Rajeev's Almanack

The Next Iceland

Rajeev — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:59:47 +0000

.. Until a couple of months ago, Iceland was considered the fourth most productive country in the world with a per capita GDP of $65K. After fishing declined, Iceland opted not to industrialize itself: too polluting. Instead, they went into biotechnology, software and the like. And most of all, banking.

Yes We Can

Rajeev — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:53:10 +0000

Exhale Now. The US and the world came so close to a disaster and survived only because the right leader showed up. Just in time. Think back to the dark days after 9/11 when we almost destroyed ourselves by lashing out in blind rage. Hitting at imaginary enemies, while the real ones were regrouping [...]

FDR’s First Inaugural

Rajeev — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:25:59 +0000

The headlines today make us look back at a time when the country faced even greater economic peril. Now we stare into the abyss. Then we were at the bottom of that abyss. Yet we survived, and even thrived. In no small measure it is because the people had the wisdom to choose the right [...]

What Is A Tall Americano?

Rajeev — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:58:22 +0000

At the campus Starbuck’s Coffee Shop: “I would like a small coffee please” “Actually, our coffee machine is broken. So we don’t have coffee today” “Oh.” “You can get a Tall Americano.” I look around. There are many Americans around, most of them taller than me. Confused. “What is a Tall Americano?” “Small coffee”. “Oh Ok.”

The Drinking Age

Rajeev — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:25:46 +0000

At eighteen you are old enough to vote. To be registered for a potential draft, if you are male. Old enough to enlist in the armed forces, regardless of gender. And certainly to drive. But you cannot be trusted with a glass of beer until you are twenty one. That is the law [...]

Victory Lap

Rajeev — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:57:19 +0000

What seemed only an idealistic dream a year ago has come to pass. Elections were held in Pakistan. Both of the main political parties took part. Musharraf has resigned. One of the intellectual leaders of the opposition to Musharraf’s military regime, Husain Haqqani, is now the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States. But [...]

4000

Richard Saunders — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 03:05:43 +0000

The Education of Dr. Markey

Richard Saunders — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:09:26 +0000

Daniel Markey was Policy planning staff member, South and Central Asia portfolio, U.S. Department of State (2003-2007). He is now a senior fellow for South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. It is interesting to listen to the diissolution of Musharraf through the words of Dr. Markey: Mar 3 2008 Musharraf [...]

Bill Foster Elected to Congress

Rajeev — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:01:14 +0000

Bill Foster, the former Fermilab physicist, won the special election to replace Speaker Dennis Hastert in the House of Representatives for the next eleven months. There will be a regular election with the rest of the country in November, for a full term of two years. The margin of victory, 53-47, would be respectable [...]

Musharraf Loses

Richard Saunders — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:30:00 +0000

The most important election this year could be the one just concluded in Pakistan. In spite of the rigging, and the low turnout from an electorate in mortal danger, it looks like a fairly credible result. Musharraf’s allies lost. A good first step on a long road to recovery for Pakistan.

North Vs South

Rajeev — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:33:55 +0000

North Indian migrant workers in Mumbai are being attacked by a militant organization (known by the acronym MNS) which exploits the resentment of the local population. The most odious of the political leaders egging the violent mob on is Raj Thackeray. A generation ago the same folks (Raj’s uncle Bal was the leader [...]

The Trolley Problem

Richard Saunders — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:22:40 +0000

Whenever a nation has done something deeply embarrassing, which shames its decent citizens, moral philosophy thrives. As though the obvious atrocity can somehow be hidden behind sophisticated reasonings about abstract thought experiments. Psychologists must have some fancy name for this phenomenon. We live in such a time now. You cannot open the New Yorker [...]

How to Deal with Office Spam

Richard Saunders — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 14:30:10 +0000

Everyone gets office spam in their email. I don’t mean the ads for Viagra or requests to help a worthy gentleman smuggle millions of dollars out of Nigeria. I mean the email where some colleague (say Tom) is replying to a note about some one else (Dick) by a third person [...]

The Sound of Coins

Rajeev — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:33:37 +0000

A parable, possibly of Buddhist origin: The baker dangled the freshly made bread under the Bodhisatva’s nose. He knew it was overpriced, but the smell still enticed Him. So He breathed in deep. The baker, knowing he had lost the sale, said “Hey, if you are enjoying the smell of my bread, [...]

