Parrots – known as great mimics – also have varied musical tastes and an
intense dislike of dance tunes, scientists have discovered.
While some prefer classical works and others pop tunes, scientists have
found the creatures do not like dance music.
Researchers monitored the listening preferences of a pair of African
grey parrots ( Psittacus erithacus ) – a popular pet species, and found
that while one favoured soothing "middle of the road" music, the other
opted for more upbeat, modern pop, 'The Telegraph' reported.
Birds also enjoyed rock and folk music and "danced" along, by bobbing
their heads and legs. They even "sang along", by squawking. But neither
animal appreciated electronic dance music, which left them both
distressed.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/parrots-have-personal-tastes-in-music/article4236681.ece
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and
love email again
Friday, December 28, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The Tiny Lens That Could Stop Hearing Loss from Earbuds
You hear it all the time—your earbuds will cause hearing loss. And while
it'd be nice to shrug this off as the same old conventional wisdom that
everything fun is bad for us, it happens to be true: Prolonged use can
in fact lead to hearing loss. A clever new invention being unveiled
Friday may help keep your earbuds and your hearing—and your audio
quality—intact, without forcing you to return to an era of
Footloose-style Walkman headphones.
Read more: Ambrose Diaphonic Ear Lens - Apple iPod Earbuds Hearing Loss
- Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/tiny-lens-could-stop-hearing-loss-from-earbuds-5760533#ixzz2FCQCTd2g
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Does exactly what it says on the tin
it'd be nice to shrug this off as the same old conventional wisdom that
everything fun is bad for us, it happens to be true: Prolonged use can
in fact lead to hearing loss. A clever new invention being unveiled
Friday may help keep your earbuds and your hearing—and your audio
quality—intact, without forcing you to return to an era of
Footloose-style Walkman headphones.
Read more: Ambrose Diaphonic Ear Lens - Apple iPod Earbuds Hearing Loss
- Popular Mechanics
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/tiny-lens-could-stop-hearing-loss-from-earbuds-5760533#ixzz2FCQCTd2g
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Does exactly what it says on the tin
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Taj Mahal, origins of
From: http://www.satyashodh.com/Taj_Mahal.htm
----------------------------------------------
Taj Mahal - It is time to tell the truth.
There are many legends about the Taj Mahal. But one sentence is common
in all of them. "For the construction, 20,000 men worked for 22 years."
This is well known throughout the world. The simple question is – where
do these figures come from?
These figures come from a book Travels in India by J B Tavernier, a
French jewel merchant. He was a great adventurer who made six voyages to
India in the days of Shivaji (1638 to 1668). Tavernier says," I
witnessed the commencement and completion of this monument (Taj Mahal)
on which 20,000 men worked incessantly for 22 years."
Tavernier's book was first published in French in 1675. In those days,
it was a great adventure for a single man to travel over such a long
distance, face many difficulties, deal with peoples of many cultures and
languages, adjust to their customs and traditions, and come home safely
– that in itself was incredible. In addition Tavernier carried out a
trade in precious stones like diamonds. He completed such voyages, not
once but six times. His book was therefore a great sensation at that
time. It was naturally translated into English and during 1677 to 1811;
nine editions of the English translation were published, whereas during
the same period twenty-two editions of the French book were printed.
In 1889 Dr Ball translated the original French book into English,
corrected some mistakes in earlier translation and provided extensive
footnotes. He also studied Tavernier's movements thoroughly and provided
details of his six voyages. From this it is clear that Tavernier came to
Agra only twice – in the winter of 1640-41 and in 1665. This raises
another interesting question.
Historians say that Mumtaz, wife of Shahjahan died in 1631 and the
construction of Taj Mahal started immediately. But if that is the case
Tavernier could not have seen the commencement of Taj Mahal, as he came
to Agra nearly 10 years later.
Aurangzeb had imprisoned his father Shahjahan in the Red Fort of Agra
since 1658 and usurped power. No historian claims that Aurangzeb
completed Taj Mahal. So, Tavernier could not have seen the completion of
Taj Mahal either. And that being the case his statement that 20,000 men
worked on it incessantly is meaningless.
Why have Historians kept this truth from us for the last 117 years? The
reason is simple. It strikes at the heart of the legend.
Badshahnama – what does it say?
British Historians have proclaimed that in India, Hindu Kings had no
historical sense. Historical records were kept only by the Muslim
rulers. Fair enough, then let us turn to Badshahnama which was written
during the reign of Shahjahan. Asiatic Society of Bengal published the
Persian text of Badshahnama in two parts, part I in 1867 and part II in
1868. The compilation was done by two Maulavis, under the
superintendence of an English Major. The funny thing is that no one
quotes Badshahnama to explain how Taj Mahal was built. Why?
Elliot and Dowson, two English gentlemen undertook the formidable task
of writing history of India from the attack on Sindh by Mohammed bin
Kasim in the 8th century to the fall of Marathas in the 19th century. A
period covering some 1200 years. But it was written, based on chronicles
of Muslim rulers only. Elliot and Dowson's work was published in 8
volumes during 1867 to 1877. Volume 7 deals with the reigns of Shahjahan
and Aurangzeb. And yet in the entire volume we do not find the word 'Taj
Mahal.' The authors should have said, "Though we have presented history
of Shahjahan based on his official chronicle Badshahnama, we did not
find any reference to Taj Mahal in it." They did no such thing. And
Historians have kept even this information from us for the last 130
years.
In 1896 Khan Bahaddur Syed Muhammad Latif wrote a book entitled Agra
Historical and Descriptive. He refers to Badshahnama many times but does
not quote specific page numbers. On page 105 he says, " – The site
selected for the mausoleum was originally a palace of Raja Mansingh but
it was now the property of his grandson Raja Jaisingh." Many authors
have referred to Latif in their bibliography but have not cared to see
what he has said. This truth was also hidden away from us by our
Historians.
In 1905 H R Nevill, ICS, compiled Agra District Gazetteer. In it he
changed the words 'Raja Mansingh's Palace' to 'Raja Mansingh's piece of
land'. Ever since all historians have followed suit and repeated '
Shahjahan purchased Raja Mansingh's piece of land, at that time in the
possession of his grandson Raja Jaisingh.' This deception has been going
on for more than a century.
One may ask, "Why would an English officer be interested in playing such
a mischief?" Well if we look at the events of those times the reason is
clear cut.
1901
Viceroy Lord Curzon separated some districts from Punjab to create a
Muslim majority North West Frontier Province. Hindus became an
insignificant minority in this province and that marked the beginning of
their misfortune.
1903
Curzon declared his intention to partition Bengal to create a Muslim
majority province of East Bengal
1905
Curzon resigned but put into effect the partition of Bengal
1906
A Muslim delegation led by Agakhan called upon new Viceroy Lord Minto.
Muslims pleaded that in any political reforms they should be treated
separately and favourably. This move was obviously engineered by the
British rulers.
December – Muslim League was started in Dacca.
1909
In the Morley - Minto reforms Muslims were granted separate electorates.
We should also remember that during 1873 and 1914, some English officers
had translated into English the Persian texts of Babur-nama.
Humayun-nama,
Akbar-nama, Ain-e-Akbari and Tazuk - i - Jehangiri, but NOT Badshahnama.
Judging from above events it is obvious why Mr Nevill played the
mischief when compiling Agra District Gazetteer in 1905.
It is astonishing that though Maulavi Ahmad (History of Taj 1905) and
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (Anecdotes of Aurangzeb, 1912) repeat that Raja
Mansingh's piece of land was purchased by Shahjahan, they also provide a
reference - Badshahnama,
Volume I page 403. Strange as it may sound, no one had bothered to see
what is written on that page.
In 1964 Mr P N Oak of New Delhi started having his doubts about Taj
Mahal. He put forward an argument that it was originally a Hindu Palace.
Oak had to cross swords with many historians. One of his opponents was a
Kashmiri Pandit. Eventually they went to Government of India Archives.
At the suggestion of the Librarian there the Pandit started to read
Badshahnama, soon he came to Volume I page 403. One line read – va pesh
azin manzil-e-Raja Mansingh bood, vadari vakt ba Raja Jaisingh. He
confessed that Shahjahan took over Raja Mansingh's palace for burial of
Mumtaz. We owe so much to this honest opponent of Mr Oak. He gave word
by word translation of pages 402 and 403 to Mr Oak who promptly
published it in his book Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace (1968). However, Mr
Oak never stated that the translation was NOT his. It was done for him
by a Persian expert. That made life of his opponents easy. They said,
"Mr Oak's translation is wrong."
I obtained Oak's book in London in 1977. I made a study for one year.
First of all I read all the references generally quoted by Historians
and writers. That was made possible by my being in England. Mr Oak did
not have that facility. All the references led to the same conclusion
that Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace and it was NOT built by Shahjahan. My
booklet entitled – Taj Mahal : Simple Analysis of a Great Deception was
published in 1986. In 1981 while going through some references I started
suspecting that the British knew the true nature of Taj Mahal for a long
time but had deliberately suppressed the truth. Eventually my research
was published in 10 parts in the Quarterly Itihas Patrika of Thane
(India). I collected all the information available on Taj Mahal over the
200 year period from 1784 to 1984, and shown how the British suppressed
vital pieces of evidence or twisted the truth. My research continued and
was published in 1996 under the title – Taj Mahal and the Great British
Conspiracy
Taj legend exposed in England in 1980
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a reputable Institution
in London. In1980, in their monthly Journal, they published two letters
challenging the validity of usual Taj Legend. One was by Mr Oak, the
other by me. No one has refuted our arguments. Mr Oak refers to
Badshahnama, Volume I page 403. What have I disclosed in my letter?
