tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9183342245833308032024-03-06T10:36:14.678+05:30Final Scoremy version of worldly and not so worldly things...GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-35326939460643902162021-03-25T01:49:00.001+05:302021-03-25T02:13:52.398+05:30The Enlightenment Age (A short essay)<div><u>TLDR</u> : there was window of time in the past that changed everything, if you can't spare 8 minutes to read this prose, I highly recommend reading the wikipedia article [1] linked at the bottom.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there’s anything I wanted anyone from taking with them after reading this, It would be the tldr, since its really the inspiration and sort of my summary over the topic of enlightenment, so that said, let me write about what inspired my interest in <a href="https://enlightenedsapiens.com" target="_blank">Enlightened Sapiens</a> , a social enterprise that aims to grow a community around your passions and hobbies and inspires you to discover your passion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enlightenment Age Or the age of reason was sometime between 17th century to 19th century, I’d even argue we are still in it today. Let’s just go with it being concluded for now to make my summary short and interesting.</div><div>It started with Newton, and a wonderful idea, an idea that shines a light on the human ability to reason and use scientific thinking and experimentation to get to an insight that changed the way we see the world and made an immeasurable boost to the understanding of physics and math and science, not just scientists but artists, poets, philosophers , writers ! They changed the way a lot of stuff was done, the challenged the order . The monarchs, the feudal lords, the elitists, the priests, the gods even. Sometime after physics advanced to the smallest of things we can measure, we hit a lull, but there’s promise of a future discovery and age of pushing boundaries opens up, or we are living through and age of reason and can collaborate to come up with next step that would count as sufficient progress, I think with the extent to which we are able to bring the computing power of socially connected and intelligent sapiens work towards the same goal, we might be on the precipice of a great age. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>When Karan (founder of <a href="https://enlightenedsapiens.com" target="_blank">Enlightened Sapiens</a>) spoke to me about Enlightened Sapiens, this is what my thinking was, I was thinking about it as historical period where reason overcame dogmatic beliefs,where discovery won over our stubborn superstitions,where love won over our pride, where we as a species made an evolutionary jump in our understanding of space and time, of understanding ourselves, establish foundations to a scientific framework of ideas, ideas like giants we can stand on the shoulders of and see into the universe.</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>We have spoken about various ways in which we can build a community around discovering ideas, ideas perhaps lost in this fast moving age, simple ideas, ideas like discovering your soul, understanding the nature of the world, opening your minds, and to remind ourselves of the enlightenment era, and how it revolutionized everything. The impact of the enlightenment age or the age of reason is seriously difficult to cover in a single blog post or even a short series of posts, but I will try and take my time and spend the words to try and drive home the point I want to make, If I fail and this article doesn't inspires your interest you should go learn more I can drop some material at the end of the post when I conclude it.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I feel a lot of history is scandalous and some tales survive in memes across the internet today, but most of history is ignored and that is why it tends to repeat itself, but positive periods like Enlightenment Age broke the cycle of perpetual doom, eventual collapse of human civilization before the age of enlightenment can inspire us that we have to give this age some more importance and seek to learn more about them and they should not just be a chapter in your school history textbooks and then forgotten, Enlightened Sapiens for me will always be a place I can talk about interesting ideas, talk about our hobbies, our passions, and discover what excites us, how we can get more out of life. Its also a guide to how to lead a full life, a way to give back to society, a way to see the light, beyond tradition. "Tradition" they say is just peer pressure from dead people. I couldn't find who do I owe to attribute this wonderful quote, it captures for me the ethos of breaking free of tradition and opening our kind to new worlds. These are not just some superlatives slapped together to make a pretty prose, they are my attempt to impress upon the reader the magnitude of the impact that the age of reason has had on our progress as a species. We are a conscious , social mammalian species equipped with a brain made of meat that can create a mental model of the world and come up with original thought, construct a shared framework of ideas, an ability to discover the mysteries of the world.So yes I ask the reader to explore this part of our history if they are not already familiar with it, I assure you it's exciting and interesting not just for the progress, but also the story aspect of a lot of the individual steps in this long ladder of enlightenment, also I keep mentioning this word a lot without attempting a description of what it is that Enlightenment really is, I choose to borrow Kant's famous words here, I quote</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment." </i> - Immanuel Kant [2]</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In the interest of keep this short and attention spans these days are not much, so I will conclude on this note, that we as a species are at the verge of another age of exponential enlightenment, something difficult to put succinctly in words, but an attempt shall and will be made. A lot of time has been spent talking about such things and very little of it has been captured, some conversations are lost to the winds of time, but some are always stuck within the confines of our minds. ES is an effort to pen down some of that learning, some of that knowledge, try to connect the dots, to promote discovery, to question the traditional order, to live free, to challenge ourselves, to live life to the fullest and be empathetic, be humble, be united. Its about building community, we should talk more, listen even more, read a hell lot. We should never forget the top lessons of our ancestors and the bravery and ingenuity of our heroes who pushed the boundary of science to enable us to live in the future today. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>references and further reading:</div><div>[1]<a href=" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" target="_blank"> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment</a></div><div>[2] <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html" target="_blank">http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>more here:</div><div><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/enlightenment " target="_blank">https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/enlightenment </a></div><div><br /></div><div>Enlightened Sapiens website:</div><div><a href="https://enlightenedsapiens.com" target="_blank">https://enlightenedsapiens.com</a></div><div> </div><div>More to follow... watch this space</div><div><br /></div><div>regards,</div><div>Gokul Menon</div><div><br /></div>GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-79989508860143189662020-11-09T11:15:00.001+05:302020-11-09T11:15:09.217+05:30Moving to an upgraded workstation at home<div><div>Random Life tech update: Switching to a new PC</div><div><br /></div><div>My PC journey recap:</div><div>I started my journey in personal computing with an custom built PC sometime in 2004 with an AMD Athlon 64 CPU, then graduated to new PC when I built one with an Intel i5 CPU some 7 years later in 2011 (quad core) , and now after 9 years it's finally time to get a new PC again. </div><div>I moved back to AMD ryzen 9 3900X this time considering performance per dollar AMD is offering compared to Intel's offerings. (The ryzen 9 I got is a massive 12 cores)</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Instead of building my own again, I decided to just order a pre built and save myself some time which I just don't have to sit and build a pc. below are the specs.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><b><u>OLD PS SPECS</u></b></div><div>Intel i5 3560K 3.4 Ghz</div><div>NVIDIA GeForce 970 4GB</div><div>16 GB Memory DDR3 RAM</div><div>Primary storage 1 TB SSD</div><div>Secondary storage 6 TB 7200RPM Sata6 Hard Drive</div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>NEW PC SPECS</u></b></div></div><div>CyberPowerPC SLC10488W</div></div><div>AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz</div><div>NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB</div><div>32 GB Memory DDR4 RAM 3000Mhz 16-20-20</div>primary storage 1TB PCI-E NVMe SSD <div>secondary storage 2TB HDD SSD</div><div>Windows 10 Home 64-bit</div><div><br /></div><div>so in summary going 3 times cpu cores, more clock speed, twice memory at twice the speed, going 4 times as fast on primary ssd , it's a significant difference in games. Exciting times ahead benchmarking and pushing the hardware to its limit in search for higher fps and great looking graphics in the newest pc games.</div><div><br /></div><div>ps. this was drafted a while ago when the Zen3 5900X wasn't out yet.</div><div><br /></div><div>#newpc #prebuiltgamingpc #cyberpower #movingonfromintel #switchingtoteamred #goingamd #amd #nomoreintelinside #amdinside #ryzen9 #pc</div>GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-43941337606359621442020-08-27T19:46:00.007+05:302020-08-27T19:46:50.688+05:30Why there is no god , reason #62138292<p>Here's reason #62138292 for why I am convinced there is no god.</p><p><br /></p><p>TL DR: the poor and weak getting crushed and rich getting richer , no rational god will stay on the sidelines this long allowing this to happen.</p><p>long version: ~2 mins read</p><p>The year is 2020, a real estate tycoon and reality tv personality Donald J Trump has been President of the United States of America for almost 4 years. There is a global pandemic on going which is about to cause more than a million deaths (official records) from 195 countries. Malaria is still the number one disease based killer on the planet. Countless jobs were lost in the ensuing destruction caused by wildfires, floods, lockdowns etc, We are experiencing a great depression. To add to all that madness, we also have the killings of black people in the streets of America by police in various incidents across the country. Systemic racism is prevalent in here in America.