HR chart translated into Tamil. I had difficulty between authenticity and credibility. Hope these words are close enough.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Sahayam and Sathguru from Periyar's perspective
Today being the birth day of Periyar, I received forwarded Whatsapp messages/greetings on the occasion. Coincidentally, there was also other unrelated messages, one of Mr. Sahayam the IAS officer & anti-corruption advocate on one of his encounters with few young men and another from Sathguru Jakki Vasudev on achieving unlimited potential in various personal dimensions. I could not resist but compare the contributions of these two men on the occasion, especially from Periyar's point of view.
Mr. Sahayam family's and his personal sacrifice and courage to fight corruption have become legendary. In this world where everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, Mr. Sahayam has gained and sustained more than his share of popularity for good number of years although he did not pursue it or market himself towards his personal gain. From what I see his work and his speeches are shared by people who are not gaining any material benefit or favor for that. He doesn't run a marketing machine to push his agenda. Anti corruption remains a slogan and ambition for emerging political parties in general. However, the emerging parties haven't done much other than to raise it as a slogan to gain votes. Established parties however are wishy-washy on the topic only to blame the opponent at every chance. The ruling parties are especially vicious to the straight forward administrators if they don't bend as needed. Mr. Sahayam is one of many civil servants who have fought and are fighting corruption. That calls for incredible courage on his part. Look at what happened to Mr. Uma Shankar who was one of the straight forward IAS officers victimized by earlier administration. Uma Shankar got dragged into multiple scandals and got pushed to the sidelines. Given the state of the top level leadership on both administrative and judicial wings, any departmental charge and inquiry spells doom to the career of honest officers. Mr. Sahayam is marching forward in this backdrop, for no personal gain and making a lot of sacrifice. He could have chosen to be another complacent officer or even someone to sing the tune of his political masters. Power and money would have lined up to him. But he has chosen principled life for the benefit of broader society. For that, he would have gained Periyar's accolade.
When growing up, one of the self help and spiritual text that influenced me profoundly was of Swami Vivekananda. His writings on Karma yoga, was enlightening to young minds in spiritual quest. I am not purview to how he built the Ramakrishna Mutt. But in the pre-internet days, my guess is he had rich sponsors who funded him and his vision. His ardent followers published his work and raised funds to reach out across the world is my presumption. In the modern day, spiritual leaders have tools that they can use to directly reach out to crowd source their mission. Sathguru is one of the savvy spiritual leaders who has leveraged the internet tools to market him and his Isha foundation. There are many leaders famous and infamous who dominate the spiritual market place today. I don't undermine the product or the organization in the spiritual market. They are emerging as organized faith groups that has almost close to cult follower-ship just as any other religious group . It gets interesting when these groups argue about whether Shridi Baba should be prayed to or not. That is of entertainment value for the masses. In contrast to Swami Vivekananda however, the modern spiritual leaders remain on the sideline on the major societal issues. The slogan "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached" is as powerful and potent today as it was in the days of Swami Vivekananda to energize the young men and women of his days to march towards the freedom struggle. The quotes of the modern spiritual leaders however don't target any societal issues, but rather fulfill their market need, essentially remaining vague and lacking conviction. The modern spiritual leaders choose such non-controversial areas as planting trees, conducting eye camps, educating the poor children, etc., that delivers feel-good factor for their predominantly young professional followers instead of such issues as fighting prevalent alcoholism among youth. Those services are also important contributions of an organization. But any non-profit organization can offer those services. If Periyar was here today, he would urge Sathguru to direct his mission towards eradication of alcoholism among youth through his spiritual teachings. The element of courage and sacrifice for social cause, that lacks today, will then get established in the spiritual path. People beyond their willing and paying followers will benefit from such initiatives.
Mr. Sahayam family's and his personal sacrifice and courage to fight corruption have become legendary. In this world where everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, Mr. Sahayam has gained and sustained more than his share of popularity for good number of years although he did not pursue it or market himself towards his personal gain. From what I see his work and his speeches are shared by people who are not gaining any material benefit or favor for that. He doesn't run a marketing machine to push his agenda. Anti corruption remains a slogan and ambition for emerging political parties in general. However, the emerging parties haven't done much other than to raise it as a slogan to gain votes. Established parties however are wishy-washy on the topic only to blame the opponent at every chance. The ruling parties are especially vicious to the straight forward administrators if they don't bend as needed. Mr. Sahayam is one of many civil servants who have fought and are fighting corruption. That calls for incredible courage on his part. Look at what happened to Mr. Uma Shankar who was one of the straight forward IAS officers victimized by earlier administration. Uma Shankar got dragged into multiple scandals and got pushed to the sidelines. Given the state of the top level leadership on both administrative and judicial wings, any departmental charge and inquiry spells doom to the career of honest officers. Mr. Sahayam is marching forward in this backdrop, for no personal gain and making a lot of sacrifice. He could have chosen to be another complacent officer or even someone to sing the tune of his political masters. Power and money would have lined up to him. But he has chosen principled life for the benefit of broader society. For that, he would have gained Periyar's accolade.