What was Agra City like before Shahjahan came to power? That is the
question dodged by all Historians. In the 17th century, the Dutch like
the English were trying to trade in India. They had a Factory (trading
post) in Agra. Fransisco Pelsaert, was their Senior Factor (Merchant) at
Agra from 1620 to 1627. In 1626 he prepared a commercial report for his
directors in Holland. By strange coincidence, he describes Agra City at
that time. He says, "The city is narrow and long, because all the rich
and influential people have built their palaces on the river bank and
this stretches for
10 ½ miles. I will mention some of the well known ones. Starting from
the North there is the palace of Bahadur Khan, Raja Bhoj, ……. Then comes
the Red Fort.
(Pelsaert then describes the Fort) beyond it is Nakhas – a great market,
then follow the palaces of great Lords – Mirza Abdulla, Aga Naur ……
Mahabat Khan, Late Raja Mansingh, Raja Madho Singh."
English translation of this report was available since 1925. And yet no
Historian refers to it. Why? The reason is simple. In 1626 Pelsaert has
said that 10 ½ mile stretch of the river-bank was full of palaces, Late
Raja Mansingh's Palace being the last but one. Badshahnama says that
Shahjahan took over this palace for burying his wife Mumtaz. Thus what
we call Taj Mahal today is nothing but Late Raja Mansingh's Palace. That
is the truth which Historians have kept away from us.
My efforts had one effect. In 1982 Archaeological Survey of India,
published a booklet entitled – Taj Museum. Though the authors repeat the
usual legend they say, " Mumtaz died in Burhanpur and was buried there.
Six months later Shahjahan exhumed her body and sent her coffin to Agra,
on that site until then stood Late Raja Mansingh's Palace…… "
Today that palace is called Taj Mahal. Nothing could be simpler. What
building work is needed for burying a corpse in a Palace?
Dr V S Godbole
April 2007
14 Turnberry Walk
Akshaya Tritiya
Bedford
MK41, 8AZ
U.K.
=================
* Marvin H Mills writings:
(Under http://marvinhmills.com/writings.html)
http://marvinhmills.com/writings/AN%20ARCHITECT%20LOOKS%20AT%20THE%20TAJ%20MAHAL%20LEGEND.pdf
Dr VS Godbole's book:
http://marvinhmills.com/writings/Godbole%20book%20on%20Taj.pdf
====
----------------------------------------------
Taj Mahal - It is time to tell the truth.
There are many legends about the Taj Mahal. But one sentence is common
in all of them. "For the construction, 20,000 men worked for 22 years."
This is well known throughout the world. The simple question is – where
do these figures come from?
These figures come from a book Travels in India by J B Tavernier, a
French jewel merchant. He was a great adventurer who made six voyages to
India in the days of Shivaji (1638 to 1668). Tavernier says," I
witnessed the commencement and completion of this monument (Taj Mahal)
on which 20,000 men worked incessantly for 22 years."
Tavernier's book was first published in French in 1675. In those days,
it was a great adventure for a single man to travel over such a long
distance, face many difficulties, deal with peoples of many cultures and
languages, adjust to their customs and traditions, and come home safely
– that in itself was incredible. In addition Tavernier carried out a
trade in precious stones like diamonds. He completed such voyages, not
once but six times. His book was therefore a great sensation at that
time. It was naturally translated into English and during 1677 to 1811;
nine editions of the English translation were published, whereas during
the same period twenty-two editions of the French book were printed.
In 1889 Dr Ball translated the original French book into English,
corrected some mistakes in earlier translation and provided extensive
footnotes. He also studied Tavernier's movements thoroughly and provided
details of his six voyages. From this it is clear that Tavernier came to
Agra only twice – in the winter of 1640-41 and in 1665. This raises
another interesting question.
Historians say that Mumtaz, wife of Shahjahan died in 1631 and the
construction of Taj Mahal started immediately. But if that is the case
Tavernier could not have seen the commencement of Taj Mahal, as he came
to Agra nearly 10 years later.
Aurangzeb had imprisoned his father Shahjahan in the Red Fort of Agra
since 1658 and usurped power. No historian claims that Aurangzeb
completed Taj Mahal. So, Tavernier could not have seen the completion of
Taj Mahal either. And that being the case his statement that 20,000 men
worked on it incessantly is meaningless.
Why have Historians kept this truth from us for the last 117 years? The
reason is simple. It strikes at the heart of the legend.
Badshahnama – what does it say?
British Historians have proclaimed that in India, Hindu Kings had no
historical sense. Historical records were kept only by the Muslim
rulers. Fair enough, then let us turn to Badshahnama which was written
during the reign of Shahjahan. Asiatic Society of Bengal published the
Persian text of Badshahnama in two parts, part I in 1867 and part II in
1868. The compilation was done by two Maulavis, under the
superintendence of an English Major. The funny thing is that no one
quotes Badshahnama to explain how Taj Mahal was built. Why?
Elliot and Dowson, two English gentlemen undertook the formidable task
of writing history of India from the attack on Sindh by Mohammed bin
Kasim in the 8th century to the fall of Marathas in the 19th century. A
period covering some 1200 years. But it was written, based on chronicles
of Muslim rulers only. Elliot and Dowson's work was published in 8
volumes during 1867 to 1877. Volume 7 deals with the reigns of Shahjahan
and Aurangzeb. And yet in the entire volume we do not find the word 'Taj
Mahal.' The authors should have said, "Though we have presented history
of Shahjahan based on his official chronicle Badshahnama, we did not
find any reference to Taj Mahal in it." They did no such thing. And
Historians have kept even this information from us for the last 130
years.
In 1896 Khan Bahaddur Syed Muhammad Latif wrote a book entitled Agra
Historical and Descriptive. He refers to Badshahnama many times but does
not quote specific page numbers. On page 105 he says, " – The site
selected for the mausoleum was originally a palace of Raja Mansingh but
it was now the property of his grandson Raja Jaisingh." Many authors
have referred to Latif in their bibliography but have not cared to see
what he has said. This truth was also hidden away from us by our
Historians.
In 1905 H R Nevill, ICS, compiled Agra District Gazetteer. In it he
changed the words 'Raja Mansingh's Palace' to 'Raja Mansingh's piece of
land'. Ever since all historians have followed suit and repeated '
Shahjahan purchased Raja Mansingh's piece of land, at that time in the
possession of his grandson Raja Jaisingh.' This deception has been going
on for more than a century.
One may ask, "Why would an English officer be interested in playing such
a mischief?" Well if we look at the events of those times the reason is
clear cut.
1901
Viceroy Lord Curzon separated some districts from Punjab to create a
Muslim majority North West Frontier Province. Hindus became an
insignificant minority in this province and that marked the beginning of
their misfortune.
1903
Curzon declared his intention to partition Bengal to create a Muslim
majority province of East Bengal
1905
Curzon resigned but put into effect the partition of Bengal
1906
A Muslim delegation led by Agakhan called upon new Viceroy Lord Minto.
Muslims pleaded that in any political reforms they should be treated
separately and favourably. This move was obviously engineered by the
British rulers.
December – Muslim League was started in Dacca.
1909
In the Morley - Minto reforms Muslims were granted separate electorates.
We should also remember that during 1873 and 1914, some English officers
had translated into English the Persian texts of Babur-nama.
Humayun-nama,
Akbar-nama, Ain-e-Akbari and Tazuk - i - Jehangiri, but NOT Badshahnama.
Judging from above events it is obvious why Mr Nevill played the
mischief when compiling Agra District Gazetteer in 1905.
It is astonishing that though Maulavi Ahmad (History of Taj 1905) and
Sir Jadunath Sarkar (Anecdotes of Aurangzeb, 1912) repeat that Raja
Mansingh's piece of land was purchased by Shahjahan, they also provide a
reference - Badshahnama,
Volume I page 403. Strange as it may sound, no one had bothered to see
what is written on that page.
In 1964 Mr P N Oak of New Delhi started having his doubts about Taj
Mahal. He put forward an argument that it was originally a Hindu Palace.
Oak had to cross swords with many historians. One of his opponents was a
Kashmiri Pandit. Eventually they went to Government of India Archives.
At the suggestion of the Librarian there the Pandit started to read
Badshahnama, soon he came to Volume I page 403. One line read – va pesh
azin manzil-e-Raja Mansingh bood, vadari vakt ba Raja Jaisingh. He
confessed that Shahjahan took over Raja Mansingh's palace for burial of
Mumtaz. We owe so much to this honest opponent of Mr Oak. He gave word
by word translation of pages 402 and 403 to Mr Oak who promptly
published it in his book Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace (1968). However, Mr
Oak never stated that the translation was NOT his. It was done for him
by a Persian expert. That made life of his opponents easy. They said,
"Mr Oak's translation is wrong."
I obtained Oak's book in London in 1977. I made a study for one year.
