Just gave the CPM viva yesterday. And boy, was it a harrowing experience!! PVP, one of the old guard of the college was the external examiner and he certainly made sure that no stone was left unturned in the quest to make us realise how grossly underprepared we were. It was a bloodbath right from the beginning, when I entered the cabin of PHS, our internal. Even PHS, who is normally the big bully of the college, was reduced to trying to defend his teaching in front of his former professor!! It was nice to see a reversal of roles for once. Anyway, I hope that everyone gets good marks in this viva.
Last Wednesday, everyone in the class had a collective bout of malaria in the afternoon due to the mosquito's test. Boy, was that test lengthy or what!!! To add to it, we had absolutely no time to prepare for it so we were groping about blindly in the dark. Plus, there's always the DDCS submission, which is going to be another headache for us. God save us from these profs!!!!
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Friday, April 29, 2005
Dante's Inferno of Hell
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Third Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Moderate |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Low |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Extreme |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | High |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Very High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Extreme |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Low |
Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test
Well, I got the link for this test from Ranj's blog
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Awaiting Final Submissions with Trepidation
Well, now that the CPM submissions are over, it's time for all of us to concentrate on QSE. RRR is ready to create trouble at the slightest provocation so, I suppose, we should all beware of her malicious intentions. I have got quite a bit of QSE to write so I will be quite busy for the entire day tomorrow. So much for hoping to watch the F1 race in peace!!
Had a pesticide spraying session at home today so we all went out for dinner. I must say it was a welcome change from the same old routine of write-eat-write-write-write some more -sleep(maybe)!! Balwas provides very good food and I am thankful that there are such hotels in Bombay which can cater to my palate. Ice-cream at K-Rustom's was the cherry on the cake.
Passed through Marine Drive while returning home. There was quite a big crowd gathered at the Police Chowky under the flyover where the rape incident took place on Thursday. There was tension in the air and a couple of riot control vans were also parked in the vicinity. Some locals were holding up placards saying "Rapist More should be hanged!!". Well, I dont quite agree. But, I certainly feel that such people are a menace to society and they must be severely punished by the law. I mean, come on, is it no longer safe to walk with your friends on a well-known public promenade at 4:30 in the evening???!!! Thats ridiculous!! That means all our sisters and female friends are at risk. This will not do. I feel the Dep. CM should take interest in such pressing matters rather than try his hand at moral cleansing by banning dance bars! He will try and make students attend kirtans next, while his state police force goes around raping a few more innocent girls! The Govt. is beginning to misuse and misdirect its power and its high time we, the people, did something about it. In the meanwhile, here's hoping that More is not seen for a long long time in public, at least, not until he is no longer capable of committing such heinous crimes, if you get what I mean. ;-)
The Structural mosquito is back with a vengeance!! His first bloodsucking session is scheduled for Wednesday. God help us!!!!
CIAO.
Had a pesticide spraying session at home today so we all went out for dinner. I must say it was a welcome change from the same old routine of write-eat-write-write-write some more -sleep(maybe)!! Balwas provides very good food and I am thankful that there are such hotels in Bombay which can cater to my palate. Ice-cream at K-Rustom's was the cherry on the cake.
Passed through Marine Drive while returning home. There was quite a big crowd gathered at the Police Chowky under the flyover where the rape incident took place on Thursday. There was tension in the air and a couple of riot control vans were also parked in the vicinity. Some locals were holding up placards saying "Rapist More should be hanged!!". Well, I dont quite agree. But, I certainly feel that such people are a menace to society and they must be severely punished by the law. I mean, come on, is it no longer safe to walk with your friends on a well-known public promenade at 4:30 in the evening???!!! Thats ridiculous!! That means all our sisters and female friends are at risk. This will not do. I feel the Dep. CM should take interest in such pressing matters rather than try his hand at moral cleansing by banning dance bars! He will try and make students attend kirtans next, while his state police force goes around raping a few more innocent girls! The Govt. is beginning to misuse and misdirect its power and its high time we, the people, did something about it. In the meanwhile, here's hoping that More is not seen for a long long time in public, at least, not until he is no longer capable of committing such heinous crimes, if you get what I mean. ;-)
The Structural mosquito is back with a vengeance!! His first bloodsucking session is scheduled for Wednesday. God help us!!!!
CIAO.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
First Submission is Done!!
Hmm...its been a long time since I have blogged. 13th of April seems such a long time ago. Still, this was to be expected, I guess, going by our experiences in the previous 7 sems. Actually, as compared to the earlier sems, this one seems to be pretty tame!
Nothing awfully interesting to write about, though. The past week has been full of submissions, especially the CPM one. I never expected PHS to take such a devilish turn, especially towards the end of the semester. RRR looks like an angel when compared to him. At least we are able to bully her into reducing our workload! Over here, it works the other way round.
Well, quite a few good news regarding placements in our class. Only 6 ppl remaining to be placed. Hope we touch 100% this time. This will set a nice benchmark for the rest of the college. Finally we will be able to lay claim to some record. Hope that day materialises. Till then, I keep my fingers crossed.
Alongwith the submissions, the malaria epidemic is also spreading rapidly in the class. The Structural mosquito continues to haunt us with his never-ending lectures on designing efficient water tanks, which he probably wishes to infect!! God, I hate mosquitoes!!! Buzzzzzz!!! Get lost, you ##%^@%^$#!!!
