Blogs

1. The Most Scary Experience

   My redoubtable friend Solus “Sol” Simkin wandered into my office late one afternoon and asked me, “What is the most scary experience for a human being? I thought but for an instant as I replied, almost reflexively,”Death. What else? Or a close shave with death.”

2. Mastering Time

   As Sol wound up his enriching tale, I resolved not to fall into the trap of procrastination ever again. First, I should prime my mind to enjoy the task. Then, I should shed the need for approval from others. Next, I would allocate adequate time to prepare for it, well ahead of the deadline. Then I would do it once, and do it well. And finally when it was done and dusted, I would dismiss it from my mind. ‘Whew! What a teaching!’ I said solemnly to Sol. He smiled the beaming smile of the cognoscenti.

3. Solving a Mathematics Olympiad problem

   During a casual tour of the Web, my attention was drawn to a problem that was stated so simply that it beckoned an attempt at a solution. It was purported to be from a Mathematical Olympiad, which raised its attractiveness index, as such problems are known to strenuously exercise the grey cells, while still retaining the charm of a sport. Only later did I find out that the problem I had written down had omitted an important constraint that made the problem all the more memorable. This is an account of my escapade into the land of mathematics in search of solution.

4. Pattern Matching and Substitution in bash

   The programs, sed, awk, grep, and perl have been the traditionally used tools for matching and manipulating lines and strings in Linux. But the bash shell [1, 2] also embodies powerful pattern-matching and substitution capabilities [3–6], many of which are relatively unknown and unused. This blog gives practical examples for using these powerful, but somewhat understated features, to achieve common tasks efficiently and tersely, directly from within bash itself.

5. The Secret Trapdoor to Success

   The nursery rhyme tells us that life is but a dream. Imagine, however, if someone told you that your dreams could become your life. Would you be inclined to believe that statement? If you are imbued with the scientific spirit, you would at the very least subject that assertion to experimental validation or refutation. If you are of that mind, read this blog carefully, because it could be the single most important secret of success—academic or otherwise—that you might encounter in your entire life.

6. A Foray into Rust: Euler One

   Rust is the emerging programming language. I decided to start learning Rust by solving Euler Project One. This is a chronicle of my first efforts, including false starts, errors, backtracks, etc.

7. Image format conversions

   Although digital images are ubiquitous, one image format does not suit all applications. Printed paper, electronic displays, images on the Web, etc., each call for the same image in a different format. In this tutorial, we explore the different format conversion tools that are currently available. The ImageMagick suite, the cairo backend, the poppler utilities, the Inkscape vector graphics editor, and CairoSVG are each identified for their individual strengths, that make them the tools of choice for specific image conversion tasks.

8. Service as a Spiritual Practice

   Service is a potent spiritual practice on the path to liberation. The Bhagavad Gītā is the spiritual manual par excellence among the texts of Sanatana Dharma on the subject of action. The specific guidelines for transforming any action into an act of worship, as set out in the Bhagavad Gītā are outlined in this blog. The lived experience of Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati, founder of the Divine Life Society, is recounted as an ideal example of the fruition of service as a spiritual practice.

9. The Making of a Logo

   My friend Solus “Sol” Simkin has a well-earned reputation as a Renaissance man. Among other things, he is a virtuoso of design. He endows his creations with an ethereal air of perfection—where mathematics meets aesthetics—to transmogrify the mundane or banal into unforgettable works of art.

10. A Peacock in Mid Flight

    This morning, I saw a peacock in mid-flight. It was a wondrous and unforgettable sight, the more so because unexpected. I was walking as usual in the neighbourhood, which is known to be home to a large number of peacocks. As I turned to my right, I saw what I thought was an unusually long bird in flight. Only as it approached me did I realize that it was a peacock in mid-flight.