Dnyanesh's Cognitive Map

First Century of the Season!!

2006-07-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update!! Last Saturday (29th July, 2006) while playing a Saturday League Cricket Match in Morrants Four Counties League against Winsolw Team, I scored my first century of the season. I scored 121, and finally got out in the 43th over while trying to hit a six on a long-on boundtry to push the score. It was really an amazing feeling to hit first century which also helped my team (Open University Cricket Club: http://openuni.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp) to score 261.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

A visit to Sir Isaac Newton's birthplace!!!

2006-05-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

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"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid at night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light"

- Alexander Pope
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Last Sunday I visited none other than Sir Isaac Newton's birthplae, which is at Woolsthorpe Manor near Grantham. Newton lived in this house during the early period of his life before he went to study at the Cambridge University.

But the Woolsthorpe Manor holds more profound value in history because during the outbreak of the Great Pleague of London, 1665-1666, Newton was forced to return to Woolsthorpe Manor. And during this period Newton invented Gravity, Calculus and Optics.
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Some background of Woolsthorpe Manor:

The house is built in small plain limestone, nad it was Newton's grandfather who had taken possession of Woolsthorpe Manor in 1623 and Isaac was born premature and sickly on Christmas Day in 1642. Isaac's father, a prosperous Lincolnshire farmer, had had died two months before his son's birth. His mother went on to raise a second family nearby but Isaac remained at Woolsthorpe and spent an introverted and isolated childhood in the care of his grandmothers.

Woolsthorpe, with its simple T-shaped plan and mullioned windows, is a typical early-17th century manor house. The house, suitable for a well-to-do gentleman farmer of James I's reign, was built on the site of an earlier building sometime after 1623. The plain rooms have been furnished by the National Trust to reflect the lifestyle of a prosperous yeoman family. On some plaster walls of the passages and rooms mathematical diagrams and other figures may be identified. These may well have been scratched by Newton who as a boy was known to use any surface within reach.

The most important feature of the house is that as you go on the first floor of the house there are rooms on the either side of the staircase. The left hand room is a bedroom where Newton was born and they have preserved the old bed. The right hand room is more significant because this was Newton's study during the period of 1665-1666. And they have still preserved the first telescope made by Newton, the prism he used to do work on Optics, and also equally importantly, there is a show case where they have a third edition of "Principia Mathematica", which is Newton's major work on Differential Calculus.

Also in front of the house there is an apple orchard, and which still has the gnarled apple tree underneath which according to a legend Newton when he was in a contemplative mood struck with the Law of Gravity.
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Newton's 1st Law:

"An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion continues with a constant velocity in a straight line unless an external force is applied to either object."

Newton's 2nd Law:

"The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it, while being inversely proportional to its mass."

Newton's 3rd Law:

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Collection of the Cricket match photos!!!

2006-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

These are some of the wonderful moments of the Cricket Matches played between Open University's Cricket Club and other teams in the Four Counties Morrant Cricket League of last four seasons. All the photos are taken by Chris Valentine (http://met.open.ac.uk/group/cpv/index.html).

Featured in the photos are:

Dnyanesh Rajpathak
Dick Skellington
Sumit Pratihar
Roger Lowry
Shailesh Jain
Ivan Parkin
Keith Elcott
Sim Barber
Neil Benn

Important: A proper permission must be taken by Chris Valentine before using any of these photos either from the commercial or non-commercial purpose.

Second Law of thermodynamics!!!

2006-04-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

The law that forces the entire Universe to comply with its formulation!!!! The second law of thermodynamics is "the supreme law" of all the laws that were ever invented by a human being...

If someone is looking for the immortal place in the history of the mankind, try and answer the following question: "What it is the nature of physical foundation (or universe) in terms of the Second Law of Thermodynamics?"

Few interesting quotes by two giants:

"The law that entropy always increases -- the second law of thermodynamics -- holds I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much worse for Maxwell equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation - well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of Thermodynamics, I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. "

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, in The Nature of the Physical World. Maxmillan, New York, 1948, p. 74

"[A law] is more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different are the kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its range of applicability. Therefore, the deep impression which classical thermodynamics made on me. It is the only physical theory of universal content, which I am convinced, that within the framework of applicability of its basic concepts will never be overthrown. "

Albert Einstein, quoted in M.J. Klein, Thermodynamics in Einstein's Universe, in Science, 157 (1967), p. 509.
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There are many many different equivalent ways of stating the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Here is one of them:

The total entropy of an isolated physical system "never" decreases.

The total negentropy of an isolated physical system "never" increases.

Please visit the following URL to understand the meanings of these two propositions:

http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/Harrison/LifeEnergy/Materials/EinsteinFlash.html

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Congradulations to Anil Kumble for completing 500 Wickets Landmark!!!

2006-03-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Anil Kumble of India completed one of the most remarkable feat in the International Cricket Arena by completing 500 wickets landmark when he trapped Steve Harmison of England Leg Before Wicket. And he is the only Indian Bowler to complete such a feat. In his illustrious 16 years old carrier Kumble has grounded firmly in the International Cricket as a leg-spinner who although is not a big turner of a ball maintained his wicket taking ability by keeping accurate line and length.

Moreover Kumble has completed his 500 wickets landmark by taking 32 five wickets haul as well.

Truely very very special achievement and we are really proud of you Anil. Keep it going and your next target is to get 600 wickets....

Cheers
Dnyanesh

They Played "Blood Holi", At The Feet of God!!!

2006-03-08T03:32:00.000-08:00

(

A minute of silence for those who died at the bomb blast took place on 7th March, 2006 in Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi, India.

)
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They once again managed to tear the peace process after rocking the holy city of Varanasi, where two high explosive bomb blasts took place killing INNOCENT 14 people and injuring 100 people. Till no one has claimed the responsibility of this hideous act, where few lives disappeared in history because they decided to visit the place where their maximum belief was insured.

What reaction one can give over such acts, when the lives lost, left others with the shattered memories and a road full of darkness and tears!!!

As an Indian and a humble human being simply like to think:

"The more you try, the more resilient we become to survive in this dark hour and to rescue humanity out of pandemonium"

Cheers
Dnyanesh

New Pharaonic Tomb Discovered!!!!

2006-02-10T04:13:00.000-08:00

Archaeologists have discovered an intact tomb in the Valley of Kings. This tomb is the first one to be discovered after 1922's monumental discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb which was lead by Howard Carter....

The Valley of the Kings near Luxor in southern Egypt was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards.

The tomb, the 63rd discovered since the valley was first mapped in the 18th century, was unexpectedly found only 5m away from King Tutankhamun's, a member of the team told the BBC's World Tonight.

A team led by the University of Memphis found the previously unknown tomb complete with unopened sarcophagi and five undisturbed mummies.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

The Oldest Wine Bar in the World!!! Gordons Wine Bar

2006-02-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

Our very own Big Mark!!! There is a slogun here that goes like "When Big Mark Invites You to Go to London With Him, You Never Ever Say No"!!!! Do you know why because there is always and I mean it that always something special on the offering. --

So what was on the offering yesterday then....

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Gordons Wine Bar!!!

Yesterday I went to London with Mr. M!!!! to watch Alegria Cirque de Soleil: http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/alegria/intro/intro.htm at the Royal Albert Hall.

