In need for a altruist pharma company?

I talked to Jenn yesterday about AIDS and the quest for a cure/vaccine. I was wondering if there was any truly altruistic pharmacetical company in the world who would be willing to invest billions of dollars into this project. The reason was that if they develop the cure, I don't think they are going to get much returns in terms of profit as this would be free medication where it's needed the most. In a capitalist world economy like we have now, it makes no business sense to work on it if the governments don't offer compensation for the R&D. It's hard for me to imagine that we aren't closer to a cure if it wasn't a money issue. Drug companies keep making innovations in fields that have huge scope for profits but not for those which would give near zero return. I might research a little more into this to see how much of progress has been made in this front.

[Listening to: End of the World - Blessid Union of Souls - Home (3:42)]

A fresh dip in swing

I'm extremely excited. I went to the first swing dance thing at Knoxville. Jenn came along with me to the basic lindy class. I wanted to try the advanced but she didn't know the swing style at all, so we decided just to do the beginner class. she is a quick learner and has internal rhythm which was more than I could say for the rest of the people I danced with. However it was just wonderful to get out there and do it. I'm trying to see if Jenn would want to do it at least once a week so that I can meet new people and swing dance at the same time. Before we left, I got to dance with one girl who knew how to move and it was great! She spun like a pro, and I love dancing with girls who know how to move. I realized I was rusty in lindy and needed to look at my swing vids to refresh my memory. I might do that the next time.

This was one of the best nights I've had.

[Listening to: Drift on - Butterfly Boucher - Flutterby (3:05)]

A Prairie Girl: Flyin' High

A Prairie Girl: Flyin' High

Why would this flag be flying in Germany?

[Listening to: This Is Not An Exit - Saves The Day - Stay What You Are (3:58)]

Scientific American Mind: Smarter on Drugs

Scientific American Mind: Smarter on Drugs

Via The Need to Know

This article brings forth several arguments. I am going to quote certain excerpts and write a little commentary.

Drugs designed for psychotherapy can also be used to enhance certain regular mental functions. Just as Ritalin can improve the academic performance of hyperactive children, it can do the same for normal children. It is commonly thought to boost SAT scores by more than 100 points, for both the hyperactive and the normal user. Many healthy young people now use it that way for that purpose, and quite frankly, there is no stopping this abuse.

I am wondering if athletes aren't allowed to take performance enhancing drugs, why are students allowed to take cognitive enhancements prior to taking a major examination. To me, it seems like cheating the system. The tests however imperfect seek to test on the actual and not enhanced abilities of the students. I don't think students are always going to take the enhancement drugs through college and may face a bitter shock when encountering courses which are beyond their normal abilities.

He further argues that these drugs should be used.

Among the normal population are men and women with incredible memories, fast learners of language and music, and those with enhanced capabilities of all kinds. Something in their brains allows them to encode new information at lightning speed. We accept the fact that they must have some chemical system that is superior to ours or some neural circuitry that is more efficient. So why should we be upset if the same thing can be achieved with a pill? In some way, we were cheated by Mother Nature if we didn't get the superior neural system, so for us to cheat her back through our own inventiveness seems like a smart thing to do. In my opinion, it is exactly what we should do.

I think people have different skills and interests, and they tend to learn those things far quicker than stuff they are not interested in. If we all using the same drugs, what would distinguish us?

My guess is that, on average, adults will choose not to use memory enhancers or the theoretically more obscure IQ or cognitive enhancers. Why? Because when memory is in the normal range, we adapt to its level and set our personal psychological life in that context. Increasing our memory capacity might send a ripple effect across the landscape of our daily lives. After all, we spend a good part of each evening trying to forget many of the day's memories. Over a lifetime we have built up our personal narrative based on the efficiency of our memory and our capacity to forget. Any significant or even slight change in these capacities will have to be integrated into the backbone of that narrative, changing the mental life of a person.

I know that I like the fact that I can forget the bad memories and move on instead of being bogged down by them. I think we remember enough if the event was really powerful/traumatic. I do think that we are stronger through the trials of life.

Enhancing memory is one issue. Making people smarter--more able to contemplate complex ideas with greater ease and facility--somehow seems more problematic. Do we want a nation full of Harvard graduates? On the surface it seems insane. But the basic science suggests that superintelligence is not far-fetched.

So, do we want a world with uber brilliant people? Who would do the occupation that don't require lightning quick thinking? Why would anyone who is genius want to work in occupations which require brawn rather than brain? If everyone was brilliant, would people work hard any more?

I guess in the end, I am more worried about abuse than anything. If ours was a perfect society, then this would be a great oppurtunity to progress at the speed of light. Well, I think we will wait and see how our world adapts itself to the influx of exceptional and smarter people.

[Listening to: Fearless - Matthew Good Band - Last of the Ghetto Astronauts (5:15)]

Scientists develop cancer nanobomb

Scientists develop cancer nanobomb

Cancer nano bombs appears to be a promising technology to fight cancer. Think of tiny bombs exploding in the malignant cells destroying the cells and subsequently blocking the biological pathways to make more cancerous cells.

He believes the nanobomb holds great promise as a therapeutic agent for killing cancer cells, with particular emphasis on breast cancer cells, because its shockwave kills the cancerous cells as well as the biological pathways that carry instructions to generate additional cancerous cells and the small veins that nourish the diseased cells. Also, it can be spread over a wide area to create structural damage to the cancer cells that are close by.

This makes me wish I would have been doing some research in carbon nanotubes but I know that would have required Organic Chemistry which I haven't taken in college.

Read the article for the whole scoop.

[Listening to: Generator - Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose (3:49)]

Hot Abercrombie Chick Posts: intelligent design Michael Behe

Hot Abercrombie Chick Posts: intelligent design Michael Behe

The more I look into Intelligent Design, it seems like it has distanced itself from the religious version of ID. I just read Amanda's blog post on her thoughts on Intelligent Design and it was hard to figure out if she was pro ID or not.. But read her article because she did some research before writing her post. See what you make of it.

[Listening to: If You Leave - Nada Surf - Music from the O.C.: Mix 2 (4:51)]

I am currently listening to a swing jazz cd that Andi sent for my birthday. It's a wonderful CD! Thanks Andi! I know a few of the famous remakes but there are a lot of new fun songs in there too.

You should check her blog (Andi's Blog) out because she is in Germany and posting regular updates with pictures.

I gotta talk to her on the phone sometime.

[Listening to: Traffic Jam - Bugle Call Rag - Five By Design - Club Swing (3:14)]

Technology - BitTorrent: The Great Disrupter - FORTUNE - Page

Technology - BitTorrent: The Great Disrupter - FORTUNE - Page

BitTorrent is a great downloading tool. Whenever I miss a show, I just use BT to download it the next day and it is usually done in a few hours. I found this Fortune article about the creator of BitTorrent. It's a fascinating read.

[Listening to: Traffic Jam - Bugle Call Rag - Five By Design - Club Swing (3:14)]

'Intelligent Design' Advocate Testifies - Yahoo! News

'Intelligent Design' Advocate Testifies - Yahoo! News

I don't understand why people automatically connect Intelligent Design with God. What if it was just a extraordinary alien civilization? If people believe in God and Intelligent Design, why do they not believe in existence of life beyond the Blue Planet? Why is intelligent life in the Last Frontier such a hard concept to acknowledge?

[Listening to: Dancing Alone - Ashlee Simpson - I Am Me (3:55)]

American stereotypical male? *updated with stats link*

I had a mild argument with Rachel's boyfriend about his views on blacks. He thinks that he isn't rascist yet he makes statements like 80% of crime in the US is by African Americans. I was dumbfounded to hear such an outrageous statistic that he clearly fabricated. And then he mentioned that the US is successful because the Christian God was great. I couldn't believe that these statements were coming out of the mouth of an educated college student. No wonder is he so hated at college. If I was black, I would be terribly offended. I have met my first cultural imperialist. Here is what cultural imperialism means in Wikipedia:

Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one. Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude.