</p><p>The rich meanwhile just got a whole lot richer, ultra high networth individuals actually saw their wealth grow in this time. Jeff Bezos the worlds richest man just crossed 200 Billion USD in networth and there are now 5 trillion dollar companies and Apple ( a company that makes iPhones and computers) is worth 2 Trillion and may even soon reach 3 Trillion. </p><p>Where is this god ? what the fuck is he/she smoking ? how much injustice and suffering before he or she decides to intervene and fix things. Of course this all would make sense if there was no god and this is the mess humans have created with their own greed and their own selfish reckless behavior across borders, across cultures. We are such a cancer to the planet. No rational god would sit passively while we destroy ourselves and our surroundings this destructively and this alarmingly quickly.</p><p>I want to end on a positive note, WHO just declared Africa to be polio free, guess god was busy fixing that while all this was going on and he will get to it soon enough and all will be good. Lets just all agree 2020 is cancelled and we can move to 2021 already.</p><p><br /></p><p>- conclusion, god does not exist and is a made up entity because clearly there is a problem of pain and suffering in this world where a real god would have been super helpful in helping out balance out the evil and bring some of the good in this world.</p><p><br /></p><p>ps. Those who think god is testing us, or god has a plan for all of us, or its all part of gods plan or any other similar things, please refrain from my post, you will be mocked and made a fool of on this thread by an atheist like me or by other atheist who may happen to have the courage to do so.</p><p><br /></p><p>pps. if you were an astute reader and noticed me use the lower case g instead of the typically used upper case G for god, its intentional :)</p><p><br /></p><p>#atheism #thoughts #rant #PolioFreeAfrica #pandemic2020 #blacklivesmatter #ProblemofEvil</p>GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-18567105964417302982020-05-30T08:49:00.000+05:302020-05-30T08:49:03.811+05:30Stargazing Series Part 1: Zion National Park in Utah<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGlzjJ4pklcy4HxReZfWEooRMne0RilKO_c917CMjh6aq6itIOuZYFThwdvs2iQHAYwlWe5I0kDmdYC2EQXTWchXZMnLpfBHsQRtq8JO6Z62DDSkrlzMhAzVkJsOWYhQgJCX4d0F4gvMI/s1600/DSC07983_edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Milky way rising over the Bridge Mountain and the East Temple in Zion National Park" border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGlzjJ4pklcy4HxReZfWEooRMne0RilKO_c917CMjh6aq6itIOuZYFThwdvs2iQHAYwlWe5I0kDmdYC2EQXTWchXZMnLpfBHsQRtq8JO6Z62DDSkrlzMhAzVkJsOWYhQgJCX4d0F4gvMI/s640/DSC07983_edited.jpg" title="Zion National Park, Utah" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Bridge Mountain and the East Temple views , Zion National Park, Utah, 2019</td></tr>
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This is the first part of the multi blog series on stargazing that I want to publish over time, covering my visits to national parks, in my chase to capture the milky way (our home galaxy) in so much detail.<br />
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Every single time when I see the milky white patch of the sky I am filled with amazement, we are very lucky to get to live on this rocky planet orbiting a mid sized star near a relatively quiet part of the galaxy, where we get a chance every night (barring clouds) to get a peek at what's out there. Some planets out there, are either tidally locked to their stars (similar to how the moon is tidally locked to earth) or some planets are simply too far away from their suns to sustain liquid water which is believed to be a key ingredient for life to survive. The stars in our galaxy themselves provide a window to the past around us, light coming from some of these stars left those stars thousands of years ago and when you step out on a starry night and glance up at these twinkling stars, some of those photons finish their thousand year journey by hitting your retina and registering a tiny twinkly light. To those of you who have never truly experienced a really dark sky, I must admit, the photos exaggerate , the camera is able to bring out more colors while our eyes or only capable of showing us a faint grey cloudy white smudge, we can barely make out the dust lanes, but let me assure you, the sheer planetarium effect of these thousands of stars do make up for the paleness of the milky way as seen with a naked eye, so I urge you to try it. Stargazing is very underrated as a tourist activity.<br />
repost from my instagram post (You can checkout my latest instagram feed on the photography tab of my webpage).<br />
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Not convinced, heres another short taken before dawn at one of the gates of the park.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrYTB4eWz49LaPxp6l2YfLHs3ajbVqynluWsn6hR2SSIF3_eWF1g8Gxmvy9t9Jkc3JEkkPqrTxVttVHQLpBKzNflrTIktFHrQYQYQieMfM9bfOFM4P5u6fPxhHTqqoU9bhvG2JPQ0zy9Q/s1600/DSC08171_edited_compressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrYTB4eWz49LaPxp6l2YfLHs3ajbVqynluWsn6hR2SSIF3_eWF1g8Gxmvy9t9Jkc3JEkkPqrTxVttVHQLpBKzNflrTIktFHrQYQYQieMfM9bfOFM4P5u6fPxhHTqqoU9bhvG2JPQ0zy9Q/s640/DSC08171_edited_compressed.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Entry Gates, Zion National Park, Utah<br /><br /></td></tr>
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some detail on the technique and specs of the images.<br />
I spent only a few minutes to capture both images (its a single shot taken with an exposure set to 15 seconds) and perhaps took an hour to process it in photoshop to bring out the colors and contrast.<br />
EXIF: Single Shot• Sony A7rii + Samyung 14 f/2.8• 15sec • 12800 ISO<br />
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<a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/nature/">#nature</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/zionnationalpark/">#zionnationalpark</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/nightphotography/">#nightphotography</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/landscapeastrophotography/">#landscapeastrophotography</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/milkywaychasers/">#milkywaychasers</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/milkyway/">#milkyway</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ourhomegalaxy/">#ourhomegalaxy</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/somanystars/">#somanystars</a><a class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sonya7rii/">#sonya7rii</a><br />
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coming soon Part 2: Stargazing Series Part 2: Cherry Springs State Park, PA</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-61395422243014591162020-04-14T00:12:00.004+05:302020-06-02T20:08:24.340+05:30Joining Facebook<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I haven't bothered posting on this blog for a while, a few posts lying in my drafts.<br />
I figured the global pandemic and isolating with wife in our 2 bedroom apartment in what seems to be the current epicenter of the pandemic (next to New York City, New York), now would be a good time to pen down a few posts and publish.<br />
Let me start with an announcement (as the title suggests) I will be joining Facebook as a software engineer in their New York Office.<br />
After 9 years in the finance technology working on the investment banks front office trading and algorithmic trading systems for fixed income and equity products, I am taking a major shift to a new life working on a pure technology and internet services oriented company by joining Facebook.<br />
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My new office will be only a few blocks from my current downtown office, not that it matters as I don't think I would be stepping foot into the New York Office anytime soon due to the lockdown.<br />
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more to follow if you happen to be following this space..<br />
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cheers</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-73190048929489457622019-06-23T18:38:00.002+05:302019-06-23T18:38:51.808+05:30Developers rule the world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">we developers are ruling the world, think of any multi million dollar enterprise on this planet, chances are its being run on the shoulders of giant tech companies, and think of the people building these giant systems, they are all developers, fucking developers rule the world.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk63jMa2EhXtMmFt-KTmvq18nkD-bcSMGufdkwBb8qUZ-2pT4m2odx7E-Iq1GhNbtdcgWzdeMs9MDYDBDrnFBaRjbUSTCV2yi4QmXEtt0TxTwNuDtAoMiVgOVAmD1xWb4MUkTACG8zA7U/s1600/future_is_now.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk63jMa2EhXtMmFt-KTmvq18nkD-bcSMGufdkwBb8qUZ-2pT4m2odx7E-Iq1GhNbtdcgWzdeMs9MDYDBDrnFBaRjbUSTCV2yi4QmXEtt0TxTwNuDtAoMiVgOVAmD1xWb4MUkTACG8zA7U/s1600/future_is_now.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">Source: drawception.com</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It has been awhile, I haven returned to write a post on my blog, so figured Id get back to it with this claim that I truly am beginning to believe more and more as I experience life in wall st and in technology in general..</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Think of what the brightest mind of our generation is currently supposedly busy doing ?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">They are working on optimizing the flow of money by manipulating ad exchanges for big search giants like google and facebook, they are making smartphones that are making the rest of us dumb, they are making games, dumb apps, some mind you are exploring the unknown frontiers of science with novel research, but the majority are just chasing the money check expanding the stock options of a few rich power players...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Also a lot of smart engineers and computer programmers work on projects that are looking to make us click ads, its a big money business and the engineering effort is titanic..If I can even use that as an adjective.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">and lastly a good chunk of the smartest developers are working on technology for technology, like google, facebook, amazon, etc, they are building the tools that will power the tools of tomorrow, its code all the way down (,,like they said about the universe resting on the back of turtle, and someone asks whats the turtle resting on and you go, its turtles all the way down)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">maybe I will come back and update this entry to expand on this, but will publish this draft as I've accumulated posts in my draft and haven't kept updating this blog as I wade through life as a developer. This is my entry in my log of life, my journal in cyberspace, public and informative and useful I hope to inspire everyone to carve out a space in cyberworld.<br /><br /><br />#latepost #backtoblogging #arethesehastagsevenhashinganything</span><br />
