lucis

Okay, first a disclaimer. You are going to hate me for doing this to you (just as I can never forgive Debasish). You will spend sleepless nights staring at the computer screen and scribbling on paper, you’ll be thinking of this when you work, sleep or eat, and your entire life will revolve around this. So if you want to continue living the normal, sane, boring life you are used to, STOP READING NOW!

Good (I knew you’ll continue reading), with that out of the way, let me introduce you to notpron. The self proclaimed “hardest riddle available on the internet” is not only the hardest, it is also the most addictive, interesting, and clever. It has 138 levels (so far), and each one of these can take days to solve. The riddles involve interesting computer tricks, math tricks, google searching, html tricks, and just about anything you can think of. I am currently stuck at level 16. It is very frustrating because I think I have decoded all the clues, but cant figure out how to put everything together so that I can unlock the next level.

So if you believe you can think laterally, and fancy your computer, math or searching skills, give it a shot. You’ll never forgive me

… or am I? Its been a long time since I wrote anything here. Have lots of stuff to add and lots of pictures to share. I hope I’ll try to update this more often. Meanwhile, upgraded WP to the latest version - was really straightforward.

To get started, here is a nice little twenty minute special on the best TV serial on air - Battlestar Galactica. Its not much, but atleast something to chew on while we wait for the rest of the second season.

After two back-to-back paper deadlines, and weeks of 16-20 hour days, finally got a small breather. Luckily the International office was organizing a ski/snowboarding trip this weekend (just a day after the paper deadline), and it sounded like a great way to unwind.

I chose snowboarding because many people said that it would be more fun than skiing. While it was a whole lot of fun, I seriously doubt skiing involves as much falling over as snowboarding atleast on the first day. And at a place like the Alpine valley which makes new snow every night, this means that you fall on ice rather than fresh and soft snow most of the time. I am not sure how many days before I can move without crying!

One thing I find very hard to understand is the lack of the safety concerns with skiing. While everyone is super careful while riding a bike, and helmets and other protective gear is almost mandatory, I dont think I noticed anyone wearing a helmet while skiing. Another alarming thing was the lift to get to the top of the slope. The lifts never stop, and require you to jump on and off as it slows down slightly. While getting on it was only a minor challenge, getting off was almost impossible with the snowboard strapped to the feet. There was always a pile of people down on the ground in front of the landing area. What was even more surprising was that there was no rail or something to prevent slipping and falling on the ground 20-50 feet below on the lift. It almost felt like a disaster waiting to happen.

All comments and trackbacks on the site are disabled as of now thanks to all the comment spam that I have been receiving. It will be re-enabled once I manage to find a nice solution to the problem. Also, expect regular posting to resume only around the end of this month. Until then…

I know I am a little late, but a happy new year to everyone.

Its been over a month and a half since my last post. My excuse? I was vacationing in India, and though I had access to the internet, and also had lots to write about, I was just too busy and never really felt like it…

But now I am back in the icy cold Chicago, and there is lots to share.

• The one year anniversary for the blog has come and gone (12/3). Happy b’day lucis!
• Veer Zaara is one of the worst movies ever made. Terrible music, predictable and super boring story, ordinary acting, and extra-extra long. That said, Yash Chopra could have given it a really awesome ending by making a small change, but he preferred a more traditional hindi movie ending. I wont reveal this alternate ending that I have in mind, but think on the lines of The Usual Suspects, and Primal Fear. Even if he had given the slightest hint of the alternate ending, the movie might have been worth the time. Come to think of it, maybe there was something to suggest this end, and I was too stupid to see it. Or, maybe it was subtle enough to make some people (like me) conscious of it, but not apparent enough to disturb the vast majority of hindi movie watching population. Okay, now I am trying to read too deeply between the lines. The movie was a total waste of time.
• The Philips DVP642 is a DivX-certified DVD player. Yes, it plays practically anything you throw at it, that includes MPEG4 encoded files on all kinds of media.
• The traffic situation in New Delhi is probably as bad as it was two years ago. Someone needs to tell them that flyovers at all intersections merely transfer the points of congestion, and dont really create more space for cars to run on. A double-decker Ring road, and Outer Ring road is probably what is needed (other than better public transport, ofcourse)!
• Dell is at it again. This time they were stupid enough to list a $1400 worth Canon zoom lens (the 100-400mm L IS) for under $200. Needless to say, this news spread like wild fire at various online forums, and thousands of orders were placed. With confirmation mails sent out already, Dell is still in the process of deciding how to handle the situation. If they honour this price mistake, it would be an order of magnitude bigger than any price blunder they have done before. Lets hope for the best.

