A very interesting article in the New York Times today.
Continue reading ‘God Is a Match Fixer’
ShareArchive for the 'Science' Category
As able to change form and shape as Mystique (see above pictures), as able to manipulate metal and currency as Magneto, as unstoppable as the Juggernaut, as immortal and as surgically enhanced as Wolverine, as able to manipulate minds as Charles Francis Xavier (how else can you explain how pretty women all over the world swoon with O-Reshamia-sms whenever he is present), it was long known that Himesh was even more powerful than an Omega level mutant, making him the most awesome X-Man in the history of the universe.
ShareOur exams often generate and encourage stupidity and push forward the least talented of the lot. I am not an IIT student, and will not pretend to know much about the CAT since I didn’t crack it, but it is rather interesting that almost none of our wonderful IIT-ians (for whom such pitted battled are being fought) have made any earth-shattering discoveries or inventions
I tend to avoid writing posts that are critical follow-ups of posts from other blogs. There are several reasons for that—the principal one being that by discussing such posts, I give them more importance/mindspace than they deserve. As a result, there was an urge to let this Annie Zaidi post about reservations (Update: The OtherIndia website was down for a few hours and it’s up again. One difference: my trackback to Annie Zaidi’s post has been removed–it was there earlier. Ahem ahem.) pass outside my off stump, with a sad shake of the head.
The post itself can be summarized as follows: Since the examination system is bad, merit is not a criterion for admission into IIT/IIMs. Consequently, the “merit” argument cannot be used to deny quotas to OBCs.
I am not going to spend time in analysing the logical consistency of the above argument—-just like I would never worry myself by trying to understand the causalities in “Military Raj” or “Mirchi–It’s Hot”. [Of course it very well may be that so astute is the logic, that "stupid" people like me, who made it through the education system, are blinded by its sublimity and our refusal to comment on it is a blatant ruse to hide the fact that we have been perfectly "gotcha-ed".]
However, there is one line in that paragraph that compels me to comment, and so against my better judgment my bat is drawn in to the shot outside the off, conscious not to edge it to the slips or “play on” onto my own stumps.
Continue reading ‘Earth Shattering Arguments’
ShareI did my PhD in Computer Science from Stonybrook.
An excellent research university with a very strong science focus, Stonybrook had one of US’s most dissatisfied student bodies. The main reason was that there was zero campus life—-Stonybrook was as dead as Julius Caesar. So much so that a site dedicated to bitching about life at Stonybrook reportedly takes in more hits than the official page.
But this lack of life was not all that bad really.
Having nothing to do, people could concentrate on research—–mobile bar code readers that revolutionized retail, nuclear magnetic resonance……..serious, important stuff……but overall “in tune” with Stonybrook’s mortician-like image.
Continue reading ‘Research…….’
Share
R