Surface Tension

testing from linux

prashu — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 05:44:23 +0000

checking if this post posts

Some Random posts of interest

Inception – Escape from Limbo

prashu — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:42:53 +0000

One of the most misunderstood scene from the movie is the whole scene where Cobb and Ariadne go into Cobb’s dream – which is supposedly Limbo and which Saito entered from the Ice level by dying.

The interesting thing here is the huge age difference between Saito and Cobb. If you would have noticed, Cobb actually entered Limbo before Saito – AFAIR. Saito was still protecting the entrance while Cobb and Ariadne went into the 4th level of dreams and it was only later that Saito died after throwing the bomb and stuff, while Eames was planting the bombs on the building.

So, while Saito spent say, 5 minutes protecting the entrance, Cobb and Araidne would have already spent a few hours/weeks in the next level. So, had Cobb stayed on, then he would have been much older than Saito.

The other question here is that Cobb and Araidne went into the 4th level of dreams. Is the 4th level the Limbo level?, since that is where Cobb finds an older Saito somehow. Or while I am writing this, I am thinking that Cobb actually dies in this 4th level, due to the collapsing buildings and then goes to Limbo – where Saito is already present since a long time. But I feel this is unlikely (I had a reason to believe this is unlikely, but have forgotten it since I sat to pen this down).

The reason why the buildings are collapsing in Cobb’s dream is due to the structure collapsing in the Ice level. As we know, the environmental changes in the upper level affects the dream one level below. So since the snow fortress is collapsing, so too are the buildings in Cobb’s dream.

What I feel is that Cobb spends some time with his wife. Meanwhile there is a combined kick due to the buildings collapsing and also the snow fortress collapsing. Simultaneously, the lift stage too would have collapsed since Arthur is out of that dream and the van would have hit the bottom of the lake. Together all this would have delivered a simultaneous kick (a third kick, if you please) and Cobb would have woken up under the lake. As he was swimming to the surface, he would have drowned from being under the water for so long.

Due to this, he now goes into limbo, where Saito has been for very many years already. Also the reason why I believe this is when he reaches limbo, he is washed up on the shore. This relates well to the upper level environment where he is drowning in the lake and hence he is washed onto the shore in the dream. Remember, environment affects the dreams.

Does what I say make any sense or do you disagree?

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Inception – The Finale

prashu — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:48:46 +0000

The most debated scene in Inception is without a doubt the ending. There are a hundred theories on how the movie ended and then some more. Some have even gone to the extent of saying that the whole movie was someone else’s dream. Some say that the spinning top was the totem of the audience and it was a sign to wake up and so on.

Of course there are the rest of them who are torn between whether the top keeps spinning or whether it topples over. My belief is that it definitely topples over. They clearly show the top losing momentum and shaking a little bit. That much hint is enough for me to believe that the top is ready to topple. For example, imagine a scene where a mad rabid dog is charging at a person and the next scene is blanked out. What could have happened?

An alien spaceship could have mysteriously landed on top of the dog’s head rendering it unconscious. Saint-Gobain could have set up a crystal clear glass front into which the dog would have crashed and the man would be safe. Or, the man might be from the wild wild west and he was waiting for the dog to take its final leap so that he could test his reflex and draw is gun and shoot a bullet through the dog’s open mouth.

Or, the most obviously outcome, without giving too much leeway to one’s imagination, would be that the dog charged and bit the man.

So when the top seemingly shakes, then I figure it is indeed about to topple and I will not read too much into it.

Anyway, regardless of what you thought, that is not the ending. Either option could be right, about the top toppling. How I read this is that, when Cobb sees his kids after such a long time, it does not matter to him anymore whether he is in a dream or not. He is so enthralled that the kids turn towards him, that he loses sight of the top and walks away to be with his kids whom he has missed so much.

So the debate on whether it is reality or not is unfounded here. Cobb has decided to just accept whatever this is as reality and just live in this moment. Maybe that is the lesson that the director intends – enjoy whatever comes your way and make the most of it. Don’t keep judging situations and whether or not it could really be happening. Dreams are anyway something that you cannot depend on, or trust, as seen throughout the movie, so just accept whatever it is that you are experiencing and enjoy it while it lasts.

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Object Oriented Inception – The Movie

prashu — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:52:31 +0000

All-rightey then, I finally saw the movie Inception yesterday and I too like everyone else have my own theory on what went on in the Movie. Soon I will be blogging about my own theory on what I think actually happened. However, more than trying to figure out what happened in the movie, it is important to understand the various concepts in the movie.