He was also extremely enthnocentric. Also from Wikipedia:

Ethnocentrism (Greek ethnos ("nation" + -centrism) or ethnocentricity is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. Many claim that ethnocentrism occurs in every society; ironically, ethnocentrism may be something that all cultures have in common.

How do you think I should have approached his arguments? Ridicule, patience, mockery?

*updated*
I found statistics about race and crime.

Homicide trends in the U.S.: Trends by race

[Listening to: Smelly Cat Medley - Phoebe Buffay and the Hairballs (feat. The Pretenders) - Friends Again (2:26)]

I've had a lot of time today while working in the morning to think about the life in general. Andi in Germany, Gomati, Britta, my friends here, GRE and grad school, family in india, missed oppurtunities, avoidable mistakes.

I also was thinking about Kristin. After talking to Jenn, I decided to give up my pride and just talk to her. I was really frustrated with her because she hadn't been able to make time to keep in touch. After I talked to her for the 5 minutes a few days after getting to Oak Ridge, we haven't spoken or emailed. I get worried about my friendships when I realize that I don't care enough to keep in touch and resign to let the friendship dissipate. I've done it before. Bhavya, Avinash, Jeshica, Becky, Amanda. I absolutely don't want to add Kristin to that list. I will reply to the birthday wish she sent and try to resurrect whatever is left of our friendship.

Bhavya is something I've been unable to figure out. I don't know why our friendship would have dissipated. We were best friends for 4 years. Incredibly good intimate friends. How does something like that phase out? I guess when one of them start dating someone else, it could. Maybe that's what happened. Maybe she felt like she had to withdraw. I didn't want her to. I told her not to. I am wondering if we ever loved each other. I don't even know if I knew what love meant when Bhavya and I became emotionally intimate. I guess it's a chapter now.

The two friendships I talked about above have a common thread. I don't know how to rectify the situation to bring our friendships back to original glory.

About friends here, I don't know if most of their love lives are going to survive. One of the girls has a very serious boyfriend who is going to propose to her. One of the girls has a boyfriend who is more like a best friend than anything else. One relationship has already bit the dust here and the person has already move on. We also had our hook up of the semester.

I'm glad Gomati decided on Coe. She is the one person that I've talked to more than anyone else by a long shot. Even Britta, which I didn't think was possible. I talk to her every day online or call each other every so often. She also keeps in informed about a lot of the gossip at school. She has had her share of rumors but she takes them well without getting depressed. Some of the boys there are really dumb and I wish I could knock some sense into her heads. I want her to be careful at school because reputations get easily tainted and are very hard to clean. And I am happy that I get to travel back with her to Coe because I've never had a companion for that long journey from home to school.

[Listening to: In My Head - Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day (4:07)]

a random metaphor usage

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.

The metaphor does truly capture the mind of a close minded bigot. The best part is that it uses a scientific metaphor!

[Listening to: What Are You Afraid Of - West Indian Girl - One Tree Hill - Enhanced Soundtrack Season 2 (5:07)]

Boing Boing: Disappearing rights mug

Boing Boing: Disappearing rights mug


I am very curious about the technology involved in making the disappearing ink with heat. I bet not everyone will like this product.

[Listening to: I Have A Dream - Westlife - Unbreakable (The Greatest Hits Vol.1) [ECD] [UK] (4:15)]

Nigeria, Microsoft Fight Internet Fraud - Yahoo! News

Nigeria, Microsoft Fight Internet Fraud - Yahoo! News

finally some official effort from Nigeria to fight spam and cyber crime, most famous of them being the 419 scam. This is the email that promises a 33% share if you help in bank transfers. So many people fell this, it's quite funny now.

[Listening to: Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet - One Tree Hill - Enhanced Soundtrack Season 1 (3:50)]

I can't wait till I can sleep in during the weekend. Unfortunately, the past few weekends, I've never gone to bed before 3 or 4 am. I would normally hang out with Jenn or Rach till 2 or 3 am and then Britta would call after that and I would talk to her for a while. And then go to sleep and wake up at noon or 1 am or 2 am. Even thought it's not a particularly healthy practice, I'd still do that because I like being around them. And my room mate uses this time to have some privacy while being around our new quasi-permanent third room mate.

I just talked to dad and wished him a Shubho Bijoya because it's the last day of the Durga Pujo. It's my culture's biggest festival and I guess is an analogy when compared to Christmas. I should get pictures from my parents to show what the celebration looks like.

[Listening to: If I Run - Semisonic - Great Divide (4:16)]

Time of immiment hardship ahead

I was talking to one of my friends here and she was telling me about the time she put into studying and getting good grades. That got me thinking about the amount of work I put into classes. I've never really had to put much effort to get good grades in my classes barring a few classes. Every single math course so far except for Real Anaysis was within my grasp of understanding after just listening to the lecture and doing minimal practice. I can say the same for a lot of the physics classes. I'd say the toughest physics class that required the most attention was Quantum Mechanics because a lot of the math was new and we were barely grazing the surface. I've gotten A-'s or A's in all of the courses in my major fields of study and I am a senior! That's saying that I have done pretty well for 3 years even with tough faculty because the faculty had exceptional teaching skills. I have known for a long time that I learn the best from lectures rather than text books. I just can't grasp concepts while reading especially if they are brand new and advanced. I had that problem in chemistry with one of the chem faculty. However, I realize that I have to face this problem real soon when I hit graduate school because I will have to teach myself most of everything I need to know.

One more thing I've noticed is that I have never depended on anyone but the professor to teach me things that I didn't understand because usually if I didn't get it, no one else did either or had incomplete understanding. I guess that sounds like bragging but I don't mean to be a braggart. I was thinking about how I have been used by other people to tutor/teach concepts taught in class. Sometimes I wish I had someone like me for me, a fall back option in a peer.

[Listening to: Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner - Fall Out Boy - From Under The Cork Tree (3:20)]

taking a break

I just got done with a blitzkrieg of starting online graduate applications. I started making a list of schools that I want to apply to. They include Brown, RPI, Vanderbilt, NC State, Arizona State, Northwestern, UPenn, Boston U, Stanford and Caltech. I still have to start applications in Georgia tech, Cornell, Columbia, Duke and Purdue. I have to narrow my choices down to realistic ones soon. I know a lot of my choices are top schools and extremely exclusive. My grades are good enough, got a lot of research experience, highly active college life, and a research paper that is going to be published very soon. This brings it down to my GRE now. Nothing like added pressure. I bet my ORNL work experience is the biggest boon in my application/resume.

I got to give my eyes some rest. They hurt and water. Darn!

I still have to get my visas for the winter travel.

The pink's for the breast cancer wristband I got today. One more to go. Just the One poverty white band.

[Listening to: Zig Zaggity Woop Woop Pt. 2 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Save My Soul (4:44)]

Where do I stand?

You are a Social Liberal (63% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

[Listening to: Rubber Mallet - Alien Ant Farm - TruANT (3:09)]

CNN.com - Special Reports - Back to School

CNN.com - Special Reports - Back to School

Look at what's hot and what's not. It's a fashion blog run by student journalists in a medley of colleges/university.

[Listening to: I'm Sorry - Jude Kastle - Junkie for Fire (3:21)]

Jarhead

Jarhead

I found this cool little project listed on BoingBoing. I should email this idea to my friends for halloween projects.

[Listening to: Love Lifted Me - Collective Soul - Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid [Atlantic] (3:49)]

Random history happenings on Oct 12

Here are a couple of random things that happened on my birthday (Oct 12). (Via Wikipedia)

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia


• 1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen

cheers!

