from solitaryway.blogspot.com
Ref : http://solitaryway.blogspot.com/2009/05/tim-harford.html
Tim Harford
They gave their rats the choice of two drinks, each of which had its own lever. One was root beer, a longtime favourite with your average lab rat. The second was water flavoured with quinine—tonic water, in other words. Rats don't like its bitter taste, but the researchers had made the servings of quinine solution much more generous than the servings of root beer.
Think yourself into the rat's position for a moment. You're thirsty. The root beer is delicious but it's expensive, so you compromise, slaking your thirst on the nasty quinine solution but also enjoying some root beer. You don't press the lever at random.
Now, what happens when the price of quinine goes up a little—that is, when the servings become less generous? To an experimental psychologist, the answer is simple. You're getting less for your money from the quinine lever so you should press it less frequently. That seems sensible. But it happens to be irrational, as an economist could attest and a rat instinctively grasps. As a smart rat, you drink more quinine when it gets more expensive, as long as the servings are still larger than those of the root beer. That's because you're responding to your budget as well as the price. The total consumption of liquid—root beer plus quinine water—is what's keeping you alive. Quinine water is still cheaper than root beer, and because the experimenters have made you poorer by raising the price of quinine, you are obliged to drink less of the expensive root beer and slake your thirst by consuming even more of the nasty quinine water, which remains relatively cheap.
Battalio, Kagel and Kogut showed, quite convincingly, that this is exactly what rats do. By consuming more quinine when the price of quinine rose, the rats had solved a conundrum that went back to 1895—do 'Giffen goods' exist? A Giffen good is a good like the quinine water, one that is such a wretched necessity for the poor that when the price rises, demand rises too, because the price rise creates more poverty and the poverty creates more demand. As an impoverished economics student, I imagined my staple diet of baked potatoes might be Giffen goods: if the price of potatoes rose, I would not be able to afford the cheese or tuna fillings and would buy larger potatoes instead. Over the years, economists had suggested, but never proved, that foods ranging from potatoes during the Irish famine to noodles in rural China are Giffen goods. Battalio, Kagel, Kogut and the rats provided the first incontrovertible example: quinine water.
Yet the real significance of Kagel and Battalio's experiments was not to settle obscure Giffen goods wagers in economics departments across the world. It was to establish that the rats showed surprising intelligence and responded to their full range of options, including the way that their present choices would restrict their future choices. Given the chance, even rats can be rational.
This isn't really about the rats, of course. It is about the way that rational decisions can be made without conscious calculation. I've already drawn an analogy between rational decision-making and the fiendishly difficult differential equations that describe the trajectory of a ball in flight; ask a typical cricketer to solve them with pen and paper and he's not likely to do much better than your average rat. Yet give him a glimpse of a flying ball and he will turn, sprint and then twist round in just the right spot to make the catch; some part of him was solving the differential equations after all.
Show of solidarity for rights of sexual minorities in Chennai
from www.hindu.com
Ref : http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/29/stories/2009062957340100.htm
Sruthi Krishnan
— Photo : M. Vedhan
Participants at the first Chennai Rainbow Pride March held in Chennai on Sunday.
Ref : http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/29/stories/2009062957340100.htm
Sruthi Krishnan
| It is both a celebration and a political statement, says a participant |
Participants at the first Chennai Rainbow Pride March held in Chennai on Sunday.
CHENNAI: "I never thought this would happen in my lifetime in Chennai…," D. Chandrasekaran, an IT professional, said laughingly. All around him hundreds marched on the Marina on Sunday evening, united by the belief that 'Hues may vary but humanity does not.'
The first Chennai Rainbow Pride March was a celebration and a political statement to proclaim the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. "We should not be afraid to come out and say we are gay," said a participant who had come from Chidambaram, wearing a mask.
"People need to understand about us. We are not animals or primitive creatures," he said.
Another participant from Kanyakumari, also wearing a mask, said that he hoped that such parades would also highlight the need for legal reforms. "If Section 377 is read down, we can stay legally with our partners," he said.