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GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-24120423997445636082019-06-23T18:23:00.000+05:302019-06-23T19:25:49.440+05:30ip4 map<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Cv4xj_5Sfzb8aX2X7DdCxTD4YlqPBPbx6fFwcLHlby07ZymNqGKpz-6aLwwPdXX75DpwiuZuiIx7Rn_JeRV8t-nTzprz8CfXFGM6y7irt-tUxnYR6ouJePv_25FoCyQx_ylTEwcVYkg/s1600/ip4map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Cv4xj_5Sfzb8aX2X7DdCxTD4YlqPBPbx6fFwcLHlby07ZymNqGKpz-6aLwwPdXX75DpwiuZuiIx7Rn_JeRV8t-nTzprz8CfXFGM6y7irt-tUxnYR6ouJePv_25FoCyQx_ylTEwcVYkg/s1600/ip4map.png" /></span></a></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1ex; margin-top: 1ex;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">This image shows a visualization of BGP routing data taken from the <a href="http://www.routeviews.org/">Routeviews</a> project. Here, 1-dimensional IPv4 address space is mapped into a 2-dimensional image using a 12th order <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_curve">Hilbert curve</a>, as inspired by <a href="http://xkcd.com/195/">xkcd</a>. This means that CIDR netblocks always appear as squares or rectangles in the image.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Address blocks are labeled based on IANA's list of IPv4 allocations. Early recipients of large "class A" address blocks appear in the upper left, while the areas labeled Various Registries indicate allocations from the former "class B" and "class C" regions. Since the mid-1990's all address space allocations are now made through the Regional Internet Registries: RIPE, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC, and AfriNIC.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1ex; margin-top: 1ex;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Each pixel in the <a href="http://maps.measurement-factory.com/gallery/Routeviews/20080301.png">original 4096 x 4096 image</a> represents a single /24 network containing up to 256 hosts. The pixel color shows the size of the route advertisement covering that space ranging from /8 (purple) to /32 (red). Black represents space without a route and grey indicates reserved space. Prefixes are rendered in order from largest to smallest so that larger (covering) prefixes can be seen underneath the smaller (more specific) announcements.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1ex; margin-top: 1ex;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Visit the <a href="http://maps.measurement-factory.com/gallery/">gallery</a> to view additional types of maps and the <a href="http://maps.measurement-factory.com/gallery/Routeviews/">Routeviews gallery</a> for historical BGP data and animations. </span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">source:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">http://maps.measurement-factory.com/</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">this is a dump of information I came across in the interest of ad-free archival and credit to original work I have verbatim pasted this in my blog.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">cheers</span></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-48985686059350379732018-05-16T05:28:00.000+05:302018-05-16T05:28:42.379+05:30Windows build 1803 and Microsoft launcher integration <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just happened to get the new windows 1803 build update having phone integration and timeline features, I then installed Windows launcher on my one plus 5 Android smartphone and just like that Im sucked into the Microsoft eco system, was stuck choosing between 'Google ONE's new offering of $2.99/month for 200 GB or Microsoft's $9.99/month for office 365 and 1 TB one drive with phone integration, and Microsoft is convincing me to take their more expensive offering !<br />
Sigh<br />
<br />
<br />
Decisions, decisions decisions !.<br />
<br />
I'm just being dramatic for no reason, just another day messing on my phone and pc.<br />
<br />
Another day in Paradise.<br />
<br />
#decisions #newpost #backtoblogging #randomupdate #needlesshashtags #sigh</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-73284294663374557682018-02-01T03:28:00.000+05:302018-02-01T03:28:31.372+05:302018 begins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2018 has arrived and 1 month in now. boy time is flying by.<br />
It doesn't feel too long ago, 2008, Ten years ago I started this blog.<br />
<br />
It's been quite a journey, come a long way from the first post, quite physically that too. 12,530 km is a very long distance, the other side of the planet. wonder how 2028 would like ... *continues to stare at the monitor aimlessly*<br />
<br />
One of my goals for the next decade is to step up to the next level in my professional career and travel more.<br />
<br />
Along with making money I've always believed in pursuing happiness . Money might make it easier to experience happiness, money might give you the power to avoid certain miseries, and yes in general without a basic amount of money, happiness can elude you, but outside of that basic amount I've come to realize happiness lies within, happiness lies time spent with loved ones, happiness lies in the thrill of creative effort, happiness lies in thrill of adventurous travel.<br />
<br />
Im focusing this year on travel, as they say , Travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.<br /><br />
so far this is what my travel plans look like for the calendar year 2018<br />
<br />
1. Cleveland, OH<br />
2. Los Angeles , CA<br />
3. San Diego, CA<br />
4. Tampa, Florida<br />
5. Orlando Florida<br />
6. Acadia<br />
7. Cherry Springs State Park, PA<br />
8. Iceland / (Swedan & Norway)<br />
<br />
<br />
Lets see if new places popup , as weekend getaways or if any of the above places get pushed to next year.<br />
<br />
Cheers.<br />
<br />
Gokul<br />
<br /></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-78400107532927406172017-10-14T19:15:00.000+05:302018-02-01T02:36:12.108+05:30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
My mom asked me today why i wrote depressed on fb the other day when I was ranting about Trump, it was difficult to give her context on a phone call, I have to take a step back and figure out how to explain to her what the post is about, it's really quite overwhelming , to sum it up,because of crazypants racist grandpa for the leader of the so called free world Donald J Trump, we are now heading for more oil and coal or green coal (whatever that means) , vulnerable environment, more scandals and corruption, less peace, more travel bans, less freedom ! <br />
When the country often referred to as the beacon for freedom , Trump casts a really scary authoritarian shadow, Not to mention the pathological lying and the lack of any sort of credibility, the nepotism, the reality tv nonsense...sigh... and that is basically why it's depressing. <br />
Guess she is going to read this and call me again to ask me the same question :) #Iamokaymom #sigh #resist #<br />
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<br />
ps. ive bullet pointed the things trump is going to destroy<br />
<br />
<br />
1. The Environment (yes the goddamn environment)<br />
<br />
<br />
2. Net Neutrality <br />
<br />
<br />
3. American Health Care System<br />
<div>
<br />
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ps. this is a late post, written but forgot to publish sometime in dec 2017<br />
<br />
<br /><br />p ps. update 1/31/2018<br /><br />2018 theme (is this a new low? is this the president capable of such a thing? )<br /><br /><br />So this Nunes dude, makes this memo showing FISA abuse, his staffers wrote it, he hasn't even checked the underlying intel himself, wants it to be available to public without review, basically saying judges don't know what they signing is just crazy, on the same day sanctions are not imposed on Russia, all while some folks in the special counsel are investigation possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 Elections.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nothing matters anymore #stateoftheunion #sotu #sigh</div>
</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-50174554906273348682017-03-22T09:56:00.000+05:302017-03-22T09:56:45.341+05:30Donald Trump Presidency begins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So it's March 21st, 2017 , approx 60 days into the Donald Trump presidency .<br />
Donald J Trump is both a boon and a bane for free speech ! Boon for anyone can troll him on twitter every time he embarrasses himself and get away with it (1st amendment ) and bane for he is gas-lighting the American public 140 characters a time on twitter .<br />
<br />
I had to finally make a Twitter account, it is following 2 Twitter accounts @POTUS @realDonaldTrump<br />
<br />
You know just in case he starts a nuclear war due to a tweet , need to have push notifications, if the world is ending, need to know as soon as it's about to start<br />
<br />
Sigh<br />
<br />
#trump #march2017 #freespeech<br />
#rant</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-67235846128891227232016-12-11T22:07:00.002+05:302016-12-11T23:02:47.723+05:30Besiktas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On Most days after watching a game most weekends I go to espnfc.com to read post match posts, and its one of those place on the web which I find comforting (knowing I wont read something too distressing, apart from United playing badly) . The internet today is a place you can't escape all the bad news, all the news about people blown up or shot or raped or mutilated... <br />
<br />
<br />
then today I read <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/besiktas/story/3016691/explosions-in-istanbul-near-besiktas-vodafone-arena-leave-38-dead" target="_blank">this -> </a><br />
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sigh, I had to ask, what is it with these countries with these guys deciding to strap explosives on them and their vehicles and blowing everyone up. What the fuck is wrong with them ? I mean what the fuck is the terrorist even thinking ? does even have a functional brain ? does he question anything ? are they making the first human dumb bots ? promise of 72 virgins in heaven really motivates them to blow themselves up ? <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Most of the people dying today are not really dying because of a battle between muslims and the west, It is a battle within the Muslim world. If you really are interested in understanding the conflict, do some research, remember history is always written by the victors, so a careful reading would be required to form an informed opinion.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/16/are-muslim-countries-more-violent/?utm_term=.95bada182d2f" target="_blank">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/16/are-muslim-countries-more-violent/?utm_term=.95bada182d2f</a><br />