Anyway, before actually going to Cirque de Soleil, Mark took me to this beautiful Wine Bar called Gordons Wine Bar which is close to Charing Cross Tube Station. The story of this Wine Bar goes as follows:

Gordons wine bar is thought to be the oldest wine bar in London (which probably makes it one of the oldest in the world!) and has been established in its present form since 1890. The bar is loved by old and young alike due to the totally unique atmosphere in which time seems to have stood still. As you enter the bar you find yourself in a room with old wooden walls covered in historical newspaper cuttings and memorabilia faded with age. Make your way to the cellar and you need to stoop to get to your rickety candlelit table – anonymity is guaranteed! If the sun is out you can also sit outside in Watergate walk and enjoy watching the world go by.

The bar is very much a family affair, owned by Wendy Gordon who is the wife of the late much loved Luis Gordon, and now looked after by Luis’ eldest son Simon. The Gordon’s wine bar family includes the bar staff many of whom have been with us for years under the caring management of Berny and Gerard who bring French joie de vivre to the atmosphere and ensure our customers are well looked after.

We try to maintain the bar as our customers like it which basically means “no change!”. We have maintained the original décor, kept music out and sell only wine, whilst providing traditional and well priced grub…..easier said than done in a world dominated by rules and regulations!
The award winning wine list is varied and full of interesting wines at very reasonable prices. Sherries, madeiras and ports are served from the barrel. Food comes in proper portions ranging from home made pies to wonderfully mature cheeses.

For those interested in history, the building in which the bar is situated was home to Samuel Pepys in the 1680s and more recently (1820) by Minier & Fair, a firm of seedsmen who used it as a warehouse. This came to an abrupt end when, in 1864, the river was embanked and the warehouse landlocked, following which it was turned into accommodation and Gordons wine bar began its life. Rudyard Kipling lived in the building in the 1890s as a tenant and famously wrote “The light that failed” in the parlour above the bar, the building is now named Kipling House. Arthur Gordon who set up the bar in 1890 was one of the few remaining “free vintners” who were able to set up and sell wine anywhere without applying for a license as a result of Edward III’s Charter to them in 1364 – granted as a result of his financial embarrassment at being unable to repay a loan made by the Vintners to him some years earlier! The current Gordon family who own the bar are not actually related to Arthur Gordon but it was a happy coincidence that Luis Gordon discovered the bar and took it over in 1975 so was able to maintain the Gordon name.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Top 10 Sledges in Cricket!!!

2006-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

1. Rod Marsh & Ian Botham - When Botham took guard in an Ashes match, Marsh welcomed him to the wicket with the immortal words: "So how's your wife & my kids?"

2. Daryll Cullinan & Shane Warne - As Cullinan was on his way to the wicket, Warne told him he had Been waiting 2 years for another chance to humiliate him. "Looks like you spent it eating," Cullinan retorted.

3. Robin Smith & Merv Hughes - During 1989 Lords Test Hughes said to Smith after he played & missed: "You can't f**king bat". Smith to Hughes after he smacked him to the boundary - "Hey Merv, we make a fine pair. I can’t f**king bat & you can't f**king bowl."

4. Merv Hughes & Javed Miandad - During 1991 Adelaide Test, Javed called Merv a fat bus conductor. A few balls later Merv dismissed Javed: "Tickets please," Merv called out as he ran past the departing batsman.

5. Merv Hughes & Viv Richards - During a test match in the West Indies, Hughes didn't say a word to Viv, but continued to stare at him after deliveries. "This is my island, my culture. Don’t you be staring at me. In my culture we just bowl." Merv didn't reply, but after he dismissed him he announced to the batsman: "In my culture we just say f**k off."

6. Glenn McGrath to Ramnaresh Sarwan - "So what does Brian Lara's d*ck taste like?"Sarwan: "I don't know. Ask your wife." McGrath lost it: "If you ever mention my wife again, I'll F***ing rip your F***ing throat out."

7. Malcolm Marshall was bowling to David Boon who had played and missed a couple of times. Marshall: "Now David, Are you going to get out now or am I going to have to bowl around the wicket and kill you?"

8. Ricky Ponting & Shaun Pollock - After going past the outside edge with a couple of deliveries, Pollock told Ponting: "It's red, round & weighs about 5 ounces." Unfortunately for Pollock, the next ball was hammered out of the ground. Ponting to Pollock: "You know what it looks like, now go find it."

9. Fred Trueman - While bowling the batsman edges and the ball goes to first slip,and right between Raman Subba Row's legs. Fred doesn't say a word. At the end of the over, Row ambles past Trueman and apologises sheepishly. "I should've kept my legs together, Fred". "So should your mother," he replied.

10. And of course you can't forget Ian Healy's legendary comment that was picked up by the Channel 9 microphones when Arjuna Ranatunga called for a runner on a particularly hot night during a one dayer in Sydney... "You don’t get a runner for being an overweight, unfit, fat c**t!!!"

Cheers
Dnyanesh

My new cricket bat (Malik Tiger)!!!

2006-02-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

(All photos courtesy Chris Valentine: http://met.open.ac.uk/group/cpv/index.html)

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I recently bought a new cricket bat of the Malik MB brand, and its an absolute beauty!!! I must say that I still haven't used it properly because my cricket bat is still in the process of knocking in (http://www.middlepeg.com/cricketbatcare.htm) and will be ready in about a week's time.

One of the main reasons why a new cricket bat needs knocking in is because cricket bats are made from a fairly soft and fibrous material called willow or Salix Alba Caerulea. With cricket balls being delivered like missiles at up to 90mph against your cricket bat it is obviously advisable to prepare your blade so as to achieve optimal performance, resistance and longevity. This process is refered to as Knocking or Running your cricket bat in.

Another important thing some of you have noticed by looking at the photos of the bat is an unusual curvature of the blade of a cricket bat. Following are some of the crucial reasons why the cricket bat has a curvature: a) the size and shape of the bat is selected by a batsman according to the batting position he is going to play in the batting order. At the top of the order, the batsman has to face a ball which is new and coming more quickly in comparison to the batsmen who are batting down the batting order (i.e. 4 down and below). As a result, the batsmen who are batting at top of the order need faily straight face which allows them to cut and drive the ball with relatively less effort, but the batsmen who are batting lower down the order need more power to hit the ball and the curvature of the bat gives higher trajectory to the cricket ball, after batsmen hit the ball in th air, b) curvaure of the bat also helps to reducie the impact at which a cricket bat hit against the relatively static physical body, i.e. cricket bat. This is very important because a cricket ball travels throught the air at a speed of about 85-90 mph, and by the time it reaches the batsman after colliding with a ground the speed drops to 70-80 mph. However, even the speed of 70-75 mph is relatively high for a cricket bat which is not travelling at that speed, and the curvature of a bat absorbs more impact, in comparison to the bats which have relatively straight face.

Finally, the bats manufactured in India or in Pakistan usually have a higher curvature and extended sweet spot (this portion produces maximum stroke after hitting a cricket ball), mainly because the cricket pitches in subcontinent are relatively flatter in comparison to the pitches in England, Australia, etc. and therefore the ball stays low. The thicker size of the blade, and an extended sweet spot of a bat allows a batsman to hit a ball with relatively comformtable power and generates high punch with less vibrations generated throughout the body of a bat.