Lot more to come, so stay tuned!

Went for a football (soccer) game between German club Bayern München and the English club Manchester United at the newly renovated Soldier Field. I had never been to a pro football game before, and was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, being a friendly game, neither team had its best players, and no one was trying really hard. The game ended on a 0-0, and was decided by a rather unexciting penalty shootout. Unexciting because no one really cared - it was simply a way of getting the 58,000+ spectators to spend more money on food and beer while they waited for the game to end. It was fun, I just hope the game had been more competitive.

Soldier field on the other hand was far from being a disappointment. I havent seen too many stadiums, but this is probably one of the best I’ll ever get to see. The thing is huge (seating capacity of 60k+). Its location right between lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive make is absolutely perfect. Even better is the architecture. While some may not like the new design, I thought it was brilliant. The stadium is basically a cross between early twentieth century architecture and modern UFO-style building style. Parts of the stadium were built as early as 1924, while a major chunk was added in the last couple of years. Amazing blend of old and new architecture.

While I was there, I also got a chance to play with the awesome $800 Nikkor AF 180mm f/2.8 ED-IF lens. While the focal length was still probably a bit too small, this lens made taking photos a real pleasure (as opposed to my humble Nikkor 50mm, which reduced the players to little ants). I’ll try to post some pictures soon…

Quals (qualifiers) - A mysterious, largely unexplainable, dreaded, and scary exam that lets a graduate student’s committee decide in an hour, if she is good enough to conduct research over a period of about five years and get a PhD.

I passed my quals today.

The other really good thing is that as a result of all the reading I did in its preperation, I think I have a much better idea of what exactly I want to focus my research on - both in the short, and long term.

The only discernable immediate effect is that I can now apply for a closed study carrel in the library (so what if there is an eight month waiting list for that)!

I have a bunch of GMail invites. So for the seven and a half regular readers of this blog, here is your chance to finally get something useful out of it. Post a comment here with your email address and I’ll send you an invite.

No purchase necessary. Offer valid while stocks last.

Update: I’ve exhausted my supply of invites. See comments for other possible sources.

Starlab was a privately funded research lab that was supposed to work on technologies that become practical in decades or centuries. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it had over 70 of the world’s best researchers working on crazy and sci-fi stuff such as time travel, artificial brain building, creating wealth, quantum consciousness, building serendipity, art, and even galactic civilisations!

Our role is to show the feasibility of crazy ideas. Starlab is a crazy company where you can realise crazy things without limitations. You can get people to back an idea without worrying about whether it will fit a particular business plan. At Starlab there is no risk of being conservative, because we are inventing the future. - Ronald Schrooten

On June 21, 2001, thanks to the dotcom burst, the company filed for bankruptcy, and ceased to exist

More info and links here

Today’s Garfield pretty much sums up my attitude towards this blog of late…

I guess I need more practice at ignoring

Anyone remotely associated with Comptuer Science should know about Dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra. Here I reproduce his famous “advice to a young scientist”. (The original PDF is available here.)

* Raise your standards as high as you can live with, avoid wasting your time on routine problems, and always try to work as closely as possible at the boundary of your abilities. Do this because it is the only way of discovering how that boundary should be moved forward.

* We all like our work to be socially relevant and scientifically sound. If we can find a topic satisfying both desires, we are lucky; if the two targets are in conflict with each other, let the requirement of scientific soundness prevail.

* Never tackle a problem of which you can be pretty sure that (now or in the near future) it will be tackled by others who are, in relation to that problem, at least as competent and well-equipped as you are.

* Write as if your work is going to be studied by a thousand people.

* Don�t get enamoured with the complexities you have learned to live with (be they of your own making or imported). The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world�s richest source of rewarding challenges.

* Before embarking on an ambitious project, try to kill it.

* Remember that research with a big R is rarely mission-oriented and plan in terms of decades, not years. Resist all pressure � be it financial or cultural � to do work that is of ephemeral significance at best.

* Don�t strive for recognition (in whatever form): recognition should not be your goal, but a symptom that your work has been worthwhile.

* Avoid involvement in projects so vague that their failure could remain invisible: such involvement tends to corrupt one�s scientific integrity.

* Striving for perfection is ultimately the only justification for the academic enterprise: if you don�t feel comfortable with this goal � e.g. because you think is too presumptuous � stay out!

