Pune lass Amrita is Miss India Universe. Usually, I am particularly indifferent to these events. But thanks to my daily visit to The Times (Tabloid) Of India, I happened to glance at the pictures of the contestants yesterday. The first I saw was Amrita and I thought - yeah, that's it ! She looks good - a view further confirmed by the rather none-too-extraordinary pictures that followed.
A thinking clearly supported by the judges, much to my satisfaction.
Good Luck in the Miss Universe Contest !
Way To Go Pune !!
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Destiny
I try hard not to believe in destiny. I figure one should be willing and able to shape his own life. At least after reading Ayn Rand I do. But sometimes it just happens to hit you and you keep marvelling at its weird ways.
Take last evening for instance. I had done practically nothing of value the whole day. I was going to spend the night watching the India-Pakistan game. So I figured, I'd put the evening to use by doing some good work. Accordingly, I refused my friend's invitation to a movie (Swades) which, I having seen twice already was not that difficult; at the same time, being such a good movie, I would not have minded seeing it all over.
But I put my foot down. And I bid him good-bye at the door. But as luck would have it, the frustrating bus that had made me wait 10 minutes in the cold just the day before, did not allow a single minute of my delay. I had no option but to return to the movie. (Admittedly I did have the option of walking back home, but naah !! Too cold) And once I am in a movie it takes something really drastic that can pull me out early - something like "Kyon, Ho Gaya Na !" for instance.
Anyway, at the end of it, my friend's family offered me a lift and came up with an even more brilliant idea of inviting me to dinner. I was going to ponder about dinner once I came home anyway. Who am I to say "No" to a chance of Puran Poli, Kheer and Varan Bhat on Holi Day ?? That was one amazing dinner. And I was destined to have it.
On the flip side, it made me so drowsy (and the whole evening tired) that I came home and fairly instantaneously jumped into bed - no cricket for me tonight - missing a Sehwag 200 in the process - well that's destiny for you.
Take last evening for instance. I had done practically nothing of value the whole day. I was going to spend the night watching the India-Pakistan game. So I figured, I'd put the evening to use by doing some good work. Accordingly, I refused my friend's invitation to a movie (Swades) which, I having seen twice already was not that difficult; at the same time, being such a good movie, I would not have minded seeing it all over.
But I put my foot down. And I bid him good-bye at the door. But as luck would have it, the frustrating bus that had made me wait 10 minutes in the cold just the day before, did not allow a single minute of my delay. I had no option but to return to the movie. (Admittedly I did have the option of walking back home, but naah !! Too cold) And once I am in a movie it takes something really drastic that can pull me out early - something like "Kyon, Ho Gaya Na !" for instance.
Anyway, at the end of it, my friend's family offered me a lift and came up with an even more brilliant idea of inviting me to dinner. I was going to ponder about dinner once I came home anyway. Who am I to say "No" to a chance of Puran Poli, Kheer and Varan Bhat on Holi Day ?? That was one amazing dinner. And I was destined to have it.
On the flip side, it made me so drowsy (and the whole evening tired) that I came home and fairly instantaneously jumped into bed - no cricket for me tonight - missing a Sehwag 200 in the process - well that's destiny for you.
Monday, March 21, 2005
What I Did Over Spring Break ...
1. Had a haircut 12$
2. Applied for OPT 175$
* Played badminton for several hours - Priceless
3. Got my learner's license 6$
4. Bought the India-Pakistan series package 25$
* Saw VVS Laxman hit Danish Kaneria for a 6 - Priceless
5. Got a free Pizza and 2 litre Pepsi (because Pizza Hut delayed my order) 2$ (the tip)
6. Bought Potatoes, Sugar, Coffee and other grocery 10$
* Cooked Batata Rassa Bhaaji after a long time - Priceless
7. Hogged junk food 15$
8. Recharged my Reliance India Phone Card 5$
* Spoke to friends and family back home - Priceless
2. Applied for OPT 175$
* Played badminton for several hours - Priceless
3. Got my learner's license 6$
4. Bought the India-Pakistan series package 25$
* Saw VVS Laxman hit Danish Kaneria for a 6 - Priceless
5. Got a free Pizza and 2 litre Pepsi (because Pizza Hut delayed my order) 2$ (the tip)
6. Bought Potatoes, Sugar, Coffee and other grocery 10$
* Cooked Batata Rassa Bhaaji after a long time - Priceless
7. Hogged junk food 15$
8. Recharged my Reliance India Phone Card 5$
* Spoke to friends and family back home - Priceless
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Blogging - A Career ???
