Moon water and "Red Mars"

The discovery of water on the moon now confirmed by several different moon missions, and most recently by a NASA probe deployed via the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan I moon orbiter, is astounding news. That news has been followed with the discovery of large quantities of water on Mars much closer to the equator than was previously thought (earlier the notion was that water in the form of ice was concentrated closer to the polar areas of Mars).

All this really means is that both the moon and Mars are now colonizable, perhaps more easily than earlier thought possible because of the ready availability of water. Coincidentally, this past year I have been reading the wonderful science fiction trilogy on Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson; namely the award winning "Red Mars", "Green Mars" and "Blue Mars", which deals with exactly that - the colonization and "terraforming" of Mars.

The first book in the series, "Red Mars" (full book link on google books?), which I highly recommend, deals with the eventual arrival of permanent human presence on Mars in the form of an early group of astronaut settlers sent to setup bases which include power generation, and mining units as well as green houses, and research labs. The scope of Red Mars is not just scientific and engineering centric - the first settlers, while being the best scientists and engineers, are also highly opinionated and have brought with them their beliefs and philosophies. All of this makes for a fascinating read.

The remaining two books continue on that theme. "Green Mars" explores the continuing efforts to settle Mars by building some sort of an atmosphere on it for human beings to breathe freely in, and the resistance to both the greening effort as well as the control exerted by and from Earth. Finally, "Blue Mars" (which I am halfway through and which is not as easy a read as "Red Mars" was but is nonetheless very illuminating) talks about the eventual reconciliation between Mars and Earth in the backdrop of catastrophic events and displacements on Earth and the need for sending large numbers of affected Earth people to a new life on Mars, and of course the continuing struggles of the Mars inhabitants.

Overall, if there's a minor niggle I have had, its the fact that the author does have a Western bias of sorts in the array of characters introduced and developed. But the bias is far less than several others I have read - names, places and beliefs from Eastern lands have been liberally referenced, very appropriately too I might add which reflects the authors knowledge of history and literature. But I find it strange that given the large numbers of Chinese and Indian scientists in particular active in several engineering and scientific domains, there are hardly any characters of those origins playing principal roles in the Mars trilogy.

Of course, since I am Indian in origin, I am for more Asian representation as prinicipal book characters. Which basically means countering the bias against, with a bias for - a convenient zero sum game, I agree.

Regardless, the authors deep knowledge of the sciences and literature, and very sound storytelling skills brought together by a sweeping, detailed vision of life on Mars is what stays with you. I wouldn't be surprised if future events though reflect in some fashion the ideas and vision displayed in "Red Mars". Fans of good fiction will enjoy this book immensely.

(Red Mars cover image courtesy Amazon.com)

Origins 06: Amar Chitra Katha

Origins 06: Amar Chitra Katha

Amar Chitra Katha (or "Immortal Picture Story" as translated by me from the Hindi title) or ACK is a graphic novel/comic book series started by Anant Pai (aka Uncle Pai) under the label India Book House (IBH). Early on, they were largely focused on ancient Indian mythology (as opposed to modern Indian mythology) - which is mostly Hindu in origin of course. But very soon, they expanded to include all stories pertinent to India including history, religion and folklore. The Wikipedia entry has more details - but of course.

These comics have been around for a while. They were a staple diet while I was growing up. My sister and I, being voracious readers, devoured them. As a result we grew up fat on Indian mythology and history. The fact that these books were well researched made them immensely educational as well.

Mythology is of course an extremely fascinating topic. Indian mythology, like other ancient mythology is extremely rich and you could spend years reading stories from it and yet still not know all of them. I was fascinated with it in my much younger days, like several other kids my age. Primarily because like the others I was a sucker for a good story. I wasn't old enough to find blonde haired princesses from foreign lands all that fascinating - not just yet (and no - I'm not referring to Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson when I say that). Not that we didn't read about them and stuff. But Indian was where it was at.

