IIT on Dilbert

IIT is featured on Sunday's Dilbert issue. Click here. One of the newer characters, Asok, is from IIT. He is portrayed as super-intelligent, but extremely naive and gullible. He demonstrated his powers in earlier issues by first heating a cup of coffee using only his mental powers, and then single handedly finishing an entire project because none of his project mates would return his calls. This issue is no different. He demonstrates his 'mind blowing' intelligence, quite literally.
Suprisingly, or not so surprisingly, Rajat Gupta (ex-ceo of McKinsey) reacted quite negatively. He said that the geeky image created by these strips was not accurate.
The latest Doonesbury strip also features Indian Engineers. Click here. It is mostly a reference to the outsourcing phenomena. The smartness of Indian engineers thrown in as an afterthough.
In a weird co-incidence, both came out on the same day.
On that topic, there was another strip which I encountered a while back that ran something like this:
(Picture from 1970s)
Dad to Kid: Eat your breakfast! Children in India are starving!
(Picture from 2000s)
Dad to Kid: Do your homework! If you don't, the kids from India will make you starve!

PS: The template has become a mess. Need to clean it up!!

Times Square

I like photos like this. You really don't need to do any work. Just point, shoot and the picture comes out looking amazing. A picture tells a thousand words. This one is not so much into prolixity, but it does have a couple of sentences that it just wants to throw at you. Any guesses?

Judge me not

Don't you just love your friendly neighbourhood rapper. Wonderful souls, with kind hearts and the most benevolent intentions. Why are they are called misanthropic, violent, homophobic and psychotic? Why are they misunderstood? Can't we realize that, like everybody else, they just want to love and be loved.

Those apocryphal names - Eminem, 50 cent and Puff Daddy. Did you know that the name Eminem is derived from the popular candy M&M (em and em, eminem). Can an individual named after a candy be evil, vile and full of bile.

Their lifestyles. I am sure you have heard stories in the news about rappers consuming illegal substances, having wild parties and being a threat to each other's lives. But, are you gullible enough to believe that rubbish? Could anyone possibly live a life so decadent? So superficial. So shallow. It cannot be. It's a campaign by their record labels to sully their names, and boost record sales - all in the name of profit. Remember, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, how they loved each other, and how their love grossed a couple of hundred millions at the box office. Isn't it beautiful to see the most sacred of emotions, love, used to make tonnes and tonnes of money. That beauty must have hurt so bad, a feeling of deep betrayal, of treason, a feeling that doesn't go away with extra pints of Hefeweizen. What sacrifices success doth demand! What courage! What inner strength!

Their words. How maligned. How misunderstood.

"In the gym I see your a** on a stairmaster
B**** you are on level two go a little faster
Look girl I ain't gonna lie, I am going to tell you how I feel,
I am going to handcuff your big a** to the treadmill"

The pour soul has a gf who isn't looking after her physique. See, too much adipose tissue leads to coronories. He must have told her like a million times, "Cmon go to the gym no please no", but she just wouldn't listen. Just wouldn't. Understandably, he gets all worked up. He couldn't control his strong feelings towards her. A little tact, a little diplomacy goes a long way. But, what to do.

"I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind."
- William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

He just felt he had to give her some tough love. We should be loath to blame him.

"So much chrome on my benz
That you see your face on my rimz"

This needs to be understood in the right socio-economic perspective. There are many in this country who live a life of despair and penury. They have nowhere to go and are forced to live on the street. But, doesn't every man have a right to his dignity? And a little bit of vanity? He deserves a shave, at the very least. What could be a better a way to do it?

"I am the boss on this boat, you can call me skipper,
The way I turn the money over, you can call me flipper"

See, a nature lover. Not many people can summon the courage to compose songs on the flipper the dolphin . Yes, one must agree that he does tend to be a little possesive about his things, but aren't we all. He just wants to get on a boat and watch dolphins. But, we misunderstand him. We call it greed. We call it avarice. We call it vanity. Aren't we jealous? Woe to us.

"I don't care if you are white or black,
Tall or short or thin or fat,
(Errm...cough cough..), and I like that"

Doesn't he believe in equality, in non-descrimination, and in deeper principles that rule the heart of every righteous man. In a world ruled by crass commercialism, where many a woman's self image is under constant pressure to live up to unattainable stereotypes, isn't this a welcome break? A perfect proponent of Martin Luther's idealistic reality. How can you judge him by the facade that is his language? In today's decadent world, don't we need more people like this? As an indignant Shylock tells Salarino in the old bard's 'Merchant of Venice',

Hath not a Jew eyes?
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
If we run up on you with a knife,
Should you hate us?
If we corrupt your daughter,
Should you detest us?
If we are a danger to society,
Should you put us in jail?
If we are brainless nincompoops,
Should you think we are stupid?
Should you? Should you?

Mojito Man

I introduce to you Mojito Man. He is funny. Noo noo..he has nothing wrong with him. Just meant he is funny. Like me. He is also modest, like me. But, he doesn't rant and whine like me. Ok, he does rant and whine, but not like me. Ok, I am sure that by now you don't really like me. So, read him.Regular programming will commence shortly.
Also, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has his own blog. Read it!

