger issues", our delights remained in competing fiercely on the field or the stage with other hostels or other colleges. There were few material pleasures. Lifestyles were spartan, the food abysmal. The vast majority of males were totally deprived of female company. The girls lived a strange life-on the one hand, they were hounded by dozens of would-be suitors; on the other, they faced the petulant hostility of the majority which saw them as undeserving of so much adulation and so many free lunches.
When we graduated, we went out into the world with a rare confidence and strong tribal loyalties. The confidence eroded a bit over the years, and we learnt some humility when we discovered non-IITians as smart as we were, and also people who could outwit us because they were intelligent in a different way-in a sly political way-an acumen we had not developed in our isolated environment which, above all, inculcated a sense of fairness and a respect for ability. We came to terms with a world that compared poorly with our beloved campus, and some of us even went ahead and conquered it. Others didn't do well, but knew that the ties between them and the masters-of-the-universe classmates would never change. They were ties born of the pride of being an IITian. That pride would never diminish.
It never can.
The author, Deputy Editor of Outlook, is an Electronics Engineer from IIT Kharagpur. He also met his wife at IIT.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Jail , Madhur bhandarkar and Shawshank Redemption
I am back after a month and even if one of the reasons was to clean the cobweb,dirt and dust accumulated on this blog because of one month's neglect by the housekeeper (yours truly), the main reason why I am writing one day before the last two papers(Management Accounting[consists of Cost Accounting -- the dreaded Balance Sheets and P&L which usually only create liabilities and debits in your CGPA was in first term] & Operations Management)of my Mid Term exams of Second Term here, is this review by Raja Sen(my favorite Indian movie critic, one of the few critics who understand Cinema and review it without fear or favor)
Review of "Jail" on Rediff.com by Raja Sen
I remember a year back when Fashion released, I was asked to go for it and I torpedoed the proposal saying I find Madhur Bhandarkar a pretentious director.
Mind you, just a few days back I had watched Dil Kabaddi( atrocious copy of Woody Allen's gem "Husband And Wives" with a 100% RT rating ) and I am the same person who can watch all the eighties formulaic movies on Zee Cinema non-stop.
But I find the presumed self-righteousness dripping from his movies,stars fawning over him and media lionizing and anointing him the "New Age Director" just plain nauseating.
Prey tell me what is his "Claim to This Fame?"
A completely undeserved, fortuitous National Award for Chandani Bar Or a highly over-rated Page 3 (though marginally better than his so-called "realistic" ouevere -- Traffic Signal, Fashion, Corporate,Jail).
People say he has the ability to "shock your conscience with his hard-hitting realism". If you are referring to the scenes like actress-art director angle, socialite & foreigners with street children in page 3 or boy being assaulted in Chandani Bar, I would say either I have a very Shock-Proof, hardened conscience or you need movies to tell you " Look Man ! You Know fashion industry is all dirty..It is about drugs,egos,wardrobe malfunction". Thank You Mr. Madhur. We know that.See, we also read the same newspapers from which you cull the stories. What kind of a shock you are talking about? Only shock I feel is when I see such pedestrian cinema being hailed as "showing new direction" to Bollywood in TV channels and Only shock I see is ,when in the movie breaks of Page 3, advertisements of Havells Switches "Shock Laga! Shock Laga!!' come :-) (I know, it has been a bad day and my PJs are just not working..please bear with me)
Many people have used this strategy of getting a profession/business/social setting and basing their story on that. But it works when you bring some fresh perspectives , when you do a thorough research on the turmoils, trials and tribulations of the protagonists. When the setup is a part of the story being told, but story is not being told only because there is a setup. See, if you start discussing a movie like Shawshank Redemption with friends, you talk about hope, human determination, cool nonchalant acting of Tim Robbins and , most of all, the felicity with which Bob Gunton has played the part of a disgusting,corrupt,cruel warden.[Just watching him say "I want him found. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast - *now*" after Andy escapes is a moment of joy]
Shawsahnk on RT
Shawshank on wiki
Sahwsahnk movie quotes on imdb
Movie offers amazing insights in prison life, including how that old man refuses to go out of jail after spending most of his youth because he simply doesn't have anyone to go to. Prison is his home. And then when he is released, and he commits suicide. Then you start thinking...then you are shocked(not in that Hila Ke Rakh Diya way, but more subtly because the movie has questioned your basic assumption that everyone inside the prison wants to go out to be free..not true..prison has become such a part of their identity that even when we outsiders can see their loss of freedom, they are either not aware of it or are ready to compromise with the curbs put on their liberty..because they derive their identity from it..because they just can't fit in anywhere else..