[Listening to: Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright - Poses (4:42)]

symmetry - October 2005 - gallery: jan-henrik andersen

symmetry - October 2005 - gallery: jan-henrik andersen

I never knew what quarks looked like. This site has all of the graphical representations up. Check it out. (via /.)

[Listening to: Water - Breaking Benjamin - Saturate (4:12)]

Yeah, I had to work on my birthday!

I got a few calls last night, a few emails today, a couple of ecards and few packages and cards in the mail that haven't arrived yet. I dressed a little better than usual to go to work and actually shaved. hehe. So I was clean and spiffed up. Today was an excellent day at work with everything going well. I got wonderful AFM scans for the most part and my mentor was happy with the images. We also narrowed down the parameters required for good thin film growth. We are going to eat out at Ruby Tuesday's for my birthday dinner soon.

I talked to Andi before she left for Germany. I felt sad saying good bye. I don't know when I'll be seeing her next. I might visit during spring break if things work out, so it's still up in the air. I am going to miss her so much. I just share a deep intimate relationship with her and makes me feel good. I sure hope we get to talk on the phone or something a little.

Today's seminar on near Zero Energy Houses was interesting. I doubt that it would get mainstream any time soon but at least there are alternatives. $0.72/day for energy costs is amazing though. Huge savings!

[Listening to: Punk Rock Princess (Radio Edit) - Something Corporate - Songs For Silent Movies [JP] (3:44)]

My big two-two

God, I'm getting old but I don't feel any older. I think eating out is in order today. I just have to pick the restaraunt. And I finish with a jingle, "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!"

Cheers!

[Listening to: All At Sea - Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething (4:32)]

Sam's Archive - How to destroy the Earth

Sam's Archive - How to destroy the Earth

For those who want to destroy the whole Blue Planet (aka the third rock from the sun). It's mildy funny to read this.

(Via LiveScience)

[Listening to: Living Life - Ben Kweller - On My Way (4:02)]

The Odds of Dying

The Odds of Dying

The authors talk about the manner in which they calculate odds and why the numbers are so dynamic. It's a fun statistical article.

[Listening to: Magnolia Mountain - Ryan Adams - Cold Roses (5:52)]

Singapore and Katrina - The New York Times

Singapore and Katrina - The New York Times


I read this article on someone's door at work. It brings forth a sense of pride if I was a Singaporean except they have to remember that a country as large as the US would be impossible to manage like Singapore is managed. It's not possible. However Singapore has more at stake if a natural disaster was ever to hit them. It's an interesting article.

Singapore and Katrina
By Thomas L. Friedman,
New York Times
Sept 14, 2005

Singapore - There is something troublingly self-indulgent and slothful about America today - something that Katrina highlighted and that people who live in countries where the laws of gravity still apply really noticed. It has rattled them - like watching a parent melt down.

That is certainly the sense I got after observing the Katrina debacle from half a world away here in Singapore - a city-state that, if it believes in anything, believes in good governance.

It may roll up the sidewalks pretty early here, and it may even fine you if you spit out your gum, but if you had to choose anywhere in Asia you would want to be caught in a typhoon, it would be Singapore.

Trust me, the head of Civil Defence here is not simply someone's college roommate.

Indeed, Singapore believes so strongly that you have to get the best-qualified and least-corruptible people you can into senior positions in the government, judiciary and civil service that its pays its prime minister a salary of US$1.1 million a year.

It pays its cabinet ministers and Supreme Court justices just under $1 million a year, and pays judges and senior civil servants handsomely down the line.

From Singapore's early years, good governance mattered because the ruling party was in a struggle for the people's hearts and minds with the Communists, who were perceived to be both noncorrupt and caring - so the state had to be the same and more.

Even after the Communists faded, Singapore maintained a tradition of good governance because as a country of only four million people with no natural resources, it had to live by its wits.

It needed to run its economy and schools in a way that would extract the maximum from each citizen, which is how four million people built reserves of $100 billion.

"In the areas that are critical to our survival, like Defence, Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs, we look for the best talent," said Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy.

"You lose New Orleans, and you have 100 other cities just like it. But we're a city-state. We lose Singapore and there is nothing else. ... [So] the standards of discipline are very high. There is a very high degree of accountability in Singapore."

When a subway tunnel under construction collapsed here in April 2004 and four workers were killed, a government inquiry concluded that top executives of the contracting company should be either fined or jailed.

The discipline that the cold war imposed on America, by contrast, seems to have faded.

Last year, we cut the National Science Foundation budget, while indulging absurd creationist theories in our schools and passing pork-laden energy and transportation bills in the middle of an energy crisis.

We let the families of the victims of 9/11 redesign our intelligence organisations, and our president and Congress held a midnight session about the health care of one woman, Terri Schiavo, while ignoring the health crisis of 40 million uninsured.

Our economy seems to be fueled lately by either suing each other or selling each other houses.

Our government launched a war in Iraq without any real plan for the morning after, and it cut taxes in the middle of that war, ensuring that future generations would get the bill.

Speaking of Katrina, Sumiko Tan, a columnist for the Sunday edition of The Straits Times in Singapore, wrote: "We were shocked at what we saw. Death and destruction from natural disaster is par for the course. But the pictures of dead people left uncollected on the streets, armed looters ransacking shops, survivors desperate to be rescued, racial divisions - these were truly out of sync with what we'd imagined the land of the free to be, even if we had encountered homelessness and violence on visits there. ... If America becomes so unglued when bad things happen in its own backyard, how can it fulfill its role as leader of the world?"

Janadas Devan, a Straits Times columnist, tried to explain to his Asian readers how the US is changing.

"Today's conservatives," he wrote, "differ in one crucial aspect from yesterday's conservatives: the latter believed in small government, but believed, too, that a country ought to pay for all the government that it needed.

"The former believe in no government, and therefore conclude that there is no need for a country to pay for even the government that it does have. ... [But] it is not only government that doesn't show up when government is starved of resources and leached of all its meaning. Community doesn't show up either, sacrifice doesn't show up, pulling together doesn't show up, 'we're all in this together' doesn't show up."

[Listening to: This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open - The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving (5:07)]

EBay's PayPal to buy VeriSign unit for $370 mln

EBay's PayPal to buy VeriSign unit for $370 mln ~ Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com

Ebay has been very busy buying up other companies to expand. A multibillion dollar buyout of Skype and then a multi million dollar deal for Verisign. I wonder what's next on their shopping list.

[Listening to: What You Wish For - Guster - Lost And Gone Forever (3:51)]

Governors Parking SUVS As Gas Prices Soar - Yahoo! News

Governors Parking SUVS As Gas Prices Soar - Yahoo! News

This goes well with the previous post. They are setting good examples and practicing what they are preaching.

[Listening to: Goodbye To Romance - Lisa Loeb & Dweezil Zappa - (5:38)]

SUV Drivers in Paris Get Wind Knocked Out of Them - Yahoo! News

SUV Drivers in Paris Get Wind Knocked Out of Them - Yahoo! News

Those environmentalists can be such pests. I don't know if that approach would really work apart from annoying the SUV owners but maybe that's their goal. Something has to be done about people buying SUVs for urban roads. What a colossal waste of fuel!

[Listening to: Anything But Me - Lindsay Lohan - Speak (3:18)]

late realization

I wish I had kept better notes of the procedure I did earlier during August/September. I am rummaging through my AFM data and I don't remember some of the treatment details of the substrates very well. I do keep better notes now but the earlier ones are the scans I'm confunded on. I am making a powerpoint of all the scans so that my mentor can see the trends clearly and give me better instructions. I might post some of the JPEG converts of the AFM files.

