Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Dec 25, 2011, 12:29 am
The 2011 Madras Music Season throats; so does the reviews from critics. A breather on the light side of Carnatic music Of concert lists and rasikas’ quirks penned by yours truly has appeared in today’s The Hindu. That Mr. Keshav chose to elevate the readers with a cartoon oozing his inimita...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Dec 19, 2011, 10:16 pm
The Madras Music Academy I remember is the pinkish building that rounds the corner along with the road in front, as could be glimpsed in the off-beat K. Balachandar movie ninaithAlE iniKum. When that movie was made in the late seventies, Chennai was still Madras and Academy was its landmark. Now, th...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Dec 4, 2011, 8:30 pm
Following paragraph is long. All its sentences are questions. Questions I could raise in ten minutes (to type, it took longer) reclining in my holiday easy-chair, absorbed amidst the muse, media and materialia that engulfs me. Questions pertinent to my well being. Read on. Are nuclear power-plants ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Oct 17, 2011, 8:19 am
Living tissues are complex structures made primarily of tissue and blood. The tissue is supposedly solid, while in reality, it is a mix of solid constituents and stagnant blood. The blood part is assumed capable of flowing, through arteries, veins and smaller capillaries that irrigate the tissue. A ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Oct 15, 2011, 12:30 pm
A while back some of you may have listened to my Saturday Songs. Here is another installment of “World” music that I like — of course, embedding here only versions available as YouTube videos, which are not necessarily the best version of that song. 1) Country/Rock music guitarist Derek Truck...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Sep 29, 2011, 5:53 am
[The longer and more jokes per sentence Tamil version] Before internet and weblogs, during my high-school days, I used to jot short notes about books I read, in a one quire ruled notebook. What had started as a catalogue of books that I owned soon transformed into a list of books I had read and not...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Sep 29, 2011, 5:53 am
[The longer and more jokes per sentence Tamil version] Before internet and weblogs, during my high-school days, I used to jot short notes about books I read, in a one quire ruled notebook. What had started as a catalogue of books that I owned soon transformed into a list of books I had read and not...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Sep 11, 2011, 9:30 pm
பாலநாகம்மா என்று சுமார் முப்பது வருடத்திற்கு முன் தொடைவரை புரளும் சவுரி, கால்குறுகியப் புடவையில் ஸ்ரீதேவியும...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Sep 4, 2011, 9:30 pm
ஏலியன்ஸ் – வளி-அறிவு-ஜீவராசிகள்– என்பவரை நேரடியாக ரேடியோ வானியல்முறையில் தேடுகிறோம். அதைப்போல மறைமுகத்தேடலும...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 28, 2011, 9:30 pm
நம் ஏலியன்ஸ் தேடலில் இரண்டு வகை; நேரடித் தேடல், மறைமுகத் தேடல். ரேடியோ வானியல் முறையில் ஏலியன்ஸ்களிடமிருந்து ச�...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 21, 2011, 9:30 pm
ரேடியோ வானியல் முறையில் ஏலியன்ஸ், வளி-அறிவு-ஜீவிகளின், சமிக்ஞை கிடைக்கிறதா என்று தேடுவது மற்றும் அவர்களுக்கு ந...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 17, 2011, 2:36 pm
The more you blog, the more you blahg. Or, in BlogWorld, what goes around in one blog, comes around in another, for a fresh lease of 15 ns attention. Watch this video showing a same color illusion. Recent posts and comments at popular blogs wonder how it works. The original version of this illusio...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 17, 2011, 2:36 pm
The more you blog, the more you blahg. Or, in BlogWorld, what goes around in one blog, comes around in another, for a fresh lease of 15 ns attention. Watch this video showing a same color illusion. Recent posts and comments at popular blogs wonder how it works. The original version of this ill...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 17, 2011, 12:49 pm
My research interests lie primarily in thermal science related fields with enough flexibility to try out interdisciplinary stuff. It could, for instance, be thermal management of electronics (a.k.a. electronics cooling) or could swing another way to the applications of heat transfer in biological sy...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 14, 2011, 9:35 pm
ஏலியன்ஸ் தேடும் படலம் தொடருகிறது. இவ்வளவு பெரிய அகண்டத்தில் விண்வெளி-அறிவு-ஜீவிகள், ஏலியன்ஸ்கள், இருக்கத்தான் ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 11, 2011, 2:35 pm
Alan Jacobs, Professor at the  Department of English, Wheaton College, in his FAQ for students Is it okay if I bring my laptop to class to take notes? No, sorry, not any more. Now that Wheaton allows wireless internet access in most classrooms, the college has provided you with too many opportuni...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 11, 2011, 2:35 pm
Alan Jacobs, Professor at the Department of English, Wheaton College, in his FAQ for students Is it okay if I bring my laptop to class to take notes? No, sorry, not any more. Now that Wheaton allows wireless internet access in most classrooms, the college has provided you with too many opportunit...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 11, 2011, 1:05 pm
A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep. – by W. H. Auden | seen as tagline here