When I was a kid growing up in Mumbai, we would travel to my father's hometown Elluru frequently where we would spend time with my grandparents and occasionally, some of our cousins too who would be visiting around the same time. In the evenings, around sunset just before dinner was served, us kids would sit on the steps leading up to the verendah outside the family home and my grandmother would sit down with us and tell us stories from Indian mythology. Those story sessions were fascinating.

As my sister and I grew older those trips to Elluru grew more infrequent (not entirely a bad thing as that meant we at least got to visit other places - sorry Dad!). ACK helped keep those stories alive and helped expand that knowledge-base considerably.

Of course, now that us kids of the ACK generation are older and stuff, we're all into interpretations and implications of those mythological stories. Part of the great Indian culture of discussion and argument as endorsed by Amartya Sen in his "The Argumentative Indian". But looking back, the basis for all that lay in that age when we were suckers for a good simple story, especially those rendered in ACK comics.

In summary, if you're a fan of mythology in general and want to learn about Indian mythology, you wouldn't do too badly if you picked up one of these.

Geopolitical butterflies

India and Pakistan have problems. Several.
Once again, they're trying to talk those problems out in the backdrop of India trying to shake off the rope of regional conflict holding it from really flying off into the progress statosphere, and Pakistan trying to recover from the monster within fed on 3 decades of zealotry and hate that now wants to swallow its own master.

Each attempt at conversation has its own hurdles. The court of public opinion is the one that really matters though.

Here's an NPR attempt to wrap people's mind around the geopolitical dimension to the India-Pak conflict in the form of an NPR program with three experts from India and Pakistan lending their perspective. The whole discussion is an hour long so listen at leisure.

For a lot of people around the world the so-called "war on terror" depends greatly on the India-Pak conflict and its possible resolution. Thats because as long as Pakistan wants to get at India (for whatever reason), they will continue to go soft on the jihaidis within their midst.

They're taking over!

In a world suffering from a severe recession (sounds like a movie trailer opening line that - "In a world where..." Ok. Ok. Moving on...), its probably not the thing you want to hear - that ultimately, one day, some machine is going to be doing your job. Thats because, as this this NYTimes articles says, the damn machines are going to become smarter than you. Knowing myself however, they don't have all that much of a distance to cover.

There's hardly anything new in the fear that machines will ultimately take over the world. They've taken over a lot of stuff anyways. Planes use computers to fly themselves between take offs and landings. Cars use an array of sensors managed by processors to ensure smooth running. The internet manages our money. And computers have abstracted the complexity of data communication from us to make everything appear as simple as possible. In fact, systems are increasingly designed to be as idiot-proof as possible. Which leaves us human users increasingly ignorant about how these things work in the first place. And since they're doing everything for you anyways, where's the incentive in learning what's really beneath the hood

The field of AI has dedicated considerable effort towards creating machines that behave and act autonomously like human beings supposedly do. One of the chief goals of such AI systems is successfully clearing the "Turing Test". In this test, a human judge has a conversation with another human and a computer, and the judge has to distinguish which of the two she's conversing with is the other human and which is the computer. If the judge can't tell who is which or which is what, then the computer has passed the "Turing Test".

Which brings us to this interesting video - also off the same NYTimes page - on Microsoft Research's attempt to make a more human-like expert system to guide human users who come to it in need of medical advice. In the video, we see two parents - one after another - coming up to a kiosk of some sort, with their child in tow, and talking to a computer-generated face on the computer screen about their children being sick, and we see the face then trying to help them diagnose their child's condition better and finally deliver some sort of advice.

The whole combination of expert system diagnosing capability, computer graphics, speech interface and natural language processing capabilities is mighty impressive. But, I did have one main problem with that video (and by extension the system being demonstrated). That is: at the end of the long conversation with the users - all the AI effectively does is it tells them to go see a doctor and schedules an appointment for them.

Now why would I waste my time conversing with it if that's all its going to do for me?

Warning: Your next big mistake is just around the corner

Why?