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<br />
No real point to my post, just another sunday morning rant. <br />
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#today #conflict #violence #soccer</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-90191714811178520632016-07-06T23:48:00.000+05:302016-07-06T23:53:26.964+05:30Milky Way Timelapse @Cherry Spring State Park, PA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='400' height='332' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwP0Vea0lLmG5fF3_7d_eiVEzKst4fEmcqpoto3sQc3hbOhYYw9JHQ_24YBQmthJ_fDxuj9I56MhT1X4xbtlQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
On my recent visit to Cherry Springs State Park, in Central Pennsylvania, managed to grab some decent shots of our home galaxy. July 2nd 2016 , was 2 days away from New Moon, but the moon had not risen yet, so we managed to see some exceptionally dark skies. </div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0Cherry Springs State Park, 4639 Cherry Springs Rd, Coudersport, PA 16915, USA41.6625024 -77.82314789999998116.1404679 -119.13174189999998 67.1845369 -36.514553899999981tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-26975221056628185492016-06-12T23:07:00.003+05:302016-06-12T23:08:15.594+05:30Sunday Morning Musings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
America the land of the free,home of the brave and also crazy delusional men with lots of automatic guns. Depressing to read about the latest attacks in Florida. Brace yourself for a few days of pointless debate on islamophobia and 2nd amendment and NRA and what not, while how to prevent this type of attack or what is the real reason will probably not be discussed .. #losinghope #beingpessimistic</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-49471200981337097802016-06-11T23:45:00.000+05:302016-06-11T23:48:29.944+05:30My Issue with Organized religion.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My issue with organized religion is that you have to allow someone else telling you what you can eat,and when, or even how much! This is the 21st century, we have to accept that one can easily decide for himself/herself if he/she chooses to or not chooses to believe in <insert appropriate="" for="" god="" pronoun="">, he/she doesn't have to fast or pray or read ancient text, or offer milk or sweets to a stone idol,or whatever else organized religious traditions and customs dictate you do. Especially the biggest common part of religion, the part where obedience to the rules set by the ancient text and its interpretation will be rewarding in the next birth, or if not rebirth then entry ticket to heaven, well it all sounds like a possible thing, except we don't have one confirmed proof of any such reward at the end of it, now I am not arguing that "absence of evidence is evidence of absence", no, I am simply saying that at least the reward part is not confirmed yet and that a better bet is to focus on your one life that you are experiencing currently,The cold harsh truth is that nobody who ever lived has come back from the dead to confirm or deny any of this stuff anyways, for all we know we may just have one shot at this, let's focus on getting this right.</insert></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Lets talk about inconsistencies among religion, I cant understand why nobody talks about this and acknowledges this as serious problem for believers, </div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
for example Judaism and Christianity teaches that there is one God in the universe and as for Muslims, they take it very seriously, it is the single most important belief in Islam, and arguably the central theme of the religion, is that there is only one God. The name of God is Allah, which is simply Arabic for "the (al) God (Ilah). Now obviously Hinduism on the other hand is an oddball here polytheism and monotheism coexist , if you ask how, well it depends who you ask, it's complicated, but the summary is, they sort of organise in a wheel like structure with a hierarchy, its sort of based on how you interpret it, but my point should be clear, you have now some popular religions who widely contradict each other on basic tenets and beliefs, they have inconsistent teachings with each other, what does this mean, who is right, are all wrong ? how can they be considered seriously if they are not compatible , well if you try doing everything one book says, you will definitely violate the other, and so on, infact its so absurd, there are major contradictions within a single religion, let me elaborate in the next section.</div>
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To a very few minority who actively want to spread the good word of god, if you want to yell jesus loves you to convince others, well how about you explain the numerously well documented contradictions in the bible [1] , if you are trying to yell "allah 'akbar", translated as god is great, well how about you read the holy book and explain the following verse in the Quran</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Quran (2:191-193) - And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing...," [2] don't see how a god who wants you to kill folks who don't believe in him is great, </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
or if you are a hindu, read the gita and explain some of krishnas contradictory advice to arjun or his ambiguity of karma and krishnas ability to render punishment or reward at the same time gita also shows karma to be self governing [3] , I could go on, if you want other books, there are similar issues everywhere, seriously go try looking. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Some background from where I see religion came from and why its no longer relevant, </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Early Man didn't really understand the stars and the planets and the sun or the moon, so they were made gods, slowly our understanding improved, and now we have these machines that let us communicate ideas and learn about our world and our place in the universe , the information is available, all you have to do is search for it and read. The same early man wrote all that stuff in all those pages in all those ancient religious texts, sure some of the text might come from scholars who were master astronomers and sure some of the text comes from the philosophers and might hold value in our current life as guidelines to follow, so astronomy and astrology were the same science back in the day when farmers relied on astrologers for rain forecast, now-a-days we don't need an old guy sitting under a tree telling the farmers when it will rain, farmers have access to weather forecast coming from <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">meteorologists</span>. The point is the farmers don't rely on complicated traditions and superstitions and god to sow their seeds on time or plough their fields or whatever, they rely on newer and newer tech to improve their yields, just like that we can choose to use newer tech to improve our understanding of the world and stop believing in preachings of these organized religions. We must allow everyone to think critically, we must not be allowed to just accept and obey. Heres a nice reading that discusses more on the origins of how religion evolved. [4]</div>
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I have this to conclude my rant with :</div>
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Your belief in a </div>
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supernatural</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
omnipresent</div>
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omnipotent </div>
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</div>
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god is your own personal business, the said god may or may not be REAL and it would be great to not bully everyone who is vulnerable without giving them the opportunity to decide for themselves.</div>
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#yolo #saturdaymorningrant #longpost #blogentry</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
1. http://www.answering-christianity.com/101_bible_contradictions.htm</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2. http://carm.org/contradictions-quran<br />
3. http://www.comparativereligion.com/Gita.html</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
4. http://www.livescience.com/52364-origins-supernatural-relgious-beliefs.html</div>
</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-2194563820625807432015-03-07T07:35:00.000+05:302015-03-07T07:35:54.219+05:30State of Affairs in India (Mar 2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I just realized, whenever I don't have any interesting experience or thoughts to share, I could simply rant about my home country and the shit it has to deal with.<br />
To start with , this whole the #aibroastoffendsme bandwagon followed by the BBC documentary, which was banned due to fear that it will create disorder, I mean isn't the content also a little offensive to us in a way that its our own fault ? Our own citizens have such a mentality, the lawyers defending them , free citizens roaming our streets, well educated, they can talk like this, have a stance like this, its sickening, it makes me want to punch.... anyways<br />
on the other hand there is the mob that raided a jail, dragged an accused rapist out and killed him.<br />
I am really unhappy with what's going on in India, instant justice is not justice ! remember how it was when bunch of crazy people burnt someone alive because she was accused of witchcraft and that was an okay thing to do back then ? yeah its just like that , except in this case, its an accused rapist.<br />
<br />
"The law says that any person accused of committing a crime is presumed ‘innocent until proven guilty’ in a competent court which exercises appropriate jurisdiction on such matters and persons; and that an accused person is entitled to bail as a constitutional right, unless in capital offences or if the offence committed is a non-bailable offence. So people must understand this, and<br />
be patient to allow the system of jurisprudence play itself out."<br />
<br />
