There was a time when I would have sniffed and turned away from anything to do with computer science. No more! Ever since I took the Learn-to-Program course by Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries on Coursera, I am hooked.
Now this article makes for great reading and turns a bunch of computer programers into super-heroes.
The right inspiration for me as I struggle to write what should be a fairly straight-forward piece of code but which I cannot wrap my head around...
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Travel, climate change and thoughts on recycling
Here's a fantastic chart about the relative carbon footprints of different modes of traveling. It's informal, of course, calculated on the fly, but the graphic at the end really hits home the point of the best modes of travel.
Interestingly, driving a car (according to this guy's calculations) is actually worse than flying a plane. Which sort of defeats the point of the article, wherein the author describes his efforts to reduce his carbon footprint by deciding not to take a flight to destinations any more, and takes a bus instead.
That article, at first reading, made me feel a bit holier-than-thou: we only have one car, we recycle and I take the bus everywhere! Then, on second thoughts, I realized that even our seemingly kosher lifestyle isn't all that green: while we may not fly too much, we are responsible for our parents' annual trips to the US; as a family, we drive everywhere; and our lifestyle in the US is definitely less environmentally friendly than our lifestyle back in India.
The rest of this article is going to make some broad generalizations, which may not be true for the whole country, but they were true in my household and among the people I hung out with, both in India and in the US.
In India, recycling is not something you boast and feel righteous about, you just do. Everything gets reused, from plastic bags to computer parts. Food (usually) isn't dumped into trash bags; it either gets dumped it into a hole in the ground for composting or given as left-overs to people who can't afford a decent meal. Old clothes are given away to someone else, or reused as dusting cloths (I once saw an old pair of underpants on the floor of someone's kitchen, used as an all-purpose mop cloth... perhaps a bit extreme). Broken electronics are never thrown away; they get repaired. Old newspapers, paper products can be sold in stores for a small amount of money. There is a real market for recycled goods.
In the US, recycling is not a natural way of life. It requires thought and planning. We throw away used or broken furniture, electronics and clothes. Recycling is the 'good deed for the day'. Earnest college students believe it will bring its own karma. And there is the forced feeling of virtue- one needs an excuse for using recycling goods beyond that of saving money.
I think the reason for these drastically different outlooks are rooted in the approach to money. In India, it is practical (and expected) to recycle and save money. In the US, it is considered a sign of stinginess for relatively well-off families not to buy new furniture, but to reuse old ones.
Secondly in India, there is a general awareness of waste (maybe because trash isn't cleaned up tidily as it is done in the US). So people think twice about trashing things.
And thirdly, you cannot go anywhere in India without being aware that there are people less fortunate than you are. Even if you drive in an air-conditioned car with dark windows, you will see kids rooting about in garbage bins, people begging, painfully undernourished babies crying. Poverty in the US has a different face. And for an immigrant (and perhaps locals too), the rules of etiquette and political correctness are intimidating: is it kind to offer food to someone who looks hungry or will that be taken as an intolerable insult? Even more intimidating: what if this hungry-looking person has a gun?
Interestingly, driving a car (according to this guy's calculations) is actually worse than flying a plane. Which sort of defeats the point of the article, wherein the author describes his efforts to reduce his carbon footprint by deciding not to take a flight to destinations any more, and takes a bus instead.
That article, at first reading, made me feel a bit holier-than-thou: we only have one car, we recycle and I take the bus everywhere! Then, on second thoughts, I realized that even our seemingly kosher lifestyle isn't all that green: while we may not fly too much, we are responsible for our parents' annual trips to the US; as a family, we drive everywhere; and our lifestyle in the US is definitely less environmentally friendly than our lifestyle back in India.
The rest of this article is going to make some broad generalizations, which may not be true for the whole country, but they were true in my household and among the people I hung out with, both in India and in the US.
In India, recycling is not something you boast and feel righteous about, you just do. Everything gets reused, from plastic bags to computer parts. Food (usually) isn't dumped into trash bags; it either gets dumped it into a hole in the ground for composting or given as left-overs to people who can't afford a decent meal. Old clothes are given away to someone else, or reused as dusting cloths (I once saw an old pair of underpants on the floor of someone's kitchen, used as an all-purpose mop cloth... perhaps a bit extreme). Broken electronics are never thrown away; they get repaired. Old newspapers, paper products can be sold in stores for a small amount of money. There is a real market for recycled goods.
In the US, recycling is not a natural way of life. It requires thought and planning. We throw away used or broken furniture, electronics and clothes. Recycling is the 'good deed for the day'. Earnest college students believe it will bring its own karma. And there is the forced feeling of virtue- one needs an excuse for using recycling goods beyond that of saving money.
I think the reason for these drastically different outlooks are rooted in the approach to money. In India, it is practical (and expected) to recycle and save money. In the US, it is considered a sign of stinginess for relatively well-off families not to buy new furniture, but to reuse old ones.
Secondly in India, there is a general awareness of waste (maybe because trash isn't cleaned up tidily as it is done in the US). So people think twice about trashing things.
