Lumps of Coal

Yes, I'm not supposed to be blogging. But yesterday I wrote out a short post which I put up on Sensory Overload. It's a simple proof related to the twin prime series. Check it out if you're interested.

You see, math problems are my only source of entertainment (albeit, a great one). So, I've been spending my breaks working on getting the hang of infinite series in calculus which, for some absurd reason, we don't study in school. CBSE... bah!

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So Long And Thanks For All The Net

I am confronted with a set of highly paranoid and partially ballistic parents and so, my net connection is on quota. Sweet.

I might be able to regain computer rights after my pre-board result which will be somewhere mid-Jan I reckon. For the mean time, blogging is suspended. That too when I finally got an idea or two and started a new blog. Ah! what a wretch. I was looking forward to writing something on Bees And Quantum.

Anyhow, see you lot in roughly a month. Though, I will drop by every once in a while to invade your blogs, worry not.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the new year.

[Edit: Results out on 3rd February.]

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Yes. No. Maybe?

Today I read an article about a court ruling in Maryland. In this particular case, a woman agreed to sex and then in the middle of it, that is after penetration, she said no. The man, Baby (it took me a moment or two to realize that was in fact his name), continued for 5 to 10 seconds after she had told him to stop. Baby was convicted of first degree rape.

On the woman's side of the argument, it can be said that it is for her to decide whether or not she wants to have sex. And the right to this decision does not end with the beginning of sex. But here is what's bothering me, the only form of defense for the person being convicted of rape is the absence of physical injury. If now you say injury is not a criterion nor is consent to sex, then how in god's name is the man supposed to defend himself?! Since it's just her word against his, he'll inevitably end up in prison for the next year or two. Seem a bit sexist?

Under different circumstances, say had he carried on for minutes after she said to stop, the act would qualify as rape for then he would be forcefully having sex. But not here. In this instance, the guy may be called a variety of splendidly obscene names but he is certainly not a rapist.

P.S.: I think Baby appealed, I don't know what happened after. I was too lazy to do the research.

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Happy Thanksgiving

[Right so, I shouldn't be posting this since I wrote it while half asleep and entirely pissed. But since now I am equally tired and feeling wretched.. I don't care enough]

Ah, the irony of today. People across the world stuffing themselves with stuffed turkey while we all stand under siege. I am thankful to man for his not so benign idiocy.

But now it's finally over. Two days and 250 lives later, there are 20 less terrorists trolling the streets. The statistics seem just a bit off. If 20 can take down three iconic buildings, bring an entire city to a standstill and scare witless a nation, then what of a hundred? Nevertheless, I'll go out on a limb here and take the role of the naive optimist and say that things will change  after this. Our government will do something. Anything to keep this from happening again. And no, adopting a couple of sniff dogs won't be adequate. We need initiative. We will take it. But will any of it work?

Ishmeet earlier asked how one can deal with people who don't value their own lives. Somebody said education. It seems like a logical thought- spread education, keep people from getting brainwashed into thinking blowing themselves up somehow gets them closer to that invisible  omniscient being up among the clouds. But frankly, how well do you reckon that will work? Our most recent and potent terrorists have been well educated people who managed to convince themselves of the altruism of murder.

Never mind illiteracy, religion is the culprit. The root cause of fundamentalism is the religion. If you don't get worked up because some poor fellow happen to believe in a different all-powerful egomaniacal man than you, then you don't slit his throat. So there you have it, a solution. End the age old farce, end the new age violence.

Now if you were to apply similar logic to the solution, you'll realize even that wont make an iota of difference. Because humans are congenitally oriented to destroy, create havoc, kill. The ancients went to war over territory. Then we had religious wars like the Crusades, the French Wars of Religion, the Muslim Conquests and the Reconquista. We have fought battles over honour, for love and respect. In high schools, kids initially fight over pencils then over girls and often over nothing at all. I was bored, I picked a fight. Anthropoid brilliance.

Maybe, just maybe, the reason is that we just fucking love to fight. A war, regardless of how it came about or how it manifests itself, satisfies a need for blood. The Romans had gladiators, we have wrestlers, cock fights, terrorists and wars over the pretext of democracy. So why not cut the charade? We like to kill. Accept that.

The interminable bloodshed makes me prefer the company of Count Dracula to most humans. Besides the fact that it would be incredibly cool, vampires are more benevolent. Sublime oxymoron- vampire more humane than human. Thing is, in either situation there is a high probability that I'll be killed. At least Dracula will make nutritional use my blood, won't pleasantly let it drain into the earth.

In brief, either we go extinct because of self inflicted global warming or self incurred WWIII. I like mankind, I'm also a fan of sadomasochism.

There might be one little solution tucked away in the nooks of grey matter- work. Find yourself a passion and as long as it doesn't involve decapitation and evisceration of strangers, pursue it. Then magically, you might even become productive. So my advice to you: shut up and calculate (or make anthropological flow charts).

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In Lacking

My blog has been on a slow downward spiral for a while now. So, being somewhat sadistic, I thought to prolong the wretchedness. And here, I post a short poem which I wrote yesterday about being all out of inspiration and my dying blog.


In and around every niched corner
Above and beneath those dusty racks
It evades me still after these months past.
Scoured and sifted in hopes for an ounce.
But not one cares to cease in less than a scowl.

Searching within for the deep seated guilt,
Else maybe for the hatred of enervation
Or lastly for the hope of salvation.
But none yield ideas worth the written word
None provide inspiration for this dying work.

In a tepid attempt to express a pondering
I put down that which occupies us all-
The very truancy of occupation from others and all.
The void of faith now be filled with a specter, that of
Despair fused with far seeing hopes for a savior.

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Chronophage and Relative Time

This is a video in which John Taylor briefly describes the working of the Corpus Clock. 

Fascinating. 

Here's a question for you guys, why the pendulum? Is there any need for it?

 

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