If you'll allow me some more minutes of your valuable time and roughly 50 KB of data storage on Blogger, let me say that this is a problem you'll see in many of the arguments, issues facing India (or World)-Prison is just a metaphor and ,in reality, you may be caged because you are born in a particular religion/caste/state/nation/gender and your have sub-consciously tied your identity so closely with it that any attempt of slightest insult to the symbols of your religion/caste/state/nation/gender by such insular people from some other religion/caste/state/nation/gender is met with violent retaliation from your side. Result riots and societal disharmony. (As you would say, "Are usne Dil pe le liya hai uski baat ko").
You are more than "I am a Hindu upper caste male from most advanced state of India belonging the most upper class by income"...You are what you like, you are what makes you laugh, you are what makes you think, you are what kind of books/movies/music/games you like, "you are what you think should never be done, what can be 'its chalta hai' and what you will always do" i.e. your values, and of course, you are what makes you angry.
yes! I am talking about movies which can generate that kind of thinking and not those which resort to cardboard characters, stereotypes to tell us what we already know in the name of hard-hitting cinema(To such filmmakers, please hit me a little more hard. I still can't feel a thing).
And for that you need filmmakers who themselves don't live in their ivory towers surrounded by sycophant actors/actresses trying to get in their good books(Just read Mughda Godse's interview on Rediff.com..
"Working with the same director on films with different genres is very challenging."
(films with different genres(LOL)
Excuse Me, Ms. Mughda, but though movies can be vaguely made and vaguely talked about, words like genre have very specific meaning. Crudely speaking, Movies can be comedy,tragedy,action, suspense type--these are different genres..You don't say different genres to refer to similar documentary style movies made with different settings. Just because you have heard someone to use that word, it doesn't obligate you to use that word without knowing how to use it correctly, right Ma'am?
Meaning of word genre on Dictionary.com
Genre explained on wiki)
And such challenges can be taken up only with directors of Madhur's caliber.
"He is a very fun loving person. Jitne serious inke films hai utna hi funny hai yeh (he is as funny as his films are serious)."
(Have you noticed how before the release of any of these movies such type of fun stories start spreading in umpteen media interviews given by stars.Oh! fun loving..Is it justfun or that cliche "He works hard and parties harder" wala fun..Please elaborate)
We just didn't realize when we started shooting the film and when we finished it."(kucch hona bhi chahiye movie mein realize/yaad rakhne ke liye))
Moghda's interview on rediff.com about Jail movie
And if you did not already know this is his movie just before Chandani bar
movie Trishakti on imdb
(Yes, he was/is "that" type of director)
And then he gets, to his utmost surprise, a National Award..finds a formula and starts milking it.. Kab tak? kaath ki haandi baar baar nahin chadhti, mere bhai..
p.s.:- Before leaving let me give some links on Woody Allen movie "Husbands And Wives" mentioned up.
"Husband And Wives" on RT
"Husbands And Wives" on wiki
quotes from "Husbands And Wives" on imdb
Movie has this amazing quote:--
TV Scientist: [on TV] Einstein was celebrating his 70th birthday anniversary and there was a colloquium given for him, and he said: 'God never plays dice with the universe -'
Gabe: No, he just plays hide-and-seek. :-)
Review of "Jail" on Rediff.com by Raja Sen
I remember a year back when Fashion released, I was asked to go for it and I torpedoed the proposal saying I find Madhur Bhandarkar a pretentious director.
Mind you, just a few days back I had watched Dil Kabaddi( atrocious copy of Woody Allen's gem "Husband And Wives" with a 100% RT rating ) and I am the same person who can watch all the eighties formulaic movies on Zee Cinema non-stop.
