The Background

December 20th, 2009, Chennai:

I was invited to the EMS Janmasatabdi celebrations organized by Madras Kerala Samaajam, Chennai by my friend Sunil Krishnan [He have already published a report on the event using some of my photos in his Malayalam blog] together with my friend Saswat. Eminent media personalities like N Madhavankutty, Sasikumar, K. A. Johny  and Communist leaders like W. R. Varadarajan [who was the then Chief editor of Theekkathir], Hon. minister for Education of Kerala, Comrade. M. A. Baby, Comrade. E.M. Radha attended the function. Though I didn’t get any “good photos” that day, I was happy that I was able to talk to a few of them personally. After I returned from the meeting, I processed all the photos and uploaded some to my Flickr account and contributed some of them to wikipedia articles. As I publish/share my photographs via a Creative Commons by-sa license [even this blog is licensed by the same license], anyone can use my photographs without my prior permission but conforming to the conditions as stated in the license.

Recent Developments

February 19th, 2010:

The CPI(M) central committee (former) member and (former) state secretary of CPI(M) of Tamilnadu, Comrade. W. R. Varadarajan went missing on February 11th 2010 and police is still searching for him.

The Problem

I was very much excited to see one of my work being used by a mainstream media. That excitement was short lived and gave way to an uneasy feeling. I wasn’t given the credit for my work. The copyright violation was first noticed in Mathrubhumi, then in Manorama. Later I found them in few other websites too. Here I have a list of them, and the link to the stolen content.

1. മാതൃഭൂമി
2. മലയാള മനോരമ
3. Our-Kerala
4. Asian Tribune
5. Dinakaran
6. Daily Thanthi
7. Thatstamil [they have removed it now]

The Evidences

I have taken the screenshots of Google news page as well as the content page, as soon as I noticed the content theft and are presented over here. Click the image to see a bigger version.

1. മാതൃഭൂമി
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

2. മലയാള മനോരമ
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

3. Our-Kerala
   • Site

   

4. Asian Tribune
   • Site

   

5. Dinakaran
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

6. Daily Thanthi
   • Google News

   

   • Site

   

7. Thatstamil [they have removed it now and too lazy to upload the screenshot]

The Actions

I have mailed the respective editors/content managers about the matter and waiting for their reply/action. So far, only Thatstamil have responded positively by removing the said image.

Post Script

The photograph is the first result of the Google image search for the query “W R Varadarajan”, which made its way to the news portals. The content managers ignored the copyright warning by the Google as well as the notice on my flickr album.

When will the conventional media starts respecting the copyright and creative commons licenses? If I am right this is not the first incident of this kind.

Possibly Related Posts:

• ഭൂചലനം – കാരണം സി.പി.ഐ(എം) ഉള്‍പ്പോരു്
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

Assume you have ‘x’ energy, and required-energy-to-do-a-job is y_i (i=1,2,3,4,…) and experience reward per job is z_i (i=1,2,3,4..). The most preferred job will be the one which gives maximum value for ((x-(x%y_i))/y_i)*z_i; thermodynamically speaking this quantity is the exergy of the system – the maximum experience (work output) you can score by doing a job with the given energy.

I have made a bookmarklet for Firefox to compute the exergy here. Add the bookmarklet to your toolbar and click it on mafia wars job pages. The max. experience you can achieve from the available energy will be given under the jobs, which is the “most preferred job to do” at that time. This ain’t my original code, but adopted and edited from Spockholm mafia wars tools, and they own all the credits (except for the bugs and damages – no one including me owns or will be held responsible it). I would’ve released this code via a GPLv3 if I had coded it completely.

Foot Notes

x/y – division. For eg. 28/5=5.6, 25/5 =5.
x%y – modulus (remainder after division). For eg. 28%5 = 3, 25%5=0.
(x/y)*z won’t always give you the maximum experience. Only when the quantity (x/y) is a whole number – Mafia Wars doesn’t allow you to do 1.5 or 3.6 jobs, but 1 job or 3 job. So, (x-(x%y))/y times you can do a job when you have x amount of energy, and multiply it with experience rewards for that job to get the maximum experience you can gain.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System
• Double Standards of Indian Media

So pathetic that we Indians now have a bunch of prejudiced idiots in the editing desks. Instead of reporting the facts, these media are ONLY interested in sensationalizing news there by increasing their reader/viewer-ship ratings. In my last post I have posted how Kerala CM, V S Achuthananthan’s comments were misinterpreted consciously to create a controversy by TimesNOW. I believe these pro-right bourgeoisie media are ONLY very keen and ’sincere’ to create unnecessary controversies when a communist leader is involved. Here, I have compiled a few instances (though not limited to) related to Mumbai terror attacks, which our Indian media were reluctant to comment or ‘sensationalize‘.

