Author: Atanu Dey

Time lapse compilation of best mesocyclones and supercells resembling flying saucers, alien crafts and motherships. All Cinematography and Music by Pecos Hank.

From the details of the video by Pecos Hank: Continue reading “Mesocyclone”

Day after tomorrow, 21st July, will be the premier of the biopic Oppenheimer. I looking forward to watching the movie at an IMAX GT theater in Austin TX sometime in the next couple of weeks. I’ve always been fascinated by J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Part of my fascination was due to his deep knowledge of and interest in Hinduism. In a TV interview, when asked what his reaction was when he witnessed the test (in New Mexico, code named Trinity) of the atom bomb he had helped in creating, he said that he had recalled lines from the Bhagavad Gita — “I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.” Continue reading “Oppenheimer”

I am fascinated by the philosophical foundations of the various dharmas. The dharmas — the Sanatana dharma (aka Hinduism), the Jain dharma, the Buddha dharma — have a shared foundation. Having evolved in the same geographic region, they share certain foundational concept such as karma, moksha, etc.. However, they differ somewhat in their social and cultural expressions. To borrow a zoological metaphor, they belong to the same genus (dharma) but are distinct species (Sanatana, Jain, Boudha.) Continue reading “Advaita Vedanta”

Nature is awesome. It inspires awe, especially when it reveals itself in fury such as in tsunamis, earthquakes, fires, and storms. Among storms, tornadoes are particularly impressive. The strongest tornadoes leave death and widespread destruction in their wake.

I have witnessed some of nature’s fury. Having lived in northern California for several decades, I have experienced several earthquakes. The biggest was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17 at 5:04 p.m. local time. Named after the Loma Prieta peak, it was centered in Santa Cruz County section of the San Andreas fault, lasted around 15 seconds and had a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale. It killed 63 people and injured over 3,700 people. Continue reading “Tornados”

Arguably one of the most momentous events in the history of civilization must be the declaration of independence by the 13 British colonies of North America on July 4th, 1776. It transformed the world in ways that could not have been imagined by those who declared independence and fought for it.

Here are some details about the declaration from the wiki (lightly edited):

The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States. It was adopted on July 4, 1776. The declaration explains to the world why the thirteen colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule.

The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who came to be known as the nation’s Founding Fathers. The 56 included delegates from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The declaration became one of the most circulated and widely reprinted documents in early American history. Continue reading “Happy 4th of July”

Recently I had a very brief week-long career as a driver. I signed up as a Lyft driver in Austin, TX. It took me a couple of hours on the web to do so, and I became a driver for hire.

There were several reasons why I did that. Foremost reason was that I was curious to know how it feels to do a low-status service job. All jobs I had done before have also been service jobs but they were cognitively demanding, high status jobs such as teaching college courses in reputed universities or product marketing at a multinational corporation in the Silicon Valley. In contrast to that kind of service work, a taxi driver’s job though it requires skill is not intellectually challenging or high status. Continue reading “Driving”

Back in the day when I read fiction, I liked to know (and I still do) the sources of the titles. For example, Ernest Hemingway took the title for his novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” from John Dunne’s 1623 “Meditations XVII.” That meditation is my favorite. Here’s that part:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. … any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

We are all part of the same living tree of life. I recommend reading the whole bit.

Hemingway took the title “A Farewell to Arms” for his 1929 novel from a poem by George Peele. Economist Gregory Clark tipped his hat to Peele and used the homophony in ‘arms’ and ‘alms’ to title his 2007 book, “A Farewell to Alms”, with the subtitle “A Brief Economic History of the World.” I included that book in the reading list for a course on economic development I had taught some years ago. Continue reading “Book Titles”

Humans, I tell you dear fellow human, are unique. Here’s a quick reminder on our zoological classification.

At the most specific classification — the species level at the bottom of the zoological taxonomic tree — we are homo sapiens, the modern humans. One level up from our species is the genus. We are in the genus homo. We are the only species in that genus.

Go up one level, we belong to the family hominidea. Our family includes chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans — the other great apes. We can detect the family resemblance. Apes have large brains and are bipedal.

Apes like us belong to the order primates. Besides us humans, the primate order includes apes, monkeys, and lemurs — animals that have a large brain, and they use their hands to manipulate objects. There are over 500 species of primates in the world. Continue reading “Diversity”

Thanks to Akshay for his comment. From it, I learned something important (see the end of this post.) I love pushback because then I get off my lazy ass and actually write a post.

Both Carl Sagan and Freeman Dyson are excellent exemplars of people who are both well-informed and well-meaning. I would add that they were not just highly intelligent but were also exceedingly wise. However they differed in their assessment of how critical the climate change issue was. This is not surprising because the matter is one on which reasonable people could disagree. It is important to note their divergent opinions and explain it. Continue reading “Experts”