When growing up, one of the self help and spiritual text that influenced me profoundly was of Swami Vivekananda. His writings on Karma yoga, was enlightening to young minds in spiritual quest. I am not purview to how he built the Ramakrishna Mutt. But in the pre-internet days, my guess is he had rich sponsors who funded him and his vision. His ardent followers published his work and raised funds to reach out across the world is my presumption. In the modern day, spiritual leaders have tools that they can use to directly reach out to crowd source their mission. Sathguru is one of the savvy spiritual leaders who has leveraged the internet tools to market him and his Isha foundation. There are many leaders famous and infamous who dominate the spiritual market place today. I don't undermine the product or the organization in the spiritual market. They are emerging as organized faith groups that has almost close to cult follower-ship just as any other religious group . It gets interesting when these groups argue about whether Shridi Baba should be prayed to or not. That is of entertainment value for the masses. In contrast to Swami Vivekananda however, the modern spiritual leaders remain on the sideline on the major societal issues. The slogan "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached" is as powerful and potent today as it was in the days of Swami Vivekananda to energize the young men and women of his days to march towards the freedom struggle. The quotes of the modern spiritual leaders however don't target any societal issues, but rather fulfill their market need, essentially remaining vague and lacking conviction. The modern spiritual leaders choose such non-controversial areas as planting trees, conducting eye camps, educating the poor children, etc., that delivers feel-good factor for their predominantly young professional followers instead of such issues as fighting prevalent alcoholism among youth. Those services are also important contributions of an organization. But any non-profit organization can offer those services. If Periyar was here today, he would urge Sathguru to direct his mission towards eradication of alcoholism among youth through his spiritual teachings. The element of courage and sacrifice for social cause, that lacks today, will then get established in the spiritual path. People beyond their willing and paying followers will benefit from such initiatives.
Friday, April 26, 2013
A wonderful message in place of a legal notice!
In a world of copyrights, patents, obfuscation, anti trust laws, competitive suits, reverse engineering, etc., I came across this wonderful message in the header of an open source code file.
=================================================
** The author disclaims copyright to this source code. In place of
** a legal notice, here is a blessing:
**
** May you do good and not evil.
** May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
** May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
=================================================
What a wonderful message! Writing code for the sake of sharing with the world rather than for making a living has elevated the coding as an expression of love!!
=================================================
** The author disclaims copyright to this source code. In place of
** a legal notice, here is a blessing:
**
** May you do good and not evil.
** May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
** May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
=================================================
What a wonderful message! Writing code for the sake of sharing with the world rather than for making a living has elevated the coding as an expression of love!!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Last day of a long relationship
My first car...what an exciting moment that was in life! Soon after I moved to U.S. I bought this car. My kids call it the "Green car" as opposed to the "big car" the other vehicle, a minivan that my wife drives. Green car has come with me as a reliable friend all through the past fifteen years. It is older than my two children and we were a happy couple even before I met my wife. It took me all around the east coast of US. Together we created a lot of memories claiming up the slippery stretches of Mount Washington, trips to Niagara falls, New York, Washington D.C. and many other places miles and miles away. Brought us back home safely and reliably all the time. It was in this car I took my wife to deliver my two children in the hospital and brought home the babies on their first car ride. The proudest moment of all was when I brought my Mom to US, sat her on the passenger seat and rode her around. Both of my in-laws rode along in this car on their visit to US, and both departed this earth in a gap of few short years after their return to India leaving us only their memories behind.
Well, after 163,000 miles, today becomes the last day for the Green car with me. As with many things in life, it is time to move on. The car is still healthy although it has turned into a slightly high maintenance vehicle. The wear and tear is getting to the performance. It should still run for another 50,000 miles or so. But for me it is time to part with it. The excitement of getting a new car hasn't set in me. It is the pain of parting the Green car, that is dominant. Getting a small white compact hybrid in exchange of my beloved Green car.
So long my friend...in many ways, you are leaving me a better person than how you found me. I only wish I am as reliable and useful to others in life as you were to me.
