Archive for 2006
My Thanksgiving
by Neutron on Nov.25, 2006, under Educational, History, Musings, Trivia
Thanksgiving. What is it ? Why is the dinner on Thanksgiving day such a big deal here in the U.S ? I’ve asked many people about that and have received varying interesting answers. Here’s a brief analysis of this holiday from my perspective.
History
The fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day, in the US is celebrated traditionally to give thanks to God for the things one has at the close of the harvest season.
Parallels
US – Thanksgiving : Fourth thursday in November
India – Pongal : Middle of January
Canada – Thanksgiving : Second monday in October
UK – Harvest festival : Full moon day in September
Germany – Erntedank : First sunday of October
A holiday by any other name, still is sweeeet !
Evolution
The modern day Thanksgiving seems to have diverged far from its origins and is usually marked with parades, huge family meals, wall-to-wall american football. The festival has become a commercial event bringing together family and friends for feast and marks the start of the official holiday season in US.
Nonetheless, in the basic principle of thanking God or whoever else they feel most obliged to do so, families do get together even amidst rigorous schedules. And that is probably the important aspect about any holiday – bringing people closer.
My Thanksgiving nostalgia
I was invited to a very informal Thanksgiving dinner by few friends. For my part, i made few delicious Rasagulla for dessert which by the way did not hit it off among everyone here. Sigh. Anyway, the dinner eventhough did not involve any traditional thanking speeches and toasts, still brought a deep nostalgic feeling that claws the heart. And needless to say, i watched a lot of american football games over the past few days even if i still think that it does not match the intensity of a soccer game. But hey, thats just me.
The point of that short ramble is that even a very informal dinner on such an occasion managed to bring back sweet memories into my fragile little mind. These new friends remind me of those old ones and family, so far away in India. And there lies the beauty of a holiday !
The closer the day of my visit to India draws in, the more i feel nostalgic over every simple action. 12 days and counting …
High hopes
by Neutron on Nov.19, 2006, under Music, Poetry
“Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder
Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world
****
Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There’s a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
go down this road we’ve been so many times
The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever”
– Floyd
There are so many things that feels absolutely right about this song. This is one of those things that gets me right back on my feet no matter how elated or depressed i feel.
This is something that has touched me so deep,
I cannot escape the inevitability of the meaning of the song.
Why ? You ask. Cant you see the beauty unravelled ?
Doth not need to fly in the sky to decipher
Such simplistic meaning of Life, even in obvious delusion.
Kiwi. Fly. Fly high
by Neutron on Nov.14, 2006, under Poetry, Video
I saw this video just now and felt like writing something …
Against imposed rules by dumb fools,
Even with all the worlds tools.
Is there blazing joy at the end of the journey ?
Who sees what the future holds ?
Maybe no one i really know.
Still yielding to that one aspiration,
That could change a life’s meaning,
I tumble and toil to make my final flight.
Kiwi. Fly high, with wings wide,
In few months or years, I shall be by your side;
In eternal bliss of conquering the beyond.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
by Neutron on Nov.12, 2006, under People, Poetry
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
–Dylan Thomas
Beautiful !
Life
by Neutron on Nov.11, 2006, under Poetry, Quotes
In life, the beauty of survival,
Reveals hidden truth in gentle end.
The sublime will, conveys meaning surreal,
Rejoice and celebrate with tears of joy.
A wish fulfilled
by Neutron on Oct.21, 2006, under Poetry
Blessed is he, who has found his work;
Let him as for no other blessedness.
In truth, wishes restricted
Aspiration drives life towards its end.
Divinity in essence
Isn’t it this life personified ?
One action after the next;
The steps in the final stone.
This completion, midway, with a degree
Validates partial fulfillment of the work.
One task complete, another remains.
Was it just another day ?
by Neutron on Sep.16, 2006, under Fun, Humor, Musings, Personal
A long absence. A huge work-load. Reminiscent feelings rushing back. God i feel home-sick.
Usually, i do not go around hooting my horn when it is my birthday but yesterday, what the hell, i did. And guess what, many of the friends i know threw me one big ass huge party. I had one of the best times after coming here to US. But what made the day special and out of the ordinary was my visit to the big house for failing the breathalyzer test. Except for the part where i had to pay a fine, the experience was pretty funny, now that i think about it. I’ve been drunk a lot worse many other times but yesterday did not quite qualify for such a treatment. Anyway, the cells did look quite like what is shown in the movies and my comrades, in an effort to cheer me up, sang the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. I couldn’t stop laughing for a while after that ! Finally, after about 6 hours they let me get back to my peaceful existence.
Now that is one of the best birthday celebrations i’ve had in a long time. It had all the elements that makes a day special ; Friends, Beer and Adventure !
In birth and death
by Neutron on Sep.16, 2006, under Personal, Poetry
An occasion of ceremony,
In light of a passing death
In eternal bliss, devoid of money
Where heaven doth await us in mirth.