First of all I read all the references generally quoted by Historians
and writers. That was made possible by my being in England. Mr Oak did
not have that facility. All the references led to the same conclusion
that Taj Mahal is a Hindu Palace and it was NOT built by Shahjahan. My
booklet entitled – Taj Mahal : Simple Analysis of a Great Deception was
published in 1986. In 1981 while going through some references I started
suspecting that the British knew the true nature of Taj Mahal for a long
time but had deliberately suppressed the truth. Eventually my research
was published in 10 parts in the Quarterly Itihas Patrika of Thane
(India). I collected all the information available on Taj Mahal over the
200 year period from 1784 to 1984, and shown how the British suppressed
vital pieces of evidence or twisted the truth. My research continued and
was published in 1996 under the title – Taj Mahal and the Great British
Conspiracy
Taj legend exposed in England in 1980
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a reputable Institution
in London. In1980, in their monthly Journal, they published two letters
challenging the validity of usual Taj Legend. One was by Mr Oak, the
other by me. No one has refuted our arguments. Mr Oak refers to
Badshahnama, Volume I page 403. What have I disclosed in my letter?
What was Agra City like before Shahjahan came to power? That is the
question dodged by all Historians. In the 17th century, the Dutch like
the English were trying to trade in India. They had a Factory (trading
post) in Agra. Fransisco Pelsaert, was their Senior Factor (Merchant) at
Agra from 1620 to 1627. In 1626 he prepared a commercial report for his
directors in Holland. By strange coincidence, he describes Agra City at
that time. He says, "The city is narrow and long, because all the rich
and influential people have built their palaces on the river bank and
this stretches for
10 ½ miles. I will mention some of the well known ones. Starting from
the North there is the palace of Bahadur Khan, Raja Bhoj, ……. Then comes
the Red Fort.
(Pelsaert then describes the Fort) beyond it is Nakhas – a great market,
then follow the palaces of great Lords – Mirza Abdulla, Aga Naur ……
Mahabat Khan, Late Raja Mansingh, Raja Madho Singh."
English translation of this report was available since 1925. And yet no
Historian refers to it. Why? The reason is simple. In 1626 Pelsaert has
said that 10 ½ mile stretch of the river-bank was full of palaces, Late
Raja Mansingh's Palace being the last but one. Badshahnama says that
Shahjahan took over this palace for burying his wife Mumtaz. Thus what
we call Taj Mahal today is nothing but Late Raja Mansingh's Palace. That
is the truth which Historians have kept away from us.
My efforts had one effect. In 1982 Archaeological Survey of India,
published a booklet entitled – Taj Museum. Though the authors repeat the
usual legend they say, " Mumtaz died in Burhanpur and was buried there.
Six months later Shahjahan exhumed her body and sent her coffin to Agra,
on that site until then stood Late Raja Mansingh's Palace…… "
Today that palace is called Taj Mahal. Nothing could be simpler. What
building work is needed for burying a corpse in a Palace?
Dr V S Godbole
April 2007
14 Turnberry Walk
Akshaya Tritiya
Bedford
MK41, 8AZ
U.K.
=================
* Marvin H Mills writings:
(Under http://marvinhmills.com/writings.html)
http://marvinhmills.com/writings/AN%20ARCHITECT%20LOOKS%20AT%20THE%20TAJ%20MAHAL%20LEGEND.pdf
Dr VS Godbole's book:
http://marvinhmills.com/writings/Godbole%20book%20on%20Taj.pdf
====
Friday, December 14, 2012
Scientists image individual bonds between atoms
Leo Gross is a scientist working in the same IBM Zurich lab that imaged
the first atom, for which the Nobel Prize was later awarded to IBM
Fellows Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer (with German physicist Ernst
Ruska).
Now Gross has one-upped his colleagues by leading the IBM team that has
zoomed in to image individual bonds between atoms for the first time.
The ability to image each bond between adjacent atoms will simplify the
development of new materials as well as allow scientists to unravel the
structure of unknown compounds found in nature.
Over the next decade, Gross' research could result in the development of
new organic materials that revolutionize solar cells, light-emitting
diodes (OLEDs) and carbon-based semiconductors like graphene. Gross
realized the world's first images on individual atomic bonds with Fabian
Mohn, Nikolaj Moll, Bruno Schuler, and Gerhard Meyer at IBM, and with
Alejandro Criado, Enrique Guitián and Diego Peña at the Universidade de
Santiago de Compostela, as well as André Gourdon at CNRS, in Toulouse
Cedex, France.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Access all of your messages and folders
wherever you are
the first atom, for which the Nobel Prize was later awarded to IBM
Fellows Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer (with German physicist Ernst
Ruska).
Now Gross has one-upped his colleagues by leading the IBM team that has
zoomed in to image individual bonds between atoms for the first time.
The ability to image each bond between adjacent atoms will simplify the
development of new materials as well as allow scientists to unravel the
structure of unknown compounds found in nature.
Over the next decade, Gross' research could result in the development of
new organic materials that revolutionize solar cells, light-emitting
diodes (OLEDs) and carbon-based semiconductors like graphene. Gross
realized the world's first images on individual atomic bonds with Fabian
Mohn, Nikolaj Moll, Bruno Schuler, and Gerhard Meyer at IBM, and with
Alejandro Criado, Enrique Guitián and Diego Peña at the Universidade de
Santiago de Compostela, as well as André Gourdon at CNRS, in Toulouse
Cedex, France.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Access all of your messages and folders
wherever you are
Michael Goldfarb- Mechatronics in smart prosthetics
EE Times 40th: 10 electronics visionaries to watch
R. Colin Johnson
11/7/2012 5:38 AM EST
Michael Goldfarb-Vanderbilt
Michael Goldfarb, principle investigator at the Center for Intelligent
Mechatronics (here with his robotic hand) is pioneering smart
prosthetics that use micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) chips to
sense orientation and microcontrollers to mimic the natural actions of
human limbs. His crown jewel, so far, is a smart prosthetic leg driven
by two motors--one for the knee joint and one the ankle joint--resulting
in accurate motion control that restores a range of motion comparable to
that of real legs.
The key to smart prosthetics, according to Goldfarb, is algorithms that
anticipate the next step. His first recipient, 16-year old Craig Hutto
who made national headlines fighting off a shark attack during a trip to
the Gulf Coast in Florida, but lost his leg in the process, now says his
biggest problem is getting his natural leg to keep up with the pace set
by Goldfarb's bionic leg.
Freedom Innovations has since licensed Goldfarb's design, which aims to
revolutionize smart prosthetics. Goldfarb is also working on smart
powered exoskeletons that restore a normal gait to patients with spinal
cord injuries.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Send your email first class
R. Colin Johnson
11/7/2012 5:38 AM EST
Michael Goldfarb-Vanderbilt
Michael Goldfarb, principle investigator at the Center for Intelligent
Mechatronics (here with his robotic hand) is pioneering smart
prosthetics that use micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) chips to
sense orientation and microcontrollers to mimic the natural actions of
human limbs. His crown jewel, so far, is a smart prosthetic leg driven
by two motors--one for the knee joint and one the ankle joint--resulting
in accurate motion control that restores a range of motion comparable to
that of real legs.
The key to smart prosthetics, according to Goldfarb, is algorithms that
anticipate the next step. His first recipient, 16-year old Craig Hutto
who made national headlines fighting off a shark attack during a trip to
the Gulf Coast in Florida, but lost his leg in the process, now says his
biggest problem is getting his natural leg to keep up with the pace set
by Goldfarb's bionic leg.
Freedom Innovations has since licensed Goldfarb's design, which aims to
revolutionize smart prosthetics. Goldfarb is also working on smart
powered exoskeletons that restore a normal gait to patients with spinal
cord injuries.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Send your email first class
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Awesome collection of books/periodicals etc etc..
http://www.unz.org/
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Accessible with your email software
or over the web
http://www.unz.org/
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Accessible with your email software
or over the web
Monday, October 22, 2012
Securing Windows 7, Android Apps with broken security
Securing Windows 7 -->
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/10/20/1324203/ask-slashdot-securing-a-windows-laptop-for-the-windows-newbie
Android Apps + broken security -->
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/10/20/0545252/poor-ssl-implementations-leave-many-android-apps-vulnerable
/A
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/12/10/20/1324203/ask-slashdot-securing-a-windows-laptop-for-the-windows-newbie
Android Apps + broken security -->
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/10/20/0545252/poor-ssl-implementations-leave-many-android-apps-vulnerable
/A
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Diversity, complementary currencies, for resilience
Bernard Lietaer:
The potential of complementary currencies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zoud9tFEmw
Also read about the Austrian experiment of 1930's with alternate
currencies..
http://www.lietaer.com/2010/03/the-worgl-experiment/
/A
The potential of complementary currencies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zoud9tFEmw
Also read about the Austrian experiment of 1930's with alternate
currencies..
http://www.lietaer.com/2010/03/the-worgl-experiment/
/A
3D printers... self-replication
RepRap - Machine makes a copy of the machine which makes ....
http://www.reprap.org/
Check: http://www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com/
http://www.reprap.org/
Check: http://www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com/
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Bilahari Kausikan's Speech - 2012 Raffles Institution's 189th Founders' Day
Link:
http://astralucis.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/speech-by-ps-foreign-affairs-bilahari-kausikan-at-raffles-institutions-189th-foundars-day/
Link 1:
*****
Speech by PS (Foreign Affairs) Bilahari Kausikan at Raffles Institution's 189th Founder's Daya
*****
Speech by PS (Foreign Affairs) Bilahari Kausikan at Raffles
Institution's 189th Founder's Day
On 21 July 2012 (Saturday) at 9 am
At Albert Hong Hall, Raffles Institution
When your Principal, in a reckless act of folly, asked me to be
Guest-of-Honour at this 189th Founder's Day, my first instinct was to do
us both a favour and refuse. But I hesitated and in an instant was lost.
