this god business

This Feynman is something. Listen to his argument against UFOs
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=2513yaz36lc

If we apply that to GOD. We have "It is unlikely that GOD exists". This is more scientific than what I thought is more scientific "I do not know". I believed being agnostic is more scientific than being atheistic. Holly, but being agnostic is definitely not unscientific. As our bad luck may have it we can not reject believing in to be unscientific either! Another theory might be true who knows? Didn't scientists believe in ether before?

Bhiksha naivacha naivacha

My father taught me this when I was a kid: never ever beg.

I was watching Feynman's interview on youtube.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman

The video is here: a must watch.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=0XgmrMZ0h54

He says his father new the difference between knowing something and knowing the name of it. When asked about a rolling ball in a truck his father said, nobody knows why, things that are not moving tend not to move and moving things keep moving. They call it inertia. But nobody knows why? The last sentence is the key. We have a word for the phenomenon but we do not know why that happens. We often confuse between the name and the reason (or meaning). This needs to be tought.

The point is , the dgree of maturity of foundations of social transaction and thinking, we have developed is determintal to understanding and our capability. Family, ethnicity, and other similar factors influence our ability. My father had taught me many things. In retrospection, it is important to notice what I did not learn.

I want to mention a thing that my father taught me. There are a few words from some wise individuals:
If you have lot of money do business
If you have little money go farm
If you do not have any money labour or work for others.
But never ever beg.

Now to make sure I know the difference between begging and borrowing he would ask me to go to our neighbours and borrow money for him.

We confuse between seriousness and maturity, information junkie and a scholar, truth and halftruth. One such thing is knowing the name (never ever beg) and knowing its meaning.

Feynman also says he once got to know that his father's ability was also limited upon discussing calculus. He says "I realised that I had learnt more in some sense than he". How many of us get to say that?

I can say that I know more about many things than my father does. Do I really? What I am sure is, cleverness that lets my father succeed in everything he tries is based on his ability to generalise lessons to an unimaginable level. He learns more everytime he learns because he can generealise lessons beyond the context of the lesson. He can derive rules for actions that can be applied elsewhere and he quickly comes up with other related rules. More than everything else he is conscious about these rules and practices them perfectly.

I can not do that. It is said leaders forsee risks and get ready to manage them; they succed. Shouldn't we beg for this ability if someone or somethng can give it to us?

Skate where the puck is going, not where it’s been

Is being Indian not enough

This article in rediff is interesting: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/15guest.htm.
The article predictably rants and raves as can be expected by any North Indian RSS chaddi.

The author asks: "Is being Indian not enough?"
It is like someone asking "How do you say Hi! in Indian?".

What do you mean? Indian?

Winston Churchill once infamously said, "India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the Equator." Frustrated Churchill and many men like him are dead now; we do not have to deal with them.

Irrespective of weather I am a Havyaka Brahmin living in Delhi or a UP Bhayya living in Bengalooru, I have the responsibility of integrating myself into the local culture. The first step is learning to appreciate the local culture. As long as we do not have a heart felt appreciation for the host culture we remain alienated. (what about Havyaka Brahmin living in Saskatoon)

Some wise people have told me that they like freedom and they do not want to learn the local language and they should not be forced, they think. These freedom fighters, as I call them, do not realise that there is no such thing as the absolute freedom. Freedom often is relative to surroundings. Being able to do what others do. Complete freedom means randomness. There can not be a harmonious society with its members being free. In a given setup people collectively agree to not to do some things, which is inherited through their culture or state. Freedom is restricted by law, morality, social conformity, our desire to socialise and many more. Perception of violation of freedom can be countered by convincing ourselves, issue to be part of any of the items listed before.

By the way being Indian is enough if only some one could tell me what being Indian means. Being "something" requires knowing what "something" is. When there is no such "something", being "something" definitely will not be enough! We have to be that "something" which can be hormoniously integrated into our surroundings. Difference is always appreciated along with commonalities. Difference alone is not a merit [Ragu 2008!].

Stop worrying about being Indian and start reading about dying Software Engineers:

http://www.rediff.com///news/2008/feb/14spec.htm

Left Brain (left as past tense for leave)

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (46%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (44%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

A professor of pisychology tells that there is a delay of around 25ms in communication that occurs betwen left and right halves of the brain. Our head (and tail) have evolved to minimize the delay by allocating half the brain for related tasks. I am in search of tasks that must use bothe halves and show the delay and uncomfortable feeling that generates.