Currently I am in a process of oiling my Tiger and the oiling of my bat will complete by Sunday, and then I will start knocking my bat for another 4-5 days in order to be ready for next Saturday when the nets for this season starts.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Image taken by SOHO of our BLUE sun!!!!

2006-02-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

This is an image taken by NASA's SOHO mission of our Sun!!! For those who are wondering why our sun is looking blue in this image in contrast to its usual yellow colour please dont panic and go through the following explantion:

All of the EIT images are produced by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light from the Sun. This is light that is between ultraviolet light and x-ray light in the electromagnetic spectrum and is not visible to our eyes directly.

EIT images are taken at four different wavelengths and four colors in order of wavelength (bluer=shorter wavelength, redder=longer) were assigned to represent each of them. Just as the human eye is capable of discriminating different colors in the visible, so EIT's four bandpasses discriminate among four "colors" in the extreme ultraviolet. In addition, each color table was carefully constructed to bring out typical features of its particular wavelength.

The red images have a wavelength of 304 Angstroms, the yellow are 284 Angstroms, the green are 195 Angstroms, and the blue are 171 Angstroms. So, just like in the visible spectrum red is the longest wavelength and blue is the shortest with yellow and green in between, the EIT image colors were chosen so that the longest wavelength is reddish and the shortest is bluish.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

India lost the test series against Pakistan!!!

2006-02-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

This time yet another record was creaed by India when they lost the last test matche of the 3 test matches series against Pakistan by the margin of 341 runs. The old foes came to haunt the tourist on the 4th day of the test match when India needed to score hopeless total of 609 to win the test match.

Of course winning the match would have been one of the histories in the modern cricket days but Indian fans and followers definitely expected to put a decent show by the most celebrated batting line of India.

Only Yuvi resisted the force of might Pakistani bowlers by scoring 122 runs, to secure his second test ton. And for Pakistan the bowlers came to party when it was needed most by the home side, and special word of praise for Mohammad Asif who ran through the top order of India taking three wickets on incoming deliveries. Abdul Razzaq also played a major role by taking three quick wicktes demolishing the middle order of India.

Well lots of thinking needs to be done when what is required by a team is to climb a mountain and they end up loosing the breath only after climing a molehill.

Good luck to team India.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Scotland Trip-IV - Inverness and Loch Ness

2006-01-18T03:35:00.000-08:00

This section of the Scotland trip consists of photos of Inverness (which is a capital of Highlands), Loch Ness, and some of the surrounding area of Loch Ness going towards Fort Williams.1).

1) A photo which show a white frozen lake on the other side of the fence is the place where I stayed in Inverness. And the frozen ground is a lake which was in a liquid state when I reached there and in 2 days time when I get up in the morning it was already frozen.

2) Then from Inverness I went to Loch Ness which is famous for the history of the Loch Ness monster - http://www.loch-ness.org/. The last building with a boat outside is the Loch Ness monster exhibition centre.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Scotland Trip-III, Road to Fort Augustus and Isle of Skye with Dunvengan Castle

2006-01-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

This part of the Scotland-Trip-III photos consists of the photos of the journey from Loch Ness to Fort Augustus, and going towards Isle of Skye (which is a small island on the North West of Scotland)...

1) On the bridge its me just after leaving Fort Augustus. I stopped there because it was really beautiful, with a small waterfall. The water was of course freezing cold, but it was really testy.

2) Also I found some really strange and symmetrical rectangular tunnels on the other side of the bridge. I dont the reason for their construction but definitely would like to know why and who has built those really low elevation symmetrical tunnels in the middle of no where (and it literally was in the middle of no where).

3) Then I reached Isle of Skye and went to see Dunvengan Castle which is a estate of MacNeod Family. They dont live there now a days and prefer to live in Australia. Dunvegan was one of the first few places to face the MNormandic invasions on United Kingdom.

4) Then I decided to visit a place which is not very far from Broadford going towards Kyle of Lochlin, where there is a biggest Sea Otter population in the UK. And on my way I found really stunning landscape with mountains, and a winding road going through the hills, and a hidden lake with nice water.

5) Finally I started coming back to Glasgow and on my way I seen Palm trees first I was surprised to see the palm trees in Scotland but then i realised that south west atlantic streams come and hit scotland and they bring with them tropical currents. As a result, North West of Scotland is the only place in the Northen part of the United Kingdom where one can see the Palm Trees.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Scotland Trip-II - Urquhart Castle

2006-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

This section contains the photos of the Urquhart Castle which is on the way from Inverness to Fort Augustus. It is located in a beautiful landscape and more importantly the Loch Ness monster has been spotted in the Loch from this castle few times, or at least thats what they say.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Scotland Trip-I -Culloden Battelfield, Fort George, Inverness, and Loch Ness

2006-01-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the photos of the Scotland, Highland and the Isle of Skye trip which I did recently.

Part-I

The reference map of the united kingdom is given so that you can refer to the respective geographic locations.

1) The photos of Culloden Battlefiled (Culloden Battle is one of the most bloodiest but at the same time mishandled battle in the history of united kingdom. This place is close to the Nairn in Highlands).

2) Few photos of the Lochs which we came across in our way to Inverness and Loch Ness. In scottish language the lakes are called Loch.

3) Two photos of Fort George. This is a photo which has a white bridge in it.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

My first English X-Mas with Geoff's family!!!!

2005-12-31T05:34:00.000-08:00

Okay!!! its the first posting since I set off on my Highlands adventure trip. While talking with Geoff he invited me to come on my way to Scotland to come and spend my X-Mas with his family in Earby, Lancashire. Earby is a very traditional English village (population 5000) hidden in absolutely stunning North Yorkshire country side with very narrow lanes and a backdrop of picturesque hills....

So I reached Geoff's family on 24th Dec. and I was stunned to see the reveling beauty of Earby in misty and foggy evening. Anyway, Geoff's family immediately made me comfortable in his house and I was became a part of the communication in no time. More importantly I got three little friends on that day, Noah, Jessuah, and Hannah, Geoff's nephews and a niece, really sweet kids.

After tea, we all went to a really traditional Engligh pub called The Red Lion, and for the first time I tries really really nice English ale called X-Mas pud which by the way is a seasonal ale as opposed to commercial beers. And it really doesnt get more traditional than this to see a seasonal ale just brewed for instance for the occasion of X-Mas. Our rest of the evening passed chatting and having fun.

Next day was a X-Mas day and early in the morning me and Geoff were in a deep sleep when we were called downstaires to see Noah opening his presents, it was really a nice experience to see a kid enjoying opening his presents and getting thrilled with every present he unwrapped. It lasted for nearly 2 hrs. After that everyone started preparing for the X-Mas lunch. And then in the afternoon we all went to Geoff's sister's home for our X-Mas lunch and had a really nice Turkey. After that another round of presents unwrapping session took place. I really was excited to experience a tradiotional X-Mas day with an English family.

We spent our rest of the evening taking micky out of everyone, chatting, and of course playing card games and rest of the X-Mas games.

This was really a great beginning of my long journey towards Scotland, and further north to Highlands.