Like a true software developer (I don’t know why this stereotype), I started thinking about it, and maybe because I was thinking about programming too, I found an explanation for the concepts used in Inception in a very programmatical way. Below I have listed the various concepts used in Inception along with its meaning in Inception itself. Then I present to you a simple programming concept and I will explain the concepts of Inception again using this already well known programming concept.

Architect – Someone who designs a dream

Dreamer – A person who is dreaming and whose dream it is. He is trained by the Architect on what he should dream.

co-Dreamers – Also persons who are dreaming, but they are not in their own dream. They are characters in the mind of the Dreamer. A Subject is also a co-Dreamer, but who is not trained by the architect, and hence cannot consciously influence the flow of the dream.

Subconscious – The projections of the Subject (and co-Dreamers) that fills the dream world of the dreamer. These are usually the people in the dream, other than the dreamer himself.

Dream – A state of sub-consciousness where anything and everything can happen.

Kick – Some that will awaken you from your dream and bring you back to reality.

Totem – An object that only you know how it feels, how it behaves and how much it weighs. No one else can replicate this object in their dream, and hence you can find out if you are in someone else’s dream.

Limbo – A state of deepened sub-consciousness that is reached when one dies in a dream level when under a very powerful sedative. In Limbo the person cannot know that he/she is in a dream and hence cannot come out of it unless someone else goes in and tells or proves to that person that he/she is in Limbo.

Now think about the well known and widely used programming concept called OOPS (not in any way related to the Britney Spears song). Just to jog your memory, OOPS is a concept of classes and objects and instantiation and derivation and so on. Lets relate OOPS to the concepts listed above.

Architect – A Program. An program or an application contains all the classes and methods and other definitions that exist. Ultimately whatever will happen, or should happen, is written down in the program.

Similarly, an architect designs the entire dream, including what each dreamer should dream. What every dreamer dreams is what the architect has written down.

Dreamer – A Class. A class is something that defines all the properties and behaviors of itself.

Similarly, a Dreamer defines his dream world and the behavior of all objects in his dream. He brings the subject and the co-dreamers into his dream.

co-Dreamers – A declared Object. This is a declared object or variable that is of some ‘type’. It has to be instantiated to have any meaning. These objects are declared as attributes in a class and will be instantiated when the class, during its runtime, decides to do so. The life of these instantiated objects

Similarly, the co-dreamers are made to enter the dream of the Dreamer and how and when and in what environment they are brought in is based completely on the Dreamer himself.

Subconscious – Callbacks. A callback is a method that an object exposes an another object can call. The callback could be used to send information from one object to another object. An object can pass any sort of information through the callback and the receiving object can use this information to (possibly) modify itself in any way it deems fit.

Similarly, the Subject sends information to the Dreamer through the dreamers callback. This information is what populates the dreamers world.

Dream – An Instantiation. Within a program (or an object), a new object can be instantiated during runtime. This new object has it own properties based on the class(dreamer, co-dreamer, subject) whose type it is.

Similarly, when one or more people go into a dream, they are going into a new world (a new instantiation) that is defined by the dreamer.

Kick – A Destructor. When an object that is instantiated and it doing its own thing has to be brought out of the instantiation, it has to be destroyed. This is done by calling the object’s destructor.

Similarly, a kick destroys the dream of the person and bring him back to the level that the kick was administered in.

Advanced OOPS: The simultaneous kicks can be considered to be a kind of ‘reference counting’.

Totem – Reflection. Reflection is a way by which an object can find out about its own properties during runtime and may or may not modify itself. An object has use only its own reflection property to find out about itself. If it tried to use some other instance’s property, then it will not be able to find out the runtime information about itself.

Similarly, a Totem is something that a dreamer can use to find out about himself and use this information to alter his own state of mind. The dreamer can find out about himself (whether he is in a dream or not) only through his own Totem, and not through other’s representations of what they think is his Totem. Using this information, the dreamer can wake himself up from his dream.

Limbo – A dangling pointer. When an object is deleted(a person is killed in the movie), but the memory referenced by the object is not destroyed, then the referenced memory is in Limbo. The memory is left dangling without any hope of being freed until something else comes and specifically ‘frees’ up this memory – for example a Garbage Collector.

Similarly, Saito was trapped in Limbo (as his body was killed, but his mind was still free), and Cobb had to specifically come down and remind Saito that he was in Limbo and ‘free’ him.

