(on being told about the "sibling preparation class" he is going to go to before the new baby arrives)
him: why do I need this class?
me: to learn how to handle and behave around the baby
him: how will I learn?
me: a nurse will teach you
him: how does the nurse know how to handle our baby?
me: because she has handled a lot of babies before
him: how did she know how to handle the first baby?
me: she learnt from some other nurse
him: how the first nurse know how to handle the first baby?
me: huh? God told her.
him: how did God know
me: God knows everything. keep quiet now!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Cognitive Surplus
"Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age"
by Clay Shirky"Cognitive Surplus" is a fancy term for free time (of educated people in the industrialized world). Shirky points out that ever since industrialization got underway in early 20th century, most middle class educated masses got a lot of free time on their hands. But a majority of this free time got taken up by television. It was not that being passive consumers of material produced by a few professionals is what we all like, but there weren't many alternatives. But now the rise of "social media" has suddenly made available to the public a tool to satisfy our innate desire to share and be part of a community. It's not that YouTube and WikiPedia.Org have suddenly made educated human beings more creative and generous, but these tools have enabled us to behave in our natural social way, which wasn't possible earlier.
Citing examples of social sites forming a broad spectrum, form the no-use-for-the-society-what-so-ever http://icanhascheezburger.com/, through OpenSource software projects like every-author's favorite Apache Web-server, through PatientsLikeMe.com, through Pakistan's http://zimmedarshehri.com/ (Responsible Citizens) to Ushahidi (http://www.ushahidi.com/) the social network that allows people to upload first hand reports of electoral and other violence in Africa and other places, he illustrates his point amply.
This book suffers from the same malady that Malcolm Gladwell's books suffer from: there is only enough material for a magazine article there. But in order to make a book out of it, these authors repeat the same stuff over and over, and explain simple points laboriously as though teaching a moron. That makes it quite irritating, even though the subject matter is interesting and there are nuggets of new information here and there.
The other highly annoying thing with these books is that they all refer to the same case studies. If you have read Dan Ariely's original "Predictably Irrational" and a couple of I-have-a-pseudo-theory-based-on-other-peoples-research books like Daniel Pink's "Drive", it gets quite repetitive. The only reason I still read such books (usually written by professional writers or journalists who have no expertise on the subject matter) is that it's a one-stop-shop to learn about a topic quickly, instead of reading 10 original books/papers.
The real value in Cognitive Surplus is the last chapter named "looking for the mouse" (in a TV: a metaphor for the new generation taking interaction in media for granted). Here Shirky ties in all the various slightly different threads he weaves in the previous chapters together and provides a coherent summary of his thesis. In addition, he provides some practical tips for would be social networking innovators based on his experience in dabbling with this stuff.
The bottom-line is, if you are neck deep in "social media" already, you may not learn much here. If you haven't participated much in this revolution so far, or if you haven't read any of the popular social science, behavioral economics books of the past few years, this will be a good read. If the middle of the book starts to bore you, jump to the last chapter. You won't miss much.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Conversations with a 4.5 year old : The Car
H: this is the best car in the world, you know that?
b: why?
H: it’s automatic, and it’s the fastest; it’s better than the BMW and Camry
H: appa what’s the best car in the world?
b: Ferrari, McLauren…
H: this is better than them
b: OK
H: it needs no gas, no batteries
b: how does it get power?
H: from the sun
b: oh, so it’s solar powered?
H: yeah, and we don’t have to drive… it goes by itself
H: it’ll not even crash – it’ll never get a ticket
b: wow; so we just sit inside and it’ll drive by itself?
H: yup; it can also park by itself; if the music stops it means it has parked, and then we should get off
b: cool. how do we tell it where we want to go?
H: we don’t have to; it can read our mind
b: wow!
H: appa, do you like my orange car?
b: I love it!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Why India is NOT going to dominate Cricket, yet
I have waited some 25+ years for this moment: India win the World Cup! This time it felt different. This time it was different. Not just the result, but the process. There was a sense of, "yes this feels right", to this team's successes. India are the best team in the world right now, without doubt. They are not a great team - there are no great teams in the world at this time. But this Indian team is a pretty good one. What they lack in bowling and fielding, they make up in sheer grit. This is the most mentally strong team in the world by some distance. That, I believe, is the main reason they are champions.
