Locus of a point

Random Fact You Probably Could Have Done Without

2010-07-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

Did you know...

So my buddy, let's just call him 'P', tells me something pretty interesting the other day.

So someone in P's family owns a famous fine dining restaurant in New Delhi's Select Citywalk.

Apparently their (and almost every other restaurant's) waiters are trained to put more food on the plates of kids than adults.

This is because usually, kids eat less than adults. And no self respecting parent would ask a waiter to not give their kid so much food. So you use up more food and they get more business! o.O

Jesus drove a Honda.

2010-06-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

"For I did not speak of my own Accord..." - John 12:49

I should have brought an umbrella

2010-05-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sheldon : "I should have brought an umbrella."

Leonard : "What for? It's not going to rain."

Sheldon : "I know that, but with skin as fair as mine, moon burn is a real possibility."

Howard : "That's a Bazinga, right?"

Sheldon : "One of my best, don't you think?"

What's your Rashee!?

2010-05-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

(as seen in Expressions)

The horoscopes in the newspaper tell me I'm an Aquarian which means when i was born, on 9th February, the Sun was in the constellation of Aquarius, the water carrier, and it was but only over two thousand years ago, when the system of astrology was developed. In the 2000+ years since then, the earth’s axis has moved, kind of like a wobbling top and now, in 1992, the sun was not in Aquarius, but in Capricornus. So now im a capricorn?

In fact, the sun is now one zodiac behind where it’s “supposed to be” according to the astrologers. So if you think you’re a Virgo, you’re actually a Leo and if you were born between 17th November and 17th December, you’re neither Scorpio nor a Sagittarian, you’re actually an Ophichan. Yup, 2000 years worth of wobbling of the earth’s axis means there’s now 13 zodiacs and not 12.

If you want to run your own simulations and see where the sun was when you were born, point your browsers to www.stellarium.org and download the free software, plug in the date of your birth, and look for the Sun and see which constellation it’s in.

Makes you think twice before believing in a system which can’t even get its basic organization right, doesn’t it? and that, along with their other bull crap is why us astronomers get mad when you call us Astrologers!

And NO I WILL NOT READ YOUR PALM

Why I don't want to go to IIT

2009-08-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!!
So it's that time of the year again, when commercies ("commerce students" aka people with foresight) dust off their books and actually open 'em and us poor sciencies ("science students" aka the crazys) are going crazy working our asses off to get into a "good" college, which for most people happens to be one of the IITs, which is the acronym for Institute of Infinite Torture, Institute of Indian Technology, etc. These institutes of so-called national importance were set up by the Indian Parliament at various campuses across India, decided purely on merits of political alliances of the ruling party. Operation IIT began under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to reduce the average intelligence of Indians. Just like Zion in Matrix, where 3% of the people who do not accept the Matrix are gathered together to prevent dissent as a whole, IITs were formed by the Government of India to gather at one place the 3% of the intelligentsia of the country and export them away. The IITs have proved to be very productive, growing from a single institute in 1951 to 16 now (and counting).

The admission to IIT is via an exam called JEE. Various definitions for JEE have been suggested. The most commonly accepted of them is "Just Engineering and Engineering". The geeks and nerds of India start preparing for IIT-JEE right after entering kindegarten. A very effective test of whether a guy is fit for getting into the IITs is asking a very simple question: "Do you have a girlfriend"? A guy who says anything else other than "What's a girl?" would not get through the test. Girls are considered unfit to get into IITs, though some girls manage to get the application forms as they look like guys. To make sure no girl gets through the system by bribing to get the application forms, the applicants are required to specify their gender and affix a photograph in the application form. Those faces that resemble anything girly are not selected.

Fig 1.21 (b): What the IIT-JEE topper looks like

The entrance exam, IIT-JEE, is an extremely selective undergrad admission process (accepting less than 3% of their applicants). Whether it is extremely selective or extremely rejective has always been an issue of debate. Sources close to the institute say that it was designed to teach the masses how to face rejection. The original plan was to reject everyone, but the fallout was that people stopped taking the test. Eventually they had to invent IITs so as to inspire people to take the test.