Neck and Neck

Rajeev — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:51:08 +0000

National Poll: AP reports that Obama is catching up even in New York (Quinnipiac University Polling Institute) ___ THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS Hillary Rodham Clinton, 53 percent Barack Obama, 39 percent ___ A Quinnipiac poll on Jan. 22 had him trailing, 51 percent to 25 percent.

The New Faith

Rajeev — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:26:45 +0000

I am at my daughter’s birthday party the other day, chatting with the father of one of the girls. “So, what do you do?”

FermiLab is in Trouble

Rajeev — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:02:39 +0000

FermiLab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) is the premier High Energy Physics research facility in the US. Located outside Chicago, it is named for the renowned Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi. SLAC is the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the second most important center in the US for High Energy Physics. Both institutions are in deep trouble [...]

When It is Time to Leave-2

Richard Saunders — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:53:42 +0000

When we published the post reprinted below, we did not have President Clinton in mind. All of us are familiar with leaders who find it hard to bow out, even after their time is up. The wisdom of the American people in imposing a limit of two terms on Presidents [...]

India Launches Israeli Spy Satellite

Rajeev — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:44:01 +0000

Times, they are a-changing. It was not too long ago that Indian diplomats used to make speeches at the UN General Assembly condemning Israel. A new, more pragmatic, generation is in charge of India now. Fewer speeches at the UN. More interested in development and return [...]

Bill Foster for Congress

Rajeev — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:52:48 +0000

Congress makes decisions that require scientific knowledge all the time. Yet very few Congressmen have a science background. So it is in all of our interests to have scientists run for Congress. Bill Foster, a physicist with a distinguished career at Fermilab, is doing just that. (I know him only by [...]

Big Science

Rajeev — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:46:35 +0000

An analogy is often made between scientific research and exploration. In High Energy Physics, the accelerator physicists are the ship builders, the theoreticians the map makers, phenemenologists the navigators and the experimentalists are the sailors. The spokesman for the experimentalists is the captain of the ship, a dashing figure with power over life [...]

NYTimes Sees the Light

Richard Saunders — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:31:09 +0000

It’s official. The Grey Lady hath spoken. The Pakistani secret service (ISI) has been aiding terrorists even as they claim to be fighting them. Not only that, they rigged the original election that made Musharraf President. The plan was to hold the extremists in reserve, to use against India and Afghanistan when the Western powers [...]

What Would Gandhi Drive?

Rajeev — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:55:01 +0000

Nano Nano Nano has been a buzz word in physics for a while. Now it is also the name of a car, made by Tata Motors of India. It is cute, looking more like a toy car than a real one. It is small. I have seen potholes in Calcutta that [...]

Drona’s Revenge

Rajeev — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:52:04 +0000

Drona was the greatest teacher of his time. He had no peer in his command of the martial arts and sciences. But, at the end of many years of studying and perfecting his skills, he found himself destitute, and with a wife and son to support. He decided to pay a visit [...]

Bhutto Died of Indigestion

Richard Saunders — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:47:41 +0000

Breaking News…. The crack investigation team set up by General Musharraf to investigate the death of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto has submitted its report. The conclusions might surprise some who made hasty deductions based on a grainy video. Mrs. Bhutto died from a severe case of indigestion. Having lived abroad for so long, her stomach could no [...]

Environmentalism is a Conservative Cause

Rajeev — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:34:34 +0000

Something odd is happening with environmentalism. It is being opposed vehemently by American Conservatives. What is strange about this is that usually the drive to preserve nature comes from conservatives. It is not a coincidence that the words `conservative’ and `conservation’ have the same root.

Another Bhutto Assasinated

Richard Saunders — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:16:19 +0000

Other Posts on Pakistan Contrary to popular wisdom it really is the time now to assign blame. It lies squarely with the Pakistani Army and its Commander-in-Chief, Pervez Musharraf. The same army assassinated her father, Zulfikar Bhutto, after a sham trial. The same army has been plundering the country’s [...]

Names

Richard Saunders — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:05:41 +0000

Our publisher has described the origin of his name elsewhere. Interesting names are all around us. The Roman Catholic Church had a Cardinal named Sin. He was the Archbishop of Manila,

A Random Pursuit

S. G. Rajeev — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:08:15 +0000

A missile is launched when an airplane is directly overhead, at a height . The missile moves at a constant speed always heading directly towards the aircraft, which is moving along a straight line at constant velocity . What is the shape of the missile’s trajectory? How far will the aircraft fly before [...]