Can one make a career out of blogging ?? Definitely, like in all other fields, there are the concepts of popularity, quality and "making it to the top". There are the really good bloggers - whose blogs are a must-read and respected in the blogosphere while there are the ones who hardly know what they are doing - the ones who just decided to try something because all their friends were doing it.
The other day I read on India Uncut of Amit Varma, one of the most respected Indian bloggers that there is some kind of bloggers' get-together where they meet and discuss blogging "business".
And the latest that I hear is that there was some sensation where some blog called Mediaah had to be shut down after the Times (tabloid ?) of India threatened legal action against it because of some particular posts that supposedly were libellous and targetted the Tabloid. (Must be interesting ... but nah ... not that interesting to get to the heart of it). Point: clearly blogs are not just a pastime of the netaddicts and people that have nothing to do. They do and will have a big role as alternate media. Bloggers have power. But with great power, comes great responsibility. Blogging may never be a career but it clearly is serious business.
The other day I read on India Uncut of Amit Varma, one of the most respected Indian bloggers that there is some kind of bloggers' get-together where they meet and discuss blogging "business".
And the latest that I hear is that there was some sensation where some blog called Mediaah had to be shut down after the Times (tabloid ?) of India threatened legal action against it because of some particular posts that supposedly were libellous and targetted the Tabloid. (Must be interesting ... but nah ... not that interesting to get to the heart of it). Point: clearly blogs are not just a pastime of the netaddicts and people that have nothing to do. They do and will have a big role as alternate media. Bloggers have power. But with great power, comes great responsibility. Blogging may never be a career but it clearly is serious business.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaaye ...
I've been meaning to write this for quite some time now. But often something else came up. Or at times, I forgot. Today I have nothing else to write - hence here goes.
Those of you who have stayed in a place 12 hours off from home (like I am doing here) might be able to understand me better. In the inital days particularly, it is a weird sort of feeling. And I am not talking just about the jetlag. It is as if when you are going to sleep in the night you realise that somewhere 180 degrees on the other side of the globe people will be waking up - your friends will be out in the gym working out (missing you hopefully, well who knows ??). Your mom will be making amtee bhat but proportionately less than she used to because your plate is going to be empty.
And then when you are in the middle of work and something is not going right and you are sitting there frustrated staring at the computer screen, suddenly you remeber that yes ... on the other side of the globe the evening will be gently sliding into the night - and your friends will be out there partying - but your glass will be empty - hopefully they will remember that - and your ajjee and mavshi and cousins will be coming home - of course knowing that you are not going to be there ...
It may sound weird but what led me to think so deeply on this actually was a cricket match - I had gone to college late at night to watch it ( we don't have cable net at home) and since the match started at 2.30 in the afternoon India time, it was early morning here. And by lunch time when the shadows could be seen across the Eden Gardens on the screen, a beautiful pink glow could be seen outside the windows of the lab. At that time, I could really begin to see this whole concept of night following day and day night "in a new light" - know what I mean ?? (Pun not intended)
And if the earlier parts of this post led you to believe that this is some sort of sentimental stuff, it is not really. It is more of an inspirational post because you see - when I am stuck at work and having problems, I can find solace in the fact that "Kahin door din dhal raha hoga" - and in the beautiful evening, people (people I care about) will be enjoying, partying and having fun. While when I am worried at night, (maybe sleepless due to tension, exams and work) I can always find heart in the fact that this night isn't going to last forever because some 1800 kms along the radius of the globe it is already a brilliant, glorious morning - a fresh start
Those of you who have stayed in a place 12 hours off from home (like I am doing here) might be able to understand me better. In the inital days particularly, it is a weird sort of feeling. And I am not talking just about the jetlag. It is as if when you are going to sleep in the night you realise that somewhere 180 degrees on the other side of the globe people will be waking up - your friends will be out in the gym working out (missing you hopefully, well who knows ??). Your mom will be making amtee bhat but proportionately less than she used to because your plate is going to be empty.