But I find the presumed self-righteousness dripping from his movies,stars fawning over him and media lionizing and anointing him the "New Age Director" just plain nauseating.
Prey tell me what is his "Claim to This Fame?"
A completely undeserved, fortuitous National Award for Chandani Bar Or a highly over-rated Page 3 (though marginally better than his so-called "realistic" ouevere -- Traffic Signal, Fashion, Corporate,Jail).
People say he has the ability to "shock your conscience with his hard-hitting realism". If you are referring to the scenes like actress-art director angle, socialite & foreigners with street children in page 3 or boy being assaulted in Chandani Bar, I would say either I have a very Shock-Proof, hardened conscience or you need movies to tell you " Look Man ! You Know fashion industry is all dirty..It is about drugs,egos,wardrobe malfunction". Thank You Mr. Madhur. We know that.See, we also read the same newspapers from which you cull the stories. What kind of a shock you are talking about? Only shock I feel is when I see such pedestrian cinema being hailed as "showing new direction" to Bollywood in TV channels and Only shock I see is ,when in the movie breaks of Page 3, advertisements of Havells Switches "Shock Laga! Shock Laga!!' come :-) (I know, it has been a bad day and my PJs are just not working..please bear with me)
Many people have used this strategy of getting a profession/business/social setting and basing their story on that. But it works when you bring some fresh perspectives , when you do a thorough research on the turmoils, trials and tribulations of the protagonists. When the setup is a part of the story being told, but story is not being told only because there is a setup. See, if you start discussing a movie like Shawshank Redemption with friends, you talk about hope, human determination, cool nonchalant acting of Tim Robbins and , most of all, the felicity with which Bob Gunton has played the part of a disgusting,corrupt,cruel warden.[Just watching him say "I want him found. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast - *now*" after Andy escapes is a moment of joy]
Shawsahnk on RT
Shawshank on wiki
Sahwsahnk movie quotes on imdb
Movie offers amazing insights in prison life, including how that old man refuses to go out of jail after spending most of his youth because he simply doesn't have anyone to go to. Prison is his home. And then when he is released, and he commits suicide. Then you start thinking...then you are shocked(not in that Hila Ke Rakh Diya way, but more subtly because the movie has questioned your basic assumption that everyone inside the prison wants to go out to be free..not true..prison has become such a part of their identity that even when we outsiders can see their loss of freedom, they are either not aware of it or are ready to compromise with the curbs put on their liberty..because they derive their identity from it..because they just can't fit in anywhere else..
If you'll allow me some more minutes of your valuable time and roughly 50 KB of data storage on Blogger, let me say that this is a problem you'll see in many of the arguments, issues facing India (or World)-Prison is just a metaphor and ,in reality, you may be caged because you are born in a particular religion/caste/state/nation/gender and your have sub-consciously tied your identity so closely with it that any attempt of slightest insult to the symbols of your religion/caste/state/nation/gender by such insular people from some other religion/caste/state/nation/gender is met with violent retaliation from your side. Result riots and societal disharmony. (As you would say, "Are usne Dil pe le liya hai uski baat ko").
You are more than "I am a Hindu upper caste male from most advanced state of India belonging the most upper class by income"...You are what you like, you are what makes you laugh, you are what makes you think, you are what kind of books/movies/music/games you like, "you are what you think should never be done, what can be 'its chalta hai' and what you will always do" i.e. your values, and of course, you are what makes you angry.
yes! I am talking about movies which can generate that kind of thinking and not those which resort to cardboard characters, stereotypes to tell us what we already know in the name of hard-hitting cinema(To such filmmakers, please hit me a little more hard. I still can't feel a thing).
And for that you need filmmakers who themselves don't live in their ivory towers surrounded by sycophant actors/actresses trying to get in their good books(Just read Mughda Godse's interview on Rediff.com..
"Working with the same director on films with different genres is very challenging."
