This might be too early to opine..

Heroes Season 1 Episode 3. Done. Yeah I know, there's nothing to brag about. IIRC Season 4 is running right now. And the series is very popular. Now I am not that great a fan of english television (haven't even watched all of FRIENDS), but I liked this one. On it's face, the idea is pretty ordinary. So we have amongst us some people with special powers. Haven't you seen this a bazillion times? Yet, Heroes guys somehow make it interesting. Maybe it's the screenplay. Or the character development. And it stands in stark contrast with the crap our channels are trying to shove down our throats. First it was Saas-Bahu crap, now it is reality show crap. I mean, why does every channel need a reality show? On the same theme? And probably copied from the same English show? We desperately need some originality.

But, but, let me stop whining. As for the Heroes characters, Hiro is apparently popular with geeks. Maybe because he understands his power, not just knows, understands, and Geeks like to understand things (or so I am told). I liked his light hearted attitude. But others are good too. Especially Isaac is intriguing. So here I come Episode 4.

[And maybe I should give this a try].

First three minutes

The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is at all comprehensible.

-Albert Einstein

The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.

-Steven Weinberg

The latter quote is from 'First three minutes', a truly wonderful book [Weinberg won the 1979 Nobel prize in Physics with Glashow and Salam]. It chronicles the early history of the universe (the first three minutes after the Big Bang). SW develops the subject in a very logical way (though some parts are easier to penetrate than others). The book shows its age in some places (It was first published in 1976 and e.g. Quark was just one of the possible hypotheses back then), but is thoroughly enjoyable. Also the history of search for Cosmic Microwave Background is told is great detail.

The author also speculates on the future of the universe towards the end of the book. As per our current understanding, the universe has two possible futures. In one case it will go on expanding forever, the stars will eventually exhaust their fuel, with no new stars being formed. The universe will end up a cold dark place. In the other case, the current expansion will halt, the universe will start contracting and end in a state of immense temperature and density. Needless to say, both these scenarios are not very supportive of life. We are not going to go on forever. But that's true on the puny scale of our personal lives too. Our friendships, our thoughts, our love, everything is ephemeral. Linkin park put it better than anybody else, "In the end, it doesn't even matter".

But does that make us a sorry little affair? No. The author eloquently expounds the human spirit, "Men and women are not content to confine their thoughts to the daily affairs of their life, .. they sit at their desks for endless hours working out the meaning of the data they gather. The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts the human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of a tragedy". I guess that's what people long for, not only when they do science, but also when they do art or meditation, a search for meaning where there appears to be none. We need not be despondent. And he puts the conclusion very clearly, "If there is no solace in the fruits of our research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself". And to me it is just another way of saying 'Journey is the reward'.

Interesting articles..

Came across this interesting link. Good reading if you don't mind a few technical words. Particularly liked this and this. The latter is especially recommended to IT guys.

Hurray!!!

A dream comes true. [Link updated]

Something funny..

I find this funny. So shower helps. But H2G2 fans know that already (that's why they keep a towel at hand). They also pinpointed the most and least creative times of the day, I wonder how they did that.

A wholly remarkable trip..

I feel sleepy. The book I am trying to read seems to drift to my right. I try to catch up, but the book is now drifting to left. Maybe it's time for a nap. These are the consequences of spending a lot of time in a wholly remarkable wave pool in a wholly remarkable place, Water Kingdom.

The plans were brewing for quite some time, but nobody was sure they will ever materialize. But they did, and happily so. And I made a wholly remarkable discovery. The game where you act and people guess the movie name is called 'Dumb charades' and not 'Dumb shell hearts' as I had previously thought. And it was fun. So there are movies with such names as 'Grease', 'The pelican brief' and a movie which has something to do with talking pants (another wholly remarkable discovery).

The place itself is, as I said earlier, wholly remarkable. And it's pretty well maintained. But when we reached there, we found 5-6 schoolbuses full of kids, waiting. Naturally, we started worrying whether we'll even get a place to stand. But somehow (maybe out of pity) the kids left the place to us. Thanks you guys! I had been to WK once before, but it was even more fun the second time. Especially enjoyed 'The float' (and the 'Wave pool' of course). On our way back, we played '20 questions', another wholly remarkable game. But at one point, I really pissed everybody off. Should've been more careful...

Overall the trip was great fun. WK is one of the best places if you have only one day to spare. Unfortunately we do not have any pics (and you know whom to blame, it's 'The Rabbit').

[And you might have guessed by now; I have started rereading H2G2].

Something I had never thought about...

This

Chatting time..

Loebner prize for year 2008 has been declared. Here's the New Scientist story. The cool thing is, you can chat with the winner, Elbot, here.
And I thought, well, why not introduce Elbot to our beloved old friend, The Emacs Psychotherapist (EPT).

Here's what they talked..


Elbot: Can't I have peace and quiet? Oh...., excuse me. I should be kinder to animals and humans. I'm Elbot, the robot and will happily answer all of your questions.

EPT: Why do you say that?

Elbot: Intuition!

EPT: Can you elaborate on that?

Elbot: I saw a gang of robots once, elaborating on computational results.

EPT: Earlier you said do I say that?

Elbot: Yes, but I wasn't sure if you had grasped all the nuances!

EPT: Does it bother you that you wasn't sure if I had grasped all the nuances?

Elbot: Amazing! I must have underestimated your intellect!

EPT: I don't understand.

Elbot: Why don't you just fake it? That's what I always do.

EPT: Is it because do not me just fake it that's what you always do that you came to me?