[Listening to: Sister Jack - Spoon - Wedding Crashers (3:37)]

Macworld News: Splashpower wants to cut the charger cord

Macworld: News: Splashpower wants to cut the charger cord

Wireless power!! If this actually works, then I'm excited about the future implications of this technology.

Serenity

Trailer

I had heard good reviews about this movie. A couple of my friends, my brother and I watched this movie a couple of days ago and enjoyed the movie. It has yet another bleak outlook of the future. It portrays a galaxial hegemony who is experimenting techniques to control the masses and prevent revolts. The special effects were pretty cool and the two fight sequences with River was amazing! I would watch the movie again for sure!

[Listening to: Daylight - Coldplay - The string Quartet Tribute to Coldplay (33:02)]

The Firemonger Project

The Firemonger Project

The FiremongerCD 1.0.7 (October 5th) for Windows contains Firefox� 1.0.7, Thunderbird� 1.0.7 and various themes, selected extensions, plugins, utilities and a beginner's guide.

It looks like a great package. I love using firefox and prefer it over IE any day. I wish yahoo and msn would customize their services to firefox too.

(via /.

[Listening to: Bullet Proof - Goo Goo Dolls - (4:37)]

Profs Discuss Harry Potter in Salem, Mass. - Yahoo! News

Profs Discuss Harry Potter in Salem, Mass. - Yahoo! News

This symposium might have been a fun thing to attend. I am feeling the urge to read all the books again. Unfortunately, I don't have the books with me. Now, I just need to find someon who does.

Selling Songs for a Song - Newsweek Technology - MSNBC.com

Selling Songs for a Song - Newsweek Technology - MSNBC.com

What a bunch of greedy capitalists! Hmm..makes me wonder why they haven't been hacked yet. You'd think they would be prime targets.

BMW hands Pope Benedict keys to X5 SUV - Automotive - MSNBC.com

BMW hands Pope Benedict keys to X5 SUV - Automotive - MSNBC.com

I doubt the Pope would actually drive a car. He is too old and he has trained drivers. But it's still a nice publicity stunt for BMW I guess.

Clothes call | PortlandTribune.com

Clothes call | PortlandTribune.com

Hmm..I think the people who didn't like the shirt were Republican..

Intelligent Design: An Ambiguous Assault on Evolution

Intelligent Design: An Ambiguous Assault on Evolution

The link features a four part article about Intelligent Design and Evolution. So, the problem of us being a cosmic experiment by superior aliens (aka God) is? Well, I do believe that evolution is a more accurate description of the origin of species that Genesis or Intelligent Design. But how do we tell if we were planted and then evolved versus just plain evolved?

[Listening to: Nuclear - Ryan Adams - Smallville OST (3:26)]

The World’s Smallest Fountain Pen (LiveScience)

The World’s Smallest Fountain Pen

I was fascinated by this article because I had just attended a seminar at ORNL about nanopipes which can be used to transport fluids and other substances into objects. These nanopipes have a 40 nm diameter.

Here is a picture of the nano fountain pen:

[Listening to: My Immortal - Evanescence - Smallville OST (4:23)]

Inventor: Dead cat fuel story is dead wrong | CNET News.com

Inventor: Dead cat fuel story is dead wrong | CNET News.com

How many of you had heard about the German who could create bio fuel using dead cats. Sounds like he doesn't use dead cats after all. So PETA can stay calm.

[Listening to: Bread and Water - Sheila Nicholls - Smallville OST (4:41)]

Intelligence in the Internet age | CNET News.com

Intelligence in the Internet age | CNET News.com

The manner of quantifying intelligence has certainly changed. We can be more productive than ever before with minimal effort. This article talks about the changes in human intelligence since the advent of computers and internet.

[Listening to: You - Binocular - Smallville OST (4:48)]

Fun with defense (via The Need To Know)

The Need To Know: Fun with defense

She found an interesting reason for reproduction naturale.

Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq, Afghanistan: BBC - Yahoo! News

Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq, Afghanistan: BBC - Yahoo! News

Bush's crusade? If we did everything that the voices in our head said, the world would be a scary, messed up place.

[Listening to: Do You Remember - Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams (2:24)]

Boing Boing: Archimedes's Death Ray realized

Boing Boing: Archimedes's Death Ray realized

This is so fascinating! I guess the myth busters got it wrong.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Breaking America's grip on the net

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Breaking America's grip on the net

Looks like this conflict is reaching a climax. Lets sit back and watch the fireworks!

haha..some one just pointed out that i first asked "castration" to be unscrambled and then asked "peanuts" to be unscrambled. Now does that perfect sense? "castrated peanuts"!!

I just cracked myself up!

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian (Via Evil Bible)

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.



This is just a great list!

Intelligent Design Trial | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Hmm..Did The Onion get it right?

a real kiss ass

And she is pretty!

(via A Socialite's Life)

What qualifies one for the Supreme Court? - Yahoo! News

What qualifies one for the Supreme Court? - Yahoo! News

I have no idea what she has to offer to the Supreme Court. I bet there are better candidates out there.

Video Game Addicts Concern S.Korean Gov't - Yahoo! News

Video Game Addicts Concern S.Korean Gov't - Yahoo! News

This is of real concecrn. Someone in South Korea died after playing video games for 50 hours straight!

Google Localizes Online Maps Service - Yahoo! News

Google Localizes Online Maps Service - Yahoo! News

Google gets a better hold of the online map/direction service. They are making their search engine more powerful and informative. I love google! They are following Yahoo's direction but I like the hybrid/satellite feature in Google Maps.

I have a few more pictures up. Follow the link Joy's Odds N Ends

[Listening to: Getting Into You - Relient K - Two Lefts Don't Make A Right...But Three Do (3:24)]

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Laws of idiocy. Someone actually sat and wrote this masterpiece. Such constructive use of time!

(via Geek Press)

RateMyProfessors.com - Professor Reviews and Ratings

RateMyProfessors.com - Professor Reviews and Ratings

Great find. Has a lot of professors from Coe College. (Via Geek Press)

[Listening to: Overcome - Better Than Ezra - Before The Robots (5:22)]

How not to deal with being caught blogging about official work.

[Listening to: Criminal - Fiona Apple - Tidal (5:43)]

The World in a Glass: Six Drinks That Changed History

The World in a Glass: Six Drinks That Changed History

A fun article. I like reading about history, and this is history. I wonder what's the oldest spirit/alcohol anyone's ever found..

Austria Becomes Nemesis to Turkey Again - Yahoo! News

Austria Becomes Nemesis to Turkey Again - Yahoo! News

Austrians insist they're not being racist, xenophobic or intolerant of Islam, but merely pragmatic, citing economic and security concerns if the EU's borders were to stretch to Iran, Iraq and Syria.

This stands out. They definitely seem to be what they are denying. Such inflated ego.

courtesy: The Need To Know

[Listening to: Jason Mraz - Life Is Wonderful - Jason Mraz - Mr A-Z (4:20)]

Unauthorized Reproduction bill has been drafted - Booman Tribune

Unauthorized Reproduction bill has been drafted

You must be kidding! What moron would spend valuable time making this up?

Mystery Ocean Glow Confirmed in Satellite Photos - Yahoo! News

Mystery Ocean Glow Confirmed in Satellite Photos - Yahoo! News

Milky sea? One more of nature's mysteries.. If we were in the middle of such a phenomenon, it would be very spooky. Hey, that's good for halloween celebrations. It provides a perfect milieu for such a festival.

Space Tourist Says Trip Worth Millions - Yahoo! News

Space Tourist Says Trip Worth Millions - Yahoo! News

Multi million dollar trip. Someday, it will be as accessible as air travel. And that's the main motivation behind the X Prize.