Well, after 163,000 miles, today becomes the last day for the Green car with me. As with many things in life, it is time to move on. The car is still healthy although it has turned into a slightly high maintenance vehicle. The wear and tear is getting to the performance. It should still run for another 50,000 miles or so. But for me it is time to part with it. The excitement of getting a new car hasn't set in me. It is the pain of parting the Green car, that is dominant. Getting a small white compact hybrid in exchange of my beloved Green car.
So long my friend...in many ways, you are leaving me a better person than how you found me. I only wish I am as reliable and useful to others in life as you were to me.
Friday, March 08, 2013
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
O Great Teacher...
With many forms, yet
abstract
existent, yet unreal
One that manifests
as warthog, as
flower,
as sound and as
light,
as the nucleus and
as life,
as a course as well
as the destiny,
enrich us your
students
O great Teacher!
My translation
of Tamil text from Sri Arunagirinathar's Kandhar Anubudhi 51
Monday, December 10, 2012
A major breakthrough!
This news signifies the beginning of end of the cancer menace!
It is not perfected yet. But it has given amazing results. Genetically engineered cells go attack and clean up the leukemia cells. Its amazing how disabled HIV cells and rheumatoid arthritis drug helped the recovery of the little girl.
Kudos to University of Pennsylvania research team!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
ROI on Social media
I have heard of torturing the data until they confess...this seems to be a different version of it! :-)
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Monday, October 01, 2012
அகரத்தில் அரி
ராமாயண கதை முழுதும் 'அ' என்று ஆரம்பிக்கும் வார்த்தைகளால் வடிவமைக்கப் பட்டுள்ளது.
அனந்தனே அசுரர்களை அழித்து,
அன்பர்களுக்கு அருள அயோத்தி
அரசனாக அவதரித்தான்.
அப்போது அரிக்கு அரணாக அரசனின்
அம்சமாக அனுமனும் அவதரித்ததாக
அறிகிறோம். அன்று அஞ்சனை அவனிக்கு
அளித்த அன்பளிப்பு அல்லவா அனுமன் ?
அவனே அறிவழகன்,அன்பழகன்,அன்பர்களை
அரவ-ணைத்து அருளும் அருட்செல்வன்!
அயோத்தி அடலேறு,அம்மிதிலை அரசவையில்
அரசனின் அரிய வில்லை அடக்கி, அன்பும்
அடக்கமும் அங்கங்களாக அமைந்த அழகியை
அடைந்தான்.
அரியணையில் அமரும் அருகதை அண்ணனாகிய
அனந்த ராமனுக்கே! அப்படியிருக்க அந்தோ!
அக்கைகேயி அசூயையால் அயோத்தி அரசனுக்கும்
அடங்காமல் அநியாயமாக அவனை அரண்யத்துக்கு
அனுப்பினாள்.
அங்கேயும் அபாயம்! அரக்கர்களின் அரசன்,
அன்னையின் அழகால் அறிவிழந்து அபலையை
அபகரித்தான்
அத்தசமுகனின் அக்கிரமங்களுக்கு, அட்டூழியங்களுக்கு
அளவேயில்லை அயோத்தி அண்ணல், அன்னை
அங்கிருந்து அகன்றதால் அடைந்த அவதிக்கும்
அளவில்லை.
அத்தருணத்தில் அனுமனும், அனைவரும் அரியை
அடிபணிந்து, அவனையே அடைக்கலமாக அடைந்தனர்.
அந்த அடியார்களில் அருகதையுள்ள அன்பனை
அரசனாக அரியணையில் அமர்த்தினர்.
அடுத்து அன்னைக்காக அவ்வானரர் அனைவரும்
அவனியில் அங்குமிங்கும் அலைந்தனர், அலசினர்.
அனுமன், அலைகடலை அலட்சியமாக அடியெடுத்து
அளந்து அக்கரையைஅடைந்தான்.
அசோகமரத்தின் அடியில் ,அரக்கிகள் அயர்ந்திருக்க
அன்னையை அடி பணிந்து அண்ணலின்
அடையாளமாகிய அக்கணையாழியை அவளிடம்
அளித்தான்
அன்னை அனுபவித்த அளவற்ற அவதிகள்
அநேகமாக அணைந்தன.அன்னையின் அன்பையும்
அருளாசியையும் அக்கணமே அடைந்தான் அனுமன்.
அடுத்து, அரக்கர்களை அலறடித்து , அவர்களின்
அரண்களை, அகந்தைகளை அடியோடு அக்கினியால்
அழித்த அனுமனின் அட்டகாசம் , அசாத்தியமான
அதிசாகசம்.