The temptation to savour the irony was too great. For what I am about to
say, I absolve her of all responsibility.
My comrades and I spent our six years in Raffles Institution waging
insurgency against all established authority. At a very tender age one
of our teachers told us we were all born to be hanged. And if that
extreme did not come to pass — perhaps I should say, has not yet come to
pass — several of us were at least caned. Our then Principal failed to
achieve his dearest ambition of getting us all expelled only due to our
dumb luck.
So here I stand before you, living testimony to the role of chance and
serendipity in life; a role more often than not, insufficiently
acknowledged if not ignored, particularly by Singaporeans of a certain
ilk. And that is my theme.
Eighty-five years ago an American writer by the name of Thornton Wilder
published a short novel entitled The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The book
has never been out of print, but deserves to be better known.
The novel begins at noon on a certain day in 1714 when a bridge in Peru
— "the finest bridge in all Peru", writes Wilder — inexplicably
collapses and five people who happen at that moment to be crossing,
plummet to their deaths.
The tragedy is witnessed by a devout Franciscan monk, in Peru for
missionary work among the natives, who immediately asks himself "Why did
this happen to those five?"
The monk is convinced that it was not a random event but some
manifestation of God's Will for some greater end and vows to investigate
to so as to prove to the natives the necessity of divine purpose. But
his investigation runs afoul of the Inquisition and he is burnt at the
stake.
Wilder poses, but never directly answers, the question: "Is there a
direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will?" The
point, of course, is that it could have been anyone of us on that
metaphorical bridge.
I do not think that there is any particular meaning, pattern or
direction, divine or secular, in the drift of human events. History, as
Winston Churchill is reported to have remarked, is just one damned thing
after another. The innocent die young and the wicked flourish; and not
necessarily in equal measure either because to the wicked the innocent
are often prey.
The world is far too complex a place to be comprehended in any holistic
way by the human mind. It is made up of too many moving parts
interacting in too many unpredictable ways for human reason to grasp.
I mean, of course, the social world: the world of human interactions,
human relationships and human institutions; of love and hatred, politics
and economics, war and peace, infused with emotions like anger, pity,
joy and sorrow, and not the material world of rocks and stones and trees
and the earth's diurnal course.
In the material world, the apple will always fall whether or not Newton
was there to observe it. In the material world, all phenomena must
ultimately conform to the laws of physics. In the material world, when
we return to earth and ashes, we too will confirm to the laws of
physics.
But in the meantime we inhabit a social world of sentient beings who
observe, think and respond so that our every effort to act or comprehend
alters what we try to comprehend and every thought and action begets a
never ending, ever shifting kaleidoscope of unpredictable possibilities
that makes all social science an oxymoron.
Reason may distinguish man from beast, but the sum of the interactions
of different reasons; of many logics, is only coincidentally and
occasionally logical. That is why actions always have unintended
consequences even if they are not always immediately apparent, and our
best laid plans and most fervent hopes are constantly ambushed by chance
and events.
Most things eventually fail. The shade of Ozymandias hovers unseen but
omnipresent over every human enterprise, biding its time.
The ancient Greeks advised us to call no man happy until he was dead.
This is good advice. We can be reasonably certain of something only
after it has occurred. The only true knowledge is historical, and even
then there is always room for argument over interpretation. None of us
ever sees or understands the same thing, no matter how conscientiously
we try to observe or communicate.
As I stand here speaking to you, at least three different things are
occurring simultaneously: first, what I think; second, what I say to
convey what I think which, whether because of the limitations of
language or by design, will not always be the same as what I think:
deception and self-deception are intrinsic parts of human nature; and
third what you hear and understand of what I had intended to convey
which is again not necessarily the same thing.
One could call this, after the title of a short story by the Japanese
author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the Rashomon phenomenon. It makes for a
world without fixed meaning, which accentuates its fundamental
incomprehensibility. A world in which the past can only be partially
known, the present is largely unknown and the future certainly
unknowable.
None of us asked to be born. Yet having had life thrust upon us, we
must, unless bent on suicide, nevertheless live. Although we can only,
if dimly and darkly, know backwards, we have to live forwards.
No one can live in a constant Hamlet-like state of existential doubt. We
must profess a certainty that we do not necessarily feel. To keep the
metaphysical horror of unfathomable meaninglessness at bay, we all,
singly or collectively, consciously or unconsciously, adopt mental
frameworks to simplify a complex reality in order to deal with it.
Since the Enlightenment of the 17th Century, belief in Reason has
replaced belief in God as the primary organizing mental framework of
society. We are all the creatures of this western defined modernity and
the most successful of the non-western countries, Singapore among them,
are precisely those who have embraced it the most closely.
Reason's children include law and justice, philosophy, literature and
the arts, economics and other social sciences and even the very belief
in reason, progress, technology and science. But the fundamental mode of
thought that underpins these trappings of reason is still theological in
that whether our belief is in Reason or in God, it is still mere belief
and not epistemologically provable beyond all doubt. There is no end to
philosophy any more than there can be an end to history.
Stated in another way, none of Reason's children have an autonomous
reality separate from our apprehensions of them. They are socially
constructed artefacts; frameworks of ideas that we have chosen to
believe in, in order to comprehend the world and comprehend in order
live in a particular way.
Their utility is thus purely instrumental. They are at best all only
partially and contingently right which means, of course, that they are
all also always at least partially wrong. That includes, by the way, the
ideas I am presently expounding.
I advance these arguments not to instil cynicism or despair but to
suggest the possibility of liberation and hope.
A rock is forever only a rock. But human beings are defined by their
potentialities, and since there is no predetermined meaning to the
unfolding of events, the potentialities are equally boundless. Were it
not so, Singapore should not exist as a sovereign and independent
country.
The only meaning in life that can exist is that which we create for
ourselves. And unless we want our lives to be merely a slow, selfish
dying, we ought to try to create some meaning larger than ourselves.
This is, to my mind, an absolute duty imposed by the human condition,
even if we know that uncertainty and error are constants and that we are
always writing on sand before the advancing tide. Our duties to our
families, our friends and our country endure when even hope is dead.
I am sure that by now many of you are harbouring a thought that you are
too well brought up to speak out loud: this idiot exaggerates.
Of course, I exaggerate. But only a little, and only for clarity's sake
and not to distort or mislead. So let me restate my essential point in a
different way.
Do not confuse the depth of sincerity with which you or others hold an
idea, or the number of people who sincerely hold an idea, with its
validity. Sincerity is an over-rated virtue, if indeed it is a virtue.
All of you may be suddenly seized with the sincere conviction that that
pigs should fly. But pigs will nevertheless never sprout wings no matter
how devoutly you hope for them to escape the surly bonds of earth.
And if you, ignoring the possibility of error, sincerely believe that
pigs ought to fly; or that God's Will has been revealed to you; or that
you are one of the elect to whom the direction of History's cunning
passages has been vouchsafed, then it is but a tiny step to being
convinced that anyone who does not share your conviction is not just
ignorant but evil. Then for the greater glory of PIGS or HISTORY or GOD,
all spelt in capital letters, it is only a tinier further step to seeing
it as your bounden DUTY, again spelt with capitals, to expunge the evil.
And it all inevitably ends as Wilder's poor monk did, in flames at the
stake.
Rather than sincerity, if we want to do some trifling and ephemeral good
or at least to minimize harm, we should approach life with an ironic and
humane scepticism.
Irony to ensure that we retain a sense of proportion and as ballast
against the inevitability of unintended consequences: today's error
being the correction of yesterday's error. Humanity so that we may
empathize with logics other than our own, if only to better manoeuvre to
impose our will because in a world of competing logics, if we hope to do
any good, we cannot hope to do so by logic alone. And scepticism because
the possibility of deception, our own self-deceptions if not those of
others, casts constant shadows over every human action.
I have chosen to dwell on this at what you may consider inordinate
length, because Raffles Institution likes to consider itself unique.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry to inform you that RI is no longer
unique.
You are now only one of a number of similar elite educational
institutions from which will come a disproportionate number of
scholarship recipients and a disproportionate number of leaders in the
civil service, the professions, business, the Arts and the academy. And
all these institutions are united by a certain sense of entitlement,
possibly so profound as to be quite unconscious.
I do not blame you for this. All of you are highly intelligent. You will
be very well educated. And the odds are that you will be more than
averagely successful in your careers.
But understand that you will therefore also be more vulnerable to the
curse of the highly intelligent, highly educated and highly successful:
this curse is the illusion of certainty; the conviction of the
omnipotence of your ideas.
This is the delusion that your ideas or words are validated by mere
virtue by being thought or uttered by you! YOU and not some lesser
being. And the more intelligent and the more successful and the more
highly educated, the deeper the delusion. "The learned", Adam Smith is
reported to have said, "ignore the evidence of their senses to preserve
the coherence of the ideas of their imagination."
