Finally Firefox on PC

Dear Sumant,

I finally moved to firefox on my PC. I have been using firefox on linux machine for past two years and have liked it. My transition to IE 7 hasn't been good. Its too slow and takes a lot of time whereas the firefox on windows XP is a breeze. I wonder why it took me so long to make this decision. My Thanksgiving break is over, it was a good break and I spend most of my time relaxing and reading. School starts from tomorrow and things are going to be busy. I moreover need to get back to schedule of getting up early. Yesterday I went again to see "Bourbon Knights" at Hangar and it was fun. It was a surprise to bump into Jennifer Brown and we had a small talk. I hope she has forgiven me. I also met Jessica Bayer and we chatted for a while. Jen, local yokel, Jackson and many other familiar people were also there. Today I met Teresa at Vine and it was good to see her after a long time. I went grocery shopping and then played ping pong

Thats for now
Sumant Sumant

Phishing website

I received a message from one friend to click on this website http://www.geocities.com/sexypic44/ and it turned out to be a phishing website. I don't know how long will this website remain open but I just checked in again. The webpage is exact replica of yahoo photos website and it prompts you to enter your password and id. Even though my browser detected it as a phishing website. I wasn't paying much attention to it. So it tricked me into revealing my password. I realized a moment later when it redirected me to the main website and again asking the password but with a slightly different layout. I immediately changed my password. Logged out of yahoo and messenger. Hope I am safe.

Video Lectures

Maple Video Lectures
These are perhaps the best video lectures for learning Maple
http://gso.math.tamu.edu/~mpilant/math696/2004-Videos/videos.html


Lots of good lectures from University of Colorado, Denver
http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~rbyrne/flash.htm


Polya institute lectures (elementary math)
http://www.sci.uidaho.edu/polya/

Eclectic collection of video lectures from anneberg, register yourself and enjoy the wonderful lectures
http://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html

This guy rocks and he has a lot of good links to video lectures on his website

Mathematical lectures
http://freescienceonline.blogspot.com/2006/06/free-mathematics-video-courses.html

Electrical Engineering lectures (These include links to Berkley's complete lectures on DSP)
http://freescienceonline.blogspot.com/2006/06/engineering-video-lectures.html

Calculus 1 lectures
http://www.math.lamar.edu/faculty/maesumi/calculusone.html
http://www.math.armstrong.edu/faculty/hollis/calcvideos/

Lots of streaming video lectures here from san fransisco website
http://stream.sfsu.edu/

Garden of the Gods trip

Dear Sumant,

Today after the thanksgiving dinner at Newman Center Akina and I decided to visit Barnes and Noble but it was closed. So at the spur of moment decision we decided to visit Garden of the Gods. Its funny that I have been here in southern illinois for around 3 and half years and still didn't goto Garden of the Gods. The closest I been was Harrisburg when I took Ishan last time. So I knew the way till Harrisburg. I have tried to find the map for it several times on internet and even on the website of the Garden of the Gods with no success. Just as you are about to leave Harrisburg there is a CVS pharmacy. We decided to check in to find out the route of Garden of the Gods from there. The store clerk drew an out of scale map to us and all we did was follow it up. Here is the map and I think if you want to reach Garden of Gods from the CVS pharmacy its the best map . I have done some annotation on the map she drew to give you a little more idea about the route we were on. It was good to have Akina as she had been there before and was little familiar with the route. She showed me the camel rock and all other different rock formations. While returning back we went to the new and bigger walmart at Marion spending time evaluating ear mufflers, to passing judgement on shot guns. We played two games of air hockey there and ate potato wedges. We were back at 19:30.

Euler's Conjecture

I am excited, I just found out about the Euler's conjecture which took a long time to disprove
for n = 5, the counter example is 27^5 + 84^5 + 110^5 + 133^5 = 144^5 and was found by Lander and Parkin and for n = 4, the counter example was found using the supercomputer in 1986 by Noam Elkies
2682440^4 + 15365639^4 + 18796760^4 = 20615673^4

India China Relationship

President Hu Jintao is currently visiting India and its the first time a Chinese premier is visiting in 10 years. I am a strong strong advocate of better China-India relationship and that means an enhanced economic relationship, while the current talk is about raising the trade of 40 billions, I wouldn't be surprised if in near future it reaches a trillion mark. Enhanced economic relationship can be facilitated by better people to people contact which has been minimal in the past four decades. While some people are raising the voice that Tibet has to be the precondition for any relation with China, I think its not in the best interest of both countries. India and China by enhancing mutual trade benefit equally. Historically it has been seen that as economies prosper so does the respect for humanity, culture and philanthropy. Its time the two nation now embark on a high speed economic agenda and let the people of these two countries be the winner.

