Wednesday, June 23, 2004
My first post in months and great timing too genius - leaving for India in 6 days with your future uncertain.
Anyway, I got an email from a Portuguese guy (a professor maybe) mistaking me for Prof.K.R.Rajagopal. This was the first time it had ever happened and I am surprised it hasn't happened more often.
Anyway, I got an email from a Portuguese guy (a professor maybe) mistaking me for Prof.K.R.Rajagopal. This was the first time it had ever happened and I am surprised it hasn't happened more often.
Sunday, November 09, 2003
Fidel saves the day for Windies
What the hell are Windies doing saving a Test match by the skin of their teeth against a depleted Zimbabwe?. Good god!. Lara wanted the Windies to perform better overseas. Good start genius. Maybe he should have stuck around for a lot longer than 8 balls or whatever he faced yesterday before falling to Heath Streak. What the hell is happening?. Fidel Edwards had to face 32 balls and stick around for 12 overs to save the Test. This is the same pitch where the Zimbaweans made 500+ in the first innings.
There have been many lows for the Windies team over the past 7-8 years, but this would have been the absolute nadir. Losing to a Zimbabwean team that has lost all but one player from its WC '99 semi-final team. I am not comparing Tests and odos, but that team had a lot of good cricketers - Flower brothers (Andy is gone forever, Grant injured), Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin, Olonga, Strang and many more.
I should probably give up on supporting sports teams. It is becoming much too much to bear emotionally.
What the hell are Windies doing saving a Test match by the skin of their teeth against a depleted Zimbabwe?. Good god!. Lara wanted the Windies to perform better overseas. Good start genius. Maybe he should have stuck around for a lot longer than 8 balls or whatever he faced yesterday before falling to Heath Streak. What the hell is happening?. Fidel Edwards had to face 32 balls and stick around for 12 overs to save the Test. This is the same pitch where the Zimbaweans made 500+ in the first innings.
There have been many lows for the Windies team over the past 7-8 years, but this would have been the absolute nadir. Losing to a Zimbabwean team that has lost all but one player from its WC '99 semi-final team. I am not comparing Tests and odos, but that team had a lot of good cricketers - Flower brothers (Andy is gone forever, Grant injured), Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin, Olonga, Strang and many more.
I should probably give up on supporting sports teams. It is becoming much too much to bear emotionally.
Bloodbath of epic proportions
Holy cow!. OU beat A&M 77 to nothing. 77-0!!!. No one could have imagined such a thorough domination of a team supposedly playing the same level of football. I only saw a few plays during lunch at the Union in the UT campus (I was in Austin for the TRASH tournament - see previous post) and good thing that happened. I am not sure how depressed I would have been if I had watched the entire game.
It was an absolutely unacceptable performance and someone has to take the responsibility for the debacle. I would have to point a finger at the coaches - they should have prepared the team better. The result of the game was almost a foregone conclusion but the score was not. The coaches should have come up with some scheme defensively to limit the OU scoring. I am too disturbed by the game to make any more comments on it right now. All that has been going through my mind regarding this game since yesterday afternooon has been HOLY COW!. I don't know if even the Nebraska team that won 3 national titles in 4 years('94, '95 and '97) or the great undefeated OU teams under Bud Wilkinson in the 50's or the Nebraska teams of late 60s, early 70's were ever as dominating as this Oklahoma team has been this year. Admittedly I have never watched a single game played by those teams but it is hard for me to imagine a college team more dominating than this OU team. If there was ever one more dominating than this, then they should have petitioned to play in the NFL. Every team that steps onto the field against OU has to be a little scared right now.
A&M was humiliated yesterday and that has been the theme since the first two games. Maybe not so against V.Tech and Pitt but since then it has been mostly downhill. If and how they are going to recover next year is unclear. Fran's honeymoon in Aggieland may or may not have have ended after the Okie State and Nebraska losses, but if not it was definitely over yesterday.
Holy cow!. OU beat A&M 77 to nothing. 77-0!!!. No one could have imagined such a thorough domination of a team supposedly playing the same level of football. I only saw a few plays during lunch at the Union in the UT campus (I was in Austin for the TRASH tournament - see previous post) and good thing that happened. I am not sure how depressed I would have been if I had watched the entire game.