Because:

"As we grow older and more experienced, we overrate the accuracy of our judgments." - (Malcolm Gladwell)

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the "The Tipping Point", offers his insight into why people still manage to f*** up even after seemingly having everything under control - or more precisely why he thinks Bear Sterns went down in the New Yorker.

Also, on Bear Sterns, Vanity Fair has a take on how it all came crashing down for the giant. According to this piece - the main culprit ... a simple rumor.

The scary part. The rumor was false.

The result...

Corporate Speak

Gotta love corporate speak. The Onion does a take on it.

Race(ism) against Time

Race (and or Racism) is still in the lead by some distance, although I've been told Time is extremely patient and will probably make a move some time in the future. Who's going to win though? Has someone won already? Depends on where you want to paint the finish line. For now though, Racism is sprinting ahead.

Sanjay Suri's article titled "Brownian Notions" in Outlook India magazine, has this extended tagline

"The prejudice NRIs exhibit is more complex than what they face ..."

. I can't help but agree with that - especially because its an issue I have struggled with internally for sometime. The article is a fascinating read as well.

Indians - especially those living abroad in the "West" - are still grappling (knowingly or unknowingly) with the many prejudices and the many insecurities ingrained in them by virtue of a complex, several thousand year past. Combine that with the misplaced belief that a somewhat superficial "Indian-ness" is still highly superior to other cultures, has only made this internal conflict worse over time and has externally manifested in an attitude embodying disdain for everything and everyone not like "themselves".

Skin color is the most easily available "mechanism for exercising prejudice" that Indians in India or abroad overwhelmingly avail of. That we still judge people using a skin-colored lens is as illuminating as it is tragic.

Illuminating because it makes us think about where it could possibly have come from. The "North-South" divide in India is sometimes held responsible for it. The caste system is another popular culprit. But they cannot be the only reasons. Skin-color based discrimination is also quite prevalent in several countries and cultures in Africa, as well as other South Asian and South-East Asian countries. I guess we could generalize this phenomenon by saying that skin-color prejudice exists in many societies that have various shades of black and brown amongst the people.

Tragic because Indians use that skin-color(ed) lens to make various blanket judgments and generalizations (yes - I'm generalizing here as well - so sue me!) - from a person's race, country or origin, their mother-tongue, caste, perhaps religion to their mannerisms, accents, and even the kind of food they eat, etc. And for decision-support they have traditionally relied on a database of both prejudices, and stereotypes as well as the underlying insecurities behind them that have been passed down over the centuries (millenia perhaps?). Indians living abroad have only expanded that database to include people from a wider set of countries and cultures including their host countries. All this assessment is done before the person in front of us has had the opportunity to even open their mouths to say something. Perhaps culturally, it is the most natural thing to do and can be explained away with a: "So what? Everyone else does it is too. Why shouldn't we?".

Whether we may or may not admit it, the most widely held (and practiced) prejudice and insecurity among Indians is that "Fair is Fair". And, as cheesy as it sounds, that's not really all that fair. It's critical that beyond the inherent racism that is embedded in our "value system" and the debate about whether we are being discriminated on the basis of race and skin abroad, there also needs to be a debate on why we think we need to be treated fairly (pun intended) when we don't do the same ourselves - especially in our own country? I do agree that this contradiction does not in any way diminish the nature of the discrimination that we sometimes face - it is and would be criminal to actually ignore or overlook it in any country. But it is equally criminal to not use this conflict as a means to start holding ourselves to the higher standards we feel entitled to from those around us.

Blast from the past: old DOS games anyone?

a. Revisiting the "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov.

b. Also, playing an old DOS game that I used to enjoy back in the day. It's called "Megafortress" (circa 1991), a flight sim game. The graphics is pretty bare bones, but flying the Megafortress is not exactly a piece of cake - especially when the missions become more and more difficult.

While the game does run directly on XP - the problem seems to be that it runs a little too fast. Also, the mouse controls don't seem to get configured correctly - the click is too sensitive and becomes a pain at some point. The game also messed up my System Date setting.