Next morning I set off from Geoff's lovely Earby to Glasgow for my second part of the journey. In this part there are many great things happenin such as my 3 days going around in Highlands to Cullodon Battle Field, Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Fort Augustus, and then to Isle of Skye. The detailed description of my this journey in which I covered nearly 800 miles in 3 days along with nice photographs will appear soon.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

3.8 billion years old rock samples!!!

2005-12-14T10:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday one of my friend, Mouchine who works in the Earth Science department of The Open University has given me 2 small rock samples of Ishua Group which are discovered in Western Greenland.

These rock samples are 3.8 billion years old and contain carbonaceous remnants of very eary life.

Here is the reference for these samples from Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7030/full/434155a.html

I am really excited not only with the fact that I posses some of the rarest and more imporatantly oldest of the rock samples in the world, but also because it is wonderful to think that these pieces of matter are around for last 3.8 billion years.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Strange conversation with a Manchester guy!!!

2005-12-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

Time: about 1.00am
Location: Manchester city centre, Revolutions.
Company: Dnyanesh, Geoff, Gaston, Vanessa, Oscar, Oscar's Girlfriend (sorry girl I forgot your name), a table holding my JD and coke, etc.

Right!!! so on the aforementioned location in a rainy Manchester night we all are talking about the different things such as how cool the book called Shantaram by Greogory David Roberts is, and Oscar happily describing how the man at the counter was getting physical with him (although it is really important to remember that Oscar is quite a straight guy), and how drunk he is, and we all are having a good time.

Then suddently I guess the same person appers to be passing from the table where we all are sitting and having drinks, and this Gizzer started saluting to me, and started smiling. Well, as a first reaction I smiled at a guy because he was apparently looking pissed. And then suddenly this bloke came over the table and started saying to me (with really loud music on the background)

Drunk Manchester Guy: "how you doing mate?"
Me: I am fine, cheers.
Drunk Manchester Guy: Forwards his hand for a shake hand.
Me: I shake his hand.
Drunk Manchester Guy: (kind of whispering, but it was like shouting because of music on the background) Hey! Do you know that Liam is going to be here in 10 mins time?
Me: Cool!!
Drunk Manchester Guy: I can show you to him if you want.
Me: (bit surprised) No I am fine.
Drunk Manchester Guy: Common on.
Me: No, its okay I am having a good time. Thanks a lot.
Drunk Manchester Guy: (persuading me) well its just going to take 10 mins. mate.
Me: (getting irritated) I told you that I am fine, and I guess you are making other people bit nervous.
Drunk Manchester Guy: (Smiling awkwardly) What?... What did you say?
Me: We are having a good time and you are making other people nervous....
Drunk Manchester Guy: are you sure?
Me: yeah! very much so....
Drunk Manchester Guy: But Liam....
Me: I told you that that I am fine....

The Drunk Manchester Guy left the table......Looking back at the table after walking small distance..

Well I must say it was a kind of strange experience. And then for a long time and also on the next morning Gaston kept on having fun with the fact that I was almost close of getting luck with Liam......Where according to Oscar the reason that Gizzer came to me is because of the ear ring I wear on my right ear on the top, and according to Oscar that gives a wrong indication to pepole that I'm not only not straight but I'm more gay because I wear on the top part of right ear....Hmmmm!! not sure how this deduction works really?

""Wearing a ring (called Bhikbali) is just a part of Pune, Maharashtra, Indian culture, which was heavily around and then it suddenly disappeared in the hussel and bussel of the fast city life and modernisation, etc. etc. so I decided to wear it just to keep the culture in tact...""

The world is full of strange people and Manchester has a strange piece of memory stuck into my cognitive map.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

In the midst of chaos the death is one bullet away!!!!

2005-12-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

US citizen Rigoberto Alpizar, 44 was shot dead by the air marshals on board of the American Airlines flight. He satrted acting suspiciously and commented of carrying a bomb in his luggage. It was later confirmed that he didnt have a bomb in his luggages and probably was suffering from the mental illness.

According to the sources Alpizar had arrived in Miami, Florida, from Ecuador and was boarding a flight to Orlando at about 1410 local time (1910 GMT). Accounts from inside the plane suggest that Alpizar began behaving erratically before he was challenged by the marshals.
"He didn't look stable," fellow passenger John McAlhany told the Miami Herald.
As he ran down the aisle of the plane, a woman assumed to be his wife shouted for him to stop.

Its really crucial for any authority to check again and again before they open fire on the people. Of course other side of the coin holds equal stake considering that if the person did really carry a bomb then it would have resulted in higher numbers of casulties. However, its more easier to shoot a person when carrying a gun but impossible to bring back even on innocent life which has been lost in the midst of chaos!!!!

Cheers
Dnyanesh

First ever partial face transplant!!!

2005-12-02T03:35:00.000-08:00

Dr Jean-Michel Dubernard of Lyon from France have performed the first ever partial face transplant on a 38-year old woman whose face was severly disfigured by a dog attack. He is also the first surgeon who successfully carried out hand transplant.

The two surgical teams have grafted the nose, lips and chin from a donor who was declared brain dead.

However, the Ethics committee in France and England have already rejected the full face transplant until the more research is done on the various implications that may cause due to such a type of surgery - the committee is concerned about the effect of the long term use of the immunosuppresive drugs, the probability of graft being rejected leaving patient in worse condition than before the procedure, the development of the cancer from the immunity suppresing drugs given to the patient to prevent the graft rejection, and more importantly the psychological problems that patient may face in adjusting with the new identity.

At this point it is still unknown the extent to which the woman's face was disfigured before the operation, and how much of the donor's face and underlying muscles, blood vessels and tissues were transplated.

If the outcome of this procedure is satisfactory it will open new avenues of research in clinical research.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Brian Lara's new triump!!!

2005-11-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Lara eclipsed former Australian captain Allan Border's record of holding highest test runs of 11,174 against the test match of Australia. Brian Lara scored 11,175 in 213 innings in comparison to Allan Border's 265 test innings to achieve 11,174 runs.

Brian Lara's epic quadruple century against England in Antigua in April 2004 saw him become the first man to reclaim the world record, which he set at 375 in 1994 and then lost to Australian Matthew Hayden.

Now Lara has eight double centuries in Tests, a total exceeded only by Sir Don Bradman (12), and was given a standing ovation by the Adelaide Ovel crowd when he reached 217 not out to eclipse Border's 12-year-old record.

Incredible India-II (Courtesy Shounak Bhise)

2005-11-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Incredible India-I (Courtesy Shounak Bhise)

2005-11-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Cheers

Dnyanesh

VWay!!!!

2005-11-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Management Guru Peter Drucker Dead!!!

2005-11-17T03:10:00.000-08:00

Peter F Drucker, aged 95, who will be remembered as a "Father of Modern Management" died at his home in Claremont, California on Friday.

His thinking almost transformed the second half of the 20th Century. He coined the concept of "knowledge worker" in his book titled "Landmarks of Tomorrow", which brought in revolutionary changes in the way corporations treated their workforce.

In Peter's own word, "Management deals with people, their values, their growth and development, social structure, the community and even with spiritual concerns."

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Busy December exploring UK!!!

2005-11-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

Hurrrrrrray!!! Just finalised how my December is going to be spent.