"This march is more political, less like a party," said Ailish, who had come to India for a visit from Ireland, comparing it with other pride marches she had been to.
"It is both – a celebration and a political statement," said Sunil Menon, founder of Sahodaran, a non-governmental organisation.
Many expressed hope that societal sensitivity would bring some succour to their daily lives. "We want a proper place to stay and employment opportunities. It can happen only if society gives us sanction," said Shankari, talking about the issues of the transgender community.
There were many who were in the march to show solidarity for the rights of sexual minorities.
"This march is not just for sexual minorities, but for anybody who feels strongly about civil or democratic rights," said Sharanya Manivannan, a poet.
But there were some who did not share that sentiment; a few onlookers jeered at the parade.
"When I tell that I am gay, some say 'so what'… that's the way it should be," said Srivath, who paused to talk. "I don't blame the older generation," he said, adding that they came from a time when men were not allowed into the kitchen. It was the present and future generations that held hope, he said.
'Consciously confused'And the younger generation was there in full force to support the cause. "The student community is very aware," said 20-year-old P.C. Samyuktha.
"We are 'consciously confused'," she said, describing the struggle to define identities. Perhaps, the answer was not in black and white definitions, but in the diffusing shades of a rainbow.
The Evil that Men Do
from Quirky Quibbly Quibbling , written by RCB
Ref : http://www.redcarrotjalabee.com/2009/06/evil-that-men-do.html
"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
Ref : http://www.redcarrotjalabee.com/2009/06/evil-that-men-do.html
"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
-Antony's speech in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Strange, but I think that may be one occasion where Shakespeare may have been guilty of a generalization. I think that is true for kings and dictators, but hardly so for martyrs, artists and writers. In fact, it seems that quite the opposite is true for these people.
When you think about it you'd realise that we'd much rather sing eulogies to dead famous authors than famous authors still alive. So also for artists, and by that I mean entertainers of any kind.
Many of my friends would rather be caught dead than listening to pop. Imagine what it'd do to their rebel image - the tattooed - where - the - sun - doesn't - shine - body - pierced - kinda brand cool or the gun - toting - gansta - rapper kinda brand cool, all carefully imported in Chinese made retail packages with American designer labels complete with sticky tag-lines.
Strange it seems then that Micheal Jackson has posthumously won everybody's respect (even my friends), the deprivation of which drove him to death. For some reason, all the purported evil he was charged with now seem irrelevant to all of us (including myself) who once railed at this alleged child molester.
If this is the evil that he left behind, you should admit it sounds amazing.
When you think about it you'd realise that we'd much rather sing eulogies to dead famous authors than famous authors still alive. So also for artists, and by that I mean entertainers of any kind.
Many of my friends would rather be caught dead than listening to pop. Imagine what it'd do to their rebel image - the tattooed - where - the - sun - doesn't - shine - body - pierced - kinda brand cool or the gun - toting - gansta - rapper kinda brand cool, all carefully imported in Chinese made retail packages with American designer labels complete with sticky tag-lines.
Strange it seems then that Micheal Jackson has posthumously won everybody's respect (even my friends), the deprivation of which drove him to death. For some reason, all the purported evil he was charged with now seem irrelevant to all of us (including myself) who once railed at this alleged child molester.
If this is the evil that he left behind, you should admit it sounds amazing.
10 Useful Firefox Add-ons for Almost Everybody
from webworkerdaily.com
Ref : http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/06/26/10-useful-firefox-add-ons-for-almost-everybody
Ref : http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/06/26/10-useful-firefox-add-ons-for-almost-everybody
Adblock Plus — No. More. Popup. Ads. Or auto-playing videos. You might also want to download a Filter Subscription. You can still create your own filters to block ads on specific sites.
Better Gmail 2. Two great feature additions for Gmail. Folders4Gmail lets you have labels in folder-like sub-folders. Attachment icons replace the useless paperclips with the icons of the app that the attachment uses. If it's a Word document, it'll show Word's blue W icon. Better Gmail 2 has other good features, too.
