The garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto which transformed Santa Clara County into the Silicon Valley. Bill and Dave worked here when they first started. Read the story here.
I worked for HP in Cupertino in their Computer Systems Division. My office was in building 47.
Penn and Teller are pretty amazing. I especially like their debunking videos. They are iconoclasts and have a lot of fun letting the air out of some of the high and mighty. They have done the usual ones. YouTube has a lot of their stuff. Here’s a video of one great illusion by Teller: Shadows
Continue reading “Penn and Teller Explain Sleight of Hand”
Let me start off with the confession that I don’t like milk. It is just a matter of taste, nothing more. For years, I had felt somehow deprived that I didn’t have a taste for something that was clearly so beneficial. But as the evidence against milk mounted, I started feeling a sense of smug satisfaction — I figured that my taste buds had figured out a truth that I had not known. But I am sure that you are not interested in my dietary preferences. I bring this up only because the story of milk illustrates a number of deeper issues.
The first lesson is that it is possible for people to believe something sincerely and yet to totally mistaken. The second lesson: commercial interests motivate many to maintain a falsehood in the face of mounting evidence. Third, the world is connected and therefore even if you don’t directly promote harmful activities, even seemingly innocuous activities can indirectly cause suffering. Fourth, sometimes a proposed cure can aggravate the situation. Fifth, what appears to be a well established ancient practice could well be a relatively recent result of the modern way of living. Sixth, it is not easy but eventually with due diligence, researchers figure out what are the causes of a problem. That is, empirical studies reveal truths that are not analytically tractable. Seventh, the power of advertising and marketing is immense and can brainwash people into believing whatever the commercial interests dictate.
Enough of the editorializing. Here are the relevant articles. The first one is a two-part report in the Guardian: Diary Monsters – part 1, and part 2. A few excerpts below the fold.
Continue reading “Milk Does a Body Good?”
A fatwa is a religious decree made by a mullah. A “patwa” is like a fatwa but made by Patil. A patwa, like a fatwa, is not based on reason or logic. But it is not just a matter of whim, a fancy, a just-like-that sort of thing. It is calculated to serve Patil’s and her masters’ interest.
Continue reading “What’s a “Patwa”?”
Pardon me if I sound a bit like that woman from the French resistance in the side-splittingly funny British comedy series “‘alo, ‘alo” when she enters through the windows at the back of the tavern and says, “Listen to me very carefully. I am going to say this only once.” She of course prefaces all her revelations with that line delivered in a conspiratorial and stern whisper. I am going to do the same. So listen to me very carefully because I am going to say this only once.
Ready? Are you quite sure? Sure you don’t want to take your time and come back later to hear what I have to say?
Continue reading “Suicide! Suicide!”
The latest issue is on the stands. Click on the image to download (pdf) the current issue of Pragati.
To get a preview of what’s in the issue, read the excerpts at the Pragati site.
Prof Asher’s article on the Gujarat model is a must-read. “Its focus on development, empowerment of individuals, and internal security benefits all communities and income groups, and therefore is inclusive in the correct meaning of the term.”
My take on LK Advani’s speech to FICCI recently (posted previously on this blog) is included in the Roundup section of this issue.
The Airbus 380 cockpit. Click on the image above to see the amazing 360 degree view (which will open in a new window or tab.) Note the controls at the bottom of the screen which allow you to zoom and tilt the view. (Thanks Yuvaraj for the link.)
The last time I sat in the jump seat of an Airbus was a flight from New Delhi to Paris on Aug 31st 2001. I had been traveling a lot on business and gotten to know the flight crew. I spent a couple of hours chatting with the captain that night as we winged our way across the world under a starry sky. A few days later, on Sept 11th, the opportunity for most people to ever hang out in the cockpit of a commercial jetliner vanished for good.
In response to the post on Jago Party, Mr Denson Joseph, one of the founder members of the party, took the trouble to post a comment. This is a response to that comment.
I maintain that it is a always a good sign that people are seriously making an attempt at forming political parties. The marketplace, so to speak, has to expand. With some luck, the good ones will take root and flourish. But the creation of a good party is not just a matter of luck. It has to be the result of some deep thinking. Impassioned calls to “WORK TOGETHER & TAKE ACTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE” by “the literate noble thinkers, bloggers & critics” is a bit premature if the hard thinking has not been done.
Continue reading “Jago (revisited)”
[Here is a transcript from one of the scores of Alan Watts’ talks I have in mp3 format.]
[Begin transcript of Alan’s talk.]
I’m not really a musician but it just so happens that I have in front of me a fabulous instrument which the Japanese call koto. I suppose it would be best described as a table harp. Long instrument stringed with bridges – horizontal harp.
It was customary among Chinese poets in the old days to read poetry and strum on the lute or table harp at the same time. And I have got here a curious old text called Ts’ai-ken T’an – which means the “Vegetable Root Discourses” – written by Koji Tse (sp?) somewhere around 1624.
Continue reading “Alan Watts: The Vegetable Root Discourses”
I know that outsourcing things to India is all the rage in the world today and how the world is getting to be flat (thanks, Tom Friedman, what would we do without your wisdom) but this is getting a bit ridiculous. Apparently Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wants to outsource the idea of how the legal system should be run in a democratic state to India. His idea is that the state should recognize sharia, the Islamic legal system, for those who profess Islam in the UK. India discriminates among its citizens based on their professed beliefs and Mr Williams clearly considers it to be an excellent model to follow.
Continue reading “Outsourcing Insanity”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 