Read an interesting anecdote in Mid-Day on Sunday. One reader had sent in this one.
Scene: Economy class of a London-Frankfurt flight. A negro businessman is sitting quietly working on his laptop. A 'prim and propah' spinster, stylishly dressed, is seated next to him, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Finally, she calls the air-hostess.
Lady: Excuse me, but could I have another seat? I am not exactly very comfortable here.
Airhostess: Why, Ma'am, is something wrong?
Lady: Cant you see who I am seated next to?
Airhostess: Well, Ma'am, I think we are fully booked but I will still go and check.
(goes and returns after 5 mins)
Airhostess: As I thought, there are no seats available in the Economy or Business Class, but we do have one seat in the First Class.
Lady: Well......can I??
Airhostess: Ma'am, as a rule, we don't allow passengers from Economy class to upgrade to First Class, but this is an exception. I understand the problem and we can make an exception in this case. We surely cannot make any human being sit next to someone so disgusting. Sir, if you will please take your hand baggage, a seat awaits you in the First Class!!
*******************************************
Lets end this post by recording my thanks to Mandela, Luther King Jr. and all those other great ppl who championed the cause of the blacks to achieve an equal status in society. HAIL THEE!!!!
CIAO.
Nothing awfully interesting to write about, though. The past week has been full of submissions, especially the CPM one. I never expected PHS to take such a devilish turn, especially towards the end of the semester. RRR looks like an angel when compared to him. At least we are able to bully her into reducing our workload! Over here, it works the other way round.
Well, quite a few good news regarding placements in our class. Only 6 ppl remaining to be placed. Hope we touch 100% this time. This will set a nice benchmark for the rest of the college. Finally we will be able to lay claim to some record. Hope that day materialises. Till then, I keep my fingers crossed.
Alongwith the submissions, the malaria epidemic is also spreading rapidly in the class. The Structural mosquito continues to haunt us with his never-ending lectures on designing efficient water tanks, which he probably wishes to infect!! God, I hate mosquitoes!!! Buzzzzzz!!! Get lost, you ##%^@%^$#!!!
Read an interesting anecdote in Mid-Day on Sunday. One reader had sent in this one.
Scene: Economy class of a London-Frankfurt flight. A negro businessman is sitting quietly working on his laptop. A 'prim and propah' spinster, stylishly dressed, is seated next to him, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Finally, she calls the air-hostess.
Lady: Excuse me, but could I have another seat? I am not exactly very comfortable here.
Airhostess: Why, Ma'am, is something wrong?
Lady: Cant you see who I am seated next to?
Airhostess: Well, Ma'am, I think we are fully booked but I will still go and check.
(goes and returns after 5 mins)
Airhostess: As I thought, there are no seats available in the Economy or Business Class, but we do have one seat in the First Class.
Lady: Well......can I??
Airhostess: Ma'am, as a rule, we don't allow passengers from Economy class to upgrade to First Class, but this is an exception. I understand the problem and we can make an exception in this case. We surely cannot make any human being sit next to someone so disgusting. Sir, if you will please take your hand baggage, a seat awaits you in the First Class!!
*******************************************
Lets end this post by recording my thanks to Mandela, Luther King Jr. and all those other great ppl who championed the cause of the blacks to achieve an equal status in society. HAIL THEE!!!!
CIAO.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
(Me 2 lazy 2 think of Title) :-D :-P
Well, all the unplaced guys from class had come to Grant Road for placement interviews and also came over to my place on my request. That is all, but TP. Poor guys had not even had lunch and were absolutely famished. Unfortunately, I was able to tell Mom about their arrival only just before they actually came due to which, the extent of arangements she could make was limited. Still, I hope that the frugal snacks at least gave them enough strength to last out until they reached home.
Today, not unusually, was a bad day. MMM droned through all the lectures of the morning and made me wish I was never even born. And if that was not enough, Mom called during the break saying that I was urgently required at the Passport Office, as they had not included one form requiring my signature in the envelope containing the forms, making up the application.
After a mad dash to the Bengal Chemicals building, the clerk now told us that alongwith proof of date of birth, proof of place of birth was also required. Now, I had applied for a duplicate copy of my birth certificate in my local Municipal Office, but had not yet received it. The clerk was not ready to accept the municipal receipt as proof and insisted on having the birth certificate. Then, it was a mad dash to Nana Chowk in Grant Road. Dad kept up a frentic pace in the car and had Mom petrified. We reached Nana Chowk in 12 minutes and took another 10 to secure the original copy of the birth certificate. Another maniacal spell of fast driving by Dad saw us reach the Passport Office in just 9 min! Now, that stupid, errant clerk was forced to accept the application as she could not find any more faults in it. Yaay, what a moral victory!!
Hope the passport comes soon, though. I need it before I have to join my company. Nothing else of significance took place today. At least, I cant recall anything important. So I am signing off now.
CIAO.
Today, not unusually, was a bad day. MMM droned through all the lectures of the morning and made me wish I was never even born. And if that was not enough, Mom called during the break saying that I was urgently required at the Passport Office, as they had not included one form requiring my signature in the envelope containing the forms, making up the application.
