How is Group Captain Shukla growing Moong Dal in ISS without sunlight?

 

Have you wondered how Group Captain Shukla is growing Moong dal without sunlight in the International Space Station (ISS)? Is there some artificial way to create sunlight for photosynthesis? Or does he let in sunlight from the spaceship's porthole?

It turns out astronauts use LED grow lights, which are specially tuned to provide the wavelengths of light that plants need—mainly blue and red light. These lights mimic the solar spectrum required for photosynthesis without needing to use actual sunlight. This is how plants are successfully grown in space, including on the International Space Station (ISS).

Red light (around 660 nm) promotes flowering and fruiting.

Blue light (around 450 nm) helps with leafy growth.

Sometimes, green or white light is added so astronauts can visually assess the plants.

Why not just use sunlight through a porthole?

While sunlight does reach spacecraft in orbit, letting it in through windows is not reliable or controlled. The spacecraft is constantly orbiting Earth (~90 minutes per orbit), leading to alternating periods of daylight and darkness. The intensity of sunlight in space is very strong and not easily adjustable. Direct sunlight can also cause overheating or UV damage.

So, it's far more efficient and controlled to use artificial lighting in a self-contained growth chamber.

If an Indian astronaut (say, on board the Gaganyaan mission or an ISRO experiment) is growing moong dal, s/he is likely using a sealed plant growth chamber, LED arrays mimicking sunlight, controlled temperature, humidity, and CO₂ levels.

Who is in ISS?

 

What do you make of this write-up? Who is in ISS? Gp Capt Shukla or his family?

Why are weekdays in all types of Calendars in sync?

 

Have you wondered why weekdays in various Calendars are always in sync. For example:

Gregorian: says today is 10 July 2025 (Thursday).

Bengali: says today is ২৬ আষাঢ় ১৪৩২ (বৃহস্পতিবার). That would be 26 Ashadha, 1432 (Brahaspatibar, or, Thursday)

Vikram Samvat: might say Ashadha Krishna 11, 2082 VS (also Thursday).

Why would it be like that? The first day of the Calendars started on different dates: the day, month, years are out of sync, yet the weekdays are always in snyc. For example, why would it not be like this (say)?

Gregorian calendar says 10 July 2025 is Thursday
But Vikram Samvat says Ashadha Krishna 11, 2082 is a Wednesday

It is because the 7-day week is not linked to any astronomical feature (like a lunar month or solar year) but through consensus. The only thing keeping Wednesday as Wednesday everywhere is a global agreement, a human rhythm we’ve refused to let break.

It's purely a human convention, not a law of nature.

• The 7-day week has no astronomical basis like the day (Earth’s rotation), month (Moon’s orbit), or year (Earth’s revolution).
• The only reason Gregorian Thursday, Vikram Somvār, or Bangla Brihaspativar fall on the same day is because:
• Once the 7-day cycle was adopted in each system, it was never interrupted.
• Calendars were mapped carefully to real-world dates, not just floated freely.

Had any culture decided to reset or insert a weekday somewhere in history—just once—their system would have gone out of sync forever.

The shared weekdays across calendars are a historical accident of continued consensus, not a necessity of nature.

However, there were times when societies tried to break away from the seven-day week. Let's look at real historical attempts where societies tried to break away from the 7-day week—and what happened when they did.

French Revolutionary Calendar (1793–1805)

What Changed?

• Introduced after the French Revolution to de-Christianize timekeeping.
• Year divided into 12 months of 30 days each.
• Each month divided into 3 “décades” (10-day weeks), with days named:
• Primidi, Duodi, ..., Décadi
• The 5 or 6 leftover days were year-end festivals.

Consequences:

• The traditional 7-day rhythm was disrupted.
• Workers lost their weekly rest day (Sunday).
• Productivity and morale plummeted.
• People resisted, especially in rural and religious communities.

Outcome:

• Napoleon abolished it in 1805.
• France reverted to the Gregorian calendar and 7-day week.

Soviet Union’s “Continuous Work Week” (1929–1940)

What Changed?

• Introduced to maximize industrial output and undermine religious observance.
• Replaced the 7-day week with:
• 5-day week (nepreryvka, “continuous work week”) in 1929.
• Later modified to a 6-day week in 1931.
• Workers were assigned different days off, so factories never stopped.

Consequences:

• Families and friends often had different rest days—social life broke down.
• Machinery maintenance suffered due to no universal rest day.
• Religion (especially Orthodox Christianity) was targeted, but resistance grew.

Outcome:

• By 1940, the 7-day week was reinstated.
• The Soviet experiment with time had failed.