Download Statusbar. Get rid of the download pop up box. Instead, downloads appear across the bottom of Firefox where they don't intrude. When you're ready to open one, just double-click the relevant filename in the status bar.
Firefox Environment Backup Extension (FEBE). Any kind of backup tool for an application is worth it because it restores data with little effort. This one backs up your add-ons and rebuilds them.
Long URL Please. Twitter increased the use of URL-shortening services. But some of us like to know where we're going before we click. This add-on automatically expands shortened URLs. Even if you can't see the full URL, you can mouse over the link to see the full link tooltip-style.
Print/Print Preview. Adds a print icon to the tool bar with a down arrow giving you the choices of Print, Print Preview or Page Setup. I limit printing to stay green. This add-on helps because it ensures I print only what I need and nothing more.
Read it Later. I've always saved articles to read later by opening them in a tab and keeping it there until I read it. No, it didn't lead to having a bunch of open tabs. Because I don't like many tabs, it compels me to read them soon so I can get rid of them. Read it Later took over the job. The add-on puts a checkmark in your browser. Click the checkmark to add the page to Read it Later, click it again to remove.
Web Developer. I'm not a web designer, but this toolbar has helped me out many times. You can disable Java, Javascript and colors, manage cookies, change up styles with CSS, adjust form options and much more.
Word Count Plus. Anyone who writes web content where word counts matter needs this. Simple tool where you highlight the text, click the icon and see the word count. Now it just needs an added feature to count characters for Twittering outside the box.
Xmarks. A bookmarks synchronizer that works between computers and across networks. I first used it back when it was Foxmarks, but encountered issues. Those issues are now gone, and the add-on comes with more features. It can synchronize passwords, give you information about a web page and create separate profiles. You can have a profile for each computer so you can pick and choose which bookmarks to display at each location.
Lalgarh: Liberated or ruled by fear?
from www.thehindu.com
Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/26/stories/2009062655901000.htm
Praveen Swami
Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/26/stories/2009062655901000.htm
Praveen Swami
| Is the violence in West Medinipur district really an adivasi uprising? |
Land reform has given adivasis a high level of freedom and security
Poll results in the area showed no resentment against CPI(M)
LALGARH: Early this month, as police marched into the forests around Lalgarh, the adivasi residents of Salboni were told, by Maoists, to start building barricades.
Insurgents armed with rifles and side-arms watched over the villagers as they felled trees and dug trenches. Not surprisingly, no one disputed their orders.
But on Monday, Bongaram Lohar summoned courage to speak up on behalf of the dozens of local residents who had been press-ganged into the building work. For his defiance, Mr. Lohar was brutally beaten up and forced to flee the village.
Most commentary has cast the violence in Lalgarh as an expression of primal adivasi rage: rage against being denied development and justice. One critic even claimed the Lalgarh region had, for the past three decades, been "untouched by development."
But Mr. Lohar's story — and a mass of empirical evidence — give reason to doubt this telling of the story.
Back in 1977, after the first Left Front government took power in West Bengal, entire villages were freed from the control of jotdars, or landlords, by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers.
Data from West Bengal's Department of Land and Land reforms shows that till 2002-03, land measuring 16,280 hectares was redistributed to peasants in the blocks of Jhargram, Binpur and Salboni — the areas now under Maoist assault. "In the Jhargram block village where I conduct research", says Aparajita Bakshi, Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, "75 per cent of all households are land reform beneficiaries. Of Scheduled Tribe households, no less than 70 per cent gained agricultural land and 90 per cent gained homestead land as a result of land reform."
Income poverty and deprivation continue to exist throughout the region — but land reform has given adivasis a level of freedom and security their counterparts in the rest of India do not enjoy.
Marketed as the liberation of Lalgarh, Maoist rule, in fact, made the life of most adivasis worse. Income from forest produce, on which most local residents are dependent, dried up. Government programmes intended to mitigate hardship collapsed altogether.
