New Year Jokes!

What would three men do if they find it hard to climb up a hill?
Simple, they will keep tri-ing(trying)!Ha ha ha!!

What were two men doing on a highway?
Simple, they were bi-passing(bypassing)!Ha ha ha!!

What were two men doing in a vegetable market?
Simple, they were bi-ing(buying) vegetables!Ha ha ha!!

What were two old men doing in a hospital?
Simple, they were di-ing(dying)!Ha ha ha!! Of course, if it were a barber shop instead, they would be dyeing! Ha ha ha!!

What were the five violent men doing in a vegetable market?
Simple, they were five-ting(fighting)!Ha ha ha!!

The February Revolution!

Here are a bunch of new mokkais:

1) What was Mahatma Gandhi discussing with electronics engineers in the conference?

Simple, truth tables!ha ha ha!

2) What does the blonde tell when her teacher asks her to define a light year?

Simple, a ear without ear rings is a light ear!ha ha ha!!

(Courtesy Joby)

3) Why could the audience not hear the speaker talk properly?

Simple, he was not a loud speaker!ha ha ha!!

Review!

"What Do You Care What Other People Think?"-one of the best books i have ever read! I can look at the book as having two parts. The next two paragraphs are about the first part of the book.

The first chapter is about how Feynman's father taught him to think,a really beautiful chapter. For all the chauvinists out there, the last paragraph does mention his mother(:P), and it was so beautifully worded that it compensated for not mentioning her till then!

The second chapter is about his love Arlene, a heart touching chapter, which (sadly) is tragic. The subsequent chapters run on the lines of those in "Surely You Are Joking...".

The second part of the book is about his investigation of the Challenger space shuttle. It is a treat for the mechanical engineer, and Feynman also beautifully describes how problems typically arise due to differences in engineering judgement and numerical probability! I am not talking too much about it, but this part of the book is my favorite!

The last lecture is on the value of science, a short but amazing lecture! Overall, its an amazing read...Feynman, respect!!

Mokkai Mokkai,extra extra!!

What did the metallurgist tell his worker when he got a piece of gold he dug up?
Simple,mine!!

What did the mathematician do when he did not understand something about the unit vector?
Simple,he wore his hat!!

Mokkai time!!

What would a Tamil astronomer do if his mission to Jupiter's satellites fail?
Simple,he would tell, "Io Rama!"

What does the dentist tell his irresponsible junior?
To brush up his basics!!

What does the watchmaker do when he has a lot of watches to repair?
Simple,he works round the clock!

What does the station master tell his apprentice?
That the training would be awesome!

What does the Tamil professor who loves chemistry tell M when she is in a hurry to leave?
Iru di M (iridium).

Mathematics!!

Here in this post, i yet again quote, and this time it is the great logician Church, of Church-Turing thesis fame. The following lines are taken from David Berlinski's "Tour of the Calculus", and i thought i could share these with a wider audience who may otherwise miss out on these quotes, those that reflect the thoughts and philosophies of some greats in history:

Berlinski attended a course in mathematical logic under Church, and most of them in the class felt it was extremely difficult, and some went to the extent of complaining about the complexity of proofs! :D

"Church rotated his large torso away from the blackboard and toward the ten or so of us sitting in the lecture room. "Any idiot," he said calmly but with immense conviction, "can learn anything in mathematics. It only requires patience." He seemed curiously moved; a film came over his eyes. "Now to create something," he said, "that is another matter."

In that queer moment of insight occasionally vouchsafed the very young, i understood instantly that he was not reveling in his own accomplishments, but, with his own eyes fixed on the unattained goals to which he had aspired, was confessing obliquely to us, an audience of impossibly callow young men, that when it came to mathematics he, too, belonged in the company of humanity's idiots.

As do we all." :)

PS:

Church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_Church
Berlinski: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berlinski

A friendship beyond QM

This is an excerpt from the book,"The Breakthrough" by G.Venkataraman :

'...arguments on matters concerning physics never came in the way of friendship between Bohr and Einstein. They were both truly great, rising above differences in their scientific viewpoints. Bohr came to India around 1960, and i vividly recall a lecture he gave to a crowded audience in the TIFR, Bombay. Bohr was then over seventy, and he spoke about his longstanding debate with Einstein. He presented slide after slide of experimental apparatus visualized by Einstein and also himself in their various gedanken experiments. Bohr then went on to patiently explain how Einstein was in error. The sound system wasn't good and Bohr's accent wasn't easy to follow. Frankly, i did not understand one word of what Bohr said! And yet i sat there spellbound because Bohr had lectured as if the audience did not exist and as if there was Einstein sitting in front of him. In fact, when Bohr came to the end ,he did not exult in joy (since his arguments upheld quantum mechanics). Instead, he was in tears, unhappy perhaps about having won an argument against his dearest friend.'

Another one, by Abraham Pais:

'I began to grasp not only the thread of Bohr's arguments but also their purpose. Just as in many sports a player goes through warming up exercises before entering the arena, so Bohr would relive the struggles which it took before the content of quantum mechanics was understood and accepted. I can say that in Bohr's mind this struggle started all over every single day...Einstein appeared forever his leading spiritual partner- even after the latter's death he would argue with him as if Einstein were still alive.'