After searching for solutions on how to run old DOS games on XP without problems, initially came across one suggested fix: applying/changing settings for the .exe file. ".Exe file"->RightClick->Properties->Program Tab->Advanced->Turn on Setting "Compatible Hardware Timer Emulation".

That fixed the system date problem, i.e. the Megafortress no longer messed with the System date after that. But it still didn't fix the "mouse too fast" problem. So searched a bit more for a better solution and came across a suggestion to give DosBox, an x86 emulator for Windows, a try.

Bingo. "Mouse too fast" problem solved using DosBox. Only issue now though is the small window size when running the game. They didn't have 1024X768 displays then. Changing the display settings to 640X480 could do the trick though and you could play the game Fullscreen. I just haven't given that a try yet.

Above fixes should let you play your old games on WinXP. If you still have them lying around somewhere perhaps you could give them another try.

While old DOS games could help you with your nostalgia fix, they aren't going to be a substitute for the ones that got away though. But then, let's also be realistic here. It's not like they would really want to have anything to do with you now would they?!

And no - you really don't have to finish that big bag of Lays just because you're all depressed now.

Last word on Fake...?

Well, according to "The Real IPL Player", apparently the power that be have unearthed our Fake IPL Player. Whatsmore according to "The Real IPL Player" he's been cut off from his source. Who was Fake IPL Player's source? Well - it was Real IPL Player of course. Duh!

But does not Real IPL's writing style seem a lot more similar to the earlier Fake IPL Player's - before the whole rumor about Fake being finally found out surfaced a few days ago?

So was Fake really a journalist getting insider info from Real, as Real claims? Is Real the authentic Fake and Fake - well - fake? Or is Fake the authentic Fake? Or are Real and Fake the same people?

I'd like to say I don't give a damn eitherways... but then it would be a little bit of a lie. But enough on Fake. Stay tuned to the news feeds for more news.

(Was) the best thing about the IPL so far...?

No. No. I'm not about to say that the previous day's cricket games - despite them being fairly tense and nailbiting - have upstaged "Fake IPL Player".

The past tense indicates that there seems to have occurred a big new twist on the whole situation. As Prem Panicker first indicated on his twitter page, apparently the identity of the Fake IPL Player has been uncovered - referring to Gulu Ezekiel's piece in the Indian Express (go down to the "Op-ed" page and see bottom section).

Oh well. Sadly, it may seem that the whodunit part of the story is finally over. Or is it? Maybe there's still a lot more drama to come our way - now that matters seem to be coming out into the open. Or we may likely never know who was truly involved either.

Personally, it seems to me that "Fake..." become too famous (or infamous) for his own good.

The best thing about the IPL so far...

(IPL = Indian Premier League; an Indian city-based franchise cricket league/tournament currently in its second year being held in South Africa because of security issues in India)

Last year the IPL was a huge novelty, an unknown. It was also wildly successful. The idea of a city-based cricket league really took off in India in a big way. Twenty20 is certainly here to stay.

Disappointingly, this year the IPL tournament is being held in South Africa. The Indian government was not able to guarantee the safety of the tournament given that it coincided with the Indian general elections - a super mammoth exercise in itself that would stretch security agencies, supposedly, to the max.

The tournament began this past weekend in SA. A few games have been completed. A lot of big name players and a good amount of cricket has been seen. But the best thing that has happened so far is not the cricket, or the fanfare (or lack thereof), or the hype, or the asinine Bollywood activities surrounding the event, or even the player slappings, coach firings, and other going ons...

The best thing is the surfacing of this blog that started on the eve of the game called "Fake IPL Player". The interesting thing about this blog is not just the humor/satire, particularly involving and directed at the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team owned by Shah Rukh Khan, but the level of detail with which supposedly fake events that happened outside the cricket field are described. Despite the disclaimer that all events and people mentioned in that blog are fictitious, there is just too much information for the blog to be considered an entire fake. Which means, in the guise of a fake blog, we may have someone who has insider access to the KKR team and is giving us some sort of factual insight into all thats going on behind the scenes. And for a team thats struggling on all aspects and heading towards a huge meltdown of some sorts, it makes for very interesting reading.