Sumant Sumant

Buddhist Inspiration

As I child in India I was exposed to Buddhist philosophy in school curriculum and as someone born into Hinduism Buddha was one another god to be reverred. The first time I ever been to a Buddhist temple is I believe was when I was around 5 or 6 year old could be less. It was a temple at mandir marg next to birla mandir. I think I also read jatak kathayein in my early childhood. It was in 2001 I read Sidhartha and in 2002 I visited several places in Himalayas with Rekha. I consider myself a Buddhist and reading this book was a pleasure.

Reading for pleasure

Dear Sumant,

I am really happy right now. Its thanksgiving break and today I went to Barnes and Nobles to meet Robert to discuss "Abstract Algebra". We did go over the first and second chapter and will be meeting again on Tuesday. I started my day with a cantaloupe, two tomatoes and a grape fruit. At Barnes and nobles I had a hot chocolate pastry and a cold vanilla latte. The thing which is making me excited that I was able to finish two books cover to cover and several other cursorily. The two books were "Buddhist Inspiration" by Tom Lowenstein and "Leaving Microsoft to change the world" by John Wood. I will post a separate review of these two. The other book I went over were "Dr. Euler's famous formula". The little red book of writing" and Jack Welch's "Winning".

Best regards
Sumant Sumant

China House food rocks !!

Dear Sumant,

Today I along with Dave, Kelly, Mary and Gary went to China House after we discovered that the other restaurant "Global Gourmet" didn't have much vegetarian menu. I am glad we went to China House. I don't remember the exact name of the dish but it was under vegetable menu and the name starts with r, its an assortment of fried vegetables including unpealed peas. It was awesome !! I ordered an extra spicy and loved it though right now I am having an upset stomach. Seems that whenever I eat spicy food other than Indian I can handle the chilly level but my stomach can't. After that I went to play bowling with Alicia. First we went to student center to discover that it was close. 20 hrs and it was closed ! Then we went to Carterville to another bowling place, the yahoo map we used gave us the wrong direction and so it took us a while to find it. Later I went to Sankhdeep Roy's place. He had cooked Choley and they were delicious. In the evening I went to student center to study and was glad that I learned some new things in Linear Algebra regarding Inner Product and Inner Product Space. Tomorrow I plan to finish off the first homework and read more.

Yesterday I watched "Lagey Raho Munna bhai". I skipped the first part and started from 45 minutes ahead. I very much enjoyed the movie. Its about the teachings of Gandhiji and they have coined a new word called "Gandhigiri. Gandhigiri means telling the truth and thinking good about other people.

Best regards
Sumant Sumant

Highest Endowment to any educational group

I recently found out about the Vedanta's epic venture to give a highest endowment in the annals of educational institute. Vedanta is a mining company having its interests in Africa and India. Its founder has committed a $1 billion for establishing a top class university in India in the state of Orissa. The university will come up in next 2 years and will be fully functional by 2025 and making it one of the largest in the world with an intake of around 90,000 students. That would put Vedanta in ranks close to Penn State which has some 85000 students. Good cause and I am excited about learning it.

Sumant Sumant

You Tube Education Revolution

I just want to reiterate through my blog what I have been saying and which could revolutionized the academic standard through out the world if there is some concentrated effort to bring the video lectures of all classes online. It used to be difficult for MIT and Berkeley to provide a dedicated server for having their lectures in the public domain but You Tube, Live Digital and other video blog sharing sites have shown that hurdle is now gone and so its time people start posting the lectures of their classes for everyone to benefit and thereby raising the standard of education world wide ! I wonder should I start an online petition for this. If you have an idea which can prod these institutions to make available thier video lecture let's discuss.

