Friday, December 19, 2008

Strange Loop

Starting from Moebius strip(I would say its a simple kind of strange loop), we come across many strange loops. It may sometimes be visual, or audible or sometimes hardly noticeable. Shepard tones are example of audible strange loops. Dorste effect is an example of visual strange loop.
These strange loops could be easily noticeable(I can't say understandable).

Some of the strange loops need bit more smartness even to notice. Not every one can see the beauty in it. Well! people say its strange, but I call it beauty. It needs cleverness to form such a strange loop.

Here is an example
Every natural number can be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less.
I can prove the above statement using smart arguments.
Proof:
1.Suppose there is some natural number which cannot be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less.
2.Then there must be a smallest such number. Let's call it n.
3.But now n is "the smallest natural number that cannot be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less".
4.This is a complete and unambiguous description of n in fourteen words, contradicting the fact that n was supposed not to have such a description!
5.Since the assumption (step 1) of the existence of a natural number that cannot be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less led to a contradiction, it must be an incorrect assumption.
6.Therefore, all natural numbers can be unambiguously described in fourteen words or less!

Fantastic! Isn't? Of course there is something wrong in the proof. But the way its constructed is beautiful. Not every one can see the self referential statement here.

Friday, December 12, 2008

ஆத்திசூடி

கடவுள் வாழ்த்து

"ஆத்தி சூடி யமர்ந்த தேவனை
ஏத்தி ஏத்தி தொழுவோம் யாமே!!"

ஆத்தி சூடி - திருவாத்தி மலர்மாலையை அணிந்த
யமர்ந்த - சிவபெருமானால் விரும்பப்பட்ட ( மேல் அமர்ந்த )
தேவனை- ஆனைமுகக் கடவுளை
ஏத்தி ஏத்தி - பலகாலும் (மேலும் மேலும்)
தொழுவோம் யாமே - நாம் வணக்கம் செய்வோம்
பொருள்: திருவாத்தி மலர்மாலையை அணிந்த சிவபெருமானால் விரும்பப்பட்ட ஆனைமுகக் கடவுளை நாம் பலகாலும் வணக்கம் செய்வோம்!!

1. அறஞ்செய விரும்பு
(அறம் - தருமம்)
தருமம் செய்ய நீ விரும்புவாயாக!!

2. ஆறுவது சினம்
(சினம் -கோபம்; ஆறுவது- தணிவது)
கோபம் தணிந்து விடக்கூடிய தன்மையுடையது!!

3. இயல்வது கரவேல்
(இயல்வது- இயன்ற ; கரவேல்-தருமத்தை செய்யாமல் இரூத்தல் கூடாது)
செய்வதற்கு இயன்ற தருமத்தை செய்யாமல் இருத்தல் கூடாது!!

4. ஈவது விலக்கேல்
(ஈவது- கொடுப்பதை; விலக்கேல்-தடுக்காதே)
ஒருவர் மற்றவருக்குக் கொடுப்பதைத் தடுக்காதே !!

5. உடையது விளம்பேல்
(உடையது- உன்னிடம் உள்ளதை; விளம்பேல்- கூறாதே)
உனக்குள்ள பொருள் மற்றும் சிறப்புகளை பலரும் அறியும்படி கூறாதே ( பெருமையாக பேசாதே) !!

6. ஊக்கமது கைவிடேல்
(ஊக்கமது - உள்ளக் கிளச்சியை; கைவிடேல் - தளர்ந்து போக விடாதே)
ஒரு காரியத்தை செய்தக்கண் உண்டாகிய உள்ளக் கிளச்சியை தளர்ந்து போக விடாதே!!

7. எண்ணெழுத் திகழேல்
(எண் - கணிதம்; எழுத்து- இலக்கண நூல்; இகழேல் - இகழ்ந்து ஓதுக்கி விடாதே)
கணித நூல் ,இலக்கண நூல் முதலியவைகளை இகழ்ந்து ஓதுக்கி விடாமல் கற்க வேண்டும்.

8.ஏற்பது இகழ்ச்சி
(ஏற்பது - பிறரிடம் சென்று யாசித்தல்; இகழ்ச்சி - இழிவு தரும்)
பிறரிடம் சென்று யாசித்தல் இழிவு தரும்.

9. ஐயமிட்டு உண்
(ஐயமிட்டு - கேட்பவற்கு கொடுத்து)
கேட்பவற்கு கொடுத்து உண்ண வேண்டும்

10. ஒப்புர வொழுகு
(ஒப்புர - உலக போக்கிற்கு எற்றவாறு; ஒழுகு - நட)
உலக போக்கிற்கு எற்றவாறு நடந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

11. ஓதுவது ஒழியேல்
ஓதுவது- கற்பது ஒழியேல்- நிறுத்தாதே
நூல்களைக் கற்பதை நிறுத்தி விடாதே

12.ஓளவியம் பேசேல்
ஓளவியம்-பொறாமை மொழி
பொறாமை மொழிகளைப் பேசுதலை ஒழிப்பாயாக!!

13. அஃகஞ் சுருக்கேல்
அஃகு - தானியம் சுருக்கேல்- சுருக்காதே
நெல் முதலிய தானியங்களைக் குறைவாக விற்காதே!!

14. கண்டொன்று சொல்லேல்
கண்டொன்று- பார்க்காததை
பார்க்காதவற்றைப் பார்த்ததாகப் பேசாதே

15. ஙப்போல் வளை
ஙப்போல்- ங எழுத்து போல்
ஙகரம் போல் உற்றார் உறவினர்களுக்கு வளைந்து கொடு

16. சனி நீராடு
(சனி- குளிர்ந்த)
குளிர்ந்த தண்ணீரில் குளி!!


17 . ஞயம்பட உரை
(ஞயம்பட- இனிமையாக ; உரை - பேசு)
இனிமையான மொழிளையே பேசு!!

18. இடம்பட வீடு எடேல்
(இடம்பட - நிறைய இடம் அடையுமாறு ; எடேல் -எடுக்காதே)
இடம் வீணாகக் கிடக்குமாறு பெரிய வீடு கட்டாதே!!