அனந்தராமன் அலைகடலின் அதிபதியை
அடக்கி, அதிசயமான அணையை
அமைத்து,அக்கரையை அடைந்தான்.
அரக்கன் அத்தசமுகனை அமரில் அயனின்
அஸ்திரத்தால் அழித்தான்.
அக்கினியில் அயராமல் அர்பணித்த அன்னை
அவள் அதி அற்புதமாய் அண்ணலை அடைந்தாள்.
அன்னையுடன் அயோத்தியை அடைந்து
அரியணையில் அமர்ந்து அருளினான்
அண்ணல் அனந்த ராமனின் அவதார
அருங்கதை அகரத்திலேய அடுக்கடுக்காக
அமைந்ததும் அனுமனின் அருளாலே.
Thanks to the author. Don't know who wrote this beautiful poem. Came across in an email.
அனந்தனே அசுரர்களை அழித்து,
அன்பர்களுக்கு அருள அயோத்தி
அரசனாக அவதரித்தான்.
அப்போது அரிக்கு அரணாக அரசனின்
அம்சமாக அனுமனும் அவதரித்ததாக
அறிகிறோம். அன்று அஞ்சனை அவனிக்கு
அளித்த அன்பளிப்பு அல்லவா அனுமன் ?
அவனே அறிவழகன்,அன்பழகன்,அன்பர்களை
அரவ-ணைத்து அருளும் அருட்செல்வன்!
அயோத்தி அடலேறு,அம்மிதிலை அரசவையில்
அரசனின் அரிய வில்லை அடக்கி, அன்பும்
அடக்கமும் அங்கங்களாக அமைந்த அழகியை
அடைந்தான்.
அரியணையில் அமரும் அருகதை அண்ணனாகிய
அனந்த ராமனுக்கே! அப்படியிருக்க அந்தோ!
அக்கைகேயி அசூயையால் அயோத்தி அரசனுக்கும்
அடங்காமல் அநியாயமாக அவனை அரண்யத்துக்கு
அனுப்பினாள்.
அங்கேயும் அபாயம்! அரக்கர்களின் அரசன்,
அன்னையின் அழகால் அறிவிழந்து அபலையை
அபகரித்தான்
அத்தசமுகனின் அக்கிரமங்களுக்கு, அட்டூழியங்களுக்கு
அளவேயில்லை அயோத்தி அண்ணல், அன்னை
அங்கிருந்து அகன்றதால் அடைந்த அவதிக்கும்
அளவில்லை.
அத்தருணத்தில் அனுமனும், அனைவரும் அரியை
அடிபணிந்து, அவனையே அடைக்கலமாக அடைந்தனர்.
அந்த அடியார்களில் அருகதையுள்ள அன்பனை
அரசனாக அரியணையில் அமர்த்தினர்.
அடுத்து அன்னைக்காக அவ்வானரர் அனைவரும்
அவனியில் அங்குமிங்கும் அலைந்தனர், அலசினர்.
அனுமன், அலைகடலை அலட்சியமாக அடியெடுத்து
அளந்து அக்கரையைஅடைந்தான்.
அசோகமரத்தின் அடியில் ,அரக்கிகள் அயர்ந்திருக்க
அன்னையை அடி பணிந்து அண்ணலின்
அடையாளமாகிய அக்கணையாழியை அவளிடம்
அளித்தான்
அன்னை அனுபவித்த அளவற்ற அவதிகள்
அநேகமாக அணைந்தன.அன்னையின் அன்பையும்
அருளாசியையும் அக்கணமே அடைந்தான் அனுமன்.
அடுத்து, அரக்கர்களை அலறடித்து , அவர்களின்
அரண்களை, அகந்தைகளை அடியோடு அக்கினியால்
அழித்த அனுமனின் அட்டகாசம் , அசாத்தியமான
அதிசாகசம்.
அனந்தராமன் அலைகடலின் அதிபதியை
அடக்கி, அதிசயமான அணையை
அமைத்து,அக்கரையை அடைந்தான்.
அரக்கன் அத்தசமுகனை அமரில் அயனின்
அஸ்திரத்தால் அழித்தான்.
அக்கினியில் அயராமல் அர்பணித்த அன்னை
அவள் அதி அற்புதமாய் அண்ணலை அடைந்தாள்.
அன்னையுடன் அயோத்தியை அடைந்து
அரியணையில் அமர்ந்து அருளினான்
அண்ணல் அனந்த ராமனின் அவதார
அருங்கதை அகரத்திலேய அடுக்கடுக்காக
அமைந்ததும் அனுமனின் அருளாலே.