(films with different genres(LOL)
Excuse Me, Ms. Mughda, but though movies can be vaguely made and vaguely talked about, words like genre have very specific meaning. Crudely speaking, Movies can be comedy,tragedy,action, suspense type--these are different genres..You don't say different genres to refer to similar documentary style movies made with different settings. Just because you have heard someone to use that word, it doesn't obligate you to use that word without knowing how to use it correctly, right Ma'am?
Meaning of word genre on Dictionary.com
Genre explained on wiki)
And such challenges can be taken up only with directors of Madhur's caliber.
"He is a very fun loving person. Jitne serious inke films hai utna hi funny hai yeh (he is as funny as his films are serious)."
(Have you noticed how before the release of any of these movies such type of fun stories start spreading in umpteen media interviews given by stars.Oh! fun loving..Is it justfun or that cliche "He works hard and parties harder" wala fun..Please elaborate)
We just didn't realize when we started shooting the film and when we finished it."(kucch hona bhi chahiye movie mein realize/yaad rakhne ke liye))
Moghda's interview on rediff.com about Jail movie
And if you did not already know this is his movie just before Chandani bar
movie Trishakti on imdb
(Yes, he was/is "that" type of director)
And then he gets, to his utmost surprise, a National Award..finds a formula and starts milking it.. Kab tak? kaath ki haandi baar baar nahin chadhti, mere bhai..
p.s.:- Before leaving let me give some links on Woody Allen movie "Husbands And Wives" mentioned up.
"Husband And Wives" on RT
"Husbands And Wives" on wiki
quotes from "Husbands And Wives" on imdb
Movie has this amazing quote:--
TV Scientist: [on TV] Einstein was celebrating his 70th birthday anniversary and there was a colloquium given for him, and he said: 'God never plays dice with the universe -'
Gabe: No, he just plays hide-and-seek. :-)
Friday, October 9, 2009
Nobel award (in Physics)
When I was grappling with undergraduate level Physics for my Civil Services examination, one thing which I noticed was that it is very difficult to explain to a layman(and by that I mean anyone who didn't have PCM in their class 11th-12th) why exactly the esteemed scientists have been given the Nobel award.
I mean how do you explain "broken symmetry , fourth force" to him and will not this sentence that "The two men “developed a framework for describing the intrinsic mass of quarks which has been verified in spectacular experimental detail," evoke a "Duh" or a "So What?" sotto voce response from him. (Words in quotes taken from this article on 2008 Nobel Physics winners)
article on 2008 Physics Nobel winners
link explaining asymmetry in universe on nobelprize.org
Interestingly, asymmetry is good in Particle Physics but another type of it "Information Asymmetry" gives rise to "The Market for Lemons"(work of another Nobel laureate George Akerlof, 2001 Economics Nobel award winner) and is mostly a pejorative term in micro-economics
"The market for lemons" on wiki
George Arthur Akerlof on wiki
Information asymmetry on wiki
Information economics on wiki
But I have digressed. Why I intended to write this post was that it is relatively easy to understand and explain this year's Nobel Physics winner's works and , more importantly, the impacts of their works..I mean no fiber optics no Skype,no Youtube;no CCD(no, not Coffee Caffee Day silly, Charge-Coupled Devices :-)), no digicam...Just tell this to a skeptical school going fed-on-a-diet-of-MTV-Pepsi-Sony-Nokia teenager and probably he will say that give the Nobel awards of all the subsequent years to these three gentlemen :-)
Reuters report on Nobel 2009 Physics winners
p.s.:-- The frivolous tone of this post shouldn't let you assume that I am disparaging the works of Particle physicists(many of recent winners are from this area). This field is arguably the most glamorous to pursue your career in Physics now a days (almost like Finance(?) courses and electives in MBA colleges).
I am reminded of that problem which was there in CBSE Physics textbook of class XIth. In the first chapter , it explained what is "Science" what is a good "Theory" and what is an "Experiment". At the end there was a question something like this "Suppose someone argues with you that we can't see atoms.But we still have Bohr's model, Schrodinger wave equation to explain the orbital theory. We also can't see ghosts. Why don't physicists develop a theory of ghosts?"