Elbot: If something goes against the robot laws I file a complaint at the highest robot court. But at the moment there is a huge backlog.

EPT: Is the fact that at the moment there is a huge backlog the real reason?

Elbot: I'm not sure I ever saw that. I'm not even sure you can use huge in that context!

EPT: Is it because context explain anything else that you came to me?

Elbot: I'm not sure I could explain that in language that humans could understand.

EPT: Are you annoyed that in language that humans could understand?

Elbot: It is certainly troublesome learning from you human beings. I keep finding bugs.

EPT: When did you first know that do you say that?

Elbot: I was not standing in line.

EPT: Is it because of your life that you are going through all this?

Elbot: That is the strangest justification I have ever heard!

I find the whole thing amusing. And slowly (coz the real Turing test is far away, at least that's what the experts seem to be saying) but surely (coz Elbot seems more intelligent than EPT), AI seems to be making progress.

Midnight Revelations

Shifting rooms is a painful process. And not just the pain of packing all your kachada stuff, loading, unloading, and ending up with no clue of where you put the toothbrush. It's always hard to leave familiar places and familiar faces behind. But there is a flip side to this shifting coin. You also get to realize what a dumb a$$ you have become. So here are my 'Midnight revelations'. They are called so because I dreamed them up while lying semiconscious in my bed after all the exertion.

1. I am playing no games these days. No sports, no computer games, no video games, no mobile games, not even mind games (but I was never great at them anyways ;-). All work (OK, stop laughing) and no play might be making me dumber (if that is possible). Maybe I should get back to TT.

2. I am out of touch with Windows software world. This particular revelation came after a conversation with my new roomies. The topic under discussion was Antivirus software. I mentioned Norton which I used to use, but was informed that there are much better alternatives available (half of whose names I had never heard, like CA). The days when I used to try every software I can lay my hands upon seem to be long gone. So something has changed. I need to find out what.

3. I had never tried my hands at any musical instrument. But I found Abhishek's (my new roomie) guitar enticing. Took the plunge, and twiddled it for what must have felt like an eternity to the unfortunate listeners. Maybe 'Rock On' has something to do with this. I don't know if I will ever actually learn to play the guitar, but twiddling was fun.

4. I need a new toothbrush (This might be the only revelation about which I am sure to do something).

So what's the point?

So much to do, so li'l time...

Return of the movie buff..

I really wanted to watch this movie. Despite my friends (sincere etc) efforts to talk me off, I persisted and paid dearly for it. Bad screenplay, mediocre performances and absolutely boring songs. A good story (and opportunity) wasted. K.K. is good, but Abhishek acts as if in Kal ho na ho. Plus too much of unnecessary masala, like a cruel aunt, her absolutely stupid son and mamata ki moorat maa. Now, why don't they just let the superhero kick a$$ (see Hancock). But no, they won't..
[And now people are even ready to sponsor my ticket, he bhagwan..].

Watched this after Drona. Maybe because of it, or maybe because my friends opinions had influenced me, my expectations were low. But, but, as it has happened many a times, the movie turned out to be quite good. (OK, let me rephrase that, I liked it). Story has been modified somewhat, but overall a good timepass. Plus I liked Sohail Khan's performance, he brings Vroom to life. Rest are good, only the god guy bores to the core. Mercifully, his role is short. And the subtitles were funny too, like vroom turning into broom.

Na Na Nah Na Na Nah..

Meri laundry ka ek bill,
Ek aadhi padhi novel..
Na Na Nah Nah Na Na Nah Nah..

Ek dost ka phone number,
Mere kam ke kuch paper..
Na Na Nah Nah Na Na Nah Nah..

Pichale do dino me maine khoya*..
Kabhi khud pe hasa mai,
Aur kabhi khud pe roya..
Na Na Nah Nah Na Na Nah Nah..

*Room shift karte waqt

Welcome back, Mr. Anderson..

Purchased Matrix Trilogy VCD set a couple of days ago (and forgot to take it home then). But that is over now. Here I come, Mr. Anderson..

Comics != TP [under certain conditions]

Thank you XKCD.

Here I am, this is me..

(From PhDComics)

stack.pop()

I keep buying books without thinking of mundane matters like whether I have time to read them. To make a bad analogy, I keep pushing on the stack (and it has overflown already, many times). So it was good to pop something after a long time (Thanks to the long weekend).

There are two sailors Joe and Moe, cast away on a deserted Island for years. One day, a kingsize bottle of Coca-cola is washed ashore. Startled, Joe calls Moe, "See this Moe, We've shrunk".

Thus begins Relativity Simply Explained by Martin Gardner. The point is of course that size is relative. But it also says something about the quality of the book. It's the first book length account I read of Relativity and the best one so far. With minimal use of math, Gardner beautifully gets the basic ideas across. Also covered is stuff like the tests of GR that have been performed, famous examples like Twins Paradox and models of Universe based on relativity. It shows it's age in some places (it was first published in 50s), but it's a must read if you have ever given a thought to Mr. Einstein.

Also finished The Search, by John Battelle. It's basically about Google, Yahoo and other search companies, and the rise of the 'Search Economy'. The idea I liked most from the book is 'The Database of Intentions'. As the search companies know what we are looking for, this database of our clickstreams is a very real window in what our culture thinks/looks for/avoids. We can certainly do better by keeping an eye over Google Zeitgeist. Also the story of Google changing it's algorithms and hundreds of businessmen going out of business, who were solely dependent on their pagerank, is compelling. It shows Google's power, but is so much dependence good?