So a quick shout out to the responsible literate Indians reading this blog,<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #e06666; foreground-color: #e06666;">Do the responsible thing, teach and promote this simple value, to respect the law of the land ! Lets do this folks, we live in a democracy and must not resort to breaking the law to serve as the judges. We do not want to be living in a country ruled by public opinion. We have a Judiciary , respect it. Jai Hind !</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666; foreground-color: #e06666;"><br /></span>ps. The ban on beef in Maharashtra is simply ridiculous, cricket balls are made from cow hide (which comes from cows that are killed for their meat primarily) so basically you are banning the sale/possesion of the meat, but still allowing sale of these leather balls which come from their meat, I mean its the most f****d up kind food related legislation I've ever seen or heard or read a government pass. Well done Maharashtra Government, well done.<br />Some more reading for those interested: <a href="http://scroll.in/article/711064/Maharashtra%E2%80%99s-beef-ban-shows-how-politicians-manipulate-Hindu-sentiments-around-cow-slaughter" target="_blank">here</a></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-67330112133699019432015-01-03T12:20:00.001+05:302015-01-17T09:03:14.552+05:30Why I am an Athiest ? (Part 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the first post in a series of posts on this topic, I would like to begin with the reason for writing this, many people from where I come from have never really contemplated the idea that there can be a world without any God or that the God Hypothesis is indeed a hypothesis (a very poor one at that). I would like to explain some of the concepts so any devout rational thiest reading this can at least understand the arguments and beliefs of atheists like myself. so here goes..<br />
<br />
as defined in the online oxford dictionary:<br />
<br />
<u>Atheist - </u>" Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or Gods ".<br />
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<u>Agnostic - </u>" A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God "<br />
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<u>Theist -</u> " Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures. Compare with deism.:<br />
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<u>Deism -</u> "Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. Compare with theism.<br />
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To more elaborately explain the terms, something I copied from<a href="http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/theist-deist-atheist-agnostic.html#ixzz3NjkPoK50" target="_blank"> infoplease.com</a><br />
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Theist, Deist, Atheist, Agnostic<br />
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A <b>theist</b> a person who believes in the existence of God or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.<br />
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A<b> deist</b> believes there is a God who created all things, but does not believe in His superintendence and government. He thinks the Creator implanted in all things certain immutable laws, called the Laws of Nature, which act per se, as a watch acts without the supervision of its maker. He does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, nor in a divine revelation.<br />
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The <b>atheist</b> disbelieves even the existence of a God. He thinks matter is eternal, and what we call “creation” is the result of natural laws.<br />
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The<b> agnostic</b> believes only what is knowable. He rejects revelation and the doctrine of the Trinity as “past human understanding.” He is neither theist, deist, nor atheist, as all these are past understanding.<br />
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Reading up to this point, everyone must have an idea on what their stance is and what it means (just so that everyone is on the same page)<br />
<br />
incase you are one of those who has a slightly different stance or claim to have a completely new stance or not sure, maybe you should try take this <a href="http://www.selectsmart.com/plus/select.php?url=pantheists" target="_blank">test </a>to figure out.<br />
Note. The above test is no fool proof way but a very good indicator to figure out on which die of any of the above you are.<br />
<br />
moving on, coming to why I am an atheist, I would like to keep it simple and concise, so I will bullet point my main reasons (note I have way too many to list them down)<br />
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1. Lack of any evidence that God exists.<br />
2. Stories and literature ( I consider creative art) cannot be used to support your claim.<br />
3. God as a concept is in my opinion a manifestation of early man's fear and rationality and written historical records have yet to overpower this pre historic fear and false belief in a creator/god.<br />
4. Religion is root of most evil on the planet and its better we get rid of it.<br />
5. Just because some use God as their hope and motivation doesn't mean it has to be forced upon everyone.<br />
6. Science has always made better predictions than religious text.<br />
7. Santa Claus, Fables, Comics are not real, hence further disbelief in God.<br />
<br />
7 as they say is a magic number, so I will stop at that. Another important thing to note, in any debate involving the existence of god as the topic, one must remember, the onus of providing a proof is on the person claiming existence of God, not the person claiming lack of existence. Just like how I don't have to provide proof in a "is superman real" debate if I was arguing that superman is a fictional character I also don't have to provide proof for my claim that there is no God. My only proof is the lack of any evidence when there should be a lot of evidence if God was indeed real.<br />
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Concluding my post with a quote from John McCarthy<br />
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<i>"An atheist doesn't have to be someone who thinks he has a proof that there can’t be a god. He only has to be someone who believes that the evidence on the God question is at a similar level to the evidence on the werewolf question."</i></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-34468494796907541792014-12-31T20:20:00.001+05:302014-12-31T20:21:14.066+05:30Airplanes !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This evening I was jetlagged, on the back of a 2 week vacation in In India where I travelled in the south and west (Thiruvanthapuram , Goa and Mumbai ). I was peeking out the window from my bed to see a constant stream of aircrafts flying along this narrow patch of the sky in the same direction each time, I google mapped my house with that direction to see where these planes were going, when I realized that was the direction one needed to look from my window for the planes taking off at Newark Liberty International airport. Was a strange yet obvious conclusion. I sat there for the next hour or so, just scanning the sky for the next airplane. Was a strange thing to sit down and think about the chaos around you. The buzz of activity, the sheer volume and density of information exchange.<br />
sigh<br />
<br />
just thought I should pen this stuff down and publish.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-56876098560626911292014-12-27T15:52:00.003+05:302014-12-27T15:52:42.761+05:30United can win the title !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
YES, as outlandish as that claim is, you gotta take it with a pinch of salt, coming from a very old faithful united fan who has grown up to watching them chase down big leads before, remember chasing down arsenal back in 2013 ? (the captain agrees with me <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2887799/Wayne-Rooney-says-Manchester-United-hunt-Chelsea-Manchester-City-win-Premier-League.html" target="_blank">here</a>) I honestly am more hopeful than confident about my claim that united can win the title. I write this blog post to sit down and jot down my reasons for some objective perspective.<br />
<br />
I support my claim using the following 3 reasons:<br />
<br />
1. United have done this before (statistics),<br />
2. We have a lot of goals in this side (championship wining sides always score a lot of goals).<br />
3. We have been unlucky with injuries, imagine a fit united squad in 2015.<br />
<br />
I dont make a strong case yet? let me explore with you, what other rival contenders going for them that would help united's chances<br />
<br />
1. Chelsea:<br />
1.1 I got nothing, they are absolutely winning this if they dont fuck it up.<br />
<br />
2. Manchester City:<br />
2.2 I see the problem with my claim now, they (city) look solid too, so they will win it if chelsea slip up, unless they fuck it up too, now I'm really hopping for too much,<br />
<br />
The revival under Van Gaal has been impressive, maybe that's fueling my ambitious and hopeful reasoning.<br />
<a href="http://youtu.be/r5ByU6IiFp0" target="_blank">this video</a> sums up my mood<br />
<br />
<br />
sigh<br />
but then if you support united and were born sometime in the 80s, then you like me have enjoyed stupendous success, I mean really, we were scoring for fun, winning like its our right, last couple of decades especially, spoilt with so much success. We have got our rewards too soon, we can go without silverware for a very very long time (see liverpool fans) :)<br />
actually doesn't matter to be honest, even if united never go on to win anything ever again, then so be it, it is what it is, and I still can't see my self not supporting united. Its done, can't be changed, no matter what.<br />
Quoting Damien*, "You can change your country, your language, your religion, but you can't change your club",<br />
<br />
to next season then. The flame of love and loyalty burns on inside...<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
ps.</div>
<div>
<br />*This past week I was in Goa for a weekend trip with the guys, I happen to bump into a young frenchman called 'Damien' on our way to our hotel from the airport. Damien who happened to start supporting AS Monaco since he was 7, spoke about his love for the club and how he attempts to try and follow the club on his travels. We didn't get to exchange our contacts, so Damien if you ever read this, send me a shout !<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-73698641774081051032014-03-14T21:51:00.002+05:302014-03-14T21:51:19.180+05:30you truly are the center of the universe !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
now before I write anything, I want to clarify the title, its not intended to be cheesy or be poetic or whatever, no drama, this is a fact. you can check out the details in this really long (58 mins) talk by Prof Lawrence Klaus which shows why and how this is true for the observable universe. (roughly 48 billion light years in any direction from us*)<br />
<br />
The "you" here is the individual reading the article, it simply assumes there is an observer who is the you, and by center I mean the physical location with respect to the boundaries of the observable universe.<br />
<br />
anyways, enough about the title, now to the elaborate in a manner that could explain without needing to know anything about theoretical physics or astronomy or whatever.<br />
<br />