On 9th, 10th, and 11th I am off to the place in Highlands called Suileag which is one of the stunning Mountain Bothy is located maintained by Mountain Bothy Association (MBA) (http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/).

------------------

Then I am off to Cornwall to visit my friend Ziggi's family between 18th, 19th and 20th Dec. Ziggy is one of the friendliest faces one can find in the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. Ziggi is doing his PhD in physical oceanography (but not wholly) and is focused at understanding the behaviour of 'warm' water in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. A detailed summary of what I am doing and its importance can be found in my research section.

Its always good to goi and visit a place with locals who can take you and show places where no one goes and visits.

-------------------

And then I am off to Edinburgh, Scotland around 26th Dec. for the new year's eve with my Sister, brotehr-in-law and niece.

-------------------

So I promise that I'll bring loads of stories for you guys out there.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

The Argumentatvie Indian!!!

2005-11-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

One Indian, the old joke goes, is a monolouge, two Indians is a debete, and three Indians are two political parties. Essentially, in a nutshell Indians are argumentative seem to be beyond dispute. Leading economist of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen takes a stading for his new book titled "The Argumentative Indian" which is a collection of 16 essays drawn from lectures and previously published work.

Amartya Sen's pionnering work in welfare economics and social-choice theory - how the society's wishes can be aggregated from the diverse views of committee.

His forthcoming book will be on "identity and violence - a cultural and political analysis of terrorism in today's world, on how high theory feeds low politics"

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Kind of busy day today!!!

2005-11-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Kind of busy day!! Came to the office at 9.37am and then started working on a paper which I am planning to submit to 17th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (http://ecai2006.itc.it/cda/aree/index.php) which is next year in Trento, Italy.

Then went to fetch Lucia from the Coachway as she was coming back from her across continent trip.

Came back and was about to start working on paper when Enrico came asking for lunch. So went to the Refectory and got a food!!! (Gee! the woman who was preparting Panini was so slow that it was almost a nihilistic approach towards making and serving food for others!!)

Came back from lunch at about 1.30ish and since then working on a paper.

Now its about to go home and get some food.....

Cheers
Dnyanesh

The Dhoni Factor!!!!

2005-11-12T04:14:00.000-08:00

India wrapped the 7 one day series agains Sri Lankans by winning 6 matches in rathe spectacular fashion.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded with Man of the Series award for his blitzering performance of 183 not out in the third one day game and his 80 runs in 73 balls perfomance in the last one day match.

Well done Team India for exhibiting a truely professional performance. And good luck for the upcoming series against S.Africans. Common on India!!!! Lets knocks these S. Africans as well...

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Gravitatonal waves!!! One of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of our age!!!

2005-11-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

Modelling gravitational wave complexity. Laser interferometers should be able to detect the gravitational waves produced by the most violent astrophysical events, such as the merging of two black holes. (Image: MPI for Gravitational Physics/W.Benger-ZIB)

The Glasgow University scientist, Jim Hough, has been chasing most elusive of astrophysical phenomena - gravitational waves, i.e. the "ripples" in space-time for more than 30 years and feels certain he is now just a matter of months away from bagging his quarry.

It will be a big event for two reasons: 1) it will be yet another confirmation that Einstein's Theory of General Relativity is correct and 2) it will also open up a new kind of astronomy that will allow us to look inside the most violent events in the Universe.

A new kind of astronomy requires a new type of "telescope", and that's just what Hough and UK-German colleagues have been developing on farmland a short drive from Hanover. It is called GEO 600.

Unlike electromagnetic waves - the light seen by traditional telescopes - gravitational waves are extremely weak. If one were to pass through your body it would alternately stretch your space in one dimension while squashing it in another - but the changes are fantastically small.

Any moving mass will send gravitational waves radiating outwards at the speed of light; but only truly massive bodies, such as exploding stars and coalescing neutron stars, can disturb space-time sufficiently for our technology to pick up the signal.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Five official mascots for 2008 Olympic games!!!

2005-11-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today Beijing has revealed the five official mascots for the 2008 Olympic games. The mascots are cartoon renditions of a panda, a carp, a Tibetan antelope, a swallow and the Olympic flame. The mascots were presented as Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying and Ni Ni - which, put together reads in Chinese "Beijing welcomes you!"

The Beijing Olympics is scheduled to start on 8 August, 2008. China plans to spend almost $39bn (£21bn) on its infrastructure in preparation for the Games, the Xinhua state news agency has said.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Six thinking hats!

2005-11-11T04:03:00.000-08:00

Recently finished reading a new book by Edward de Bono, titled "Six Thinking Hats". This book essentially focues on lateral thinking methods providing a deliberate, systematic process resulting in innovative thinking.

Who needs this book?

This book is useful for anyone who wants o think clearly, objectively, and creatively.

- Project Managers
- Meeting Facilitators
- Engineers
- New Product Developers
- Patent Attorneys
- Team Leaders & Members
- Trainers & Consultants
- Sales & Marketing Professionals
- Advertising & PR Professionals

Where can you operaionalise the six thinking hat technique?

- Facilitation of meetings
- Preparing for discussions
- Continuous process improvement
- New products and new designs
- Conflict resolution
- Customer focus groups / interviews
- Leadership development
- Presentations
- Virtual meetings

Much talked Six Thinking Hats!!!

White Hat: The White Hat calls for information known or needed.
Black Hat: The Black Hat is judgment-the devil's advocate or why something may not work.
Red Hat: The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches, and intuition.
Green Hat: The Green Hat focuses on creativity: possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas.
Yellow Hat: The Yellow Hat symbolizes values and benefits and why something may work.
Blue Hat: The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process.

Cheers,
Dnyanesh

Photos from Lewes Bonfire night

2005-11-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

Every year Lewes holds one of the biggest Bonfire night in UK.

Some photos from this Saturday night in Lewes:

http://allthingsbrightonbeautiful.com/gallery/lewes05?page=1

http://allthingsbrightonbeautiful.com/gallery/lewes05/n3_00013

Cheers,
Dnyanesh

Poor management costs Karthikeyan his contract!!!

2005-11-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

India's Narain Karthikeyan can blame his management for his failure to secure a Formula One drive with Midland next year, according to team boss Colin Kolles.

"Narain has lost out because of his management," Kolles told Thursday's Times of India. "A pro driver has professional management but we didn't see that in Narain's case."

Karthikeyan, 28, became India's first Formula One driver in 2005 after signing up with British-based Jordan, bought by Russian-born Canadian billionaire Alex Shnaider in January. The team will be called Midland next year.

Although he became the first Indian to score points, finishing fourth in the six-car U.S. Grand Prix fiasco that saw the seven Michelin-equipped teams withdraw due to tyre safety concerns, he has no drive for 2006.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Their claim for murdering innocent lives!!!!

2005-11-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Al-Qaeda claimed carrying out triple bomb attack in Jordan's capital Amman, which killed at least 56 people.

The Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels were hit in near-simultaneous blasts killing at least 56 people and injuring about 300 others. Yet another stab was put in the heart of humanity to leave others to sing the song of departure.

All one can do is hope for sanity to show the way!!!!

