Monezza a chi?

An article in the New York Times about the matter and anti-matter in Napoli - culture and the rubbish crisis.

A little bit of help from a Friend...

Scientific American gives an interesting take on the 2008 Nobel prize for Physics, awarded to the Japanese trio of Nambu,Kobayashi and Maskawa. Their work on matter and anti-matter shows that both are antagonistic and cancel out each other. But the universe has a wee bit more matter than anti-matter and that asymmetry is the reason we all exist! Did the Universe as a whole start on a credit line?!!!

First Indian female saint canonized by the Vatican

'Sister Alphonsa of Immaculate Conception ' from Kerala was canonized today in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. For her biography, read here and here to learn more about how a person is canonized.

Deal done and dusted

Amidst the credit crunch that dominates all headlines, India and the US have inked the nuclear deal. Till 2 months ago, it was the lead story on all conveyor belt news channels and encompassed among other things an acrimonious break up of the ruling political alliance and a tainted confidence vote in Parliament. Now, it is just another bit of 'also in the news' - a mushroom cloud transformed into a puff of dust!

Greetings to all

Best wishes to all on the occasion of Vijay Dashami (Dusshera) and Bijoya.

At last, climate change has a Cabinet post!

A year after the United Nations Climate Panel was awarded the Nobel peace prize,the British government became the first one to appoint a full time minister for climate change. According to the environmental group, Green Alliance,

'Hallelujah. A department of energy and climate change.'

In other words, a recognition that it is a global phenomenon that could have very serious repercussions (that could last longer than the current financial crisis). On the other hand, the world's biggest carbon emitter, USA, has two sketchy plans(1,2) both still in the Presidential campaign stage.

A Nobel for the fight against AIDS

Probably no disease in recent history has been covered in the news as widely as AIDS ever since the first reports in the early 80s. The alacrity with which scientists responded and pinpointed the offending virus as HIV in 1981 was rewarded by the Nobel foundation today. The French duo of Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were the first to do so in Paris. They share the prize with Professor zur Hausen, of the University of Duesseldorf, who dared to challenge prevailing conventional wisdom and proved that that a papilloma virus infection caused cervical cancer. Both these discoveries led to the development of effective vaccines and medicines within 25 years, a pace without precedent in human history.

A eulogy for the Fab Five

Many believe that the upcoming India-Australia Test series is the last occasion to watch the Fab Five in the same team. This column by Rohit Brijnath on Cricinfo is perhaps the most elegant piece on the subject so far and deserves a full read.
'We met the Great One in 1989, when he introduced himself to us with high notes hit by bat and vocal chord. Then the rest came. In 1990, The Precise One, a scholarly warrior who unveiled his spinning craft with devotion; in 1992, The Defiant One, a steely, stylish man of amusing, aristocratic belligerence; in 1996, The Intense One, cricket's student who batted like a monk upholding a vow of discipline; and finally The Elegant One, who was a Japanese haiku master in a previous life.'

'I am less enamoured of world cricket these days. It is a noisy game, full of boastful official chatter, where manners on the field have become disposable, and Twenty20 threatens to derail everything else. The best love affairs, anyway, come in our youth, and these men I grew up with. Always I watched them. Now especially, even though occasionally it is painful to see them lurch and stagger, feet mixed up and bat late. But I have to watch. Because they're Great, Precise, Defiant, Intense, Elegant. Because soon enough, a few months, a year, whether they walk away or must be pushed, there will be an Indian team without the names Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble. Imagine that? I'd rather not. '

Durga Puja in Rome 2

Id Mubarak

The place to be in these couple days would have to be Hyderabad - near the Charminar. Excellent kababs and all night रौनक with shops open throughout.

139 not out

One does not have to agree completely with the views and ideals of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. But one has to acknowledge his leadership and courage of conviction- qualities which stand out for any era and any generation.

Durga Puja in Rome

Land of stark contrasts

India and France signed a nuclear commerce agreement yesterday. Another step forward in international diplomacy. Sadly, while India's control over its nuclear programme is acknowledged, it is also recognized that Indians have no idea of crowd control. How else can anyone explain yet another temple stampede,this time in Jodhpur, right at the start of the festival season, the fourth major one this year to claim more than a 100 victims? Hundreds of small and big holy places are visited by millions of people everyday and yet there are no coherent public laws on crowd management. The next step up in the comity of nations will only come if such basic issues as public safety are addressed.

Festival season

Sharad Navratri has begun, so has Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year, Ramzan is ending and it will be Id-ul-Fitr in a couple of days - it is that time of the year when tradition, family and delicious food occupy prime space. We will keep you up to date with events/celebrations in the days to come.

A huge prime (no sub)!

For numbers enthusiasts, a big piece of news. The frontiers of prime number research have been pushed back even further. A new 13-million digit prime number has been found by researchers at University of California,Los Angeles. Apart from the sheer pleasure of the discovery, they are also in line for a $100,000 prize.

TIPping point

Economists invariably use that phrase when describing a period, such as last two weeks in the financial sector, that causes decisive far-reaching changes. Could a similar similar situation be developing in science and technology? A report by the NGO, The Innovation Partnership (TIP)suggests that the patent system needs drastic overhaul. They argue that endless circles of patent protection have stifled innovation, sharing and co-operation. It has achieved the reverse of what it set out to do, namely, create novel products and services by assuring investors that strong intellectual property defences would protect thier investments. Instead, it has created isolated fortresses of patents that cannot be linked to develop new products such as cancer treatments.