I would love to hear feedback from you about this blog. Also if you think there are some terms that I have not covered, please do let me know and I will think of, and add the OOPS explanations for them too.

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Pre-Accented Languages

prashu — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:25:27 +0000

The past couple of days I have been trying my hand at learning some Chinese. Yes, I have learnt German to a good extent, and I had just started learning some French, but then for some reason, I wanted to learn Chinese (I’m referring to Mandarin when I mention Chinese anywhere in this blog) too.

Chinese is a very interesting language which I have heard a lot about. Whenever anyone talks about Chinese, they always talk about the way the words are pronounced. Its not just about the awkward pronunciation, but also that, if it is not pronounced the way it is meant to be, then it not just doesn’t make sense like other languages, but in fact might mean something totally different and something abusive even.

So, Chinese is one language where something has to be spoken the way it has to be spoken. I can’t say that about any other language that I am aware of.

For example, here is one one could do if one speaks with a wrong tone. (Taken from here)

Intended meaning: You keep covering your ears, do you have an ear-ache?

Wrong tone meaning: You keep covering your ears, do you have a child?

What I realized from this is that non-native Chinese speakers cannot have an accent when they are speaking Chinese. English for example has a South Indian accent, North Indian accent, British accent, West Indian accent, South American accent etc. No matter how funnily the person speaks the world, unless you are not able to comprehend the world in totality, you do understand the meaning of the word.

But by giving such a kind of importance to tonality in the Chinese language, they have effectively made sure that everyone who speak Chinese speak it in the same way (at least make an effort to do so). Thanks to this, I am sure that ever Chinese speaker will be able to understand one another and there will never be an ‘Huh?’ moment due to someone having a funny accent.

Quite cool no?

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Is Wildlife Photography really an Art?

prashu — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:28:01 +0000

Quite an interesting topic, don’t you think? Most of you wannabe wildlife photographers out there would already be wondering where did bang my head against to be asking such an outrageous question that shakes the very foundation of what you believe in.

Photography is an art, there is no doubt about it.

A photographer needs to have an eye for creating interesting compositions and not everyone is blessed with that. I have mentioned previously also, but some of the best photographs that I have seen until now have come from a basic Canon A-series camera. I have still not come across better composed photos ever. Everyone sees the same scene in all its entirety, but only a good photographer can see what part of that scene will produce the best representation on a film or a photographic sensor. I acknowledge this and that is why I believe photography is an art.

However, where I have a bone to pick is in wildlife photography. Wildlife photography has become a fad nowadays with people buying DSLRs and huge lenses and go out on a whim and shooting birds and animals. I respect those who have painstakingly visited many places and gone into the deepest forests to capture that stunning animal or bird in its own habitat. But then I consider them as a wildlife enthusiast to have gone through all that pain. Previously enthusiasts used to do that to study animals and birds and used to spend a lot of days in their habitat to understand them. These days however, everyone and their kin want to become the next Attenborough of the world and go into forests on a shooting spree without trying to understand these animals.

I wouldn’t call someone who has taken that stunning shot of a tiger or a leopard a great photographer. He was just at the right place at the right time. I believe wildlife photography is a factor of luck and money. Spend 30 straight days in a tiger reserve and you are sure to get some great shots of a tiger. Unless you are really really unlucky, in which case spend 360 days and I can guarantee that you are going to get at least one stunning shot, as no one can every get that unlucky. However, no one is going to pay you to spend your life in a tiger reserve, going on safari’s every morning and evening. It costs money. You bring luck to your side, but blowing away more money going on such trips. Of course that point and shoot camera with 3X zoom isn’t going to win you any accolades. Spend more and get yourself a DSLR with a nice 400mm F/4 lens and your photos will then be appreciated. Have more money, get a camera with a full frame sensor that shoots at 10FPS (to catch the teeth of the tiger sinking into its kill) along with a nice ‘fast’ lens and you are all set to will many wildlife prizes.

Really, wildlife photography is not about talent, but about how to bring luck over to your side. It is less about art and much more about chance. A wildlife photographer must be appreciated for his/her dedication to the task, but in no way does it qualify the talent of a photographer.

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Automatic Transmissions are the way to go

prashu — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:14:55 +0000

Ever since I had my knee surgery, I have been thinking a lot about cars with automatic transmission. Had I an automatic transmission car at that time, I would have been able to drive myself around in my car for the one month that I was home-ridden.

Since then my leg has healed and I have clocked a few thousand kilometers, but I still long for an automatic transmission.