And thirdly, you cannot go anywhere in India without being aware that there are people less fortunate than you are. Even if you drive in an air-conditioned car with dark windows, you will see kids rooting about in garbage bins, people begging, painfully undernourished babies crying. Poverty in the US has a different face. And for an immigrant (and perhaps locals too), the rules of etiquette and political correctness are intimidating: is it kind to offer food to someone who looks hungry or will that be taken as an intolerable insult? Even more intimidating: what if this hungry-looking person has a gun?
Friday, February 7, 2014
Jammin' to work
This morning, I came to work in my pyjamas.
Grad students do things like that, not postdocs. In my defense, the pyjamas were a good sight warmer and more comfortable than my trousers. And I put the blame flatly on my kids- by the time I got done with my bath (yes, I did take one), the girl was howling, the boy was refusing to get out of bed and so on and so forth.
So while I ran around getting them ready for their respective schools, I totally forgot to replace my hastily-worn jammies with formal wear before leaving the house.
Realized my wardrobe accident when I was well into my work day. But I had an important noon meeting. So went to a nearby shop called Rue 21 which specializes in blingy, tight, and slightly trashy clothes to try to pick up something that could pass for a pair of formal trousers at a quick glance. The only thing I found was a pair of yoga pants that were too long. So then, came back to lab and stapled the feet up so they wouldn't drag on the floor.
Just when I thought I had my life in control....
Grad students do things like that, not postdocs. In my defense, the pyjamas were a good sight warmer and more comfortable than my trousers. And I put the blame flatly on my kids- by the time I got done with my bath (yes, I did take one), the girl was howling, the boy was refusing to get out of bed and so on and so forth.
So while I ran around getting them ready for their respective schools, I totally forgot to replace my hastily-worn jammies with formal wear before leaving the house.
Realized my wardrobe accident when I was well into my work day. But I had an important noon meeting. So went to a nearby shop called Rue 21 which specializes in blingy, tight, and slightly trashy clothes to try to pick up something that could pass for a pair of formal trousers at a quick glance. The only thing I found was a pair of yoga pants that were too long. So then, came back to lab and stapled the feet up so they wouldn't drag on the floor.
Just when I thought I had my life in control....
Confusion
Pitt has a consulting case competition open to postdocs and grad students, which I will be participating in.
So of course, the first thing I did (after quickly registering for the thing... this sounds like fun) was to Google "health care innovation cases consulting". One of the results that came up was this:
"A technology and services division at this global health care and life sciences company was seeking to define an innovation framework with supporting processes to enable it to realize organic growth goals. An initial analysis of the division’s product portfolio revealed a significant gap between its current five year forecast and five year objectives. Portfolio analysis also revealed that a disproportionate amount of resources are being allocated to sustain aging product lines. The client was looking to stimulate its innovation engine and close this performance gap with new product revenue and profitability contribution.
Err.. okay... Wtf is that?? What the hell are these people talking about?
In that whole paragraph of jargon, multiple ridiculous terms leap up, but I challenge any rational person not to blink at the terms 'organic growth' (what's inorganic then?) and 'innovation engine' (do real people in real life talk like this?)
Then, you click "download case study" in the hopes of some illumination and get this:
Do your eyes glaze over as you read their key process elements list? Can any average, English-speaking person comprehend what in the world they did?
I once attended a talk by the great George Gopen on how to write. Should Dr.Gopen ever feel the need to include another paragraph in his list of bad writing examples, I would like to present the above as a potential candidate. I would especially hold up the last point in that list as a stellar example of a sentence that seems to be constructed of fairly serious-sounding words and yet, makes absolutely no sense at all.
Sorry, Kalypso consulting. Maybe you are very good at your work. But you don't seem to know how to advertise your worth.
So of course, the first thing I did (after quickly registering for the thing... this sounds like fun) was to Google "health care innovation cases consulting". One of the results that came up was this:
"A technology and services division at this global health care and life sciences company was seeking to define an innovation framework with supporting processes to enable it to realize organic growth goals. An initial analysis of the division’s product portfolio revealed a significant gap between its current five year forecast and five year objectives. Portfolio analysis also revealed that a disproportionate amount of resources are being allocated to sustain aging product lines. The client was looking to stimulate its innovation engine and close this performance gap with new product revenue and profitability contribution.
Err.. okay... Wtf is that?? What the hell are these people talking about?
In that whole paragraph of jargon, multiple ridiculous terms leap up, but I challenge any rational person not to blink at the terms 'organic growth' (what's inorganic then?) and 'innovation engine' (do real people in real life talk like this?)
Then, you click "download case study" in the hopes of some illumination and get this:
Do your eyes glaze over as you read their key process elements list? Can any average, English-speaking person comprehend what in the world they did?
I once attended a talk by the great George Gopen on how to write. Should Dr.Gopen ever feel the need to include another paragraph in his list of bad writing examples, I would like to present the above as a potential candidate. I would especially hold up the last point in that list as a stellar example of a sentence that seems to be constructed of fairly serious-sounding words and yet, makes absolutely no sense at all.
Sorry, Kalypso consulting. Maybe you are very good at your work. But you don't seem to know how to advertise your worth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)