I want to find me go oooooooooooo kkkkkkkk ooooooooooooooooooo kkkkkkkk oooooooooooooooooooo kkkkkkkkk like a screwed up cd. Will let you know once I find it. You can also gooooooooooooo kkkkkkkk ooooooooooooooooooo kkkkkkkk oooooooooooooooooooo kkkkkkkkk

what are guitar chords?

mist in mysticism

where does mist (obscurity) in mysticism come from? ignorance? may be? (why begin with capital letter) in any case mysticism is insult (why use articles?) to religious philosophy.

in so called eastern religions god is not as important as philosophies. but like in other places people do what is convenient and claim that their religion is great

however eastern philosophies have gained bad name of being mystic. their association with religions has not been to their advantage.

it makes easy for west to dismiss everything eastern as mystic. so everyone has to believe that rational philosophy originated in west.

where does mist (obscurity) in mysticism come from?
russel said we need no proof to believe what we want to. mist partly is in ignorance and partly in wishful thinking of west.

for example yoga is thought to be mystic philosophy. in wikipedia if you search for eastern mysticism you will see yoga and vedanta in list. if someone tells me for example karma yoga is mystic philosophy i will not even be able to laugh! i can only snigger.

i have felt that there is need to articulate eastern philosophies to sound more clear and coherent. these philosophies are not crap written by some secluded psychotics but are time tested truths. these have helped create harmonious societies and coherent communities that have been able to withstand rough weather of political and social turmoil since millennia.

contemplation of brigu is illustrated in taittiriya upanishad. varuna brigus father helps him understand ultimate truth. that bliss is brahma(god). mystic? i dont see any mist here! kids are taught what to pray based on some philosophise. gist of prayer is "diyo yonah prachodayaath", enrich my intellect. hindi version would be "itani shakti hame dena data manki vishwas kamzore hona". if philosophy asks us not to wish for plasma tv but for few more biggest/longest cells in our body where is mist?

mist partly is in ignorance, lack of representation as expected in our times and partly in wishful thinking of west.

{fixed english. no commas no apostrophe no articles no capital letters. hey helping verbs you guys next!}

Amir Khan

Bellow is the link to one of the best Khyals


Amir Khan

quarter

quarter was a term to avoid. It meant country alcohol that was sold in thin transparent bottles, around my village. Of course it was a measure but it meant that colourless dirty liquid which less civilised drank. I was told to stay away from it at all costs and when I grew up even at the cost of friends. I realize not drinking did cost me some friends. I could not afford to go near and later on I did not want to.

My father gave me a bidi (country cigar) one day and asked me to smoke. My mother watched me. I was hesitant. I picked up the bidi and looked at my father. He said "go ahead bite it!". I inserted bidi in between my lips and looked at my father with pupils wide open. He he slapped my face with such force that apart from bidi falling, my head started reeling. It hurt me so much that I remember that slap every time I see a cigar! Yes my mother was so happy she was giggling looking at the groaning kid. I am glad my father did not ask me to try alcohol :) I would have been a handicapped the next moment.

Meat, my parents said, should never be eaten; it is less civilised and is against our traditions. Made perfect sense to me because of the respect I had for my parents. It still makes sense, not because of respect for tradition but (also) because I will not be a hypocrite when I play with a calf.

Are there religious reasons?
Why blame religion for injecting little bit of principle to our blood? Why call those parents archaic , orthodox or conservative who wanted to see their kid a scholar instead of having to see him in a gutter of the next village? Eating balanced food can produce enough stimulants and other ingredients needed for mind, body and soul. There is no need for artificially inseminating our gut with alcohol.

I needed two more quarters to buy juice from a vending machine. Sometimes we end up poor by keeping more money. If you want to be rich always, keep few quarters for phone, few for vending machines and if you do not want to beg by the side of the road, keep also few bucks and a quarter for the bus ride.

Who does not agree if I say north American economy is customized for sellers? Now you know why I thought about alcohol!

Calculating the height of a tree

Now, can the peepul tree in my village fall on our house? YES, It can even take half of our neighbour`s house with it when it falls. Here is how I used the trigonometry to figure out our sacred trees height:

I drew a base line on a card board one fine night. Measured placed the card board 50 ft away from the tree. Placed the torch as in the figure and increased the angle torch makes to the base line until the beam hit the top of the tree. Marked a line along the torch. Here we go, got the angle.