Shortly after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, the former
Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, a powerful and erudite man,
confessed in testimony to a Senate. Hearing that his intellectual
assumptions of a lifetime had been shaken and he was still trying to
understand what happened. I do not know if he has since come to any
conclusions. But it was clear that prior to the near global disaster, he
had never even faintly contemplated the possibility that his beliefs may
have been in error. We are all still paying the price for his
certainties.
Yours will be a generation that that will live through times of more
than usual uncertainty.
A global transition of power and ideas is underway. Transition to what,
no one can yet say. We have no maps and will have to improvise our way
forward the best we can. It will be a transition measured in decades and
not just a few years, and it is your misfortune that it is occurring as
the technology of the internet is making us solipsistic.
The internet conflates and confuses our opinion with information and
tempts us to immerse ourselves only in a circle of those who share and
reinforce our own interests and views. It shortens attention spans and
privileges the new and novel over any notion of lasting value. Social
media like Facebook have perverted the common meaning of 'friend' and
'like' beyond all recognition. Only a solipsist or, what is much the
same thing, a narcissist, would think that what he or she had for lunch
would be of wider interest; and only those with vacuous minds would be
interested. And this at a time when the safe navigation of uncharted
waters requires a prudent modesty, openness and some minimal capacity
for sustained thought.
And yet the internet and its associated technologies is indispensible to
modern life. We need it to prosper. But what its ultimate effects will
be on society, on governance, on international relations, on the very
way we think, no one yet knows.
I certainly have no answers. As you, the anointed ones, ready yourselves
to assume authority and responsibility under these challenging
circumstances. I can do no more than to remind you of what Sir Olivier
Cromwell wrote to the Synod of the Church of Scotland in 1650. He was
trying to persuade the Scots not to embrace the Royalist cause of King
Charles the Second and so avert civil war.
Gentlemen, he wrote, "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ" — and I
should explain that in the 17th Century the bowels were considered to be
the seat of pity or the gentler emotions — Gentlemen, Cromwell wrote, "I
beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be
mistaken".
So, Ladies and Gentlemen of the 21st Century, I too beseech you from
whatever portion of anatomy you consider most dear, think it possible
that you may be mistaken.
Before I conclude, you may wish to know how it all ended.
Cromwell's advice was not heeded. Shortly thereafter, the third English
Civil War broke out. This set in motion a historical trajectory of
political, social and economic changes that led to modern Britain, the
industrial revolution, the East India Company, Sir Stamford Raffles, the
British Empire, the founding of Singapore and ultimately, you and I.
And all because good advice fell on deaf years.
What better way to appreciate the irony and contingency of events than
to ponder what may have happened if Cromwell's advice was in fact taken
and civil war avoided. And as you do so, consider also the possibility
that you may be mistaken when you think you are mistaken.
And with that final paradox I will end.
Thank you for listening to me.
. . . .
(RI Founder's Day Speech)
---------------------
http://astralucis.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/speech-by-ps-foreign-affairs-bilahari-kausikan-at-raffles-institutions-189th-foundars-day/
Link 1:
*****
Speech by PS (Foreign Affairs) Bilahari Kausikan at Raffles Institution's 189th Founder's Daya
*****
Speech by PS (Foreign Affairs) Bilahari Kausikan at Raffles
Institution's 189th Founder's Day
On 21 July 2012 (Saturday) at 9 am
At Albert Hong Hall, Raffles Institution
When your Principal, in a reckless act of folly, asked me to be
Guest-of-Honour at this 189th Founder's Day, my first instinct was to do
us both a favour and refuse. But I hesitated and in an instant was lost.
The temptation to savour the irony was too great. For what I am about to
say, I absolve her of all responsibility.
My comrades and I spent our six years in Raffles Institution waging
insurgency against all established authority. At a very tender age one
of our teachers told us we were all born to be hanged. And if that
extreme did not come to pass — perhaps I should say, has not yet come to
pass — several of us were at least caned. Our then Principal failed to
achieve his dearest ambition of getting us all expelled only due to our
dumb luck.
So here I stand before you, living testimony to the role of chance and
serendipity in life; a role more often than not, insufficiently
acknowledged if not ignored, particularly by Singaporeans of a certain
ilk. And that is my theme.
Eighty-five years ago an American writer by the name of Thornton Wilder
published a short novel entitled The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The book
has never been out of print, but deserves to be better known.
The novel begins at noon on a certain day in 1714 when a bridge in Peru
— "the finest bridge in all Peru", writes Wilder — inexplicably
collapses and five people who happen at that moment to be crossing,
plummet to their deaths.
The tragedy is witnessed by a devout Franciscan monk, in Peru for
missionary work among the natives, who immediately asks himself "Why did
this happen to those five?"
The monk is convinced that it was not a random event but some
manifestation of God's Will for some greater end and vows to investigate
to so as to prove to the natives the necessity of divine purpose. But
his investigation runs afoul of the Inquisition and he is burnt at the
stake.
Wilder poses, but never directly answers, the question: "Is there a
direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will?" The
point, of course, is that it could have been anyone of us on that
metaphorical bridge.
I do not think that there is any particular meaning, pattern or
direction, divine or secular, in the drift of human events. History, as
Winston Churchill is reported to have remarked, is just one damned thing
after another. The innocent die young and the wicked flourish; and not
necessarily in equal measure either because to the wicked the innocent
are often prey.
The world is far too complex a place to be comprehended in any holistic
way by the human mind. It is made up of too many moving parts
interacting in too many unpredictable ways for human reason to grasp.
I mean, of course, the social world: the world of human interactions,
human relationships and human institutions; of love and hatred, politics
and economics, war and peace, infused with emotions like anger, pity,
joy and sorrow, and not the material world of rocks and stones and trees
and the earth's diurnal course.
In the material world, the apple will always fall whether or not Newton
was there to observe it. In the material world, all phenomena must
ultimately conform to the laws of physics. In the material world, when
we return to earth and ashes, we too will confirm to the laws of
physics.
But in the meantime we inhabit a social world of sentient beings who
observe, think and respond so that our every effort to act or comprehend
alters what we try to comprehend and every thought and action begets a
never ending, ever shifting kaleidoscope of unpredictable possibilities
that makes all social science an oxymoron.
Reason may distinguish man from beast, but the sum of the interactions
of different reasons; of many logics, is only coincidentally and
occasionally logical. That is why actions always have unintended
consequences even if they are not always immediately apparent, and our
best laid plans and most fervent hopes are constantly ambushed by chance
and events.
Most things eventually fail. The shade of Ozymandias hovers unseen but
omnipresent over every human enterprise, biding its time.
The ancient Greeks advised us to call no man happy until he was dead.
This is good advice. We can be reasonably certain of something only
after it has occurred. The only true knowledge is historical, and even
then there is always room for argument over interpretation. None of us
ever sees or understands the same thing, no matter how conscientiously
we try to observe or communicate.
As I stand here speaking to you, at least three different things are
occurring simultaneously: first, what I think; second, what I say to
convey what I think which, whether because of the limitations of
language or by design, will not always be the same as what I think:
deception and self-deception are intrinsic parts of human nature; and
third what you hear and understand of what I had intended to convey
which is again not necessarily the same thing.
One could call this, after the title of a short story by the Japanese
author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the Rashomon phenomenon. It makes for a
world without fixed meaning, which accentuates its fundamental
incomprehensibility. A world in which the past can only be partially
known, the present is largely unknown and the future certainly
unknowable.
None of us asked to be born. Yet having had life thrust upon us, we
must, unless bent on suicide, nevertheless live. Although we can only,
if dimly and darkly, know backwards, we have to live forwards.
No one can live in a constant Hamlet-like state of existential doubt. We
must profess a certainty that we do not necessarily feel. To keep the
metaphysical horror of unfathomable meaninglessness at bay, we all,
singly or collectively, consciously or unconsciously, adopt mental
frameworks to simplify a complex reality in order to deal with it.
Since the Enlightenment of the 17th Century, belief in Reason has
replaced belief in God as the primary organizing mental framework of
society. We are all the creatures of this western defined modernity and
the most successful of the non-western countries, Singapore among them,
are precisely those who have embraced it the most closely.
Reason's children include law and justice, philosophy, literature and
the arts, economics and other social sciences and even the very belief
in reason, progress, technology and science. But the fundamental mode of
thought that underpins these trappings of reason is still theological in
that whether our belief is in Reason or in God, it is still mere belief
and not epistemologically provable beyond all doubt. There is no end to
philosophy any more than there can be an end to history.
Stated in another way, none of Reason's children have an autonomous
reality separate from our apprehensions of them. They are socially
constructed artefacts; frameworks of ideas that we have chosen to
believe in, in order to comprehend the world and comprehend in order
live in a particular way.
Their utility is thus purely instrumental. They are at best all only
partially and contingently right which means, of course, that they are
all also always at least partially wrong. That includes, by the way, the
ideas I am presently expounding.
I advance these arguments not to instil cynicism or despair but to
suggest the possibility of liberation and hope.
A rock is forever only a rock. But human beings are defined by their
potentialities, and since there is no predetermined meaning to the
unfolding of events, the potentialities are equally boundless. Were it
not so, Singapore should not exist as a sovereign and independent
country.