1. During the 26/11 attacks, our first citizen, Pratibha Patil was on tour to Bali and had returned to India only by 1st of December. No media were enthusiastic enough in reporting the absence of ‘rashtrapathi’ – lord of the realm, when her country was under terror attacks.
2. If you go behind the real reason of attacks, which in turn lead to martyr of Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, your search will end in front of 7 Race Course Road who should be held responsible, as the head of government, and also his defense minister, for the unforgivable failure of Indian intelligence system in the Mumbai terror attacks. When did the Hon. defence minister, A K Antony called up the slain major’s family? It didn’t hit the headlines when the defense minister was late to call up and console his soldier’s family and also when, Mr. Unnikrishnan. father of slain Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan refused to talk to him.
3. It also didn’t become a headline when the yuvraj, Shri. Rahul Gandhi was busy partying midnight during the Mumbai terror attacks till 5 AM in the morning. Also have a look at how Congress party defended the yuvraj’s booze-party. Don’t tell me that you didn’t know about this incident – you didn’t, because most of our media is right-biased to core.
4. Back to Kerala, when the opposition parties lead by India National Congress (I), was alleging of the delay – well there wasn’t any delay anyway. The Kerala chief minister had called up the Political secretary the moment he came to know about the incident, to visit the Major’s house. He had also called up Major’s house, expressed his condolences and assured that he will visit their house at Banglore, the very next day. The million dollar (or rupee) question is how many of Kerala opposition leaders visited the Major’s house till now? The answer is ZERO.
5. There was a protest lead by Yuva Morcha (Malayalam news – It seems no non-Malayalam media had reported it.) at Thiruvananthapuram against the Kerala CM’s remarks alleging that it insulted Major Sandeep’s family. It is quite clear that (in my last post I have translated Kerala CM’s comments), there was nothing in Kerala CM’s comments, explicitly or implicitly, abusive or defaming the Major or his family. Now, in that protest, they hung the picture of Kerala CM to a dog and walked with it. Ironically, these are the people who are proud about their “great Indian culture“, but here they forgot respecting Kerala CM, not his position, but his age – he might be older than most of their grandparents!

It was unfortunate to see the angry youth abusing, hate-mailing/scrapping the Kerala CM for absolutely no mistake from his side, blinded by the misinterpreted reports from the right-biased media and even when I am writing this post, the opposition parties are still protesting against the CM even after both the parties have unconditionally apologized each other and requested to end the controversy. I am wondering when the media and the so-called “patriotic youth” [whose blood boils only when they see an Indo-Pak match or when they see a war movie. They are too lazy to do something for their country but are very keen to get outside India for a job. They firmly believe that they hold the "monopoly of patriotism" . For obvious reasons I call these misguided pseudo-patriotic youth as the "curse of India"] will start protesting for a reduction in Crude oil prices which is the need of the hour. It was increased when the crude oil prices hit above 140$ mark for a barrel, and as of now it is some 45$ for a barrel. The reduced petroleum product price may help in controlling the commodity prices which will be useful for India as a whole. Manmohan Singh government is very reluctant in reducing the Diesel/Petrol prices, which they say, will affect the profit of Petroleum companies. I would like to see a decrease in at least the Diesel prices, which will directly influence (because of the reduction in freight charges) the essential commodity prices.

Suggested reading: On V.S.Achuthananthan and his remarks by clash.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=14rTDOVr8i0]

The chief minister, V S Achuthananthan starts speaking from the 27-28th second of the video. There are at two places the video is broken (cut). Even the question asked to him is NOT shown [UPDATE0: Imagine how a person will answer to a question like this - "Haven't Sandeep's father told you before that not even a dog should enter my house. Why did you go then?"]. In this attempt I am explaining a word-to-word translation and explanation of CM’s statements.