After a mad dash to the Bengal Chemicals building, the clerk now told us that alongwith proof of date of birth, proof of place of birth was also required. Now, I had applied for a duplicate copy of my birth certificate in my local Municipal Office, but had not yet received it. The clerk was not ready to accept the municipal receipt as proof and insisted on having the birth certificate. Then, it was a mad dash to Nana Chowk in Grant Road. Dad kept up a frentic pace in the car and had Mom petrified. We reached Nana Chowk in 12 minutes and took another 10 to secure the original copy of the birth certificate. Another maniacal spell of fast driving by Dad saw us reach the Passport Office in just 9 min! Now, that stupid, errant clerk was forced to accept the application as she could not find any more faults in it. Yaay, what a moral victory!!
Hope the passport comes soon, though. I need it before I have to join my company. Nothing else of significance took place today. At least, I cant recall anything important. So I am signing off now.
CIAO.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Its Submission Time !!
Well, the dreaded time of every semester is here. The profs have now started hounding us for submissions. RRR was the first to start off, with the foundation batch being at the receiving end for most of the time. I mean what does she think of herself? Its very easy to ask us to repeat us the assignment but does she realise that her's is not the only subject we have to study? I suppose not! These young profs seem to feel that just because they were harassed during their days in college, they owe it to the system to set the record straight. Pathetic attitude, I say! Well, there's just one sem left. Now that we have lived through 7 semesters, surely we can scrape through another.
The BE farewell was held in college on Thursday. But our gr8 profs couldnt resist troubling us and hence, decided to keep lectures. Well, I have become used to this by now, but I sure hoped to have some respite from this rigmarole for the farewell day, at least! Alas, it was not to be! Practically everyone carried a change of clothes to college that day as it was extremely hot as well as humid in that week. So much for travelling light on that day! After the lectures on that day, the profs came to class and addressed us. SYM was the best of all and he gave some pretty pertinent advice. The rest were all mediocre and didnt offer anything substantial through their speeches. RAH actually thought it was a lecture and went on rambling endlessly until they were low murmurs of discontent from the back of the class. MMM droned about in his typical style, but thankfully, kept it short.
After changing into our dress clothes, we boys returned to college from the hostel, fearing that we had taken so much time to get ready that the girls msut have reached before us! But then, girls will be girls, right? Expectedly, they were not there and actually did not turn up for a good 45 minutes after we had arrived in college! Everyone from the class looked resplendent in their snazzy outfits - the guys in their blazers and the girls in their sarees. After we posed for a lot of photos as if all were brainless models, the programme started but it turned out to be a dampener.
The class then congregated in the Sem Hall to have a private jam session. It was extremely successful with most contributing to its success. We all chuckled at the stupid guys from the rest of the college wilting away in the heat, downstairs in the quad, while we were enjoying ourselves in the air-conditioned comfort of the Sem Hall. LOL!!
Nothing much took place after that. We all had dinner and started feeling tired. R and A wanted C and I to fetch their bags for them from the department. Their excuse? They couldnt climb one floor in their sarees! And people call me lazy!! Anyway, they made such pathetic faces at us that C and I decided to go and get the bags, if only to avoid being stared at weirdly for the rest of the evening! At least that was my reason!
We all went home after that like good kids. Thankfully, I got a lift to the station in C's car alongwith A. I reached home at around 2230hrs, and promptly flopped onto my bed and slept. After all, I had to get up my energy for the extra lecture arranged by MMM the next day, had'nt I?
CIAO.
The BE farewell was held in college on Thursday. But our gr8 profs couldnt resist troubling us and hence, decided to keep lectures. Well, I have become used to this by now, but I sure hoped to have some respite from this rigmarole for the farewell day, at least! Alas, it was not to be! Practically everyone carried a change of clothes to college that day as it was extremely hot as well as humid in that week. So much for travelling light on that day! After the lectures on that day, the profs came to class and addressed us. SYM was the best of all and he gave some pretty pertinent advice. The rest were all mediocre and didnt offer anything substantial through their speeches. RAH actually thought it was a lecture and went on rambling endlessly until they were low murmurs of discontent from the back of the class. MMM droned about in his typical style, but thankfully, kept it short.
After changing into our dress clothes, we boys returned to college from the hostel, fearing that we had taken so much time to get ready that the girls msut have reached before us! But then, girls will be girls, right? Expectedly, they were not there and actually did not turn up for a good 45 minutes after we had arrived in college! Everyone from the class looked resplendent in their snazzy outfits - the guys in their blazers and the girls in their sarees. After we posed for a lot of photos as if all were brainless models, the programme started but it turned out to be a dampener.
The class then congregated in the Sem Hall to have a private jam session. It was extremely successful with most contributing to its success. We all chuckled at the stupid guys from the rest of the college wilting away in the heat, downstairs in the quad, while we were enjoying ourselves in the air-conditioned comfort of the Sem Hall. LOL!!
Nothing much took place after that. We all had dinner and started feeling tired. R and A wanted C and I to fetch their bags for them from the department. Their excuse? They couldnt climb one floor in their sarees! And people call me lazy!! Anyway, they made such pathetic faces at us that C and I decided to go and get the bags, if only to avoid being stared at weirdly for the rest of the evening! At least that was my reason!
We all went home after that like good kids. Thankfully, I got a lift to the station in C's car alongwith A. I reached home at around 2230hrs, and promptly flopped onto my bed and slept. After all, I had to get up my energy for the extra lecture arranged by MMM the next day, had'nt I?