19. இணக்கமறிந்து இணங்கு
(இணக்கம் அறிந்து - யாருடன் பழகுகிறோம் என்று அறிந்து ; இணங்கு-பழகு)
ஒருவரோடு நட்பு கொள்வதற்கு முன் அவருடைய குணநலன்களை தெரிந்துகொண்டு நட்பு கொள்!!

20. தந்தை தாய் பேண்
(பேண்- காப்பாற்று)
தந்தை தாயைக் காப்பாற்றுவாயாக!!

21. நன்றி மறவேல்
ஒருவர் செய்த நன்றியை என்றும் மறவாதே!

22. பருவத்தே பயிர் செய்
(பருவம் - காலம் பயிர் - வளர்)
எத்தொழிலையும்/எக்கலையையும் செய்ய வேண்டிய காலத்தில் (வளர) செய்வாயாக!

23. மன்று பறித்து உண்ணேல்
(மன்று பறித்து - கைக்கூலி வாங்குதல் (I am not sure but I guess so))
நியாய சபைகளில் நியாயம் கூறுவோனாக இருந்து கைக்கூலி வாங்கி வாழ்க்கை நடத்தாதே!

24. இயல்பு அலாதன செய்யேல்
இயற்கைக்கு மாறுபட்ட காரியத்தைச் செய்யாதே!

25. அரவம் ஆட்டேல்
(அரவம் - பாம்பு)
பாம்பைப் பிடித்து விளையாடதே !

26. இலவம் பஞ்சில் துயில்
(துயில் - தூங்கு)
இலவம் பஞ்சிலானான மெத்தையில் படுத்து உறங்குவாயாக!

27. வஞ்சகம் பேசேல்
மனத்திலே வஞ்சம் வைத்துக் கொண்டு பிறரிடம் பேசாதே!

28. அழகு அலாதன செய்யேல்
நன்மையில்லாத காரியங்களைச் செய்யாதே!

29. இளமையில் கல்
இளம்பருத்திலேயே கல்வியைக் கற்றுக் கொள்!!

30. அறனை மறவேல்
தருமம் செய்தலை எப்பொழுதும் மறக்காமல் செய்வாயாக!!

31 . அனந்தல் ஆடேல்
மிகுதியாகத் தூங்காதே

ககர வருக்கம்

32. கடிவது மற
பிறரோடு கோபமாகப் பேசியதை மற்ந்துவிடு

33. காப்பது விரதம்
உயிர்களைக் காப்பதைக் க்டமையாக எண்ணு

34. கிழமைப்பட வாழ்
உன் பொருள்கள் பிறருக்கு உபயோகப்படுமாறு வாழ்.

35. கீழ்மை அகற்று
இழிவு தரும் குணங்களை நீக்கு

36. குணமது கைவிடேல்
நல்ல குண்ங்ளை விட்டுவிடாதே!

37. கூடிப் பிரியேல்
நல்லவர்களோடு நட்பு கொண்டு பிறகு பிரியாதே!

38. கெடுப்பது ஒழி
பிறரைக் கெடுக்கும்படியான செயல்க்ளை விட்டு விடு!

39. கேள்வி முயல்
நல்லவர்க்ளின் உரைகளை கேட்க முயற்சி செய்!

40. கைவினை கரவேல்
நீ செய்யும் காரியங்களை பிறர் அறியாமல் மறைக்காதே!

41. கொள்ளை விரும்பேல்
பிறருடைய பொருளுக்கு ஆசைபடாதே!

42. கோதாட்டு ஒழி
குற்ற்ம் பொருந்திய விளையாட்டை விட்டுவிடு!

43. கெளவை அகற்று
மற்ற்வர்களைப் பற்றீ கேவலமாகப் பேசாதே!

சகர வருக்கம்

44. சக்கர நெறி நில்
அரசனுடைய ஆட்சி முறைப்படி நட!!

45. சான்றோர் இனத்து இரு
அறிவில் சிற்ந்த பெரியோர்களின கூட்டத்தில் இரு!!

46. சித்திரம் பேசேல்
வீணான மொழிகளைப் பேசாதே!

47. சீர்மை மறவேல்
சிறப்புக்குக் காரண்மான செயல்களைச் செய்வதற்கு மறவாதே!

48. சுளிக்கச் சொல்லேல்
கேட்பவர்கள் வெறுப்படையும்படியான/க மொழிகளைப் பேசாதே!

49. சூது விரும்பேல்
சூதாடுதலிலே விருப்பங் கொள்ளாதே!

50. செய்வன திருந்தச் செய்
(I hear this from my mom always - Dhenam Thittu vanguven!!)
நீ செய்கிற காரியங்களை செப்பமுறச் செய்வாயாக!!

51. சேரிடம் அறிந்து சேர்
நீ சேருகின்ற இடத்தின் தன்மையறிந்து சேர்!

52. சையெனத் திரியேல்
பார்ப்பவர்கள் சீ என்று வையுமாறு நடந்து கொள்ளாதே!

53. சொற் சோர்வு படேல்
நீ பேசுகின்ற பேச்சு எடுபடாதவாறு தொய்வுடன் பேசாதே!

54. சோம்பித் திரியேல்
(again, I hear this at my home often from people, aiming at me)
எத்தகைய வேலையும் செய்யாமல் சோம்பலுடன் திரியாதே!

தகர வருக்கம்

55. தக்கோன் எனத் திரி
உன் ஒழுக்கத்தைப் பார்ப்பவர்கள் ' இவன்/ள் நல்லவன்/ள்' என்று சொல்லுமாறு நட!

56. தானமது விரும்பு
தானம் கொடுப்பதற்கு விருப்பங்கொள்வாயாக!!!

57. திருமாலுக்கு அடிமை செய்
காத்தற் கடவுளாகிய திருமாலிடம் அன்புடன் சேவை செய்!!

58. தீவினை அகற்று
தீய செயல்களைச் செய்யாதே!!