He Starts….[0:28 to 0:43]

കര്‍ണ്ണാടകത്തിലെ chief minister-ഉം പരിവാരങ്ങളും വരുന്നതിന്റെ കൂടെ … അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ അതിനു മുമ്പോ, കേരളത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും മറ്റും കൂടെ വന്നില്ല…. ഒരാളും തിരിഞ്ഞു നോക്കിയില്ല…. അതില്‍ വികാരവിക്ഷോഭിതനായി എന്ന്….
<CUT>

The word-to-word translation,

Along with the Karnataka chief minister and his team…. or even before, the Kerala chief minister didn’t come… everyone from Kerala turned their back…. and he got over it…

The meaning,

Sandeep’s father got emotional over the fact that Kerala Chief minister or his representative couldn’t attend the funeral with or even before the Karnataka chief minister.

Kerala CM resumes speaking after the <CUT> [0:44-0:48]

കര്‍ണ്ണാടകത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും കേരളത്തിലെ മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയും നമ്മുക്കൊരുമിച്ച് പോകാമെന്ന് ഇവിടെ അറിയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ടോ?
<CUT>

The meaning,

Did the Karnatka CM had messaged anything to visit the home together?

The controversial part of the footage comes after the next <CUT> [0:49-end]

സന്ദീപിന്റെ വീടല്ലനെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു പട്ടി തിരിഞ്ഞുനോക്കുമോ അവിടെ?സന്ദീപിന്റെ കുടുംബം, സന്ദീപിന്റെ പിതാവ്, സന്ദീപിന്റെ മാതാവ്, സന്ദീപിന്റെ കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങള്‍ എന്നിവരോടുള്ള ഞങ്ങളുടെ attachment…. ഒരു പ്രത്യേകമല്ലേ അത്? അതു മനസ്സിലാക്കുവാന്‍ ഉണ്ണികൃഷ്ണനെപ്പോലിള്ള ഒരു soldier-ന്റെ പിതാവിന് കഴിയേണ്ടതല്ലേ?

Word-to-word translation,

Had it not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced in. Sandeeps family, Sandeeps father, Sandeeps mother, Sandeeps family members, the attachment we have for them… that is very special, right? A soldiers father should have understood those?

Meaning,

Had it not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced in. The attachment we have with Sandeep’s family, Sandeep’s father, Sandeep’s mother, Sandeep’s family members is very special. A soldiers father should have understood those feelings.

Now, please tell me where he (Kerala CM) had insulted Major. Sandeep’s family?. Why ONLY the first sentence in his quote was colored and made in BOLD (in the footage)?

This is where I criticize the media of communist bashing! This is CHEATING! The TimesNOW had cheated ALL OF YOU!

The TimesNOW channel should publish the unedited footage of the interview if they have the minimal ethics/morals a journalist is expected to possess. It is so pity that the media is sensationalizing the issue just to score ahead in viewership by capitalizing the patriotic emotions of people.

I can understand it when non-Malayalam speaking friends criticize the CM, because they can ONLY swallow what TimesNOW says. Let me express by protest against my Malayalee friends who could understand Malayalam very well, consciously and will-fully became a part of this fact-hijacking footage by TimesNOW that too in the name of patriotism. Shame on YOU for capitalizing the fellow country-men’s patriotic emotions for satisfying your anti-communist needs.

FAQ

Q0. Karat had criticized CM’s remarks, CM had apologized and still what you are blabbering?

Their actions are completely political….just to save their face. My actions are completely personal, to expose the TRUTH, to explain MY STAND!… “I fear no DOGS”

Q1. Are you a Communist?

I am NOT a member of any of the main-stream left party and don’t wish to join, as of now, in the near future. But I am a staunch leftist.

Q2. So you blindly support CPI(M) or CPI for all their actions?

Read Q4. in this FAQ. (scroll down)

I wish if you could read Malayalam, so that you can read this beautiful post.

“May be patriotism is the adrenaline rush you get when watching the final overs of a 20-20 match for most of you… that is NOT the same for me and many others!“

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

HOT UPDATE3: What (exactly) Kerala CM said?