CIAO.
Misuse of Membership
Looks like Jaidutt has not understood the reason I invited him to be a member of my blog. I have invited Jaidutt and Mangesh to be members of this blog so that they can comment on my life from their point of view, however stupid my life may be! This membership is certainly not for putting up some copied info from other sites and blogs. I request Jaidutt to desist from doing this and concentrate on actually writing something original. Please Jaidutt, I wanna know your views and not someone else's.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Howland student builds model of century-old dam
Andrew Hallett has known of the Howland dam all his life, but he never truly understood the history, inner workings and exactitude of its design until he had to build it himself. At one-eighth scale, that is.
"It was designed real well considering that it's stood for almost 100 years now," the Penobscot Valley High School senior said Thursday. "For the time period in which it was built, it's a very good job."
Not that the fledgling civil engineer thinks the dam is perfect.
"There could have been a couple of changes to it that could have made it better," Hallett said. "For example, they had to make the cement spillway by hand, so I don't think they reinforced it too well. That's why it has little cracks in it - and a couple big ones, too. Other than that, the people there have kept it in perfect condition."
The 18-year-old's attention to detail and apparent design talent made his 4-foot by 8-foot model of the dam a winner of the 2005 Civil Works Model Competition. The contest is held statewide by the Maine section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
He received a plaque from Adam Meyer, a project manager with Engineering Technologies Inc. of Bangor and a society member, during a SAD 31 board meeting Wednesday night.
The society holds the contest annually to inspire high school and college students to pursue civil engineering and related arts and sciences, Meyer said. The contest requires students to do models of local landmarks to scale.
"What better way," Meyer said, "to inspire people to pursue this than to have them go out and replicate the design of something around them?"
A lifelong Howland resident, Hallett's first choice was the dam. To understand its design, he toured it several times and interviewed 20 to 30 people to grasp its maintenance and history, he said.
Building the model took about 80 hours, he said. He used wood, cardboard, plaster of Paris and joint compound, among other things, to make it.
And he is quick to point out that he had help. PVHS physics teacher Ellen Simone guided him through the construction and contest entry process. Fellow student Randi Rackley contributed her painting skills and helped create the model's landscaping.
Another student, Matthew Osborne, did much of the heavy lifting. "If I needed an extra hand holding something, he grabbed it," Hallett said.
Howland student builds model of century-old dam - Bangornews.com Staff
"It was designed real well considering that it's stood for almost 100 years now," the Penobscot Valley High School senior said Thursday. "For the time period in which it was built, it's a very good job."
Not that the fledgling civil engineer thinks the dam is perfect.
"There could have been a couple of changes to it that could have made it better," Hallett said. "For example, they had to make the cement spillway by hand, so I don't think they reinforced it too well. That's why it has little cracks in it - and a couple big ones, too. Other than that, the people there have kept it in perfect condition."
The 18-year-old's attention to detail and apparent design talent made his 4-foot by 8-foot model of the dam a winner of the 2005 Civil Works Model Competition. The contest is held statewide by the Maine section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
He received a plaque from Adam Meyer, a project manager with Engineering Technologies Inc. of Bangor and a society member, during a SAD 31 board meeting Wednesday night.
The society holds the contest annually to inspire high school and college students to pursue civil engineering and related arts and sciences, Meyer said. The contest requires students to do models of local landmarks to scale.
"What better way," Meyer said, "to inspire people to pursue this than to have them go out and replicate the design of something around them?"
A lifelong Howland resident, Hallett's first choice was the dam. To understand its design, he toured it several times and interviewed 20 to 30 people to grasp its maintenance and history, he said.
Building the model took about 80 hours, he said. He used wood, cardboard, plaster of Paris and joint compound, among other things, to make it.
And he is quick to point out that he had help. PVHS physics teacher Ellen Simone guided him through the construction and contest entry process. Fellow student Randi Rackley contributed her painting skills and helped create the model's landscaping.
Another student, Matthew Osborne, did much of the heavy lifting. "If I needed an extra hand holding something, he grabbed it," Hallett said.
Howland student builds model of century-old dam - Bangornews.com Staff
Engineering students provide water to Thailand Village
And what are we doing these days ??? Completing stupid assignments :(
A group of engineering students traveled to Thailand over Spring Break to help bring a small village clean drinking water. They have returned, deeming their project a success.For months prior to their trip, engineering majors David Cihocki, Robert Cucugliello, Mason DeFrank, Justin Pusey, Christopher Yanavich, Diana Garcia, Steve Hazel and Dana Kaminsky worked on a two-mile long PVC pipe with the help of engineering professors Yusuf Mehta and Jess Everett.It was installed in the village of Pateung, Thailand to ensure the villagers would have access to clean drinking water. Before the installation was complete, they ran out of clean water by early afternoon everyday.
"The project was a success," said DeFrank, a junior civil engineering major.
"The primary thing that we went for was installed and running by the time we left."
The group, along with the help of the Pateung people, installed the two-mile long pipe in a trench down a mountain side. It leads into a 1,000-gallon storage tank which is equipped to supply the people with clean water all day. The villagers helped the students by digging the trenches.
"The villagers got a mile of digging done in a day," said DeFrank.
The students stayed with the villagers in community homes in the Southeast Asian village, which didn't turn out to be what they were expecting.