The only meaning in life that can exist is that which we create for
ourselves. And unless we want our lives to be merely a slow, selfish
dying, we ought to try to create some meaning larger than ourselves.
This is, to my mind, an absolute duty imposed by the human condition,
even if we know that uncertainty and error are constants and that we are
always writing on sand before the advancing tide. Our duties to our
families, our friends and our country endure when even hope is dead.
I am sure that by now many of you are harbouring a thought that you are
too well brought up to speak out loud: this idiot exaggerates.
Of course, I exaggerate. But only a little, and only for clarity's sake
and not to distort or mislead. So let me restate my essential point in a
different way.
Do not confuse the depth of sincerity with which you or others hold an
idea, or the number of people who sincerely hold an idea, with its
validity. Sincerity is an over-rated virtue, if indeed it is a virtue.
All of you may be suddenly seized with the sincere conviction that that
pigs should fly. But pigs will nevertheless never sprout wings no matter
how devoutly you hope for them to escape the surly bonds of earth.
And if you, ignoring the possibility of error, sincerely believe that
pigs ought to fly; or that God's Will has been revealed to you; or that
you are one of the elect to whom the direction of History's cunning
passages has been vouchsafed, then it is but a tiny step to being
convinced that anyone who does not share your conviction is not just
ignorant but evil. Then for the greater glory of PIGS or HISTORY or GOD,
all spelt in capital letters, it is only a tinier further step to seeing
it as your bounden DUTY, again spelt with capitals, to expunge the evil.
And it all inevitably ends as Wilder's poor monk did, in flames at the
stake.
Rather than sincerity, if we want to do some trifling and ephemeral good
or at least to minimize harm, we should approach life with an ironic and
humane scepticism.
Irony to ensure that we retain a sense of proportion and as ballast
against the inevitability of unintended consequences: today's error
being the correction of yesterday's error. Humanity so that we may
empathize with logics other than our own, if only to better manoeuvre to
impose our will because in a world of competing logics, if we hope to do
any good, we cannot hope to do so by logic alone. And scepticism because
the possibility of deception, our own self-deceptions if not those of
others, casts constant shadows over every human action.
I have chosen to dwell on this at what you may consider inordinate
length, because Raffles Institution likes to consider itself unique.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry to inform you that RI is no longer
unique.
You are now only one of a number of similar elite educational
institutions from which will come a disproportionate number of
scholarship recipients and a disproportionate number of leaders in the
civil service, the professions, business, the Arts and the academy. And
all these institutions are united by a certain sense of entitlement,
possibly so profound as to be quite unconscious.
I do not blame you for this. All of you are highly intelligent. You will
be very well educated. And the odds are that you will be more than
averagely successful in your careers.
But understand that you will therefore also be more vulnerable to the
curse of the highly intelligent, highly educated and highly successful:
this curse is the illusion of certainty; the conviction of the
omnipotence of your ideas.
This is the delusion that your ideas or words are validated by mere
virtue by being thought or uttered by you! YOU and not some lesser
being. And the more intelligent and the more successful and the more
highly educated, the deeper the delusion. "The learned", Adam Smith is
reported to have said, "ignore the evidence of their senses to preserve
the coherence of the ideas of their imagination."
Shortly after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, the former
Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, a powerful and erudite man,
confessed in testimony to a Senate. Hearing that his intellectual
assumptions of a lifetime had been shaken and he was still trying to
understand what happened. I do not know if he has since come to any
conclusions. But it was clear that prior to the near global disaster, he
had never even faintly contemplated the possibility that his beliefs may
have been in error. We are all still paying the price for his
certainties.
Yours will be a generation that that will live through times of more
than usual uncertainty.
A global transition of power and ideas is underway. Transition to what,
no one can yet say. We have no maps and will have to improvise our way
forward the best we can. It will be a transition measured in decades and
not just a few years, and it is your misfortune that it is occurring as
the technology of the internet is making us solipsistic.
The internet conflates and confuses our opinion with information and
tempts us to immerse ourselves only in a circle of those who share and
reinforce our own interests and views. It shortens attention spans and
privileges the new and novel over any notion of lasting value. Social
media like Facebook have perverted the common meaning of 'friend' and
'like' beyond all recognition. Only a solipsist or, what is much the
same thing, a narcissist, would think that what he or she had for lunch
would be of wider interest; and only those with vacuous minds would be
interested. And this at a time when the safe navigation of uncharted
waters requires a prudent modesty, openness and some minimal capacity
for sustained thought.
And yet the internet and its associated technologies is indispensible to
modern life. We need it to prosper. But what its ultimate effects will
be on society, on governance, on international relations, on the very
way we think, no one yet knows.
I certainly have no answers. As you, the anointed ones, ready yourselves
to assume authority and responsibility under these challenging
circumstances. I can do no more than to remind you of what Sir Olivier
Cromwell wrote to the Synod of the Church of Scotland in 1650. He was
trying to persuade the Scots not to embrace the Royalist cause of King
Charles the Second and so avert civil war.
Gentlemen, he wrote, "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ" — and I
should explain that in the 17th Century the bowels were considered to be
the seat of pity or the gentler emotions — Gentlemen, Cromwell wrote, "I
beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be
mistaken".
So, Ladies and Gentlemen of the 21st Century, I too beseech you from
whatever portion of anatomy you consider most dear, think it possible
that you may be mistaken.
Before I conclude, you may wish to know how it all ended.
Cromwell's advice was not heeded. Shortly thereafter, the third English
Civil War broke out. This set in motion a historical trajectory of
political, social and economic changes that led to modern Britain, the
industrial revolution, the East India Company, Sir Stamford Raffles, the
British Empire, the founding of Singapore and ultimately, you and I.
And all because good advice fell on deaf years.
What better way to appreciate the irony and contingency of events than
to ponder what may have happened if Cromwell's advice was in fact taken
and civil war avoided. And as you do so, consider also the possibility
that you may be mistaken when you think you are mistaken.
And with that final paradox I will end.
Thank you for listening to me.
. . . .
(RI Founder's Day Speech)
---------------------
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Eating right, for kids
Kids should eat right and often to avoid acidity, fatigue
Published: Saturday, Jun 23, 2012, 8:02 IST
By Somita Pal | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Schoolchildren falling prey to acidity or complaining about fatigue and
loss of concentration is mainly because of micro-nutrition deficiency
and a long time gap between meals, doctors said. They said
micro-nutrition deficiency such as lack of iron and B12 is a common
problem among schoolchildren and can be tackled by following basic
rules.
"The biggest problem is the gap between meals and children going to
school on an empty stomach. Children often skip breakfast and then there
is a long gap before they eat in the recess," said Dr Archana Kher,
consultant paediatrician at SevenHills hospital. "An imbalanced diet
also makes children vulnerable to infections, fever and fatigue," said
Dr Nitin Shah, consultant paediatrician at PD Hinduja hospital.
Dr Kher agrees. "Out of 10 parents, five admit that their child eats
more junk food and an imbalanced diet. Also, there is invariably a gap
between meals. Simple things like ensuring your child has a fruit every
day will help in building his/her immune system and fight diseases," she
said. l Turn to p9
Experts said schoolchildren especially need energy-rich food because
they are growing and very active.
"There should be a progression towards an adult-style healthy diet, but
with continued emphasis on food with a high energy and nutrient content.
The progression should be gradual by increasing intake of food rich with
fibre and reducing fatty food from the diet. Also, there should an
increase in the intake of food with starch content. Investing a little
time for your child's health is crucial and there can be no excuse for
not doing that," said Dr Mukesh Sanklecha, consultant paediatrician at
Bombay hospital.
------
Published: Saturday, Jun 23, 2012, 8:02 IST
By Somita Pal | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Schoolchildren falling prey to acidity or complaining about fatigue and
loss of concentration is mainly because of micro-nutrition deficiency
and a long time gap between meals, doctors said. They said
micro-nutrition deficiency such as lack of iron and B12 is a common
problem among schoolchildren and can be tackled by following basic
rules.
"The biggest problem is the gap between meals and children going to
school on an empty stomach. Children often skip breakfast and then there
is a long gap before they eat in the recess," said Dr Archana Kher,
consultant paediatrician at SevenHills hospital. "An imbalanced diet
also makes children vulnerable to infections, fever and fatigue," said
Dr Nitin Shah, consultant paediatrician at PD Hinduja hospital.
Dr Kher agrees. "Out of 10 parents, five admit that their child eats
more junk food and an imbalanced diet. Also, there is invariably a gap
between meals. Simple things like ensuring your child has a fruit every
day will help in building his/her immune system and fight diseases," she
said. l Turn to p9
Experts said schoolchildren especially need energy-rich food because
they are growing and very active.
"There should be a progression towards an adult-style healthy diet, but
with continued emphasis on food with a high energy and nutrient content.
The progression should be gradual by increasing intake of food rich with
fibre and reducing fatty food from the diet. Also, there should an
increase in the intake of food with starch content. Investing a little
time for your child's health is crucial and there can be no excuse for
not doing that," said Dr Mukesh Sanklecha, consultant paediatrician at
Bombay hospital.
------
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Physics Classroom online, Sing-along physics...
