Being Geek

Being a Technology Geek, and a serious physics-mathematics buff is really hard especially when you are in 18 yrs. of age, with your board exams very near. But as Geekdom is full of fun, you cannot ignore that, and thus you will fall in your career. This was my truth, until recently.

When I think I should talk about quantum mechanics with my friends, they literally scold me, as they don’t like it. Whenever I say, “Python is awesome, you should really try it out”, to my friends, they say, “I will think about that when I get time”. Whenever I talk about the OSS superstars, no one cares. When I talk about the GTK+ library, no one seem to try to know what I am talking about. When I try to think about tensors quietly, no one cares about my thoughts, they just come along and seduce me to play bridge, thus distracting me. When I try out apparently ridiculos things, no one supports me, even when I give them perfect logic, they just don’t care! But still I did those things, and screwed my exams, but still I am proud of my Geekdom.

Now, I know, that it is all about channelizing your geekiness through a proper channel. It is not that hard, I tried it out in some cases. I think everybody should be proud of their Geek status; Geek status is unique, and good as long as you don’t disturb others around you. A funny but very logical quote a friend of mine made, “A busy person finds time for everything.”. So you can be a geek a man, and a great student with great academics (I am definitely not a good academic).

I should share some of my cool geeky projects, all you geeks out there, try these out:->

1. Master Python, all by yourself, with the help of tutorials, books, and online references (Not so difficult, and very fun).
2. Find out the radius of a circular road or a curve, with the distortion of the oscillation of a hand made pendulum to one side while riding at the back of a bike, or a car (assuming the speedometer is fairly accurate)(Planning to do this).
3. Find long lengths in average by walking, and calculating the average length of every step (This wouldn’t be very accurate)(Done this many times).
4. Configure GRUB correctly, with Ubuntu, Fedora, and Windows installed, so that every one of them work correctly (Trying to do it).
5. Find the centre of gravity of any shapes that comes to mind, with the help of calculus and paper, or calculus and computer, and also Euclidian Geometry, trigonometry, symmetry arguments, and physics.
6. Get a fair grip on linear algebra (Only for 18 yrs. like me).
7. Configure a cellphone, so that you can access the internet connection of your PC from the cellphone using the bluetooth or USB (Needs a bit of programming I think, I will try it out, when I get my hands on a decent cellphone)(Found in DIGIT June 2008 issue).
8. Convince a female friend to listen to all your fantastic “Beauty of Science” lectures (Trying…).
9. Go to the carpenter to build a big cog wheel to find the velocity of light, how? You think/google it out (Planning to do).
10. If you use linux, forget GEdit, KEdit, Kate etc., go back to Vi, Emacs or Nano (Found in DIGIT June 2008 issue).
11. Build a model of Bucky Ball(C60) or a Dodecahedron from anything (Very bad one)!
12. Hack Ubuntu to enable the root account in GUI (Trying hard!).

Badminton…with a cellphone

Objective of the game: Be the last to give a missed call.

Game: Players will give missed call to each other alternatively. The first player to fall asleep will lose the game that night (or the last player to give missed call will win). Before every game, the initial call will be followed by two SMSes from each player to other, for the agreement of the game. Every missed call should be dispatched withing fifteen seconds of the last missed call from the other side. Late missed call will be render the giver a loser. And the other player win gain one point. The game should be started again with a new pair of SMS.

Scoring: Late calls : one point to the player who got the call, no call will give one point to the last caller. The scores from every night will be recorded. At the end of the month, the winner is decided. And new scorecard will be made for the new month.

Rules:

1. Phones should not be charged during the game.
2. If a phone loses battery, the player loses, and the other gains a point.
3. The game should be played during bedtime, thus their will be one winner and a loser.
4. The game should be played between two players in same time zone.
5. If both players fall asleep together, the game will end as draw.

Recommendations:

• The game should be played with players feeling a bit dizzy.
• The game should be played with cellphones with long battery life.
• The game might be addictive, so players are advised to take necessary precautions.

Feel free to modify the game for your own gaming pleasure, just give me credit where I deserve.

In the …market

Physics: It really has some abstract beauty.

Biology: Starts from your very own backyard.

Computer science: It rocks; all the boolean logic and fantastic implementation!

Electronics: Explains how the backup UPS works fast, It’s good!

Architecture: the beauty of Brooklyn bridge, Awesome!

Chemistry: Fantastic!

Photography: Fine tuned eyes of of a photographer catch the very essence of world.

Drawing and painting: I really badly need to be good in those.

Designing: This thing has the upper hand, when it comes to beauty.

Cryptography: Magnificent!

Mathematics: The sexiest!

Literature: Enjoy!

Extreme sports: Give me that parachute. Do you mind if I borrow your skateboard?

Earth sciences: Computer simulation of an earthquake? I will make it in a jiffy.

Meteorology: Come to Papa!

Astronomy: It’s large, really large!

Information technology: How do you know?

Engineering: When do I get to build a rocket?

History: What is the similarity between Akbar and Alexander?

Philosophy:I go complete gaga!

Psychology: Why did that girl leave you?

Medical sciences: Why am I not taking paracetamol?

Music: I will be a guitarist! And hey! U2 rockz!!

Film making: From the very moment I get a Handy-cam.

Geography: What do you know about Andes?

Metrology: They need a solution for the kilogram calibration problem.

Robotics and AI: Can I play with Optimus Prime?

Environmental science: CO2 emission is bad!

Ma, can I have it all? Please!

Trapping the ideas

Ideas are volatile. They pop in mind anytime, anywhere, and diffuse fast into the mind. You can’t just find them again. I am trying to trap those ideas.

I like to write those ideas that come into my mind. But the ideas usually come when I am in bed, or studying something, or maybe out. When I get a chance to type down those ideas, the idea is no more.

Let me tell you what I do to prevent such frustration. I just note down the idea on anything instantly. Like when I am in bed at night, I just get to the cell phone, and forward the idea using SMS to Yahoo SMS backup. Nice idea! Don’t you think? When at my study table, I take a notepad, and jot down the idea. Yeah, that hampers the study a bit, but that’s worth it. When I am in train, going to my friend’s place, I just take the ticket out my wallet, and jot the idea down there. When I am in school, listening to the lectures, I just write the idea at the back page of my notebook, despite the scolding I get for not concentrating on the lecture. Nice ideas come to me when I am sitting in a grove near my school during break; I take my notebook with me. Even an idea is coming to me as I am writing this blog. Do you want to know what I am going to do now? I am about to press the short cut key to take a note…

Ah, that’s it…

If I come across more ideas to trap ideas, I will inform you.