Thanks to the author. Don't know who wrote this beautiful poem. Came across in an email.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Priest and hygiene
Recently in one of our local temple visits, my son wanted to use the restroom right after entering the temple. As a child who goes to school here, he is very particular about washing his hands with soap and water everytime he uses the restroom. Anywhere we go, the cleanup supplies are always around in the restroom and it reinforced the practice in him. Most of the public facing organizations such as restaurants display a notice that their employees must wash hand before exiting the restroom. The health inspectors in US are particular about such regulations to govern public health.
In this visit, when we entered the restroom, a priest in the temple walked in as well. We exchanged courtesy smile and he walked right into a stall. When we were done and washing our hands, the priest walked out without any care to even step near the washbasin. My son and I exchanged puzzled look and wondered why he didn't wash hands before leaving the restroom. We continued on to the temple. The same priest was conducting poojas, distributing theertam and thulasi to devotees. My son was grossed out and didn't want to receive anything from him. I was pretty saddened to see such disregard to basic public health. So many things are wrong with this picture. We simply stayed away from that priest and returned home.
What would you do in such a situation?
In this visit, when we entered the restroom, a priest in the temple walked in as well. We exchanged courtesy smile and he walked right into a stall. When we were done and washing our hands, the priest walked out without any care to even step near the washbasin. My son and I exchanged puzzled look and wondered why he didn't wash hands before leaving the restroom. We continued on to the temple. The same priest was conducting poojas, distributing theertam and thulasi to devotees. My son was grossed out and didn't want to receive anything from him. I was pretty saddened to see such disregard to basic public health. So many things are wrong with this picture. We simply stayed away from that priest and returned home.
What would you do in such a situation?
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Richard Bach hurt in plane crash
"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" - turned out to be one of the best books I ever read. I could instantly connect with Jonathan in his quest for life. The author, Richard Bach is a life-long pilot and his narrative on flying is very detail oriented. As a first generation immigrant, I could understand Jonathan's frustrations and his refusal to be socially acceptable self in the old world. Jonathan's self exploratory nature and his journey of life through the different stages is a lesson for every one. The book is a master piece. Recently I came to know about the movie of the book that surprisingly did justice to the content with extraordinary effort on cinematography. But personally, I prefer the book that enabled me to visualize the seagull's life in my own imagination.
Richard Bach, 76 got into an accident yesterday - a plane crash. My heart goes out to the author who has touched so many lives through his work.Wish him a speedy recovery.
Friday, June 29, 2012
No Silver line!
In all these years, I have never taken train to the Boston airport. I have only taken the car or the Peter Pan bus to airport for every trip from home. I have seen Silverline in the subway map connecting the airport and Boston South Station. I was curious for a long time to check out how convenient it is to take that train to airport or how I can get to South Station from the airport by the silver line. It will be good to know how train access worked. I wanted to find that out before I will have to use that option for any reason. It will be a hassle to explore it on a trip with the family. Anyway, I had that chance to find out about the Silverline today as I happen to be at South Station this evening and could afford to kill some time.
It was a busy Friday afternoon. I walk down the South station, buy a ticket, walk through the subway gate, couple of stairs down following the sign to airport and then I'm in front of the road standing on a bus stop! First of all I did not know that Silverline is a bus, not a train. That was a bummer. :)
It is kinda misleading to call it a Silverline (along with red line, green line, etc) and show it part of the subway map. Seemed to me like an elaborate plan by the city to mess with everyone. I'm guessing I am not the first person to be surprised at this experience. For a moment I wished to walk back and cancel my trip to airport and immediately realized it will just be a waste of the ticket. Imagine how the dialog would go with the guy in the ticket counter if I asked for a refund for disappointing me! That probably would be fun. So I ended up taking the bus to airport. It was uneventful. Took about an hour round trip.
No one seemed to check the ticket of passengers getting in at the terminals. I'm thinking may be the trip from airport to city is free...? I quickly snapped out and thought perhaps when we return back at South station you will need a ticket to get out. I had bought a round trip ticket so I wanted to make sure the return ticket is used up in my exploratory trip. However to my surprise I could walk out of the "subway" without paying again. Either Boston truly welcomes people from airport to town free of charge or I have missed something by not getting out at any terminal.
