Hence this arbit-ness.
Friday, 16 March 2007
Monday, 5 March 2007
Sunday, 18 February 2007
An Ode to Sameer
If Sameer had gone to school,
He wouldn't be such a fool.
His head would have some brains,
Instead of cotton wool.
Sameer likes weird games,
I feel like calling him names.
But what to do? I'm jealous,
'Cos he attracts all the dames.
Sameer deserves a KITA,
'Cos he's such a major PITA,
He's also such a sissyhead,
He's forever complaining to Geeta.
These songs about the freako,
Are written during Eco.
It's time to stop this silliness,
Says the display on my Seiko.
[Largely sung to the tune of Whose Line Is It Anyway's "Irish Drinking Song"]
He wouldn't be such a fool.
His head would have some brains,
Instead of cotton wool.
Sameer likes weird games,
I feel like calling him names.
But what to do? I'm jealous,
'Cos he attracts all the dames.
Sameer deserves a KITA,
'Cos he's such a major PITA,
He's also such a sissyhead,
He's forever complaining to Geeta.
These songs about the freako,
Are written during Eco.
It's time to stop this silliness,
Says the display on my Seiko.
[Largely sung to the tune of Whose Line Is It Anyway's "Irish Drinking Song"]
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Macroeconomic scribblings
Money is a matter of functions four,
A medium, a measure, a standard and a store.
But I don't really care, I just keep wanting more,
And that's why, dear readers, I didn't vote for Al Gore.
I now regret it, such terrible luck,
Having supported that goddamn Texan shcmuck.
But what can we do now, with Dubya we're stuck,
Impeachment? Nah, no intern did he fuck...
Wait for the next elections, we thought.
Let us remove this unsightly blot.
But personality and balls, Kerry had not,
A better kinda asshole, but not by a lot.
(This was written down in a class on macroeconomic theory. Hazzah.)
A medium, a measure, a standard and a store.
But I don't really care, I just keep wanting more,
And that's why, dear readers, I didn't vote for Al Gore.
I now regret it, such terrible luck,
Having supported that goddamn Texan shcmuck.
But what can we do now, with Dubya we're stuck,
Impeachment? Nah, no intern did he fuck...
Wait for the next elections, we thought.
Let us remove this unsightly blot.
But personality and balls, Kerry had not,
A better kinda asshole, but not by a lot.
(This was written down in a class on macroeconomic theory. Hazzah.)
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Blatant but valid generalization
Most Indian I.T people are common sense challenged.
Even worse, a large percentage of this are basic intelligence challenged.
(Empirical evidence only, statistics pulled out of you-know-where)
Even worse, a large percentage of this are basic intelligence challenged.
(Empirical evidence only, statistics pulled out of you-know-where)
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
MIT?! That's XLRI!
I went to MIT, so I can explain a bit about the culture in which this research was done.
First of all, there's always something you're supposed to be doing. If you have three assignments for a class due at the end of term, you'll definitely have more important things to get done all term, and then you won't have enough time at the end of term to do the assignments. Even if you didn't do anything fun all term, you'll have procrastinated by getting more of each of the assignments for other classes done than you would have had you worked on the end-of-term assignment earlier. It's really hard to give up on an assignment that's due tomorrow because you haven't started on the one due in two months. It's not just that you have a more immediate reward if you procrastinate the stuff that's not due tomorrow; the reward is calculated and reported to you in advance in percentage points, and you definitely lose those points if you don't go after them immediately.
Also, assignments are designed for maximizing the standard deviation, which gives the most detail for grading. This is achieved by having the average be 50. This, in turn, means that, if you're doing fine, you could do twice as much work and still not get everything done. And you could check over your answers if you really wanted to, and take even more effort. So it's not like you're ever done with all your upcoming assignments and have time to work on the long-range ones.
Also, the main risk isn't doing badly in classes or failing them, it's going insane. If you pass any of your classes (or even if you don't, really), you're better of than if you have to take a term off. So doing something fun and relaxing can actually be quite important. I heard claims that sleeping at night sometimes helps, too, but I didn't try that. Relaxing when you need to is always on a shorter deadline than the end of the term, so it takes precedence.
And, of course, every class has something or other due at the end of the term (or a final just after classes end). You're in trouble if you've got three things due for this class at the same time as every other class has some project or exam.
So the optimal strategy is probably to choose deadlines around when your other classes have big assignments and exams, and stick to those deadlines, but tell the professor you'll have everything in at the end of term (but then forget that you didn't specify your deadlines).
The thing I'd find most interesting is how many students chose to have the deadlines at the end of term, but then turned in the first assignment in the first half of the term.
First of all, there's always something you're supposed to be doing. If you have three assignments for a class due at the end of term, you'll definitely have more important things to get done all term, and then you won't have enough time at the end of term to do the assignments. Even if you didn't do anything fun all term, you'll have procrastinated by getting more of each of the assignments for other classes done than you would have had you worked on the end-of-term assignment earlier. It's really hard to give up on an assignment that's due tomorrow because you haven't started on the one due in two months. It's not just that you have a more immediate reward if you procrastinate the stuff that's not due tomorrow; the reward is calculated and reported to you in advance in percentage points, and you definitely lose those points if you don't go after them immediately.