The Sabbath tradition, and the later dominance of Christianity, played a pivotal role in globalizing and entrenching the 7-day week.

Just think about it: Even when 11 days were gobbled up from the Julian Calendar to make it into the Gregorian Calendar, the weekday sequence was retained:

The old Julian calendar, established by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, had too many leap years—it drifted by about 11 minutes per year. Over centuries, this drift misaligned the calendar with the equinox, and hence with Church festivals like Easter.

The Reform:

• In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar to fix this.
• The adjustment:

Thursday, October 4, 1582, was followed by
Friday, October 15, 1582
(10 days were “gobbled up”)

But the 7-Day Week Was Not Broken

• Importantly, the day of the week sequence was preserved.
• October 4, 1582: Thursday
• October 15, 1582: Friday

Even though 10 calendar dates were removed, the weekly cycle was uninterrupted.

The Church and civic authorities made a conscious choice to keep the 7-day rhythm intact.

England’s Turn (Much Later)

• England (and its colonies) didn’t adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752.
• By then, the drift required skipping 11 days instead of 10.

Wednesday, September 2, 1752 was followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752

Again, Wednesday → Thursday: the weekday sequence continued unbroken.

And that, my friends, is the reason why the weekdays of all Calendars are in sync.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

No shore will love you more

 

Why weigh anchor

And move away

From this lotus field?

This fog that envelops you,

Is just Love.

There is no shore,

That will love you more.

How we start, and how we end

 

A friend sent this beautiful message:

RA VAN 👺

RA M 🏹 

Everyone has the same start, but the end is decided by one's Karma.

I reflected on this, and had this thought:

Sometimes the end is the same in this birth, but we carry different things to our next:

Lalit Modi

Narendra Modi.

Happy birthday, US of A

 

America Woke up to receive best wishes on her birthday.

Happy birthday, US of A. Wishing you the best.

"Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in."

We take oath to serve in land, air or sea, not Space

 

Now, the thing is we (we, as in defence forces) take oath to serve on land, air or sea. Clearly, Space is a different dimension. So, the babus may have a point.

Half the year is over

 

Half the year is over,

Not half the fear has gone,

As slowly trudges the planet,

Won't bygone be bygone?

You didn't change your mind

 

You didn't change your mind,

And get off the train.

Perhaps,

The train had gathered speed,

And, you couldn't get off.

Or perhaps,

I was just a speck now

On the platform -

One among many,

Jostling for space,

Awaiting the next train.

Yo-yoing in Time

 

Please buy and read my sci-fi book from

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0FFGKR6RC

I'm sure you will enjoy reading the two stories in the book.

समुन्दर में बह जाएगा तेरा ढेड़ सारा प्यार

तेरी दरिया दिली

एक तरफा है,

कि इधर बाढ़ है 

और उधर सूखा,

इधर प्यार है,

उधर रूखा,

बाँध लगा दोस्त,

प्रेम का रूख बदल,

नहीं तो समुन्दर में

बह जाएगा तेरा

ढेड़ सारा प्यार। 

Uranium enriching itself, as if with usury

 

What are the folks working at Fordow thinking?

What did they have for lunch?

Is it like being on the death row?

For a crime they never committed?

Is it not the crime of Uranium

For enriching itself, as if with usury?

They can't abandon ship:

That will be a National shame,

Even treachery.

Will the GBU-57 touch them?

Will a assassain's bullet touch them?

When they are back home on leave?

Will a missile vaporise them?

When they are having lunch?

What did they have for lunch?

What are the folks thinking?

Tornado crosses the rainbow

 

I saw a video where a tornado crossed a rainbow. One image of that event is below:

I think our lives have become that tornado: forever trying to cross the rainbow. Should we stop and find our pot of gold beneath the rainbow?

We need to hide our scientists from plain view

 

Israel has taken out Nuclear scientists of Iran with impunity. She has also taken out military commanders as well. Earlier, US has taken out one military commander of Iran.

Our ISRO scientist Mr Nambi Narayan was clumsily put into jail by machinations of foreign powers which did not like to countenance our rapid march in Space exploration. And after that unfortunate and unlawful incarceration of Mr Nambi Narayan, India's space exploration went back many, many years.

But now subtle ways aren't employed anymore to remove scientists engaged in specialised work: such scientists as are almost irreplaceable. A missile just goes through their windows and vapourises them. 

