How to refute Creationist
I frequently get into this sort of argument over lunch table. Best illustrated in the pic here.
Similar links: That’s what is Science, Why am I no-believer ?
If you liked the cartoon, watch this :
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A T M
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A T M
Pirates of Silicon Valley
I was watching this movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, last weekend. Hugely entertaining and informative at the same time. Purely made for geeks. Sorta spoof but not far from the real story.
All about the historical battle between Microsoft and Apple over the War of PCs and OS.
You get to watch younger nerdy Bill Gates, Design God Steve and wizard Woz.
You will know why Steve Jobs hates Bill Gates, what made Woz quit Apple, Who is ‘Lisa’ and other interesting incidents in their life. Once you finish watching read this page.
In the same breath, check this out. There is more to Apple than just iMac,iPod and iPhone.
My friend Niranjan, pointed this interesting video of Steve and Bill, going down the memory lane.-
Niranjan
none explains the PC history and the realtionship of bill and steve than these videos at http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070531/video-steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-highlight-reel/
takes time but watch all the seven videos, its going to be funny. -
ATM
Hey Thanks Niranjan for pointing me to that video. I’m gonna put it up on the page. Good one.
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A T M
TCP split into TCP and IP
We all know about IPv4 and IPv6. But that doesn’t lead us to think about previous versions.
There were versions like
TCPv1
TCPv2
Later it was split into TCP and IP in 1978 as TCPv3 and IPv3
Finally we arrived at TCP v4 and IPv4 -
A T M
1 Mbps connection = 1,000 Kbps
I saw another post about this confusion of bits and bytes, and was not convinced with the representation. So trying to illustrating here my way.The Internet connection speed is measured in bits.
Megabits (Mb) or Kilobits (Kb).1 Mbps connection = 1,000 Kbps
It is not the same as Megabytes (MB) or Kilobytes (KB) that are typically used to measure file sizes on a hard disk.
1,000 Kbps ~= 125 KBps
[1 Byte = 8 Bits]Therefore if you ask for a 1Mbps broadband connection, it will take minimum 8 seconds to download a 1 MB file from the internet.
In the picture am downloading a software and the transfer rate is 71.8 KBps.
71.8KBps = 71.8 X 8 ~= 574 kbps ~= half of 1000 kbps ~= 0.5 Mbps connection.So am connected to a half Mbps LAN connection at office.
Just look at the connection speed with other connection types.
Test your internet speed here.
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A T M
Chidmbara Rahasya, directed by Prakash Belawadi
My Second visit to Ranga Shankara in a span of just one month. This time around with my parents over the weekend.
Play : Chidmbara Rahasya, directed by Prakash BelawadiThe story is sourced from KP Poorna Chandra Tejaswi’s novel by the same name.
Initial part of the play is intriguing with a mix of street politics, bit of agriculture economics and Science.
This researcher is working on a special variant of Cardamom (Elaichi), who gets mysteriously killed.
Intelligence officer, sent by the central govt. digs out more into the matter.
Story drifts to other petty politics and romance and loses out in the second half.
What looked like a thriller ended up like a social drama.
Was waiting to see Prakash Belawadi in a role. But do not know if he was disguised in any one of the characters.
Actors did a great job switching roles in instants. -
A T M
Strength of Electric Current
I never had a good feel or the measure of the strength of electric current. Had questions like what’s the power of a current when they say 1A, 100 A or say 200 mA and so on. You don’t get a pictureI was reading Floyd’s Electrical Fundamentals this morning. Very well illustrated book for electrical engineers.
It has a section on Electric shock.Electric shock is actually caused by the flow of electric current and not voltage.
But for electric current to flow we should have a voltage and resistance.Our body has a resistance typically from 10K ohm to 50k ohm
If you touch a voltage source of 90 V, you would receive 9 mA of current, which is dangerous.1 mA – Slight perception
10 mA – mild shock
20 mA – severe mild shock
200 mA – Could be fatal if it lasts for 5 seconds
4 A – Heart paralysis ( which 4000 mA )
5 A – Could burn the tissue and could be worse.So when you look at ratings on the electrical appliances next time, hope you’ll have some idea of how strong the current is.
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A T M
That’s what is Science.
Any ball tossed up on earth’s surface returns with an acceleration of 9.6 m/sec2.