Also, assignments are designed for maximizing the standard deviation, which gives the most detail for grading. This is achieved by having the average be 50. This, in turn, means that, if you're doing fine, you could do twice as much work and still not get everything done. And you could check over your answers if you really wanted to, and take even more effort. So it's not like you're ever done with all your upcoming assignments and have time to work on the long-range ones.
Also, the main risk isn't doing badly in classes or failing them, it's going insane. If you pass any of your classes (or even if you don't, really), you're better of than if you have to take a term off. So doing something fun and relaxing can actually be quite important. I heard claims that sleeping at night sometimes helps, too, but I didn't try that. Relaxing when you need to is always on a shorter deadline than the end of the term, so it takes precedence.
And, of course, every class has something or other due at the end of the term (or a final just after classes end). You're in trouble if you've got three things due for this class at the same time as every other class has some project or exam.
So the optimal strategy is probably to choose deadlines around when your other classes have big assignments and exams, and stick to those deadlines, but tell the professor you'll have everything in at the end of term (but then forget that you didn't specify your deadlines).
The thing I'd find most interesting is how many students chose to have the deadlines at the end of term, but then turned in the first assignment in the first half of the term.
Monday, 11 December 2006
With apologies to Ol' Bill
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to an XLRI student? Then happy low, lie down and free!
Uneasy lies the head that strives for an MBA degree.
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to an XLRI student? Then happy low, lie down and free!
Uneasy lies the head that strives for an MBA degree.
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Sunday, 17 September 2006
pockpicketed!
Getting back from (understatement alert!) a perfectly decent trip to Bangalore, I disembark the half-hour-delayed Udyan Express at Kalyan station, only to find all local trains are running indefinitely late because of flooding of the tracks at Mulund. "What the duck?", I think to myself, but fortunately a fast train bound for CST was just about to pull in. "Hurray", I think to myself again, and head for the platform in question, somewhat annoyed at the crowd for the time of evening, but mostly relieved that a train had deigned to pass by.
Stepping over piles of bags, some toes and a lot of slush (on the platform!), I make my way to the general compartments section. "Crowded!", I think to myself, yet again. As an aside - all this thinking to myself was only because I was alone, else I'd have thought out aloud to myself. Anyways, I wait for the wild Khopoli buggers to hop down, and begin to scramble inside. Managed to get in, bag intact, and got a nice little corner to stand in while waiting for the monster to edge its way towards Thane.
Dombivli came, Dombivli went. Then came the realization that something was not where it should be. This was instantly followed by the realization that it was my wallet that was not where it should it, and it should've been in the pocket of my jeans. "Uh-oh", I think to myself. All those proofs of identity. College ID, PAN card, driving license - all gone. Along with the usual bunch of credit cards and cash. But most importantly, the swipe-card to my XLRI hostel room was gone. HOW WAS I GOING TO GET THERE AND PATCH INTO THE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET WITHOUT ACCESS TO MY ROOM?!?!?!?!?!?
Panicked, calmed down, reported loss to railway police at Thane station, came home, related sob story to anybody who'd care to listen, sat at laptop to find out various banks' customer care numbers to report loss of credit and debit cards, and the phone rang. With news that some guy had found my wallet and wanted to return it.
"Hurray", I thought to myself. Fixed up a time and place to meet him, did so, retrieved documents proving one's existence, came back home after deciding to ditch the only Bombay Quiz Club meet one could have attended this term-break, and typed out boring blog posts. Here. Slashbot always has interesting stuff :-D
Which just reminds me, I just added a link to Slashbot to this blog. Pretty dumb not to link to your own blog, eh?
Stepping over piles of bags, some toes and a lot of slush (on the platform!), I make my way to the general compartments section. "Crowded!", I think to myself, yet again. As an aside - all this thinking to myself was only because I was alone, else I'd have thought out aloud to myself. Anyways, I wait for the wild Khopoli buggers to hop down, and begin to scramble inside. Managed to get in, bag intact, and got a nice little corner to stand in while waiting for the monster to edge its way towards Thane.
Dombivli came, Dombivli went. Then came the realization that something was not where it should be. This was instantly followed by the realization that it was my wallet that was not where it should it, and it should've been in the pocket of my jeans. "Uh-oh", I think to myself. All those proofs of identity. College ID, PAN card, driving license - all gone. Along with the usual bunch of credit cards and cash. But most importantly, the swipe-card to my XLRI hostel room was gone. HOW WAS I GOING TO GET THERE AND PATCH INTO THE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET WITHOUT ACCESS TO MY ROOM?!?!?!?!?!?
Panicked, calmed down, reported loss to railway police at Thane station, came home, related sob story to anybody who'd care to listen, sat at laptop to find out various banks' customer care numbers to report loss of credit and debit cards, and the phone rang. With news that some guy had found my wallet and wanted to return it.
"Hurray", I thought to myself. Fixed up a time and place to meet him, did so, retrieved documents proving one's existence, came back home after deciding to ditch the only Bombay Quiz Club meet one could have attended this term-break, and typed out boring blog posts. Here. Slashbot always has interesting stuff :-D
Which just reminds me, I just added a link to Slashbot to this blog. Pretty dumb not to link to your own blog, eh?
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