Can we afford to keep our scientists engaged in space and nuke research in plain sight? That the the enemy take them out with impunity? They must be withdrawn from public view as quickly as possible. Their social media profiles must be obliterated, their work profile must be made inaccessible to all except those who need to know. I have seen social media platforms where young scientists, in their naivete, boast that they are working in such and such critical project. Such mindset has to change.

We have to put a veil over the digital profiles of our scientists and and a hardened shield over their persona.

And there is no time to lose. We don't know when our discoveries and explorations will reach such a critical mass as would persuade some foreign to strike.

Each man is a lighthouse

 

Each man is a lighthouse,

Each boat his calling.

Identify this pattern

 

Can you identify this pattern?

Answer tomorrow.

Well this is the answer. The bridge of the nose together with the space between the eyes (glabella) of each zebra, placed in juxtaposition with each other, will make this pattern.

And most of you were correct about the 'zebra' answer. 

Toss up our berets in the air on the other side

 

This day, forty six years ago, we, of the 64th, were commissioned together. We had stars in our eyes, and one each on our shoulders. We changed into different berets and lanyards. Different  from each other's, and different from the Academy's. Ready to take on the world in our new avatars. Nothing was impossible in our lexicon.

And, slowly the years passed. We went our ways. Some collected more stars on the shoulders, some shiny medals on the chest. Some lost their arms and limbs. Some just faded away.

How I would that we all got decommissioned together! Toss up our berets in the air on the other side. And hug each other.

Starlink and our national security

 

The following link extols the wonder of Starlink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONrMP6LWWAw

In view of some unauthorised users of Starlink who we recently found in Manipur, I wanted to find potentially how vulnerable our national security would be with the deployment of Starlink in our country. I did some open source research and found that Starlink indeed has security concerns for our nation.

First a diagram of how Starlinks becomes the pipe between the user and a website:

My research started with this question:

Can a signal of SpaceX's Starlink be jammed? And then followed the questions on a nation's vulnerability when using Starlink.

Answer to this question follows the primary question of what is Starlink?

Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite internet system that uses thousands of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide high-speed internet across the globe, especially in remote and rural areas.

Can it be Jammed?

Technically, yes — but it’s challenging. 

Why is jamming of Starlink signal difficult:

Frequency hopping: Starlink uses advanced frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) techniques.

Beamforming: It uses phased-array antennas that direct beams narrowly, making broad jamming harder.

LEO orbit: The satellites move quickly (\~7.5 km/s), so jamming one is only temporarily effective.

Encryption: Signals are encrypted, so even if intercepted, content is secure.

Massive redundancy: With thousands of satellites and a mesh network, losing a few links doesn’t shut down the network.

Real-world Example

In 2022, Ukraine’s military credited Starlink for maintaining communications in war zones. Russia attempted to jam Starlink signals, but Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX updated the firmware quickly to counter those efforts, calling it “the most advanced cyber defense operations.”

Military Implications

Governments (including the U.S. Department of Defense and adversaries) are very interested in Starlink’s resilience and vulnerability:

The U.S. sees it as a strategic asset.

Opponents see it as a high-value target.

Summary:

Starlink can be jammed, but:

It's resilient due to its design.

Jamming is usually localized and temporary.

SpaceX has proven it can counter jamming attempts quickly.

How low is low orbit? How far into the sky does a nation's airspace extend?

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is typically defined as:

Altitude Between 160 km and 2,000 km above Earth's surface.

LEO :    160–2,000 km  - Starlink (\~550 km), ISS (\~400 km)         

MEO:      2,000–35,786 km GPS satellites (\~20,000 km)                      

GEO:      ~35,786 km     Weather & comm satellites (stationary over Earth) 

LEO satellites move very fast (about 7.5 km/s) and orbit Earth roughly every 90 minutes.

How far into the sky does a nation's airspace extend?

That’s a legal and geopolitical gray area.

Recognized National Airspace:

A nation's sovereign airspace is generally accepted to extend up to the Kármán line:

100 km above sea level.

This is considered the boundary between atmosphere and outer space

Above 100 km

Outer space is considered international territory — no nation owns it, just like the high seas.

This is governed by the Outer Space Treaty (1967), signed by over 100 countries:

  No national sovereignty over space or celestial bodies.

  Space is free for exploration and use by all.

Summary

| Region       | Sovereignty           | Notes                                                                

| 0–100 km     | National airspace | Controlled by the country. Violations can trigger military response. 

| Above 100 km | Outer space       | No national claims allowed; governed by treaties.                    |

Implication for things like Starlink:

Starlink satellites at ~550 km do not violate any country's airspace, because they're far above the 100 km Kármán line.

However, ground stations and user terminals on national soil are subject to local laws and permissions.

