Stop. Think. (aka My Last Post On This Blog)

First things first.

To all my friends (and some Anonymous people), who have taken time out, over the last three years to read, appreciate and comment on my political commentary, some useless banter, geeky rants, college experiences, trek adventures, film criticisms and whatever else I wrote here,

Thank you.

Secondly: Why is this  the last post on this blog?

Whatever I write, I try to make a point with it. Even the seemingly useless stuff has come contorted logic behind it, leading from some point I want to make. Okay, but that's my point. Why should I be making you read what I write by putting yet another Blog on the crowded Internet? Why should you be putting your time in my writings? In what way am I being useful to you? In what way am I enriching your life?

I presume (and hope), that maybe you enjoyed reading what I wrote, maybe you enjoyed thinking about it, or maybe enjoyed agreeing or disagreeing with it.  I most certainly enjoyed writing.

The ability to communicate is the gift of humankind. The written word is powerful in particular. I realise that it should be used for the greater good, even if you are communicating with a small group of you own friends.

Whatever I have written here,  did it contribute in some way to the greater good?

Yes, if you thought about some of the more socio-political writings or found in you the urge to act on it. (I am proud of those posts, I am happy when friends and classmates tell me that they 'thought' after reading some of those.)
No, if it was just some random post which has no earthly business on this powerful medium of mass communication. But overall, I'm not really "making a dent in the  Universe",  as a great man once put it. (He also said "..otherwise why even be here?")

Thus, I infer that it is time for me to introspect. To study more, know more and do more. To think more and deeper. To be better, to grow up.

When I feel that my writings deserve to be read, I shall blog again.  I may be wrong at that time too, but its the improvement process that's more important than the product.

I close this blog, happily. I sincerely hope I never bored any of you (including now :P).
If it all, most of the readers of this blog have enough access to me to give me a punch or two for it.

- falconer

A list

Post 100: A list I'd made for the final year in college:

1. Photograph the entire campus over the course of the year. [Ongoing]
2. See the rest of MindSpark [done]
3. Watch at least one Purushottam and  Firodiya show.
   [done in third year]
4. Go to Mood-I [pending]
5. Learn the Kayak [pending]
6. Publish a paper [pending...]
7. Do not get stressed during submission season  [done] :)

After the Battle

The battle had ended. 
The field of the Kurus, as it would be known thereafter, lay strewn with the spoils. All the Kauravas had fallen, and the Pandava armies had been slain on the eighteenth night by the treachery of the son of Drona. The twelve warriors who lived in the end, went to the Grandsire, to seek his blessing. Lying on the bed of arrows, he was in the grip of death, but his soul would not depart his body till he willed it, such was the boon the Gods had given him.

The Grandsire asked the Five, what shall you do now, my noble children?  To which they said, "We have slain the unjust and given those who fell an honourable passage to the afterlife, by completing all their last rites according to scripture, even the corpses of our enemies. Now we can rest." Yudhisthir though, remained silent, for it was always the younger who had the right to speak first in those days.

The Grandsire was disappointed, his face fell. He then asked the eldest, "Agree with your brothers, you do not. Speak, Ajaatashatru, what will you do now?"

And the son of Dharma spoke thus,
 
"O Grandsire, taker of the great oaths, he who lived his life by his word, and fell in battle to keep it, we shall fulfill your promise. Our war is against Injustice and mere slaughter of the unjust shall not realise this aim. We have won a battle, but the war lies ahead, in restoring the families whose sons and fathers this war took away. In securing the great Aaryavarta from all sides, so that foes from yonder, who penetrated our borders while we fought amongst ourselves, do not gain ground.  
We have to make this bloodied field yield gold once more and the rivers run clean once again, make the birds of carrion return to their usual subsistence on wild beasts. Never should they feast on dead warriors again. That is how your father ruled and for that Peace was this war waged. If we rest now, we will never be able to establish the order. Hence, we shall take up the bow again, and the plough. And the scripture and the healing herb. 

Forgive my brothers O Great One, the wounds of battle are still fresh on them. Forgive them like you forgave Karna. Forgive me for my trespass against my own master Drona. Forgive us for destroying the Race of Bharata. Bless us so we may redeem your final pledge and redeem ourselves"

The Grandsire was pleased and moved to emotion and he said "As long as any Bhaarata has in his heart, Truth and Justice, the Race shall not die. Forgiveness is yours already, my children. My blessings ride with you. Go forth and take the throne of Hastinaapura. Make the Land prosper. Whenever you are in doubt, you shall find me here. When the Kingdom of Bharata is secured from all foes, of sword and heart, then only shall I pass."

