The Big Boy ....

Europe is celebrating … they have given birth to their big boy in the French backyard. The boy has been declared healthy, though further care would be taken to make sure he doesn’t get the parents in any kind of trouble. The boy is said to be the biggest, the fastest and most accommodating... and has been christened... A380.

Well... as you would have guessed... the big boy is Airbus-A380... “the largest, most advanced and efficient commercial airliner ever conceived”. The maiden test flight of A380 was an absolute success. The long-awaited test lasted almost four hours, with the A380 circling the Bay of Biscay before returning to base.

The flight... certainly the most eagerly awaited flight of the year... was well attended. With some 50,000 enthusiasts watching the show, there were chief executives of the 14 airlines who have already ordered some 154 of these big boys. Infact to quote BBC ...

“It was reminiscent of opening ceremonies for Olympic Games, complete with dancers resembling angels, floating through blue smoke clouds; towering over them a tall, god-like figure, exhorting the audience to "remind yourself that everything is possible".

And there was Richard Branson... who promised a gym... a beauty parlour... large bars... a casino... and double-beds... For you to have "two ways of getting lucky" on a Virgin A380 flight.

Amidst all this pomp and show, there is a deeper... much greater unrest. If you are following the big corporate war between Airbus vs Boeing, you will find that the battle field is much bigger than meets the eyes. The players backing these pawns have much more to play for, than to rule the sky. With that... on stake is Europe’s desire to be accounted for…. to stop US in its monocratic ways...to play an active and decisive role in world politics...to unite Europe into a much stronger communion so that the power returns to the first world. (not to mention...Germany and France are still fighting on who is going to be the next king-pawn at the Airbus)

Well... the bigger battle needs a bigger post... and a lot of journalistic diligence. But pardon me... I digress.

Airbus is hoping that the travelers will like to travel through big hubs making it an attractive business... Boeing feels that there is more juice in small hubs, long range business... I think that flights should be cheaper, more comfortable, and more accessible... If I don’t live in London and I don’t go home to Delhi, I will never sit in a direct to home flight on A380. On the other hand... I could actually fly on a Boeing “dreamliner”.

Both the giants are betting on different horses... the first one is on... lets wait for the second horse ...

Let there be a God ....

Another twist in the tale ... its easy to disprove if there actually is a God.. Ravi has by far the most spritually logical proof that I have heard...

Two assertions and a conclusion...

1. If there is a God who created the world, it must mean that He must have had a desire to do so, which means that there was a lacuna in Him
2. God, by definition, is perfect. He cannot have a lacuna.
3. The two statements contradict each other. Hence there cannot be a God.

It is interesting to explore if the "universe exists independent of a Creator"... hard to concieve, but nevertheless. Whether God came first or the Universe ... the question is a matter of religion.

In the Tagore - Einstein discussion, Tagore insists that whatever we see and know is part of "Human Truth", truth defined only by human mind. Even if we do prove something ... its existence is limited only to Humanity. Occam's razor does explore the bridge between the Human truth and the science... but I won't put my money on it .... I have mused on this before... and couldn't figure out for sure, if it leads to any conclusion on this topic.

God may exist independent of the universe... and as Ravi says ... "It is more correct to say that it is difficult and unnecessary to prove (a negative)".

The Joker ....

” In the name of peace and neighbourly ties...” PM Singh has offered to allow Pakistani Nationals to appear in JEE and CAT exams, to seek admission in IITs and IIMs.

I’m not sure why should that disturb me... Leaving three war history and cricket aside, I don’t have anything against pakis. I like their food, and I like their chicks... but would I like it if they reserve a few seats for Pakistani nationals in IITs and IIMs. It will definetly make things a lot easy for the pakis ....

I didn’t realize that politicians have already started to cash in on the brand IIT and brand IIM. Not that I should be surprised … any smallest thing happening in IIT is front-page news in local dailies. It would make infinite sense to cash in on this publicity wagon and gain some points. I don’t doubt good intentions of our PM either... but ... I simply didn’t like the way he has played his Joker to unilaterally offer his hand of friendship. It would be interesting to know if IITs or IIMs (which are supposed to be autonomous bodies) were consulted before making such a decision.

The immediate problem which I see is that of resources. IITs and IIMs are already facing problems to sustain there huge sizes. Over the last few years the intake into these institutions has been increased by atleast 20-50%. The institutes are under constraints to provide similar quality of infrastructure and education, to future batches, which has built the brand for them. Add to that ...there is constant pressure on them from all sort of political and non-political organizations to increase their student intake even further to enhance per capita benefits of such institutions.

I have little idea about IIMs... but I know that IITs are desperate to find answers for their pertaining problems like ageing faculty and infrastructure, lack of world class research facilities, research output from the institutes, sad post graduate courses... and at the same time managing its notorious students (believe me that’s the biggest one)…. and then they want to make every engg. college an IIT... without even wondering once what it takes for IITs to be “the IITs”... If by changing name we could change virtues then can I please be Michael Schumacher !!

Not only it has made me concerned about IITs... my ratings for PM Singh have nose-dived like that of Saurav Ganguly. I am so not able to work it out how Mr. Singh’s offer can be of any benefit to India. Now that we have always faced problems in retaining the better IITians().... or to create an environment which provides quality jobs for so many trained engg... we will now divert our resources to train engineers for Pakistan. Now there may be a catch... the world does not really know the real quality of IIT engineers... but I don’t think lending a brand name to pakis is going to be of any benefit to us.