And then when you are in the middle of work and something is not going right and you are sitting there frustrated staring at the computer screen, suddenly you remeber that yes ... on the other side of the globe the evening will be gently sliding into the night - and your friends will be out there partying - but your glass will be empty - hopefully they will remember that - and your ajjee and mavshi and cousins will be coming home - of course knowing that you are not going to be there ...
It may sound weird but what led me to think so deeply on this actually was a cricket match - I had gone to college late at night to watch it ( we don't have cable net at home) and since the match started at 2.30 in the afternoon India time, it was early morning here. And by lunch time when the shadows could be seen across the Eden Gardens on the screen, a beautiful pink glow could be seen outside the windows of the lab. At that time, I could really begin to see this whole concept of night following day and day night "in a new light" - know what I mean ?? (Pun not intended)
And if the earlier parts of this post led you to believe that this is some sort of sentimental stuff, it is not really. It is more of an inspirational post because you see - when I am stuck at work and having problems, I can find solace in the fact that "Kahin door din dhal raha hoga" - and in the beautiful evening, people (people I care about) will be enjoying, partying and having fun. While when I am worried at night, (maybe sleepless due to tension, exams and work) I can always find heart in the fact that this night isn't going to last forever because some 1800 kms along the radius of the globe it is already a brilliant, glorious morning - a fresh start
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Concerned ...
Why is Sania Mirza, the latest sports sensation from India and the most perfect girl I have ever seen since ... whenever ... not playing in the Indian Wells Open (or whatever the name of that tournament is - I remember there is a Pacific in it somewhere).
Has her ankle injury gotten worse or is she just resting ?? Because with such a big draw, she should be getting a direct entry in the main draw now. Come on Sania !! Hope to see you in action soon again. I who had lost all trust in women's tennis now keenly follow the WTATour just four you !!
Has her ankle injury gotten worse or is she just resting ?? Because with such a big draw, she should be getting a direct entry in the main draw now. Come on Sania !! Hope to see you in action soon again. I who had lost all trust in women's tennis now keenly follow the WTATour just four you !!
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
CAPTCHAs
Have you noticed if you have tried to create a new email account or just to register for some Yahoo! Group or something like that in recent times, they ask you to type in a string of letters that can be seen in an image ??
Well the first time I noticed it, it just amused me; the second time it annoyed me; the third time I took the pains to look around and realized it is used to prevent automated registrations - and yes it made more sense then. It was not until yesterday I realised the full theory behind it all.
It is in fact a very interesting and fast-growing area of research, one area I found interesting at the onset after a long long time. This was when we had a seminar in our colloquium series on the topic yesterday. The speaker was a beautiful lady who had just graduated from Berkeley, Dr. Monica Chew, so that made it all the more interesting.
Basically, that thing which Yahoo! among other companies use is called a "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" or simply a CAPTCHA. The idea is to display a string in a form a human can read but a machine can't. So only a human would be able to type it in correctly, not a software bot.
The principle is similar to the one used in cryptography. (It is easy to compute the product of 2 prime numbers but difficult to find the prime factors of a given huge number.) Here the idea is that it is difficult for optical pattern recognition programs to recognize an image if it is distorted, while it is relatively easy to distort it. Machine Vision is a known hard AI problem, just like Prime factoring is a known hard problem in algorithmics.
Of course all CAPTCHAs which rely on strings have been broken; guesswork is the most commonly used weapon of attack. This is partly because strings used in CAPTCHAS are often dictionary words because otherwise legitimate users misspell them (in fact misspelling (or mistyping) is a horribly surprisingly common occurence). Which is why the challenge is not only to make CAPTCHAs as difficult as possible for machines to break, but at the same time as easy as possible for genuine users to use.