Day 1
Kerala CM, V S Achuthanandan and Kerala Home minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were paying a visit to the house of Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who got killed in the encounter with militants in Mumbai – the whole India is indebted to him and his family. Unfortunately, Mr. Unnikrishnan, father  of Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan displayed his anguish to Kerala CM and Home minister when they arrived his home. Personally speaking, this wasn’t the right way to behave to a guest, leave the fact that he is the CM of a state. That too it was infront of the media he had insulted Hon. Kerala CM and Hon. Home minister. Yes! I can understand the condition he was going through. His son died for the whole nation. We all accept that fact. I don’t think our CM will have a different opinion.

There was a bug hue and cry from the media and the opposition parties that Kerala government didn’t respect the Major and his family by completely ignoring them. But the fact is that the political secretary of Kerala CM had attended the funeral of Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan. Well I think Mr. Achuthanandan should have gone directly.

Day 2
Kerala CM, conducted a press conference back in Thiruvananthapuram, where he says, as per the media, “If it had not been Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced that way. It’s Sandeep’s family and that’s why we went. A soldier’s father should have had the  sense to understand that“.

UPDATE2:-

Question from media: How do you respond to the remarks by slain major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s father (“Get out my house, you dogs“)?

And, the CM responded: “We all love Sandeep Unnikrishnan and that is the reason why we went to his house to meet his family. If it had not been Sundeeps house, no dog would have gone there”

Before you sharpen your knife to slay Kerala CM, think of two things.

1. CM too is a normal human with flesh, blood, nerves and emotions just like you and me – maybe weaker than us.

2. CM, aged 85 was insulted BRUTALLY infront of whole world. I don’t think there will be a second opinion regarding this point.

If Mr. Unnikrishnan’s reaction was ‘natural’ to a senior politician holding the most powerful position of a state in India, then CM’s remarks too were natural. I won’t prefer to go to a house where people greet me with abuses. You can see in the video, Mr. Unnikrishnan shouting “തെണ്ടി നാറികളെ… പോടാ… പോടാ” in such an irreverent and arrogant manner, at the Kerala CM and his team. Now, tell me if it were you, what would have been your reaction to such an uncivilized response publicly. Yes, it can still be justified because of his mental state at that time. But with the same reasons, you can justify the Kerala CM too.

Points I want to convey.

1. CM should have attended the funeral of slain Major at the first hand.

2. Mr. Unnikrishnan should have behaved well to the CM at least in front of public who even titled incidence like “Mr. Unnikrishnan kicks Kerala home minister and CM out of his house” – a real cheap attention-grabbing technique which is least expected from the media. He should have at least respected CM’s age. He came all through Kerala to meet Mr. Unnikrishnan. He should have expressed his distress in private.

3. If Mr. Unnikrishnan’s reactions are justified, with the same logic, we can justify CM’s remarks.

4. I was shocked to see people sending mails/scraps regarding CM’s remarks, turning a blind eye towards the incident which happened one day back. C’mon guys, I can understand that you are anti-communists, but if you can justify the actions of a person and crucify another (because he is a Communist) for the same mistake, that’s double standards – and there is a BaD-word in English to call those persons who shows double-standards, which I really don’t want to call you people. Hence, instead of spreading false news, understand the fact that “all are humans“.

1-2 days later, you can see Kerala CM withdrawing his comments and sorrying for the same after being brutally raped by the mother-fucking petty-bourgeoise media. Poor man!

I do expect flames from different sides. Let me make it clear. I do respect Major. Sandeep Unnikrishnan and other soldiers who were and are still in service for their contributions. I also can understand how bad Mr. Unnikrishnan would have felt when Kerala CM couldn’t attend his son’s funerals. But at the same time I condemn the way he handled the situation and also the way media reported it then and now. His expression of anguish to the CM and home minister publicly infront of media, abusing and insulting them was totally uncalled for. CM too should have restrcicted his emotions infront of stupid media who are eagerly waiting for something.

UPDATE0:- Let me make it much more clearer.. .. I am getting lots of flames…

“I will either condemn both of their immature acts or justify both…. and would NOT selectively criticize them based on my political ideology…” the media is busy celebrating the Communist CM’s brutal and inhuman ac (for being late to respond) … But where was our first citizen – Prathibha Patil ??… Did she came back after her tour?

UPDATE1:- more and more clearer…. (sigh! lot more flames!)