I have to find out about the trip from airport into the city. Now I'm planning to fly out somewhere alone, return to Boston airport and check out how the trip to South station works on the silver line :-)
It was a busy Friday afternoon. I walk down the South station, buy a ticket, walk through the subway gate, couple of stairs down following the sign to airport and then I'm in front of the road standing on a bus stop! First of all I did not know that Silverline is a bus, not a train. That was a bummer. :)
It is kinda misleading to call it a Silverline (along with red line, green line, etc) and show it part of the subway map. Seemed to me like an elaborate plan by the city to mess with everyone. I'm guessing I am not the first person to be surprised at this experience. For a moment I wished to walk back and cancel my trip to airport and immediately realized it will just be a waste of the ticket. Imagine how the dialog would go with the guy in the ticket counter if I asked for a refund for disappointing me! That probably would be fun. So I ended up taking the bus to airport. It was uneventful. Took about an hour round trip.
No one seemed to check the ticket of passengers getting in at the terminals. I'm thinking may be the trip from airport to city is free...? I quickly snapped out and thought perhaps when we return back at South station you will need a ticket to get out. I had bought a round trip ticket so I wanted to make sure the return ticket is used up in my exploratory trip. However to my surprise I could walk out of the "subway" without paying again. Either Boston truly welcomes people from airport to town free of charge or I have missed something by not getting out at any terminal.
I have to find out about the trip from airport into the city. Now I'm planning to fly out somewhere alone, return to Boston airport and check out how the trip to South station works on the silver line :-)
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Life and Alife
What is life? This question has haunted mankind for ever. Several axioms are listed to define life. None of them are entirely sufficient to describe life. The idea of soul or athma hasn't gained scientific acceptance mainly because there is no proof of its existence in any part of the body. The logic of indestructibility of soul, karma, rebirth are all beautiful religious concepts built to govern life. But let's say science hasn't caught up to those properties of life yet! So let's stick to understanding the definition of life scientifically.
From a material perspective, after the DNA structure was discovered mid 20th century it made sense how life expressed itself from primitive organisms to giant and intelligent life forms on earth. But then, DNA to life is like baking soda to cake. Apparently sufficient as constituents for most life forms, but not necessary! The fundamental atoms that form the proteins that constitute the DNA molecules can be replaced with non-carbon atoms. Through recent discoveries scientists have found that silicon, sulpher based life forms exist in acidic and hot environments under ground! Those life forms have not evolved to fit in the earth's atmosphere that is filled with oxygen and water at atmospheric temperature. So the ingredients of life need not be carbon based organic form. That left us sorta open ended. We don't know what other forms of life are possible beyond the well known four base (ACGT) based DNA that forms organic life.
Another definition of life went with the process of reproduction. Life is the process that is identified with the reproduction of species. Mathematician Von Newmann posed the following experiment and ended that definition. Imagine a robot in a warehouse with all parts required to make another robot and a storage tape that has instructions to build a robot. If the robot reads and executes the instructions from the tape, it can build a robot. In the end, if there is an instruction on the tape which says 'now replicate all the instructions in the storage tape to another tape, this time treating the instructions as simple text instead of executable instruction set', the robot can replicate the contents of the tape and stick it to the new robot. Now the new robot can be made to make another robot and so on. This thought experiment lead to the invention of self replicating software programs or Darwinbots. Software viruses are one such incarnations. Is that life? University of Michigan Professors call it ALife aka artificial life.
Well. Truth is, we are not even able to scientifically define life yet...let alone understanding its properties, transitions or indestructibility. So the pursuit continues!
From a material perspective, after the DNA structure was discovered mid 20th century it made sense how life expressed itself from primitive organisms to giant and intelligent life forms on earth. But then, DNA to life is like baking soda to cake. Apparently sufficient as constituents for most life forms, but not necessary! The fundamental atoms that form the proteins that constitute the DNA molecules can be replaced with non-carbon atoms. Through recent discoveries scientists have found that silicon, sulpher based life forms exist in acidic and hot environments under ground! Those life forms have not evolved to fit in the earth's atmosphere that is filled with oxygen and water at atmospheric temperature. So the ingredients of life need not be carbon based organic form. That left us sorta open ended. We don't know what other forms of life are possible beyond the well known four base (ACGT) based DNA that forms organic life.
Another definition of life went with the process of reproduction. Life is the process that is identified with the reproduction of species. Mathematician Von Newmann posed the following experiment and ended that definition. Imagine a robot in a warehouse with all parts required to make another robot and a storage tape that has instructions to build a robot. If the robot reads and executes the instructions from the tape, it can build a robot. In the end, if there is an instruction on the tape which says 'now replicate all the instructions in the storage tape to another tape, this time treating the instructions as simple text instead of executable instruction set', the robot can replicate the contents of the tape and stick it to the new robot. Now the new robot can be made to make another robot and so on. This thought experiment lead to the invention of self replicating software programs or Darwinbots. Software viruses are one such incarnations. Is that life? University of Michigan Professors call it ALife aka artificial life.
