Category: Random Thoughts & Idle Chatter
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Glad to be back home after an enjoyable but hectic two weeks in New Delhi. The occasion for the winter travel was a family wedding. Most of the time was spent in attending to that - dressing up, eating and meeting with relatives some of whom I hadn't seen in years. On the return journey, I discovered to my…
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While recently discussing the precise mechanism of evolution,after viewing "What Darwin Never Knew" on Nova on PBS, there was much argument over whether the 'random' nature of mutation is truly random or conforms loosely to a framework of rules. Evolution in organisms, as we commonly understand, is where random mutations occur, of which the traits…
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My New Year's resolution is to use only "Middle East," no matter how common "Mideast" may become in the media. What's yours? Happy 2010!
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I am leaving for a vacation in a couple of days. So there will be no posting by me probably until the middle of January. Other bloggers too are going to be busy during the holiday season. Postings will therefore be light in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to spending the New Year in New Delhi with family and old friends…
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Since Ruchira has already proclaimed her (Ir)Religious Manifesto, I thought that I might talk briefly about mine. Some of the time, I fit somewhere on the continuum between Atheism and Agnosticism. It's like the flavor of the month. If I feel in a mood to be 'mysterian', I claim Agnostic leanings. If I feel mystery…
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In my recent post on Kathryn Lofton's take on the New Atheists (NAs) and their "misogyny," I dismissed Lofton's arguments on that point as more projection than proof. The post has now been linked at a couple of other blogs where some lengthy discussions have ensued. In one of my comments in response to another reader on the 3 Quarks…
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Visual computations tend to be generically hard and resource intensive. For example, our state-of-the-art algorithm for yaw detection in flight apparently needs Moore’s Law engorged Intel Cores to do anything useful. And yet mere flies seem to manage the number-crunching just fine…The trick at least in this instance seems to be that flies aren’t using…
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Today Accidental Blogger enters its fifth year. For the past four years my co-bloggers and I have shared our thoughts with each other and our readers, doing our bit to add to the cacophony of the blogosphere, whether or not anyone was listening. On the past three anniversaries, I reported on the health of the blog and some of the more interesting moments that we encountered on our way. This…
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Food – Deliciousness in Portland, Maine. I'm intrigued by "ravioli are stuffed with sweet local shrimp and haddock" – shrimp in ravioli isn't uncommon or remarkable, but haddock? Happiness – Is happiness catching? Maybe, but not like the global pig flu pandemic. Work Out, Become Smart – Mice on treadmills smarter than mice not on…
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The news outlets are full of reports about the impending global epidemic of swine flu. With cold weather on its way in the northern hemisphere and regular flu season beginning around September, we are being warned about a sharp uptick in the spread of the H1N1 (aka swine flu) virus. Drug companies are scrambling to…
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