"It wasn't quite as primitive as we thought before we went," said DeFrank.Although they have no running water, a majority of the 75 houses in the village have electricity. However, most houses have only one outlet and one light bulb per house. Some of the wealthier people have televisions and even satellite dishes.
"When you see all that, you question why we're here. But they still lack basic knowledge," Hazel said. "I felt justified in our project."
A group of engineering students traveled to Thailand over Spring Break to help bring a small village clean drinking water. They have returned, deeming their project a success.For months prior to their trip, engineering majors David Cihocki, Robert Cucugliello, Mason DeFrank, Justin Pusey, Christopher Yanavich, Diana Garcia, Steve Hazel and Dana Kaminsky worked on a two-mile long PVC pipe with the help of engineering professors Yusuf Mehta and Jess Everett.It was installed in the village of Pateung, Thailand to ensure the villagers would have access to clean drinking water. Before the installation was complete, they ran out of clean water by early afternoon everyday.
"The project was a success," said DeFrank, a junior civil engineering major.
"The primary thing that we went for was installed and running by the time we left."
The group, along with the help of the Pateung people, installed the two-mile long pipe in a trench down a mountain side. It leads into a 1,000-gallon storage tank which is equipped to supply the people with clean water all day. The villagers helped the students by digging the trenches.
"The villagers got a mile of digging done in a day," said DeFrank.
The students stayed with the villagers in community homes in the Southeast Asian village, which didn't turn out to be what they were expecting.
"It wasn't quite as primitive as we thought before we went," said DeFrank.Although they have no running water, a majority of the 75 houses in the village have electricity. However, most houses have only one outlet and one light bulb per house. Some of the wealthier people have televisions and even satellite dishes.
"When you see all that, you question why we're here. But they still lack basic knowledge," Hazel said. "I felt justified in our project."
Just friends or Best Friends
Just found this on a blog. it makes a good read
In our lifes all of us,in fact each one of us have so many people we call as "friends" these friends we consider very dear to us and close to our heart but then All of us even have some friends whom we call the "best friends".why is it so??why we consider some friends more special than others??I beleive its because these friends are the ones we trust more,like more,like to be with,because we know if anyone goes wrong with either of us two the other will always be the first one to help and be there.hmmso delicate yet so powerful is the bond of friendship.
How to identify best friends??hmm..lets see if we really can....
Friend: calls your parents by Mr. and Mrs.
Best friend: calls your parents dad and mom.
Friend: has never seen you cry
Best friend: has always had the best shoulder to cry on
Friend: never asks for anything to eat or drink
Best friend: opens the fridge and makes himself/herself at home
Friend: asks you to write down your number.
Best friend: they ask you for their number(because the can't remember it themselves)
Friend: borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.
Best friend: has a closet full of your stuff
Friend: only knows a few things about you
Best friend: could write a biography on your life story
Friend: will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing
Best friend: will always go with you
Friend: Will always thank you or say sorry for the events.
Best Friend: Never uses this words but just feels them in the heart and will do everything possible when need arises.
I Just hope everyone has some best friends in life for such friendship is a treasure to find and possess all your life.
aloksave's Blog
In our lifes all of us,in fact each one of us have so many people we call as "friends" these friends we consider very dear to us and close to our heart but then All of us even have some friends whom we call the "best friends".why is it so??why we consider some friends more special than others??I beleive its because these friends are the ones we trust more,like more,like to be with,because we know if anyone goes wrong with either of us two the other will always be the first one to help and be there.hmmso delicate yet so powerful is the bond of friendship.
How to identify best friends??hmm..lets see if we really can....
Friend: calls your parents by Mr. and Mrs.
Best friend: calls your parents dad and mom.
Friend: has never seen you cry
Best friend: has always had the best shoulder to cry on
Friend: never asks for anything to eat or drink
Best friend: opens the fridge and makes himself/herself at home
Friend: asks you to write down your number.
Best friend: they ask you for their number(because the can't remember it themselves)
Friend: borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.
Best friend: has a closet full of your stuff
Friend: only knows a few things about you
Best friend: could write a biography on your life story
Friend: will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing
Best friend: will always go with you
Friend: Will always thank you or say sorry for the events.
Best Friend: Never uses this words but just feels them in the heart and will do everything possible when need arises.
I Just hope everyone has some best friends in life for such friendship is a treasure to find and possess all your life.
aloksave's Blog
Super Saturday
Hey there to you all once again. Looks like the great JD has finally arisen from his self-imposed slumber and decided to exercise a few of those rotting brain cells of his. I must say, though, that I am impressed! So many posts in one day! Thats not bad at all.
Had gone to DMCE yesterday for their techfest. I had intended to give TPP and Tech Quiz with R. Ended up participating in Debate and Brainstorming, thanks to AM. The TPP went off smoothly and we were able to complete within the stipulated time of 10 mins. Implosions, after all, is a topic both I and R love and it shows! AM, R and I gave the Debate elims after that in which all I did was to convert the points given by R and AM into bombastic language. Guess this approach was liked by the organisers coz ours was the first name to be announced as finalists.
Quiz elims were a dud as far as we were concerned coz it was not at all a quiz. You could, infact, call it a simplified GATE paper. Even the Civil engg. quizzes are better organised in our college! I guess Motley quality is unreachable for these guys. Anyway, I hope they learn fast.