59. துன்பத்திற்கு இடம் கொடேல்
துன்பம் வரக்கூடிய செயல்களைத் தவிர்ப்பாயாக!!

60. தூக்கி வினை செய்
செய்யும் காரியத்தின் நன்மை தீமைகளை சீர்தூக்கிப் பார்த்து அதனைச் செய்வாயாக!!

61. தெய்வம் இகழேல்
தெய்வத்தை இழிவாகப் பேசுதல் கூடாது

62. தேசத்தோடு ஒட்டி வாழ்.
உன்னுடைய நாட்டு மக்களோடு ஒற்றூமையாக வாழ்வாயாக !

63. தையல் சொல் கேளேல்.
பெண்களின் தீய சொற்களைக் கேட்டு நடக்காதே !

64. தொன்மை மறவேல்.
பழமையான ந்ட்பு, உறவு முதலியவைக்ளை மறந்து விடாதே

65. தோற்பன தொடரேல்.

முடிக்கமுடியாத காரியங்களைத் தொடங்காதே

நகர வருக்கம்

66. நன்மை கடைப்பிடி
நன்மையான காரியங்களைத் தொடர்ந்து செய்வாயாக

67. நாடு ஒப்பன செய்
உன்னுடைய நாட்டிலுள்ளோர் ஒத்துக்கொள்ளக் கூடிய காரியங்களையே செய்.

68. நிலையில் பிரியேல்.
உன்னுடைய கொள்கைகளில் இருந்து பின்வாங்காதே

69. நீர் விளையாடேல்.
தண்ணீரிலே விளையாதே

70. நுண்மை நுகரேல்
(நோய் உண்டாக்கத்தக்க) இழிவு பொருளை உண்ணாதே!

71. நூல் பல கல்
பல விதமான கலைகளையும் கற்பாயாக

72. நெற்பயிர் விளைவு செய்
நெற்பயிரை பயிரிடுவயாக!

73. நேர்பட ஒழுகு
தவறான வழியிலேயே செல்லாமல் நேர்மையான வழியிலே நடப்பாயாக

74. நைவினை நணுகேல்
உன்னையோ பிறரையோ வருத்தக்கூடிய காரியங்களைச் செய்யாதே

75. நொய்ய உரையேல்
இழிவான மொழிகளைப் பேசாதே

76. நோய்க்கு இடம் கொடேல்
நோயுண்டாவதற்கு இடங்கொடுக்காதே

பகர வருக்கம்

77. பழிப்பன பகரேல்
பிறர் இகழ்ந்துரைக்கத்தக்க மொழிகளைப் பேசாதே

78. பாம்பொடு பழகேல்
பாம்பை வளர்த்து அதனுடன் பழகாதே

79. பிழைபடச் சொல்லேல்
பேசுவதில் குற்றம் உண்டாகுமாறு பேசாதே

80. பீடு பெற நில்
பெருமையுண்டாகுமாறு நல்வழியிலே நடப்பாயாக

81. புகழ்ந்தாரைப் போற்றி வாழ்
உன்னைப் புகழ்ந்தவரை நீயும் போற்றிவாழ்வாயாக

82. பூமி திருத்தி உண்
நீலத்தை பண்படுத்தி பயிரிட்டு வாழ்வாயாக

83. பெரியாரைத் துணைக் கொள்
அறிவாற்றலில் உன்னைவிட சிறந்தவரைகளையே துணையாகக் கொள்வாயாக

84. பேதைமை அகற்று
அறிவற்ற செயல்களை விட்டொழிப்பாயாக


85. பையலோடு இணங்கேல்
சிறுபிள்ளைத்தனம் உள்ளவர்களோடு இணங்காதே


86. பொருடனைப் போற்றி வாழ்
செல்வம் அழிந்து போகாமல் காத்து வாழ்வாயாக

87. போர்த் தொழில் புரியேல்
போர் புரிவதை ஊக்குவிக்காதே

மகர வருக்கம்

88. மனம் தடுமாறேல்
எத்தகைய நிலையிலும் கலக்கம் அடையாதே

89. மாற்றானுக்கு இடம் கொடேல்
பகைவனுக்கு இடம் அளிக்காதே

90. மிகைபடச் சொல்லேல்
உரையாடும் போது எதையும் மிகைப்படுத்திக் கூறாதே/ குற்றம் உண்டாகுமாறு பேசாதே

91. மீதூண் விரும்பேல்
மிகுதியாக உண்ண விரும்பாதே

92. முனைமுகத்து நில்லேல்
போர்/ சண்டை நடக்கும் இடத்தில் முதலில் சென்று நிற்காதே

93. மூர்க்கரோடு இணங்கேல்
முரடர்களோடு சேராதே

94. மெல்லி நல்லாள் தோள்சேர்
உனக்குரிய மனைவியோடு மட்டும் வாழ்க்கை நடத்து

95. மேன்மக்கள் சொல் கேள்
நல்லொழுக்கமுள்ள பெரியாரின் சொல்லைக் கேட்பாயாக

96. மை விழியார் மனை அகல்
விலைமாதர் இல்லத்தை விட்டு நீங்குவாயாக

97. மொழிவது அற மொழி
பேசும் சொற்களை சந்தேகம் இல்லாதவாறு பேசுவாயாக

98. மோகத்தை முனி
காம ஆசைகளை விட்டொழிப்பாயாக

வகர வருக்கம்

99. வல்லமை பேசேல்
உன்னுடைய ஆற்றலை நீயே புகழ்ந்து பேசாதே

100. வாது முற்கூறேல்
வாக்குவாதம் வருவதற்குரிய சொற்களை நீ முன்னால் பேசாதே

101. வித்தை விரும்பு
கற்பதிலே ஆர்வம் கொள்வாயாக

102. வீடு பெற நில்
நற்கதி அடையும் காரியங்களைச் செய்வாயாக

103. உத்தமனாய் இரு
உலகத்தவருடன் நல்லவனாக நடந்து கொள்

104. ஊருடன் கூடி வாழ்
ஊர்மக்களுடன் ஒற்றுமையாக வாழ்க்கை நடத்துவாயாக

105. வெட்டெனப் பேசேல்
வருத்தம் உண்டாகுமாறு கத்தி வெட்டைப் போல பேசாதே

106. வேண்டி வினை செயேல்
உன் நன்மைக்காக வேண்டுமென்றே தீய காரியங்களைச் செய்யாதே

107. வைகறைத் துயில் எழு
அதிகாலையில் எழுந்திரு

108. ஒன்னாரைத் தேறேல்
பகைவர்களை நம்பாதே

109. ஓரம் சொல்லேல்
நேர்மை தவறி ஒரு பக்கம் பேசாதே!!