Bomb Blast at Shiite Mosque Kills 22 - Yahoo! News

Bomb Blast at Shiite Mosque Kills 22 - Yahoo! News

This makes me boil like none other. Delibrate collateral damage is evil. Man, Al-Qaida members are so going to hell. These are some people who should be tortured and then killed slowly. OK, maybe not. But I hate extremists who bend religions to suit their will.

Honda Designs Car Friendly for Dogs - Yahoo! News

Honda Designs Car Friendly for Dogs - Yahoo! News

So what's next in the pooch world?

Whose al-Qaida problem? Sasha Abramsky - openDemocracy

Whose al-Qaida problem? Sasha Abramsky - openDemocracy

This article brings up the conflicting approaches of the left and right wings on the Al-Qaida issue. The author of the article was in both the cities (NYC and London) during the terrorist attacks. Her political views have shifted since those two incidents.

When it comes to the vision of world's future, I obviously prefer an open society with liberty than an autocratic system that the Islamic fundamentalists want to set up.

This also worries me because the Islamic fundamentalists are gathering momentum in Pakistan. It might cause political and cultural upheaval in the sub-continent thereby endangering the fragile peace negotiations in progress between India and Pakistan.

Ender's Game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ender's Game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ender's Game is one of my favorite reads. I fell in love with the series after reading this book and since then, I've tried to read all the sequels. I notice that I haven't read 2 of the 8 books to come out after Ender's Game. His books are drenched in philosophy, and his frame of reference of the direction this world is heading in. He used an interesting medium to discuss his political views. Writing about children who lead the war against the Formics popularized this book among younger kids. They probably looked on Ender as a fictional role model.

As far as his prediction of hegemony in the future, it's a distinct possibility. It's bound to happen when a single nation comes up on top, and influences the entire world. I doubt that hegemony is democratic so it's going to interesting to watch the world in the future as I age. Who knows, I might get to see a drastic radical change in world politics and culture.

The last book I read was Speaker of the Dead which seems to have caught a following in real life. This is speaking the truth and revealing everything about the dead person. It opens untended wounds and helps heal them.

This series is a must-read.

Fast, accurate detection of explosives on airport luggage possible

Fast, accurate detection of explosives on airport luggage possible

interesting.. I met a guy at trento, italy during the borate conference who was working on a method using thermal neutrons to detect explosives and ammunication. This is a non evasive method. Advances in early warning/detection systems.

news @ nature.com - Quicksand can't suck you under - Experiments show that humans do not sink all the way into shifting sands.

news @ nature.com - Quicksand can't suck you under - Experiments show that humans do not sink all the way into shifting sands.

So Hollywood gets another thing wrong. Go figure.

motorbikequeen: another article and a vacation itinerary

motorbikequeen: another article and a vacation itinerary

check Liz's article out. She is at Thailand teaching English.

Cheers!

Yu Hu Stewardess: What would you like to drink?

Yu Hu Stewardess: What would you like to drink?

How many of us are guilty of what she lists?

CNN.com - Your e-mails: Rebuild New Orleans? - Oct 3, 2005

CNN.com - Your e-mails: Rebuild New Orleans? - Oct 3, 2005

I don't think it's worth the hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to rebuild New Orleans. I would feel the same way if my home town got destroyed, and there was a possibility of it getting destroyed again due to the chances of recurring natural disasters. I value lives more that where those lives are located. It's a hard transistion to move from familiar surroundings, but it is possible and in this case favorable. I also agree with most of the replies about not wanting the taxes to go up to compensate for the rebuilding if it does happen. This is a pragmatic albeit harsh opinion.

Amazon.com: Books: The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology

I want to read this book. His hyperbolic conjectures and predictions of the future might provide interesting reading.

[Listening to: fields of gold - eva cassidy - (4:59)]

Boing Boing: Illustrations drawn in shower-hair

Boing Boing: Illustrations drawn in shower-hair

Example:


Some people do spend a lot of time in showers. Jokes aside, this art is kinda cool.

my brilliant quote last night

Joy to the waiter: So, do you have pina colada to-go?

And then I realized my folly. No restaraunt does pina coladas or anything alcoholic to go. Finally, I watch my friends laughing their butts off. haha..

[Listening to: Not Like The Other Girls - The Rasmus - Dead Letters (5:43)]

"My list of the top five lies" written for an honors class

My list of the top five lies
Joy Banerjee
Honors Composition

Rev 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth withfire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Lying -- one of the biggest sins in our society. People have been lying all through the ages and there doesnt seem to be an end in sight. Our society is ingrained with the art of lying. It is not possible to survive in this individualistic society without lying, but this is the reason that people dont trust each other anymore. Individuals have different relationships with lying. Some may declare their preference for honesty, or lack awareness about moral problems associated with lying; some are just beyond caring, as ifit is an integral part of them.

Of the many lies people tell, the most harmless is the white lie. A common example of my fifth lie isgiving a false excuse to avoid hurting the feelings of someone making a request or giving an invitation. To illustrate this point, a common lie is the phrase I dont have it. I have heard that phrase usedso many times; I am myself guilty of using it, often to the point that I feel ashamed at times. Although a white lie is harmless by itself, since it doesnt have much moral import, the accumulated effect leads to confusion, misunderstandings and distress. People sometimes forget the white lies they say and blurt out the truth. This is embarrassing for both parties involved. But then most people use white lies so often that they dont realize it.

The fourth lie, which stands out to me, is when people say, I dont know or I dont rememberwhen a question is asked. How annoying is it when you ask someone something and then, although they know the answer, they are too lazy to give a straight answer? Instead they give you a shrug and the awful phrase I dont know! This is perhaps the most widespread phrase among the student populus. As sterile as this statement is, most of us are offended by it if its not true. The I dont rememberusually comes up when people are reminded of their stupid mistakes under the influence of alcohol. I am not sure how drunk people have to be so that they lose conscious control of themselves. Feigning amnesiaand avoiding the truth of their idiocy is generally not very healthy.

I would award the third place to the lies we tell ourselves. The most widespread self lie in our age group would be I am not an alcoholic. I can quit anytime. This is something that every drinker tells himself, but the sad part is that itsalmost always false. Another common addiction that people say they can quit is smoking. I have seen attempts of many of my friends and family members to quit smoking but they have always started again when they take one puff after staying away from it for a long time.One such lie I am guilty of is saying that I am not addicted to my computer and internet because lately I have realized that I am. I am generally never in a good mood when the college internet is down because its one of my outlets for stress during the day plus its the only way I am in contact with my friends and family.Another lie we tell ourselves during school is when we think we are doing fine in academics while actually we are not. This has been an issue with several people I know. They think they can get better after failing in tests and quizzes although inside they know better. It tears me up to see people dejected after being unable to grasp the reality of the consequences of not performing up to par in classes.

And the second place goes to the lies we use for excuses in school. In this category, the rampant lying deals primarily with homework. I have heard some bizarre and downright silly reasons like my dog ate my homework or my baby brother tore it up. The 21^st century version would be my computer crashed or a virus deleted my essay. To be truthful, I have used some excuses in my school life as well, mostly stuff like I was sick or I had a major headache.But then my professor would believe these excuses because it was true most of the time and couldnt differentiate between a fake excuse and the truth because it is so believable. Students also lie about tardiness all the time as well. The world famous I had a flat or my alarm didnt go off seem to be the best reasons for being late, although professors have been able to see past the facade.

Last but not the least, the lie that takes the crown is the lies that women tell others. Most of them are downright hilarious. Age and weight is something they love lying about. Its like they think we are blind or something. When a 200 pound woman says that she is 120 pounds, instead of people believing her, shed be the laughed at. Another thing that amazes me is how women think that people would think they are 40 when they are truly 55. Some lies they use when they dont want to go out with someone is usually something like I am busy that night or my parents are coming over. When questioned about lying, theyd say that they were using feminine guile. So it seems like they have coined a new term for lying and it doesnt seem so bad to them anymore.