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 11, 2011, 1:05 pm
A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep. – by W. H. Auden | seen as tagline here Filed under: Quotes Tagged: professors
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 9, 2011, 11:30 pm
Having listened to Satyameva Jayathe (short | full version) ‘sanskrit singing’ by Mick Jaggar (along with A. R. Rahman, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian Marley comprising the recent super group Super Heavy), I can appreciate the pertinence of the lyrics sAkSAtkAra nI sadbhakti sangIta jnAna v...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 9, 2011, 11:30 pm
Having listened to Satyameva Jayathe (short | full version) ‘sanskrit singing’ by Mick Jaggar (along with A. R. Rahman, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian Marley comprising the recent super group Super Heavy), I can appreciate the pertinence of the lyrics sAkSAtkAra nI sadbhakti sangIta jnAna v...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 9, 2011, 2:07 am
Here is a ten minute video tour of Microsoft GFS Datacenter released by Microsoft on YouTube. The video tour, Microsoft claims, provide a deeper look at how Microsoft uses secure, reliable, scalable and efficient best practices to deliver over 200 cloud services to more than a billion customers...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 9, 2011, 2:07 am
Here is a ten minute video tour of Microsoft GFS Datacenter released by Microsoft on YouTube. The video tour, Microsoft claims, provide a deeper look at how Microsoft uses secure, reliable, scalable and efficient best practices to deliver over 200 cloud services to more than a billion customers an...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 9, 2011, 1:08 am
Prof. M. S. Ananth has been the director of IIT Madras for the decade 2001 — 2011. In an interview with Hindu Education plus, he looks back at his tenure and achievements. Here is an excerpt: NPTEL and Research Park are two of the other major initiatives during his tenure. Read more. As a relev...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 8, 2011, 11:12 pm
பொழுதுபோக்கு கணிதப்ரியர்களுக்கு இந்த சிறுபதிவு. டிஸி காமிக்ஸ் சூப்பர் ஹீரோ பாட்மேன், வௌவால் மனிதன், படித்திரு�...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 8, 2011, 12:13 am
Crop circles have been popular ever since hoaxes were, and should remain more popular than any of your G+ circles. It is one more (here is another) of those instances — unlike downright crap like Quan-dumb Table or Nano Art — where Art is created out of crafted and conjured up Science. Interest...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 8, 2011, 12:13 am
Crop circles have been popular ever since hoaxes were, and should remain more popular than any of your G+ circles. It is one more (here is another) of those instances — unlike downright crap like Quan-dumb Table or Nano Art — where Art is created out of crafted and conjured up Science. Interest...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 7, 2011, 11:33 pm
ஏலியன்ஸ் – அந்நியர்கள், வேற்றுகிரகவாசிகள், வளி-அறிவு-ஜீவராசிகள் – பற்றி சென்றவருடம் நிறைய எழுதிவந்தோம். மீண்டு...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 7, 2011, 10:46 pm
The picture above shows the $25 computer designed by David Braben, a UK based video game designer. Specs? Here goes: A total of 128 megabytes of SDRAM joins the processor, allowing the super-tiny system to run a variety of Linux versions. The video signal is outputted by a tiny, unidentified GPU, b...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 5, 2011, 2:52 pm
Nasa reports first evidence of flowing water on Mars says Times of India. NASA better report the evidence now. They actually do report it, but with a good amount of reservation — so unlike of them, if you ask their Arsenic Bacteria – with a title reading, NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowi...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 5, 2011, 2:52 pm
Nasa reports first evidence of flowing water on Mars says Times of India. NASA better report the evidence now. They actually do report it, but with a good amount of reservation — so unlike of them, if you ask their Arsenic Bacteria – with a title reading, NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowi...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 2, 2011, 1:45 am
John Cook at Skeptical Science is conducting a science blogging experiment (for new readers, here is his iPhone app to rebut global warming skeptics; read his brief global warming guide – pdf). Using the Ten Indicators of Global Warming graphic and conclusions from other research papers, he has w...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 2, 2011, 12:51 am
Or how we know humans are causing global warming. Source of the graphic (2010) | Read also the full 2010 NOAA report (pdf). Three of these indicators, Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere are declining while the rest of the seven are increasing. A summary by ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 1, 2011, 4:34 pm
A multivalued function is doing the rounds on the web, identified as the Batman Equation for obvious reasons. I don’t know who originally made this; saw a link to it first at Swans on Tea and as most of the trails I followed lead up to the link for the image. So I have given up. But I did check w...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Aug 1, 2011, 11:27 am
Its Abuse, its intended Use and the one to accuse.