Well. Truth is, we are not even able to scientifically define life yet...let alone understanding its properties, transitions or indestructibility. So the pursuit continues!
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Nature expressed in numbers
Historically people are fascinated by natural constants such as PI, the Pythagoras triples, e - the natural growth rate and such. In that series comes the sequence of numbers identified by a man who is known by his father's name as son of Bonacci, i.e. Fibonacci. He set out to solve the following problem and ended up with a surprisingly powerful sequence of numbers that has many expressions in nature.
"A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded by a wall. How many pairs of rabbits can be produced by that pair in a year, if in every month, each pair begets a new pair, which from second month onward becomes productive? Suppose that our rabbits never die and that the female always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on."
Fibonacci solved it as follows and arrived at his famous sequence.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,....and so on. Simply put, each number is the sum of two previous numbers.
There are many significance to this sequence of numbers. First of all the sequence expresses the natural phenomenon of physical growth with numbers. Plant and Animal cell divisions follow the Fibonacci sequence! Looks at the images below, the expressions of Fibonacci sequence.
There are more fascinating facts about the sequence.
Sum of 10 consecutive Fibonacci numbers is equal to 11 times the 7th number!
1+1+2+3+$+8+13+21+34+55 = 143
so is 11*13 = 143
5+8+13+21+34+55+89+144+233+377 = 979
so is 11*89 = 979
Here is another interesting property of the sequence.
Take any four consecutive Fibonacci numbers (a,b,c,d)
Pythagoras triples are ad, (2*bc) and (b2+c2)
Take 1,1,2 and 3 for a,b,c and d respectively,
ad=3, 2*bc =4 and b2+c2 = 5
i.e. 3,4,5 a well known Pythagorean sequence
Take 1,2,3 and 5
ad=5, 2*bc=12 and b2+c2 = 13
i.e. 5,12,13 another well known Pythagorean sequence!
and so on.
That is not all. Here is another interesting property. The ratio of nth number of the sequence to the (n-1)th number converges to the famous "Golden Ratio"
Interesting corollary is that Golden Ratio (Phi) is the number which when added with 1 gives the square of the number! i.e. (Phi)2 = Phi + 1
Fascinating facts indeed!
The book "Taming the Infinite" by Ian Stewart is a good read. Its about the history of Math. The book triggered renewed interest in Fibonacci sequence and a good journey into the fascinating facts around that set of numbers.
"A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded by a wall. How many pairs of rabbits can be produced by that pair in a year, if in every month, each pair begets a new pair, which from second month onward becomes productive? Suppose that our rabbits never die and that the female always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on."
Fibonacci solved it as follows and arrived at his famous sequence.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,....and so on. Simply put, each number is the sum of two previous numbers.
There are many significance to this sequence of numbers. First of all the sequence expresses the natural phenomenon of physical growth with numbers. Plant and Animal cell divisions follow the Fibonacci sequence! Looks at the images below, the expressions of Fibonacci sequence.
There are more fascinating facts about the sequence.
Sum of 10 consecutive Fibonacci numbers is equal to 11 times the 7th number!
1+1+2+3+$+8+13+21+34+55 = 143
so is 11*13 = 143
5+8+13+21+34+55+89+144+233+377 = 979
so is 11*89 = 979
Here is another interesting property of the sequence.
Take any four consecutive Fibonacci numbers (a,b,c,d)
Pythagoras triples are ad, (2*bc) and (b2+c2)
Take 1,1,2 and 3 for a,b,c and d respectively,
ad=3, 2*bc =4 and b2+c2 = 5
i.e. 3,4,5 a well known Pythagorean sequence
Take 1,2,3 and 5
ad=5, 2*bc=12 and b2+c2 = 13
i.e. 5,12,13 another well known Pythagorean sequence!
and so on.
That is not all. Here is another interesting property. The ratio of nth number of the sequence to the (n-1)th number converges to the famous "Golden Ratio"
Interesting corollary is that Golden Ratio (Phi) is the number which when added with 1 gives the square of the number! i.e. (Phi)2 = Phi + 1
Fascinating facts indeed!
The book "Taming the Infinite" by Ian Stewart is a good read. Its about the history of Math. The book triggered renewed interest in Fibonacci sequence and a good journey into the fascinating facts around that set of numbers.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
NallaMani-thar
There are few people who leave a mark on you on just a few brief encounters. Mr. Nallamani was one of them. I must be two generations away from him. He probably has grandchildren who are older than me. Nevertheless, I feel like I had a special connection with him and feel for his loss.