See: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/
(Also main site http://www.physicsclassroom.com/)
Sing-along physics! Chant!
http://www.scientainment.com/
/A
(Also main site http://www.physicsclassroom.com/)
Sing-along physics! Chant!
http://www.scientainment.com/
/A
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Thought for the day -- Time is...
"Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst"
-- William Penn.
(thanks to Maha Devan)
-- William Penn.
(thanks to Maha Devan)
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Science Scroll - Why can't we grow back amputated organs like zebrafish?
Science Scroll - Why can't we grow back amputated organs like zebrafish?
Y. Mallikarjun
Why do human beings not have the same capacity of regeneration as in
zebrafish?
In some animals like zebrafish (a vertebrate), star fish and ascidian
(primitive marine animal), limbs or other organs get regenerated when
amputated. Zebrafish regenerates a wide variety of tissues, including
heart, fin, spinal cord and optic nerve and the regenerative process is
much faster. For instance, if a fin in zebrafish is amputated, it grows
back within a fortnight, while it is not so in the case of human beings.
With zebrafish being 70 per cent similar to humans at genomic level,
scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) are
studying the bio-mechanism of regenerative process in that animal at the
molecular level. They are also looking at star fish and ascidian,
although non-vertebrates, to gain more insight into the role of proteins
in the regeneration of tissue.
The CCMB team led by Dr. Mohammed M. Idris, has analysed the
bio-mechanism of zebrafish caudal fin regeneration. It identified 96
proteins that are associated with regeneration of amputated tissue.
These proteins were found to be directly linked with various molecular,
biological and cellular functions.
Dr. Idris said that if one of the five arms in star fish was cut, it
would be regenerated. However, the process would be slower and might
take a few months. "Whereas, the process in human beings is not absolute
and discrete and that too is restricted to a few organs."
He said that further studies would be carried out involving 'high
throughput quantitative proteomic analysis' for more information.
Subsequently, similar studies in higher animals would be conducted.
"Which gene is responsible (for regeneration) and whether it exists in humans or not" would be ultimately looked into, he added.
He said the association of the identified proteins might lead to a
better understanding of the complexity of regeneration and its varied
extent in different animals.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - The professional email service
Y. Mallikarjun
Why do human beings not have the same capacity of regeneration as in
zebrafish?
In some animals like zebrafish (a vertebrate), star fish and ascidian
(primitive marine animal), limbs or other organs get regenerated when
amputated. Zebrafish regenerates a wide variety of tissues, including
heart, fin, spinal cord and optic nerve and the regenerative process is
much faster. For instance, if a fin in zebrafish is amputated, it grows
back within a fortnight, while it is not so in the case of human beings.
With zebrafish being 70 per cent similar to humans at genomic level,
scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) are
studying the bio-mechanism of regenerative process in that animal at the
molecular level. They are also looking at star fish and ascidian,
although non-vertebrates, to gain more insight into the role of proteins
in the regeneration of tissue.
The CCMB team led by Dr. Mohammed M. Idris, has analysed the
bio-mechanism of zebrafish caudal fin regeneration. It identified 96
proteins that are associated with regeneration of amputated tissue.
These proteins were found to be directly linked with various molecular,
biological and cellular functions.
Dr. Idris said that if one of the five arms in star fish was cut, it
would be regenerated. However, the process would be slower and might
take a few months. "Whereas, the process in human beings is not absolute
and discrete and that too is restricted to a few organs."
He said that further studies would be carried out involving 'high
throughput quantitative proteomic analysis' for more information.
Subsequently, similar studies in higher animals would be conducted.
"Which gene is responsible (for regeneration) and whether it exists in humans or not" would be ultimately looked into, he added.
He said the association of the identified proteins might lead to a
better understanding of the complexity of regeneration and its varied
extent in different animals.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - The professional email service
Monday, May 28, 2012
Kodumanal excavations (Erode, Tamil Nadu, India), Urn burials Tamil Brahmi script 4th century BCE
Urn burials with Tamil Brahmi script on them were found, dated 4th century BCE.
"A prized artefact is a big pot with a superbly etched Tamil-Brahmi script in big letters reading, 'Samban Sumanan' "
==> http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3463120.ece
/A
"A prized artefact is a big pot with a superbly etched Tamil-Brahmi script in big letters reading, 'Samban Sumanan' "
==> http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3463120.ece
/A
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Free Books on Applied Sciences, 7 ways to calc Area of a Triangle
Free Books on Applied Sciences:
==> http://www.vias.org/about.html
Area of a triangle in 7 different ways:
==> http://www.btinternet.com/~se16/hgb/triangle.htm
/A
==> http://www.vias.org/about.html
Area of a triangle in 7 different ways:
==> http://www.btinternet.com/~se16/hgb/triangle.htm
/A
Friday, May 4, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
IUPAC Gold book -- glossary of all chemistry terms
Free download (18MB): http://goldbook.iupac.org/PDF/goldbook.pdf
/A
/A
Monday, April 23, 2012
Free courses on the web
Now, top universities offer free courses on the Web
Paromita Pain
Paromita Pain
Courses are taught through weekly new videos and quizzes
Some of the top universities in the U.S are offering free courses on the
Web not just for individual students but also for other universities to
adopt.
Earlier this year, MIT announced its engineering course that comes with
a certificate on completion. Universities like Stanford are offering
free online courses as well.
Stanford Engineering Everywhere (http://see.stanford.edu/) has modules
on Programming Methodology, Programming Abstractions, and Programming
Paradigms, as a part of a three-course Introduction to Computer Science
which is taken by most Stanford undergraduates and was developed to
reach out to students globally.
Built under the Creative Commons licence that allows for free use and
adaptation of the material, colleges too can use them to supplement
classroom instructions.
Last year, a free online class on artificial intelligence
(https://www.ai-class.com), conducted by Sebastian Thrun, Research
Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, and Peter Norvig,
Director of Research at Google Inc, attracted over 58,000 students from
around the world. The class ran from October 10 to December 18, 2011.
Students who successfully completed the course were given a statement of
accomplishment. From high school learners to retired people, the age
groups were widely varied. Though the enrolment for this course is
closed for now, the course material can be accessed at
https://www.ai-class.com/ overview.
For those who want to learn how to build search engines and web
application engineering, courses taught by Sebastian Thrun are available
at http://www.udacity.com/. There are teams of voluntary translators,
the videos are available in languages other than English as well. Two
classes, the CS101 Building a Search Engine and CS373 Programming a
Robotic Car, will soon be offered on the site.
While the courses are taught through weekly new videos and quizzes,
exams are personalised to prevent cheating.
Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/) is another interactive learning
program that has subjects from various universities such as the
University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and University of Michigan. The
website runs various modules along with subjects as varied as
"introduction to sociology" to "the ways vaccines work," with the
mandatory computer sciences lessons between lessons.
Started by Andrew Ng and Daphne, two Stanford computer scientists, whose
free internet courses attracted a wide audience, Coursera has an
innovative student's platform where students from different parts of the
world post answers to questions asked.
Some of the courses do not have set durations. So the students can pace
the modules themselves, which helps in gaining in-depth knowledge about
a subject or even find out what a particular topic might involve. For
example, students interested in studying pharmacology would want to look
at the module of "Fundamentals of Pharmacology" in Coursera from the
University of Pennsylvania to understand what greater study of the field
might entail.
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Book link: Attack of the Ship of Fools
Attack of the Ship of Fools
(Part 1. Neurotypical Fundamentalism)
Anand Madhu
(Part 1. Neurotypical Fundamentalism)
Anand Madhu
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/075521434X/authorsonline-20
/A
Friday, March 30, 2012
M.K. Gandhi's first TV interview
On Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7tZ5Crs6_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7tZ5Crs6_E
M.K Gandhi statement 1931 -- Soldier of Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3vY9YOcYuk
Hobbyists links: Netduino Morse Code decoder etc
* Toys+Me=Fun Blog
http://g33k.blogspot.com/2010/10/morse-code-decoder-when-i-saw-this-post.html
(Netduino based Morse Code decoder)
See more at
http://g33k.blogspot.com/
http://g33k.blogspot.com/2010/10/morse-code-decoder-when-i-saw-this-post.html
(Netduino based Morse Code decoder)
See more at
http://g33k.blogspot.com/
Music links - GS Rajan, Darbari Kanada, Hindi Film Songs
* G.S. Rajan playing own composition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIndqK0Ustg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIndqK0Ustg
* G.S. Rajan playing Jagadodhaarana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8as0llefIak
( from G.S.Rajan's blog http://malabarian.blogspot.com/ )
Raag Darbari Kanada
===================
1. Aalaap by Ustad Ghulam Hassan Khan Shaggan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbqamvJiNzw
2. Tora Man Darpan Kehlaaye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIy20teCZpQ
Hindi Film Songs
================
* Man Tarpat Hari Darsan ko Aaj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyLdgQinxpY&NR=1
* Rajnigandha phool tumhare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykC0QDX78xw
Friday, March 23, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Meaning of Latin Plant Names
http://theseedsite.co.uk/latin.html
The Meaning of Latin Plant Names
The purpose of the Latin or botanical name of plants is to
provide some information about a particular plant that
distinguishes it from other plants. The adjective applied to the
plant, the specific epithet, is often helpful in describing the
plant. The specific epithet can tell us the colour of the
flowers, the height of the plant, whether the leaves are long
and thin or short and fat, whether the plant is prickly, where
it comes from (which might give us a clue as to how hardy it
is), what sort of conditions it occurs in naturally, how big it
is, whether it's a climber or whether it's creeping, whether
it's deciduous, has a bulb, is edible - or whatever else the
person who found it thought most remarkable, noteworthy and
unique about it.