Why the media is projecting ONLY this issue? Where were they when

1) The Thakkares disappeared from the terror scene.
2) The first citizen was touring when India was burning.
3) Defense minister too did the same mistake as Kerala CM.

Why ONLY Kerala CM is crucified in this issue? Is it because he is a Communist?

(Shubha-rathri… I got pissed off by when I saw a mail regarding this issue which sounded “CM disrespected the Major”; I couldn’t see anywhere in the news where CM “disrespcted” the major…now they forget who did this “disrespecting” first… double standards!.. I just hate to see blind-anti-communists.)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

….says Google.

You do evil and Google will point it out in public. (like diluting philosophies, betraying people, compromising ideologies…. cough! cough!)

Praise the Google Lord

.
.

.

.

.

Join the Church of Google

.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

This is a post meant for GNU/Linux evangelists. I hope this will help/guide the GNU/Linux volunteers in spreading the message about the freedom and peace of mind of GNU/Linux users across the world and save the mortals from the clutches of evil *DOS. “Oh! people, come and join the world of GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux is the ONLY way to FREEDOM. GNU/Linux is the ONLY way to security. GNU/Linux fills your heart with happiness. GNU/Linux is all about sharing with your neighbor. Join my dear friend, join today itself to the elite club of GNU/Linux-ians.”

#1. Never hesitate - Whenever someone asks you to install GNU/Linux in his or her system, even if he/she is your ex-girlfriend, don’t hesitate, but go and install GNU/Linux. A chance missed once and a chance missed forever most often means the same.

#2. STOP *DOS troubleshooting – It is a well known fact that M$ products sucks big time (except when they manufacture vacuum cleaners – an old joke) and will create problems till apocalypse. As a true follower of GNU/Linux, you should see this as an opportunity to make the victim aware of the features and powers of GNU/Linux and force him/her to try out a distro (I suggest Ubuntu) at least for once, and for sure he/she will fall for it. But the important thing is, you should NOT show much interest in *DOS troubleshooting which will make his life a bit miserable at least for sometime which will ignite the thoughts of migration. This works most of the time if you are the ONLY techie-guy in the city.

#3. Carry a GNU/Linux live cd/dvd always with you – I will suggest Ubuntu. Order it free from their site. Keep in handy at least one Ubuntu and one Kubuntu cds. If they found it nice, ask them “so let us proceed – Ubuntu or Kubuntu (or whatever)“. In most cases they won’t say a NO. Don’t hesitate, ACT – install it. After installing it successfully GIFT him/her the cd. He/she will be so happy, because it is the first time he/she is seeing an ORIGINAL software cd, that too in a good quality packet.

#4. Freedom after acquainting with GNU/Linux – This is something very controversial. There should be some short-term compromises made in order to achieve complete supremacy in future. For eg:- if you are installing Gnash instead of Flash in a ‘victim’s’ system, he is going to hate YOU as well as GNU/Linux and the whole freedom movement. For a beginner or an ordinary user, there should be some compromises made in utilities like Flash plugin (instead of Gnash) for Firefox, mp3 support, wma support (instead of ogg) and for engineers (BUY and) install Matlab for GNU/Linux [cough! cough!] (instead of GNU Octave). But after they become a fan of GNU/Linux systems, teach them the fundaes of Free softwares, freedom and GNU and then tell them to dump the non-free components from their system. Well, at the same time I request you NOT to use any non-free components in your personal computer.

#5. Tell them GNU/Linux is kewl – If you are in Ubuntu, enable desktop effects and show them how kewl GNU/Linux is. How the speed and richness-of-applications is better in a GNU/Linux system when compared to a similar *DOS system. Tell them that you don’t need the mobo cds or hardware driver cds again as before. Tell them you can modify the system according to your need.

#6. The best way to learn GNU/Linux – a common question we often face is “how can I learn GNU/Linux in one week”. Unfortunately, its a hyped up myth that GNU/Linux is not user-friendly. Tell your victim that, GNU/Linux is as user friendly or more as any *DOS platform. It is not necessary to use the CUI for common PC usage, but in some cases the terminal is extremely powerful and useful than the windows command prompt. The best way to learn GNU/Linux – use it.

#7. Don’t let live *DOS – Remains of *DOS had caused many problems in the past. It is better and is recommended to format the windows partition and NOT to dual-boot the machine whenever it is possible. Some people are too lazy to start learning GNU/Linux, though there is nothing much to learn about it.