Helluva Job Mushie!

Richard Saunders — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:22:03 +0000

Other articles on Pakistan Excerpt from an interview with President Bush by ABC News Nov 2007. What’s his name has agreed to hold elections in January, and he’s agreed to take his uniform off. Frankly, I think he should do that in the privacy of his own home, but hey, [...]

Musharraf’s Departure is not Enough

Richard Saunders — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 04:15:18 +0000

Next in Line? Despite his willingness to blog on our site , I also think it is time for Musharraf to go. It is not enough that he `take off his uniform’. It is time for Musharraf to retire from the Army and give up the Presidency. If he is [...]

Musharraf’s decree

Richard Saunders — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:00:37 +0000

The Lincoln of Pakistan Other posts edited by P. Richard Saunders Editor’s note I am posting here the full text of my dear friend Mushie’s decree imposing emergency rule. A partial text of the decree has been published before by BBC. I have been able to obtain [...]

Welcome Richard Saunders

Rajeev — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:22:58 +0000

Please welcome to our midst blogger and editor P. Richard Saunders. In addition to his own posts, Richard will also be moderating comments and answering emails addressed to the blog.

Guest Column by Musharraf

Richard Saunders — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:15:21 +0000

My friends abroad, I am writing this with joy in my heart. Our long national nightmare is over. Full Democracy has been achieved and Full Justice has triumphed. Extremism in all its forms has been defeated. The humiliation of public servants by the judiciary has been stopped. Our Mission has been Accomplished.

Complex Time in Quantum Tunneling

S. G. Rajeev — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:46:48 +0000

Perhaps the most spectacular early prediction of quantum mechanics was tunneling: that particles can do things that are forbidden in Newton’s mechanics, although with a small probability.

The Geometry of Thermodynamics

S. G. Rajeev — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:57:52 +0000

Thermodynamics is perhaps the most remarkable of all physical theories. We have none other than Albert Einstein vouching for this:

A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises is, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended is its area of applicability. Therefore the deep impression which classical thermodynamics made upon me. It is the only physical theory of universal content concerning which I am convinced that, within the framework of the applicability of its basic concepts, it will never be overthrown (for the special attention of those who are skeptics on principle).

Another President General

Richard Saunders — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:28:40 +0000

Read Also Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 The shadowy machinations in Pakistan bring to mind another time and place where a President who had also been a General acted decisively to enforce a Court Order. The President was General (retd.) Eisenhower dealing with a crisis that started [...]

Reduction or Emergence

S. G. Rajeev — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:08:23 +0000

Earnest Rutherford used to say that all science is either physics or stamp collecting. This could have been a dig at the biologists of his time, who were still collecting samples and classifying species. He probably would have thought more highly of modern molecular biology, which is a lot like his physics in [...]

Matrix Diagonalization by Sampling

S. G. Rajeev — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:10:04 +0000

It is hard to think of a problem more ubiquitous than the diagonalization of a matrix.I will discuss today a statistical approximation method for finding the eigenvalues of a symmetric matrix.

President General Rani

Richard Saunders — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:52:08 +0000

We were just leaked a white paper on the situation in Pakistan written by up and coming analysts who used to man the South Asia Desk at State. Now they write in a blog named The Washington- Not!. For reasons of modesty they wish to remain [...]

Absurdistan

Richard Saunders — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:18:49 +0000

Perhaps a deal could be that Musharraf can continue as President if he will wear only pink dresses. Pink floral dresses with ruffles and a modest head covering. And he will be known from now on as General Rani. The previous General Rani was Zia Ul-Haq's mistress, but she just will have to give up her title.

Medieval Navigation in the Arabian Sea

Rajeev — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:28:27 +0000

Read First: Longitude Zero Indians call the bay between Africa and India the Arabian Sea. Throughout the medieval times it was controlled by Arab sailors. They established settlements down the East coast of Africa, as far down as Malindi in Kenya.

Longitude Zero

Rajeev — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:29:37 +0000

Continued in: Medieval Navigation in the Arabian Sea One of the early achievements of Indian Mathematical Astronomy (jyotisha) was the system of latitude (aksha-amsa) and Longitude (rekha-amsa). The prime meridian passed through Ujjaini, the capital of the country of Avanti.