But, mental strength is not going to carry them for long. Sooner or later, their bowling's shallowness and the big disadvantage in fielding is going to be found out. Other teams will figure out where to hit India to hurt them most (hints: nullify their part-time spinners and take risks in running and pocket a bunch of extra runs every inning). And, they will not play all tournaments in the sub-continent. Abroad, their batsmen's frailties against bounce and lateral movement will be exposed. And then the real test of their mental strength will come.
For India to be a truly great cricket team, they need to find at least one world class wicket taking spinner (sorry Bajji fans, he doesn't qualify). And they need to seriously find some genuine fast bowlers - the hit the deck and let the ball talk type. If only Sreesanth was an adult... Zaheer is just barely managing not to fall apart. And if he has one injury too many, India will be in a real pickle. I still have hopes for Ishant to come back - but I really hope he doesn't come back like Munaf - bereft of any traces of pace. It still amazes me that just across the border, Pakistan seems to have an endless supply of quality seamers, but India has found about 3 in the past 50 years. May be India should take a hint from England, and entice some guys from Pak to migrate over.
I think improvements in the fielding department will the easiest to achieve. We just need to wait for the old order to give way to the new! But the selectors should make fielding a criteria for selection and put their money where their mouth is. I don't think the players can complain about the facilities in India anymore (at least not in the top-tier locations). In a stats-crazy sport like cricket, all that's needed is perhaps that we start counting the number of runs saved/leaked by each fielder, along with runs scored and wickets taken.
There are unfortunately no quick solutions for these issues. So despite their supremacy right now, India are likely not to dominate for too long. Surely SA, England and even Australia will recover quickly and hit back. I will be happy if India remain competitive until the next world cup, and not let this high fizzle quickly.
If I have to wait another 25 years, I may lose interest in Cricket. Mm, perhaps not!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
P trapped
I just wanted to clean the P trap to get the drain work better; but when I wrenched it, the tail pipe (the one attaching the sink's pop-up to the P trap) broke off. At first I didn't realize it had actually broken off - because of the glue I saw smeared over that joint. I thought it had just got unglued. But it didn't make sense. I went to the hardware store (OSH) and the guy there categorically said that all such tailpipes for ceramic sinks are threaded. So I picked up one (1.25") and headed home. On closer examination, it became clear that the thread of the old pipe was indeed broken and had got stuck inside the pop-up. I tried in vain to remove the pop-up in toto, so I could work on removing the broken thread in comfort, but it was tricky and I didn't have the right wrench. I left the job sit there for a whole week.
Meanwhile, I chanced to see on some forum someone ask about exactly the same thing, and the tip was to use a chisel to peel off the thread. Yesterday I went to OSH again and got a carbon-steel 1/4" chisel and a new adjustable wrench. At first the chisel seemed hopeless. But after a few minuted of random poking, all of a sudden a big chunk of the thread peeled off. Encouraged by that, I kept at it and another big piece came loose too , and before I realized it, I was done with that part of the job!
Now, I had to saw off the new extension pipe to fit my under sink space. After a desperate search in the garage, I found a spare hack-saw blade, and once again was surprised how relatively easy it was to saw off a copper pipe. Putting it all back together wasn't that hard - except for the lever that controls the drain stopper. But then, the dreaded leak hit! At two places. One was easy - just had to tighten the P trap a bit more. The other was tricky - again at the stopped lever. After a few minutes of half-hearted attempts to fix it, I gave up. There was really no stopper in that sink anyway and we weren't missing it - so why bother? So I just put an extra washer to stop the leak, some extra teflon tape, and closed the whole thing up.
No leaks so far after a few hours. And, by the way, the drain flows much better now too!
Meanwhile, I chanced to see on some forum someone ask about exactly the same thing, and the tip was to use a chisel to peel off the thread. Yesterday I went to OSH again and got a carbon-steel 1/4" chisel and a new adjustable wrench. At first the chisel seemed hopeless. But after a few minuted of random poking, all of a sudden a big chunk of the thread peeled off. Encouraged by that, I kept at it and another big piece came loose too , and before I realized it, I was done with that part of the job!