As they say, if the input is right, the output is automatically right. The six-hour Joint Entrance Exam held, as the name suggests, jointly by IITs. Since Indians are well known for cramming up loads of information, questions in JEE are never repeated.

But then there's the elite few who don't really want to go to an IIT: The enlightened ones - a not so secret cult that chooses to reject outrght the dominance of the IITs on the college scene and want to join other colleges like MIT (Manipal Insti. of Tech LOL), CalTech (Calcutta), and of course - the very prestigious AMITY NOIDA!!

Here's in a nutshell why i don't want to go to an IIT-

The Average IIT-ians room

"Non-males" at IIT

The cool crowd @ IIT

phew!! That's been one long post.. i might add some more video if i find something worth sharing. If you guys find something, put it in the comments!!

Ich bin ein Mac

2009-06-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Apple customer service rocks!!

People always wonder why i'd pay more for an apple product, or why i push apple so much. Here's one of the billions of reasons. The other day, while on vacation in New York, I lost my unibody MacBook's charger cable. So i look it up on apple.com and find they dont sell replacements - I'll have to spend 80$ on a new charger! Holy Shh--ining light upon us :p

So next thing i know i'm in the apple store, remember i'm in New York, live in New Delhi, India, bought the MacBook in Pittsburgh, PA and have no reciept or proof of purchase. So i walk upto an employee and tell him how i lost my cable and needed a new one, mentally preparing myself to have to buy another charger and guess what? He goes out to the back of the store, and a few minutes later comes out with a brand new cable- No extra fees, No checks, No questions asked - Completely free!!

Go Apple!!

Qutab Minar Photos!

2008-11-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret in Delhi, India. It was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak and the topmost storey of the minaret was completed in 1386 by Firuz Shah Tughluq. The Qutab Minar is notable for being one of the earliest and most prominent examples of Indo-Islamic architecture.

Now, some pictures:

[clisk on the pictures to see a bigger size.]

This was a really cool picture i got of the lighting at the Qutub minar. There are at least 3 different types of lights in this picture. Unfortunately, they hadn't let me take in my tripod so I had to shoot with my 50mm prime wide open at f/1.8 Although this makes for a cool composition as an abstract, I couldnt get much of the actual structure.

This is probably the [second]best picture I got there. As I was standing almost right nest to the minar, I couldnt get the whole thing in a single shot. This is a composite of about 4-5 shots that capture the full extent of how tall it is! This was taken with my 18-55 set at 18mm, wide open.

Architectural Astrophotography!

This is a really cool picture because it shows 4 solar system objects!! The ground and Qutab minar are on the Earth. In the sky, from left to right are, the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. Click on the photo to go to the flickr page where there are notes. Again I didnt have a tripod so this was kinda hard to take.

Although I was dissapointed that I couldnt take my tripod with me and that they empty the place during twilight so i missed the "golden hour", I did get some interesting pics!

Diwali Pictures.

2008-11-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

First a little background info: Deepavali, or Diwali is a major Indian festival, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.

Now, some pics! :D

While walking around my local market, I found a bunch of diyas or lamps lying around in a really cool looking pile. The lighting basically comes from a single street light so its nice and contrasty!! [There's plenty of shadows and the texture shows up pretty well.] This was taken with the kit 18-55 mm lens wide open but my camera chose a pretty slow shutter speed [after the -2.0 EV] so I had to take about 9-10 and then chose the best one.

As you may have noticed, a lot of my pictures are taken at night or in low or available light. Somehow i just hate sunlight and the flash :D

Here's another picture of a lit Diya:

This is how a Diya looks when lit. You just add oil and a wick and light it!
Again, my D60's meter loves overexposing the shadows so i had to use a negative EV setting.

Here's a bunch of pictures taken later that night with a tripod. I had to take over 200 pictures to get these usefull ones!!

Again, have a happy diwali [next year!]

Hello World

2008-11-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hey,

This is my First Blog Post. w00t!