I have, since long, been a fan of manual transmission. A manual transmission makes you feel one with the car. You dictate terms to the car on how it drives through the manual transmission. Manual transmission is much much more fun, than an automatic transmission. And then you drive in India – with cows and dogs standing in the middle of the road, seemingly deaf humans crossing in front of your car without so much as a warning, with speed-breakers and potholes built to rip out ever little bit of metal placed on the underside of the car, and with the ever maddening bumper to bumper traffic that plagues our city streets.

It is then that you develop a pain in your left leg and your left shoulder and wish that there were a better way to drive in India.

When I think about it, when do I really have the chance to have ‘fun’ on my manual transmission car? I use the first two gears for 90% of the time and the rest of the gears the remaining 10%. Even on that odd weekend or very very late night, by the time I race up to the 4th or 5th gear, there is a huge speed-breaker ahead and I have to jump on the brakes. This being the case, I really don’t see any use of a manual transmission at all.

Since then, I am considering an automatic transmission car. The only downside to that is the poor mileage that seems to be the bane of automatic transmission. However, firstly, I believe that this is wrong data and people just don’t know how to use an AT box. AT through its inherent property knows exactly when to change gears, and also does it with the minimum delay since there is no human involvement here.

Secondly, even on a car with a bad AT box, what is a little loss of fuel efficiency as compared to the great deal of convenience and comfort that you get while driving?

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We Indians, the Litterbugs

prashu — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:52:22 +0000

“Indians behave in an unhygienic, uncouth, and disgusting way only while they are in India. They do so because every one else does so. When they go abroad, they automatically become clean and sensible and don’t litter the streets like they do in India. It is just a matter of education and a sense of responsibility”

I Beg to Differ.

I have heard this saying so many times in the past that I don’t pay much attention to it. I do accept the fact that Indians behave more civilized when abroad, but I never was able to fathom why not behave like that in India. Well, today morning, when I read the very same statement again, I realized why.

Indians have a flair for hype. Watch any Bollywood movie, where a hero punches a villain and the villain flies off into the distance, and you know for sure the yarn spun into the tale. Indians love ‘masala’, Indians love to show off, Indian love to show themselves off as being different and greater than their friends.

And that stems this change of attitude when abroad.

So, how are Indians introduced to the foreign life? Have you ever had a rich relative from Singapore or Dubai who has told you that there are camera in every street corner? Have they told you that if you make a traffic violation, or if you litter on the streets, then a hidden camera would take your photo and a ticket will appear at your doorstep through mail the very next day? Have they hyped up the very fact that there is zero tolerance for lawless behavior abroad and this has left an indelible fear or doubt in your heart?

Or how about this – have you seen films, where the comedian throws a chewing gum wrapper on the street and is immediately taken in by cops who teleport out of nowhere and beat the chap black and blue leaving him in only his striped underwear?

Such stories and filmy scenes are the ones that tune the mind of the majority of Indians. There are laws in India and abroad, but violation of laws abroad land you in the police net, whereas violation of laws in India are done by heroes, or ones who rough up the police should they interfere. So then, the Indians violate laws back home because they are not afraid of the law, whereas abroad, they sure as hell are. That is how they have been conditioned to think.

And then I have heard of incidents where Indians living in Little India, in Singapore, make a damn mess of the place during their celebration and festivals, probably as a way to sympathize with the living conditions of slum dwellers in Dharavi, Mumbai. When the flock gets together and have numbers on their side, herd mentality sets in.

So, to drive sense into Indians, education is not enough. Strong, strict and harsh policing is necessary. When there is damage to a persons wallet(heavy fines), or to his self-esteem(public humiliation or arrest), then, and only then, is sense driven up into the upper portions of the human body that can assimilate this information.

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Practice makes one perfect

prashu — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:58:14 +0000

I read this article by Deepak Shinde on how one should respond and not react. I have attached the forward that I had got which was his article. I am unable to find any online reference to the article, so I hope I am not violating any copyright laws.

I agree 100% with what he says. Respond and not React. When faced with a situation or a crisis, wait a while, let the rush die down, think about what has happened and think intelligently on a way to undo or counter the event that just happened.

I am usually criticized for not bothering about happenings and taking things coolly at all times. Maybe this article will help you realize the way I behave. Of course, I am not very intelligent to respond effectively each time, and I have had my outbursts many a time (especially in the recent past), but most of the times I really don’t bother about things and I seem to come off very passive. I however reserve my comments on whether I am really passive, or whether I am thinking of a response.

