The question of whether a computer should be used in teaching and
learning, is no more interesting than the question whether a book
should be used for reading.
The interesting question is of how to use the computer to teach and
learn, and how not to use it to teach and learn.
Damitr
Inspired from a quote by – Edsger W. Dijkstra in Accelarando by Charles Stross.
damitr
Caffeine…
Caffeine is the source of new ideas. - Anon (in Fortune)
My day starts with a cup of coffee, and this cup mostly fulfils my daily requirement for caffeine.
Long gone are the days of instant coffee and now I do brew my own.F or this purpose I mostly rely on two of Bombay’s best coffee shops that I know of; namely Philips Coffee and Tea and Mysore Concerns (The Coffee People since 1939).
Both shops I discovered quite accidentally. Philips Tea and Coffee has registered office near Khadi Bhavan on D. N. Road in Fort. Naturally curious I enquired, but there was no sale there, and they guided me to a Sale store down the lane towards Strand Book Shop. There are two varieties of coffee beans available with them the Highlander and Peaberry. Peaberry which I prefer is priced at Rs. 420 a kilo and Highlander is a little low, maybe Rs. 380. The best part is that they grind the beans just in front of you and the aroma that is generated is too good to be described in words. Since I have a “fussy coffee machine” it is not very happy to brew when the powder is too fine, so they grind it as per my requirement, a bit coarse. They have chain of shops throughout Bombay, I mostly take my stock from the Chembur which is close to where I live, but sometimes also from the Fort shop, which is where I visit to hunt for books. They also sell a variety of teas and stock a few magazines many of them Mallu.
The Mysore Concerns shop I discovered quite weirdly. I was on my BEST-bus tours of Bombay some years back, and suddenly near Maheshwari Udyan or King’s Circle I smelt coffee. It was a strong one. And just as the bus passed over it went away. Anyways I was supposed to get down at the stop, as I was on a book hunting mission. I just could not resist myself from finding source of the smell. And the source turned out to be the Mysore Concerns shop, which keeps on grinding coffee beans throughout the day which produces aroma which wanders along the streets. They also sell Coimbatore butter which I have never tried. But this was too good to resist. The price is lower as compared to Philips Rs. 340 per kilo and AFAIK they do not have any variants in the coffee they sell. But going to Matunga all the way to get coffee was not practical many times, but then someone told me that you get it in Chembur too. Although the pack says there is NO BRANCH as opposed to Philips people. 
I have collected quite a number of different cups ~ 20 for the morning coffee ritual, and the milk is mostly got from the canteen, I do not as yet like black coffee, I want it with lots of milk (preferably buffalo) and no sugar. Some of the more costly ones are from Chimp and the logo of the brand a Chimp printed on the inside of the cup seems to enjoy surfing the sea of coffee as much as I do.
I had a fortunate visit to a spice garden which belonged to a friend near Bangalore, and I saw there coffee plants ,the green beans and the fragrant white flowers for the first time. They tell me that till you roast the coffee beans you don’t get the aroma of coffee from any other part of the plant.
And remember always: a bad coffee is worse than no coffee…
And interestingly the science behind the coffee rings, though not the above one, is explanied.
Logo for CUBE
CUBE stands for Collaborative Undergraduate Biology Education
Max Planck – on scientific truth
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
via Max Planck – Wikiquote.
This I think in general applies to the state of educational system in general. All the people who are opposing the use of technology in the classrooms, will never see the light, but instead will just die and the newer generation will induced to teach with use of technology.
Devil in disguise or a naughty angel?
Transparency Revolution
To quote A K Antony on the current state of affairs in the nation.
“Our country is passing through a transparency revolution. Walls of secrecy are crumbling gradually. But politicians, bureaucracy, judiciary, business people, armed forces, and journalists are still not ready for this transition to transparency,”
And then he adds:
“But they will have to follow the transition and I don’t think anybody can take any step in a different direction,”
Lets see how much of this comes through, within our life times.
Pakistan and Afghan-India
“Every time I think we’ve hit rock bottom, I find both countries have shovel in their hand and are digging further down trying to find a new bottom, one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
via Pakistan squeezed by Afghan-India pact – Hindustan Times.
This reflects the current state of affairs between Pakistan and US. What is interesting is that this is going on for quite some time and one does not know what both countries are upto. Hope that this situation is resolved in the time to come.
Negotiations
“You’re never going to end negotiations unless you begin it,”
via BBC News – UN Security Council to consider Palestinian membership.
But if the negotiations are going to be one sided, as they have been so far, what is the use of such things. With US using all its might to crush the aspirations of the people of Palestine, what more can one say. Each day the kind of media attention [read propaganda] that is shown across media channels in favour of Israel is a lot [is it due to all the Jewish media barons?]. And you speak anything against the state of Israel, you become anti-semitic. Maybe Israel should look into its own past to understand what it is up to. Santayana says
Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
Evolution…
Truth about life…
What is the reality in life? You don’t know, I wonder who does. But the fact remains that nobody dies virgin, everyone gets fucked up in their lives. Be it a saint or a sinner everyone is fucked up. But most of the people who are content with their lives do not even realize this, they think they are above this rule, in reality they are ones who are the most screwed.
So be it, what I find problematic and recently I have found the sort of perfect word for this is pseudogiri, people are living a pseudo life, they are sticking to ideals which are in no way real or have anything close to reality. When we want to discuss things about a particular practice the fundamentals are never questioned, they remain the untouchables. They cannot be thought of questioned about, they cannot be argued against. They are there, so they are and yo have to live with them…