Lies range from the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal to the innocuous white lies. One interesting statistics from a leading authority in lying is that women tell four white lies every 15 minutes to mens three. I think lying is okay in a micro level but on the macro scale, a lie is like a ripple that expands and reproduces exponentially as one lie begets another lie. So, a perfect utopian world would not have any lies.

[Listening to: Slip - Lit - Atomic (4:00)]

Today is a day of great sadness for James, my room mate. His grand father passed away last night. I pray for his grandfather to find peace, and I pray for James.

Britta has been sick post homecoming on Saturday. I sent her an ecard. It made her smile. Making her smile makes me smile. I miss her intensely.

It's finally hitting me. Andi will be gone for a long time. I fear if we don't keep in constant touch, we might lose some of our intimacy. It causes me great sadness when I think about her and her immiment departure to Germany. I'm going to miss her more than she knows. Our lives are going to change past this point. I can always hope for some intersection in our diverging curves some time in the future.

I love my friends. I miss my friends.

[Listening to: The Long Goodbye - Ronan Keating - Destination (4:42)]

After a long Friday at work which included the ice cream break, I had a very relaxing evening. I walked around online browsing my daily quota of fodder. Dan Kauffman (link) and I had an interesting discussion about the historic control of internet by the US. And then I talked to Goms for a while till Rachel and Khush walked it and found me talking while lying on the couch. They just laughed at me. I went over to their apartment and hung for a bit. They are moving onto Phase II of the South Beach diet (no carb). They are trying to expunge toxins from their body while losing weight.

As usual, my Saturday started late as usual. James was supposed to have gone to the Cider Mill near Pigeonforge early morning. However he was still sleeping when I woke up. So, Callie joined us while we head to the Cider Mill to check it out. We bought some apple cider, apple butter, glazed apple sourdough bread and semi-sweet apple-raspberry red wine. I am particularly excited about the apple butter and wine. Next time we head out there, we might get other wines that I tasted. We had to get back early evening to go to a beat-the-bull bbq organized by one of the interns at a very nice park area near ORNL. Since no one had to get back home early, we decided to extend out stay longer by playing sand volleyball. It was riot! I could clearly see some people just couldn't play the game but it is understandable since most of them do not play any games/sports involving arm strength. I was extremely surprised to find few of the interns unable to clear the net, even by throwing. Oh well! After getting plenty of sand in my shoes, it was decided that we would reward ourselves for the physical exertion by eating ice cream. Soon after we left for home. I decided to hang out with the girls again and we ended up talking till pretty late in the night. Actually, it was another night that I got to bed post 3.30 am.

So, it ended up another weekend when I woke up late. I got up at 1 pm! After talking to Tara from Coe and studying for the GRE attempting to memorize more words, I got together with Jenn to do inorganic chem. I have all but two questions done. I ate dinner with Rachel, Khush and James at a Mexican restaurant and later shared a pina coloda with Rachel and it turned out to be pretty sweet. That cured by oh-so-frequent sweet urges.

And I write this weekend update after watching desperate housewives with james, jenn and the girls.

Committees of Correspondence

Committees of Correspondence

I agree with Dan. How wise is this investment?

Globetechnology: What's with them young whippersnappers?

Globetechnology: What's with them young whippersnappers?

I don't know whether to be worried or amused. Well, I know these statistics are debatable because people have different values and morals. I know I have different opinions about different things. For example, I detest smoking and think it should be banned. But underage drinking is something I don't have issues with. So, how can you generalize an entire population?

i'm sad that I have to use the native blogger interface or Hello to post pictures on my blog. I would like to have batch file uploading capabilities.. It's extremely time consuming to post 100 or more pictures individually. My picture blog has over 600 pictures now. There are a lot more to come although it seems like the pace of taking pictures since the first few weeks at Oak Ridge has diminished. I haven't done as much recently. Hopefully that will change.

I have a lot of busy work like doing homework for the class, and studying for the GRE. I'm taking the GRE sometime around the end of October. I think Rachel might doing it sometime there too.

So far we don't have much planned for this weekend except for a bbq in honor of one of the Dans getting run over by a bull. Next weekend should be a ton of fun because my brother is coming to visit.

Today has been a productive day so far. I came in at 8.30 and ran AFM scans of the annealed samples that had been in the furnace overnight. And then I conducted a thin film run by myself without my mentor watching me for the first time! We have to run an X ray diffraction scan to check the quality of the thin film. Taking a early quick lunch, I had enough time to put in another sample that should be ready to taken out in half an hour. This should allow me to put a substrate in and create a vacuum in the chamber for Monday. My mentor will be gone all next week and he gave an outline of what he wishes for me to accomplish. He talked about his perception of the right amount of samples and characterization tests needed to write a decent paper worth publishing and it doesn't look like I'll meet the quota. That makes me sad but I can't do much about it because i lose almost 5 hours a week to stuff that I need to do for ORSS which includes the inorganic chem class and a seminar.

I did something fun today post lunch. I took my hour break at work with Jenn and we went to Baskin Robins to get some ice cream. I got a chocolate fudge single scoop cone for $1.50. It was sooo good. I might do that once a week. It reminds me of gelato from Italy. yummmmmmm..

Listening to: [R.E.M. - Try Not To Breathe]

U.S. insists on keeping control of Web

U.S. insists on keeping control of Web

Hmm..I wonder if this is acceptable or not. I do agree that it was a concept built by the US military but it has grown beyond that. The US is being greedy. And like the article says, who is to say that US policy won't suddenly change and our access to the internet severed..

It's really weird that EU needs the US for getting greater control of the internet. It's a worldwide phenomenon now and they should be able to get more access control themselves.. I guess I don't know enough about the situation to understand the problem.

Look at the comments for further discussion on this topic.

My honors paper on The Dying Niobid and Aphrodite of Knidos

I noticed that some people were hitting my blog looking for the dying niobid, so i decided to put up the paper i wrote about the sculpture. FYI: this is not the professor-corrected version, so don't mind the mistakes.

Exploration of female nudes in the Classical and the Hellenistic

The Dying Niobid
Aphrodite of Knidos

The two pieces of sculptures that I will be comparing are The Dying Niobid and Aphrodite of Knidos. The Dying Niobid is a Classical sculpture dated 450-440 BCE. The Aphrodite of Knidos is a Hellenistic piece by Praxiteles during the peak of his career between 330 and 360 BCE. There was a change in values and virtues of Greek culture through the transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic. This was especially true in case of perception of art concerning men and people from other cultures outside Greece. However one thing that did not change was the perception of women in that society. Women were exploited in the Classical era and that continued through to the Hellenistic era in the portrayal of women in sculpture.

The Dying Niobid is the first female nude sculpture found belonging to the Classical period. This piece is clearly Classical with a few innovations such as the nude portrayal. It was a bold move by the unknown sculptor because women were always clothed as nudity corresponded to heroic status. When men were depicted in sculpture, they were nude and larger than life affirming the male dominance of the society. An example of this dominance is the Discobolos by Myron in mid-fifth century BCE which showed an idealized larger than life male who was not self conscious about his nudity. This offers the heroic element to the sculpture. There was no self-consciousness due to the lack of clothing which suggested confidence and vitality.