Sumant Sumant

My Car Mechanic is better than yours

Recently I got my rear breaks fixed for my car and so had to call my mechanic Tom. Till now I was under the impression that Tom was just another car mechanic. I got to know him better while he came to pick me up to buy some parts like Master Cylinder, Break shoes etc. In the ensuing chit chat I find out that he has a Masters from California and a Ph.D from Southern Illinois. Before making his avocation as his profession he worked for General Electrics. Now tell me does your car mechanic is that professional ?? Besides that he is a wonderful wonderful individual ! I feel great to know him as a person.

Spring 07 Schedule

Dear Sumant,

Right now I am in a fix, I want to join graduate school but there is no assistanceship for spring. I don't know how to react but I am hopeful that things will turn out good. I am peped up for the fact that math 501 is going to be taught by Dr. Salah , 419 by Dr. Ban and 409 by Dr. Kammler.

Thats for now
Sumant Sumant

Changing ways I get news

Dear Sumant,

Few days back I was thinking how much change has taken place in the way I get my news. I got addicted to News I think around grade 9th or 10th. I used to love reading Times of India, then there was The Hindu newspaper which debuted in New Delhi and I loved it for its articles, editorials, international coverage plus Wednesday supplement of science and technology, the young world on Saturday and the travel and art supplement on Sunday. Around early through mid 1990s was one of the times where both print and electronic media were undergoing a revolutionary change in India and I was very excited about that. The government in 1996 was seriously considering DTH but it just didn't materialize. The censorship issue of Star Movies and petty lawsuits by some unknown lawyers were my first dose of how much freedom of speech and thought we respect in India. I remained faithful to print media before going to bhiwani and then it was also a time when the fledgling internet was taking roots. More and more media companies started offering 24 hr news channel and I loved it. Some of the channels I loved were BBC, CNN and business news channels like ABNi, CNBC. Discovery was another favorite of mine. During ST more of my news was through online media like rediff.com, nytimes.com, cnn.com and timesofindia.com and I was reading more and more of screen. Fast forward few years and in US they become my primary source of news. Till CNN started the video feeds. I was once again back to watching news but this time online. I got bored of CNN as its too much crime report specific. They get one news and they broadcast it to death. Only four types of news make sense to them bashing the republicans, following some celebrity, covering a tragedy or murder news in some boondocks of America. In between I also discovered businessweek.com and to this day it remains my favorite. I am a voracious readers of most business magazines and most of my reading is done online. With the advent of news.yahoo.com and news.google.com its more now reading from these sites or sometime I would just read the transcripts from the CNN as it saves time than just sitting and watching it. I just discovered diggs.com and I think this is the favorite along with slashdot.com. I am just a news junkie. I also love Reuters for their much better coverage of international affairs than either of BBC and CNN.

Best regards
Sumant Sumant

Borat Review

I saw borat this Friday and it was obviously more than what trailers hoped to shock you but then if you have seen Ali G show like me you are kind of prepared for the stuff he is supposed to dish you out in his movie. Loosely saying Borat is far more cynical than most other serious American bashing movie. The primary vehicle is to trap people into saying things on camera which they wouldn't dare to say. No doubt Borat tricks you into saying politically incorrect things and also making a fool of yourself. If you are going to see this rest assured you will be laughing straight for the next 1 and half hrs. However coming out of theatre is a mixed feeling because his humor crosses the line at several places and its a guilt feeling of laughing at the predicament of unsuspecting poor people. It would be needless to say that Borat is going to be one of the highest gross movie of 2006, and this movie now only raises the bar for the future movies to shockingly entertain us.

Tum Bin Review

So after such a long time, I finally got to see this movie. I remember the first time I heard the song of "Tum Bin Jiyajaye kaise .." way back in 2002 in Rekha and Hema's place. The song is pretty good and music is awesome. I got interested in the movie when I moved to US and wanted to see it but had no luck. So finally when some one uploaded it on You Tube I got to see it. The movie is simple love story about a girl who looses her boyfriend in a freak car accident to someone who goes back to her place to repent and end up loving her and the feeling is mutual though not expressed. Then there is a third guy now also in love with this lissome lass. There are no villains so its better. The end is happy so you will love it. I don't know how much I try to be emotionally detached these kind of movies have a strange effect on me, I cry like a one year old child from whom you have taken is only candy. I guess its like fully enjoying the emotional ride these movie offer you and I like it if I am watching alone so I can cry without any embarrassment. LOL ! Besides some great hummable songs the film is shot in beautiful Calgary and that is an added attraction. You will love it if you want to just sit and enjoy a good romantic movie.