Height = 50ft * tan(angle). Height turned out to be 98 ft, enough to rout three houses including ours! There is another donkey way of doing this measurement. If the angle is 45 degrees there is no math needed. Distance of the torch from the tree equals the height of the tree. Then you need more people and crappy scrolling to do on the field. Many were curious to know how tall the tree was.

There was nothing new but idea was original because I did not know what internet was then in 1997. I saw the Internet a full 2 years later in 1999. It seems Red Indians watched bellow their ass and moved forword until they saw the tip of the tree. Their distance from the tree was approximately the height of the tree.

Bhaskara (12 century ACE ) uses algebra and trigonometry in his Leelavathi Ganitha to solve several similar problems. Beauty of his book was problems were as interesting as his solutions. As I say this, next time I am in India I will hunt for the book. By the way Peepul tree in our village is strong and its trunk measures 5-6mts. To this day neither have I seen an up rooted peepul tree nor would I like to believe that my ansistors are stupid enough to plant "danger" next to our house!

Spinning lady illusion explained

This post solves an illusion/riddle named Spinning Lady, doing rounds on the Internet and demonstrates how to get rid of the illusion.

First publication of Spinning Lady illusion appears to be in the Australian "Herald Sun" October 07. (Thanks to Aaron who showed it to me then) {Some have claimed that Nobuyuki Kayahara 2003 is its author} Apart from disagreeing to take it as a test to see if I am Right Brained or Left Brained (I am Wrong Brained by the way.), I argue that this illusion is created accidentally and I identify two central points that make this illusion possible. By reversing these two points, I prove that the illusion can be disambiguated. There is also argument that all silhouettes are ambiguous which is a bit like saying "all ambiguous things are ambiguous"! This post is about why at all they are and in particular this one is ambiguous.

If you closely look the at the animation (click on the image), some will see the silhouette rotating in clockwise direction, others will see it rotating in the anti-clockwise direction. Most, I have heard will see the clockwise rotation. We should be able to switch between these rotations by focusing on the shadow of the legs and imaging the rotation in a direction opposite to what we see.

Anurag Sinha identifies a feature that is also responsible for the illusion. I am here to hammer the last nail on the illusion's coffin. One thing you will notice when the silhouette appears to have changed the direction is the change of not only the grounded foot but also the floating hand. Left hand appears to float when the rotation is anti-clockwise and a right hand appears to float when the rotation is clockwise.

How can this happen? I mean when is our left hand our right hand? The notion of left and right and hence the notion of clockwise and anti-clockwise are based on our ability to distinguish front and back! If we watch a clock without a dial, from behind we will see it moving in an anti-clockwise direction. Thus, if we have no way of distinguishing the front and the back, we have no way of deciding whether the motion is in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. If the cues are confusing, we end up in an illusion; some thinking in one way and other in another way.

There appear to be two points of confusion here: One is the foot that is grounded, other is in the floating hand! Look at these snapshots:

In the snapshot above left foot is on the ground right hand is floating

In the snapshot above right foot is on the ground left hand is floating

I drew eyes on the face of the silhouette (also boobs). Now we can distinguish between the front and back of the silhouette! Can`t we?

Thus, the illusion is created not only by the ambiguity in resting feet judgement but by also the total lack of cues to distinguish between the front and back of the silhouette. We should note that we can see front and back for certain range of angles but these are not the distinguishing part of the rotations. Thus, If we can introduce cues to tell the difference we can stop the illusion.

Further, I argue that this illusion is an accident; an accidental creation when an avatar rotating in "no one knows what direction" was converted to a silhouette (Only the author can tell and most importantly it does not matter!).

I did an experiment with this illusion. I added cues to distinguish front and back of the silhouette by drawing boobs and eyes to make it rotate in an anti-clockwise direction. I also had to add depth cues to the feet to disambiguate anchoring.

Now click and watch the edited animation. (It is not polished yet). Can you see it rotating in both directions? NO? You can only see it rotate in an anti-clockwise direction. Even if you can switch, my edits force you back to think anti-clockwise rotation. We can edit the animation to make it rotate in the clockwise direction too.

Thus, I have shown that the perception of rotation of this silhouette depends both on the depth cues and the cues to distinguish the front and back of rotating objects.

And yes, this is not a right or left brain test. Real left and right brain tests are elsewhere. (click)

Postscript:

This was created by Japanese designer Nobuyuki Kayahara. This is a Bistable illusion caused by lack of visual cues for depth.