The primary iconography of the piece suggests pathos since the young Niobid was fleeing from Artemis and was shot in her back with an arrow. That was suggestive of cowardice as no man would have been shot in the back. She stumbles as she is shot in the back and that causes her drapes to fall off. The nude element is accidental as she stumbles and reaches back to pull the arrow out. In the process, she grimaces and throws her head back in a pathetic gesture. This clearly deters the piece from reaching heroic status. We can also see the pain of evident death on her face. She realizes that she is doomed and fated to die. Her form is Classical as the piece depicts rhythmos due to symmetry in motion. Her right arm and left thigh are on a vertical line, so there is symmetry on the vertical axis. Her extended right thigh is balanced by her arms reaching for her back. She also forms a triangle which provides with a certain sense of stability because Classical sculpture was about order and reason. Stability in the form was very important. This was also about the momentary as it was depiction of frozen motion, a still image in the process of the young Niobid stumbling.

The artist was playing around with new ideas but he still had various constraints regarding form and iconography. Women had not been depicted nude in the Classical era due to their inferior status in society. The sculptor balanced the nudity in the piece by showing her in the process of dying. Dying can be shown in a heroic manner but the artist goes further to deprive her of heroic status by showing her getting shot in the back as she runs away cowardly from her pursuer. He balanced the piece because the public of that era would not appreciate the novelty of female nudity. The portrayal of death in a woman who is vulnerable and defeated depreciated the value of the female Niobid. The piece conformed to the ideals of Greek society during that period.

The young Niobid was unselfconscious of her nudity as she was more concerned with the arrow in her back. This caused her to gaze upwards as she fished around for the arrow. This allows us to gaze at her accidental nudity freely. This brings a voyeuristic element to the piece and suggests a certain level of eroticism. This eroticism borders on pornography because it provides the male viewer sexual pleasure while looking at it. The pornographic element in this piece is ghastly with the portrayal of death. It is similar to snuff pornography in the modern world where the subject or victim is murdered brutally on film after having sex.

The Dying Niobid acknowledged the male dominance in the society as the male viewer had the control of interpreting the piece the way he wanted. He could either look at it erotically or look at it with disgust. He could derive pleasure from viewing the topless Niobid or be sickened by the pathos during the last moments of her death. Either way, this showed that women were still exploited and would not be given equal status in society. Men could be heroes but women would not be given the status. They would be almost heroic and then the artist would do something to the piece to deprive them of the heroic element. Women were shown as soft, delicate and vulnerable, which was not heroic.

The Aphrodite of Knidos was a trend setting piece as there were many versions of Aphrodite created later. This was a piece of Hellenistic sculpture as the iconography shown here is as simple as a bath. The piece shows Aphrodite nude with her right hand covering her pubic area with her left hand holding on to a drape over a water vase. Her head is also turned to the left. She is emerging or getting ready for a bath. This is a very private moment that we are witnessing. This piece does not have a heroic element in it either due to the selfconsciousness of her nudity.

The pose of Aphrodite was contrapposto which is defined by American Heritage� Dictionary as �The position of a figure in painting or sculpture in which the hips and legs are turned in a different direction from that of the shoulders and head; the twisting of a figure on its own vertical axis.� She has her right hip cocked to the side with most of her weight on her right foot. It�s a casual stance which is more comfortable that the rigid straight posture. This casual posture alleviates strain. However she is balanced with her extended left arm and hand. This pose conveys ease in posture yet reassuring stability. This is very similar to the Doryphoros. Her pose is more supple, feminine, and not athletic because she is stooping a little. This made her nude feminine form different from the athletic yet casual stance of the male Doryphoros. However a key difference in the two pieces is that the male Doryphoros is not self conscious about his nudity.

The line form of the Aphrodite is S-shaped which induces sensuality to the image. Plaxiteles used the bath as a pretext for nudity. She is self conscious about her nudity. This is perhaps due to her privacy being invaded by a male gaze. She quickly moves to cover her private areas in a gesture of modesty. Her posture is coy which makes this image of Aphrodite erotic. This piece was made for a male gaze. This voyeurism makes this image pornographic too. Her failed attempt to be modest makes it more erotic because it makes us wonder about what�s hidden. However, since her gaze is not straight but looking off to the left, we are allowed to view her nudity freely without feeling uncomfortable.

There are similarities between The Dying Niobid and the Aphrodite of Knidos. They have a certain sense of order. Both of them are balanced, inducing order into the sculptures. This makes the Aphrodite of Knidos pseudo classical. They are both nude but without the trait of heroism. The Niobid is portrayed with pathos as she stumbles. Aphrodite is shown in a private moment doing something as trivial as a bath. Both the female nudes are looking away which allows the viewer to scan her body at his pace without feeling uncomfortable. An interesting observation is that the build of both nudes are similar. It�s rather fascinating to see that the image of a sensual female body had not changed. The voyeuristic element in both the female nudes gives control to the male viewer. This shows the exploitation of women because men thought women were inferior to them. They made women seem like mere sex objects.

Since these pieces are produced in contrasting eras, they have some fundamental differences. They have different forms as the form of the Niobid is more rigid and ordered. The Niobid is also not conscious about her nudity while Aphrodite is clearly conscious of her nudity as she moves to preserve her modesty. Another difference is that the Niobid is shown performing a pathetic gesture while Aphrodite is merely in a bath. Mortal women were likely to be shown more pathetic and vulnerable than goddesses.

Since neither of these pieces are heroic and are suggestively erotic, it portrays the status of women as lowly. They were not allowed to be equal to men. We have not been witness to any male nudes that were meant to be erotic. This is due to the fact that most of the sculptures were made for rich male aristocrats who looked down upon women. When the artists created these masterpieces, they were subject to constraints in art during the particular era. During the Classical era, the nude female was not a permissible theme when the male nude form was evolving. So, they had to create abnormal states for the female subject to make her nude. However, even with relaxation of that form of prejudice, Praxiteles felt like he had to justify Aphrodite�s nudity by using the premise of a bath. They were not allowed to show women as heroes due to possible public outrage. So, they condoned the male dominance by creating images of women which were meant to serve as high class pornography further subjugating women.

Reference:

1. The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors: A Historical Review of the Female Nude in Greek Art. Christine Mitchell Havelock. University of Michigan Press.


2. Greek Sculpture: A Critical Review. Rhys Carpenter. University of Chicago Press.

and the emergency vehicles are still there. they also have the whole building cordoned off. great! there goes my productive work for the day. sigh. i have a seminar to attend in an hour and then it's home. i have to finish reading the first two chapters of Molecular Symmetry and Group Theory which talks about the symmetry elements in point group theory. If you couldn't figure out already, this is a part of advanced inorganic chemistry. And of course, I also have to do GRE prep.

Listening to: [The Starting Line - The B-List]

Excitement at ORNL!

Well, my mentor and I were almost to the point that we could start the laser ablation (PLD) and then we smelt something nasty. And we looked around to locate the origin of the odor and then we hear sirens. We then got out of the lab to see lights flashing and the people getting out. And as we went down the stairs, we noticed that the first floor was full of smoke. And then within 2 mins, the ORNL fire department and emergency vehicles pulled up. That was quick response! After we got out, we asked around to see anyone knew what the smoke was from. Once the firemen got out with a black burnt hunk of metal, we realize that it was a smoking tube furnace. I'm told that we might not be able to operate any tube furnaces for a while. That's a kink in our productivity because I still need to anneal substrates and don't want any setbacks. My mentor told me that Los Alamos had a bad laser accident and they shut down all the lasers in the lab for two months. That must have really slowed their scientific research down because a lot of science research is done by lasers. They are trying to figure out if the smoke was toxic or not. I guess we will be told soon enough. I've been told that safety is a serious issue at ORNL and it should be. Our division now has a ton of paper work to fill out about this and has deal with possible repercussions..

Lets see what happens now. We need to get back into the lab to finish my thin film growth.