Thanks to Maayaa

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The difference is not price, but LOVE.

There was a time there were only two restaurants in the town, called “W” and “A” . I was a customer in restaurant “W”. It was pretty good, they serve in silver plates with silver spoons. Nobody knows how do they make the food and what are the ingredients. But it tasted good, so every one liked it and me too.
One day I saw the waiter serving the same food in gold plates with gold spoons. I asked the waiter why he didn't provide me in gold plates. He said I can get food in gold plates , if I pay more. I hated this inequality arise by the fact, whether you are rich or not. In the course of time I realize I became weak and one day I got viral infection. I had to go to doctor, that too only to Dr. N or Dr. M ,because only they knew how to treat me with the diet I am taking from restaurant "W".It coasted me a lot. I realized that it was the food that brought the infection. But the restaurant owner never allow anyone to examine their kitchen. I made a hard decision to change the restaurant. I heard the same story from the customers who were eating at “A”.

I went to the streets and looked for new restaurants. I found restaurant a new one called “X”, It said “We provide you food, and you provide to your friends, and let your friends to their friends”. It was just great. So eagerly I went in. I saw people were eating in clay plates with hands. One thing which was NOT there in restaurant “W” and “A”, is the happiness in the faces of the customers. This place was lively and very active. Here no one serves you, you go the chef and ask what you want, they prepare and give to you. If you were asked, they gave the recipe also in case if you want cook at home. I asked how much it coasts. I was surprised by the answer. They said its free and also they said, if you want we will pack food for your family and friends also.

I saw a strange thing also, some of the customers went in to the kitchen and made their own foods. I just wanted to taste their food , they gave me also and it teased really good. They told me how to make that food also.
I just went inside the kitchen, and I was stunned .There was not just one chef, but 100s of chefs.I remembered the phrase "Too many cooks will spoil the food"", but hereits the contrary. I saw one customer , who was eating just came in and added some strange liquid to every food. I asked them what is it, he said he found some kind of viral infection in some food, and he developed a vaccine for that and adding it to every food so that no one will be infected anymore.

I just came home and started thinking of how wonderful restaurant is this. Even though they don't have gold plates and silver spoons they provide healthy food, that too free of coast. I thought I should give some money to buy more plates so that they can serve more.

When I went to next time I was surprised. People were eating with stainless steel spoons and plates. I asked the owner , how its possible, he said with smile, many people donated and I gave my contribution also. Suddenly one guy shouted that he found a recipe to change steal spoons into silver spoons. But still many customers were not interested in that, because their main concern was what we eat rather than what we eat with. So their main aim is to provide quality and healthy food.

One day I just want to have look at other tables what they were eating. I was completely shocked. They were eating verity of foods, which I have never seen or tasted before. Every table I go , I was invited to share their food and they ask me suggestions to improve their food. I saw silver spoons, gold spoons, drinks in diamond cups, transparent spoons , invisible pates etc.. etc.. I asked how could this be possible. They said one of our customer found a way make silver spoon out of steel , and he gave the recipe to every one, we just modified and improved the recipe and made all these fancy things. But still I saw some customers , eating with hands in clay plate. I asked them why, they said they like the taste of eating by hands.
I just remembered a situation at restaurant “W”. There was a very old customer, who has been eating in that restaurant since the times where they had steel spoons. When they introduced gold spoons, they put a note that the customers were no longer allowed to eat with steel spoons, because they want to improve their business. So they strictly said steel spoon customers should buy either silver or gold spoons. This poor guy couldn't afford it, so he was kicked out of that restaurant.

I learned a good philosophy in restaurant “X”. Whether you eat with gold spoon or silver spoon, the main purpose of the food is to fill our stomach,build our body and protect us from diseases. In the restaurants “W” and “A”, I never know what my food was made of, and I never know whether its healthy or not. I have to just believe the words of the restaurant owner that its healthy and tasty.
But here to the contrary , I could see the ingredients and I could see how they make food. I could see all the protein rich, vitamin rich ingredients are mixed together and spices from different parts of world were added to make more tastier than anything else. If you feel salt or spicy is less you can add by your self. But in restaurants “W” and “A” you have to say to the chef, and he won't do it by saying other customers wont like it.


I realize the one big difference between restaurant “X” and restaurants “W” . In restaurant “W”, whether they love it or not, they HAVE TO provide food, because I pay for them. In restaurant “X” they DON'T HAVE TO provide food, because I don't pay them. But still they provide food, the only reason behind this is, THEY JUST LOVE TO DO IT. So here comes the difference, it is the LOVE they show on to their customers. Restaurants “W” and “A” provides fancy,nicely dressed expensive and typical restaurant food, but restaurant “X” provides me a healthy home made food with “LOVE”.

Thanks to restaurant “X”, The word customer no longer exists in restaurant "X". We become big family and formed a community. I really enjoyed my food. Still I am a family member of “X” and I never want to go back to “W”.

After seeing the potentials of "X", "A" started providing quality food. They opened part of their kitchen for the customers. But they can't provide everything free of coast. Restaurant "W" still having the falls belief that their customers are addicted to their food. But its not true, their customers got used to eat with spoons, thats all. Even though they don't like the food, they don't know how to eat with hands or with other type of spoons.