Brainstorming had direct finals in which AM and I were asked to speak on the topic 'How to tackle Tsunamis'. We had a lot of help from RS and SCH in this regard and I would like to record my sincere thanks to them here.
Then, after a really stupid quiz final, it was time for the Prize Distribution. TPP prizes were swept by SPCE with AM and YD getting first and I and R getting second. We also won Debate and Brainstorming. One guy from TE won the second prize in the AutoCAD competition. So, all in all, it was a good day for SPCE. I am glad we were able to show the quality of our college to the DMCE guys who are always flying high in the air, thanks to the large dollops of marks awarded to them by their generous professors. Contrast that with our profs who can give Scrooge a run for his money when it comes to giving marks!!
Tomorrow, we have the risk of malaria coming down for around three days. Confused? Actually, MMM is unavailable in college for 3 days. I guess we should wholeheartedly embrace this golden opportunity and brace ourselves for the malarial onslaught which will begin on the 15th of April. May God save us from the Buzz!!
More in the next post.
CIAO.
Had gone to DMCE yesterday for their techfest. I had intended to give TPP and Tech Quiz with R. Ended up participating in Debate and Brainstorming, thanks to AM. The TPP went off smoothly and we were able to complete within the stipulated time of 10 mins. Implosions, after all, is a topic both I and R love and it shows! AM, R and I gave the Debate elims after that in which all I did was to convert the points given by R and AM into bombastic language. Guess this approach was liked by the organisers coz ours was the first name to be announced as finalists.
Quiz elims were a dud as far as we were concerned coz it was not at all a quiz. You could, infact, call it a simplified GATE paper. Even the Civil engg. quizzes are better organised in our college! I guess Motley quality is unreachable for these guys. Anyway, I hope they learn fast.
Brainstorming had direct finals in which AM and I were asked to speak on the topic 'How to tackle Tsunamis'. We had a lot of help from RS and SCH in this regard and I would like to record my sincere thanks to them here.
Then, after a really stupid quiz final, it was time for the Prize Distribution. TPP prizes were swept by SPCE with AM and YD getting first and I and R getting second. We also won Debate and Brainstorming. One guy from TE won the second prize in the AutoCAD competition. So, all in all, it was a good day for SPCE. I am glad we were able to show the quality of our college to the DMCE guys who are always flying high in the air, thanks to the large dollops of marks awarded to them by their generous professors. Contrast that with our profs who can give Scrooge a run for his money when it comes to giving marks!!
Tomorrow, we have the risk of malaria coming down for around three days. Confused? Actually, MMM is unavailable in college for 3 days. I guess we should wholeheartedly embrace this golden opportunity and brace ourselves for the malarial onslaught which will begin on the 15th of April. May God save us from the Buzz!!
More in the next post.
CIAO.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
"Cargo Cult Science" - by Richard Feynman
Hi !! These are excerpts from R. Fenyman's Caltech commencement address to new students given in 1974. It is also included in his highly popular book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Fenyman!"
I think it will be an interesting read for all us engineers.
"if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you've eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked--to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated."
" In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another.
The easiest way to explain this idea is to contrast it, for example, with advertising. Last night I heard that Wesson oil doesn't soak through food. Well, that's true. It's not dishonest; but the thing I'm talking about is not just a matter of not being dishonest; it's a matter of scientific integrity, which is another level. The fact that should be added to that advertising statement is that no oils soak through food, if operated at a certain temperature. If operated at another temperature, they all will--including Wesson oil. So it's the implication which has been conveyed, not the fact, which is true, and the difference is what we have to deal with. "
" We have learned a lot from experience about how to handle some of the ways we fool ourselves. One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops, and got an answer which we now know not to be quite right. It's a little bit off because he had the incorrect value for the viscosity of air. It's interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of an electron, after Millikan. If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bit bigger than Millikan's, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher.
Why didn't they discover the new number was higher right away? It's a thing that scientists are ashamed of--this history--because it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something must be wrong--and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong. When they got a number close to Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that. We've learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don't have that kind of a disease. "
" Other kinds of errors are more characteristic of poor science. When I was at Cornell, I often talked to the people in the psychology department. One of the students told me she wanted to do an experiment that went something like this--it had been found by others that under certain circumstances, X, rats did something, A. She was curious as to whether, if she changed the circumstances to Y, they would still do A. So her proposal was to do the experiment under circumstances Y and see if they still did A.
I explained to her that it was necessary first to repeat in her laboratory the experiment of the other person--to do it under condition X to see if she could also get result A, and then change to Y and see if A changed. Then she would know the the real difference was the thing she thought she had under control.
She was very delighted with this new idea, and went to her professor. And his reply was, no, you cannot do that, because the experiment has already been done and you would be wasting time. This was in about 1947 or so, and it seems to have been the general policy then to not try to repeat psychological experiments, but only to change the conditions and see what happened. "
" But in 1937 a man named Young did a very interesting one. He had a long corridor with doors all along one side where the rats came in, and doors along the other side where the food was. He wanted to see if he could train the rats to go in at the third door down from wherever he started them off. No. The rats went immediately to the door where the food had been the time before.