"In November," says Bhumidhansola resident Manek Singh, "the Maoists forbade us to enter the forests to cut wood. The Forest Department used to pay us Rs.70 a day for this work. Now, no one even enters this area to purchase the leaf-plates we make. We have been left with nothing."
Extortion and attacksFaced with extortion and attacks by Maoists, government staff also fled the area. Lalgarh residents told The Hindu that the Integrated Child Development Scheme workers were ordered to pay Rs.1,000 each month; school teachers and staff at the Block Development Office said they were compelled to part with twice as much to local Maoists.
Following the assassination of government doctor Honiran Murmu and staff nurse Bharati Majhi in October, the Lalgarh area has had almost no access to health care.
Politics and powerElection data debunks the idea that there is a popular rebellion against the CPI(M) under way in Lalgarh.
In the 2006 elections to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the CPI(M) had won six of the seven Assembly seats which together make up the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat: Garhbeta East, Garhbeta West (SC), Salbani, Nayagram (ST), Gopiballavpur and Jhargram. The CPI(M) has held the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat, of which Lalgarh is a part, ever since 1977.
Last year, the West Bengal Police carried out raids across the Lalgarh area, following a November 2 attempt to assassinate Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Fighting between police and Maoist supporters broke out during the raids; several people were injured.
Backed by the Maoists, Trinamool Congress leader Chhatradar Mahato — the brother of the principal accused in the November 2 bombing — set up the Police Santras Birodhi Janaganer Committee (PSBJC), or People's Committee Against Police Atrocities.
The PSBJC activists blocked roads, shut off police access to the area, and attacked CPI(M) workers. Prior to this year's Lok Sabha elections, the Maoists even initiated protests insisting that the police not enter the villages of Boro Pelia, Chhoto Pelia, Dalilpur Chowk and Khas Jungle — all areas where they had a substantial armed presence.
Had the PSBJC represented widespread resentment against the CPI(M), it ought to have showed up in this year's Lok Sabha elections. But Jhargram constituency swam against the anti-CPI(M) tide. The CPI(M) candidate, Pulin Bihar Baske, polled 5,45,231 votes, giving him a respectable lead over the 2,52,886 claimed by the Congress' Amrit Hansda. Mr. Baske even won in the Binpur Assembly segment, of which Lalgarh is a part.
Rule of fearHow, then, have the Maoists gained so much influence in Lalgarh? Jharkhand Party candidate Chunibala Hansda had this simple answer for one journalist reporting on the Lok Sabha elections: "People are scared of them".
Last year, even as the PSBJC was mobilising people against the West Bengal government, the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa — an organisation of traditional adivasi community leaders, which is opposed to the CPI(M) — organised a rally to protest Maoist violence. More than 10,000 adivasis gathered in Bhulabheda area of Belpahari on December 9.
Sudhir Mandal, the adivasi leader who organised the rally, was shot dead less than 48 hours later.
06/24/09 PHD comic: 'Film Crew, pt. 5'
from PHD Comics
Ref : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1190
Ref : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1190
| Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham | www.phdcomics.com | |
 | ||
| title: "Film Crew, pt. 5" - originally published 6/24/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! | ||
Little man - The way girls are (NSFW)
from www.noob.us
Ref : http://www.noob.us/entertainment/little-man-the-way-girls-are-nsfw/
Ref : http://www.noob.us/entertainment/little-man-the-way-girls-are-nsfw/
A story about a boy and his homework, and his attempt to understand girls. This pretty much sums up the relationship between the opposite sexes.
Google asked people in Times Square: “What is a browser?”. The responses will shock you.
from thenextweb.com
Ref : http://thenextweb.com/2009/06/19/google-asked-people-times-square-browser-responses-shock/
Ref : http://thenextweb.com/2009/06/19/google-asked-people-times-square-browser-responses-shock/
Look, I know the majority of people reading our blog are geeks on some level and probably early adopters.