PS: For dump readers, here is the dictionary
restaurant “X” : linuX
food : Operating system
spoons : GUI
eating by hands : command line
In this context rest of the things could be easily understood. If not you are customer of restaurant “W” or “A” and their food made you so dump, I feel sorry for you that no one can help you.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Intrepid Ibex

Today is another great day for freedom lovers. Ubuntu has released it's version 8.10 code named as Intrepid Ibex. I just couldn't wait , so I upgraded the release candidate yesterday itself. As usual it brought me the latest kernel, Xorg etc.. etc.. , just everything is latest version.
I like the wallpaper, here is the screen shot.



Some of the new features like youtube plugin in Movie player, Tabbed file browser and Switching guest user session in single click are in the next screen shot.



Ubuntu is getting better and better in writing drivers, and effective usage of available resources. I remember when I rotate desktop cube while playing a video, I got a blue screen in the older versions of Ubuntu. But now even when deform the cube as cylinder and rotate, I could watch the video while rotating. This is a clear indication that a better software hack could overcome hardware incompatibilities. Here is the screen shot.




Let the Freedom spread through the world..Once again hats off for Ubuntu.
Here is a short desktop capture video

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The color of Naure

I tried to capture the falling leaves in my camera..

Friday, October 17, 2008

Pink juice


Today I made Pomegranate juice with honey. The color is awesome, I liked it very much so I thought of uploading it, and I did . See the picture, isn't beautiful?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Presentation using LaTeX

Working with LaTeX is little bit tricky, that too creating a presentation slides is a tough job. But once it is done, you can't compare the quality of a LaTeX presentation with a power point one. LaTeX beamer is very powerful and highly professional for presentation. I had a great difficulty in the beginning. I didn't know where to start , how to proceed and how to do simple graphics. So I decided to give my own starting templates for the beginners. It has University logo on it, so its easier for people from my university.

Here you can download the pdf file. Once you open the file in a pdf viewer, switch to slide show mode(press F5 in linux and Ctrl+L in windows) . Then you are able to see the features. Here is the source in the zip file.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A Game which decides the value of currency

I got this from a forwarded mail. This clearly explains how speculation of mind determines the value of currency. This clearly explains the present subprime mortgage crisis

Once there was a little island country. The land of this country was the tiny island itself. The total money in circulation was 2 dollars as there were only two pieces of 1 dollar coins circulating around.

1) There were 3 citizens living on this island country. A owned the land. B and C each owned 1 dollar.

2) B decided to purchase the land from A for 1 dollar. So, now A and C own 1 dollar each while B owned a piece of land that is worth 1 dollar.

* The net asset of the country now = 3 dollars.

3) Now C thought that since there is only one piece of land in the country, and land is non producible asset, its value must definitely go up. So, he borrowed 1 dollar from A, and together with his own 1 dollar, he bought the land from B for 2 dollars.
*A has a loan to C of 1 dollar, so his net asset is 1 dollar.
* B sold his land and got 2 dollars, so his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C owned the piece of land worth 2 dollars but with his 1 dollar debt to A, his net residual asset is 1 dollar.
* Thus, the net asset of the country = 4 dollars.

4) A saw that the land he once owned has risen in value. He regretted having sold it. Luckily, he has a 1 dollar loan to C. He then borrowed 2 dollars from B and acquired the land back from C for 3 dollars. The payment is by 2 dollars cash (which he borrowed) and cancellation of the 1 dollar loan to C. As a result, A now owned a piece of land that is worth 3 dollars. But since he owed B 2 dollars, his net asset is 1 dollar.

* B loaned 2 dollars to A. So his net asset is 2 dollars.
* C now has the 2 coins. His net asset is also 2 dollars.
* The net asset of the country = 5 dollars. A bubble is building up.

(5) B saw that the value of land kept rising. He also wanted to own the land. So he bought the land from A for 4 dollars. The payment is by borrowing 2 dollars from C, and cancellation of his 2 dollars loan to A.

* As a result, A has got his debt cleared and he got the 2 coins. His net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owned a piece of land that is worth 4 dollars, but since he has a debt of 2 dollars with C, his net Asset is 2 dollars.
* C loaned 2 dollars to B, so his net asset is 2 dollars.

* The net asset of the country = 6 dollars; even though, the country has only one piece of land and 2 Dollars in circulation.

(6) Everybody has made money and everybody felt happy and prosperous.

(7) One day an evil wind blew, and an evil thought came to C's mind. "Hey, what if the land price stop going up, how could B repay my loan. There is only 2 dollars in circulation, and, I think after all the land that B owns is worth at most only 1 dollar, and no more."

(8) A also thought the same way.

(9) Nobody wanted to buy land anymore.

* So, in the end, A owns the 2 dollar coins, his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B owed C 2 dollars and the land he owned which he thought worth 4 dollars is now 1 dollar. So his net asset is only 1 dollar.
* C has a loan of 2 dollars to B. But it is a bad debt. Although his net asset is still 2 dollars, his Heart is palpitating.
* The net asset of the country = 3 dollars again.

(10) So, who has stolen the 3 dollars from the country? Of course, before the bubble burst B thought his land was worth 4 dollars. Actually, right before the collapse, the net asset of the country was 6 dollars on paper. B's net asset is still 2 dollars, his heart is palpitating.

(11) B had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. C as to relinquish his 2 dollars bad debt to B, but in return he acquired the land which is worth 1 dollar now.

* A owns the 2 coins; his net asset is 2 dollars.
* B is bankrupt; his net asset is 0 dollar. (He lost everything)
* C got no choice but end up with a land worth only 1 dollar

* the net asset of the country = 3 dollars.