With Starlinks LEO satellites, shouldn't nation's airspace limit be revised upwardly? I mean, why would we willfully allow enemy satellites to spy on my own land?

Should airspace limits be raised due to LEO satellites?

Possibly, but legally and practically very hard.

Why are countries tolerating satellites overhead?

Cold War-era treaties and mutual benefit from space use.

Can countries prevent overhead surveillance from space?

Not directly, unless the object enters their sovereign airspace (<100 km).

Is the system under strain?

Yes — mega-constellations like Starlink are exposing cracks in the current legal regime.

How do you deny or limit Starlink's operations on ground? Also, can a device that is using Starlink be tracked on ground?

Technical Countermeasures:

RF Jamming: Transmit powerful noise in Starlink’s Ku-band (10.7–12.7 GHz) to disrupt signals. Effective locally; hard to scale without affecting other systems.

Geofencing: Starlink disables terminals that move into forbidden regions (via GPS). Already implemented by SpaceX.

MAC/IP Tracking: Monitor traffic for Starlink terminal signatures. Doable with advanced surveillance, but requires network access.

Cyber Attacks: Try to hijack, spoof, or brick terminals or satellites. Risky; violates international norms

Can a Starlink Device Be Tracked on the Ground?

Radio direction finding (RDF) can detect and locate Starlink signals.

If the signal is intercepted, authorities can triangulate the user's position.

EM signature databases can help spot unauthorized dishes.

Network forensics can trace Starlink traffic even if encrypted.

Where does the data of browsing through Starlink reside? Is it with the ISPs?

Your browsing data routes through SpaceX’s own ISP-like network — not a local ISP in your country.

Data may transit through ground stations in other countries, based on satellite coverage.

Encrypted traffic (HTTPS) is safe from inspection, but metadata is likely logged.

SpaceX can see and store limited user data, and may be legally obligated to cooperate with the U.S. government. (This is one of the potential vulnerability of our nation's security when Starlink is used in our country.)

What happens if the satellite inserts malicious or inadvertent data while sending to ground, or after receiving from ground station? The message itself is encrypted we know, but can't encrypted data be corrupeted?

Starlink’s satellites and ground stations cannot read or alter your encrypted data.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption provides end-to-end confidentiality and integrity from your browser to the server.

Corrupted data (from radiation, hardware issues, or attack) is automatically rejected via cryptographic checks.

Is it possible have a ground station outside our country and still communicate with a website via Starlink surreptitiously, since we are saying that Starlink is itself an ISP?

Can Starlink route through a foreign ground station? Yes, it often does.

Can this bypass national internet infrastructure? Yes.

Is this technically hard? No — it’s part of Starlink’s design.

This is the crux of our nation's vulnerability against Starlink. 

Is this legally or politically problematic? Often yes — especially without national licenses.

Here is a diagram how a Ground Station outside our nation could be used by a user to bypass our national scrutiny:

The ground station shown above could be used from outside our country. It could be used by a surreptitious user bypassing scrutiny by our national security systems,

Love dies slowly

 

I saw his tears when we parted,

Heard his laughter when we started,

And many sighs in between.

When did it all stop?

The days of heart on rampage?

Nights of yearning and star gaze?

One day at a time, I guess,

One night at a time,

One rush hour at a time.

The heart hardens slowly,

The arc lights blind slowly,

Love dies slowly.

This is goodbye, I know

 

This is goodbye, I know,

And, I'll heal in time,

And this wound that festers now

I'll feel no pain in time.

Still, when the wind kisses my face,

I'll feel your tresses on my face,

When the moon floats in a different sky,

I'll find your phantom embrace.

Where is Tuvalu?

 

I am ashamed to say that I didn't know where Tuvalu was. This blog got 7 hits from that country. I'm so delighted. It is so humbling:

It turns out it is an island in the Pacific, South East of Tonga. Tonga, some of us of course know because of the book, 'Mutiny on the Bounty' and also because cadets from Tonga sometimes get trained at National Defence Academy, India. 

How little of the world do I know!

Would obviously like to know who pinged my blog from Tuvalu.

A Giant fell on the road

 

A giant fell on the road,

Folks were inconvenienced:

Traffic was blocked,

Wires snapped,

Power was shut.

No one died, though,

Except for the tree of course.

In time,

The fallen was sawed off,

Carried away in a truck.

Traffic resumed,

Power was restored.

All forgot the giant

That gave shade

For seventy years. 

Shadow of the bridge

 

When he fell from the bridge

That went to the other side,

He latched on to the shadow

Of the bridge

To cross over to the other side neatly.

