Una verdad simulada

A few stray thoughts on the Lahore terror attacks on the Srilankan cricket team:

• Its quite likely that someone with insider information about security to the cricket team tipped off the terrorists.
• It seems more likely that the security personnel were stupid, incompetent or complacent.
• When in a rut, you have to do the hard work to get out of it; ICC won’t do it for you. No one wants to see Pakistani cricket bleed to death. But no one would send their cricketers in harm’s way either.
• There was no sensible reason for these guys to attack Srilankans, of all people.
• This is Islamic terrorism. Enough with “terror has no religion.”
• I agree with Dawkins that moderate religious folks are the real problem. They give crazy religious ideas veneer of respectability they do not deserve.

Tags: General by Niket
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All attempts will be made by our western neighbour to use this incident to frame themselves as victims of terrorism.

However, it is difficult for us to feel for someone assembling a bomb at home when the same bomb blows up his kitchen. Yes, we wish your kitchen hadn’t blown up; more than that we hope you stop your dangerous business.

Wishing a speedy recovery to all Lankan players.

Tags: General by Niket
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I am kind of addicted to “Tap Defense”, a free game on iPhone. I completed the Easy mode in the first attempt and Medium in the third. A month later, I am still struggling to get past level 21 on the Hard mode.

I searched for some tips and I got to this site. I felt they were making a heavy weather of the easy / medium modes. The trick I employ there is to build judiciously in the first four/five levels and upgrade the towers. But most critically, I rely on ice towers; they really slow down the enemies.

I also tried the strategy they showed in this video. But I only got as far as level 17. Any tips for cracking the Hard mode?

Tags: Fun by Niket
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Myself, Ramna and Luoyi were discussing about some of the new M.Tech. courses being floated in IIT-M [A rant about the way these courses were conceived and the way they are planned is a rant for another day.].

One of the reasons for starting one such course (ours is a care-taker department for this one) is because some big-shot somewhere* thought that it is IIT’s mandate to generate scientific manpower. On hearing this, Luoyi mentioned that the problem with our system is that we just develop man-power, no brain-power.

Wanting to prove Luoyi even more correct, a student met me recently seeking help with some issues they are trying to address in the PhD thesis. This is a non-IIT student. The student has been in the PhD program for about three years now and has hardly any clue what is going on. The bigger problem is really what the PhD project entails. They are looking into a particular type of reacting system and wish to do reactor dynamics and control studies on it. As I said, the student is quite clueless about the motivation behind the project. What is worse is that an idealised^$ version of a same system is used as a 20% project in a 3-credit graduate course I teach at IIT-M.

Almost an year back, a friend of mine proudly showed me a news article proclaiming that India produces more PhDs in technology that UK. If this is the kind of PhDs we don’t mind producing, I don’t see any reason to be proud of the so-called achievement.

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[*] Sorry, I will not be able to give further details, so don’t bother asking.

[$] In fact, my student also uses a similar system for his M.Tech. work. The point is that applying a well-tested algorithm on a standard problem does not warrant a PhD.

Update: Edited to correct grammatical errors.

Tags: General by Niket
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When I initially started teaching, I didn’t the attendance. I believed — in fact, I still do — that it may be left up to the students to decide whether they want to attend my lectures or not. However, two things happened that made me change that view.

First, the so-called Class Committee (thats our mechanism for teaching audit during the semester) decided that due to the falling student performance — linked to apathy and absenteeism — we need to implement the minimum-75%-attendance rule.

Second, the number of complaints regarding grading dropped after I started taking attendance. I don’t know if this is because enforcing attendance made students take me more seriously. An alternative reason might be that those who missed a lot of classes performed worse than their expectations in assignments and quizzes; they also tended to be “whiners”. Sitting in the class made them realise exactly where they erred and that it was unlikely that I would change their grade.

But compulsory attendance has its own downsides.

This class, more than the previous ones, I have noticed students to be quite indifferent. At the start of every class, there often are no more than ten students in a class of 23; the rest walk in a few minutes late. Worse still, at times there are one or two, sometimes up to five, students who walk in almost 15 minutes late into a 50-minute class. When someone walks in and sits down late, I make it a point to look at my watch, hoping that they take cues that I notice how late they arrive. However, they don’t seem to take the cue.

One of the things I loved about my stay in GaTech was that my professors treated us as adults that we are. In my own way, I am trying to treat my students in the same way. I have mentioned it (late arrival) once in the class about this; I will mention it no more.

This is what I plan to do. Next class onwards, I’ll reach on time, but will start teaching exactly as late as the latest entrant in the previous class. I will still cover the same amount of material as planned. I just wonder whether doing that is a reciprocal action or just me throwing a hissy-fit.

Tags: General by Niket
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