Dr. Randy Pausch - From Oprah

Rambabu, my good friend from childhood, has exposed me to this excellent video - thanks Rambabu!

Pete, the Extreme Jack

Nutty Bouquet

Chameleon Clinton

Senator Clinton is sinking like a ball of lead with her ludicrous speeches these days. During the debate in Austin last Thursday, she said that she was "absolutely honored" to be with Obama. And then on Saturday (within 48 hours), she was riling with anger and went on saying "shame on you" Obama. Her desperation is turning from apparent to obvious real quickly.

Hillary Rocks Her Boat With "Xerox"

Or, should I say "Hillary found herself between Xerox and a hard place"?! Anyway, here is a view of the world from the colored lens I am wearing right now!

Haute Heir Hillary

Yesterday during Clinton-Obama debate at UT in Austin, Senator Clinton said:

You know, when a mother grabs my arm and says, “I can’t get the operation my son needs because I don’t have health insurance,” it is personal for me.

I was thinking, "well senator, if it was really "personal" to you, why didn't you simply pull out your check book and loaned that poor lady some money? you lent $5 million for your campaign recently?" I guess it was not "that" personal. Or, our beloved senator meant to use the word "important" and not "personal".

SanctimonioUSness

When China shot down its own old weather satellite last year, the US was all upset. Yesterday night, the US did the the very thing that it accused China of wrong doing, under the pretense of eliminating the risk of hydrazine exposure - the US basically said that it had to do it, to protect people from sickness or death from exposure to hydrazine in a fuel tank on the failed spy satellite. Now, the Chinese aren't happy (rightfully so) with the US' double standard.

Based on Dr. Patrick Durrell's opinion, I guesstimate that the chance of exposure to hydrazine on the dead satellite, if it were allowed to freely fall on earth, would have been less than one in a billion. Now, when we deal with other toxins, we don't give a hoot if they pose less than one in a million risk. So, why bother spending $6o million to eliminate a de minimus threat, when we are accepting a significantly higher risk, say, just by drinking water from our rivers on a daily basis?

Also, if the US can assert "freedom of action in space", why can't China (or Equatorial Guinea or the Republic of Kiribati for that matter)?

Under a space policy authorized by President Bush in August, the United States asserts a right to "freedom of action in space" and says it will "deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so."

The policy includes the right to "deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests.

Soul Searching Experiments

I came across this interesting news item recently. On conducting a limited number of experiments on terminally-ill people, in 1907, Dr. McDougall of Massachusetts believed that human soul weighs about 21 grams*! On placing his subjects (nearing their death) on sufficiently sensitive weight scales, he observed that at the time of death, the subjects lost about 21 grams of their body weight. He couldn't account for this loss from sweat, excretions, etc. He also conducted similar experiments on dogs, and found no weight loss. Based on this, he concluded that humans lose weight at the time of death because we have souls, and the dogs don't, as animals do not possess souls.

Of course, the scientific community quickly disputed the validity of results of his experiments, as the evidence for his claims was anecdotal at best. Deficiencies in his experiments include inadequate # of samples and lack of control on losses due to evaporation of sweat - it takes a loss of only ~21 ml in sweat to account for a loss of 21 grams (for water, 21 grams = 21 cc = 21 ml).

This reminded me of the weight of all BitTorrents in the world = 0.06 millionths of an ounce.

* if his claims were proven to be true somehow, I am sure LA Weight Loss would have developed a weight-loss program for over-weight American souls, like at $10/gram. And of course, they will find cholestrol in souls too.

Happy President's Day!

Game Shows

Jeopardy is one of the few TV shows that I watch regularly. Though I used to watch it before, I got really hooked on to it after I watched Ken Jennings on his first show - I felt that he was going to stay on TV for a while and he sure did; I enjoyed all his 75 appearances. His memory is simply amazing!

The other quiz show I watched for a while is Cash Cab. I liked it because it is a novel concept (take the show to the audience, rather than taking audience into a studio), Ben Bailey is a fun guy, the questions are very easy, the setting is very informal, and it is fun to watch the (great American) spirit of the riders.

Here are samplers on Ken Jennings (not Jeopardy) and Cash Cab.





I realize that it is hard to remember even easiest of things under extreme pressure, but I expected a stronger performance from both contestants in the second round. Had they studied Vedic Mathematics, they probably would have nailed answers to questions like "what is 45 times 45?" within fraction of a second. Of course, it is hard to know everything; hats of to these geniuses.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Indians at MIT made this lively video. I love this song.

A Critique on Criticism

Some say that we shouldn't go around criticizing others. I strongly disagree. I say that criticism is a good thing and every rational person should beg the world for it.

If not for criticism when we were children, many of us would be littering the streets, sucking our thumbs, and picking our noses all the time. We probably would still believe that the earth is flat and the sun goes around it. Every adult is a child in some ways. So, if criticism benefitted us when we were children, it sure would help us now. Then, why not desire it?

I noticed that we (educated desi's with western orientation) are not exactly known for our ability to handle criticism. We get pretty defensive easily. Though I got a lot better at it over time, I too am guilty of mishandling criticism on spur of the moments, once in a while.

If criticism bothers us, it sure means one thing - we haven't yet (sufficiently) conquered our ego and our brain needs a tune-up. In my opinion, a criticism need not even be constructive (i.e., a criticism with recommended solution).

Say I meet someone in Austin, who is planning on driving East on US 290 to go to Minneapolis. Also say, I know that US 290 would not take that person to Minneapolis, and I don't know that I-35 would. What should I do? Should I not criticize (i.e., tell that person that going east is wrong) as I have no clue on what route that person must take? I think not. At a minimum, I should attempt to stop that person from going the wrong way. Of course, I do think that criticism should be offered calmly, guilelessly, and if possible, impersonally.

I came across a writing that interpreted John 5:22 as saying, we shouldn't criticize others. I believe that "The Father makes no judgment, but hath committed all judgment unto the son" is essentially saying that we are responsible for our own karma. It is not asking us to abstain from criticism.

Lion Attack in Pakistan

While channel surfing, came across this clip on Spike

Boys will be Boys! - Baby Vs. Cobra

This sure is an incredible video.



The cobra didn't open its mouth or stick its tongue out. I think they removed its fangs and venom, and probably tied up its snout too. Still, it could have poked in the eye of the baby. I wonder why those parents (or guardians) dared to do this.