It is easy to dismiss this question on first hearing to be childish, but I think this difficulty to properly connect theory with common day phenomena ,common sense and intuitive thinking(which completely fail when reading Relativity. I mean what is intuitive about gravitation being the curvature of space-time curve or mass being equal to energy, the famous equation "eee is equal to em see squared" :-)) may explain the esoteric nature of Higher Physics (Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, Theory of Relativity).
Special theory of relativity on wiki
Special theory of relativity explained in very short
BTW, did you know that Einstein DID NOT win the Nobel for relativity (but for explaining Photoelectic effect(that light is composed of quanta called photons (precursor to quantum mechanics) and Brownian motion). Actually his idea of relativity was so much counter-intuitive and ahead of time that the greats of that era had difficulty in understanding the theory or seeing its applicability.
Do read these interesting links on how people were skeptical about relativity
Nobel presentation speech of Einstein
Nobel to Einstein
I mean how do you explain "broken symmetry , fourth force" to him and will not this sentence that "The two men “developed a framework for describing the intrinsic mass of quarks which has been verified in spectacular experimental detail," evoke a "Duh" or a "So What?" sotto voce response from him. (Words in quotes taken from this article on 2008 Nobel Physics winners)
article on 2008 Physics Nobel winners
link explaining asymmetry in universe on nobelprize.org
Interestingly, asymmetry is good in Particle Physics but another type of it "Information Asymmetry" gives rise to "The Market for Lemons"(work of another Nobel laureate George Akerlof, 2001 Economics Nobel award winner) and is mostly a pejorative term in micro-economics
"The market for lemons" on wiki
George Arthur Akerlof on wiki
Information asymmetry on wiki
Information economics on wiki
But I have digressed. Why I intended to write this post was that it is relatively easy to understand and explain this year's Nobel Physics winner's works and , more importantly, the impacts of their works..I mean no fiber optics no Skype,no Youtube;no CCD(no, not Coffee Caffee Day silly, Charge-Coupled Devices :-)), no digicam...Just tell this to a skeptical school going fed-on-a-diet-of-MTV-Pepsi-Sony-Nokia teenager and probably he will say that give the Nobel awards of all the subsequent years to these three gentlemen :-)
Reuters report on Nobel 2009 Physics winners
p.s.:-- The frivolous tone of this post shouldn't let you assume that I am disparaging the works of Particle physicists(many of recent winners are from this area). This field is arguably the most glamorous to pursue your career in Physics now a days (almost like Finance(?) courses and electives in MBA colleges).
I am reminded of that problem which was there in CBSE Physics textbook of class XIth. In the first chapter , it explained what is "Science" what is a good "Theory" and what is an "Experiment". At the end there was a question something like this "Suppose someone argues with you that we can't see atoms.But we still have Bohr's model, Schrodinger wave equation to explain the orbital theory. We also can't see ghosts. Why don't physicists develop a theory of ghosts?"
It is easy to dismiss this question on first hearing to be childish, but I think this difficulty to properly connect theory with common day phenomena ,common sense and intuitive thinking(which completely fail when reading Relativity. I mean what is intuitive about gravitation being the curvature of space-time curve or mass being equal to energy, the famous equation "eee is equal to em see squared" :-)) may explain the esoteric nature of Higher Physics (Nuclear Physics, Particle Physics, Theory of Relativity).
Special theory of relativity on wiki
Special theory of relativity explained in very short
BTW, did you know that Einstein DID NOT win the Nobel for relativity (but for explaining Photoelectic effect(that light is composed of quanta called photons (precursor to quantum mechanics) and Brownian motion). Actually his idea of relativity was so much counter-intuitive and ahead of time that the greats of that era had difficulty in understanding the theory or seeing its applicability.
Do read these interesting links on how people were skeptical about relativity
Nobel presentation speech of Einstein
Nobel to Einstein
very good article in today's Hindu by the writer of The World is Flat
Following is the 8th October 2009 Hindu article (syndicated from NYT) by Thomas L. Friedman("has won the Pulitzer Prize three times, twice for International Reporting (1983, 1988) and once for Commentary (2002); His book The World Is Flat, was on the New York Times Best Seller list from its publication in April 2005 until May 2007. Since July 2006, the book has sold more than two million copies."--wikipedia).