Friend,guest,guide,invader

10 years ago, Google was founded in a garage in California. Today, it is most unlikely that you would browse the Web and not use a Google product or service on every visit. The rise of the company has been extraordinary - tomes of literature are available on this subject - and like all great businesses, it is based on the simplest of thoughts. The thirst for knowledge, the desire for information and the quickest way to find it drives every individual on the planet. What started as a simple Websearch tool has become a gargantuan network that many complain invades personal (and confidential) space. Perhaps it does. But think back and imagine if outstanding engineers like Visvesarayya or architects like Corbusier and Lutyens had Google maps at their disposal - the mind goggles!

The birds

Any casual observer in Rome would not have failed to notice the bird clouds at dusk especially over Termini. The short explanation for these formations is staying together to guard against predators. The real advantage these formations confer (given the steep drop in predator populations in our cities) is achieving cohesion when moving together. Have you ever been in a rally or a march where the crowd straggles and fails to keep together? That does not happen with the birds and they are in mid-air. For a layman's gist read here and you can find the full scientific article by researchers from CNR,Rome here.

If you want to know why predator numbers are down, this is the link to the 'State of the World's Birds Report' by BirdLife International. Sobering.

The end of ‘leave it to the markets’...

...in the words of a financial expert. I had blogged earlier about the return of समाजवाद – that is, the intervention of an avowedly pro-free market government when the situation requires. That was before the collapse of Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. Since then the near total bailout of Wall Street institutions by the US government has only confirmed that thought. Thomas Friedman says it succintly in his NY Times column :

In sum, government’s job is to police that fine line between the necessary risk-taking that drives an innovation economy and crazy gambling with other people’s savings in ways that threaten us all.

The autumnal equinox

'An equinox in astronomy is the moment in time (not a whole day) when the centre of the sun can be observed to be directly above the Equator' according to the Wikipedia entry on this subject. Like with all celestial events, for mankind, the autumnal equinox tomorrow is associated with a range of festivals and fables. For geeks, it may cause temporary disruptions of your Internet conections!

Ecological Sunday in Chennai

Residents of Rome are familiar with the total pedestrianization of the centro especially in spring and summer. Now comes this initiative from the citizens of Chennai (Madras to those who still can't get over the name change) to reclaim space for the pedestrians of the city. The exponential growth in personal vehicles has made walking 'a hazardous activity' in many cities. Crossing the road anywhere, even at a zebra crossing, is risky. A bold step forward by the organizers of this event to focus attention on traffic and pollution.

Two contrasting timelines

On one hand, the credit crisis built up into a tsunami and swamped the big names in banking and investment. Billions of dollars have been lost, moved or injected as a result (all the figures here). Moves are afoot by the hour across the globe, to prop up the financial system.
In contrast, the saga of Alitalia continues as the latest buy out offer is withdrawn. The timeline started nearly two years ago and as yet there is no firm conclusion in sight. Evidence enough that even in a globalized integrated economy, similar events can still run at a different pace.

उधार की जिन्दगी!

झूठा झूठा मीठे बचन कहि रिन उधार लै
जाय लेत परम सुख ऊपजै लै
के दियो न जाय लै
के दियो न जाय ऊंच अरू नीच बतावै
रिन उधार की रीति माँगते मारन धावै
कह गिरधर कविराय रहै वो मन में रूठा
बहुत दिना होइ जायँ कहै तेरो कागद झूठा
—–गिरधर
The collapse of the US housing market introduced brought the word 'sub-prime' to the frontpage of every newspaper and website. The tumultous events of the last few days have affected thousands of people and have injected some more terminology in the public domain such as 'investment bank' and 'derivatives'. For a short glossary, read here . For details on the heart of the current crisis -living beyond one's means - an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. It is curiously similar to the words of Kavi Girdhar.

Lighten up -with odd book titles!

Humor may just be what is required in these gloomy market times. Earlier this year, Sir Salman Rushdie was awarded the Booker of Bookers for 'Midnight's Children'. This month, the Diagram of Diagrams, for the oddest book title in 30 years was announced and the winner is...

"....Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, Derek Willan's comprehensive record of a sector of Greece's postal routes, has been crowned the oddest book title of the past 30 years. Gary Leon Hill's People Who Don't Know They're Dead finished second and John Trimmer's guide to avoiding maritime mishaps, How to Avoid Huge Ships finished third.The vote to discover the oddest title of the past 30 years was run in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. The prize was first conceived by The Diagram Group's Bruce Robertson as a way of avoiding boredom at the Frankfurt Book Fair."

For a complete list of annual prizewinning titles and how to get your hands on them, go here. If you have read any of them, please share your review!

Do we need a comma here, somewhere?

The Singur impasse, believe it or not, is stuck on the interpretation of the following sentence in the agreement between Mamtadi and the West Bengal government.

"....land to be provided to the maximum within the project area and the rest in adjacent areas as early as possible".

Mamtadi believes that it means that the "maximum amount" (400 acres by her demand) will be returned to the farmers. The government says it means "'maximum extent possible" and the exact area is yet to be defined. Read more about it here.
Can those who draft multilateral agreements help?