Subjectivity vs Objectivity

This is a question that has been haranguing me for a long time. Should one put subjectivity over objectivity or objectivity over subjectivity.

The Board Exams

When I was in Xth, I was taught that I had to present my matter well in the Board exams because the examiner got paid very poorly for the answer-scripts. So, I should try and make things easier for him. And that I did, with wonderful results.

However, it has led me to think about the candidates who were as good if not better than me but ended up with lower marks just because they could not present the matter well.

Step Marking

But then came along IIT. Either you get a zero or full marks. Nothing in between. Nothing for knowing how to go about it. They said it was a question of lives. If you designed a faulty bridge that collapsed, you had failed. You couldn’t go around saying that you had designed the method by the right method. It was the classic case of operation successful but patient dead.

They had a point. But what could they expect out of candidates in 3 hours of tense exam? Shouldn’t they be awarding step marks?

Why I like sports

The best thing about sports is the objectivity. You are either first or you aren’t. Either you ran the race in 10 seconds or you didn’t. You either lifted 100 kgs or you didn’t. Nobody can counter you on that point. Either it is or it isn’t. No middle ground.

And why I hate politics

Politics in the generic sense which pervades our daily lives. For me, it would possibly be the Hall, Kgp elections, interviews and so and so forth. I have felt it is all subjective. What may be good for me may not be good for you. What I like you don’t. What is a perfect answer for me in an interview is possibly the worst answer you could possibly think of.

So, is the verdict in favour of Objectivity? Not really. I wouldn’t want to flunk an exam just because it wasn’t my day. I knew the things but it was just that – it wasn’t my day. Shouldn’t you be awarding me for the hard work that I put in through the year? And oh! nobody would be reading my blog if it was either good or bad. Nothing in between.

What is your opinion? Subjectivity or Objectivity?

The Physics of Weightlifting

After months of practise, hard work (typical ain’t it?) has yielded results. The medal at open IIT Powerlifting reaffirmed some of my beliefs of the alchemical process

1. Mentors play a very significant if not pivotal role.
2. One has to be inebriated by hope and leave the rest to chance. (I am not much of a believer of a greater Force, but I do believe in the chance mechanism)
3. Independent thought is necessary in any endeavour.

Although some of my readers may argue that all you need to do for weightlifting is eat eggs and lift weights, I am afraid that your view of weightlifting is at best naive. For the IITian, it is always doing with understanding.

A Question of Torque

Any layman could tell you that you have to balance the weights if you can hope to lift any significant weight. If the weights aren’t balanced you are going to have a tough time. If we assume the rod to have homogenous density, then the length of the rod should be equal on both sides.

Minimizing the work done

Why is a bench press done with an arched back? To minimize the distance travelled and hence the work done (W = Fs). As elementary as that.

Components of Force

A deadlift is always done with the shoulders and the arms in the vertical plane. What does it ensure? You get the entire force of your arms to be working against the gravity. The moment there is an angle, the horizontal component of force comes in and energy is wasted.

Yin and Yang

The grip for a deadlift is always complementary. If one hand  grips the bar with an open palm, the other with a closed palm. As you can see in the diagram below, this way the horizontal component of the force gets cancelled and the bar remains in firm grip.

Ok, so that is how an IITian would lift weights. I hope I have changed the viewpoint of many who believed that weightlifting was all brawn and no brains.

Will ADAM eat Apple?

It is always what I thought IITians did. Not join run-of-the-mill jobs, not go for higher studies but do something that is arrogant, brash and unconventional. But it wasn't always to be that way till Notion Ink's ADAM gave a reason to believe so. Dubbed as being an iPad Killer, ADAM (what a name to choose!) is all set to hit the markets in June this year.

Here is how ADAM fares when compared to the Apple iPad. Estimated to be $300 to $800, what with all all the features - multi-touch, swivel camera and brightness control, it is going to be a steal.

As is the culture in Kgp, the profiles of those from Kgp has been stripped down to the longitude and latitude of the rooms they occupied. Insanity apart, a brief outline of the team can be found here.

Before I sign off let me leave you with an interview of Rohan Shravan on Technoholic which will let the reader absorb and immerse in the "awesomeness" of this new gadget.

Bow

Bow has been ruminating over the dregs of Illu. It'll take some time before he gets over it.

Batti Department - Part 1

Exams. That time of the year when you wish there wasn't any light. No Batti. No Batti Department.

Going by Batti Department's reputation though, you could have exams even if there wasn't anything to test.

Technically speaking, Instrumentation Engineering is a subset of Electrical Engineering. Some say it has the best of both Electrical and Electronics. One could argue that the placement chart of Instrumentation Engineering almost eclipses all other departments. So you need to slog as much. They say the grass is always greener on the other side.