Hence, string CAPTCHAs will soon become obsolete and the way ahead is image CAPTCHAs. An image is displayed and the user is asked to type in what it is. This of course will create unimaginable problems as you can guess - spelling errors, language issues, user interpretations - if you put a picture of a cup, a user might describe it as a mug, cup, coffee jar what else ? and all other problems of the English language - like polysemy, synonymy and what not. Hence the next idea - an anomaly CAPTCHA - 6 pictures, 5 of which denote the same thing and one different - tell which one is different.
I think CAPTCHA is a really intriguing idea. Aim to find out more soon - when I have the time - till then: the next time you encounter a CAPTCHA, make sure you spare those 1 or 2 minutes to work it out - it is really worth the effort.
Well the first time I noticed it, it just amused me; the second time it annoyed me; the third time I took the pains to look around and realized it is used to prevent automated registrations - and yes it made more sense then. It was not until yesterday I realised the full theory behind it all.
It is in fact a very interesting and fast-growing area of research, one area I found interesting at the onset after a long long time. This was when we had a seminar in our colloquium series on the topic yesterday. The speaker was a beautiful lady who had just graduated from Berkeley, Dr. Monica Chew, so that made it all the more interesting.
Basically, that thing which Yahoo! among other companies use is called a "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" or simply a CAPTCHA. The idea is to display a string in a form a human can read but a machine can't. So only a human would be able to type it in correctly, not a software bot.
The principle is similar to the one used in cryptography. (It is easy to compute the product of 2 prime numbers but difficult to find the prime factors of a given huge number.) Here the idea is that it is difficult for optical pattern recognition programs to recognize an image if it is distorted, while it is relatively easy to distort it. Machine Vision is a known hard AI problem, just like Prime factoring is a known hard problem in algorithmics.
Of course all CAPTCHAs which rely on strings have been broken; guesswork is the most commonly used weapon of attack. This is partly because strings used in CAPTCHAS are often dictionary words because otherwise legitimate users misspell them (in fact misspelling (or mistyping) is a horribly surprisingly common occurence). Which is why the challenge is not only to make CAPTCHAs as difficult as possible for machines to break, but at the same time as easy as possible for genuine users to use.
Hence, string CAPTCHAs will soon become obsolete and the way ahead is image CAPTCHAs. An image is displayed and the user is asked to type in what it is. This of course will create unimaginable problems as you can guess - spelling errors, language issues, user interpretations - if you put a picture of a cup, a user might describe it as a mug, cup, coffee jar what else ? and all other problems of the English language - like polysemy, synonymy and what not. Hence the next idea - an anomaly CAPTCHA - 6 pictures, 5 of which denote the same thing and one different - tell which one is different.
I think CAPTCHA is a really intriguing idea. Aim to find out more soon - when I have the time - till then: the next time you encounter a CAPTCHA, make sure you spare those 1 or 2 minutes to work it out - it is really worth the effort.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Hectic But Fun ....
It has been a pretty hectic week; hence the lack of posts - although I am not sure if the net productivity of the last 7 days is going to exceed that of any other collection of 7 consecutive days. Today I had Pav Bhaji at a friend's place - wow - it feels so great !!!
Also today, I played 2 hours of intense badminton with top players (players who are better than me by an order of magnitude). And it can be pretty exhausting - also pretty rewarding both metnally and physically - physically because once the exhaustion wears off and you enjoy a shower and an hour in the bath-tub you feel so great - and mentally if you are able to even pose some challenge to these top players you feel a great sense of achievement.
Also today, I played 2 hours of intense badminton with top players (players who are better than me by an order of magnitude). And it can be pretty exhausting - also pretty rewarding both metnally and physically - physically because once the exhaustion wears off and you enjoy a shower and an hour in the bath-tub you feel so great - and mentally if you are able to even pose some challenge to these top players you feel a great sense of achievement.
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