The 34-second shocker!

It is around 2 'o clock in the afternoon. I had to call dad but my phone battery was dead. So, I call him from my friend's phone. Here's the conversation:

Me: Hello Papa
Dad: Ya, who is this?

I am his only son!!

Anyways, just goes to show that people subconsciously decide what to say without actually processing what the person on the other side of the call is saying. Apart, the conversation lasted 34 seconds (which just follows this post.)

IIT BHU... without a typo!

Just when I thought it can't possibly get worse - with more than half a dozen IITs springing up and the talks about space/faculty crunch - here's what a certain Rahul Gandhi is upto in life:

Rahul Gandhi assures BHU-IT students of early IIT status

What the fuck is wrong with these Gandhi-Nehru nutheads. Jawaharlal, Indira and Sanjay later, we have this thirty-something politician - a wannabe Obama - making random promises.

IT BHU to get IIT status. Good god! Mr. Gandhi, get a life. And here are a few suggestions:

• Your alma-mater St. Stephens, Delhi (Oh, I almost forgot you did not finish college there) - give it IIT status.
• All the existing IITs, the real ones (B,D,K,Kgp, M) give them Harvard/Stanford/MIT status. Anyfuckingway,evidently you thoroughly impressed by Shakesperian whats-in-a-name.
• Faculty.. I am sure you don't bother too much about it. So, get all your party workers to teach at each of the new IITs you are creating out of thin air.
• Get Italian nurturing support for IT BHU and name Ms. Sonia Gandhi as it's Director. It sure will be fun to see prof. Ananth trying to explain academics to an Italian library keeper.
• And whatever little votes you get by giving IT BHU this status, shove it up your ass. Whatever is left over, retain it for a rainy day.
  

According to SN Upadhyaya, director, IT-BHU, the institute can match any other IIT institution in the country in terms of infrastructure and academic environment, especially quality of research in engineering.

Oh yes, IITs themselves are struggling to keep up the infrastructure and academic environment. Add excess baggage of people who want to 'tag along'!

IT BHU??!! IIT status.. LOL.

PS: Read this trippy shit about how IIT Bihar (:P) campus has been waterlogged and encroached by policemen. A sample quote:

The registrar of the IIT, Subhash Pandey, was quoted in the Hindustan Times as saying: “our Students’ Activity Centre has been encroached by the cops of the Patliputra police station. They have been staying there since last monsoon.

"Bhaiyya, solve question number 11 a. What should be the magnification?"

Five reasons why class X students, with brothers who are pusuing engineering, should not have access to too much technology:

• Email enables them scan pages and pages of class X question papers and mail them across for instant answers. 
• Facebook enables them to keep track of status messages - where you are going, what you are doing, who you are going with and so on - and figure out when you lie to them saying you are going for cricket practice.  
• Google Talk enables them to buzz you online and ask you to solve those irritating optics problems which you try and avoid.
• And while you intelligently go invisible on Gtalk, they IM you on Facebook and ask the same optics problems.
• And when you blog about your miseries - they instantly get an email in their inbox and soon you are explaining your stance to mom and dad. To make up for it, you promise to buy them the coolest electronic gadget immediately after the exam!

Incidentally, my sister is in class X and she is taking her boards soon - and no, the above is a general observation.. _not_ born out of my experiences.

PS: Incase you need any Maths/Science question papers of class X, do email me and I shall be happy to send you the papers of last 10-15 years and pre-board exam papers of almost all schools in (and around) Bangalore. 

PS2: If you are wondering why I am perenially invisble on Gtalk, you now know why. 

[@ Akshata, I am just joking honey - you know how much I love those optics problems right] 

Following might help your sis (or bro) if she (or her) is in class X:

1: No, my sister's name is not Rajeshwari - And no, I have no clue who Rajeshwari is.

2:That is the solution to some random two-taps-A-and-B-fill-a-container-in-blah-blah- - -how-much-time-will-it-blah-both-together. 

3:Huh?! I am sure you all can do that right?

"A Mathematician Plays The Stock Market"

I've been trying to read this book called "A Mathematician Plays The Stock Market" by John Allen Paulos. It is a book which gives an insight about how the stock market works (or doesn't) with mathematical and counter-intuitive reasoning.


Though I have not read it completely as yet, here's an interesting parable I wish to share:

How to auction a $1 bill for more than it's worth:

This is a story about a professor at Yale. He routinely used to auction $1 bills in his class. But the rules were a little different - while the highest bidder gets the bill, the second highest bidder will also have to pay. The increments are allowed a minimum of 5 cents.

So, the incentive is clear: You can bid sufficiently lower than $1 and still get the bill. Assume the highest bid at some point is 40 cents (A) and the second highest is 35 cents (B). Now, B has an apparent double incentive to bid at 45 cents - he needn't pay the 35 cents and he gets to keep the bill at 45 cents, albeit at a higher price than he earlier intended. Similar reasoning holds true for A. So, both A and B are now 'locked' into the auction - the 'double incentive' pushes the bid higher and higher. When B bids 1 $ and A is at 95 cents, A can bid at 105 cents and make a loss of 5 cents OR lose 95 cents. In this way, the $1 bill can be auctioned at much more than it's worth.

Interestingly, the auction grows from a 'maximise profit' to 'minimise loss' model.