Sad and lonely, with wishes fulfilled
Wanting nothing more but life meaningful ;
Everything desired, willed, so easy
Why more does life hang in balance and dice.
Cause & effect, the only reason as seen,
In penance, i fail to see Him.
Such pain fills but logic overrules
What misery have thee led me to ?
Did i already know of my fate.
Sure. I wanted this.
Unsuicidal, with only one regret in hand,
There is no other right time to see this light.
A pawn in the eternity of time,
Like a grain in an universal desert of sand
One inconsequential life could be the center ;
Such balance and perfection at hand.
If there were another life,
Sure i would like to be born again.
With the knowledge i have, preserved
And understand even more clearly the reason for my pain.
Convoluted words, language insufficient
When will anyone understand what i want to say ?
Probably never, this maze of a mind
But i hope my thoughts will change universal movement.
Apart from the single regret
Of forsaking my mother in agony ;
And pursuing my wish and following my will
I am yet to find someone happier than me.
I haven’t seen failure, or rather felt,
but lessons learnt at every step,
teaches the way of life, the fickle gamble,
Perspective cleared, satisfaction in ample.
One last shot at poetry,
I might miserably fail,
but thoughts prevail,
And i shall exist forever in someone’s minds.
If you have known me,
thank you for granting me the privelege.
If i can be reborn, i will.
Watch out around you,
For you could be my next father or mother.
Ego, thrives. Again.
by Neutron on Aug.20, 2006, under Musings, Poetry, Quotes
One day, Another time,
In life’s long path, another moment.
I wonder if i will remember this crime
During the serene period of soccer and torrent.
The feeling of being satisfied and bored,
Sets in like a pus in a wound,
Nagging and hurting more than the torn ligament,
This shall haunt me for another three years.
Where shall i run again to hide ?
How can i start meditating to releive the tension ?
In agony, i pray for strength
And I shall conquer, as before, always.
A gesture unlike anything i’ve seen before
by Neutron on Jun.27, 2006, under Cool, News, People
Some might argue that when somebody has 40b $ as assets, it should be easy to give away 32b $. But in my opinion, that is one of the best philanthropic action i’ve seen in my short life till now. I personally respect Gates for the huge effort and involvement in the foundation and all the support he has provided to eradicate diseases in the different third world countries. I am glad to see that someone is willing to spend time, money and effort to accomplish this when even the respective governments are having a hard time to stay afloat.
Kudos to Buffet for the thought and i pray that the Gates foundation will make an impact and improve the overall human lifestyle, all over the world !
Here’s an excerpt from one of the articles i’ve read on the news. Read on.
Warren Buffett, 75, known as the Oracle of Omaha for his stock-picking ability, is a quintessential capitalist and the world’s second-richest man. He’s also no fan of greed, or of inherited wealth.
Rather than pass on his $44 billion fortune to his adult children, whom he notes are already quite well-off, Buffett announced Sunday that he is giving away the bulk of his assets to a foundation run by his friends, Bill and Melinda Gates. This will double the $1.5 billion that the world’s richest foundation spends annually — mostly on health and education programs.
The gift is notable in several ways.
First, its sheer size. The donation makes industrialist benefactors such as John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie look almost stingy and is rivaled only by the Gateses’ own gifts of $25.9 billion. Calculating the impact that money might have is impossible, but neither Buffett nor the Gateses think small. “There’s no reason we can’t cure the world’s 20 deadliest illnesses,” Bill Gates said Monday.
They might.
The gift also underscores a little-noticed trend: a renaissance in philanthropy. In 2004, the latest year for which data exist, the USA had 70,000 foundations — double the number a decade earlier. They gave away $33 billion.
But perhaps most striking is the way Buffett’s decision stands out in this greed-is-good era, in which, to cite one example of gross excess, the average pay for top hedge-fund managers last year exceeded $360 million.
To a large degree, of course, wealth-building — if not outright greed — is good. Before they gave away a dime, Buffett and Gates created jobs and raised people’s living standards by building spectacularly successful companies. But when should the wealth-building stop?
“I don’t believe in dynastic wealth,” Buffett has said, likening inherited wealth to choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold medal winners in the 2000 Olympics. That’s why he opposes efforts to repeal the estate tax, saying that without it, America would have an aristocracy based on inherited wealth instead of a meritocracy that rewards ability and drive.
As Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, said in 1759 of generous capitalists, Buffett feels it’s in his self-interest to help others “though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” Here’s hoping others heed the message.
One of life’s beautiful ironies
by Neutron on Jun.09, 2006, under Fun
DAPHNE, Ala. – Worried about the safety of her family during a stormy Memorial Day trip to the beach, Clara Jean Brown stood in her kitchen and prayed for their safe return as a strong thunderstorm raged through Baldwin County.
Suddenly, lightning exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a pockmarked area on the concrete. Brown wound up on the floor, dazed and disoriented by the blast but otherwise uninjured.
