Wol-framing...!

[Image Courtesy - SobelMedia]

I am sure that by now most of you would have either read the numerous reviews of WolframAlpha, an ultra-trendy new search engine by Stephen Wolfram and his team of distinguished scientists and mathematicians or tried comparing Wolfram's search results with those of Google/Live/Yahoo/Ask. Here are some of the salient (and cool) features of WolframAlpha that make it worth trying:

• Highly Intuitive: Since, it relies heavily on the expert knowledge and statistics, some of the search queries give much better results than those given my other search engines. Lets say we wish to quickly run a comparison between Nissan and GM and we enter "Nissan, GM" in the search bar of WolframAlpha. Boom - it gives us the latest stock prices, market caps, revenues, earnings per share etc. of both the companies in a tabular form and within seconds you learn which company is doing better. Check this or this.
  
• Highly Data Driven: Whenever, you need more information about some specific metric say a date, a town, a country or a formula - just put that information in the search bar and Wolfram fetches yoo the elaborate and related results within seconds. Seeking information about a city or an event is as simple as this or this.
• Great Learning Resource: Haven't you heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I find WolframAlpha to be great resource for learning music or even sports. Check this or this.
• Instant Weather Check: Real time Weather information is just a click away now. Check this.
  

And I am sure the list goes on and on. In a nutshell I would say that this new search engine does a remarkable job in searching, processing and fetching us back the systematic knowledge on the WWW. Lets wait and watch-something tells me that folks at Wolfram Research are going to come up with many more inovative features in the days to come. If you do find some exciting feature about WolframAlpha, do let me know. Till then
Happy Wol-framing :D

"All exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation."~Bertrand Russell

Three Two One...!

[Atlantis Crew - Image Courtesy - NASA]

and Go ! Yes, I am referring to NASA's STS-125 (Atlantis) that was launched at Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday. As I watched the near perfect shuttle launch at NASA TV late evening yesterday, I kept saying "Wow !" to myself and marveled the way science has progressed over the past few decades. While the scientists and researches keep raising the bar year after year, I wonder whether we (as individuals) can position ourselves right a growth curve with a positive slope (the more slope the better :)) on a regular basis as well?

Anyways, here are some quick facts about the mission:

• STS-125 is on an eleven day mission to Hubble Telescope.
  
• Its seven member crew will conduct five spacewalks install new instruments, replace thermal blankets replace gyroscope on Hubble thus making the telescope better and ready for the years to come.
  
• Meanwhile space shuttle "Endeavour" at Kennedy Space Center is ready for launch as well (To rescue Atlantis crew in case of an emergency).
• A Wide Field Camera 3 will be attached to Hubble and the camera will relay even more vivid and detailed pictures of the deep space to us on a continual basis.
• Another new instrument that Hubble will be given is "The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph". This instrument is meant to observe the light put out by extremely faint quasars and see how that light changes as it passes through the intervening gas between distant galaxies.
  

Well if this feels like an overdose of scientific facts, here's a cool fact - Michael J Massimino (one of astronauts at Atlantis) is on Twitter (His Twitter ID: Astro_MIke) and intends to relay messages from the outer space ! I am incredibly curious (and excited) and will keep checking Twitter-sphere every now and then; After all you wish to be the amongst the first residents on earth to read his 140 characters of wisdom :D

Imagination is more important than knowledge. ~ Albert Einstein

KGB to the rescue...!

[Image Courtesy - 20Life]

Now that summer season is officially in which means it is time to hit the roads, go on nature trails, enjoy the sunlight, wear those cool T-shirts and make new connections (friends) yet again! But when you spark a conversation with a stranger, one of the following two things usually happen:

(A) You learn in few seconds that you both share a hobby (Museums, Art, Photography or say writing). Voilà! you find an immediate connection and declare that your new friend count is N + 1.

(B) You both end up asking tons of questions to each other (spc. when one of the two people is of those nerdy types) and realize in the end that it's time to bid a warm good-bye :D

Mind you, either of these scenarios happen in split seconds but the one I am concerned about is Case (B). To me Case (B) is like a lost opportunity because if one of you had answers to those esoteric questions, you could have fostered a new friendship, a new connection and may be a new venture as well! Now you might as well ask that is there someone whom you can seek answers from right away. Well, without any further circumlocution - let me suggest you to check out KGB's website right away.

KGB has saved me many times in the past 2 months and I have become a big fan of the service ever since (It's blazing fast, accurate and reliable)! Before your mind start conjuring up images of Russian secret service or their possible association with me, here's a quick summary of how the service works:

(1) All of a sudden you get questions like the foll. in your mind:
Who invented Jeep?
Which non-software company houses the world's biggest database?
When was piano invented?
What kind of footwear do ninjas wear?
What is the toughest team game?
Which country has the lowest/highest GDP?
Who sells the best pizza in the world?
What is the temperature in space?

(2) You put the question down in your phone and send a text to kgbkgb (542542).

(3) Buzz, Buzz - you receive the answer from a real person within moments.

(4) You feel happier and contended :) You might prefer using Google or Yahoo answers but in case your question is an uncommon one, this service can be quite useful. Infact, their website says that " In 2007, kgb served more than a hundred million consumers globally and answered over a billion questions." That sure sounds a bit(or may be a lot) impressive indeed!

In case you are still not convinced or "texting" doesn't necessarily jive with you, remember that calling up that super smart and intelligent friend of yours who always won those Quizzes back in school is always an option :) Do remember to give an amazing present to your mother this Sunday and have a great weekend ahead !

"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."~Napolean

Swimming with the Dolphin...!

[Image Courtesy-Sun]

Ever wondered what's common attribute among the coolest sites you see on the now ubiquitous WWW? Here are some examples of the kind of sites I am referring to - Zappos, Craiglist, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Zimbra, Booking, Footnote, DocASAP etc.