Cheers,
Dnyanesh

KAON2 OWL Reasoner release

2005-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

***Now with DIG Interface***
***High-performance OWL DL reasoner***

The AIFB and the FZI Institute at the University of Karlsruhe, in cooperation with ontoprise
GmbH, are pleased to announce KAON2 -- a new tool for management of OWL ontologies and
reasoning. The following functionalities are provided by the tool:

- KAON2 provides an integrated API for reading, writing, and management of OWL DL ontologies extended with SWRL rules. Currently, OWL RDF and OWL XML file formats are supported.

- KAON2 provides a built-in reasoner for OWL DL (except nominals and datatypes), extended with DL-safe subset of SWRL. (I.e. KAON2 fully supports SHIQ extended with DL-safe rules.)
Reasoning is based on novel algorithms, which reduce an OWL ontology to a (disjunctive) datalog program. These algorithms allow KAON2 to handle relatively large ontologies with high
efficiency. Its performance compares favorably with other state-of-the-art OWL DL reasoners.
Detailed performance evaluations will shortly be available at: http://kaon2.semanticweb.org.

- KAON2 supports the answering of conjunctive queries expressed in SPARQL.

- KAON2 can be used either as a library from other applications, or in server mode. In the latter case, KAON2 is started as a server process, and clients can connect to the server using appropriate APIs.

- KAON2 supports the DIG interface, and can therefore be used with ontology editors such as
Protégé or OilEd.

- KAON2 can access information stored in relational databases based on mappings between
ontology entities and database tables.

KAON2 is available free of charge for non-commercial usage. For download and more
information about the tool, the supported formalisms and the reasoning algorithms, please visit the following Web page:

http://kaon2.semanticweb.org/

Cheers,
Dnyanesh

Congradulations Dr. Yanna Vogiazou!!! KMi has a new PhD.

2005-11-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well Done Yanna!

Keeping KMi 100% record of PhD graduates intact, Yanna literally 15 mins ago defended her PhD thesis successfully, and passed her PhD examination in flying colours with only minor corrections.

Yanna did her PhD under the suprevision of Prof. Marc Eisenstadt. Just a quicki! coincidently Marc was an observer during my PhD viva as well.

Yanna's PhD research was looking at enhaning online social interaction through games and playful activities for large numbers of people, starting from a few tens to hundreds or even thousands. For this purpose, my research draws examples from interdisciplinary areas, such as interaction design, mobile technologies, multiplayer game design and Instant Messaging.

So once again congradulations Yanna on successfully completing your PhD and best of luck in your carrier.

Cheers,
Dnyanesh

Once Upon a Time in Pune!!!

2005-11-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

Cheers,
Dnaynesh

Planning Task Ontology Problem Cracked!!!

2005-11-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

It seems like it that after working on it for last 6 months this afternoon I managed to crack the Planning Task Ontology problem and finished the evaluation of it. So I guess the next natural progression is to start working on Problem Solving Methods...Grrrrrr!!! How exciting?

Anyway, those who are interested (which I serious dought anyone would be) here is a piece of the final trace of the task ontology!!!

Some things never change and one thing in my life is OCML
-----------------------------------
OCML 5 : 1 > (ask (plan-solution (role-value 'settler-plan 'has-plan-model) settler-plan))

-- 2- Goal: (PLAN-IS-COMPLETE ?PL796 (ROLE-VALUE ?TASK797 HAS-PLAN-TASKS)), env: ((?TASK797 . SETTLER-PLAN) (?PL796 (LOAD . VEHICLE-1) (UNLOAD . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-CABIN . WOOD-1) (BUILD-QUARRY . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-COAL-STACK . COAL-1) (BUILD-SAWMILL . TIMBER-1) (BUILD-MINE . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-IRONWORKS . STONE-1) (BUILD-DOCKS . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-WHARF . PLACE-1-1) (FELL-TIMBER . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-CART . PLACE-1-1) (MOVE-CART .VEHICLE-1) (BREAK-STONE . PLACE-1-1) (MINE-ORE . PLACE-1-1) (BURN-COAL . PLACE-1-1) (SAW-WOOD . PLACE-1-1) (MAKE-IRON . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-RAIL .IRON-1) (BUILD-HOUSE . WOOD-1) (BUILD-TRAIN . IRON-1) (MOVE-TRAIN . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-SHIP . VEHICLE-1) (MOVE-SHIP . VEHICLE-1)))

-- 2- Proved (PLAN-IS-COMPLETE ?PL796 (ROLE-VALUE ?TASK797 HAS-PLAN-TASKS)) in ((?TASK797 . SETTLER-PLAN) (?PL796 (LOAD . VEHICLE-1) (UNLOAD . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-CABIN . WOOD-1) (BUILD-QUARRY . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-COAL-STACK . COAL-1) (BUILD-SAWMILL . TIMBER-1) (BUILD-MINE . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-IRONWORKS . STONE-1) (BUILD-DOCKS . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-WHARF . PLACE-1-1) (FELL-TIMBER . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-CART . PLACE-1-1) (MOVE-CART .VEHICLE-1) (BREAK-STONE . PLACE-1-1) (MINE-ORE . PLACE-1-1) (BURN-COAL . PLACE-1-1) (SAW-WOOD . PLACE-1-1) (MAKE-IRON . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-RAIL .IRON-1) (BUILD-HOUSE . WOOD-1) (BUILD-TRAIN . IRON-1) (MOVE-TRAIN . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-SHIP . VEHICLE-1) (MOVE-SHIP . VEHICLE-1)))

--------

OCML 7 : 1 > (ask (plan-solution (role-value 'settler-plan 'has-plan-model) settler-plan))

-- 2- Goal: (PLAN-IS-CORRECT ?PL551679), env: ((?PL551679 (LOAD . VEHICLE-1) (UNLOAD . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-CABIN . WOOD-1) (BUILD-QUARRY . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-COAL-STACK . COAL-1) (BUILD-SAWMILL . TIMBER-1) (BUILD-MINE . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-IRONWORKS . STONE-1) (BUILD-DOCKS . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-WHARF . PLACE-1-1) (FELL-TIMBER . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-CART . PLACE-1-1) (MOVE-CART .VEHICLE-1) (BREAK-STONE . PLACE-1-1) (MINE-ORE . PLACE-1-1) (BURN-COAL . PLACE-1-1) (SAW-WOOD . PLACE-1-1) (MAKE-IRON . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-RAIL .IRON-1) (BUILD-HOUSE . WOOD-1) (BUILD-TRAIN . IRON-1) (MOVE-TRAIN . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-SHIP . VEHICLE-1) (MOVE-SHIP . VEHICLE-1)))

-- 2- Proved (PLAN-IS-CORRECT ?PL551679) in ((?PL551679 (LOAD . VEHICLE-1) (UNLOAD . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-CABIN . WOOD-1) (BUILD-QUARRY . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-COAL-STACK . COAL-1) (BUILD-SAWMILL . TIMBER-1) (BUILD-MINE . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-IRONWORKS . STONE-1) (BUILD-DOCKS . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-WHARF . PLACE-1-1) (FELL-TIMBER . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-CART . PLACE-1-1) (MOVE-CART .VEHICLE-1) (BREAK-STONE . PLACE-1-1) (MINE-ORE . PLACE-1-1) (BURN-COAL . PLACE-1-1) (SAW-WOOD . PLACE-1-1) (MAKE-IRON . PLACE-1-1) (BUILD-RAIL .IRON-1) (BUILD-HOUSE . WOOD-1) (BUILD-TRAIN . IRON-1) (MOVE-TRAIN . VEHICLE-1) (BUILD-SHIP . VEHICLE-1) (MOVE-SHIP . VEHICLE-1)))
---------------

Sorry for this ugly blog.....