While we try not to, I'm also aware of the fact that occasionally we report on stuff your average Joe won't understand/appreciate. But, I've got to be honest, I never for a second thought that this many people had no idea what a browser was.
The Kiruba incident
from blog.cleartrip.com
Ref : http://blog.cleartrip.com/journal/2009/6/16/the-kiruba-incident.html
Ref : http://blog.cleartrip.com/journal/2009/6/16/the-kiruba-incident.html
About a week ago, a Twitter user, @kiruba, posted a status update with a link to a post he created on the Cleartrip Forum. His Twitter update said:
ClearTrip.com took my money and DID NOT book my ticket to Malaysia. Had a harrowing experience at airport. http://is.gd/TtH6
Within a short period of time, 40 new Twitter status updates were posted. Some were simply 'retweeting' Kiruba's update; while others were demanding explanations, crucifying Cleartrip or pushing their own personal agendas.
As a customer-centric company, we are on Twitter to help our customers. We're also a company that places a very high premium on being transparent and honest with our customers; and this blog post is a blow-by-blow explanation of everything that happened here.
We'd like to state at the outset that we're not holding anything back here and even though there were various parties that contributed to the screw-up, we took complete ownership for resolving our customer's problem. That said, here goes...
As soon as we noticed Kiruba's original post, we swung into action. We apologised to Kiruba on Twitter and informed him that we were looking into the issue immediately.
We retrieved details about the reservation from our internal system and found that there were three distinct mistakes made by all three parties involved in the transaction:
- Kiruba had booked an international ticket using a name that did not match with the name on his passport. Had we ticketed the reservation with the incorrect name, he would have been turned away by the airline at time of check-in and Kiruba would have had no one to blame but himself.
- Cleartrip saw the mismatch in names, voided the original ticket and issued a new ticket and PNR for the name as written in the passport, but slipped up in informing Kiruba about his new ticket and PNR number.
- When Kiruba showed up at the airline check-in counter, the airline informed him that his ticket was void, resulting in Kiruba purchasing a new ticket. Had the airline simply done a search for the passenger name, they would have seen that Kiruba actually had a new reservation within the system, but they didn't bother.
The above three reasons caused what we now refer to as the 'Kiruba incident.'
Once we had identified what happened, we reached Kiruba via telephone in Kuala Lumpur and reassured him that his return trip was completely confirmed and that he would have no problems at the airport.
Despite the fact that other parties had contributed to the screw up, we took complete ownership of the problem; we even went above and beyond the call of duty. Not only did we refund Kiruba for the ticket he had to buy at the airport, we paid from our own pocket for Kiruba and his wife to be upgraded to business class for their return journey.
Many Twitter users demanded an explanation about how this could happen and we hope this blog post serves as an adequate explanation of everything that happened and everything that Cleartrip did to make things right for our customer.
Aside: While there were over 40 negative posts about this on Twitter, there were only 5 positive posts. Why is social media such a hotbed of negativity? Reminds us of this line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where Mark Antony says "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
How technology changed us
from Bits & Pieces , written by Jonco
Ref : http://bitsandpieces.us/2009/06/09/how-technology-changed-us/
Ref : http://bitsandpieces.us/2009/06/09/how-technology-changed-us/
06/08/09 PHD comic: 'You may find it hard to believe'
from PHD Comics
Ref : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1183
Ref : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1183
| Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham | www.phdcomics.com | |
 | ||
| title: "You may find it hard to believe" - originally published 6/8/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! | ||
Pakistan used anti-terrorism aid to build conventional force
from www.thehindu.com
Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060756911200.htm
Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060756911200.htm
Washington: Pakistan has used a substantial amount of military aid from the U.S. meant to fight terrorism to build up its army with modern weapons and equipment for a conventional warfare against India, Pentagon documents have revealed.
All this was done with the knowledge of the then Bush Administration, which not only provided $1.9 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) but also signed agreements with Pakistan for military sales worth nearly $5 billion during the period, showed the documents accessed by PTI.
The Pentagon documents also revealed that a major post-9/11 American defence supply to Pakistan under FMF had nothing to do with its fight against terrorism.
