Naresh Cuntoor
Ph.D. student and Graduate Research AssistantDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Monday, July 26, 2004
He did it again! Not that anyone was surprised, of course. Like the duracell bunny that keeps going on and on, Lance Armstrong keeps going on and on and on. Six times now - the number of times he has won the Tour de France. Isn't that something?! His is a story that one cannot help but love. Here's a man who beat testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain and went on to conquer one of the most challenging sporting events in the world - a record six times! When I hear of such great accomplishments, physical or mental, there is a part of me that whines "If only I could do something like that ..." Is that a bad thing? I wonder...
With such glory comes suspicion. There have been several allegations of illegal drug use by colleagues and peers and if I recall correctly, he tested positive once a few years ago. And people have been making the same noises yesterday and today. I say to them, give it a rest! The man has earned his place there!
Sunday, July 11, 2004
About a week ago, I was at this year's CVPR (IEEE Intl' conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) that was held in Washington. It is one of the premier conferences in the field and expectedly, there were many good papers in the main conference and in the more-focused workshops. Some of the workshops like the one on GOR(Generic Object Recognition) had some professors sounding a cautious note (case in point: Professor Michael Tarr's talk entitled - "Do we know more than we did 20 years ago?" His answer - "Not really!"). But there were others that were more upbeat. For instance, people were a little more hopeful in the Event Recognition workshop - which is good news for me, since I'm working in that area.
My only peeve about the conference? You see, due to a ban on skyscrapers, many of the buildings in DC - including the conference venue - the Grand Hyatt, has several underground floors. Everyday, descending three levels below the ground to reach the conference venue was like going into a bunker of some kind. Of course, given that we were in the midst of some very smart people from around the world, it might be a good idea!
More technology-related stuff: They are saying BPL could be the new mantra. No, that's not the company that makes TV's in India (or used to, at some point in time). BPL stands for Broadband over Power Lines. I remember during my senior year at REC Surathkal, one of my classmates was working on "Internet over power lines" as his final year project and it was exciting stuff!
Saturday, June 26, 2004
VP Dick Cheney used the "F" word in the Senate when talking to- make that shouting at -Democratic Senator Leahy during a photo-op in the Senate earlier this week.( The senator, like many Americans have been questioning the VP's link with Halliburton, the firm that has profited handsomely in the wake of Iraqi war). It gets better. Today's Post reports that Cheney defended saying f*** the senator! Apparently the VP thinks that Senator Leahy deserved it. This coming from an administration that made all the brouhaha after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super bowl halftime performance. Can you imagine their reaction if Janet Jackson had said "Yeah! it was part of the act .. The American public deserved it!" or something along those lines...
I watched the Michael Moore movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, last night. Of course, it does not even pretend to present an unbiased view of the administration. So I don't know why some people are taking potshots at the movie and not thinking about the charges the movie makes - charges based on facts. For instance, after the President was informed that the two towers were struck by planes and that the nation was under attack, he continued to sit there in the Florida classroom reading "My goat" (or whatever) to the elementary school kids. Shouldn't he have bolted out of there and I don't know talked to somebody to know what was happening?
After all the planes in US airspace were grounded, including those of former President Bush and Ricky Martin, why were more than a dozen Saudi jets allowed to ferry the bin Ladens out of the country? Yes, Osama's relatives were right here in this country. Now I agree that shots showing Wolfowitz using his saliva to tame a stray strand of hair etc. were merely titillating. But what about the Bush-Saudi-binLaden oil money connection? I could go on but I might get in trouble for saying such things - I don't want the FBI to come knocking on my door! Am I being paranoid? I don't know but the PATRIOT act sure gives me a pause.
Bill Clinton's book "My Life" is making big news. He's a smart guy and everything but when he says "after the cold war, the right-wing needed a new target" and that he replaced communism in the eyes of the right - I couldn't help rolling my eyes. I mean, Come on!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Huffman is a name that's familiar to all Electrical/Electronics/Computer engineers. (If not, looks like you pulled off a perfect Rip Van Winkle through 4 years in college!). Of course, he's familiar for the codes that are named after him and is used in many places - including this page. The jpeg pictures you see around - they are coded using Huffman codes (among other things). Bet you didn't know that Professor Huffman was also into paper folding! The New York Times has a must-read piece on it. I'm sure my mother will be intrigued by this.
If only the algorithms that we cook up and the equations we write were half as elegant and beautiful as Huffman's work!
PS: I've got gmail! Thanks to Mukunda who sent out an invite, now you can reach me at nareshpc@gmail.com there. While we are on gmailing, how is yahoo dealing with the new competition? As the yahoo users know, they increased the storage quota to 100MB recently (like I needed a reason to keep things less cluttered!). But the sleazy part is that they redirected the gmail invite to my Bulk Mail folder! Bad...very bad..
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
In today's LA times: "Why men stray? Its in the genes!" ...No comment!
More science news... Haven't we all played the game now-you-see-me-now-you-don't as kids? Now, the scientists are doing it with an atom - teleporting it. How cool is that!
Monday, June 14, 2004
Religious outsourcing - how's that for a twist in the tale?! With a growing shortage of Catholic priests in the US, "saying Mass for intentions" (something like the archane in the Hindu temples) is being routed to the Indian churches through the Vatican. The priests in Kerala then offers the prayer in the person's name. Without meaning to cast a shadow on the sanctity of the process, the "intentions" come with $5 to the church's account, a significant amount compared to the Rs. 40 (~$1) tagged intentions for the locals in India.
Real networks has launched a movie download service that is aimed at the have's when it comes to bandwidth. For $12.95 a month, one gets access to an unlimited number of movies from their library. Unfortunately, it requires a connection of 600Kbps or more and my wireless connects at ~350Kbps apparently.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
This is how it should be. Free. Controlled by the people who use it. Uncensored. That is not how it always is, of course. The internet is slowly becoming more chained - maybe it was inevitable all along. Craigslist.org, however, has remained unchained. People control what they want to see - that doesn't mean you'll see formulas to make explosives -no. That's just reductio ad adsurdum. I came across craigslist a couple of years ago when I was bargain-hunting for some furniture. And I never quite realized its humble beginnings until I read about it in today's LA times.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Today evening, President Reagan was laid to rest in Simi valley, California with full military honors and somber, impressive ceremonies in Washington and California. But mostly, like many, I was struck by the grace and dignity which Mrs. Reagan projected. Although, jetting coast to coast in a span of two days for services in Washington, DC before being buried in CA, she looked frail and sad.
Most of the time, as she walked behind her husband's coffin, she was accompanied by a military man (which I assume is military protocol) instead of her children. This apparent loneliness seemed to magnify her loss considerably, one must admit. The children and other family members, of course, walked behind Mrs. Reagan.
And I'm sure the police and security officials here in DC are breathing a sigh of relief tonight. The security blanketing DC was simply unbelievable! So many kings and queens and presidents and prime ministers .. in town!