“I said, ‘Amen,’ and the room was engulfed in a huge ball of fire,” she said. “I’m blessed to be alive.”
This one made me roll on the floor and laugh out loud, literally. Aah. One man’s pain is another man’s pleasure, ain’t it ?
Breaking the silence
by Neutron on Jun.08, 2006, under Musings, Personal, Site
Life has just been incredibly hectic and sometimes i just lose track of what i want to do with my life … I guess it is one of those researcher’s blocks but being at this as long as i’ve been, the experience has been mind bogglingly stressful. I can frankly say that i’ve never in my life worked as hard as i did in the past 3 months. The downside is that i did not end up with a lot of results as i expected but just an extra paragraph in my thesis.
I could ramble on for a longer time but hey, if you wanna hear it, bring on a Jack daniels and meet me at College station. Now, i wouldn’t say i am completely out of work these days but i definitely do have lesser amounts of it to do over the summer.
With this post as the new start, i should be posting regularly in the coming days about stuff that are interesting and hopefully you enjoy too ! So keep watchin’.
Ozymandius
by Neutron on May.02, 2006, under Poetry, Quotes
Recently, i was talking to a friend and got into a conversation on some of the greatest poems. One of the first poems that came to my mind was Ozymandius. There are a lot of things that are striking about it ; The way Shelley describes the pride, the sarcasm about the ego, the practicality of the situation and the subtlety in the description. Anyway, without further ado and anymore rambling, i quote one of my favorite poem
By: Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
History : Why drive on the left ?
by Neutron on Mar.24, 2006, under Cool, Educational, History, Trivia
Now, accidentally, i came upon an article that solves the puzzle. The article answers the reason on why do the British drive on the left ?
Here’s the excerpt from the article that was relevant to the discussion i went through.
In the Middle Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you’d meet on the road in those days. You wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly. This custom was given official sanction in 1300 AD, when Pope Boniface VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims headed to Rome should keep left.
The papal system prevailed until the late 1700s, when teamsters in the United States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat. Instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other guy’s wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road. The first known keep-right law in the U.S. was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian provinces followed suit.
Cool isn’t it ?!
Ten Obscure Factoids about Albert Einstein
by Neutron on Mar.15, 2006, under Fun, History, Trivia
“When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in the sock,” he once said. “So I stopped wearing socks.” Einstein was also a fanatical slob, refusing to “dress properly” for anyone. Either people knew him or they didn’t, he reasoned – so it didn’t matter either way.
2. He Hated Scrabble
Aside from his favourite past-time sailing (“the sport which demands the least energy”), Einstein shunned any recreational activity that required mental agility. As he told the New York Times, “When I get through with work I don’t want anything that requires the working of the mind.”
3. He Was A Rotten Speller
Although he lived for many years in the United States and was fully bilingual, Einstein claimed never to be able to write in English because of “the treacherous spelling”. He never lost his distinctive German accent either, summed up by his catch-phrase “I vill a little t’ink”.
4. He Loathed Science Fiction
Lest it distort pure science and give people the false illusion of scientific understanding, he recommended complete abstinence from any type of science fiction. “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.” He also thought people who claimed to have seen flying saucers should keep it to themselves.
5. He Smoked Like A Chimney
A life member of the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club, Einstein was quoted as saying: “Pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment of human affairs.” He once fell into the water during a boating expedition but managed heroically to hold on to his pipe.
6. He Wasn’t Much Of A Musician
Einstein would relax in his kitchen with his trusty violin, stubbornly trying to improvise something of a tune. When that didn’t work, he’d have a crack at Mozart.
7. Alcohol Was Not His Preferred Drug
At a press conference upon his arrival to New York in 1930, he said jokingly of Prohibition: “I don’t drink, so it’s all the same to me.” In fact, Einstein had been an outspoken critic of “passing laws which cannot be enforced”.
8. He Equated Monogamy With Monotony
“All marriages are dangerous,” he once told an interviewer. “Marriage is the unsuccessful attempt to make something lasting out of an incident.” He was notoriously unfaithful as a husband, prone to falling in love with somebody else directly after the exchanging of vows.
9. His Memory Was Shot
Believing that birthdays were for children, his attitude is summed up in a letter he wrote to his girlfriend Mileva Maric: “My dear little sweetheart … first, my belated cordial congratulations on your birthday yesterday, which I forgot once again.”
10. His Cat Suffered Depression
Fond of animals, Einstein kept a housecat which tended to get depressed whenever it rained. Ernst Straus recalls him saying to the melancholy cat: “I know what’s wrong, dear fellow, but I don’t know how to turn it off.”
via Science A Go Go
Bloody cool trivia huh ?!
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What is The Chaotic-Neutron ?
This is a collection of my thoughts from the mundane to engineering research, from attempted poetry to absolute philosophy, that drives me, with an occasional rant on life.
If you find something interesting, drop me a line. 
Quote of the day.- John Lennon"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." […]
- John Lennon