#8. Some MUST-HAVE applications for a GNU/Linux system -

1. vlc Player – It plays most of the format.
2. Adobe Flash plugin for Firefox – Required in net often. (Google videos, Youtube etc) [non-free software.]
3. ntfs-3g – I think this is available by default in Ubuntu from Hardy Heron. But you should also edit the fstabs to auto-mount these.
4. usbmount – Helps in automatically mount and unmount USB drives.
5. compiz – If it is already installed, then enable it.
6. gstreamer-ugly and gstreamer-bad – Install these for common-multimedia-format support (and convert all your mp3 to ogg).
   

#9. Show him the applications – Show him the huge list of applications including office packages and games which got automatically installed by default and also tell them what all you get from a proprietary operating system company.

(to be completed )

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

You know what? I was an active KSU (Kerala Students Union) activist when I did my graduation. Though, you can take their count without much effort in your 10 fingers !!! My college was really a red-fort, both in color and the political inclination. But the activities of left student wing wasn’t satisfactory from a leftist viewpoint. They were just a ‘conglomoration’ of goons to protect their personal interests/egos. It was in my 6th semester that there was first real challenge against the monopoly of left student wing, that we won about 5-6 association seats and one general seat in the elections, though we lost in majority of seats we contested.

After my Btech, there was a time when I sat idle for about one year (!!!), I got into the company of Jayasankar (who is now at one of the gulf countries, “studying the problems faced by the working class in gulf countries” ) who gave me the leftist fundaes. Then I TRIED to read the “Communist Manifesto” but had to leave it incomplete because of the tough language used in it. Thanks to Jayasankar again, he gave the a copy of the translation of Communist Manifesto and other literature on left philosophy.

Time passed and slowly I was metamorphizing into a leftist. It was last year when I was working at an engineering college in Trivandrum, I met Sujay who is a dentist by profession whom I know from my Btech days and a communist congenitally! The transformation was complete with talks with Dr. Sujay. I declared it in Orkut and transferred the ownership of the KSU community created by me back in the ‘right days’ to Anto.

So, what provoked me to write this post. Last few days, I am reading this on Mathrubhumi feeds (these days they are the only source to know about the happenings in Kerala), about the KSU strike on the 7th standard textbook, though there wasn’t anywhere mentioned “what was there on those text-books”.

Today I saw this post by Rafiq kizhattur, and felt sympathy for the KSU. I would say this even if I were in KSU. Bad KSU, this is just show off, you people have shown your casteist-racist mentality wide open to world. This chapter describes the scene where the son of an inter-religious parents taking admission
in a school.

Here is a not-so-good translation of the controversial part in the 7th standard textbook,

“മതമില്ലാത്ത ജീവന്‍” – “Religion-less Jeevan”

The headmaster started filling the application form after the parents came with their son for the admission.

“What is your name, dear?”

“Jeevan” (Jeevan/ജീവന്‍ means life in Malayalam)

“Cute name… and your dad’s name?”

“Anvar Rasheed”

“Mom’s name?”

“Lakshmi Devi”

Headmaster lifted his face and asked the parents:

“What should I fill in the column for religion?”

“Nothing. Just add nil”

“Caste?”

“That too not required”

Headmaster leaned back to his chair and asked in a serious tone:

“What if he feels that he needs a religion when he grows up?”

“Let him choose the religion of his taste at that time”

—The End—

Why the hell is that people are so arrogant about such a chapter giving a good message. The common public should reply to this arrogance and prove that Kerala society is not casteist/racist as the KSU leaders are thinking. This kind of arrogance was shown to the first Communist government in Kerala when they brought revolutionary changes to Kerala, which helped the common man and his successors to achieve social and educational equality. Founding leader of KSU and the present Defense Minister of India, A K Antony, who actively took part in the vimochana samaram against the then Communist regime, now repents that the his decision to strike against the government was wrong.

My advise to KSU leaders, take any of the following drugs and this may help you to solve the crisis you are facing,

1. Mebendazole
2. Piperazine
3. Albendazole

I suggest all of you leaders to take the drugs at the same time, else it will lead to drug-resistant ‘invaders’ :-p .

