Remote desktop and domain change

If you recently changed the domain of your machine,
RDP to the machine might stop working if you don't give fully qualified name [mymachine.mydomain.com].

I wasted sometime today trying to figure out why it is not working.

Berkeley webcasts

There are nice video lectures on UCB site.

For example here is the Biology one:

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978456

I really enjoyed lectures on Photosynthesis - I have a renewed respect for Photosynthesis now!

Darfur

Today there was a program about Darfur and china's selfish behaviour on PBS. It was very sad to see Darfur people in totally helpless situation.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darfur/

We blame US all the time for behaving selfishly in Iraq. What about China's continued support of Sudan's genocidal regime?
[I am not saying that justifies US - just that China is behaving in very similar ways for oil]

Of course, no prizes for guessing who is the joker in every drama - UN

what's wrong with absolute time?

Ever wondered about this? It is [relatively] easy to see there is no absolute space [and easy to digest]!
What's wrong with assuming an absolute time ticking away in the background? Read this:

http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/LIGHTCONE/minkowski.html

In one line - Concept of simultaneouty is not absolute!

മിധുനം

മിധുനം - നല്ല മലയാള സിനിമകളില് ഒണ്ണാന്

Why IQ tests are not predicter of success!

Feynman had an IQ of 123 and the guy with highest IQ is virtually unknown.

While I think IQ is broadly indicative, as an absolute number it is useless.

Someone with an IQ of around 70 is certainly deficient and people with above average IQ are in general intelligent etc.

Use of IQ as indicator of success in inverse way by people especially concering africans [and african americans] is completely racist and baseless.

Richard feynman lectures on QED

Very nice lecutures on Quantum electro dynamics given in his unique [funny] style.
Explains normal phenomena such as reflection or refraction and feynman diagrams very intuitively.
http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8

Robo cars with speeds of 15 miles an hour!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139277-c,artificialintelligence/article.html

Carnegie Mellon's Robocar Wins DARPA Challenge
A robot racing team from Carnegie Mellon University beat out Stanford University to win DARPA's Urban Challenge, a 60-mile race involving self-guided vehicles.

Daylight saving time!

As if we didn't have enough of complexity in telling time already!

Look at this:

1 year - 365 or 366 days!
1 day - 24 hours
1 hour - 60 minute
1 minute - 60 seconds
1 second - 1000 milli seconds

No doubt all the children go nuts, when taught this! what is the relation between 365, 366, 24,60,60,10.

In US, also dates are in Month/day/year order! what kind of arrangement is this? To me day -> month-> year is logical.

Now to add more fun we have daylight saving time!
I hope now they don't decrease time between 12 to 1 from 60 to 30 minutes [lunch time] to boost economy!