Red Jihad ?

After the green jihad that has been causing problems all over the world, now it is the turn of the Maoists to try and recruit people !

And the interesting thing is, not only are they actively trying to recruit people, but they're offering cash incentives ! Maybe I don't get the commie philosophy, but paying cash to fight an ideological war ? Here is an interesting excerpt from that article...

the promise they have made to pay a monthly stipend, which reportedly is Rs 2,000 per head, and also a compensation, worth Rs 2 lakh, in case of ‘death in action’.

So, it is worthwhile to die for the cause, eh ? How is this different from the "x virgins on death concept"? (Well, at least, in this case, hopefully, the money goes to the family and is off actual use, rather than merrymaking in the afterlife ! ).

And another rather interesting statement...

That they are flush with funds is also borne out by the fact that several doctors in Patna admitted last week that they can identify the Maoists by their willingness to pay for expensive tests and medicine.

Where do these people get so much money from ? How come the communist parties of India do not make public statements against these terrorists? Yes, you read that right...their actions are no better than the various cowardly terrorist acts perpetuated around the world - cloaking it in a red idiological banner doesn't make it any better - but then again, we see that money forms the supreme ideology !

And as a friend said - "killer job satisfaction" !

Baaz nahi aayega !

Tropical cyclone "Baaz" was named so by S.K. Subramanian, the director of regional centre for for tropical cyclones.

Well, here's South Asia's answer to "Katrina" and "Rita".

Incompetent Design.

Seed magazine carries an article about Don Wise, professor emeritus of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is the nation's foremost proponent of ID. No, that's not Intelligent Design, but Incompetent Design.

From the Seed article...

Wise cites serious flaws in the systems of the human body as evidence that design in the universe exhibits not an obvious source of, but a sore lack of, intelligence.

Some of his reasons for believing in this concept...

• The thing that perhaps is closest to all of us is our own skeleton, and there are certainly all kinds of stupidity in our design. No self-respecting engineering student would make the kinds of dumb mistakes that are built into us. All of our pelvises slope forward for convenient knuckle-dragging, like all the other great apes. And the only reason you stand erect is because of this incredible sharp bend at the base of your spine, which is either evolution's way of modifying something or else it's just a design that would flunk a first-year engineering student.
• Look at the teeth in your mouth. Basically, most of us have too many teeth for the size of our mouth. Well, is this evolution flattening a mammalian muzzle and jamming it into a face or is it a design that couldn't count accurately above 20?
• Look at the bones in your face. They're the same as the other mammals' but they're just squashed and contorted by jamming the jaw into a face with your brain expanding over it, so the potential drainage system in there is so convoluted that no plumber would admit to having done it!

"So is this evolution or is this plain stupid design?" he asks.

He even created a song/anthem for the concept, the lyrics of which are (sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")...

"My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would cer-tain-ly resign.
Incompetent Design!
Evo-Evo-Evo-lution! Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution. Science SHALL prevail!"

Here a link to the video for the above song

This post is another in a series about Intelligent Design. Other posts in this series : 1, 2, 3, 4.

Sex and Chess ?

A New York Times article talks about how the chess world is trying yo spruce up its sexiness ! The main picture shows our very own Vishwanathan Anand playing a round of blitz chess with model Carmen Kass.

There even exists a web site for : World Chess Beauty Contest !

Update : Looks like Amit Varma and Sepia Mutiny beat me to the post on this one !

Another Update : Udayan Bapat, our very own local chessmaster, mailed me this link (and this one), which shows that this is an story ("controversy" in his words) that has been around for some time !

Getting technical about the little master.

Dileepan Narayanan has written an excellent post examing fine technical details about Sachin Tendulkar's batting and grip!

Link via Prem Panicker's Sight Screen.

Santa's Elves...

...are not in the Nordic countries, but here. And if you want to the reach the big guy via email, well, then try this site.

If Bangladesh has such high rates of development...

...as the Human Developement Report suggests, then how come so many Bangladeshis are illegally crossing over to India ?

So, somewhere something is wrong !

Bone Herb.

A cactus-like plant used for long in traditional Indian medicine as a bone-healing agent has gained scientific credence. Scientists have found that the plant has key chemical ingredients required to make human bone, according to a report in the Telegraph.

In test-tube experiments, researchers at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune have shown that the plant, Cissus quadrangularis, is rich in both calcium and phosphorus, two major elements found in bones.

Another excerpt...

In an independent research effort two years ago, biochemists at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka had analysed the chemical composition of the plant and shown that it contains a high proportion of calcium and phosphorus.

Apparently, in some parts of India this plant is called haddi-joade !

Women get into it now...

Women are angry about statements made by RSS Chief, K S Sudarshan, where he asked Hindus to give birth to as many children as possible to make up for the lopsided demographics of India.

They state...

"It is implied in his statement that a woman's reproductive faculties are to be employed solely to fulfil the agenda of a Hindu nationalist state - like a reproductive machine"

Hmmm...well, first off, it really has nothing to do with a "nationalist state". Let me say that I don't condone his ideas on this matter - I mean that's just a knee-jerk reaction to a known problem - that of the demographics of India being in serious trouble. The solution, in my opinion, is an uniform civil code being implemented -- enforced if necessary. But demographics in a country such as India should be maintained - if not for anything else, but to keep radicals (of all religions) in check -- just because there exist 80% Hindus, doesn't mean that India is a Hindu nationalist state. On the contrary, the large majority of sensible Hindus will keep the ultra right-wing radicals in check, as much as possible. The large numbers will also (hopefully, and ideally) prevent radicals of other religions, backgrounds, etc. from forming a foothold and destroying the ancient and vast culture that is India.