Now, I had to saw off the new extension pipe to fit my under sink space. After a desperate search in the garage, I found a spare hack-saw blade, and once again was surprised how relatively easy it was to saw off a copper pipe. Putting it all back together wasn't that hard - except for the lever that controls the drain stopper. But then, the dreaded leak hit! At two places. One was easy - just had to tighten the P trap a bit more. The other was tricky - again at the stopped lever. After a few minutes of half-hearted attempts to fix it, I gave up. There was really no stopper in that sink anyway and we weren't missing it - so why bother? So I just put an extra washer to stop the leak, some extra teflon tape, and closed the whole thing up.
No leaks so far after a few hours. And, by the way, the drain flows much better now too!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Books I Read in 2010
At the start of 2010 I had set myself one goal: read 25 books before the year ends. I am happy to report I made it! Here is the list (roughly in reverse chronological order), and a few lines about each book.
1. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: an alternate history "science fiction" novel, though there is no science in it. It has many layers upon layers of intrigue. It's fascinating, but rather confusing. I probably need to read it a couple of more times to start understanding all the different strands.
2. The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl: A disappointing last one from the mater. See my review here
3. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge: scifi - speculations on the society in the mid 21st century; heavy on augumented reality; a bit too long, a bit difficult to follow/visualize; but still a good read
4. Fingerprints of God by Barbara Bradley Hagerty: The Search for the Science of Spirituality; a good review of the state of the subject, but could be better presented if not for the authors bias. My full review here.
5. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt: To be accurate, it should be called "laissez faire capitalism in One Lesson". That is not to disparage this book: it's very succinctly written in a no-nonsense way, and crystal clear in what it propounds. Most of it makes a lot of sense logically, but whether it's all applicable in the real messy world which includes people and their irrationality, and the human values of fairness etc. is questionable.
6. Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner: highly entertaining sequel to the smash hit Freakonomics. I am sure you have read it, so I don't have to tell you about it :)
7. Drive by Daniel H. Pink: "the surprising truth about what motivates us"; well, not terribly surprising if one has heard about Maslow's pyramid of needs; but still a good read, especially for people managers
8. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen: "when new technologies cause great firms to fail"; a new perspective on how technology businesses evolve; a must read for anyone in hi tech where such disruption happens at a feverish pace
9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell : "how little things can make a big difference" - pop sociology, good for entertainment, and not much more. as a book, it gets repetitive and disjointed after a while. my full review here
10. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke : Hugo Award winner of '74; great page turner, no unnecessary suspense, but I was hoping that everything would make sense in the end - but did not. Still not bad at all.
11. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama: No need to mention Obama's writing skills. His story telling is very engaging. I listened to the audio book, and he reads it fantastically: uses different accents (not always consistently, but enough to add a dimension); a must read to understand the man.
12. The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel : This book is about Socialistic Economics. Even if you think "socialism" is a bad word, you'll still do well to pay attention. My review here
13. Empire by Orson Scott Card : political novel; need to suspend disbelief, and then, it's entertaining
14. The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein : does a good job of describing the events during the peak of the financial crisis of 2008 that led to the "great recession"
15. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe : brilliant adventure classic
16. The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Kurgman : short, well written book describing the mechanics of financial crises - mostly focussing on the Asian and Latin American crises of the latter part of the 20th century
17. How Markets Fail by John Cassidy : a very good history lesson on 20th century economics. My review here
18. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell : "thin slicing" - i.e. snap judgments are powerful and many times accurate argues the New Yorker writer. Informative and entertaining.
19. The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley: prosperity advances when "ideas have sex"; trade is to ideas, as sex is to organisms; despite all doomsaying, the world has been getting better and better for ever
20. Washington Rules by Andrew J. Bacevich : A scathing critique of America's self anointed role as the savior and policeman of the world, and the American military-political nexus that keeps this sham alive out of self interest. Full review here
21. The End of Faith by Sam Harris : The athiest's bible ;)
22. Moneyball by Michael Lewis : science and economics applied to baseball front office. fascinating account of Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's career and revolutionary management techniques
23. Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb : real world is extremely random - not Gaussian but fractal - the exceptions that we ignore in making forecasts are usually the ones that really matter - extremisthan vs. mediocristhan
24-27: The Ender Quartet by Orson Scott Card : a magnificent science fiction saga, consisting of the refreshing, surprising and thrilling "Ender's Game", the masterful "Speaker for the Dead", the cerebral and somewhat contrived "Xenocide" and the inevitably underwhelming conclusion, "Children of the Mind". See my review here.
1. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: an alternate history "science fiction" novel, though there is no science in it. It has many layers upon layers of intrigue. It's fascinating, but rather confusing. I probably need to read it a couple of more times to start understanding all the different strands.
2. The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl: A disappointing last one from the mater. See my review here
3. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge: scifi - speculations on the society in the mid 21st century; heavy on augumented reality; a bit too long, a bit difficult to follow/visualize; but still a good read
4. Fingerprints of God by Barbara Bradley Hagerty: The Search for the Science of Spirituality; a good review of the state of the subject, but could be better presented if not for the authors bias. My full review here.
5. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt: To be accurate, it should be called "laissez faire capitalism in One Lesson". That is not to disparage this book: it's very succinctly written in a no-nonsense way, and crystal clear in what it propounds. Most of it makes a lot of sense logically, but whether it's all applicable in the real messy world which includes people and their irrationality, and the human values of fairness etc. is questionable.
6. Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner: highly entertaining sequel to the smash hit Freakonomics. I am sure you have read it, so I don't have to tell you about it :)
7. Drive by Daniel H. Pink: "the surprising truth about what motivates us"; well, not terribly surprising if one has heard about Maslow's pyramid of needs; but still a good read, especially for people managers
8. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen: "when new technologies cause great firms to fail"; a new perspective on how technology businesses evolve; a must read for anyone in hi tech where such disruption happens at a feverish pace
9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell : "how little things can make a big difference" - pop sociology, good for entertainment, and not much more. as a book, it gets repetitive and disjointed after a while. my full review here
10. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke : Hugo Award winner of '74; great page turner, no unnecessary suspense, but I was hoping that everything would make sense in the end - but did not. Still not bad at all.
11. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama: No need to mention Obama's writing skills. His story telling is very engaging. I listened to the audio book, and he reads it fantastically: uses different accents (not always consistently, but enough to add a dimension); a must read to understand the man.
12. The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel : This book is about Socialistic Economics. Even if you think "socialism" is a bad word, you'll still do well to pay attention. My review here
13. Empire by Orson Scott Card : political novel; need to suspend disbelief, and then, it's entertaining
14. The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein : does a good job of describing the events during the peak of the financial crisis of 2008 that led to the "great recession"
15. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe : brilliant adventure classic
16. The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Kurgman : short, well written book describing the mechanics of financial crises - mostly focussing on the Asian and Latin American crises of the latter part of the 20th century
17. How Markets Fail by John Cassidy : a very good history lesson on 20th century economics. My review here
18. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell : "thin slicing" - i.e. snap judgments are powerful and many times accurate argues the New Yorker writer. Informative and entertaining.
19. The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley: prosperity advances when "ideas have sex"; trade is to ideas, as sex is to organisms; despite all doomsaying, the world has been getting better and better for ever
20. Washington Rules by Andrew J. Bacevich : A scathing critique of America's self anointed role as the savior and policeman of the world, and the American military-political nexus that keeps this sham alive out of self interest. Full review here
21. The End of Faith by Sam Harris : The athiest's bible ;)
22. Moneyball by Michael Lewis : science and economics applied to baseball front office. fascinating account of Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's career and revolutionary management techniques
23. Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb : real world is extremely random - not Gaussian but fractal - the exceptions that we ignore in making forecasts are usually the ones that really matter - extremisthan vs. mediocristhan
24-27: The Ender Quartet by Orson Scott Card : a magnificent science fiction saga, consisting of the refreshing, surprising and thrilling "Ender's Game", the masterful "Speaker for the Dead", the cerebral and somewhat contrived "Xenocide" and the inevitably underwhelming conclusion, "Children of the Mind". See my review here.
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