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System

[To whomsoever it may concern: the name of the author/owner of this blog (http://njaan.wordpress.com/ ) is pR@tz and not 'njaan', though the author/owner of this blog (http://njaan.wordpress.com/), writes another blog located at http://njaan.blogspot.com/ . Hence, the readers are requested to address the author by the name pR@tz when you refer this blog (http://njaan.wordpress.com/ )]

If I can trust my memory, I first learned about randomness in my 12th standard and it is still one the topics I hate the most. For those people, who are going to attend GATE exams, here is a quick tip from me “better not to attempt questions from probability section; the probability that your answer is wrong is greater than .99“. Doing so will help you to save time for the remaining questions.  Back to the title, this post will be having two sections, the first section is,

Suicide

Imagine there are 1000 people in a locality, 500 men and 500 women. The probability that a particular man and particular woman will marry (assume that none of them are blood relatives, and everyone SHOULD marry before age of 25!) is less than or equal to 1/500 (that is what I know, I am quite weak in probability). Now, the average sperm-count in the ejaculate of Homo sapiens is about 280 million [1]. And, on an average a healthy women produces about 480 ova in her lifetime. Now, calculate the probability of mating of a sperm among this 280 million (this in fact is much smaller number when compared to the total number of sperms produced by a male during his lifetime, but for the sake of simplicity let us take 280 million) with one of the 480 ova[2]. Even after assuming that, this particular zygote grows into a healthy child, and to a mature Homo sapiens, just see the probability for getting that UNIQUE zygote (or unique individual). There is even randomness during the time when zygote is formed (the crossover, number of crossovers)[3]. That means the probability for you, me and we to live (blog) int his world tends to the value ZERO.

There are two (independent) conclusions for the first section,

(a) You don’t exist at all, because the probability that you were born to earth is ZERO (or near ZERO)

(b) You are really ‘lucky’ to live in this world, hence enjoy to maximum, be productive…….. (not necessarily on bed, I mean to contribute to humankind)

Heads and Tails

Assume that I have tossed an unbiased coin (not the ’sholay’ coin), the probability to get heads and tails are 50%. Is it just a probability? Is coin tossing always random? I had always thought of coin tossing, just because I don’t want to study probability, even the questions on probability confuse me a lot.

When I toss the coin what happens is, the coin rotates about an axis parallel to its diameter, moves up and comes down because of gravity and makes a number of turns about the axis. The outcome, head or tail, is determined by the initial face and the number of turns it made. The number f turns it made depends on rotational speed of the coin about its axis and the distance through which it moves (let us assume that it is equal to twice the maximum height it reaches in magnitude)

Let us see the various factors (not necessarily independent) affecting the outcome of coin-tossing,

1. Initial position of the coin – whether it is the tail/head side horizontal to the ground or is it inclined at an angle.
2. Force with which the coin is tossed – the force I apply to toss the coin determines the rotational speed of coin and the maximum height it reaches.
3. Point at which I apply the force – or the way you hold the coin while tossing. It determines the speed, the path of motion of coin through air, the rotational speed of coin and the maximum height it reaches.
4. Mass of the coin – It also have effects on the maximum height it reaches, the rotational speed.
5. Ambient conditions – Will affect the viscosity and density of air, which in turn affects the rotational speed and maximum attainable height of the coin.
6. Location (Equator, Polar regions, Earth, Saturn, Jupiter)- The magnitude of gravitational pull or technically, the acceleration due to gravity will definitely have an effect on the above mentioned parameters.
7. ………. there will be more, I could find only 6.

Hence we can say that, the outcome of coin tossing is deterministic or near-deterministic. Now you can stop saying, “it’s god’s grace that India won the toss today” because you can Mathematically model the coin tossing process and predict the outcome. There will only be a single outcome for same set of conditions. More the number of factors, your model will become more accurate.

In a similar way you can model whole processes that happens in Universe, which are traditionally called random.

[1] http://www2.oakland.edu/biology/lindemann/spermfacts.htm
[2] http://www.drstandley.com/bodysystems_femalerepro.shtml
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilization#Fertilisation_and_genetic_recombination

Possibly Related Posts:

• Mass Creative Commons Deed Violations by Indian Media
• Thermodynamics applied to Mafia Wars!
• The Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Shobhana @ Saarang 2009
• Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos (.flv files) on a GNU/Linux System