Fake's posts are something to look forward to, even more than the cricket.

Gears of a mad world

If you're like me you probably saw the promos of "Gears of War" (Epic games) back a couple of years, and thought it looked pretty cool. Also, like me, you thought that the song in the promo was pretty cool too, and a lovely touch that actually enhanced the game's appeal beyond the usual ultra-violent video game commercial.



That song was/is "Mad World" and was by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. It was the first time I heard it. Thought I'd link to that video here as well. If you're like me, you'll like the lyrics as well.



What I didn't know then was that the song originally belongs to "Tears for Fears".

Anyways, some guy on American Idol performed "Mad World" on the show. I heard it. Thought it was largely inspired by the version heard in the "Gears of War" promo (Jules/ Andrews).

And for all the well-deserved hype "Mad World"'s getting you have "Tears for Fears" to thank.

"Gears of Wars" was/is freakin amazing as well.

"Bhimsen"

Bhimsen (by Prem Panicker) (Link updated.)

Prem Panicker's story series views the world of the Mahabharata through the eyes of Bhima or Bhimsen, the second of the official five Pandava brothers, also the mightiest of them all according to legend. It is in episodic form and is a work in progress/unfinished. Meaning - episodes are being written as we speak and the story updated periodically. The link above points to the entire archive including Prem's preamble and the source of his inspiration.

Those familiar with the Mahabharata will find this easier to follow perhaps. I have been following it since Prem started writing it on his relatively new website (see side link under "Reading List").

Why follow it though if you already know the story?

Ah, but, does merely knowing a sequence of events mean that you really know a story? There are as many perspectives to a story as there are readers. It's also very well written.


Update:
Prem's continuing the series and his blogging over at his new site. So follow the latest Bhimsen episodes over there.

Lasantha

Lasantha Wickrematunge, wrote this piece in the Sri Lankan news magazine The Sunday Leader shortly before he was shot dead by assailants on his way to work on January 8, 2009. He was the editor of the magazine.

I unfortunately never heard of him and the enormous risks he took while he was alive. It was only after his death that I came to know of him and his work. People, like Lasantha, devoted to their duty above all else are extremely rare. Especially when they are ordinary folks like you and me.

Investigative journalism in the sub-continent is a very dangerous profession. While Sri Lanka seems to have an abysmal record in taking care of its journalists, other countries in the region do not fare too much better. In India, what passes off for journalism in most newspapers and news channels, is just farce, focused as it is largely on celebrities and sensationalism as an end in itself. News magazines like Tehelka are some of the few remaining bastions of true reporting in India. They may not always be right, but they fight hard to expose the truth to the public, especially in those circumstances where it has been forcibly kept under wraps. They provide us with a mirror with which to look into ourselves as a society, culture, country and citizen of the world.

In several countries, including democracies, those who report against the existing powers of the day constantly live under the threat of some sort of retaliation by those powers. Most will find it impossible to continue working under those potentially life-threatening circumstances - and rightly so too. To those few who, inspite of the risks, strive to bring us the truth, and not farce - we owe a lot.

Highway Projects in India - Photos

Earlier, I posted a thread from SkyScraperCity that had some supernice pics on the Mumbai/Bombay skyline at night-time).

Here's a thread - once again from SkyScraperCity, that has some decent resolution pictures of ongoing highway and road projects in India. This thread/forum is a good example of the benefits of citizen journalism and reporting - that of providing far more information than the mainstream media. However, just to keep things in perspective, since the posters are largely India-biased - it seems that only the better looking pics have perhaps been put up. Nevertheless, it does make for informative and pleasant browsing. The discussions in the thread are also pretty balanced and informative - which reflects really well on the people participating in it. More importantly, the posters have done a remarkable job in gathering and posting the pictures.