But shadows being shadows,

They crumpled,

Only some ripples remained

On the water,

And, he and his shadow,

Disappeared without a trace.

Then the shadow of the bridge,

Settled down

To receive more falls.

For a few grams less

 

Today I made a major discovery. The discovery was actually serendipitous. The discovery was on the scale of the Rontgen rays discovery. By mistake, I used my toothpaste instead of my shaving cream to foam my stubble of a day. (I know I'm getting old.) And what I discovered was that my shaving was none the worse for it, only better, if anything. It left behind a tingling feeling, and therefore I didn't need any after-shave lotion as well.

Now, think of how this will impact the world, especially the fauji world. A soldier would not have to put in his 08 pack a tube of shaving cream. (Ladies are, of course, in any case excused). That's almost a hundred grams less on his backpack. When you are on a Long Range Patrol (LRP), every gram adds to your fatigue factor. Out on camps in training institutions, cadets would have to carry an item less in their 08 packs. What would he not do for a few grams less!

Of course, this has to be scientifically tested for compatibility with the skin before becoming a military doctrine, and perhaps later, even a civilian doctrine.

Synonyms of Lying

 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-walks-back-misstatement-alleging-fbi-head-kash-patel-spends-more-time-nightclubs-than-office

In the article above, we have this admission, 'At the end of that segment, Figliuzzi said that FBI Director Kash Patel has been more visible at nightclubs than the FBI headquarters. This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim.' So, what does 'misstatement' mean? It means a lie. 

Some years ago, we heard Ms Hillary Clinton say, '...I misspoke...'. Misspoke means lying.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23789011

Do you think there should be synonyms of 'lying'? Or, should it only have one antonym: Truth?

Final fire

It is easy to have the delusion

That soft corners are forever,

But no corners are left behind,

Whether soft or hard,

In the final fire.

 

The Atman lags behind

 

The Atman lags behind

As the mind races.

The gap keeps increasing,

Through lifetimes,

And lifetimes,

Sometimes the mind slows down,

When it is caught in Alzheimer's,

Or, when caught in the trembles

Of the Richter Scale,

And sits down to catch its breath,

Sits down to pray.

How many calamities

Will we need

Till the Atman catches up

With the mind?

Don't ask permission

 

Someone sent this beautiful message: 

On the other hand, I couldn't help but add:

Don't ask permission to cry:

The tears are yours,

And the pain belongs only to you.

We cut off the Light

 

We are the earth,

We are the eclipse,

We come between our Love,

And Sun,

And cut off the Light.

Scent the Eden

 

All the stars in the sky

Could not light the way,

Until

The moon rose.

All the flowers in the garden

Could not scent the Eden,

Until

You came.

Heart's whisper

 

When the wheels are inexorably

taking you to love,

When the stars are guiding

Your way to love,

When you feel the power of

pronoia,

Know that heart's whisper is real,

not Utopia.

Rip Van Winkle versus Sunita Williams

 

It all started with me asking OpenAI how atomic clocks work. As I meandered along with my questions, I ended up finding that Sunita Williams with her 322 days stay in space over two missions ended up only 0.01 seconds younger, while Rip Van Winkle just by drinking a potion stopped time for 20 years. 

Here is my conversation with OpenAI:

https://chatgpt.com/share/67f3ae90-da14-8013-8ea6-da61a2e53bfe

You didn't go empty handed

 

You didn't go empty handed:

You took away my heart,

You took away my soul,

How is it empty handed,

When you took away my world?

You didn't go empty handed:

You took away my love,

You took away my song,

How is it empty handed,

When you took away my all?

Solve it in the dd | mm format

 

Here is a puzzle:

If you reflect on a well known name, the name, along with its reflection, will give a terror related day in the dd mm format. 

BTW: Indians normally record dates in dd mm format.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Answer:

|

   XI |  IX

 |

11/9

The Light is seeking you

 

The Light is seeking you,

Travelling from light years yonder,

Rushing through the Space,

Stealing through the darkness,

Kissed by the air,

Haloed by the trees.

Open your eyes.

Pluralising surnames on nameplates outside Indian homes

 

I had an interesting conversation with OpenAI on pluralising surnames on nameplates.

It all started when I noticed in a video on some social media platform that the nameplate outside a famous person's home. Now, this phenomenon is coming into the mainstream in the Northern part of India, but isn't in vogue in Southern part of India. Now, this famous person happened to be from Southern part of India. That is the genesis of this conversation.