A man's life should be judged not by his personal success, but by his contributions to the society. Mr. Nallamani was not only a successful Entrepreneur in many fields, but also a philanthropist who built a school and college, in addition to employing many in his transport, hotel and other businesses. That is certainly a tall order for which he should be commended. But there are few other subtle things that makes him incredible as a good human being.
From all I know he is a self made man. I believe he started as a paddy salesman and built his successful businesses one after another. He certainly commanded good respect and authority because of his success in life. But that is not where it stopped. He had a acute sense of identifying a need and finding ways to fulfill it. He identified that girl children from his village had to travel to Madurai or Natham, a nearby town for high school. He built a school for them.
In his village, because of him all the families follow simple customs on every occasion such as a temple festival or a family function. He explicitly forbade extravagance. For example, there is a custom to invite people with money for weddings. Typically invitation to relations who are 'uncles' are accompanied by a few betel leaves, areca nuts and a one rupee coin. Don't know how that custom started. But that custom morphed into inviting people with more and more money. So one rupee became 5 or 10 rupees sometimes. In his family they made sure any invitation that came along was accompanied by just one rupee coin. Anything more, they returned promptly with a courteous message to maintain frugality. Not only that, Mr. Nallamani showed up on weddings! I remember there was one occasion when a high ranking officer did not show up for his own daughter's betrothal function. I was an young boy then and could not comprehend what could be more important for a father than his own daughter's once-in-a-life time function. But I digress. That was not Mr. Nallamani. He showed up for any family function for which he is invited. He presided over many weddings in his life. The lesson is to respect everyone big or small equally.
For all his successes, rarely I saw him in the news. There was no public controversy on his life. He passed away respectfully as he lived. Hope his ideals of simplicity, respect, equality and hard work stay alive in his village and beyond.
A man's life should be judged not by his personal success, but by his contributions to the society. Mr. Nallamani was not only a successful Entrepreneur in many fields, but also a philanthropist who built a school and college, in addition to employing many in his transport, hotel and other businesses. That is certainly a tall order for which he should be commended. But there are few other subtle things that makes him incredible as a good human being.
From all I know he is a self made man. I believe he started as a paddy salesman and built his successful businesses one after another. He certainly commanded good respect and authority because of his success in life. But that is not where it stopped. He had a acute sense of identifying a need and finding ways to fulfill it. He identified that girl children from his village had to travel to Madurai or Natham, a nearby town for high school. He built a school for them.
In his village, because of him all the families follow simple customs on every occasion such as a temple festival or a family function. He explicitly forbade extravagance. For example, there is a custom to invite people with money for weddings. Typically invitation to relations who are 'uncles' are accompanied by a few betel leaves, areca nuts and a one rupee coin. Don't know how that custom started. But that custom morphed into inviting people with more and more money. So one rupee became 5 or 10 rupees sometimes. In his family they made sure any invitation that came along was accompanied by just one rupee coin. Anything more, they returned promptly with a courteous message to maintain frugality. Not only that, Mr. Nallamani showed up on weddings! I remember there was one occasion when a high ranking officer did not show up for his own daughter's betrothal function. I was an young boy then and could not comprehend what could be more important for a father than his own daughter's once-in-a-life time function. But I digress. That was not Mr. Nallamani. He showed up for any family function for which he is invited. He presided over many weddings in his life. The lesson is to respect everyone big or small equally.
For all his successes, rarely I saw him in the news. There was no public controversy on his life. He passed away respectfully as he lived. Hope his ideals of simplicity, respect, equality and hard work stay alive in his village and beyond.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Secrets of self made millionaires...
No. It is not,
1. Work really hard
2. Go to school/college
3. Don't get in trouble with the law.
Instead, it is
1. Don't do it for money
2. Ignore the nay-Sayers
3. Be prepared for large sacrifice
Successful millionaires
1. work less hard, but smart...
2. most of them haven't finished college and
3. don't expect balance in life - it comes with high risk, high reward attitude
Well, that is the story of "self made" millionaires. There are others who are not self-made. That is out of scope here!
1. Work really hard
2. Go to school/college
3. Don't get in trouble with the law.
Instead, it is
1. Don't do it for money
2. Ignore the nay-Sayers
3. Be prepared for large sacrifice
Successful millionaires
1. work less hard, but smart...
2. most of them haven't finished college and
3. don't expect balance in life - it comes with high risk, high reward attitude
Well, that is the story of "self made" millionaires. There are others who are not self-made. That is out of scope here!
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