Anyway, the point that i am trying to make is that it is all well and fine to think about responding all the time, but that is not practically possible every time. I believe that you have train your mind for eventualities by playing it out in your mind and thinking of possible responses. It is sort of like a game of chess. You think of a move, then you think of your opponents counter to that move, then think of your counter to your opponents counter and then the next move and so on. Only when you are certain that all possibilities after making the move are in your favor, then only you should make the move.

A case in point is a near miss that I had with a bus recently. I have always prepared for eventualities while learning to drive the car. Eventualities such as a dog or child running in front of the car, a vehicle stopping suddenly in front, swerving to avoid something but at the same time looking to the sides and behind so that I don’t cause an accident with the adjacent vehicle and many more. I keep playing such things out in my mind. People say, don’t think of bad incidents – your thoughts might just make it happen. I believe that it is good as it prepares me for what to do when it happens. A bus once suddenly swerved into my path on the main road while I was right next to the divider. Instinct would have told me to swerve away from the bus, but had I done that, I would have firstly rammed and dragged my car along the divider. I might have jumped into oncoming traffic had the divider been smaller. I might have bounced off the divider back into the bus too.

But somehow my hand kept the steering dead straight and my foot pressed down hard on the brake. I kept a straight line and missed the bus by a few cms and I didn’t hit the divider either. Worst come worst, I would have banged the left front of the car into the bus and would have had only that much damage, as compared to what would have happened had I rubbed against the divider.

So, to respond, you have to be prepared with a response. I think there was a technical term, but I would call it ‘Intelligent Sub-Conscious Reaction’. Reacting itself is bad, but reacting intelligently is the best. You end up doing the correct thing, and also you do it immediately without wasting time.

What do you think? Do you too conjure up such incidents and prepare yourself for eventualities?

Update: I think the term is conditioning. You got to condition your mind for an eventuality.

Some Random posts of interest

The way Hikes should be Awarded

prashu — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:54:32 +0000

Consider this scenario. It is the end of the year, appraisals are due, and salary revisions will be done in a couple of months. You have slogged your bottom out the last year and have excelled at anything and everything. However, during the fag end of the year, your manager has pushed you a little too much, just beyond your breaking point. As it is, you have not been appreciated much for the efforts that you have put in, and further work is being unjustly dumped on you. The fact that the control of the bonus and hikes are in the hands of the managers, make them the most powerful human beings on the planet the months before your appraisal (and the most reviled afterward – ah well, there are always two sides to the coin).

Let’s say, in a fit of frustration, you hit back at your manager. Your ratings go for a toss. You are screwed over in both your bonus and hike and you are left with nothing. Is this something that ever scared you? Is this something that you feel should happen? I for one, don’t believe that the manager should be responsible for the money that an individual gets at the end of the year. In fact I don’t believe in certain organizational structures. I digress here.

I believe that there should be two kinds of managers – Project Managers, and LoB Managers(for want of a better description – basically the ones who pull in work content and to who allots budget and effort to the projects under his/her LoB)

Project Managers should deal only with the planning and execution of the project. They are given the effort estimate and they have to plan the execution so that it remains within the limits of this estimate. The managers report back the performance of their team to the HR on a monthly basis. If they need people removed or replaced from their projects for non-performance, then this is something they have to deal directly with the HR.

LoB managers ensure that better work come in to their team. They put a value proposition to the senior management and get more and better projects into their area which of course the project mangers handle. Unlike people managers, they are still not the ones responsible for appraisals, but they just take educated management decisions on what work has to be done and what work their teams would want to take up.

So who decides the appraisals? This should be calculated at a much higher level, and a level separated from managers and petty politics and should be handled by a separate organization such as by the HR, based on regular – monthly or quarterly – feedback and ratings from your project manager. That way, through regular feedback, emotional or personal differences creeping in can be noticed and controlled. The HR does not deal with the individual personally and can evaluate the worth of an individual to the company based on his/her performance and ratings.

This is a win win situation for the company. Managers who now don’t have the power of money in their hands might not like this, but it is indeed good for the company. Individuals can truly be rated based on their performance with minimal chances of politics playing a part. Managers can concentrate on execution and helping the company achieve its targets. Employees can discuss directly, freely, and more interactively with a manager, either to point out his/her mistakes or offer suggestions, without the fear of the worrying about rubbing the manager the wrong way, since now it doesn’t matter how you rub your manager.

What do you think of this proposal? Do you think this would work?