"Three bombs today’s youth are growing with" by Thomas L. Friedman
And the following lines are just toooo goood (One can always say the same things in a more mundane manner using platitudes, cliches and banal expressions but the quotations, words and his felicity with language help to drive the point that "You can't sweet-talk mother nature or market")
--------------------
As such, we’re in effect putting our kids’ future in the hands of the two most merciless forces on the planet: the Market and Mother Nature.
As the environmentalist Rob Watson likes to say, “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics.” That’s all she is. You can’t spin her, you can’t sweet-talk her, you can’t say, “Hey, Mother Nature, we’re having a bad recession, could you take a year off.” No, she’s going to do whatever chemistry, biology and physics dictate, based on the amount of carbon we put in the atmosphere, and as Watson likes to add: “Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats a thousand.”
Ditto the market. The market is just a second by second snapshot of the balance between greed and fear. You can’t spin it or sweet-talk it. And you never know when that balance between greed and fear on the dollar is going to tip over into fear in a nonlinear way.
-----------------------------------------------
Thomas L. Friedman on wikipedia
"Three bombs today’s youth are growing with" by Thomas L. Friedman
And the following lines are just toooo goood (One can always say the same things in a more mundane manner using platitudes, cliches and banal expressions but the quotations, words and his felicity with language help to drive the point that "You can't sweet-talk mother nature or market")
--------------------
As such, we’re in effect putting our kids’ future in the hands of the two most merciless forces on the planet: the Market and Mother Nature.
As the environmentalist Rob Watson likes to say, “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics.” That’s all she is. You can’t spin her, you can’t sweet-talk her, you can’t say, “Hey, Mother Nature, we’re having a bad recession, could you take a year off.” No, she’s going to do whatever chemistry, biology and physics dictate, based on the amount of carbon we put in the atmosphere, and as Watson likes to add: “Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats a thousand.”
Ditto the market. The market is just a second by second snapshot of the balance between greed and fear. You can’t spin it or sweet-talk it. And you never know when that balance between greed and fear on the dollar is going to tip over into fear in a nonlinear way.
-----------------------------------------------
Thomas L. Friedman on wikipedia
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Kanika Subramaniam-- A BITS Pilani Mechanical Engineering graduate
who is making waves in Malayalam cinema...
Rediff article on Kanika
Kanika on wiki
Interview of Kanika
Divya Venkatasubramaniam (born July 3, 1982), better known by her stage names Kanika (in Tamil and Malayalam ; also misspelt as Kaniha, Kaniga or Kanihaa) and Shravanthi (in Telugu and Kannada) is an Indian actress, occasional dubbing artist, playback singer and TV anchor. Making her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Five Star(a Mani Ratnam production), she went on to work in other South Indian film industries, including Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, as well. She is perhaps best known for her performances as Eashwari in her debut film Five Star, Gayathri in Varalaru - History of Godfather and Thenmozhi in Autograph.
Rediff article on Kanika
Kanika on wiki
Interview of Kanika
Divya Venkatasubramaniam (born July 3, 1982), better known by her stage names Kanika (in Tamil and Malayalam ; also misspelt as Kaniha, Kaniga or Kanihaa) and Shravanthi (in Telugu and Kannada) is an Indian actress, occasional dubbing artist, playback singer and TV anchor. Making her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Five Star(a Mani Ratnam production), she went on to work in other South Indian film industries, including Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, as well. She is perhaps best known for her performances as Eashwari in her debut film Five Star, Gayathri in Varalaru - History of Godfather and Thenmozhi in Autograph.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Rudyard Kipling's poem If
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
wiki link on poem If
""If" is a poem written in 1896 by the then 31-year-old Rudyard Kipling.It was voted Britain's favorite poem in a 1995 BBC opinion poll."
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
wiki link on poem If
""If" is a poem written in 1896 by the then 31-year-old Rudyard Kipling.It was voted Britain's favorite poem in a 1995 BBC opinion poll."
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