Even if it was diplomatically necessary... we could have offered student and faculty exchange programmes to benefit paki univs... or better, we can try to improve trade relationships, provide industry collaborations and support, and bring some business to engineers in India. But unfortunately... our economist PM is not a capitalist. Just to give an example... US offers thousands of scholarships to the cream of foreign students, attract them to US, employ them there, make them productive, repaying their investments million times over. I have no idea how “no returns required” policies can help India become a super power (sorry... different debate all together...)

I just hope it is one of those political suggestions which bureaucrats shove under the table.... for Satan’s sake... please let the Jokers play their own game...

the collection ....

just back from a place full of people.... women ranging from 16 inch to 42 inches... men ranging from 5 ft 3 to 7 ft 5... kids rangins form 13 to 59....

it was a real collection ... two days spent in a midlle of no-where by three people, 5 computers, a projector and a printer ...

and so as to complete the experience ... punch cards, 8 and half inch floppy, 5 and half inch floppy, 3 and half inch floppy, 1 gig USBs, 5 gigs dvds (HOD of some dept brought them as specimen, and gave a long speech on hardware costs)

did miss Jon, who was supposed to be with us ... but he managed to break his leg hours before we left ....

it was a management game /conference in Loughborough, a relatively small university town in here ...

had a good laugh with loads (range) of people... didn't win the game though.

photographs (and details) to follow ....

the best Bond girl ?

With TOI touching all time lows in print journalism, I should not have been surprised by what its sister concern ET is upto these days ... but I was.

It is heartnening to see the amount of creativity the team is showning... I'm constantly amazaed by their ever entertaining surveys and in-depth analysis on everything ranging from sex life of IT professionals to how to flirt on job. Here is the latest one where they compare sex appeal of Sushmita Sen, Jhumpa Lahiri to Priyanka Gandhi.... good thing is ...now these girls will have something in common ....

Do you want to ask me why do I even go to these sites ..... HOPE

Gaurav tells us how...

Complimentary bottles ...

India lost another game today to make it four in a row. I didnt watch the game ... and I thank gud ol' scotch for a peaceful morning. Apparently it didn't turn out to be that peaceful for the authorties on the ground.... nevertheless we lost the game .. and as Amit points out, it was a greater disgrace than defeat ...

It turned out that the notorious bottles came from the "Complimentary Stand"... and the cops did nothing to stop them. Now everything aside ... I am wondering why would I throw water bottle(s) on ground when I know its not going to make my team win anyways. Certainly not to gain the cop's attention, may be to catch the cameramen's attention, or may be the players themselves. I'm wondering whether the explanation lies in our pseudo selves, may be Mudit can answer that ...

if it is consolatory at all ... such real time emotional feedback from the crowd is a global phenomenon. We can ban a venue for short term but I don't believe it will have any bearing on the performance of the crowd elsewhere (especially in India)... or...our players.

We can definitely try to give sharper teeth to the administration though ...so that they can immediately crack down on anyone who disrupts the due course of the game ... and hold them equally responsible if they could not.

The Case for Cannibalism ...

Should a man be prosecuted for something happening between two consenting adults. Follow the debate ... and here .

I strongly agree with Arun when he says that ... "No criminal act can be justified using the consent of the victim as an excuse. In other words, any act that violates another's rights should be disallowed...".

Being a libertarian myself, I would agree with Amit as well, that every individual has the right to choose the way he wants to live ... or die.

Important question to me is whether individuals make a society or society makes an individual. I would say that sum total of all individuals, who choose to be a part of a society define it. Man (or woman alike) can be a vagabond or a hermit... never interact with the society and choose to live or die he (or she) wishes to.

Human civilization has been built on the concept that sum total of all individual can be much bigger than it's numerical sum ... when people group together to form any society, they share tasks. As individuals, our needs are satisfied by the society only to the level everyone should be contributing to the society and taking away only as much as the return on his efforts validates... I believe this principle is the root to money, economy and society alike....

Now you might think why in the name of Satan is he talking about this....

Being part of a society is not only about rights ... but it also warrants certain duties (Now, I know that we Indians do not appreciate the concept of fundamental duties, which have been duly ignored).If we choose not to be a vagabond or a hermit ... and live in a society ... reap its benefit in getting education, using basic civic infrastructure, getting subsidies, and other social benefits, we are obliged to respect certain duties. Any third grade economist like me can tell you that subsidies are investments which the state makes in its subjects for the overall benefit of the society. If we claim our social and economic fundamental rights and ignore our duties we leave the society in a social and economical deficit. Now that by me is an offence...

Leaving religion aside .... Suicide by people who end their lives just because they find themselves incapable of fighting back and adding value to the society, is a crime against that society, and is duly said so in all law books around the world. I say that Kurt Cobain can still be acquitted …. but these men in question, who are perfectly sane people, have no right to end a life which can be of social benefit. Before we pronounce anyone of them guilty we should justify the worthiness (or the lack of it) of the dead… otherwise both of them should be prosecuted for their insanity … (now that is a concept!!)

Comments welcome …