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 29, 2011, 3:11 pm
Here are two breathtaking videos of kinetic art involving simple physics. First one is the pendulum dance executed by a set of fifteen pendulums. Details? What it shows: Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, sta...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 28, 2011, 2:53 am
That is christened as the Quantum Table by the designer Jason Phillips. Seriously? I don’t have a problem with the design or its commercial success. But, what is in it that is unique from quantum physics? Are we sure the same table design cannot be inspired from, say, the fiber bundle (Not to be...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 27, 2011, 12:31 pm
That is an advertisement for Toyota, the hot and cool picture taken by Greg White. Now for a question for those who have a passing interest in the physics  of the situation. Let us assume both the hot and cold jets keep washing the car for a while at their respective high and low temperatures and...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 24, 2011, 12:06 am
The true objective of its service to mankind is realized only when a(ny) technology becomes useful and affordable for those who appropriately need it. Here is one such happy, bright, instance. Solar water bottle light bulbs to lit homes. Take a plain plastic water bottle, fill it up with clean wate...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 16, 2011, 2:38 am
ISRO successfully launched into space, G-SAT communication satellite with its indigenous PSLV – C17 rocket. While we never miss an opportunity to berate anything Indian at the drop of a hat (although we don’t wear one) and extend our courteous silence on any of our success, we should also sampl...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 14, 2011, 10:50 am
We discussed on the why and when of prolific publishing in academia. How to go about it? If prolific writing can be learnt through profligate reading (thanks to my Kindle), here is a good book on the topic: Write to the Top!: How to Become a Prolific Academic by W. Brad Johnson and Carol A. Mullen. ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 13, 2011, 6:37 am
On a recent occasion when a thesis was getting examined live at a PhD defense (or defence?), few of the members lingered their discussion on a comment from the examiner about the spelling of summarize, written as summarise. Here is the online dictionary summary on summarize, according to which, the...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 11, 2011, 2:05 pm
Cataract is one major source of preventable blindness in humans. The lens in a cataract affected eye incur local damages, obstructing the light path and fudging the image that falls on the retina through forward scatter. By collimating these skewed light paths with a standard straight one, the degre...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 10, 2011, 1:10 pm
Link — watch?v=9izg6a_VsPc We have discussed about an application of the constructal way of thinking about social issues in Individual and Empire in Academics. The above TEDxBucharest lecture video explains the constructal design of engineering and nature. More reading material for the curious i...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jul 4, 2011, 10:16 am
I received an email inviting me as a (to quote) “[...] valuable speaker and present your recent work and ideas of Transient simulations of heat transfer in human eye undergoing laser surgery” by the organizer of the conference on “2011 EPS Xinjiang International Forum on Clinical Medicine Deve...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jun 23, 2011, 2:18 am
Biothermology or Bio- fluid flow and heat transfer is an important and developing subdivision of bioengineering. Seeking simplifications for biological processes that are inherently complex, is an exciting and useful multidisciplinary pursuit. Recently, I was invited to write a review article on...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - Jun 16, 2011, 11:47 pm
Few months back there was enough discussion on arsenic bacteria — a bacteria from Mono lake capable of surviving by substituting arsenic for phosphorous even in its DNA –  based on the claim by Dr. Felissa Wolfe-Simon reported as a Science express paper co-authored with her research group. If ...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - May 30, 2011, 2:21 pm
Publish less, only then senior academics will regard you as a scholar worthy of their peerage. Did Einstein publish more? Did Feynman? What about Prandtl? Or Homi Bhabha or Abdul Kalam… This rhetoric persists. Should the rest (or majority) of the competent mortals and aspiring professing academic...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - May 27, 2011, 2:22 pm
In response to the “insider view” (as tagged, perhaps even as a veiled quip, by Kapil Sibal) of Jairam Ramesh’s remarks about IIXs, let me begin this note with an insider’s view from today’s Business Line As the anti-IIT decibel level rises by the day, it may be useful to take a closer lo...
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Arunn N. posted an article on Unruled Notebook - May 24, 2011, 10:59 am
is now provided by our alumni graduating ~ 1975 from IIT Bombay with a BTech degree that demanded World Class research accomplishment from the incumbents, while sharing his assertionhere is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs. The faculty in the IIT is not world class. It is the students ...
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