Mirrors, Musings, and Magic

SS - Liquid Art

2013-03-24T17:33:00.000+05:30

High speed photographs of bubbles and splashing coloured liquids: by Fabian Oefner by Heinz Maier by Jack Long Absolutely brilliant. Imagine the amount of coordination needed to capture something like this, especially to create a specific image like the flower pot by Jack Long. Read about how high speed photography works here.

FF - 5 Awesome Free e-Learning Websites

2013-03-22T23:00:00.000+05:30

One of the best things about the internet is how easy it is to learn just about *anything* you're interested in! Sometimes I wish I didn't have to sleep, just because there's just so friggin' much to learn out there. I'm currently taking Songwriting by the Berklee College of Music on Coursera. This is the first class I've signed up for that isn't directly related to my research, so

SS - Onwards

2013-03-17T21:57:00.000+05:30

Don't look back Just fly. Rise Become the wind. Dedicated to a beautiful friend, who passed away on March 15, 2013. [Song: May angels lead you in.]

The Science of Consciousness

2013-03-13T23:58:00.000+05:30

Last week, I attended the conference "Toward a Science of Consciousness" at my home institute, Dayalbagh Educational Institute [conference brochure]. While I don't work in the field of consciousness, I've always had a fascination for the workings of the human brain and mind, so I really enjoyed the talks! A number of renowned personalities gave talks: Stuart Hameroff, Deepak Chopra, James J

SS - Cloud Art

2013-03-10T17:48:00.000+05:30

This exhibit at the Castle of D’Aspremont-Lynden was created by Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde through moisture control and a smoke machine. Check out more here.

Psychometrics

2013-03-07T16:17:00.000+05:30

Lately, I've been exploring the interesting field of psychometrics. Tutorific, the group I work part-time for, is putting together an adaptive learning system that will utilize psychometric analysis in order to provide 'custom-made' content for students. I've written a brief post on the topic for the company blog. Do check it out; psychometrics are interesting!

SS - Whisper

2013-01-27T00:28:00.000+05:30

I am a boat: riding on tides of flighty emotions, rolling and tumbling on waves of doubt and security under a sun that’s too bright on an ocean that’s too deep. I am a leaf: leaping on a wind too heavy to carry me, stretching my sinews and scattering my broken heart across an empty land full of promise and dread. I am a torch: burning those who come too close, lighting the way

"God does not play dice!"

2013-01-23T12:50:00.000+05:30

... said Einstein. Bohr retorted: "Quit telling God what to do." You see, quantum mechanics made Einstein extremely uncomfortable. He was not at all a fan of it being an underlying theory of nature. He acknowledged that it was an elegant theory within its domain of applicability, but the thought of nature being governed by randomness and probabilities -- the heart of quantum mechanics --

FF - The Elegant Universe and More

2012-12-21T23:59:00.000+05:30

The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos are excellent books by American theoretical physicist, Brian Greene. They've been turned into two series of documentaries. The documentaries are far from boring, and even people without a background in physics will appreciate them. The universe is big and brilliant and beautiful, and flooded with startling phenomena. In the wise words of

Interesting Prophecies about 'The End'

2012-12-19T23:37:00.000+05:30

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams Considering the hype behind December 21, 2012, I figured I'd look up interesting prophecies about the end of the world, just for fun. My favourites: 1. An asteroid, according to Zoroastrianism -- The asteroid, called Gochihr, will melt

FF - Hangout with CERN

2012-12-07T22:56:00.000+05:30

Last night I attended a Google hangout hosted by CERN: "Hot stuff - the early universe". It was awesome, especially since they focused on the ALICE experiment in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). ALICE is an acronym for A Large Ian Collider Experiment, and its focus is the quark gluon plasma -- a soup of particles called 'quarks' and 'gluons' that existed for a short period of time in the early

SS - The Tyger

2012-11-25T21:07:00.003+05:30

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the

SS - The Melody of the Night

2012-11-18T00:01:00.000+05:30

It seems kind of strange that once upon a time I had no idea who you are Or that you’d ever come to mean so much to me Or how much I would learn how much I would laugh because of you The Melody of the Night by Leonard Afremov

FF - Google Data Centers

2012-11-16T11:42:00.000+05:30

Want to see where the internet lives? This is awesome.

Three Days to See

2012-11-14T17:53:00.002+05:30

Helen Keller was an American author, lecturer and political activist in the late 19th century and early 20th century. She was also both deaf and blind due to an illness she had at the age of 19 months. I find her story remarkable. Helen could not have blossomed without the help of Anne Sullivan, her teacher, who painstakingly brought the deafblind child out of a lonely world of silent

SS - John Keats as Lamia

2012-11-11T23:59:00.000+05:30

by John Sokol The poem: Lamia

Explanation of the Zone of Silence

2012-10-24T23:59:00.000+05:30

In the middle of the blazing, blistering Chihuahuan desert in Mexico, there’s a place dubbed the "Zone of Silence" by the curious visitors who venture there. Electromagnetic waves fail to travel through the air within an unspecified and sometimes shifting area, creating a sort of “dark” zone. No television, radio, short wave, microwave, or satellite signals seem to be able to penetrate this

SS - Dear World

2012-10-21T23:01:00.000+05:30

From dearworld.me

10 Interesting Sleep Disorders

2012-10-17T23:50:00.000+05:30

For as long as I can remember, sleep has not been a simple, straightforward experience for me. Many a breakfast table conversation after a childhood sleepover involved being teased for talking loudly in my sleep -- words and phrases that never seemed to fit with the dreams I remembered having. I've sleep-walked a couple of times too, according to other people. I once ran into my parents'

SS - A Snap of the Universe Billions of Years into the Past

2012-09-30T00:01:00.000+05:30

This is the closest thing we can get to a time machine: This image was taken by Hubble, and is the farthest-ever view of the universe we have till date. And since it's the farthest we've seen space-wise (billions of light-years away) it's the farthest back we've been able to look time-wise, since the light reaching us was actually emitted by those thousands of galaxies billions of years

FF - Our Story in 2 Minutes

2012-09-28T00:01:00.000+05:30

A short video that I quite enjoyed, with a nice collection of pictures: http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/history.html Some screenshots:

SS - Micro Elephant

2012-09-23T23:30:00.000+05:30

Micro Elephant by ibidefiet on deviantART

QS - Entropy

2012-09-21T11:25:00.000+05:30

Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine! Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored; Light dies before thy uncreating word: Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; And universal darkness buries all. ~ Alexander Pope, The Dunciad Coined by a German physicist in 1865, the term 'entropy' is commonly used, though not commonly

SS - On the Deck of Space Shuttle Discovery

2012-09-16T00:58:00.004+05:30

360vr.com has amazing 360 degree panoramic images. One of my favourites is of Discovery's deck. This is just a single screenshot, but the website allows you to view the full deck by offering a 360 degree visual environment. To view the full image, click here. Nothing compared to the real thing, of course, but unless I steal a rocket, I doubt I'm ever going to get up there!

SS - Just a Little Boy

2012-09-02T23:59:00.000+05:30

People don’t stop On their way to tomorrow Blind to patterns in the pavement And how trees sing with a passing breeze. They’re all so caught up in cell phones, meetings, mediocrity. Barely recognizing the smell of good coffee. But I want to pause... Tomorrow can wait a while. I want to watch the birds fly Give a stranger a smile. So follow me, darling And I’ll take you where I