************ **End of the story; BUT ************ ********* ******

There is however a redistribution of wealth.
A is the winner, B is the loser, C is lucky that he is spared.
A few points worth noting -

(1) when a bubble is building up, the debt of individuals to one another in a country is also building up.
(2) This story of the island is a closed system whereby there is no other country and hence no foreign debt. The worth of the asset can only be calculated using the island's own currency. Hence, there is no net loss.
(3) An over-damped system is assumed when the bubble burst, meaning the land's value did not go down to below 1 dollar.
(4) When the bubble burst, the fellow with cash is the winner. The fellows having the land or extending loan to others are the losers. The asset could shrink or in worst case, they go bankrupt.
(5) If there is another citizen D either holding a dollar or another piece of land but refrains from taking part in the game, he will neither win nor lose. But he will see the value of his money or land goes up and down like a see saw.
(6) When the bubble was in the growing phase, everybody made money.
(7) If you are smart and know that you are living in a growing bubble, it is worthwhile to borrow money (like A) and take part in the game. But you must know when you should change everything back to cash.
(8) As in the case of land, the above phenomenon applies to stocks as well.
(9) The actual worth of land or stocks depends largely on psychology (or speculation).

Saturday, September 27, 2008

My Second Try

"I got a kick out of succeeding at something I wasn't supposed to be able to do"-Feynman (Surely you're jocking Mr. Feynman)

Thursday, September 25, 2008

R S E I U B

Yesterday I read about a nice way to reboot the system when xserver freezes. The reboot commands are based on magic SysRq keys. It says that holding the keys Alt+Print(key in the keyboard) and typing RSEIUB will reboot the system. You can find the actual source here. It really worked for me. Simply Alt+Print+B will reboot the system, but this RSEIUB sequence will do some additional thigs to make a clean shoutdown. Funny thing is after reading that article, people complainning that they have such a small hands to execute that comand, which means that they were trying to prss all the keys simaltaniously. lol :)

Monday, September 22, 2008

My first try

"I got a kick out of succeeding at something I wasn't supposed to be able to do"-Feynman (Surely you're jocking Mr. Feynman)

Saturday, September 13, 2008

It's not a toy

The concept of angular momentum is one of the examples of non-Intuitive physics. With out sufficient mathematical knowledge and imagination power, its hard to understand gyroscopic precisions. One of the flying machine which uses this concept of angular momentum and torque is helicopter. Its a complex machine to understand. Simply attaching a rotor to a helicopter like body will not work. Angular momentum has to be compensated. Last week I bought picooz, a miniature helicopter. Its design is wonderful, it has a tiny rotor with a tiny motor in the tail to produce torque to avoid spinning. Controlling this toy, (I don't want to say its toy, its a flying machine), is not so easy. First one has to understand why it is spinning. There are two rotors spinning, so we can see nice addition of angular momentum, and the resultant. Sometimes I could see superpositions of different movements, resulting something like lissajous figures.
In the beginning it will start spinning wildly, because of the angular momentum produced by the main rotor. Then by adjusting the tail rotor rpm we can reduce the spinning and slowly it started circling. By fine tuning the rotor rpm we can increase or decrease the radius of the circle. Practically it is possible to make the radius infinity(thats the physicist way of saying that its going in straight line). Anyway its lot of fun with lot of physics.

In this video here I try to bring the helicopter in the field of view, so I made it spinning so that it stays at a place. Then I apply torque to avoid spinning then its started circling,.I try to increase the radius of the circle, but it crashed in to the wall :( . No casualties ..:)


Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Micro Black Hole

My last post was about a super massive black hole in the Milky way galaxy.This post is about a possibility of creating tiny little micro black hole on our Earth. There are many interesting discussions going on about the safety of LHC(Large Hadron Collider) in Geveva, world largest particle accelerator. A recent article tittled as "The end of the world at the Large Hadron Collider" gives the summery of speculation theories.
Even though physicists are NOT denying the possibility of creating micro black hole at LHC, they say its not dangerous since it will undergo self destruction immediately by emitting Hawking radiation.

I would also like to record my point of view in this regard. The main purpose of LHC is to verify several theories mostly particle physics and quantum gravity theories. Until now most theoretical models were accepted because of two facts. First they could explain the phenomena in a correct way, second there is no counter example which means its NOT disproved. The reason for the second fact is that we don't have enough experimental facilities to do controlled experiments in quantum scale in order to verify a theory. So for the first time they are going to test and verify their theories at LHC by doing some quantum mechanical experiments. We believe that our theories could better explain the nature, but the non intuitive outcome of quantum mechanical experiments always surprised the mankind several time.

As a bottom line, I would like to mention one thing " The only thing predictable in the nature(I mean in quantum world) is its UNPREDICTABILITY". Let us hope and wish safe experiments at LHC and I am looking forward to see mBH at LHC.
watch the video to get an idea

Monday, September 1, 2008

Super massive

Six years ago(2002), the word "super massive" found a right example. It was the discovery of Sagittarius A*, a super massive black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Recently Astronomers confirmed it's existence. The numbers corresponds to this so called "super massive" black hole, will make us to think whether the word "super massive" is sufficient to describe the magnitude of it's unimaginable mass and physical properties.

It has mass of 2.6(+/-0.2) million solar mass, confined in a volume with radius no more than 17 light-hours.(Remember light hour is nothing in astronomy compared to usual distances measured in light-years).In order to show the magnitude let me calculate and express in kg. One solar mass is equal to 1.98892x10^30 kg. So 2.6 million solar mass is equal to
5171192000000000000000000000000000000 kg.

It's interesting to know how they detect the black hole, since nothing comes out(of course something is coming out called Hawking radiations) of a black hole. Its very simple, they observe the movement of stars. If they found stars mysteriously orbit around some invisible point, they suspect that there might be a black hole in the center. By calculating the mass of the orbiting stars and its period, they estimate the mass of the black hole using Kepler's Law.(Note: I am typing this article from the place where Kepler spent last part of his life :) ).

At last I would like to mention one very interesting fact, even though I don't believe in Astrology, I am now proud to say that my sun sign is Sagittarius.Have a nice day :)

Friday, August 29, 2008

Fork Bomb

:(){ :|:& };:
Looks like nothing but sequence of symbols right? But when you type this in a Unix or linux shell and press enter then thats all!. You have to reboot the system. It called Fork Bomb . I love this code, just because of it's simple and elegant look. First of all it's not even looking like a script. No buddy will think its a program.

It creates a function called ":" that accepts no arguments-- that's
the ":(){ ... }" part of the utterance.

