Category: Uncategorized

Unless one is a hermit or is marooned on an uninhabited island, trade is what everyone does. Even children voluntarily trade cards, marbles, toys, etc., with other children. As grownups, we produce stuff to sell and that allows us to buy stuff that we consume but couldn’t produce. Most of us sell our labor in exchange for wages, and buy stuff we want. Even within a household exchange is ubiquitous even though it is not mediated using money.

If we couldn’t or wouldn’t trade, we’d be forced to consume only what we produce. That would be an all-round disaster; we’d all be desperately poor. Self-sufficiency is a recipe for poverty. Mohandas Gandhi was the prophet of the self-sufficiency religion, and we know how that worked out. Continue reading “On Trade and Trump’s Tariffs – Part 3”

Geographers know the lay of the land but economists do it with models, as the witticism goes.

It takes quite a bit of training to appreciate the utility of models, and how and why they are indispensable in explaining the artificial world we live in.

Many of us are familiar with models from our childhood. As a kid, I used to build model airplanes from hobby kits. Not just as hobbies, model airplanes are extensively used and tested in wind tunnels to design the real thing even in this age of sophisticated computer modeling.

Very complex systems are simulated on computers as models. Weather forecasting relies on running huge models with billions of data points on supercomputers. Climate models attempt to predict what the climate may be like in coming years and decades.  Continue reading “Models”

I used to have a Honda VFR750F back in the days when I worked at Hewlett Packard in Cupertino. I had the 1986-1989 model. BikeSocial describes it as “a truly ground-breaking motorcycle. Not only did it have a hideously complex gear-driven cam V4 engine, Honda matched this to an incredibly advanced aluminum twin-spar chassis and staggeringly high build quality. . . . Despite being designed as a sports-tourer, the VFR’s handling was on a par with the best superbikes of the day.”

Specs:

Engine: 748cc, V-four, 16v, DOHC
Power: 106bhp @ 10,000rpm
Torque: 56ftlb @ 8,500rpm
Weight: 199kg Continue reading “Biking on the Skyline Boulevard”

I recently was forwarded on social media a brief video of an Indian politician boasting about a hydrogen-powered locomotive in the Indian railways. Knowledge of basic logic, simple arithmetic, and elementary chemistry would have prevented that railway minister from making those utterly stupid claims but no such luck. What’s worse is that some equally ignorant Indians are thumping their chests and forwarding it around. This is sad.

Of course, most people don’t know much about the various technologies that power our modern world — and nor should they be expected to know. But those who are in charge of making decisions must know, and if they don’t, they must get expert opinion on those matters. Continue reading “Hydrogen Locomotives”

It seems as if every other day there’s a new AI model on the net. They are all the rage these says. It’s hard to keep up. Just last week my friend AP told me about perplexity.ai. I think it’s pretty good. I like claude.ai too. Recently I’ve been trying out grok. I asked grok, “Why is grok called grok?” The reply:

The name “Grok” comes from Robert A. Heinlein’s science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land, published in 1961. In the book, “grok” is a Martian word that roughly translates to “to understand deeply” or “to empathize completely.” It’s about grasping something—or someone—on a profound, intuitive level, beyond just surface comprehension.

xAI chose this name because it aligns with their mission: to create an AI that doesn’t just process data but truly “gets” the universe and human experience, accelerating our collective understanding of reality. Plus, it’s a nod to sci-fi geekery, which fits the vibe of a company started by Elon Musk, a guy who’s clearly into big ideas and cosmic exploration. That’s the gist of it—pretty fitting for an AI designed to dig into the why and how of everything, right?
Continue reading “AI, and Who’s on First”

And now for something entirely different. Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” skit. A classic.

The universe is pretty big. We have to invoke our inner Carl Sagan and say “billions and billions” when talking about the universe. (He never used that phrase but finally titled one of his books “Billions and Billions.”) 

We don’t really have an intuitive understanding of very large numbers. Billions — or even millions — don’t mean much to us. The largest numbers we intuitively grasp are a few thousands. The higher order numbers are beyond our comprehension. With that caveat, let’s talk of the universe. Continue reading “UFOs and UAPs”

Today, Feb 26th, is Maha Shivratri or “Great Night of Shiva”, the night when Shiva married Parvati. It has profound significance for Hindus.

Shiva is identified with Brahman, the supreme consciousness. The event marks the cosmic union of Shiva (consciousness) with Parvati who is Shakti (energy), representing harmony and balance in creation. We meditate on this ultimate reality to achieve self-realization and therefore liberation (Moksha) by overcoming ignorance. Continue reading “Shivo’ham Soham”

It’s weekend cartoon time.

Yosemite Sam was created in 1945. He was named after Yosemite National Park.  Here’s Sam facing off against his old adversary Bugs Bunny in Knighty Knight Bugs (1958). This is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Continue reading “Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam”

“Arguments in support of protectionism enchant only two sorts of people. One is individuals who have something to gain from it at the larger public expense; the second is individuals who have yet to think seriously about the matter.” That’s what economist Donald Boudreaux wrote in one of his many brilliant pieces meant for the general public.

Since we don’t belong to the first set — people who seek to gain at the public’s expense — we should avoid being in the second set — people who have not thought seriously about trade. Let’s start with a brief note on protectionism. Continue reading “On Trade and Trump’s Tariffs – Part 2”