so we have eyes, eyes that can see light, light coming from far away objects, in the sky, distinct stars, light years away going all the way up to the plasma of the big bang beyond which light could not penetrate. So these eyes are designed to only see up to a very small spectrum of this particular light, what we call the visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. So yeah we see very little of this light . Also the stuff we see, gets red-shifted away from us due to the rapidly expanding universe we live in. Red shifted means , the light waves get so dark for us that we cannot see them anymore, but telescopes that can account for this redshift can see them. Now studying all the images from these rapidly moving away galaxy stars, physicists have calculated the rate at which the galaxies are moving away from each other and effectively us.<br />
They realized a peculiar problem , everywhere they looked, they saw that the galaxies twice the distance away are moving twice as fast away from us, and it makes it appear as if we are the center of the universe and everything rapidly accelerating away from us, in a trillion years, everything will be too far away from each other that, each galaxy would be so far away from each other that light from one would get red shifted to zero because the space in between them would begin to expand faster than the speed of light. causing light to never catch up, which is really messed up if you think about for a minute. So to sum it up, you as the reader are truly the center of your observable universe because light entering your eyes seems to be coming from stuff thats all flying away from you giving you the illusion that you are the center of the universe. actually it makes every galaxy in the universe believe the same thing. Hold that thought out for the first guy who discovered this, he must have scratched his head and said to himself .."uhm, thats odd, she was right , she truly is the center of the universe "(while referring to his wife) and so was he himself the center of the universe from the point of view from his eyes.,<br />
sigh, what a crazy thought,<br />
<br />
I am going to come back to this one and start adding references to external sources for most of the stuff I have claimed here as facts.<br />
<br />
so next time your wife tells you she is the center of the universe, she is probably right ! and remember so are you.<br />
<br />
Notes:<br />
<br />
*if you are wondering how we know the universe is 40 something billion light years in any direction when the universe is only supposed to be 13.7 billion years<br />
well the reason for that was left as a clue to the reader in the rest of the article, when I talk about how space between stuff is expanding, space itself is expanding , making everything accelerate away faster away from each other, so even though its been only 13.7 billion years since the big bang, the far away stars have moved further away from us by the time the light reached us, so the total time that light took to reach you could be 40 something billion years for very very young stars of the universe whose light just managed to make it to earth.<br />
<br />
</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-19064873720241522692014-02-09T06:41:00.001+05:302014-02-09T06:46:20.253+05:30A brilliant post by Andy Weir<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>You were on your way home when you died.</i></div>
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<i>It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The <span class="SpellE">EMTs</span> tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.</i></div>
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<i>And that’s when you met me.</i></div>
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<i>“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”</i></div>
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<i>“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.</i></div>
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<i>“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”</i></div>
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<i>“Yup,” I said.</i></div>
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<i>“I… I died?”</i></div>
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<i>“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.</i></div>
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<i>You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”</i></div>
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<i>“More or less,” I said.</i></div>
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<i>“Are you god?” You asked.</i></div>
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<i>“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”</i></div>
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<i>“My kids… my wife,” you said.</i></div>
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<i>“What about them?”</i></div>
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<i>“Will they be all right?”</i></div>
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<i>“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”</i></div>
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<i>You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.</i></div>
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<i>“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”</i></div>
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<i>“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”</i></div>
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<i>“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”</i></div>
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<i>“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”</i></div>
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<i>“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”</i></div>
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<i>You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”</i></div>
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<i>“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”</i></div>
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<i>“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”</i></div>
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<i>“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”</i></div>
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<i>I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.</i></div>
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<i>“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”</i></div>
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<i>“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”</i></div>
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<i>“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”</i></div>
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<i>“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”</i></div>
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<i>“Where you come from?” You said.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”</i></div>
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<i>“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”</i></div>
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<i>“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”</i></div>
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<i>“So what’s the point of it all?”</i></div>
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<i>“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”</i></div>
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<i>“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.</i></div>
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<i>I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”</i></div>
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<i>“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”</i></div>
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<i>“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Just me? What about everyone else?”</i></div>
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<i>“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”</i></div>
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<i>You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“All you. Different incarnations of you.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Wait. I’m everyone!?”</i></div>
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<i>“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“I’m every human being who ever lived?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Or who will ever live, yes.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.</i></div>
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<i>“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“And you’re the millions he killed.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“I’m Jesus?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“And you’re everyone who followed him.”</i></div>
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<i>You fell silent.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”</i></div>
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<i>You thought for a long time.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”</i></div>
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<i>“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”</i></div>
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<i>“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
<i>“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”</i></div>
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<i>And I sent you on your way.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
I read the above which was titled '<span style="text-indent: 0.25in;">The Egg'</span></div>
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By: Andy Weir</div>
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<br /></div>
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I felt the title was a little bit of giving away the climax of this short skit, and I though I would want those stumbling upon my blog, could read this interesting story without giving away the end. Thank you Andy Weir for writing this.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;">
source: <a href="http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html">http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html</a></div>
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hacker news discussion can be found <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7203095" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
</div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-76626939017742194882014-02-01T22:02:00.002+05:302014-02-09T06:46:03.532+05:30wherever we go, there we are !<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
“Life on earth is a whole, yet it expresses itself in unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. So there can be no one place to be. There can be no one way to be, no one way to practice, no one way to learn, no one way to love, no one way to grow or to heal, no one way to live, no one way to feel, no one thing to know or be known. The particulars count.”-Jon Kabat-Zinn<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">,</span> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1276408">Wherever You Go, There You Are</a><br />