It was an absolutely unacceptable performance and someone has to take the responsibility for the debacle. I would have to point a finger at the coaches - they should have prepared the team better. The result of the game was almost a foregone conclusion but the score was not. The coaches should have come up with some scheme defensively to limit the OU scoring. I am too disturbed by the game to make any more comments on it right now. All that has been going through my mind regarding this game since yesterday afternooon has been HOLY COW!. I don't know if even the Nebraska team that won 3 national titles in 4 years('94, '95 and '97) or the great undefeated OU teams under Bud Wilkinson in the 50's or the Nebraska teams of late 60s, early 70's were ever as dominating as this Oklahoma team has been this year. Admittedly I have never watched a single game played by those teams but it is hard for me to imagine a college team more dominating than this OU team. If there was ever one more dominating than this, then they should have petitioned to play in the NFL. Every team that steps onto the field against OU has to be a little scared right now.
A&M was humiliated yesterday and that has been the theme since the first two games. Maybe not so against V.Tech and Pitt but since then it has been mostly downhill. If and how they are going to recover next year is unclear. Fran's honeymoon in Aggieland may or may not have have ended after the Okie State and Nebraska losses, but if not it was definitely over yesterday.
TRASHy day at Austin
I went to Austin yesterday for a TRASH quiz tournament with Chris, Candy and Tyler. It was great fun. We might qualify for the TRASHionals. I am not sure if I am going to be around for that (Feb, I guess) but if I am I would love to go. A&M also had 2 other teams lead by Rachel (End the politics guys).
The winner was the undefeated Battle Planet team (from OU) - they were really good though we fought them hard in the top bracket match in the aftrenoon. I didn't particularly distinguish myself and contributed, atleast in part, to the loss to A&M I with a neg. We lost on the last tossup. But it was a fun day overall. The food at Threadgills was OK.
There is something about Hypno Hustler from the team of the same name (also from OU) that I can't seem to let go off. We never spoke and our paths might never cross again and I am a little saddened by that.
I went to Austin yesterday for a TRASH quiz tournament with Chris, Candy and Tyler. It was great fun. We might qualify for the TRASHionals. I am not sure if I am going to be around for that (Feb, I guess) but if I am I would love to go. A&M also had 2 other teams lead by Rachel (End the politics guys).
The winner was the undefeated Battle Planet team (from OU) - they were really good though we fought them hard in the top bracket match in the aftrenoon. I didn't particularly distinguish myself and contributed, atleast in part, to the loss to A&M I with a neg. We lost on the last tossup. But it was a fun day overall. The food at Threadgills was OK.
There is something about Hypno Hustler from the team of the same name (also from OU) that I can't seem to let go off. We never spoke and our paths might never cross again and I am a little saddened by that.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
iTunes rocks!
I love iTunes, the jukebox type software from Apple now available for PC's too. It plays mp3 files and also allows access to the Apple iTunes music store to buy songs for 99c. But the best feature for me is the online radio stations it has, a' la Real One.
The radio stations cover a wide range of genres from classical to classic rock, americana to world, 50's pop to electronic, religious to alt-rock and even public radio. Very nice.
I love iTunes, the jukebox type software from Apple now available for PC's too. It plays mp3 files and also allows access to the Apple iTunes music store to buy songs for 99c. But the best feature for me is the online radio stations it has, a' la Real One.
The radio stations cover a wide range of genres from classical to classic rock, americana to world, 50's pop to electronic, religious to alt-rock and even public radio. Very nice.
Racist '...Accomplishment..'?
I wish I hadn't mentioned Charles Murray, the author of Human Accomplishment..., in one of my previous posts. Turns out the racist has previously written a rather unscientific book called The Bell Curve in which he makes the outrageous claim that blacks are somehow genetically inferior to whites. The Slate article I had linked to in the original post does mention this and I seem to have missed that. Stupid me.
