Anand takes on Carlsen for the world championship starting today. Best of luck to Anand !
Games start at 5:30 pm IST. Watch it live !
A preview here. I wish to see a lot 1.d4 games in the upcoming matches. No more boring Berlins !
Update @9 Nov, 9 pm: A blunder by Anand 34..h5 closes the game. Qd2 may have drawn the game. Guess he completely missed Qb7.
Update @11 Nov, 9:30 pm. Anand proved superior by playing a very theoretical game of the Queen Gambit Declined. The first 20 moves were exactly the same from the Aronian - Adams from Bilbao Grand Slam Final 2013. Aronian played Qe2 and drew. Anand played fxe4 instantly and had the advantage. But the advantage was not much till Carlsen did a mistake with 28...Ba5, which basically lost a bishop. Somehow, I had a feeling that even if Carlsen had not blundered, Anand would have won because he was precise and controlled the c file. I hope Anand plays like this and win.
Was distracted today because Anand missed Qb7 in the previous game
Update @15 Nov, 9 pm. After 26. Kd2?, Anand blundered by not choosing 26... Nxe5 27. Rxg8 Nxc4+ 28. Kd3 Nb2+ 29. Ke2 Rxg8 30. Rxh6. All the moves are forced after Nxe5. Read all about it here. Anand should and hope will prove me wrong but it will be very difficult for him to come back.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Essentialism
I have been reading two good books,
"Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" is an excellent book for doing less but accomplishing more. Instead of saying yes and being available all the time constantly checking calls and emails, it is time to prioritize the important things in life. As the book clearly shows that if we do not prioritize, someone else will prioritize for us.
The other book is not about the disciplined pursuit of less, but ending the pursuit of happiness. This is a very grounded book on practice and reality. Zen or Advaita or any real practice should change our outlook such we have to leave everything just as it is and accept things for what they are. It’s really very simple, but it is extremely hard for us to keep it simple and to let it stay simple.
"Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" is an excellent book for doing less but accomplishing more. Instead of saying yes and being available all the time constantly checking calls and emails, it is time to prioritize the important things in life. As the book clearly shows that if we do not prioritize, someone else will prioritize for us.
The other book is not about the disciplined pursuit of less, but ending the pursuit of happiness. This is a very grounded book on practice and reality. Zen or Advaita or any real practice should change our outlook such we have to leave everything just as it is and accept things for what they are. It’s really very simple, but it is extremely hard for us to keep it simple and to let it stay simple.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Nature journals
When the nature publishing group first introduced scientific reports, there was a lot of comparison between this journal and PLOS ONE. Both had a similar philosophy: "the journal will not reject papers based on their perceived impact"
PLOS even welcomed Nature. Both charged the authors a similar fee and many argued why PLOS one was better than scientific reports. As time has progressed, scientific reports has an impact factor of around 5 now while PLOS ONE has decreased to around 3.5. PLOS ONE publishes roughly 100 papers per day.
The nature publishing group has recently converted Nature communications into a completely open access journal. Therefore, if you want to publish there, you just need to pay $5200, roughly what you will pay a project assistant for a year.
PLOS even welcomed Nature. Both charged the authors a similar fee and many argued why PLOS one was better than scientific reports. As time has progressed, scientific reports has an impact factor of around 5 now while PLOS ONE has decreased to around 3.5. PLOS ONE publishes roughly 100 papers per day.
The nature publishing group has recently converted Nature communications into a completely open access journal. Therefore, if you want to publish there, you just need to pay $5200, roughly what you will pay a project assistant for a year.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Malgudi days
Today is the birthday of R K Narayan, who created Malgudi, possibly based on the two places he liked - MALleswaram and BasavanGUDI. These two places still remain the best places in Bangalore for many things.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Significance of numbers
My citation count is 8888 as of today in google scholar. What is the significance of this number?
The 8888 number sequence may indicate that there is light at the end of the tunnel and in addition it is a message for you not to procrastinate when making your move or enjoying the fruits of your labour. Make the choices that please you. That is your reward.Meanwhile, the number of visitors to this blog reached 888 888 a few days back. Thank you.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Dual/Integrated degrees
As IISc, recognized as a deemed university under UGC, completes its admission to the four year UG B.S. program for the fourth time, I am frequently asked by everyone about the recent UGC notification.
As many readers are aware, UGC has recently notified against dual degree programs. Professor Sanghi has written a detailed explanation regarding this. The IAFYO* has lodged a protest against this post for allegedly insulting their intelligence.
The following is clear: UGC does not like dual degree programs. They do not like four year undergraduate programs either. They, however, have no problems with the integrated programs. Therefore, UGC is fine and dandy if institutions give a master's degree instead of a bachelor's degree at the end of four years. If we rename the four year B.S. program in IISc to M.S., everything will be fine.
Can IITs ignore UGC? Well, they can but students can and do get affected. For example, if a student graduating from a M.Tech dual degree from IIT wants to join as a faculty in an university (whose specific requirement is an UGC recognized degree), the university may not shortlist this candidate for interview at all. When IITs (and IISc) introduced direct Ph.D admission (after B.Tech), everyone praised the program because it would save at least a year. However, it has its own problems. A person joining with a B.E./B.Tech and graduating with a Ph.D still has trouble finding jobs in NITs and other universities, where they explicitly need a master's degree. Some follow a point system: performance in bachelors, performance in masters, performance in doctorate, publications etc. Everything has some points. Therefore, if you do not have a master's degree, you get zero points. Any amount of discussion with these institutions that the student should be shortlisted for interview though he/she does not have a master's degree falls on deaf ears. I do not want to compare the personnel involved in shortlisting with some children because IAFYO may take offence to their intelligence. But that is the ground reality.
*IAFYO: Indian association of five year olds.
As many readers are aware, UGC has recently notified against dual degree programs. Professor Sanghi has written a detailed explanation regarding this. The IAFYO* has lodged a protest against this post for allegedly insulting their intelligence.
The following is clear: UGC does not like dual degree programs. They do not like four year undergraduate programs either. They, however, have no problems with the integrated programs. Therefore, UGC is fine and dandy if institutions give a master's degree instead of a bachelor's degree at the end of four years. If we rename the four year B.S. program in IISc to M.S., everything will be fine.
Can IITs ignore UGC? Well, they can but students can and do get affected. For example, if a student graduating from a M.Tech dual degree from IIT wants to join as a faculty in an university (whose specific requirement is an UGC recognized degree), the university may not shortlist this candidate for interview at all. When IITs (and IISc) introduced direct Ph.D admission (after B.Tech), everyone praised the program because it would save at least a year. However, it has its own problems. A person joining with a B.E./B.Tech and graduating with a Ph.D still has trouble finding jobs in NITs and other universities, where they explicitly need a master's degree. Some follow a point system: performance in bachelors, performance in masters, performance in doctorate, publications etc. Everything has some points. Therefore, if you do not have a master's degree, you get zero points. Any amount of discussion with these institutions that the student should be shortlisted for interview though he/she does not have a master's degree falls on deaf ears. I do not want to compare the personnel involved in shortlisting with some children because IAFYO may take offence to their intelligence. But that is the ground reality.
*IAFYO: Indian association of five year olds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)