Politicians and Generals

Richard Saunders — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 22:20:52 +0000

P. Richard’s Almanack Politicians are despised everywhere. According to most of us, they are corrupt, devious, self-serving, lazy, unprincipled, ignorant and dumb. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear about yet another politician doing something idiotic or getting into legal trouble1.Yet, we need these rogues.

The Almanack

Rajeev — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:23:35 +0000

What is the date today? A simple question, but with a complex answer. The story of calendars is the story of human civilization itself. The millenial 1 article by Amartya Sen tries to disentangle fact from fantasy in the history of calendars. Never an easy task in history, especially hard in the keeping of [...]

The End of the World is Near-Not!

Rajeev — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:48:45 +0000

Read the latest in this series Environmentalism is a Conservative Cause Part 1 The debate on global warming caused by human consumption of hydrocarbons appears to be over. We are told that the polar ice cap will melt. Bangladesh will get inundated. Hurricanes will increase in intensity. Crops will fail. Riots will [...]

The End of the World is Near-Not! 2

Rajeev — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:44:14 +0000

See also Part 1 Part 3 A couple of thoughtful comments by Biswajit and Miuw on my last post have provoked me to write a follow up. Several points were raised and I will try to give my response to each. Is Global Warming for Real? I have not made up my own mind mind about this, [...]

The End of the World is Near-Not! 1

Rajeev — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:40:06 +0000

The debate on global warming caused by human consumption of hydrocarbons appears to be over. We are told that the polar ice cap will melt. Bangladesh will get inundated. Hurricanes will increase in intensity. Crops will fail. Riots will break out. Anecdotal evidence of the coming catastrophe mounds day by day. A glacier in the [...]

Where the Customer is Second

Rajeev — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:45:49 +0000

American businesses compete with each other trying to please the customer. Every employee is constantly reminded that the customer is right, no matter what. So one gets used to being greeted with a smile as you enter, have questions answered courteously and promises kept. In the part of India I am from, Kerala, things are [...]

White Elephants

Richard Saunders — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:01:58 +0000

NASA claims that at The International Space Station (ISS) , “astronauts are working to improve life on Earth”. Originally supposed to cost under $10B, it has cost at least 30 billion of our tax dollars so far; maybe even $100B. It was given the go ahead even as the Superconduting SuperCollider (SSC) was [...]

The Other Pope 2

Rajeev — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 08:55:28 +0000

The Politics Read First Part I: The Theology For some one outside of the two ancient faiths, the power game between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church is interesting as a case-study in politics: the longest continuing political struggle in human history.

The Pope and the Patriarch

Rajeev — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 06:47:22 +0000

The Theology His All-Holiness Bartholomew I is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the city now called Istanbul. He is considered the equivalent of the Pope for the 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world. He is the `first among equals’ of the four Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and [...]

Kalla Yoga 2

Richard Saunders — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:58:35 +0000

Continued from Part 1 I need to hurry up and launch my own brand of yoga before the inevitable yoga backlash sets in. It must be distinctive, eye-catching and easily patented. More than a set of exercises. A whole way of life, which will require many accessories.

Kalla Yoga 1

Richard Saunders — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 18:57:53 +0000

Yoga means `union’ in Sanskrit. It could be your union with the universe. Or it can simply mean a meeting, as in a political or cultural gathering. In mathematical texts, yoga means sum. It is a rather common word in all Indian languages descended from Sanskrit. But in America, Yoga has come to mean a [...]

Macroscopic Fluid Mechanics 3: References

S. G. Rajeev — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 03:11:32 +0000

Part 1 Part 2 SIAM Talk A recent review,closest to our point of view : B. Khesin Topological fluid dynamics. Notices of the AMS, 52:1 (2005), 9-19

Macroscopic Fluid Mechanics 2

S. G. Rajeev — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:07:17 +0000

Part 1 To understand the origin of this non-commutativity, let us again consider the example of a hurricane. It is an extended object, whose radius is of the order of 100 km. It wouldn’t make sense to have two such objects within a 100 km of each other: the two hurricanes will interact strongly with [...]

Macroscopic Fluid Mechanics 1

S. G. Rajeev — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:55:42 +0000

Introduction to Talk at SIAM DS07 Conference Snowbird Utah May 28th-June 1 The equations of motion of a fluid are obtained by averaging over the equations of motion of the large number of molecules that occupy even a small volume: we are not for the most part interested in the details of the motion of [...]