I wish I hadn't mentioned Charles Murray, the author of Human Accomplishment..., in one of my previous posts. Turns out the racist has previously written a rather unscientific book called The Bell Curve in which he makes the outrageous claim that blacks are somehow genetically inferior to whites. The Slate article I had linked to in the original post does mention this and I seem to have missed that. Stupid me.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Ah, that missing winning feeling is back
A welcome win for the Aggies against Kansas (45-33) after a couple of forgettable losses. But the defense is still porous with Barmann, the freshman QB, throwing for 4 TD's. Barmann had his redshirt taken off after Bill Whittemore, the starting QB, went down with an injury - Mark Mangino must have been agonizing over that decision but it was probably the right one in the end. If they had won, they would have been bowl eligible and that is a rare occurence for Kansas.
The margin of victory should have been more but at this stage Fran will take a win no matter how. Courtney Lewis went over 100 yards again and is the real gem of the offense right now, even more so than Reggie. I never thought that would be the case.
Now the Fran and the Aggies have a humongously difficult game against the Sooners at Norman. Oklahoma just destroyed the Okie State Cowboys and erased, at least temporarily, memories of the losses of the previous 2 years. Stoops and the Sooners are marching towards New Orleans and they will be very focused to not have any let downs. Stoops will prepare his team to be relentless on defense. He'll probably game plan to throw deep more than usual against the suspect Aggie secondary. A big defeat seems to be in the offing for the Aggies this weekend.
A welcome win for the Aggies against Kansas (45-33) after a couple of forgettable losses. But the defense is still porous with Barmann, the freshman QB, throwing for 4 TD's. Barmann had his redshirt taken off after Bill Whittemore, the starting QB, went down with an injury - Mark Mangino must have been agonizing over that decision but it was probably the right one in the end. If they had won, they would have been bowl eligible and that is a rare occurence for Kansas.
The margin of victory should have been more but at this stage Fran will take a win no matter how. Courtney Lewis went over 100 yards again and is the real gem of the offense right now, even more so than Reggie. I never thought that would be the case.
Now the Fran and the Aggies have a humongously difficult game against the Sooners at Norman. Oklahoma just destroyed the Okie State Cowboys and erased, at least temporarily, memories of the losses of the previous 2 years. Stoops and the Sooners are marching towards New Orleans and they will be very focused to not have any let downs. Stoops will prepare his team to be relentless on defense. He'll probably game plan to throw deep more than usual against the suspect Aggie secondary. A big defeat seems to be in the offing for the Aggies this weekend.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Kid in the candy store
I was like the proverbial kid in the proverbial candy store today. A friend (Abhijit) is leaving the US and going to India (or Germany?) and brought over a bunch of old and used books. The books include a history of the Vietnam war, a history of the Jews, Satanic Verses and more. The icing on the cake however was the GUITAR he left. God bless him!
I was like the proverbial kid in the proverbial candy store today. A friend (Abhijit) is leaving the US and going to India (or Germany?) and brought over a bunch of old and used books. The books include a history of the Vietnam war, a history of the Jews, Satanic Verses and more. The icing on the cake however was the GUITAR he left. God bless him!
Friday, October 31, 2003
Addendum to the All Star Physics dream team
This is a codicil to the previous post. In hindsight, I have missed some obvious names from consideration.
John von Neumann, George Stokes, Hamilton, Euler (?), Biot, Lagrange, Christiaan Huygens, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, Ernest Rutherford (saw it on the list from the book), Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger, Marie Curie (two Nobel prizes - what a family btw - 5 Nobel prizes - 2 for Marie Curie, one for her husband Pierre Curie, one each for their daughter Irene-Joliot and her husband Frederic Joliot) and John Bardeen (two Nobel prizes) merit serious consideration.
This is a codicil to the previous post. In hindsight, I have missed some obvious names from consideration.
John von Neumann, George Stokes, Hamilton, Euler (?), Biot, Lagrange, Christiaan Huygens, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, Ernest Rutherford (saw it on the list from the book), Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger, Marie Curie (two Nobel prizes - what a family btw - 5 Nobel prizes - 2 for Marie Curie, one for her husband Pierre Curie, one each for their daughter Irene-Joliot and her husband Frederic Joliot) and John Bardeen (two Nobel prizes) merit serious consideration.
All Star Physics dream team
There is a new book out called Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 by Charles Murray. He has an all time all-star physics dream team with a list of 20 physicists.