Photography

The Towers Petronas, Kaula Lampur, Malaysia

I took up photography as a hobby when I my dad 'gave' me his camera in my first year of college, after some gentle persuasion. Well anyway, it's an old Pentax SLR (ME Super), which was later updated with a zoom lens after more tactful persuasion. I like to take my camera with me whenever I travel, and I have traveled a fair bit. It will be nice for me to share my photos and experiences. One of the advantages of having suthufied a lot is that that you can make 'interesting' conversation with people, if someone says, oh I went there for a holiday there, you can come up with a reply like 'Cool..did you see this', implying I have been there myself, expressed most discreetly. Or, not so discreetly.
Well, anyway, most of the satisfaction in photography comes from loading the lens, adjusting the aperture, shutter speed, setting the fim etc.. The details. I dislike digital cameras. It's good if you want a lot of photos quick and cheap, but just kills all the fun. The photo you get from a digicam just depends upon how much money you have poured into it in the first place and the button you choose to press. It's like substituting a grand piano with a synth. You don't choose the synth even if it does come up with better music, because, well, that really isn't the point.
My mom keeps telling me to write a short description behind each photo, to look back fondly on them when I am old (atleast older). It is also a useful way to showoff to visitors, especially if I am not around, they can quickly see whats in the back and tell story behind picture. But it's a tiresom thing to do. Also, since they are paper prints, the chances are that no one really is going to look at it. It's going to sit in some corner somewhere. So, I got all my prints digitized. That makes things soo much easier. Trust me. From now on - photos, photo trivia, photo tales and teletubbies. Obviously, I was kidding about the teletubbies :D.

PS: I thought of creating a separate photo-blog but didn't do it for 2 reasons. I prefer having all my stuff in a single place. Updating 2 blogs can get really boring. Better to update 1 frequently, then 2 not at all.

173290186 - Random

Words :
The word 'mojo', much maligned by Austin Powers and the like, didn't actually mean ahem ahem...whatever it has come to mean. It actually had it's origin in the 70's, from the all famous Doors. It's lead singer was Jim Morrison, Mo Jo. Mojo.
Words 1 :
Along the same lines, the Doors is actually a reference to an article (or book?) called 'The Doors to Perception' by Aldous Huxley. It studies the 'improvement' in perception when one is under the influence of illegal substances. I 'percieve' a fairly direct connection.
Travel :
Getting interview calls is a good way for you to see the US. Everyone make sure that you get a lot of calls in November/December. I would recommend interviewing in Calif. . During the spring semester, you can probably go to the North East or North West. Upstate NY rocks at that time. Also be careful to note that finance companies put you up a lot better than software ones. Coming to think of it, you need to look at a number of factors before choosing an interview - the number of days you are going to be out, are you getting put up in a good hotel, can you send them your 'incidental' expense bills etc. etc. . So many decisions, so little time.
Movies :
'The Graduate' is about this guy who graduates from a high end school, magna-cum-laude etc etc - a muchily over-decorated CV, but has no idea what he wants to do with his life. His parents keep nagging him, getting on his nerves, and generally being a pain in the ass - go to grad school, go date this girl, work in this, work in that. Sounds familiar right. This confused, lost and drifting soul is very nicely played by Dustin Hoffman. The music in the movie is by Simon and Garfunkel. Wonderful. Enchanting numbers like 'Mrs Robinson' and 'Sounds of Silence'. 'Mrs Robinson' is actually a character in the movie, played by Anne Bancroft.
You should remember that this movie came out in the swinging sixties - free love, drugs and all weird stuff of that kind, so the plot is understandably crazy. Dustin Hoffman gets into all kinds of trouble but finally comes out all happy and smiling in the end with the girl of his dreams. However, his dreams are not widely shared or accepted - he has pissed off his parents and half the human race. But, this is a movie - he is blissful happy and blah.
Some observations: Movies such as this perpetrate some very unrealistic notions. Pissing off your parents and half the human race is never a good idea - that too when you don't have a viable plan to make ends meet. I also very strongly object to the solution quoted in the movie to the main proponent's problems - girl. How can a girl can be the solution to all of his problems? Guy meets girl (or vice versa), and boom all your problems in life are solved. The deep love that they share has figured out a way to pay the electricity bill. Life is that simple what. I mean, she doesn't affect the the basic nature of his problems - he still needs to find a way to be a productive member of the human race. Unless, of course, she is particularily loaded and dumb.
Actually, I feel he might have increased his problems - the girl is probably very dumb or is a psycho-slasher-killer in hiding. A case of mutual deception or ignorance. Since it's a movie, it doesn't go onto the part, where the girl turns out to have the general demenour of one of those big scary volcanic mountains that spew out lava, dust, ash, big bouldors, mangled animals - you get the picture. He had made a big mistake with all that snow and ice and lazy deer that he spied from a distance - the hapless thing was dormant. So, we think its happily ever after. The movie doesn't show the part when his parents cut him out his inheritance, and the girl dumps him, because dude, he hath no inheritance and is broke. Or, she hacks him to death. Or, she is so dumb that he hacks himself to death. I am looking to make a movie out of this romantic comedy + slasher bloodbath deathfest. It's a new genre. Called 'Real Life'. Any takers?