Interesting word. Came across this word while reading about popular halftoning algorithms. Here is what it means:

boustrophedon - An ancient method of writing in which the lines are inscribed alternately from right to left and from left to right.

Apparently halftoning algorithms improve greatly if images are processed in a boustrophedonic pattern instead of simple scanlines…

I recently came across Head Fi. This site has a bunch of discussion forums for talking about all music related hardware. This includes headphones, amplifiers, cables, portable players, etc. The people at this place are crazy! A $100 pair of headphones is considered cheap and pretty useless. Listening to music without a portable headphone amplifier is a strict no-no. $1500 is considered a tight budget for a decent sound system. CDs are considered evil, and real quality lies in vinyl (forget about the oh so lossy MP3s). This is the world of the hard-core audiophiles.

Based on recommendations here, I decided to get a pair for the “ultra cheap” Koss KSC-35. These are widely regarded as the best pair of headphones under $100, and they cost only $30. After using these for about a month, I am really impressed. At first I was concerned by the seemingly soft bass, but after the burn-in period, I think it is far better than what I had expected. The music is sounds more alive. They seem to be better than my older Sennheiser HD-497, and are far more portable.

For some wierd reason Koss decided to discontinue this model though. It was replaced by worse sounding and ugly looking KSC-50. This is still available on the Koss website until they sell out. I’ve heard of people buying them by the truckload so that they can continue using them forever!

It is hard to imagine how the sound quality can improve further. But then thats what I always thought when I was using my crappy Sony headphones. Up next for me is a little DIY project to build a CMoy headphone amplifier, followed by a PIMETA, or a MINT. And then the Sennheiser HD 600. I can dream, cant I?

I guess my previous post calls for some explaination. So instead of adding a comment, here is another post…

What I posted in the previous post is probably the best way I could describe it from the limited knowledge I have about the stock exchange.

I guess the main problem I have with stock exchanges and shares is that I dont quite understand what sets the price of a share. Again, from what I have seen, the stock price has absolutely nothing to do with how well/poorly a company is doing. Sometimes the potential that the company has is a contributing factor, but this is rather rare. What really baffles me is how even the most intelligent and knowledgeable person (even those who work high up in the company) can not predict with any degree of certainty how the share would perform in the coming weeks.

The best way I have come to understand this is (like a friend once put it), collective foolishness. If the price is going up, the stock must be good. Who cares what the company does!

Then there is that even more fundamental problem of why trade stocks in the first place. Why would anyone want to pay several hundred times the cover price of a share? The only rationale I understand is the hope that the “price” would increase in the future. Its not like the person would be getting huge dividends on the share she owns. The person simply depends on the collective foolishness of the population and his gut feeling when she decides to purchase any shares.

What value does a stock exchange add to the society? No wealth is generated. Wealth only exchanges hands. Why have a stock exchange at all?

The only semi-plausible explaination I have is that the stock exchange is an incentive for the public to invest in a company. This makes some sense. If there is no real incentive to invest, why would someone want to invest in a company! Thanks to the stock exchange, and the collective foolishness, there is a possibility that the price of the stock would increase in the future, and someone who invested wisely stands to gain a lot. But again, the collective foolishness is a primary requirement for it to work right.

One thing I should mention is that I have nothing against stocks/shares as such. Having shares and going public to raise money is great. This is what helps companies to grow. What I dont understand is the Stock Exchange.

Also, I must say that I am not at all qualified to talk about stocks, finance, and other such stuff. I barely manage to get my IT returns filed on time! I am quite sure that I am making a fundamental mistake somewhere. I would love to be proven wrong.

One last thing. An interesting movie about predicting the stock exchange behavior is Pi by one of my favourite directors. (you knew a movie reference was coming!)

The collective foolishness popularly known as a Stock Exchange is flawed by definition. Any better and it would be called a Grocerry Store.

It takes a genius to crack into it and exploit its imperfections.

Well, another year has come and gone. Why does each subsequent year seem to have gone by faster than the previous ones?!

Happy New Year!

MT is awesome!! Just finished setting it up, and am ready for my first post now. Also configured the archiving options, thanks to NSLog and others.
Still playing around with it. Looks like a huge time sink though

Anyways, now that I have the basic thing up and running, I can work on making it look prettier as and when I find the time.

I’ll probably soon post a review of 21 grams, and A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. In a word, both were awesome!