<br />
Came across this quote today, wow I thought, this is amazing. Tries to sum up all of knowledge , all of reality and made simple. Makes me step back and think about this. I had a bartender tell me last night that I don't get philosophy. Totally random conversation followed ...<br />
<br />
Life on earth is part of reality (I want to believe we are real and not some dream or matrix or whatever)<br />
and its wrapped itself in as Jon Kabat above, unique time-bound bodies, microscopic or visible, plant or animal, extinct or living. beautifully expresses to me that how amazing our universe is (by universe I mean reality, be it multi verse or bubble universe or infinite inflation or any of dozens of theories) . I have lately taken a lot of interest in cosmology.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=define+cosomology&oq=define+cosomology">Cosmology</a> from Wikipedia : <br />
<br />
Physical cosmology is studied by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientist">scientists</a>, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy">astronomers</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoretical_physics">theoretical physicists</a>; and academic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy">philosophers</a>, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics">metaphysicians</a>,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_physics">philosophers of physics</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time">philosophers of space and time</a>. Modern cosmology is dominated by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang">Big Bang</a> theory, which attempts to bring together <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observational_astronomy">observational astronomy</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_physics">particle physics</a>. <br />
<br />
I thought I shall let the collective brains of the authors on Wikipedia authors to describe who all do this.So basically a lot of smart people at universities of funded by private companies or government. There is a reason I want to bring that up because, I want to make sure I raise the bar before I write about my experience with studying cosmology. So I started my study like an average internet user, watching documentaries, YouTube channels like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/scishow" target="_blank">sci show</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium" target="_blank">veritasium</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce" target="_blank">vsauce</a> (really recommend them) , to get you started if you re interested try this video to start it off and get familiar a video of each of them in one <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vBXrqTK3n8&list=PLAE7E129FAC43FD2C" target="_blank">play list</a>, seriously hit the hyper link and lean back, in fact the series is called #leanback ! its amazing bunch of em.<br />
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Anywhoo so yeah I realized the moment you begin to dive in , Einstein's theory of relativities are thrown in the mix, which is pretty much the best understanding of reality we have thrown into several techniques used in the pursuit to ties the world of the big (like us, the stars) and the world of the small (think mesons and electrons) and these 2 worlds play by different rules of nature. It got to a point that I had to sit down and try and really understand what 4-d space-time curvature really f**king means. If you are beginning to lose me, I'd suggest you Google a bit to get up to speed with the videos out there trying to explain the theory.To better explain Einstein's theory let me attempt to use one of the examples written by an author from India from the Kodaikanal Observatory.Consider a sheet of paper being all of space a universe we are observing and consider there is an ant roaming on the surface. So this 2-d space we can say have multiple slices of different snapshots of now.So sequentially we are stacking up moments of now as one big 3-d cube of stacked up pictures of the position of the ant on this 2-d space. Now imagine this 3-d cube structure the space time (the 3 dimensions of reality for a universe which has only 2 axes in space like the surface of paper for a fly). Now imagine taking a camera and taking a picture of every action of the ant runs around. Now if you stack em up then you can visualize the movement of the ant on the surface of the paper but at different time instants, now if the camera was rotated to make it appear the ant is doing stunts, its done by either rotating the camera along the x and y axis, i.e. the perpendicular axis on the surface, and turning the camera along perpendicular axis to the surface of paper (time) makes it change time. Of course one can argue that you can distort the motion of ant by simply distorting this stack of photos anyway, right ? think about it, if you distort this 3-d space like squeezing a soft spongy cube of a 2-d universe and having time as a 3rd dimension, then you can make it appear to change movements of the ants and make it appear as if it did a different type of movement than what it is doing, Now that you get this example and you agree that this 3d version of reality can have a shape when distorted changes the motion of the stuff in it, you can begin to understand our version of this 3-d space time, which is 4-d for us because the space we live in is 3d(ie has breadth, length and a height) and time is the 4th dimension for us. So what the example is showing here is that all events for any matter in a space time 3-d space is just a point in this space and the motion can be constructed by looking along the time axis and distorting space can affect how matter moves through space and time.<br />
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But on the other hand its awfully challenging to grasp the idea of a 3-d space and time a 4th dimension because we as humans simply don't have the physical intuition of what a 4-D object would like) And the the reason im talking all this (if you are still reading) is that Einstein's theory deals with tying together these theories of gravitation, electromagnetism space and time and relative motion between objects by crafting a nice equation where on the left side we have the curvature of our space and on the right we have energy and motion, and on the shoulders of his theory so many other theories are are based of. Remember Einstein was not some crazy scientist who sat and predicted stuff, right out of his brain and wrote the theory, If you bother to study the history, you will learn he was a guy relied on the math of tensors to prove the theory mathematically and also had to rely on real physical experiments done (for example the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment" target="_blank">Michelson and Morely</a> experiments that showed light seemed to have the same speed no matter which direction we test it in, contrary to popular beliefs at that time where researches expected to find the absolute motion of earth through this thing we refer to as ether, which is basically the medium through which everything flows). So yeah this theory also explained certain anomalies like the perihelion of mercury and its peculiar advance movement which was more than predicted by Newton, which had given rise to the Myth of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(hypothetical_planet)" target="_blank">Vulcun </a>planet (a small planetary body close to the orbit influencing the shift, but later proven by Einstein's theory of relativity). Einstein also made an amazing prediction on how much the sun would make the light rays coming from its sides bend and shift the apparent position of stars close to the sun, now this can't be observed because they couldn't see the stars in the day because the sun shines too brightly and its impossible unless its the total solar eclipse (yes Einstein theory was only taken seriously in 1919 after data coming from the telescopes that took pictures of the total solar eclipse to measure the shift in the position of the stars and see if Einstein's theory holds up, and guess what it did)<br />
So yeah this guy really was a genius, I read a nice book written by James Malcom Bird (its about a bunch of essays written by a lot of guys attempting to explain theory of relativity for non physicists ) very very enlightening. I know so much now that its really mind blowing, thinking about how little I used to know about the universe and the understanding of what these guys are talking about when you say things like the universe is flat , (an amazing<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EilZ4VY5Vs" target="_blank"> talk on youtube</a> that I must say you have to watch if you want to check out something really really insightful and cool) anyway, so yeah this book is a great read and it really does a decent job, I mean it never really goes too much into the details of the kind of math or what a tensor is or how differential equations explain a curvature of a geometry of space time and show how space is curved. The reason I mention the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_M._Krauss" target="_blank">Lawrence Krauss</a> video is simply because I started my journey with his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Nothing-There-Something-Rather/dp/1451624468" target="_blank">A Universe From Nothing, </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Nothing-There-Something-Rather/dp/1451624468" target="_blank">Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing.</a> highly recommend again if you are reading till here and interested in what I've been rambling about above. Anyway coming back to Einstein and the theory of relativity I can say (well there are 2 theories, one special theory of relativity and one general theory of relativity) , it has been really great to be able to claw at the surface of what the theory is about and how it explains so many observed phenomena. Like Lawrence says, its not knowing that's everything, but to test what you know and ascertain that you are right is everything. So after reading about a dozen essays, 2 books and multiple videos, I can safely say I understand the basic assumptions made by Einstein and also the idea of what curvature really means for a 4d space time. I still have some questions, like for instance how does negative gravity work ?, how space expands in itself, how does it maintain the same density, so more reading to follow...<br />
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I plan to come back to this post, keep it like a running article with updates, to come back post little tit bits summarizing my journey and keep this as a log of summary or any good examples summarizing the understanding in concise fashion. I continue to look for interesting topics to research in cosmology, but I am now going to read about gravitation lensing , black holes, supernovas, the science behind the cosmos, the world of the big.The world of the small. I hope its also a good journal for notes on the topic for me to come back and refresh.<br />