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Aston Villa Vs Liverpool Photos

2005-11-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

Back again to show you lot with the photos taken during Aston Villa Vs Liverpool footie match....

Enjoy

Cheers
Dnyanesh

I love Paris!!!!

2005-11-09T02:43:00.000-08:00

I love Paris in the springtime
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles

- Cole Porter
--------------------------

The violence in Paris, France has taken another serious and rather distressing turn. In order to stop the violence the French government has approved the emergency power. Well! in the state of emergency police are entitled to carry out house searches and ban public meetings.

The last time when a state of emergency was declared was during France's war in Algeria in 1955.

-------------------------------------
Some of the remarks made by the youths involved in riots:

"Because we hate, because we're mad, because we've had it up to here," said Rachid, parka hood up against the cold. "Look around you. This place is shit, it's a dump. We have nothing here. There's nothing for us."

"They harass you, they hassle you, they insult you the whole time, ID checks now, scooter checks next. They call you nigger names," said Karim, 17. "I got caught the other week smoking on the train. OK, you shouldn't smoke on the train. But we get to Aulnay station, there are six cops waiting for us, three cars. They did the whole body search, they had me with my hands on the roof of the car. One said: 'Go back home, Arab. Screw your race'."

Ali's friend was an Arsenal fan: "Thierry Henry, man! But he never scores for France." Does he feel French? "We hate France and France hates us," he spat, refusing to give even his first name. "I don't know what I am. Here's not home; my gran's in Algeria. But in any case France is just fucking with us. We're like mad dogs, you know? We bite everything we see. Go back to Paris, man."

One roiter told The Gurdian newspaper:

"Les keufs, man, the cops. They're Sarkozy's and Sarkozy must go, he has to shut his mouth, say sorry or just f**k off. He shows no respect. He calls us animals, he says he'll clean the cités with a power hose. He's made it worse, man. Every car that goes up, that's one more message for him."
--------------------------------------

Why such a deep rooted hatred?

Most analysts feel it is because France as a country has failed to integrate the very ideals it gave to the world -- Liberty, Equality and Fraternity -- into its own social fabric.

France went through what French call 'les trentes glorieuses' (the 30 golden years) after the second world war. This time period brouhgt economic boom, and scores of workers were recruited from North Africa -- especially former French colonies like Algeria -- for menial jobs. They fed the engines of the First World country, but themselves lived in Third World conditions -- in slums, in ghettos.

The second generation of these North Africans, mostly Muslims, now are a significant part of the French population, but their condition has remained the same. They have no jobs, no future, no feeling of being one with the majority of a country that goes on mass vacation every summer. These beurs -- French slang for Arabs, which encompasses French Africans -- are the usual suspects for every crime. They are the dope peddlers, they are the pimps, they are the ones rounded up all the time.

France has no State affirmative action like India or the United States do. In other words, there is no reservation for ethnic minorities. And the on-paper 'everyone is equally French' philosophy of integration has not worked in practice. Mainstream France remains deeply distrusting of the other France -- of the migrants, who face racial discrimination in every walk of life. And the migrants are now hitting back the only way they can -- with blind, mindless anger.

----------------

Cheers
Dnyanesh

The Story of Life

2005-11-08T05:42:00.001-08:00

The Story of life!!!

The story of birth!!!
Listening to the coming transformation
Journey begins with the first cry …

The story of a child!!!
With a lost fatherhood
Expecting to achieve unattainable…

The story of search!!!
In a journey through the desert
Searching for oasis…

The story of remembrance!!!
Of everlasting hope, trust, and transparency
Precious memories transforming into ashes…

The story of hope!!!
As pearls pouring through the eyes
Distant hope lingers on horizon…

The story of civilisation!!!
Distant faces with lost emotions
Feelings strayed over dark clouds…

The story of emptiness!!!
Memories baptising the death
Towards the fire of eternal void…

The story of nature!!!
A beautiful dawn with the freshness of dews
Birds filling the emptiness of blue velvet…

The story of ageing!!!
As a silver hat with wrinkled cover
Last minute burns through the fire…

The story of eternity!!!
In search of eternal abode
Passing through the illusion of life…

The story of consolation!!!
Resting in the lap of beginning
Tender touch for the seven lives…

The story of life!!!
Meadows holding the grazing sheep
Waiting for the final resurrection…

Dnyanesh Rajpathak

Realization

2005-11-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

Realization!!!

One precious smile!!!
Stealing my wakes and sleep
Now few memories are stayed behind…

Two lonely stars!!!
Enlightened thousand lives
Disparity conquers meanings…

On a distant horizon!!!
Unknown silhouette illuminated in moonlight
Yesterday my shadow left me in the midst of thoughts…

One moment I was this!!!
And the next that
Just ashes and dust are left behind…

I woke up!!!
Simply to realize
Carrying the corpse of life…

On the verge of silence!!!
Words lost their meaning
One endless realization began…

In the quest of imaginary!!!
Reality lost its way
Journey finished at the first step…

Simply your presence!!!
Gives meaning to existence
Breath beholds optimality…

That lonely dream!!!
Still stare at me
Seeing shadows melting in the mist…

Some unanswered whys?!!!
Find their way
In the maze of blinks…
When the cause lies within!!!
Whom should I blame?
Now pleading time for excuses…

On the mountain top!!!
One moment left behind
Merrily smiling in silence…

So many questions sheltered in mind!!!
So many memories still around
How can I persuade myself? …

Unfinished tale search for conclusion!!!
Hope succumbs in the ruins of heart
Eyes are deceived by the tears…

Dnyanesh Rajpathak

Introspection!!!

2005-11-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

In a moment of silence!!!
Heart speaks thousand words
Making way to unspoken feelings…

Sometimes in that lonely corner!!!
Me and my memories
Play hide and seek with each other…

Who am I?!!!
Wearing thousand faces with borrowed emotions
Reality inflames the dark corner…

Devotion is my solitude!!!
And by carrying the burden of tears
Long and lonely path take its course…

I bow in front of you!!!
To cherish the bonds of affection
Mesmerises my soul…

Blue!!!
Bliss and grief woven together
As if circumscribing the beginning and an end…

Don’t be ashamed if you fail!!!
Or you cry
You are just a human-being…

Destiny betrays hope!!!
Love betrays emotions
Life is as far as death…

Open any heart!!!
Some lonely words with unspoken emotions
Dream that is left behind…

Carrying your grief!!!
Eyes search for myriad dreams
From where do I hear these footsteps…?
Time never stops!!!
Not for anyone, anywhere…just like a human-being
Left me wondering which relations are left behind…

Sometime it’s better to smile!!!
False hope to keep one soul burning
Unfathomable darkness haunts a flame…

It reduces my life!!!
I gather my breaths
Still holding that left over loneliness…

That morning beneath the sky!!!
Nature revealed one unspoken reality
Heart bleeds in adoration…

Life!!!
One untouched path of cruelty
I see in your eyes that everlasting tenderness…

In upright posture with eyes closed!!!
A prince of infinite kingdom
Holds the ultimate truth…

In a moment of absolution!!!
I tried to form a seriatim with amity
But my solitude asks some more time…

Dnyanesh Rajpathak.