The question was, how did the rats know, because the corridor was so beautifully built and so uniform, that this was the same door as before? Obviously there was something about the door that was different from the other doors. So he painted the doors very carefully, arranging the textures on the faces of the doors exactly the same. Still the rats could tell. Then he thought maybe the rats were smelling the food, so he used chemicals to change the smell after each run. Still the rats could tell. Then he realized the rats might be able to tell by seeing the lights and the arrangement in the laboratory like any commonsense person. So he covered the corridor, and still the rats could tell.
He finally found that they could tell by the way the floor sounded when they ran over it. And he could only fix that by putting his corridor in sand. So he covered one after another of all possible clues and finally was able to fool the rats so that they had to learn to go in the third door. If he relaxed any of his conditions, the rats could tell.
Now, from a scientific standpoint, that is an A-number-one experiment. That is the experiment that makes rat-running experiments sensible, because it uncovers that clues that the rat is really using-- not what you think it's using. And that is the experiment that tells exactly what conditions you have to use in order to be careful and control everything in an experiment with rat-running.
I looked up the subsequent history of this research. The next experiment, and the one after that, never referred to Mr. Young. They never used any of his criteria of putting the corridor on sand, or being very careful. They just went right on running the rats in the same old way, and paid no attention to the great discoveries of Mr. Young, and his papers are not referred to, because he didn't discover anything about the rats. In fact, he discovered all the things you have to do to discover something about rats. But not paying attention to experiments like that is a characteristic example of cargo cult science. "
" So I have just one wish for you--the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom."
Source : "Cargo Cult Science" - by Richard Feynman
I think it will be an interesting read for all us engineers.
"if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you've eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked--to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated."
" In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another.
The easiest way to explain this idea is to contrast it, for example, with advertising. Last night I heard that Wesson oil doesn't soak through food. Well, that's true. It's not dishonest; but the thing I'm talking about is not just a matter of not being dishonest; it's a matter of scientific integrity, which is another level. The fact that should be added to that advertising statement is that no oils soak through food, if operated at a certain temperature. If operated at another temperature, they all will--including Wesson oil. So it's the implication which has been conveyed, not the fact, which is true, and the difference is what we have to deal with. "
" We have learned a lot from experience about how to handle some of the ways we fool ourselves. One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops, and got an answer which we now know not to be quite right. It's a little bit off because he had the incorrect value for the viscosity of air. It's interesting to look at the history of measurements of the charge of an electron, after Millikan. If you plot them as a function of time, you find that one is a little bit bigger than Millikan's, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, and the next one's a little bit bigger than that, until finally they settle down to a number which is higher.
Why didn't they discover the new number was higher right away? It's a thing that scientists are ashamed of--this history--because it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something must be wrong--and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong. When they got a number close to Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that. We've learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don't have that kind of a disease. "
" Other kinds of errors are more characteristic of poor science. When I was at Cornell, I often talked to the people in the psychology department. One of the students told me she wanted to do an experiment that went something like this--it had been found by others that under certain circumstances, X, rats did something, A. She was curious as to whether, if she changed the circumstances to Y, they would still do A. So her proposal was to do the experiment under circumstances Y and see if they still did A.
I explained to her that it was necessary first to repeat in her laboratory the experiment of the other person--to do it under condition X to see if she could also get result A, and then change to Y and see if A changed. Then she would know the the real difference was the thing she thought she had under control.
She was very delighted with this new idea, and went to her professor. And his reply was, no, you cannot do that, because the experiment has already been done and you would be wasting time. This was in about 1947 or so, and it seems to have been the general policy then to not try to repeat psychological experiments, but only to change the conditions and see what happened. "
" But in 1937 a man named Young did a very interesting one. He had a long corridor with doors all along one side where the rats came in, and doors along the other side where the food was. He wanted to see if he could train the rats to go in at the third door down from wherever he started them off. No. The rats went immediately to the door where the food had been the time before.
The question was, how did the rats know, because the corridor was so beautifully built and so uniform, that this was the same door as before? Obviously there was something about the door that was different from the other doors. So he painted the doors very carefully, arranging the textures on the faces of the doors exactly the same. Still the rats could tell. Then he thought maybe the rats were smelling the food, so he used chemicals to change the smell after each run. Still the rats could tell. Then he realized the rats might be able to tell by seeing the lights and the arrangement in the laboratory like any commonsense person. So he covered the corridor, and still the rats could tell.
He finally found that they could tell by the way the floor sounded when they ran over it. And he could only fix that by putting his corridor in sand. So he covered one after another of all possible clues and finally was able to fool the rats so that they had to learn to go in the third door. If he relaxed any of his conditions, the rats could tell.
Now, from a scientific standpoint, that is an A-number-one experiment. That is the experiment that makes rat-running experiments sensible, because it uncovers that clues that the rat is really using-- not what you think it's using. And that is the experiment that tells exactly what conditions you have to use in order to be careful and control everything in an experiment with rat-running.
I looked up the subsequent history of this research. The next experiment, and the one after that, never referred to Mr. Young. They never used any of his criteria of putting the corridor on sand, or being very careful. They just went right on running the rats in the same old way, and paid no attention to the great discoveries of Mr. Young, and his papers are not referred to, because he didn't discover anything about the rats. In fact, he discovered all the things you have to do to discover something about rats. But not paying attention to experiments like that is a characteristic example of cargo cult science. "
" So I have just one wish for you--the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom."