Me:

In India, a lot of people 'pluralise' their nameplates outside their homes to indicate that the whole family of Khanna (say) stays there. They make it 'Khannas' on the nameplate. In my view, this changes the surname altogether. Your thoughts?

OpenAI:

You have a point! Adding an s does make it look like the surname itself has changed. Technically, surnames don’t follow regular pluralization rules like common nouns. The correct way in English would be "The Khanna Family" or "The Khannas’" (with an apostrophe to indicate possession).

However, the way "Khannas" is used on nameplates in India is more of a cultural adaptation rather than strict grammar. It’s a simple way to signal that multiple people with the surname Khanna live there, even if it’s not textbook English. Would you suggest a better alternative for such nameplates?

Me:

There is no pluralising way of Proper nouns carrying names in Hindi, if you are talking about cultural adaption. For a family whose surname is शर्मा(Sharma), the nameplate will never read शर्माएं(Sharmayen). Even for two brothers singing together, the band would be named Sharma Bandhu (meaning, friends). I am not being an English czar, but how would Mr Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra, India, write his name outside his house?

OpenAI:

That’s a sharp observation! Hindi (and most Indian languages) doesn’t pluralize proper nouns like English does. Instead, it uses collective words like "parivaar" (family) or "bandhu" (brothers/friends) to indicate a group.

Now, coming to Mr. Fadnavis—if he followed the common Indian-English naming pattern, his nameplate might incorrectly read "Fadnavises" (which sounds odd and unnatural). The correct options in English would be:

• "The Fadnavis Family"

• "Fadnavis Residence"

• "Devendra Fadnavis & Family"

• "Home of the Fadnavis Family"

This issue is unique to English usage in India, where people instinctively apply plural rules from common nouns to surnames. I like your perspective—it highlights how language gets adapted in ways that aren’t always grammatical but become widely accepted locally. Would you prefer to see a shift to more formal or accurate nameplates?

Me:

If we are trying to be inclusive of all the folks staying inside that house, why not include all the surnames of folks that live there: for example Sharma & Verma; Sharma, Verma, & Singh, etc. If it is just one surname inside that household just add the initials of the adults, as in S. Sharma & M. Sharma.

OpenAI:

That’s a brilliant and logical approach! Listing multiple surnames (e.g., Sharma & Verma or Sharma, Verma & Singh) acknowledges everyone in the household without awkward pluralization. It also respects the fact that not all family members necessarily share the same surname—especially in modern households where spouses may retain different last names.

Adding initials, like S. Sharma & M. Sharma, works well for single-surname families while maintaining individuality. It also avoids unnecessary grammatical distortions while keeping the nameplate clear and personal.

Your approach is inclusive, elegant, and grammatically sound. Now the question is—how do we get the neighborhood to adopt it? 😄

Me:

Yes. Looks like a lab experiment. Well said.

OpenAI:

Haha, exactly! A linguistic lab experiment happening on Indian nameplates. Maybe we need a public awareness campaign: "Fix Your Nameplate – The Right Way!" 😄

Jokes aside, it’s fascinating how language adapts in everyday life. If you ever spot an interesting nameplate variation, I’d love to hear about it!

Me:

Let's take two ideas: (a) We found in the Netflix series 'Suits' how important the names in the law firm's name was, including the order in which the names came; (b) How in APA convention we give citations with 'et al' (meaning, others). Combining these two ideas we can have, Sharma et al, 2020. This will give that Sharma and others live in this residence. Also, in 2020, Sharma was the most important person in that residence. It could change later.

OpenAI:

I love the creative blend of ideas you’re suggesting!

Using something like "Sharma et al., 2020" is a clever fusion of professional conventions (from Suits) and citation norms (like in APA). It would carry a lot of cultural weight while being both functional and a bit witty. Here's how it could work:

• Sharma et al., 2020 would indicate that Sharma is the principal figure in the household, and the "et al." could represent the other family members. It reflects both hierarchy (who's "most important" in 2020) and inclusivity (everyone else).

• The year 2020 could even change over time as the dominant household member shifts, giving the nameplate a "dynamic" aspect that reflects evolving family roles, just like changing citations over time.

It's an intriguing idea for both personal branding and a subtle commentary on family structure. I could see this taking off in creative households or in places with a deep appreciation for language and meaning.

PS: Do you notice how OpenAI mimics an actual human being in this conversation?

Only past life regression can tell

 

Have you ever wondered if Einstein after his rebirth (with the caveat that he did not attain Moksha) struggled with the equations he himself created, or if he struggled to understand General Theory of Relativity after his rebirth? Indeed, did he even remain interested in scientific pursuit in his new life?

