Conviction With an Angle Is Upheld by Court of Appeals - New York Times

Math and the law! See, high school math and trignometry comes in handy in real life. Cheers Pythagoras!

The past couple of days, I’ve felt ansy and anxious. At first, it was hard to isolate the cause of this angst. It could be me missing some of the closest people to my heart, or the impending deadlines for graduate school, or the paper and poster due at the end of this semester about my research here. I usually had a great stress busting mechanism like playing racquetball, swing dancing, or just napping. I don’t have many of those options now. Jenn and I practiced swing a lot but now both of us are getting busier as the semester is coming to an end, and we haven’t done swing dancing in a while. There is no racquetball here to whack the ball to help vent frustration. Since I work all day, I can’t nap in the afternoon. If I napped after a certain point, it’s really hard to fall asleep in the night. Maybe, I haven’t gotten enough sleep the last few days. I guess I need more than 6-7 hours of sleep.

I sure I feel better and happy soon. If I make enough progress, I just might. Noble aspirations!

I found a blog post called Censorship at rebunting. She does an in depth discussion about the article on censorship in a high school newspaper. Oak Ridge is famous for Oak Ridge National Lab where I am working this semester. It is supposed to have the greatest collection of genius scientific minds in this region.

I remember censorship came into play in Coe College’s Flunk Day newspaper in fear of reprisals and lawsuits by parents. This isn’t really free speech.

FYI: Coe’s official description of Flunk Day is

Flunk Day: A Coe tradition begun in 1911. Classes are canceled for a day in the spring so the student body can enjoy an all-school picnic, outdoor activities and fun.

In reality, it’s a day of drunken revelry for the drinking population of Coe .

I love Flunk Day!!

Here are a few pictures of Flunk Day at Coe:

That’s my best friend, Britta. The backdrop is the Flunk Day Committee (2004-2005) on a bus.

The scene of Flunk Day 2003. My very first Flunk Day!

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Song: String Quartet Tribute to Coldplay - Yellow

File details: mp3/48 kbps/1.3 MB.

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve done a personal update. Last weekend was wonderful. I got to spend a lot of time with Jenn. We went to a dressy jazz concert of Preservation Hall Jazz Ensemble from New Orleans. It was pretty darn good. They were an all-black band who played tons of moderate beat swing music. I was extremely happy that they called for people to dance to their last song. Jenn and I broke into swing and it was so much of fun. People were watching us as usual. I love it when people watch and are amazed to see youth into swing dancing. Sunday night, we went to a piano and viola concert. I don’t really listen to classical music however I enjoyed this gig. It had one light piece and rest of it being dark and somber. Jenn was surprised that I actually liked the music. I recently found the string quartet’s tribute to Cold Play, Evanescence, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nine Inch Nails. I love Cold Play’s tribute! I might put a song up for taste.

I’m sad that this break is almost over. Next couple of weeks is going to be hell because I have a lot to accomplish.

Asians mimicking BSB

Don’t they look moronic? They must have a lot of time on their hands to choreograph something like that. Instant fame.

Rules of the Road - India Humor

Rules Of The Road, Indian Style

Traveling on Indian Roads is an almost hallucinatory potion of sound, spectacle and experience. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable — and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous.

Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based on a Sanskrit text. These 12 rules of the Indian road are published for the first time in English:

* ARTICLE I:

The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

* ARTICLE II:

Indian traffic, like Indian society,is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to:

* Cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs, pedestrians.

* ARTICLE III:

All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers’ mantra.

* ARTICLE IV:

Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):

* Cars (IV,1,a-c):

1. Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, IE in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path.
2. Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, IE to oncoming truck: “I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die”. In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).
3. Single blast (casual) means: “I have seen someone out of India’s 870 million whom I recognise”, “There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)” or “I have not blown my horn for several minutes.”

* Trucks and buses (IV,2,a):

All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: “I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could.” This signal may be emphasised by the use of headlamps.

Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

* ARTICLE V:

All manoeuvres, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

* ARTICLE VI:

In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.

* ARTICLE VII:

1. Rights of way:

Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.

2. Lane discipline (VII,1):

All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

* ARTICLE VIII:

Roundabouts: India has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.

* ARTICLE IX:

Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you.

Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centres. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing — and one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

* ARTICLE X:

Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

* ARTICLE XI:

Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in India has reverse gear.

Here is something else about Indian traffic lights: Green: you can go. Yellow: You may still go. Red: you must absolutely go. I remember people honking if we stopped at red lights. God knows how we have fewer accidents than the US.

It’s Time for some Truth About Terrorism

What is your opinion about this letter? I think he has some valid points. USA has an infamous history of hypocritical foreign policies and interventions. That’s one of the major reasons of anti-American sentiments abroad.

Schneier on Security: Australian Minister’s Sensible Comments on Airline Security Sparks Outcry

I’ve always thought that the added airport security is more hassle than it should be. I hate the fact that I can’t carry a bunch of batteries on board but i can carry butane lighters and aerosols which makes an incredibly effective flame thrower. I also think the amount of money going into security is wasteful. It would be understandable if it actually helped stem the problem, but it doesn’t. Anyone who wants to be violent and hijack a plane still can using the tools around. An effective terrorist would be resourceful. Unfortunately, security and the officials think that terrorists are dumb. There will be more attacks and we haven’t found a solution yet. However, that’s not going to stop me from flying.