Here is a question to my fellow mates not from the Batti Department. Could you in 4 years of your stay in Kgp connect a circuit which even vaguely resembles the one below?

On first glance, it would appear that we were hatching plans to blow off Batti department. But I can assure you, cunning as we may be - we too have a heart. This is a DAC and an ADC converter encapsulated into one single assembly. We had to assemble that in a span of 2 hours or face the prospect of spending 2 hours in the library which IITKgp proudly proclaims as being the largest of its kind in Asia.

That is Batti Department for you.

Before I sign off on Part - 1, let me leave you with Batti Department's Profile on Orkut.

Batti Department

about me:	I am the most feared department in Kgp. That should do.
age:	Although I am 59 years old, the average age of Professors in my department is more than 60 years.
birthday:	Officially, it is May 1950, but I like to celebrate it during the end-sem exams.
location:	In a naxal hit area called Kgp, though even the militants are somewhat scared of me.

Rest of the profile isn't that important. In case you are interested, you can search "Batti Department" on Orkut and read the rest of the story.

Cheers!

PS: I am assuming that there will be a sequel to this some time in the future, though I cannot really promise one at this point of time.

Writing about Writing

Recursion

Being an engineering student, one always keeps coming across recursion. Recursive functions, recursive acronyms, recursive photos and what not. Recursion has become a part and parcel of my life. So why not a recursive post? Can that be theoretically possible? Can I write about writing?

About the writing process

Many of those who have read my blog ask me to write on topics far flung. What would it be like if I wrote a book? What it be like if I wrote on the Copenhagen Summit? What would it be like if I wrote on something that was completely unrelated to me.

The truth is - I cannot write on something that I do not know much about. And I find it difficult to do what journalists frequently do - make a bharta out of ideas.

In fact, there are very few authors who write about things they have no or little knowledge of. Take bestselling author Chetan Bhagat for instance. All his novels have been influenced by certain incidents in his life. Take any author. Amartya Sen doesn't write about Rocket Science. He writes Economics. Ramchandra Guha doesn't write Black Swans and Malcolm Gladwell doesn't write about Objectivism. This was something I really got clear when I browsed through the books at the Kolkata Book Fair.

Writing as a Hobby

It is very difficult to write on blogs as if it were your profession. Had I been paid to write like JK Rowling is, it would have been a different affair altogether. But till then, writing is my hobby - not my profession. So if you find me missing from Jazzonomics for few days in a row - you might find me busy with some crazy new hobby that I picked up or possibly reading some novel that I thought is a must read.

Freedom to write (Freelancers?!)

Writing has genres. One who writes on Jazzonomics (whatever the genre may be!) may not be competent enough to write on Scholar's Avenue or Awaaz because it involves a different kind of writing. The kind of freedom that a blog offers isn't available everywhere! One cannot write one's mind on Scholar's Avenue as one can one's blog.

Figuring out

If you still haven't figured out what the whole point of this post was, that is what I was trying to point out!

(Where else could I have my readers skim through lines of complete non-sense?)

P.S: If you are still trying to figure out if it was "writing about writing about writing about ... " aka whether it was a recursive post, you are probably on a wild recursive chase.

Kshitij 2010: A Review

Kshitij was bigger than SF. When I mean bigger, I mean the numbers. Kgp was crowded like hell during Kshitij.

This Kshitij was different. Instead of attending guest lectures and going to Mega-shows, I decided to participate - in quizzing, my new-founded love from SF. Not that I am any good at it - but basically I really enjoyed the experience. It was a lot of fun.

8 quizzes (I participated in 5) in a span of a week drew me into quizzing. We decided to form a permanent team so that we didn't have to look for people when we had quizzes. We are still in search of a fourth member.

Then a quiz blog was started where we would be posting questions daily. This way we would remain in touch with quizzing on a daily basis. You can check it out here.

I have started attending quiz club meetings and surfing the quiz blogs and the Wikipedia. So, basically I have taken up quizzing in a big way. 

Now if this hasn't convinced you about my interest in quizzing, here is a photograph of my room-wall that will quell all your doubts.

Quizzing all the Way!!

Kshitij had delivered. It had all the big sponsors. Lots of participants. Kgp wasn't Kgp for a few days.

But I pray to God/Ktj Core Team that it doesn't get any bigger.

P.S: Since Quizzing was the only thing that I did during Kshitij, I had very less to write about it. I'll be visiting the Kolkata Book Fair this weekend. Hope I'll have more to share then. Till then, Ciao.