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I want to conclude from the famous quote by Luise Bogan that I probably should have begun with..<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The initial mystery that attends any journey is: how did the traveller reach his starting point in the first place?</i></blockquote>
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GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-72585996920437535162014-01-07T06:18:00.001+05:302014-02-09T06:45:41.842+05:30 Religious Shit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><u>Taoism </u></b>- Shit happens. <br />
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<b><u>Buddhism </u></b>- If shit happens, it's not really shit. <br />
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<b><u>Islam </u></b> - If shit happens, it's the will of Allah. <br />
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<b><u>Protestantism </u></b> - Shit happens because you don't work hard enough. <br />
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<b><u>Judaism </u></b> - Why does this shit always happen to us?<br />
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<b><u>Hinduism </u></b> - This shit happened before.<br />
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<b><u>Catholicism </u></b>- Shit happens because you're bad. <br />
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<u><b>Hare Krishna</b> </u>- Shit happens rama rama ding dong. <br />
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<b><u>T.V. Evangelism</u></b> - Send more shit.<br />
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<b><u>Atheism </u></b> - No shit. <br />
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<b><u>Jehova's Witness</u></b> - Knock knock, shit happens.<br />
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<b><u>Hedonism</u> </b> - There's nothing like a good shit happening.<br />
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<b><u>Christian Science</u></b> - Shit happens in your mind. <br />
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<b><u>Agnosticism </u></b> - Maybe shit happens, maybe it doesn't. <br />
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<b><u>Rastafarianism </u></b>- Let's smoke this shit. <br />
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<b><u>Existentialism </u></b>- What is shit anyway? <br />
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<b><u>Stoicism</u> </b> - This shit doesn't bother me. <br />
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-source: <a href="http://www.jokes4us.com/religiousjokes/atheistjokes.html">http://www.jokes4us.com/religiousjokes/atheistjokes.html</a></div>
GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-45518551604316793752013-12-18T06:59:00.000+05:302014-02-09T06:46:52.903+05:30Wedding And All<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Wedding And All</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"> - <i>to Chiru and Apu</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Chirayu and Aparna, this is going to be a short one</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">No not the marriage, for nothing will the marriage outrun,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I am talking about this poem, a wedding gift you'l are getting, </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Although I know you'd rather, had me attend the wedding.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">So Wedding and All, Bro !</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">whoa whoa whoa !</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">yes what a weird title I've so intelligently chosen,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">but well I guess I should stop writing about this very poem,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">So Wedding and All , the time has finally come,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Chirayu my brother, a married man you have become,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">And the girl who has seen it all, Missus Aparna Rao,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">From now its Missus, yes Missus Aparna Rao,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">So Wedding and All, hows is it going you two ?</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">How does it feel to bid your single life adieu ?</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The Bhaiya and Bhabhiji will we have to now call you ?</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Kids can officially now call you uncle and aunty ! wohooo !</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Marriage is out of the way, next item is babies,how many will there be?</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Can't wait to be coolest uncle that they will ever get to meet!</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I think I might be going a little off topic and writing rubbish</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Its supposed to be a wedding gift, so I have to be nicer I admit,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I wish you both the very very best of times ahead,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Like the wise man Vernon K Mcellan once said</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">"Marriage has some thorns, but celibacy has no roses",</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I hope both friendship and companionship will always remain cozy,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Oh I know you won't change much, after tying the knot,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Just enjoy the amazing ride without any second thought,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">For Chiru time flows only one way, live once, and one lifetime you get,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">In this journey with a your wife,sweetheart and your hot brunette*</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">So Wedding and All, I can't wait to hear all about it,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">To see all those pretty pictures, hear stories bit by bit,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I want to quote something by Mr. Robert Frost,the great poet </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">"Two such as you with such a master speed" he wrote,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">"Cannot be parted nor be swept away</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">From one another once you are agreed</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">That life is only life forevermore</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Together wing to wing and oar to oar."</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Frost refers to those about to wed as oarsman and oarswoman on a boat,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Like a 2 person team, side by side and sometimes on each others throat,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I think it makes sense, once you are agreed, in matrimony bound together,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The 2 person team and the proverbial boat of life will survive any weather,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Like I said this will be a short one,</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">so here's the verse I'm finally done</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">-Yours truly</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Gokul</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">ps. * the wife , sweetheart and hot brunette refer to the same person :)</span></div>
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GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-918334224583330803.post-24125200951153689872013-09-21T01:44:00.002+05:302013-09-21T01:45:25.973+05:30Goodbye Valeecha ! ( Eulogy)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Every time someone you are connected to in any sort of way, parent-child or uncle/aunt-niece/nephew or brother-sister or cousin-cousin relationships, there is this link of family ! A link that both people feel and which you lose when the other one dies first ! It can happen in several ways, one a slow one, where you get to say goodbye but you also have the added agony of watching them die bit by bit, then there's another sudden yet one where they don't suffer, where you didn't get to say goodbye and it hurts the last time you spoke to them was the last time you would ever get to speak to them ! The latter happened with my uncle tonight (early morning in India). He died of cardiac arrest and passed away shortly after being admitted at 4:30 am in Mumbai. He was a simple man, very disciplined, very loving man ! He was generous and kind and a father figure to me.<br />
As I write this eulogy for my beloved 'valeecha' (Malayalam for elder father) I am in disbelief, that's it, my link with him has vanished ! Will never be able to dial his number to hear his voice in the morning on my way to work. where ever he is, I hope he rests happy.<br />
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The following is a small poem in his memory.<br />
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Valeecha I will miss your chuckle when you hear something funny,<br />
I will miss asking you if you have had your evening tea ?<br />
In heaven I hope there's no diabetes and no stress of money !<br />
I hope where you are now, there is the peace of the sea !<br />
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Valeecha I will miss hearing from you "how are you boy?!"<br />
Always worried about my health asking me to take care<br />
As a kid I used to rub his round fat belly like it was some toy<br />
The joy that my kids can never ever be aware<br />
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Valeecha I will miss your voice on the phone every day<br />
Your memory in my brain is in a very special place<br />
Space reserved for the individuals who have shaped my way<br />
Needles to say it will never ever from my brain be erased<br />
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Valeecha I just can not say goodbye to you like this<br />
This is happening too soon and too sudden and its totally unfair<br />
Another loss for our family with you leaving behind an abyss<br />
I wish Valeama gets the strength she needs to move on without despair<br />
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-Truly yours,<br />
Your nephew Gokul<br />
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I will miss you Valeecha. RIP<br />
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GokulMenonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02754705877565863907noreply@blogger.com0