You Tube Revolution, We want video lectures of best professor on these website

You Tube has revolutionized the way we entertain ourselves. You Tube has rightly so been awarded the Times Best Invention. It should only be a matter of time when it revolutionized the way education is imparted. The beginning has been made you can get free piano lessons, algebra lessons among plethora of other. MIT's open source project is a big push in the direction of making educational material available to masses the only thing which it lacks is the complete video lectures and that is where sites like You Tube, Live Digital are going to come in. My prediction would be it could be done in just one single semester, all you need is bunch of kids with a camcorder in hand recording all the lessons in their class and posting for the world to benefit. Its bound to happen the question is how soon its going to happen and believe me this is going to revolutionize the way the standard of education all over the worldwill rise. Remember Dr. Gilbert Strang's lecture and how much they influence the Linear Algebra. For example I am interested in Video Lectures on Complex Analysis, Topology, Compiler designing, Real Analysis, Measure Theory and so many things. All it is required that somebody tells these professors that how much they can push the frontier of education by including their video lectures and posting it on internet and if you are a student and feel that your professor is an awesome teacher go ahead post his video lecture on internet.

US Polls and Jennifer Brown

Dear Sumant,

Once again the elections are here. Again all the exit polls show a thumping victory for Democrats. It reminds me of all these exit polls predicting similar victory for Kerry. I am just again curious with what happens this time because time and again these predictions have gone awry. So one more day to go before the surprise will be cleared.

Yesterday I finally had a last word with Jennifer Brown, I feel sorry that it didn't go the way I felt but then I realized that a big part was my mistake. She didn't understand my priorties and I didn't paid attention to her requirements taking her for granted. I felt good after giving her a written apology as I really feel guilty. It seemed like a big burden I got out of my chest. Hopefully I have learned something to become a better person and now actually I am feeling way better. But I certainly going to miss her as I had emotionally got connected to her and really wanted her to be a part of my life and make her feel free from her insecurities. She wanted a long term stable relation and finally I was ready for that but alas too late :( ! I will be sorry for her because she is an amazing, intelligent and a wonderful person and deserves much more from life but they way she is resizing her dreams makes me shudder to think her future but then I have seen so many brilliant people getting emotionally carried away and forgetting about all the great things and a fun life they were destined to live. I hope she finds her calling and live upto her potential ofcourse if she needs help I will be there to pull her up ! Its time for me to move on.

Thats for now
Best regards
Sumant Sumant

Naksha

Hey Sumant,

It is just a quick update about the things. I lost 7 pounds of extra weight that I had put on in the last 8 months and this is because of the fruit diet and a control over the soda and chocolate intake. I now weigh around 55kg or 121 pounds. Its amazing that before that how much I liked these two and now I have no pangs and happily go without them. As a matter of fact sometimes if I drink I don't even enjoy it. My badminton is steadily improving and I am smashing like a pro :). Today I want to spend time dwelling on the mysteries of eigen values and diagonalization matrices. I am liking the supplements that "Visual Linear Algebra" has for Maple. I also intend to finish off the 319 homework.
Yesterday I watched "Naksha". I only watched the 2nd half of the movie and I skipped most songs and inane fight, however I think the story of the movie was a little original though I am not sure it hasn't taken inspiration from big movies of past. So you can say that I kind of enjoyed that movie, though I wouldn't admit on a straight face. Also yesterday I went "Bowling" and it was fun. Rebekah and Tim were the best players we had and I was glad wheeling Sarah for her bowling throws. Fun time even though I tore my nail bowling a 12 pound bowl.


Best regards
Sumant Sumant

125 million Mobile phones in India

Dear Sumant,

I have been tracking the growth of mobile phones in India. In October 2006, India crossed th 125 million subscriber mark. Indeed mobile phones have been the fuel to the bolstering economic activity that India is experiencing and it also buttress my claim that people are smart everywhere, all they need is a little bit of guidance and if you provide the necessary infrastructure they will surprise you with the entrepreneurship. I was particularly happy for Africa which is now the fastest growing market for Mobile phones in the world. It is now growing twice as fast as the Asian markets, which again belies the claim of old seasoned professionals that Africa is hard to develop.

Best regards
Sumant Sumant