The code in the function calls the recursively calls the function
and pipes the output to another invocation of the function-- that's
the ":|:" part. The "& " puts the call into the background-- that way
the child process don't die if the parent exits or is killed. Note
that by invoking the function twice, you get exponential growth in
the number of processes.

The trailing ";" after the curly brace finishes the function definition
and the last ":" is the first invocation of the function that sets off
the bomb.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Maarten van der Weijden zwemt tegen kanker


The Dutch phrase "Maarten van der Weijden zwemt tegen kanker" means "Maarten van der Weijden swims against cancer.". Today I read the news about Maarten van der Weijden, a swimmer from Netherlands, who won the Gold for 10km swimming in 2008 Olympic. I read his interview. It's an inspiring one.He was diagnosed leukemia in 2001.


He said in his interview that his experience with beating leukaemia, with which he was diagnosed in 2001, a revelation that halted his swimming career in its tracks for at least a year as he underwent treatment. "I learned from the cancer period," he said. "I learned to approach challenges step-by-step. I can see that having leukaemia is helping me now: It's making me stronger because everything I go through in life from now on will be easier than what I went through to beat the cancer. The pain and fatigue that you feel in this [the 25km] race, well, I went through that for a whole year to beat the cancer, so, I know I can do it here for five hours [in the race]."

In 2004 he swam across the IJsselmeer in 4:20.58 hours, breaking the former record by almost 15 minutes to collect 50,000 Euros which he donated for cancer research.

What a man great man!. He has proved that nothing can stop him from achieving his go(ld)al. Let us wish him success in coming years..

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What does it mean?

(Thoughts came in to my mind while reading the book The man who loved only Numbers)

Understanding mathematics needs more imagination than an artist has. Some concepts look simple, but when we got the insight it isn't as simple as it was. For example consider a simple infinite series
1-1+1-1+1-1+...........
If I ask what would be the sum of this series, anyone can say it is zero, because,
(1-1)+(1-1)+(1-1)+(1-1)+......
But, if we think other possibility ,like this,
1+(-1+1)+(-1+1)+(-1+1)+......
then we will get sum as one.
This series is called Grandi's series. In modern mathematics, the sum of an infinite series is defined to be the limit of the sequence of its partial sums, if it exists. The sequence of partial sums of Grandi's series is 1, 0, 1, 0, …, which clearly does not approach any number (although it does have two accumulation points at 0 and 1). Therefore, Grandi's series is divergent.

What is the problem here?. Why it is giving two different accumulation points?. The answer is simple. This problem is not just a problem of summing a series. There is another fundamental question hidden behind this. The questions is "Is infinity even or odd?" . Even infinity leads to zero and odd infinity leads two one.

Answer to this question is not easy. I don't think there exists a correct answer to this question. How ever what I feel is we may consider both answers are correct. This is similar to the Hilbert's first problem "Continuum hypothesis ", one of the first proved example of Gödel's incompleteness theorem.Paul Cohen proved that we can assume "continuum hypothesis" either true or false without violating other mathematical axioms. At last it is proved that there is no answer to a question Hilbert most wanted. Even Paul Erdös was so eager to know the answer. Once he was asked "what would you ask if God appears in front of you?", he immediately reapplied that he would ask "whether Continuum hypothesis is true or false?" and he continued that "God would probably say three answers , first answer would be Gödel and Cohen already thought you, Second , you don't have enough intelligences to understand the proof and the the third, Still I am searching for the proof from the time of creation, and he finished by commenting that the third answer would be more appropriate.


Saturday, August 9, 2008

Elaeocarpus ganitrus



I was really surprised to see Elaeocarpus ganitrus also known as Rudrakshm in one of the shops in Germany. I just counted it, again its surprise. It's 108. I thought I will buy one, and I bought. See am I lookinging like saint? :)
Actually I went for coffee shop, next to that I found this shop and Rudrakshm
So..
நான் காபி வாங்க போனேன்....
ஒரு காவி வாங்கி வந்தேன்....




Monday, June 30, 2008

Free as in Freedom


For a long time I've been thinking to write about FSF. Now I found some time to write. It is a non-profit organization created by Richard Matthew Stallman in order to create freedom in software world. You can find all information about FSF and and about software freedom in the internet. What I wanted to share is my own personal experience with open sources.

As a physicist , what ever computational tool I am looking for, I always found a solution in the open source.Few years ago it was a nightmare to install linux in a PC., but now distributions like ubuntu are much simpler to install and also every application has GUI, so new users don't have to know any liunx commands.(see my screen shots).

There is big difference in the quality of work when you do it as a job and when you do it for your own interest. Professional softwares developed by big software companies may have pleasing visuals effects, good GUI and sometimes good functionalities, but still they lack something. The freedom to modify, freedom to make your own version. The response from the open source community for bugs is really amazing. They commit themselves and try to make it better and better.

I started as a normal user. When I see the quality of work they are doing and their commitment, I wanted to something. I am not a good programmer otherwise I could have contributed as a developer. So I decided to become associate member , so that the membership money will help them a bit. Still I am proud to say that I am a open source user and a member of FSF( you can see my membership logo in this blog). I encourage everyone to join FSF and promote software freedom.

Monday, June 16, 2008

A new look...



I like to play with linux, Ubuntu is my favorite. I used to create my own Desktop look, by mixing many themes. I mixed mac and ubuntu and created this. I like to have Desktop as my terminal. It looks good. I come across a nice quote in the net. "Microsoft gives you windows, but linux gives you the home".. Yes.. Its true.. Open source really rocks..

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

ForgetMeNot or RememberYouYes????




There is an interesting discussion going on about the flower Forget-Me-Not between Eswar Amudha and Me. The discussion was nicely documented my Eswar. Here is the document. This was started just for fun, but later we realized that we are discussion logical theory. The discussion seems to me meaningless or trivial. I hope we will continue our discussion amid our busy schedule.

Monday, April 28, 2008

God and Stone


Logical theory is an interesting field in Mathematics. I would like to say this is more related to philosophy of science than mathematics. The two words often debate in this field is the consistency and completeness.