We keep seeing and hearing about musical prodigies who sing difficult ragas like a walk in the park. And, we keep hearing from people, 'Oh! She must have carried this talent from her previous birth.' 

So, does this work for scientists, athletes, mathematicians, painters, sculptors, actors, military men and women...meaning, across the board?

Quoting from Wolfram MathWorld:

Fermat's last theorem is a theorem first proposed by Fermat in the form of a note scribbled in the margin of his copy of the ancient Greek text Arithmetica by Diophantus. The scribbled note was discovered posthumously, and the original is now lost. However, a copy was preserved in a book published by Fermat's son. In the note, Fermat claimed to have discovered a proof that the Diophantine equation x^n+y^n=z^n has no integer solutions for n>2 and x,y,z!=0.

Fermat's last theorem has still not be proven. Shouldn't Fermat in his next birth (assuming, he didn't attain Moksha), or in a later birth, have solved this theorem for us?

 Erriyon Knighton (born January 29, 2004) is an American sprinter specializing in the 100 meters and 200 meters. At the age of 18, he won the bronze medal in the 200 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, becoming the youngest ever individual sprint medalist in Championships history. Bob Hayes, the 10 seconds wonder, at Tokyo Olympics, died in 2002. On the other hand, Knighton was born in 2004. Is Erriyon Knighton reincarnation of Bob Hayes?

Only past life regression can tell

Richter Scale dumbs down the ferocity of earthquakes

 

The Myanmar-Thailand earthquake yesterday was horrific. But do we know the scale of the horror? We generally gloss over the Richter Scale. We say it was 7.7, on the Richter Scale. But the Richter Scale dumbs down the ferocity of the earthquakes. Why? Because it is on the logarithmic scale. So, if there was an earlier earthquake that was 5.7 on the Richter Scale, the one that happened in Myanmar - Thailand would be 100 times more ferocious. Because 7.7 - 5.7 = 2. And, 10 to the power of 2 is 100. 

This is explained in a Khan Academy video here:

https://youtu.be/RFn-IGlayAg

Do we have more such scales in everyday life? Yes. Decibels, the scale with which we measure sound's loudness is in logarithmic scale.

Selecting Candidates for an interview: e reasoning

 

This conversation with OpenAI tells us how 'e' the transcendental number, helps us to choose a candidate from many that come for an interview:

Me:

Everyday problem like secretary problem seems to be interesting, if it is not too complicated!

OpenAI:

Great choice! The secretary problem is a famous example of optimal stopping theory, and it has a surprising connection to Euler’s number $e$. Here’s how it works:

The Problem Statement

Imagine you’re hiring a secretary (or choosing a house, a partner, etc.).

• You have $n$ candidates who arrive one by one in a random order.

• After each interview, you must decide immediately whether to hire that candidate.

• If you reject someone, you can’t go back.

• Your goal: maximize the chance of picking the best candidate.

The Best Strategy & How $e$ Appears

The optimal strategy turns out to be:

1. Reject the first n/e​ (≈ 37%) of candidates—just observe their quality.

2. Then, pick the next candidate who is better than all you’ve seen so far.

Mathematically, this gives you a $\frac{\mathrm{1/}}{e}\approx$ chance of picking the best person—which is the best you can do!

Why Does This Work?

• The first $\frac{n}{e}$ helps you estimate the true quality range.

• Once you reach the decision phase, you’re more likely to find the best candidate before running out of options.

This strategy applies to real-life decisions:

• Dating: Don't settle too early! Meet ~37% of potential partners before deciding.

• House hunting: Visit ~37% of the listings, then choose the best after that.

• Job offers: If you have multiple interviews, wait until ~37% are done before accepting the first great one.

Me:

Before we delve into n/e, if I were a candidate for the interview, should I come in after the 37th of 100 people congregated for interview? If every candidate thinks the same, which candidate would come in the bracket of 1 to 37?

OpenAI:

Ah! You’re flipping the problem on its head—thinking from the candidate’s perspective instead of the interviewer’s. Brilliant! 

Let’s break it down logically.

Should You Aim to Interview After 37% Have Gone?

If you were a candidate and knew the interviewer was following the $\frac{\mathrm{1/}}{e}$ strategy, then yes, you’d ideally want to show up after the first 37% have been seen because that’s when they actually start hiring.

If you come too early (1-37%), you’ll definitely be rejected since the interviewer is just "observing."
If you come too late, they might have already picked someone.

So your sweet spot is somewhere in the selection phase (after 37%).

What Happens If Everyone Knows This?