‘When the day comes for our return, I will hand over to the local Tibetan government—an elected government’!!!

2005-11-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

Just read a second part of the interview with Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader, which reflects his viewpoints on various subject matters such as Tibet issues, America's invasion to Iraq, Generic Humanity crises etc.

To read both the parts of his interview have a look at the following URL:

http://indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81541

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Pure Genius....Pure Guinness

2005-11-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

One of the best adverts around for Guinness lovers!!!

"Mind the responsible drinking please"...

http://www.guinness.com/gb_en/ads/current/evolution/evolution_TVadvert/

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Cultures meeting at the crossroad!!!

2005-11-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

It rather distressing to see the poverty and crime-ridden estates around the French capital, Paris, have erupted in violence - with cars, schools and business premises being torched, mostly by young men and boys as young as 12.

It makes us realise that any society which is in despair due to the poverty and the crime related issues that take birth due to the poverty related issues, whether its so-called developing world, middle-east world, or the s0-called developed world such as Paris can take an unfortunate route of crime.

Moreover, the dynamic nature of today's society which is ready immigrate from one side of the globe to another in the hope of finding better stantard of living and/or jobs when not dealt with properly could easily give rise to cross-cultural and social crimes.

This could happen primarily due to the following two reasons - 1) when a newly emerging culture either faces a similar problem as their original home envirionment and fails to finid a job in their new environment leads to a frustration and 2) when newly immigrating culture is not accepted by the existing society due to various reasons such as race, religion, beliefs, etc.

Both the sides of the coin hold equal stake for resolving the situation and get the benefits of fluid immigration that is taking place and which made many a nations across globe a fininacial, technological, and not to forget a cultural superpower!!!!

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Beckett is in Wisden!

2005-11-07T02:40:00.000-08:00

Samuel Beckett special!!!!

In 1919, Beckett went to Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (Oscar Wilde's old school). A natural athlete, he excelled at cricket as a left hand batsman and left arm medium pace bowler. Later on, he was to play for Dublin University and played two first-class games against Northamptonshire. As a result, he became the only Nobel laureate to have an entry in Wisden, the cricket bible.

http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=29

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Aston Villa Nil Liverpool 2!!!!

2005-11-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

Despite creating tons of chances throughout the match Aston Villa managed to loose the game against Liverpool by 0-2.

Aston Villa deserved to be the winner in their home game against Liverpool in which they have created so many chances but couldnt finish with a goal....I guess Baros (10) need to do some rethink here about the way he would like to finish the goal and see his team taking lead.

In comparion to Aston Villa's heroic performance Liverpool hardly played to their reputation, but penaulty given by refree seen them taking a lead of 1-0 in last 17 mins. and then the second goal came only few minutes afterwards to seal the game. Well! I guess thats what happens when you score one goal, you need more goals....

Anyway, still feeling sorry for Aston Villa for their performance....

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Site of the week: World-Wide Earthquake Locator

2005-11-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

http://tsunami.geo.ed.ac.uk/local-bin/quakes/mapscript/home.pl

the above ULR came into existence in 1995 whose father is Bruce Gittings of the Department of Geography at the University of Edinburgh, the World-Wide Earthquake Locator generates dynamic, customized maps of earthquake activity within 24 hours of its occurence. Users can use pan and zoom controls to explore the resulting maps or view animations of the past month's earthquakes.
Gittings originally created the site to illustrate the potential of a real-time distributed geographical information system (GIS) to map dynamic phenomena. It accepts requests from users worldwide and fashions its maps using data from the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado.
In recent years Gittings has added an earthquake predictor (though he stresses that making accurate predictions is nearly impossible, and that results should be taken with a grain of salt) and a historical catalogue, in which users can also submit advanced queries about quakes as far back as 1973, with results downloadable as text files or as GIS-compatible shapefiles.
Though the locator displays only major earthquakes (magnitude 4 and above), it displays a surprisingly large amount of activity worldwide. It's a useful and timely service, for geoscientists and for those monitoring recent (and possible future) seismic activity.

Fascinating stuff...

Cheers
Dnyanesh

The Kolam Diagrams attracting attention of computer scientist

2005-11-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

The women of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India traditionally cover their thresholds every morning with elaborate designs drawn with rice powder. Girls learn the ritual from their mothers and other female relatives, and kolam skills are considered a mark of grace, dexterity, discipline and concentration. Drawing the kolam figures is an important part of the Tamil Nadu culture and landscape. But with their orderly and often highly symmetrical designs, which frequently group into families, kolams are also expressive of mathematical ideas. In the last few decades, kolam figures have attracted the attention of computer scientists interested in describing images with picture languages. Different picture languages have been developed to describe different kolam families.

Thrilling....

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Live football, Aston Villa Vs Liverpool!!!

2005-11-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow for the second time in this year I am going to watch a live football match between Aston Villa and Liverppol at Aston Villa's home ground in Birmingham.

Based on my previous experience of watching a football matches live, I can bet that its going to be a great fun watching it live, and at the same time enjoy the electrifying atmosphere of football loving funs of both clubs.

Will let you know about the experience of the match on sunday!!!! With photographs of course!!

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Politicians acting sensibly for a change

2005-11-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

It is rather nice to hear that Pakistan president decided to postpone the long due purchase of F-16s on the face of earthquake which costed the life of 73000 people.

Its a sensible gesture on behalf of Pakistan president to focus on a dauting task of raising funds of $5bn to provide basic facilities to earthquake affected victims instead of pumping more money in subcontient weapon tussel between Pakistan and India recently in the form of purchasing 25 F-16s fighting aircarfs at a price of $25m each.

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Its not only a number 73,000!!!!

2005-11-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

Death toll in earthquake devasted area in Pakistan and kashmir rises to staggering number of 73,000!

My all condolenses to those who have lost their near and dears!!!

Its rather frustrating to even start imagining that these are not just numbers but human lives which are lost.

....Dnyanesh

Some of the stunning images of Mt. Kailash!!!

2005-11-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Well there is more to life than LISP and Planning...

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Well deserved series victory for Boys in Blue against Islanders

2005-11-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Hurrrray! India won the seven one day series against Sri Lanka after wining the Cricket Match in Pune.

A new age starts for Indian Cricket from here!!! Or at least thats what we would like to think as Indian Cricket Team fans. But then you never know cause producing absolutely unpredictable performances is a trademark of Indian Cricket.

But as if now definitely a new vitalised Indian Team looks rather refreshinh under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid and coah Greg Chapell.

Well deserved series victory for Boys in Blue!!!!

Cheers
Dnyanesh

Moved to a new office

2005-11-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

After living on my table in KMi open area for last five years, a day before yesterday I moved to the new office. Well! this new space is nice, and can keep in touch with rest of the world through window (my desk is close to the window :-)

Cheers
Dnyanesh