Related posts in this series about demographics : 1, 2, 3.

RD !

Rohit Brijnath writes about Rahul Dravid and his cricketing philosophy. Great Stuff !

Some excerpts...

• Dravid's baby son's name, Samit, so he says, means "collected", but it also translates as "composed". Maybe it's kismet, maybe it's just some strange coincidence that India's newest captain picked that particular name, but it is a definition that fits him tidily. They are qualities he holds dearly.
• What he asks them is to focus on personal responsibility. To stand up and be counted. To look at themselves. To put in everything. To enjoy each other's success. What he's saying is not some wildly original idea, it's simple, but then so is sport, and it is only when these straightforward virtues become a personal hymn, when they are lived purely and constantly, that greatness arrives. Indian teams after all are famous for seemingly getting bored with playing well.

• His philosophy is matter of fact. Wasters, complainers, the lethargic, those who say why did "X" get the new ball and not me, builders of cliques, players who don't smile at another man's success, these fellows need not apply, will not pass muster. Thanks, but no.

• "It's very important to have the right people on board," he says. "We get caught up in visions and goals but it's first about getting the right people on the bus and wrong people off. If you have the right people, right attitude, right behaviour, you find a way."

Original link via Prem Panicker's Sight Screen.

Clickety Clack !

Do you like to click the mouse buttons ? Are you so used to it that you feel withdrawal symptoms if you don't click your mouse buttons at least once every so often ? Well, then check this out:

http://www.dontclick.it/

It seems like a radical new idea, don't you think ? Now, seriously, how many times did you feel that craving to click ? And how many times did you give in to it ?

Link via Wired magazine.

Stringing them along...

String theory has been around since the 60s, but for the last decade or so, it has gained popularity among theoretical physicists who have been looking for the theory of everything - that grand unification of all physics theories.

But various scientists don't take that view - they think that it lacks substance, and since it cannot be proved, it is more like a theory of anything - especially by Lawrence Krauss, a professor of physics at Case Western.

Here is an interesting excerpt from one of the above articles...

String theory proposes a solution that reconciles relativity and quantum mechanics. To get there, it requires two radical changes in our view of the universe. The first is easy: What we've presumed are subatomic particles are actually tiny vibrating strings of energy, each 100 billion billion times smaller than the protons at the nucleus of an atom.

That's easy to accept. But for the math to work, there also must be more physical dimensions to reality than the three of space and one of time that we can perceive. The most popular string models require 10 or 11 dimensions. What we perceive as solid matter is mathematically explainable as the three-dimensional manifestation of "strings" of elementary particles vibrating and dancing through multiple dimensions of reality, like shadows on a wall. In theory, these extra dimensions surround us and contain myriad parallel universes.

Well, what's the problem then ? Does this explain everything ? Apprently, no one has been able to prove anything experimentally, and only mathematical proofs have been put forward. As the article mentions...

compared to E=mc², string theory equations look like spaghetti. And unfortunately for the aspirations of its proponents, the ideas are just as hard to explain in words.

And not only have they not been able to prove anything, they haven't even been able to devise an experiment to even try to prove it ! Ask any nobel prize winning theoretical physicist about how to prove it and his response starts with...

"Let's say we had a particle accelerator the size of the Milky Way …"

Hmmm....

Shrinking storage mediums...

Apparently nature had cracked the technique for storing large amounts of data in a very small structure : DNA. An interesting article in Forbes about DNA computers and DNA storage.

Here is an interesting excerpt...

The first working computer made entirely of DNA was created in 1994 by Leonard Adleman, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California. In a teaspoon of water, he used a series of biochemical reactions to solve the famous “traveling salesman” problem (basically, how many ways can you get from New York to Cleveland while stopping in seven other cities in between?). The promise of the approach was that because each piece of DNA can function essentially as its own computer, it might be possible to use it to do as many as a quadrillion computations at once.

Rejecting God ?

Art Buchwald analyzes Dover's rejection of Intelligent Design, and Pat Robertson's warning about the imminent wrath of God on this small town.

His conclusion : Pat Robertson must be God !

Here is some of his reasoning...

• he blamed the tornados in Kansas and Oklahoma on God's wrath.
• he warned Florida that it would suffer hurricanes if it didn't reject homosexuality
• Last summer he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Hmmm...food for thought !

Previous posts related to Intelligent Design : 1, 2, 3.

Reinventing the wheel...

...or at least patenting them !

Blog Mela !

Amit Varma has posted his latest blog mela. Makes for really interesting reading !

Well, yours truly finds a mention in it for the post about beer goggles in the Miscellaneous section.

Previous Times I have been mentioned on India Uncut : 1, 2.

Beer Goggles : secrets revealed.

The Registrar reports that researchers at the University of Manchester have discovered the true secrets behind the legendary "beer goggles" effect - by which, previously monstrous members of the opposite sex become strangely attractive after consumption of lager and that this may not have anything to do with the sheer volume of booze consumed !

Here are the other "factors"...

• light levels in the establishment
• beholder's eyesight
• atmospheric smokiness
• proximity to the object of desire

They also formulated a beer goggle scale (0 to 100+) as follows:

• Less than one: No effect
• 1-50: Person you would normally find unattractive appears less "visually offensive"
• 51-100: Non-appealing person becomes suddenly attractive
• More than 100: Someone not considered attractive looks like a super model

Well...now we know the secret - chat up a short-sighted pretty girl in a low-lit, smoke-filled joint, from a distance of 15-20 feet ! That should get you....