Source : "Cargo Cult Science" - by Richard Feynman
Jaidutt's Forum
Hey Sumo thanks for the link. I'd appreciate if you put the following banner, above the link
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10 stories that could be pranks - but aren't
1. A Japanese inventor has devised solar-powered clothes which can top up the battery on an iPod or mobile phone.
2. The Home Office is being asked to pardon Anne Boleyn, 500 years after she was executed, because she was "obviously innocent".
3. A study of men who attended lapdancing clubs found one man, named by researchers as "Graham the philanthropist" who went five times a week and believed "he was helping the women to make money quickly so they could become financially independent".
4. A family of four ate 20,000 Kit Kats to win prizes worth £12,000. "We had them for breakfast, dinner and tea," said 53-year-old Pat McGovern of Teesside.
5. Joss Stone has earned £5m, shooting her into the top 20 of a rich list of young entertainers. Will Young is worth £8m.
6. A Belgian police training manual which aims to help recruits understand body language has caused a row by likening George Bush's facial expressions to a chimpanzee's.
7. Thousands of visitors are rushing to Death Valley to see a remarkable range of wild flowers which have bloomed there.
8. A tow-truck driver in South Africa has been arrested on suspicion of tampering with traffic lights to make accidents more likely.
9. Conmen in Slough are getting people to pay £400 for laptops, before handing over bags filled not with computer but with bottles of water.
10. Christopher Eccleston, fresh from getting critical acclaim and near-record ratings as the new Doctor Who, has quit.
Unbelievable aren't they
SOURCE : BBC NEWS | Magazine | 10 stories that could be pranks - but aren't
2. The Home Office is being asked to pardon Anne Boleyn, 500 years after she was executed, because she was "obviously innocent".
3. A study of men who attended lapdancing clubs found one man, named by researchers as "Graham the philanthropist" who went five times a week and believed "he was helping the women to make money quickly so they could become financially independent".
4. A family of four ate 20,000 Kit Kats to win prizes worth £12,000. "We had them for breakfast, dinner and tea," said 53-year-old Pat McGovern of Teesside.
5. Joss Stone has earned £5m, shooting her into the top 20 of a rich list of young entertainers. Will Young is worth £8m.
6. A Belgian police training manual which aims to help recruits understand body language has caused a row by likening George Bush's facial expressions to a chimpanzee's.
7. Thousands of visitors are rushing to Death Valley to see a remarkable range of wild flowers which have bloomed there.
8. A tow-truck driver in South Africa has been arrested on suspicion of tampering with traffic lights to make accidents more likely.
9. Conmen in Slough are getting people to pay £400 for laptops, before handing over bags filled not with computer but with bottles of water.
10. Christopher Eccleston, fresh from getting critical acclaim and near-record ratings as the new Doctor Who, has quit.
Unbelievable aren't they
SOURCE : BBC NEWS | Magazine | 10 stories that could be pranks - but aren't
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Fridays are Fun!!
Hmm.. another Friday dawned today. As expected, the mosquito had arranged for an extra lecture. Today's topic was Staircase Design. Sounds verrry interesting isnt it? Well, it actually was! Surprised? So was I! Except for the part when MMM' s droning went into the ultrasonic range, I was able to follow each and every part of the lecture, which, in itself, is an achievement for both, me and MMM. Way to go, MMM. Buzzing rulz!!! Oh ya and BTW, what's with that leg of MMM's? Looks like he performed some vigorous exercise yesterday just before coming to class, and wanted to show off. Else I cant explain the impromptu performance he gave to the whole class. Well, he sure ended up showing off quite a bit, if you get what I mean!! Seriously, I dont mind profs letting their hair down, but I sure draw the line at them lifting their legs up onto stools more than half their height!! MMM might end up having a bark worse than his bite. Considering his increasing canine traits of scratching and lifting legs in public view, I suppose that day isnt too far.
Earlier, I had promised P and V that I would definitely mention them here, albeit in a not so flattering light. But now that I think about it, it seems that would give them too much of free publicity. So no brickbats for you here, V and P. :-D
After a quick lunch, it was time for a session with PHS. We had quite a bit of progress today before we got stuck at some point, as is the norm. Even PHS could not bail us out and I finally left college leaving the problem unsolved. Guess I will have to put in some extra work this weekend.
R and I are going to DMCE tomorrow to present our favourite Implosions paper. AM, YD, RS and SCH will also be there. So its going to be a pretty good contingent from SPCE. Hope we bring back quite a few laurels. There's also a quiz so I am keeping my fingers crossed. More news about this in the next post.
CIAO.
Earlier, I had promised P and V that I would definitely mention them here, albeit in a not so flattering light. But now that I think about it, it seems that would give them too much of free publicity. So no brickbats for you here, V and P. :-D
After a quick lunch, it was time for a session with PHS. We had quite a bit of progress today before we got stuck at some point, as is the norm. Even PHS could not bail us out and I finally left college leaving the problem unsolved. Guess I will have to put in some extra work this weekend.
R and I are going to DMCE tomorrow to present our favourite Implosions paper. AM, YD, RS and SCH will also be there. So its going to be a pretty good contingent from SPCE. Hope we bring back quite a few laurels. There's also a quiz so I am keeping my fingers crossed. More news about this in the next post.
CIAO.
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