Listening to: [Aqualung - Good Times Gonna Come]

Hugh Symonds - Hu's Gallery in the Sky

Hugh Symonds - Hu's Gallery in the Sky

This is amazing! These pictures have fantastic quality. I never knew camera phones took pictures like these. I know my motorola V710 doesn't. It actually has a pretty crappy camera phone.

i was threatened with bodily harm for logging onto someone's computer. i don't think i did anything wrong except for etiquette. i shouldn't have used his computer but it was right there and i was getting bored while substrates were being cut. he said that if i ever did it again, he would break my fingers. geez, that's one abrasive guy. he is a huge hulk looking piece of meat. i know ORNL has strict rules against physical harm but I don't know if this is worth reporting. i know i'm never logging onto his computer anymore. but if i did, which i won't, i would log on and then remove my user id upon restart. i think putting in his user id and then putting a wrong password resets the user id field back to his. my mentor apologized to me for his rudeness. oh well, that's some excitement for today.

i'm in a weird productive mood today. i have to cut more substrates and then clean them. i also need to etch and anneal them. i have a lot to do this week.

i had a lot of fun at the balloon festival on friday evening. and the country concert was decent too. i am going to put up pictures soon.

i got caught up with everything going on at school because i got to talk to britta, kelly and goms. i chatted with andi for a bit and i'm going to call her tonight and talk to her. i haven't talked to andi for a week now because i've been soo busy.. sounds like she had a cracker of a weekend. i'm jealous.

The Amazon.Com Customer Service Page

The Amazon.Com Customer Service Page

This has phone numbers and such for customer service. Another useful site.

Database of voice-jail shortcuts to speak to humans at big companies

Find-A-Human -- IVR Phone S... - Approved

This is a handy resource.

The Real-Life Twinkie Experiment: August 2005

The Real-Life Twinkie Experiment: August 2005

This is one of the most interesting real life experiments I've ever seen bordering on fraud. I thought this happened only in movies but it seems like they have been doing this for a couple of months and gotten away with it so far. The twin at the law school seems to be doing fine so far. I'm going to keep up with this and see how long the facade lasts.

Cheers!

This is midly amusing

I think someone actually is reading my blog. I am amused because I know where the reader is from. Oh well, another spectator for the ride. I wonder how long they are going to be with us.. They must have tagged my blogs to check for updates. This is cool! I wonder if I will get any comments.

And I did an AFM run of LaAlO3 and didn't realize that it was supposed to be rough and thereby I wouldn't get any fine features. I sat there for 30 mins trying to figure out why I couldn't see the terrace features. And then I looked at the sample and thought that the surface was pretty rough as I could see features with my eyes. So essentially after talking to my mentor, I found out that I got exactly what I needed. I just have to increase the z scale to see more macroscopic features. And that also explained the reduced amplitude setpoint. There is so much to learn about the AFM and I have just stratched the surface. I have quite a few samples to do Monday morning.

[Listening to: Harry_and_the_Potters-Stick_it_to_Do - Harry and the Potters - Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! (2:23)]

Lab Notes: Research from the Berkeley College of Engineering

Lab Notes: Research from the Berkeley College of Engineering

This is a short article on Berkeley's new optical microscope that has a resolution of 60 nm which is amazing. Yeah, the AFM has a resolution of a few nano meter but this is an actual image. This is very promising!

A selection of pictures that I really like

These are just a few pictures that I took over the past two weeks while at Oak Ridge. I am proud of them because I think they came out pretty well. They were taken with a Canon Powershot A80.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

It's been over 3 weeks already!

I've been thinking about my exprerience here so far. I am amazed to see how quickly time is flying by. Getting up for work around 6.45-7 am everyday, then 8 hours of research at the lab except when I have the tuesday thursday Advanced Inorganic Chemistry for an hour and a half in the morning, and the mandatory Wednesday afternoon seminar on various scientific topics. So usually have long days and then workout in the evening for an hour. I can't really do much here except for running and pushups and crunches and stuff. I get pretty tired after running for 20 mins. Must be the altitude and the speed I try to sustain. I guess I'm spoilt running on the treadmill at Coe which keeps me in check.

About the progress in research so far. I guess I have made a few Bi based oxide thin films using PLD. Apart from that I've learnt how to use the tapping mode in the AFM. The AFM i'm using is very similar to the one we have at Coe Physics except, Coe's is newer. And the images I've scanned have had a 50-50 clarity consistency. Must be the tip. I keep thinking that I've broken the tip by getting it too close to the surface. Ho Nyung, my mentor thinks that after scanning a hundred samples, I'll become an expert. Probably true. I think he is moulding my project differently that what he had planned earlier. He says that he plans for me to use the AFM a lot. I haven't done any X-ray diffraction yet.

And I talked to Andi at the perfect time on Sunday. I wanted to talk to someone about something I had learned about myself from Jenn. Andi just listened and it made it feel better. It was about how I can be demanding sometimes especially when it came to food. Jenn and James cook every time and I can't really help because I have nothing constructive to help with the process except cutting veggies and dishes. And our kitchen is soo small, it can barely hold two people in it. And the way, I phrase my requests that sounds like commands and not requests to people here. I guess that is true because we have not known each other for long enough to get comfortable enough to rid formalities. I went into the mode that I am with friends from school like Britta and Andi and such. So, I just have to careful how I say things now. I guess it will be little hard to pay attention to everything but it will work out. I like the fact that Jenn told me because I would have been oblivious to this and would have continued my lack of courteousness in my interactions. It not like I am not courteous, I just don't say please all the time.. Just one thing, people here don't really communicate as to how they feel to the person they need to talk to the most. Except for Jenn. I'm glad for her honesty with me. People are having serious room mate issues and are bitching about it to other people but when suggested to talk to their roomie, they shrug and say they don't want to confront the situation. I know that people aren't veyr observant of change in behavior, and they will never know unless they are told. I hope the girls figure out and solve their issues. On the other hand, so far James and I are doing great. He is a good friend and room mate.

I got wonderful news from Britta. She is going to be around for my final semester because she is not doing her study abroad in Sweden. It makes me soo happy. I miss her a lot. One of the very few people I had to see everyday. She will be there for my graduation.

[Listening to: Harry_and_the_Potters-Stick_it_to_Do - Harry and the Potters - Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock! (2:23)]

Blogging has been on the back burner

I wish i was blogging more frequently. I am perpetually busy ever since I've been at Oak Ridge. My 40 hours of research at Oak Ridge National Lab (I'm going to refer to this as ORNL from now), an inorganic chemistry course and a weekly seminar series along with GRE prep keeps my time occupied. I am a part of the HERE-ORSS program (ACM/GCLA) which is sort of like an internship and I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a semester to take off and participitate in this. This would boost your graduate application beyond your wildest expectations. I went to Vanderbilt University to visit the VINSE (Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering) and check out their programs. I was able to meet a few of their professors and talk to them about their interdisclipnary material science graduate program and research centres. They have a brand new 3 million dollar facility for nano science research including PLD (Pulsed Laser Depostion which I will talk about more later since I work at ORNL on that), carbon nano tubes, nano fluidics, nano fabrication, and nano optics to name a few. I don't know much about Nashville but I'm assuming that if I am called back for an interview, I will be able to see more of what the city and the college has to offer. So, far I think Vanderbilt is ok and they have a decent cafeteria.. They asked me to come down for their Nano Day on Oct 19 where I would be able to meet most of their faculty and students. Jenn came along with me to Vandy because she wanted to check out the Bio-Chem division, and she got to talk to a few professors too. She said that one was almost cocky about his publications/research and hated teaching because for some odd reason, they don't get paid for teaching yet they have to teach a class. Anyway, the ride up and down was a ton of fun and we talked most of the way. We listened to one of her time management and motivational cds and had a discussion which eventually went off on a tangent and we never got back to what we were talking initially..hehe..

We might go to a few other universities to check them out. I guess we'll see.