It would do good for most people who aren't living in India currently, to contrast those pictures with the actual driving experience. Suffice to say there's a lot of work to be done. But then - a lot has been and is being done.

Drive safe. Stay protected.

(Image on top of post is a sample from the SkyscraperCity thread discussed above. The image was posted by user SunCity is a view of the Mumbai-Pune expressway.)

Sample and Savour

(1) House, techno, electronica - and add to that heady mix the talented DJ and my buddy Rohit Sharma - and his blog (which I just belatedly discovered) called Profound Sounds (Yes - I think it's a cool name too!) You can also listen to some of his latest mixes here.

(2) ...And a dose of reality - Ketaki style - at Same Page, not a recent discovery by any means unlike Rohit's, but in fact a blog I visit often to derive cutting-edge insight from.

In case you aren't doing so already you should be get to any or all of the other people's sites I've linked to - so you can actually get to interesting things to read.

Stuff

For Mumbai lovers only, Mid-Day's anniversary issue is a must browse (if not read). There are great accompanying pictures, vignettes into the everyday life of a Mumbaikar. ( Clicking on the article will open the article in a readable form on a separate window. )


I have also been watching a webcast of the daily India news on CNN-IBN. Click on the link on the top right of the web-page that allows you to view the webcast. This, for those who want to keep track of the current status of the blasts probe.

"Inanities, Bagatelles"

...is the title of Raoul's blog.

From dictionary.com:
"Bagatelle:
1. An unimportant or insignificant thing; a trifle.
2. A short, light piece of verse or music.
3. A game played on an oblong table with a cue and balls."

Now that the meaning of "bagatelles" is out of the way, I have to say that it pains me that there are so many good writers out there and yet there's so little material that they churn out. Not that you have to be a writer to write (or blog). If you've made some meaningful contribution on any scale you can think of (while being mostly honest to yourself), you could pat yourself on the back for that. And you'll probably get better at it the more you do it - which is true for a lot of things in life. ;)

However, there are some folks out there who have the ability that most of us don't - to contribute a real lot even when they're not really saying too much. And one hopes that they say a lot more than they let on.

Which brings us back to Raoul.

...ly Round-up!

* There's a nice discussion on abortion ban brewing (pun intended) at Ek Cup Coffee. My thoughts on the issue are basically pro-choice and pro woman's rights. Please do contribute your thoughts if you do have something to say about it.

* Venky has written a lovely piece on a unique street artist he encountered recently on a trip to Calcutta, India. Venky's also taken the effort to post a video recording of the artist in action, and has also scanned some of the artist's work. Reminds me of a Latin-American street artist my wife and I saw making paintings in a similar fashion in Wilmington, NC. Street artists everywhere, whether it be those painting, involved in craftwork, or performing ( pick-pocketing not included); take a bow.

* Finally, I understand that blogging sometimes involves linking to works of others and also reporting interesting stuff. Sadly, my blog fails to perform that particular function to any level of satisfaction. But I do like how blogging involves making people follow useless links of one's own work, and I sometimes do indulge in it myself. You very very very few (perhaps imaginary) loyal patrons of my blog will recognize a recurring theme of me talking about my struggles with going easy on other people, especially the question of whether "to bait or not to bait?" other people (here and here).

Well, there's not much else to report except that I am back to my earlier bad habits, and it's becoming difficult to consciously change.

Help me! Stop me!

Keep an Eye out for

Meeta's blog is on my list of daily sites to visit. In fact, she has different blogs she maintains and to which she contributes: books and movies, random musings, and Ek Cup Coffee. Sib and I also contribute to Ek Cup Coffee. We're hoping the other bitches and ladies who're coffee regulars at Cup-A-Joe will start contributing soon. There's also the proposal to record our disjointed and heated conversations on everything that moves or doesn't. Don't really know if that will do the rest of y'all a world of good. But then none of us really claim to be "do-gooders".

By the way, if you don't like regular coffee, and believe in sissy Mochas and Lattes, you're are not invited.