I tried to make my own list (I saw a couple of names before deciding to make my own list first and then comparing it with the one from the book. So my list isn't completely independent from Charles Murray's). This is just a list based on my perception of physicists rather on any extensive reading and knowledge of their works. So here goes (not in any order except for the top two) -
1) Issac Newton
2) Albert Einstein
3) Galileo Galilei
4) Johann Kepler
5) James Clerk Maxwell
6) Lord Kelvin
7) Niels Bohr
8) Max Planck
9) Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac (best name)
10) Richard Feynman
11) Michael Faraday
12) (Auguste?) Poincare
13) James Prescott Joule
(I have started to run out of perceived superstars and am reaching for it)
14) Stephen Hawking (?)
15) Gauss(?)
16) Bernoulli (which one? maybe the entire family)
That is it. Anyway I had eleven names in common with the list from the book. Not sure what to think of that.
And, btw, the order for the top two was deliberate. Issac Newton was, is and will always be the greatest physicist of all time. He made way too much contribution to physics that even Einstein can't surpass. In cricketing terms, Newton is the Bradman (Sobers for all round ability) to Einstein's Richards or Tendulkar or Hutton or Hobbs or whoever else. In baseball terms, Newton is the Babe to Einstein's Bonds or Mays.
There is a new book out called Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 by Charles Murray. He has an all time all-star physics dream team with a list of 20 physicists.
I tried to make my own list (I saw a couple of names before deciding to make my own list first and then comparing it with the one from the book. So my list isn't completely independent from Charles Murray's). This is just a list based on my perception of physicists rather on any extensive reading and knowledge of their works. So here goes (not in any order except for the top two) -
1) Issac Newton
2) Albert Einstein
3) Galileo Galilei
4) Johann Kepler
5) James Clerk Maxwell
6) Lord Kelvin
7) Niels Bohr
8) Max Planck
9) Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac (best name)
10) Richard Feynman
11) Michael Faraday
12) (Auguste?) Poincare
13) James Prescott Joule
(I have started to run out of perceived superstars and am reaching for it)
14) Stephen Hawking (?)
15) Gauss(?)
16) Bernoulli (which one? maybe the entire family)
That is it. Anyway I had eleven names in common with the list from the book. Not sure what to think of that.
And, btw, the order for the top two was deliberate. Issac Newton was, is and will always be the greatest physicist of all time. He made way too much contribution to physics that even Einstein can't surpass. In cricketing terms, Newton is the Bradman (Sobers for all round ability) to Einstein's Richards or Tendulkar or Hutton or Hobbs or whoever else. In baseball terms, Newton is the Babe to Einstein's Bonds or Mays.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Hoops is back, baby!
The NBA season started yesterday and the Lakers pasted the Mavs without Kobe. It is way, way too early to question the Mavs yet, but I expected a better effort from them and a closer game. I did not watch the game but apparently Kobe was sitting next to Shaq and was all buddy-buddy with him. Guess Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson got to him and asked him to stop going nuclear on Shaq. They have a great chance of winning another championship if Kobe and Shaq can get along on the court and suspend their armageddon for offseason when it looks more and more like Kobe will opt out of his Lakers contract and test free-agency. 28 franchises have been waiting for this day for a long time.
AI has a typical AI performance, shooting 9-25 but he also dished out 11 assists. Nice win for the 76ers to start the season. But they still seem a notch below the Nets and the Pistons. They will need all the scoring they can get from Glen Robinson - AI can only do so much.
The NBA season started yesterday and the Lakers pasted the Mavs without Kobe. It is way, way too early to question the Mavs yet, but I expected a better effort from them and a closer game. I did not watch the game but apparently Kobe was sitting next to Shaq and was all buddy-buddy with him. Guess Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson got to him and asked him to stop going nuclear on Shaq. They have a great chance of winning another championship if Kobe and Shaq can get along on the court and suspend their armageddon for offseason when it looks more and more like Kobe will opt out of his Lakers contract and test free-agency. 28 franchises have been waiting for this day for a long time.
AI has a typical AI performance, shooting 9-25 but he also dished out 11 assists. Nice win for the 76ers to start the season. But they still seem a notch below the Nets and the Pistons. They will need all the scoring they can get from Glen Robinson - AI can only do so much.