Well, all of them are powered by the world's most dominant open source database [MySQL] that claims to have more than 11 million installations across the globe. Infact, it has almost become a default choice for a new generation of applications built on the LAMP Stack. What is particularly notable is that you get ace performance, reliability, flexibility and total control over your application with every MySQL installation. Call up that "cool" friend of yours who worked in a startup firm for sometime to knwo about specific advantages of MySQL.

I have been working on MySQL for quite sometime now and I would describe my experience as a "breeze". DB Installation , DB Programming and even DB Administration are way too simplified in MySQL and whatever you set out to do is like an experiment which makes it all the more fun!

So whether you a fresh college graduate who is aspiring to become a DB Developer or an established DBA waiting for next release of Oracle or SQL Server DB, do give MySQL a try sometime. Believe me you'll love this hassle free and trendy DBMS ! Meanwhile let me continue to swim with Sakila in the days to come :D

"Don't reinvent the wheel, just realign it."~ Anthony J. D'Angelo

Spring Forward...!

[Image Courtesy-TIME]

Its that time of the year again when accurate "TIME" matters so much and you want it or not-all your gadgets, your car clock and all your electronic gadgets grab your attention atleast for couple of minutes :) Yes, I am referring to 'Daylight Saving Time' here.

If you are an IT Professional, I am sure you would be aware of the hoopla that surrounds this yearly event in every company. Infact, DST reminds me of the amazing time I spent in a big Indian IT consulting firm I worked for in Mumbai four years ago. Back then, in March, our Program Manager used to make a detailed plan outlining numerous tasks and used to emphasize the criticality of every task quite visibly (meetings, meetings and more meetings!). The best part was that our DBA Team was conveyed a very strong message - "With great power comes great responsibility!" (remember Peter Parker ?) and we were conditioned to believe that we are like special task force commandos whose mission is to keep the IT systems of BIG Clients alive during the crucial flip-over moment when clocks are moved forward in the States. Orders were orders and thus we did our jobs with utmost devotion, sincerity and passion and the celebrity treatment ("Amazing work team!" emails from Senior mgmt) that we used to receive post DST sure felt awesome back then!

Anyways, coming back to present-here are some quick facts about DST:

• In simple terms, the clocks are set ahead one hour on first Sunday of March to create an extra hour of daylight in the evening during summers.
• The correct term is 'Daylight saving time' and not 'Daylight savings time'.
• The first American to advocate for daylight saving was Benjamin Franklin.
• America's EST time zone makes the switch before the rest of the country.
• The states of Arizona and Hawaii do not follow DST.
• Post DST, Central Time will be referred to as CDT instead of CST.
• Mathematically speaking, you loose an hour's sleep but hey you can always cover up by either going to bed early on Saturday night or taking a nap on Sunday afternoon :)

So remember to spring forward your analog clocks at 2 a.m. this Sunday and have a cool weekend ahead!
"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality"~Benjamin Franklin

Does Art Matter...?

The world sometimes looks a great place to live in when you meet people who possess amazing qualities like - desire to create a memorable & pleasant experience for others by aesthetic expression of their thoughts, willingness to give back to society, wish to pursue their true passions...! As I was checking the Yale Calendar this morning, I notice "Exploring Human Expression Through Nature" Event that intrigued my consciousness.

Anyways, as anticipated the Seminar was quite informative - Alice (Yale undergrad Student) spoke at length about the the exhibits. The most interesting part was the description which we learnt about every painting. In additon to getting awed by works of art - on canvas, on walls, on fabric, on wood, on glace paper, on grains etc th gallery guide encouraged us to make our own interpretations about the masterpieces.

All of a sudden, I feel its fun research closely about the encyclopedic works of Art. A decade ago, I used to wonder how can someone spend hours in a museum where time seems to be static....! But now looking at art - I can relate to true human emotions, human psyche, perspectives, impressions and most importantly reflections of life. By focusing on the way an ace artist depicts a some aspect of life / era, one can connect with a different world way back in time. Another observation I made was the way artists work so meticulously & patiently (some portraits took years to complete - we were told !!) - exhibits the deepest human need - the need to be heard and feel appreciated...! But its great that hundreds of years later, researchers / curators continue analyzing the masterpieces and keep on deciphering more about them. For now, here's how my mind can best describe Art as:

• A medium of expression where the individuals and culture come together
• Realisation of true self
• Way to question existing beliefs
• Creative Spark
• Visual Representation of Dreams / Experiences

Infact I have decided to get involved @ YUAG and help them in making art matter by participating in intrepretive projects, exhibits and talks. My question to all readers & friends is "Does Art Matter?" (Honest opinions pls - wish to reaffirm my belief before I get hooked in Art :)) By the way current exhibits at Yale Univ Art Gallery can be accessed right here.

Face Reading...!

One of my friends at Yale Department of Psychology is doing a course which makes one almost a master at deducing typical characteristics of people (temperament, attitude, enthusiasm level) by observing them closely for a day. Now I don't know what the inherent logic is from a psychological eprspective but then when I sit down on Saturdays to draw sketches - all my sketches are indeed based on facial expressions of characters.Which means that certainly our subconscious judges people from their face value, from their external appearance & vibes. Most of us do split second decision making and perhaps thats why we are asked to make good and lasting First Impressions in our work places & meetings. I must admit that the topic has aroused my curiosity about the way we make decisions about people we converse with...!

Let me spend some time researching more on the subject this week. By the way wikipedia refers to this thory as Physiognomy...!

Physiognomy comes from Greek physiognomonia, from physiognomon, "judging character by the features," from physis, "nature, physique, appearance" + gnomon, "one who knows, hence an examiner, a judge," from gignoskein, "to know."