Throw it any number of times. I mean ANY.
It returns with the same acceleration.
That is consistency.
And it is measurable.That’s what is Science all about. Consistently measurable with the same accuracy.
Anything which is immeasurable, or not yet understood is still a question to science.
It accepts challenges.
…..I was writing to a colleague on Science Vs God Debate. -
A T M
Historica
This is what it read in Businessline’s supplement this morning.
I quote two lines.Every job on this planet is boring and monotonous, if you don’t understand the science behind it.
So very true.But let me take some time to talk about history than science.
Be it Iraq crisis, India’s Satelite Program, New book of Richard Dawkins,Cricket team for the worldcup or New oil reserves in Bay of Bengal,What keeps me interested in a wide array of topics is the knowing of a bit of history in most of them, if not all.Subject of History scared me in my High school. It required us to write page length answers in english. No one gave a feeling that History has a ’story’ in it.When I grew up I happened to read an Encyclopaeida of world history. It had all the colors and pictures. Where did civilisations start ? when did farming start ?Why did they Discover new lands ? Who colonised whom ? World wars.etc
View of the World, for me changed like never before. This is what I read in my Schooling days!!Now, years later, the first thing I do before I delve into a new topic is trying to know its History and get a ‘bigger picture’, as they say. This is so very important to appreciate and make sense of the present.Last Friday evening I spent sometime looking for Encyclopaedia of world history.I found few. But they are still far from my imagery of that encyclopaedia. Either they lack the depth and content or their presentation is not upto the mark.I am looking for one : Encyclopaedia of world history. -
A T M
On buying a Notebook
Saturday I was there at Koramangala ezone and Jayanagar with my friend Aju, who was buying his notebook.
What one should look for buying a notebook.
Here’s list of things from top of my head
- Core Duo processor
( Intel or AMD, choice is yours. AMD powered ones are little cheaper.
64 bit processors are the new age processors.)- RAM
( Minimum of 512 MB RAM, anything lesser can annoy you easily.- DVD R/RW
DVD read writer is becoming the order of the day, before sony’s blu-ray disc technology sweeps over.- WindowsXP home edition. This is pre-loaded in the notebook. WindowsXP pro will be available in high end notebooks.
Got to see a WindowXP India starter edition, in low end notebooks.
Specially made for cost sensitive customers. Just hate that Poor man’s version of windows.
It looked like pieces of bread thrown at street dogs.- Other features to ask for include
802.11 a/b/g for wireless access
Bluetooth support
USB port
In-built speakers
Internal 56k modemMore or less all the laptop which are 40k+ do contain these features.
This is what we bought finally. Compaq v6000 for 46,000/-I must share this. I also bought a notebook.The same day. 6-subject notebook from Mahavir publishers
One notebook, which I cannot live without. I had a difficult time finding this particular note book for all these days. Finally hit it by accident at Jayanagar shopping complex. The last piece of this notebook in the shop. How lucky me. -
A T M
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
I read the review of this book couple of days back.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.I faintly remember the exact words which appealed me in the review.
I did a look up on the net.
This is what sums up the theme of the book in Dawkin’s words.
“I am hostile to fundamentalist religion because it actively debauches the scientific enterprise.
It teaches us not to change our minds, and not to want to know exciting things that are available to be known.
It subverts science and saps the intellect”debauch : Corrupt morally
subvert : Destroy completelySurely my next buy.
There are two other titles, not so serious reading, by Scott adams.
God’s Debris and The Religion War-
braga
funny , I was going through your book section and i noticed that you have read “the emerging mind ” and yet to read “the god delusion” . I read those two books in the reverse order.both are good reads.ramakrishna provides scientific debth , as for god delusion i have never read any other book with so much of science and logic from different fields. hope you enjoy reading it.
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dj is discussing. 
dj 3:09 PM on January 11, 2008 Permalink
arguments @ lunch time still continues huh
…glad to hear that. Am missing all the fun. Whats the latest HOT topic? What ever be it, am sure traffic, driving, God and patents will make a cameo appearence every now and then. Anyways Let the argument continue!!
ATM 3:19 PM on January 11, 2008 Permalink
Dipu. know what…we have cut down on the lunch time now. We spend more time outside. There are lots of birds in the campus. This symphony marketing solutions, has got all the spin. Even Surajit blinks