Interesting Article

An article that traces the admissions policies at some of the most prominent US universities.
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/articles/051010crat_atlarge
Interesting Observations:
1) Some of the policies that they have had in the past are almost as ridiculous as the system we have in India today. They have got themselves into all kinds of muck. Tough to guess.
2) Pure academic merit isn't the best way to screen candidates who are going to be successful in real life.
3) It makes a distinction between the selection effect and the treatment effect. Does going to a particular institution make you successful because of what you learnt there or because of the very fact that you could get in.

The Last Para

In the last para of my previous post I had commented on feeling good about life. I am not sure how many people agree with me but I feel that there is a basic dichotomy to life. It's a catch 22 situation. You lose either way I feel. I am very curious what everyone thinks. I would love to be proved wrong.
There are 2 basic views that one can take to life:
1) 'Winning is everything': Your view is primarily towards achievement. Life is basically a long series of goals to be achieved. Your approach to life is completely result oriented. This does get you results but it comes with a lot of baggage. If things are not working out well you are frustrated. If things fail you are depressed. If things succeed you are elated. Since, any endeavor is worth doing only if the final result is going to be favorable, you are constantly evaluating your position. You try to predict future events that might cause failure and try to reduce the effect of those. You are constantly worried and tense. You succeed, you are the apple in the eyes of the world. Success is tied to happiness the world says. You have succeeded, but, you are miserable.
2) 'Living is everything': You do what you enjoy doing. You do something purely because it is a source of satisfaction to you. Nothing matters. How well you are at it. What finally comes out of it. Does it reap you any benefit? You live your life a particular way, well, because, you feel good living life that particular way. You take a much broader view to life. It's a series of experiences, of moments, of little details. No grandiose plans. No elaborate agenda. You are happy. But, in the eyes of the world you are a nobody.
Why is the world obsessed with success when much of the ingredients that go into it are not so good for your own well being? Also who is this world? Who sets these 'standards'? Let us say you make 2 million a year, live in an aparment on Park Avenue and marry a man/woman (the other sex basically :D, maybe not ;) ) most cannot even dream of - are you going to be happy with your life? The world is looking at you with envy. But, do you deserve to be envied? You have mortgaged your youth. On the other hand, your younger days might have been in idle enjoyment and now you have an ok job, an ok life - nothing special , just chugging along. Nobody gives you a second glance. You haven't done anything 'meaningful' with your life. A waste. Really?
PS: I have substituted clarity for correctness.
PPS: If you think it's crap, maybe it is.

Random Observations on Life : Updated

• It looks like 90% of the people on the web speak on relationships. Past, Future. Not present. They have better things to do I guess. This high fraction is a demographic glich as most people who blog are in the 20-30 age. It would be interesting to model this - given a population, demographic segment and age (most important) and some more parameters can you get an estimation of current status and count of past and future relationships. Heh. If, I could do this (which is not IMPOSSIBLE actually), I could make ton loads of money. Sell the software to Shaadi.com. When someone uploads a profile estimate whether there exist bones, skeletons or entire burial grounds in the closet.
• The PhD Comics guy has something wrong with him. He is painting a seriously wrong picture of grad school with all those chaps napping in front of the computer. What he probably didn't mention was that the guy had been at it for the last 3 days. And hence. Grad school is one big game of catch up. You are constantly catching up with all the work you need to do. If you dont catch up, you get run over. Btw, the author Jorge Cham is a post-doc at Caltech after finishing his PhD at Stan. That makes me all the more convinced of the alternate explanation to all the nap shots.
• Career fair time gives you a great opportunity to ahem ahem..stock up on pens, t-shirts and other assorted clothing and stationery. Rumors of 128MB flash drives and USB port freebies have risen. However, the author is yet to confirm these rumors through actual experience. He would like to.
  
• Speaking on career fairs. One should get into finance simply for the taste in food those companies have - kebabs, chocolate cake and iced tea compared to Domino pizzas favored by most C/C++/Java companies
• I find this quite interesting. One gets so ingrained to the pattern of the people in the department that one immediately notices if something is different. I saw some extremely sorority/frat looking people a few days back. A break from the lost-in-thought-google-t-shirt-wearing-laptop-totting crowd one is used to. A art history or some such course is going on. I saw some extremely well developed african american gentlemen and ladies. Well, there is an african studies class on.
  
• There was a funny incident a couple of days back. Microsoft is currently having this line on windows without the blue screen of death. Basically, stable. We have this large screen (7m width, 3 m high) across on of the walls in the main hall area of our department. This usually shows some commercial like thingy about the department. Well what happened is that the system crashed and there was this huge 1mx2m button that said something like 'Windows has crashed. Press Yes if you want to report bug to Microsoft'. Really funny. That too during career fair time. He he. They apparantly recruit max from here.
• I have come to the conclusion that how you feel about life is little correlated to most things that are associated with feeling good about life in the cliched form. Don't want to say more. I would actually like to know what others think about this. I can probably put my thoughts in the comments section after some others have shared theirs.:D.