Author: admin

Avg, mean, and average

One of the annoying things about learning a new programming language / library is to remember all the small nuances that come with it. For example, why should it be that in some places you have to use avg() to calculate the average of a list of data points whereas other demand you use mean()… Continue reading Avg, mean, and average

The Catch-22 of Democracy

There have been many things written and said about Democracy. I agree with some of those, disagree with the most. Unlike many people believe, I do not consider Democracy as the best system of governance. In my academically (or otherwise) limited opinion, it’s just the better among all the worst that we can possibly choose.… Continue reading The Catch-22 of Democracy

Finding the sum of Infinite series using Zeno’s paradox (and not the other way around).

I’ll provide a very succinct overview of what Zeno’s paradox actually is (you can read about it in depth at Zeno’s paradoxes – Wikipedia). One of its multiple versions is as follows: Imagine that Achilles (the famous Greek Hero) and a Tortoise are, for whatever reasons, playing tag with each other with the tortoise having… Continue reading Finding the sum of Infinite series using Zeno’s paradox (and not the other way around).

Surely you’re publishing, Mr. Feynman!

The so called publish-or-perish culture in academia is real. Academics, specially at top-tier Research Universities, have a tremendous pressure to continuously produce publishable results, i.e. results that can be published in good journals and/or conferences. In an ideal world, publishable would be synonymous to substantial, but sadly, that is not the case. In a bid… Continue reading Surely you’re publishing, Mr. Feynman!

Mind-Blowing loneliness.

Mind Blowing. Such a colorful word that aptly describes what happens during the times when we are utterly swept away by the magnitude of what we just learned / realized. Of course, there are no dynamites involved, but there might as well be because until the dust settles, we are left agitated, unable to contain… Continue reading Mind-Blowing loneliness.

Impotence of the commoners

William Forster Lloyd famously outlined the idea of The Tragedy of the Commons in 1833. To summarize, it refers to the fact that any shared resource (i.e. commons) that has a slow recovery rate is bound to deplete eventually due to the greed of those sharing it. The example that’s almost always invoked to explain… Continue reading Impotence of the commoners

The pronoun conundrum

One of the things that I really like about the English language is the universality of the pronoun. It’s just you for everyone and this includes your parents, children, siblings, coworkers, boss, president, CEO and basically whoever you meet. Well, I suppose there are exceptions, but let’s get to it later. People who grew up… Continue reading The pronoun conundrum