While the Taliban and Al-Qaeda gained ground in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Islamabad bought eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment worth $474 million. It also placed orders for 5,250 TOW anti-armour missiles worth $186 million. 2,007 of these have already been delivered and the rest are in the process of being supplied.
Besides buying more than 5,600 military radio sets worth $163 million, Pakistan bought six AN/TPS-77 surveillance radars worth $100 million and six C-130E transport aircraft and their refurbishment worth $76 million. Under the Excess Defence Articles (EDA), it was granted 20 AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters, which were then refurbished, according to the Pentagon documents. Pakistan also used a substantial chunk of America's FMF to purchase up to 60 mid-life update kits for F-16 A/B combat aircraft valued at $891 million.
Islamabad also paid a whopping $1.43 billion to the U.S. to purchase 18 new F-16 combat aircraft and another $629 million for F-16 armaments. — PTI
The Girl Who Proved P = NP
from Coding Horror , written by Jeff Atwood
Ref : http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001270.html
Ref : http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001270.html
One of my all time favorite blog entries is a truly epic tale of dating gone wrong that culminates in the strangest reference to P=NP you'll probably ever encounter.
Joey: So you really did graduate from computer engineering?New Girl: Yes I did, from UBC!
Joey: And you took the "Algorithms" course?
New Girl: Of course!
Joey: And you have all the papers you wrote?
New Girl: Yes! I kept them all, and I'll show them to you tomorrow!
Joey: I want to see the one we always called the "Hell Paper" at Queen's -- the mandatory fourth-year paper. You know the one, where we prove P = NP?
New Girl: I did that! I proved P = NP! I placed near the top of the class, and the professor used my paper as an example!
Joey: You proved P = NP?
New Girl: Yes!
Joey: Gotcha.
Poor Joey. Dating crazy people is one thing, but dating crazy people who claim to have proved P=NP is another matter entirely. I know, I know, my track record with P=NP is hardly any better. But at least you're not dating me, right?
NP completeness is one of the great unsolved mysteries in computer science; perhaps the best way to illustrate is through this xkcd cartoon:
The defining characteristic of an NP-complete problem is that optimal solutions, using math and logic as we currently understand them, are effectively impossible. Sure, you can approximate a solution, but an optimal solution requires so many calculations as to be infeasible, even with computers that operated at, say .. the speed of light.
In fact, one of the outstanding problems in computer science is determining whether questions exist whose answer can be quickly checked, but which require an impossibly long time to solve by any direct procedure. Problems like the one listed above certainly seem to be of this kind, but so far no one has managed to prove that any of them really are so hard as they appear, i.e., that there really is no feasible way to generate an answer with the help of a computer.
It's doubtful whether anyone will ever prove that P=NP (pdf), but in the meantime it's useful to recognize problems that are NP complete:
Unfortunately, proving inherent intractibility can be just as hard as finding efficient algorithms.The theory of NP-completeness provides many straightforward techniques for proving that a given problem is "just as hard" as a large number of other problems that are widely recognize as being difficult and that have been confounding the experts for years. Armed with these techniques, you might be able to prove that the bandersnatch problem is NP-complete and march into your boss's office and announce:
I can't find an efficient algorithm, but neither can all these famous people.
At the very least, this would inform your boss that it would do no good to fire you and hire another expert on algorithms.
Now you can spend your time looking for efficient algorithms that solve various special cases of the general problem. You might look for algorithms that, though not guaranteed to run quickly, seem likely to do so most of the time. Or you might even relax the problem somewhat, looking for a fast algorithm that merely finds designs that meet most of the component specifications. Thus, the primary application of the theory of NP-completeness is to assist algorithm designers in directing their problem-solving efforts toward those approaches that have the greatest likelihood of leading to useful algorithms.
As with so many things in programming, the first step is learning enough to know when you're really screwed.
Unfortunately for poor Joey, this sad corollary to NP-completeness apparently applies to dating, too.
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