Now, suppose all 100 candidates are aware of this strategy and try to "game" the system by arriving after 37% have been interviewed.

• Then, who would show up in the first 37%?

• If nobody comes in that period, then the interviewer has no reference point for comparison.

• If everyone tries to come later, some will still end up in the first 37% randomly due to scheduling constraints.

This means that even in a system where everyone is strategic, the first 37% will still get filled by candidates who either weren’t aware of the strategy or had no choice.

Like the stranger in a strange land

 

The wind of a land

asked a stranger,

'Why did you come here?'

The stranger's replied,

'Do you like to caress my hair?,

If you like, I'll stay,

Else, I'll go away.'

Like the wind,

You asked me, 

Why I've made your heart my home.

Like the stranger I replied,

'Ask your heart 

If it would let me stay,

Or, else, I'll go away.'

Pothayanar and Pythagoras

The following proposition in italics in going around in the Internet for sometime now. It is another proposition of solving the hypotenuse length problem which is different from what was given by Pythagoras. This has been interpreted from a quatrain of Pothayanar, a Tamil poet. 

The proposition could be true for some values, but I found that it is not true for all values of the sides of a right angled triangle. I worked out one way to contradict the proposition in the image below the text in italics:

It is a simple task to find the square of a number, but finding the square root of a number is not so easy. There is no simple formula to find the square root of a number.

An ancient Tamil mathematician/poet Pothayanar, who lived 800 years before the Pythagoras had given a quatrain of four lines articulating the method of finding the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angle triangle without the need to find the square or the square-root, only using the length of the sides, and simple fractions. 

Here is the English translation of the quatrain:

Divide the horizontal into eight,           

Delete one portion, and add the remaining,

to half of vertical to result you’ve got.

The answer would be hypotenuse of the triangle.  

The Tamil poem by poet Pothayanar is :

ஓடும் நீளம் தனை ஒரேஎட்டுக்

கூறு ஆக்கி கூறிலே ஒன்றைத்

தள்ளி குன்றத்தில் பாதியாய்ச் சேர்த்தால்

வருவது கர்ணம் தானே. – போதையனார்

The advantage of the ancient theorem is that  there is no need to use a square / square root function.

But before we jump to conclusions let us see how this ancient and simple formula works :

Let us take the three sides of the right-angle triangle to be A, B, and C, where C be the hypotenuse. 

Let us take A and B to be the horizontal and perpendicular 

sides respectively. 

If we are to divide A into eight parts and takeaway one eight, it would be 7/8A. 

The half of the vertical side will be 1/2B. 

Thus, the result should be :

C= 7/8A + 1/2B

Let us give some numbers and try : 

 Firstly Say A=8 and B=6

By Pythagoras theorem, C equals √ (8x8+6x6) Which is √ (64+ 36) = √100 =10.

Now, according to the quatrain :

C should be 7/8 A+ ½ B 

 7/8 of A (8) = 7 and ½ of B (6) =3 

Together they add up to give hypotenuse to be 7+3=10  

 Second let us try with taking A=28 and B=21 then 

by Pythagoras theorem C= √ (21x21+28x28)

C = √ (441+784)  

which is =√1225 = 35

According to quatrain : hypotenuse becomes 7/8A + 1/2 B.

7/8 A=7/8 (28) = 24.5 and 1/2B= 1/2 (21) = 10.5

Thus 24.5 + 10.5= 35.

 Third let us try with taking A= 12 and B= 5 then 

By Pythagoras theorem C= √ (12x12) + (5x5) = (144+ 25) √169 =13.

According to the ancient Tamil quatrain :  the hypotenuse becomes 7/8A + 1/2B

7/8(12) = 10.5 1/2 (5) = 2.5

Thus 10.5 +2.5 =13 

Pothayanar must have been a great mathematician, who got lost like fruit hidden in the foliage of the tree. 

The discoveries of the Greek scientists and mathematicians spread far and wide along with their conquests in the world.  

Unfortunately, in ancient India,  many great intellectuals, and their knowledge / findings were  lost to the world owing to various reasons and events. 

Our schools teach the  Pythagoras Theorem to our children. They should also teach Pothayanar's theorem as an alternate and easier method, as explained above.

Love of our teacher

 

Yesterday (22nd March 2025), our incredible Chemistry teacher from our school showered us with his special love on his 80th. He invited us, his students of 1974 batch from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Chandigarh, for a get together that was being organised by his wonderful family. We were all so overwhelmed. In his own words, 'The relationship of teacher and student is only after relationship with one's parents. It never ends.' And may it never end.