Studies in Scarlet

So we have 32 dead from the rampage at Virginia Tech State University yesterday. Blaming the University for lax security is bullsh*t. As the University's President said, the school had no reasonable cause to expect a second shooting two hours after the first one. Lets say the school had sent a couple of campus security officers out with a bullhorn to warn all on campus that the gunman from the earlier shooting had not been apprehended yet. What would have happened? Widespread panic? Stampede? Very likely. Either way, the University was looking at problems regarding its approach to security.

If we accept that violence is always going to be around (maybe not with the frequency that sh*t happens in the middle east) then the solution becomes simpler. Therefore, lets look at such an event from another angle. How many students had become nervous after the gunman had peeked into their classroom twice earlier? You might first want to read my post Your body is your church below...Welcome back. Now what could the students have done when the gunman arrived? How many attempted to hide behind chairs instead of picking one up and hauling it at the gunman? On a side note, how many students can actually pick a chair up without dislocating a shoulder? Did a student even attempt to throw a heavy book at the gunman to perhaps distract him or hurt him enough for other students to jump him? Perhaps prevention of such tragedies lies in what one could have done for oneself. I am not saying that no deaths would have occurred if the students's had had a strong sense of awareness of their surroundings. But I am saying that it was possible to have reacted in such a way that the death toll would have ended up being a fraction of what it turned out to be.

Your body is your church

So I had a run-in with a Boston Councilor this morning. She was talking about this program and that program aimed at preventing crime in the city. When she was done, I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or go outside and throw up. Boston, given all of its dynamics, is never going to be free of crime (just like any other major metropolis). As long as people don't reclaim a certain level of physical fitness and awareness of their surroundings that they have given up since having become so used to the benefits of technology (and as long as government keeps coming up with technology to "prevent" crime), people are going to get softer and continue to play the victim. I mean how many people, when they are attacked, can fight back or at the very least outrun their attackers without having a cardiac arrest.

The Councilor mentioned a "tiny woman" in one of her public meetings who had asked her how she (that is, the "tiny woman") could protect herself from her violent sons. I would have simply asked the "tiny woman" to step aside and then shown her how to use a firearm and knee an attacker in the family jewels. I encourage all my acquaintance and friends to get trained in firearms. This is not so that they can get a gun permit in order to brandish a brand new Glock in front of the neighbors but rather so that they, when in the midst of an emergency, don't get startled when they hear an explosion or gunshot. An intimate knowledge of firearm usage would put them in a state of mind calm enough to observe and later provide fruitful evidence to the cops (who clearly cannot be there in time to save every tax-paying citizen). IMHO all that federal funding to fight street crime is a waste of money. Those funds should rather be channeled to teach people as to how to react in emergency situations, provide CPR, etc.

On a side note: Occasionally I go for a walk in unfamiliar Boston neighborhoods (I was in Charlestown all of yesterday morning). I have many reasons: check out the real estate, the traffic in the town center, etc. But these walks also give me an opportunity to judge how the locals (yup, fellow Americans) assess my being there. Sometimes I have felt a little fear like when I see a bunch of very Irish looking teens coming down the street. I might casually cross the street pretending to read a street sign to avoid any potential problems (but I keep myself tense, just in case). I have been in unfavorable situations (nothing major) where I know that race played a part. I have never lamented such situations or blamed anyone. I am here to live my life well not to convince others to be saints. I know my capabilities, my worth and I do what is necessary to get the most out of such situations and simply move on. But I always try to work through such feelings ("breathe deep into the belly, maintain regal bearing, put on a stoic but relaxed look, make do like you own the place, etc.."). Sure I like the comfort of my couch but I don't want to let my instincts rust either.

Super Good Stuff

BioPower Systems has come up with two slick ways to generate electricity from sea water. Just like windmills use the wind to generate electricity, BioPower's BioWave (Fig. 1 below) and BioStream (Fig. 2.) products use ocean currents to generate upto 2 Megawatts (enough to power 1,620 homes) of electricity. The BioWave product design is based on giant kelp behavior while the BioStream product design is based on the tail of highly energy efficient fish such as Shark and Tuna. This is 100% clean energy and should also be zero unsightly (unlike windmills).


Fig. 1. Copyright (C) BioPower Systems Pty. Ltd.


Fig. 2. Copyright (C) BioPower Systems Pty. Ltd.

Sprinting for Summer

Well, so I was out on the track at UMASS yesterday afternoon doing 25 yard sprints. It was a warm, breezy day. The overall effect of the weather felt cool. I was the only guy on the track. I felt sorry for all those people who like their couches too much. The workout was intense and that is how I like it. Slow, long distance running could never give me the satisfaction that sprinting does as I have always had a natural tendency to move fast and smooth. By early summer, I should be at the 50 yard sprinting level sporting a lean mean physique. The women at Revere beach this summer will have a lot to fantasize about (more so than last year).

I have to train instinctively because of the meniscus tear in my right knee. But the knee feels really solid. But either the PCL or the popliteus muscles on both knees started aching...or it could have just been really sore upper calves (since I've felt that type of soreness after really hitting seated calf raises at the gym) or hamstring tendons. Anyway I will be at it again this coming Sunday and I am planning a more elaborate warm-up this time around to see if the pain at the back of my knees isn't as significant. The warm-up would be so elaborate that an observer would find it difficult to distinguish the warm-up from the actual workout and subsequent cool-down.

Definitely Bigger than Bridget's Bump...

An Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet, passes a taxiing Qantas Airlines Boeing 747 after touching down at Los Angeles International Airport on the inaugural visit of the superjumbo jet to Los Angeles, Monday, March 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

And, Yeah, It Ends...

So India is out of the world cup. Rather than lamenting about shortcomings in the Indian team, I've been wondering about what brings out the best in the top teams out there (such as Sri Lanka and Australia). My conclusion: superior attitude. You know, the attitude that goes, "Fuck...them...all! We are going to destroy our opponents and move on without looking back!".

Honestly...Indian players, especially the ones from prominent backgrounds (half the team), might have a holier-than-thou attitude, which would make them subconciously underperform on the field. I have been a culprit of this attitude myself. I would tell myself that, owing to my rich Indian heritage, I had superior talent (great memory, great analytic skills, great social skills, etc.) than that Mexican guy or that Irish dude and so would end up putting in only 50% of effort into everything I did. One day I realized what was going on and gradually started making changes. Today I take very few things for granted. Then again I don't have a billion people looking up to me. The Indian team does and it has been failing to deliver since 1985 (at least they have been consistent on that).

Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, did his best and cannot be blamed. It is the players who need to reevaluate their psyches going forward...

Reading That Matters

One of my current passions is attempting to locate and buy the books that I had read in my childhood and teenage years in India (and, believe me, there were a lot of them). And one of the books at the top of my list definitely has to be Nikolai Nosov's wonderful The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends. I am pretty sure that the hardcopy of this book is lying around somewhere with my family's belongings back in India. Growing up, I wasn't really into movies or hanging out with friends all that much. About the only things that interested me were weight lifting and books. Today, When I want to relax, I most certainly will pick up one of these books rather than switching on the TV.

I still remember back in high school when I would rent a bicycle and take Nosov's book out with me to the countryside to read it all over again for the umpteenth time in the blazing heat. The books' authors may have drawn parallels to people or stories in real life. For me, even today, all of that is, as a great man recently put it, "irrelevant". Personally, I try not to see superficiality in these stories. Some of the characters may be superficial (Dunno himself comes across as superficial) but its like my mind cannot process emotions, other than laughter, above a certain level when I go through the pages on these books. Delightful! And these stories easily dish out a bag of nostalgia.