Like many other languages, Latin assigns genders to all its
nouns, and adjectives have to agree with the gender of the noun
they describe. In plant names, therefore, those that are deemed
masculine will end in -us, those that are feminine will end in
-a, and those that are neuter will end in -um (plus some odd
ones with other endings). To simplify things, only the feminine
endings have been used here, but if you come across a plant with
much the same name, but ending in -us or -um, it means the same
These are some of the Latin specific epithets often applied to
plants we grow in our gardens.
abyssinica = from Abysinnia (Ethiopia) (North Africa)
acaulis = stemless
aestivalis = flowering in spring
alba = white
alpestris = from mountains
alpicola = from mountains
alpina = from the alps
altissima = tallest
america = from America
angustifolia = narrow-leaved
annua = annual
-antha = -flowered (e.g. micrantha = small-flowered)
arboricola = living on trees
arctica = from the arctic
arenaria = from sandy places
argentea = silvery
armata = prickly
arvensis = of the field
aurantiaca = orange
aurea = golden, yellow
australis = from the south (not necessarily Australia)
autumnalis = of autumn
azurea = blue
barbata = bearded, hairy
bellidifolia = with leaves like those of a daisy
borealis = from the north
bulbifera = bearing bulbs
bulgarica = from Bulgaria
caerulea = blue
caespitosa = dense
campanulata = campanulate, like a bell
campestris = of the field
canadensis = from Canada
canariensis = from the Canary Isles
capensis = from the Cape, South Africa
chilensis = from Chile
chinensis = from China
chrysantha = yellow
clivora = from the hills
coccinea = red
compacta = compact
decidua = deciduous
densiflora = dense-flowered
digitata = (leaves) like a hand, with five lobes
edulis = edible
esculenta = edible
farinosa = floury, powdery
ficifolia = like a fig leaf
flava = yellow
-flora = -flowered (e.g. viridiflora = green-flowered)
flore plena = with double flowers
florida = floriferous
foetida = with an unpleasant smell
-folia = -leaved (e.g. tenuifolia = narrow-leaved)
foliosa = leafy
fruticosa = shrubby
gigantea = giant
glabra = smooth
glacialis = from cold areas
glutinosa = sticky
graeca = from Greece
graminifolia = with grassy leaves
grandiflora = large-flowered
grandis = big
helvetica = from Switzerland
hirsuta = hairy
hispida = bristly
humilis = short
hyemalis = of winter
incana = grey
inodora = unscented
integrifolia = entire, undivided (leaves)
japonica = from Japan
lanata = woolly
lanceolata = lance-shaped (leaves)
latifolia = wide-leaved
longiflora = with long flowers
longifolia = with long leaves
lutea = yellow
macrantha = large flowered
macro- = large- (e.g. macrorhiza = large-rooted)
macrocarpa = large-fruited
macrophylla = with large leaves
macrorrhiza = with large roots
maculata = spotted
magellanica = from the south of South America
magenta = magenta
magna = big
majus = bigger
maritima = maritime, near the sea
maxima = biggest
mexicana = from Mexico
micrantha = small flowered
microphylla = with small leaves
millefolia = with many (thousands of) leaves
minima = small
minor = smaller
montana = from mountains
multiflora = many flowered
muralis = growing on walls
nana = small
nocturna = nocturnal
ochroleuca = cream
odorata = perfumed
officinalis = with herbal uses
ovalifolia = with oval leaves
pallida = cream
palustris = from marshes
parvi- = small- (e.g. parivflora = small-flowered)
parviflora = small flowered
parvifolia = with small leaves
pauci- = few- (e.g. pauciflora =few-flowered)
pauciflora = few-flowered
paucifolia = with few leaves
pendula = hanging
perennis = perennial
phoenicea = purple
-phylla = -leaved (e.g. macrophylla = large-leaved)
pinnata = with pinnate leaves
poly- = many (e.g polyantha = many-flowered)
polyphylla = with many leaves, leafy
praecox = early, of spring
pratensis = field
procumbens = creeping
prostrata = prostrate
pulverulenta = dusty
pumila = small
punica = red
purpurea = deep pink
pygmaea = small
quercifolia = oak=leaved
rediviva = perennial
rivalis = from near rivers
rivularis = from near rivers
rosea = rose pink
rotundifolia = round-leaved
rubra = red
rupestris = of hills
rupicola = of hills
russica = from Russia
sanguinea = blood-red
sativa = cultivated
saxatilis = of rocks
scaber = climbing
scandens = climbing
semperviva = perennial
sibirica = from Siberia
sinense = from China
somnifera = inducing sleep
spicata = spiked
spinosa = spiny
stellata = starry
sulphurea = yellow
sylvestris = of woods
tenuifolia = with thin, narrow leaves
texensis = from Texas
tomentosa = tomentose, woolly
trifoliata = trifoliate, with three-lobed leaves
umbellata = unbellate, with flowers in an umbel
velutina = velvety
vernalis = of spring
villosa = hairy
violacea = violet
viridis = green
viscosa = sticky
vitifolia = with leaves like a vine
volubilis = twining
vulgaris = common
(With grateful thanks to whoever writes the Chiltern Seeds
catalogue, who taught me all the botanical Latin I know!)
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - Does exactly what it says on the tin
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Right food for school -- get more vitamin D
Says, Get more vitamin D (fights flu's!), less carbs, more fats (read for what kind) ...
http://goodschoolfood.org/home.shtml
/A
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Robotics kit
Link to the processor:
http://www.sgbotic.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=46
/A
Friday, January 20, 2012
Western classical pioneer starts his day with ragas
Western classical pioneer starts his day with ragas
TNN | Jan 20, 2012, 05.17AM IST
TNN | Jan 20, 2012, 05.17AM IST
MUMBAI: He is one of the greatest living composers of Western classical
music. In 1964, he wrote a piece that became the foundation of a new
genre. Many rock bands owe the bite in their mind-bending salad to him.
Sci-fi films often rely on his musical ideas to explore themes from
dystopia to mathematical arcana. If one has heard The Velvet
Underground, Tangerine Dream or Coldplay, or paid attention to the
soundtracks of The Terminator, AI or A Beautiful Mind, one, perhaps
unknowingly, has sauntered into the soundscape created by him.
An odd question, but there is nothing Indian about all this stuff, is
there? Listen closer. Because the first thing Terry Riley does every
morning is sing ragas.
Terry Riley is the subject of this article. He is suddenly in TOI
because the American has decided to give the city a rare treat: Saturday
evening, he will perform a few of his works on the piano at the NCPA.
"This will be my first visit to Mumbai in three decades," Riley (76)
told TOI on phone from his California home.
In 1970, Riley became a disciple of Pandit Pran Nath of the Kirana
gharana, who that year moved from Delhi to the US. Till his guru's death
in 1996, Riley frequently appeared in concert with him as an accompanist
on the taanpura, tabla and also vocals. What attracted Riley to
Hindustani classical music was its "deep devotional reverence for sound
and the concept of Nada Brahman (sound is God, or the universe is
sound)". "The vast science of tala and swara are a constant resource for
me, giving me great respect for the genius of those masters who have
created the ragas," he said.
It was perhaps natural for Riley, a free spirit in the truest American
sense, to embrace Hindustani classical music and the interpretive
freedom it accords its practitioners. The revolutionary piece he wrote
in 1964, more than any work before or since, broke the boundaries
defining Western classical music and consolidated its minimalist school.
The one-page score of the piece, called In C, looks deceptively simple.
It does not specify instruments or tempo markings. Its instructions are
so vague that it disrupts the pecking order of orchestral social
structure. No conductor and no principal players. No backbenchers
either. To a person familiar with music notation, the score might appear
as a joke. But considering it so will be folly, as its place in the
repertory, numerous recordings and enduring fascination for musicians
proves.
"I wanted to make a musical form in which all the performers have the
freedom to make crucial choices and take responsibility to influence the
direction of the music as it unfolds," Riley said. "In C is made of 53
repeating patterns of varying rhythmic lengths; so, it forms an
interlocking grid of cycling orbits that could be viewed as a model of
universal order."
Other than music, is there anything else that fascinates him about
India? "Yes. The uniqueness of the Indian approach to cuisine, visual
arts and architecture".
Riley loves India. Will Mumbai return the compliment?
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
1. Lights/Lasers invade Clinics, 2. Electronics -- experimental learning
1 * http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i1/Lights-Lasers-Invade-Clinic.html
2 * Breadboarding Digital and Analog Ckts -- experiments + theory
http://www.play-hookey.com/
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
J.C.Bose 60GHz research, Wireless in 1895...etc
Bose's 60GHz Research
http://www.tuc.nrao.edu/~demerson/bose/bose.html
http://www.tuc.nrao.edu/~demerson/bose/bose.html
Jagadish Chandra Bose : The Real Inventor of Marconi's Wireless:
http://web.mit.edu/varun_ag/www/bose_real_inventor.pdf
/A
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