And so it was. The Five lay thoughts of rest, to rest and ruled the land with justice  and truth, with the sound counsel of he who lay on the arrows. At the end of this great  restoration, on the first day of the Uttaraayan, the mighty soul of Bhishma, passed. 
- Yuddha Parva, Mahaabhaarata 

Note: Why I felt like quoting this.
The beauty of this epic is in the multiplicity of interpretations. I personally associate this passage with the fallacy of resting on laurels and the necessity of never forgetting the bigger picture. Others will surely come up with other opinions on the meaning of this story, (besides the literal one, of course) and it would be good to know their thoughts.

(W)rote something that came to my head today.

The G&O Algorithm
This algorithm is one of the popular classics. Let us have an analytical look at it.

Firstly, is it an algorithm in the first place?

The answer to this is in the affirmative.
The algorithm is used to score excellent marks in examinations. It fulfils the
five conditions as outlined by Knuth.


1. Finiteness:
It terminates in a finite number of steps. They will be enumerated in a later section.

2. Definiteness:
Each step is properly defined, nay, perfected through generations of practice. Entire Vedas were handed down by a variant of this algorithm (This variant was a major deviation since it also involves handing down the detailed meanings and interpretations of those texts).

3. Input:
An open textbook is scanned line by line or character by character. Number of inputs is a function of the declared syllabus and the part the student deems optional.

4. Output:
The output is same as the input text, replicated on a piece of paper, in a time bound, communal ritual.

5. Effectiveness:
The deviation of the text from the original is evaluated by an expert set of pattern matching personnel who determine the percentage error and assign a grade. This grade is effectively used by the user of the algorithm for a variety of purposes for at least one year after it is declared and forgotten later. Used traditionally as a benchmark for intelligence and capability.  Thus it is effective in fulfilling its purpose of helping the user get maximum marks or a high grade.

What is the definition of this algorithm:

As the name suggests, there are two parts to this. G and O. We will define them in that order.

G (Ghokaa):

Inputs:
i <-- First chapter of syllabus
l <-- Last chapter of syllabus
o <-- S :{ x | Chapter x is deemed optional}


Start:
G1. Open the textbook. (Choice of textbook is a separate algorithm named after the legendary authors N.R.Lee and T.K.Max and follows the Law of Approaching Nationality)

G2. Move to chapter number i.

G3. If i is not equal to o, learn chapter i by rote. (Concept, practical application, mathematical meaning and any inconsistency with past knowledge can be neglected at this stage.)

G4. Repeat step G3.

G5. Repeat step G4.  // Note the distinction between repeat and go to.

G6. Sleep. Can you blurt out the input in your sleep? If yes, wake up and go to G7. Else, go to step G4.

G7. If i is not greater than l, advance i by one. Go to step G3.

G8. Is it time for the exam to start? If yes then close the textbook, get
ready for the exam and move to step O1.  Else, go to step G9.

G9. Read anything from the textbook which is a subset of the declared syllabus.

Here the author digresses to apologise to Mithunda for dragging G9 into this.
 
O (Okaa):

q <-- 1
m <-- total number of questions in the paper
O1. Is q less than m? If yes, replicate the input text corresponding to the relevant question, ad verbatim, onto the paper.  Else go to O3.

O2. Advance q by one. Go to step O1.

O3. Is the exam over? If yes, get out of the hall according to protocol.

End.

Complexity Analysis:

Although it can be analytically calculated that the complexity of this algorithm is in Theta[N], where N = n-i-no, where no = n(S), heuristics show that this algorithm always completes in Constant time, even in the worst case.

T(G&O) = Theta(1)

It has been shown that:

T(G&O) == [K hours before the examination timing] + [E]
where,  K = Constant determined by the student
E = Constant Exam Duration as determined by the powers that be

Thus, we conclude our introductory study of the G&O algorithm. For a detailed study, the interested reader may refer to ...
Why? Are the details in the syllabus? No? Never mind the details then.
In the next section, The Law of Approaching Nationality will be examined.

Write in C : Apologies to the Beatles

I'd read the lyrics of this cover version of The Beatles'  Let it be before.
However, after a week of banging my head on FORTRAN, I've come to identify with it. My dislike for Java and VB plays a part here too.
Enjoy!



 Special thanks to the kind anonymous dude who's composed this.

Wisecrack

Imagine a plane that can take you from Mumbai to New York in an hour, so that you could live in Mumbai and work in NY. So everyday you drive to the CSIA (in a right hand drive car) and drive from JFK to your office (in a left hand drive). While coming back in the evening, its left-hand followed by right-hand-drive. Driving on the opposite sides of the road in the same day... using mirrored conventions, within hours of each other. How confusing would that be!
Try programming for IA32 in the day and ARM at night to approximate the feeling.

(Notably, this does not hold for many Pune drivers, who use the American side convention for driving)

Office 2010

This is so AWESOME!
M$ hataai all the way
If this movie is real, I'm going to see it first day first show!