Let us consider the theory about God. A theory basically consists of propositions.
Let us take the propositions relating God and stone.

  1. God can crate stone of any size
  2. God can lift stone of any size
  3. God can destroy stone of any size
Now let us try to answer the following questions.
  • Can God create stone of any size, say infinitely big and heavy?
The answer is yes, he can. Here comes the tricky question.
  • Can God create a stone, he can't lift?
If you say No, then he cant create every stone(I mean the one he can't lift)
If you say Yes, then he cant lift every stone in the world(violation of proposition no:2)

One can ask similar question for proposition no:3 also.

If you can answer the question(doesn't matter either yes or no), the consistency of the theory is destroyed. If you can't answer the question , then the theory appears to be incomplete.

This is true for every theory in the scientific world. No theory in this world is complete and consistent. This was proved by a Austrian logician Kurt Gödel in 1931.

These theories are hard to understand.
Till this point, what ever I described is just to demonstrate the incompleteness theorem.
Today morning I got a funny idea, that I can use the incompleteness theorem to prove the existence of complete theorem.

If a formal theory exists to prove that no formal theory is consistent and complete, that theory it self is inconsistent or incomplete(again self referential :)). So it is possible to make valid arguments for the existence of complete and consistent theory from the incompleteness theory itself. I am just laughing about my arguments. Sometimes I feel this is great argument and sometimes I feel there is a flaw in it.

Anyway I don't mind what ever is the outcome. It's just a fun to think about all these stuffs

Some Quotes

I have no idea who has said all these quotes, but it is good to read..
• Never limit your challenges; challenge your limits
• Every change is not a progress, but every Progress is a change..... Do it Now !

• Never play with the feelings of others because you may win the game but the risk is that you'll surely lose the person for lifetime.

• There is only one difference between dream and aim. Dream requires Soundless sleep to see…Where as Aim Requires Sleepless Efforts to Achieve.

• Once all village People decided to pray for rain, on the day of prayers all assembled, only one boy came with an umbrella. That' called Confidence.

• Sometimes we put walls around our heart, not just to be safe from getting hurt, but to find out who cares enough to break the walls and get closer.

• View a negative experience in your life like how you look at a photo negative. A single negative can create an unlimited number of positive prints!

• Tackle life with all your skills, overcome each and every hill. If u persist with all your will, you'll enjoy your life and all its thrills.

• Hunger wakes you to work, failure makes you to achieve, poverty pushes you to earn, problems keep you alert. Its just +ve attitude that makes life sweeter & worthier!

• If victory is certain then even a coward can fight, but the real brave is the one who still dares to fight when his defeat is certain.

• We are all born in this world for some special Purpose... none of us are waste. So, don't be a prisoner of past be an architect of ur future.

• If we desire to blossom like a rose in the garden, then we must learn the art of adjusting with the thorns. Difficulties will make you shine.


• Expect more from yourself than from others because expectation from others hurts a lot while expectation from yourself inspires a lot.

• There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem and a concerned person solves a problem. So, be a concerned person.

• Kill the stress before it kills you. Reach the goal before it kicks you. Help everyone before someone helps you. Live life before life leaves you.

• The difference between God and Man being is... God Gives and Forgives. Man Gets and Forgets!

• The difference between ability and character is... ability will get us to the top, but character will retain us at top. Be at top always!

• If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain; in order to love you gotta risk the pain.

• If you cry because the sun is gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.

• Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections. Gud Day!

• In the chase between Cat & Mouse, the mouse mostly wins coz the cat is running for its food & mouse for its life. Purpose is more important than Need!

• It’s not your mistake if you can't read the eyes which cheats u but it's really your mistake if you can't read the eyes which cares you.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Trip to Heaven, via Hell


Thanks to the efforts of Ramesh, Srinivas and Co. for arranging a wonderul,
exciting and thrilling Amsterdam trip.It was 7 people , Ramesh ,Selvi, Srinivas , Sushma, Chinna, Tapan and Myself.

I added the word thrilling because of the events went on during our flight from Munich to Amsterdam by KLM Airlines.
Everything was fine when we started from Munich. Just few minutes before landing, it started. There was smoke in the
cabin. It was becoming more and more intense, as time went on. Smoke alarm went on and emergency lights activated. Passengers on board were tensed and there
was no proper explanation form Pilot. It was announced that as soon as we land, we are asked to get out immediately. It was really thrilling and exciting. Most people worried, but truly speaking, I really enjoyed. Later I realize that it was an unusual behavior that I didn't bother a bit about the things went on during the flight. May be I was optimistic, that we almost reached the airport, so if something goes wrong, rescue operations would be so fast. So there was a good chance of survival.

Funny thing about the smoke is , that it was there in the cabin only for few minutes, but it was there in our minds for next two days. Anyway it was good experience, I enjoyed it.But the sad thing is Ramesh got smokophobia.. :)

We spent two days in Holland and the two days we had huge difference in weather conditions. First day we can't walk without jacket, second day we can't walk with jacket. Tulip garden was wonderful, but crowded. It was my first visit to a beach in Europe. It was quite good.There was a big chess board in the park, I played against two kids from Holland and I lost :). They were pretty good, but still I enjoyed the game. It's not the out come of the game, but playing game itself is a pleasure. I realize that after playing that game.

There was some festival going on in the city center. There was an amusement ride, its a big rotating arm with 10 people attached on both ends. It was my long time desire to ride on such things. Now I got a change in Amsterdam, and that too as a physicist, when I see the acceleration is 4.5g , I can't stop my self doing it. It was a trilling experience coming upside down, form the top to bottom with 4.5g acceleration and then suddenly pulled back just before hitting the ground. I had the feeling that my shoos are going to flyaway. I could fell the blood flow in the body while acceleration. It was a fantastic experience. In the beginning I was scared, but later I just closed my eyes and rejoiced. I tried to guess the motion of the arm, by closing my eyes and just feeling the acceleration in my body.

This trip created wonderful memories, which would remain in our minds for long long time.........