Coast to coast on the road!

Two weeks on the road - a coast to coast road trip. Actually a coast to coast to coast road trip! Check out the road trip page for pictures and more!

People are making a big deal of Tom Brokaw's departure from NBC nightly news. For example, see here and here. But Maureen Dowd's column in NYT was excellent. A bit of background - each of the 3 major broadcast networks, NBC, CBS and ABC have a half hour news every night. The news itself was a big deal in the pre-internet, pre-cable TV era. Nevertheless, the veteran news anchor trio of Tom Brokaw (NBC), Dan Rather (CBS) and Peter Jennings (ABC) command people's respect and trust (well, to some extent anyway). Brokaw stepped down after 21 years, Rather has announced he'll be signing off early next year. Some people were hoping there would be some diversity after these guys bid their adieus. Seems rather unlikely. It looks like these three white men will be followed by another three white men - Brian Williams is stepping in Brokaw's shoe, all the guys in the running for the CBS seat are white men, and by extrapolation, it is a safe bet that Jennings will be followed by a white man when he steps down (there's no talk of that yet).

In the name of TV ratings...

Barbara Walters, the diva of broadcast TV stepped off the spotlight at ABC's news magazine 20/20. And Elizabeth Vargas waltzed onto the stage taking Ms. Walters' place. I can understand that anyone who steps into the shoes of Ms. Walters may want to prove something. Ms. Vargas, however, has sunk to outrageously low journalistic levels in putting together today's "The Matthew Shepard Story." In the days to come, the media will no doubt debunk many of Ms. Vargas' claims, some of them simply irrelevant to the heinous killing of Matthew. To those of you not familiar with the case, back in 1998 in a small town called Laramie in the state of Wyoming, two guys Henderson and McKinney savagely beat Matthew, a young gay man, and tied him to a pole in the outskirts of the town and left him to die. Matthew was found there fully covered in blood, except for the place where tears ran down his cheeks. Five days later, he died. For sure, Matthew wasn't a saint, but he did not deserve to die like that. Nobody does.

The suspects were almost immediately apprehended. When the case came to trial, they used "gay panic" as their defense. Basically, what they were saying through their attorneys was that they killed Matthew because he was gay and he made a pass at them. Friends of the duo testified in court and in the media to their homophobic instincts. To cut a long story short, they were sentenced to life in prison.

And now, six years later, they have changed their story. They claim they were strung out on drugs and lost control. At least, that is what Ms. Vargas cajoled and lead them to say on today's 20/20. The police chief of Laramie got a chance to show his homophobic side while managing to hide it in the drug use theory. Andrew Sullivan, the conservative columnist who has dances merrily to the Republican song got a chance to chime in with a "we should know the truth." ABC got a sensational story out of a shameful, terrible tragedy. Henderson got a chance to make a plea on national TV before appealing his sentence in the federal courts.

Rest in peace, Matthew.

Reality and reality

America's love with reality shows is hot as ever as the new season of the Amazing Race began on CBS last week. Although not as popular as the channel's other reality show, "Survivor," the Race has found some die-hard followers. The reason I like the Amazing Race is its timeless appeal - going to new places, exploring new lands - something that man has done for ages. The Survivor plays up another old theme - the art and science of survival in all its primal sense. People are cast off on a deserted island and they are forced to do whatever it takes to survive. All too stone-age for me. I prefer the plane-hopping, the bickering and scheming of the Amazing Race!

In another kind of reality, the CIA came out with a report today saying some rather unsurprising things. According to the report, the arms trafficking network led by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan provided Iran's nuclear program with "significant assistance," including the designs for "advanced and efficient" weapons components. Incidentally, this is the same Khan that General Pervez Musharaff, the self-appointed Chief of Pakistan, granted official pardon to. For a long time, Pakistan's sale of nuclear technology was an open secret. And then came the scathing report that forced Musharaff's administration to admit that top officials in his country had been peddling nuclear secrets to countries and entities around the world. Strangely enough, no heads rolled after that. Musharaff wagging his finger side to side said, "bad, bad, Khan!" And that was that.

So when this new CIA report says Pakistan provided nuclear assistance to Iran, all I can say is 'Duh!' As before, you can bet your bottom dollar that President Bush will wag his finger from side to side and say, "Bad, Bad, Mush!" (expecting him to say Musharaff is a bit of a stretch). And that will be that.

Privacy, please!

Google's foray into the desktop search arena has raised more than a few eyebrows. As before, people are not comfortable with the possibility of someone snooping around and gathering their deepest, darkest secrets or their credit card numbers! Google, meanwhile is assuring everyone that their search tool is not a spyware (you'd be amazed how many of those are on your machine right now! If you're curious, try spybot to find out!). My gripe with this new search tool? It doesn't search pdf or ps files. It can search word documents, outlook email, etc. Given that I have a handful of doc files on my machine, I could easily search the files manually. I don't use outlook or AOL. Is google (or anyone) listening?!

An era of terror is over

Veerappan, the notorious bandit, was shot dead in an encounter yesterday. This guy has murdered more than 100 people, killed countless elephants for their ivory, and disrupted the lives of many. The police had set up a special task force to capture him, but he was always one step ahead. After all, he knew the forest like the back of his palm.

A little over four years ago, early in August I was making final preparations for my journey here. July 2000 was pretty hectic as I tried to scramble together things that I might need for my graduate study, including a visa to get here. I was scheduled to fly out of Madras (or Chennai) on the 2nd of August. The plan was to take the train from Bangalore that morning, visit my uncle and his family in Madras, and board the plane that night. Amidst the chaos of shopping and packing and bidding adieus came the news that Veerappan had abducted Dr. Rajkumar, a well-known actor in the state. Fans took to the streets, and Bangalore came to halt that day. This was on the 31st of July. Bangalore police imposed curfew in a bid to contain the violence. The next day, things got worse. Reports and rumours of violence grew thicker by the minute.

Veerappan hails from Tamil Nadu state. He kidnapped Rajkumar who is idolized in the neighboring state of Karnataka. Madras is in TN, about 7 hours by road from Bangalore, Karnataka. So, here I was, in Bangalore, about to travel to TN. And the people of Karnataka had directed their anger at the whole of TN! Oh, joy! We heard that the highways leading out of the city were being blocked. We were convinced that the trains would too. It was only a matter of time. We could hire a taxi, we thought, and make our way in the dead of the night of 08/01. No wait, that's too risky. How about getting a police escort across the state line? someone said. In the end, we decided to simply take the train as planned hoping for safety in numbers. Plus, we reasoned, it was an early morning train; most of the train/road blockers get serious after 8am. We should be out of the state by then.

Thankfully, the train chugged out of the station as scheduled early in the morning. The scene outside the window melted gradually from an urban landscape to rocky hills, and we knew we had crossed into TN. After an unevenful train journey, we reached Chennai Central on time to be greeted with smiles of relief!

Storms across the world

Charley, Isabel, Frances, Andrew -as innocuous as the names sound, to the people who have experienced the hurricanes (known as severe cyclonic storms or typhoons in other parts of the world), the harm that they inflict is quite palpable. As communities in some parts of Florida begin to rebuild their homes, Frances, now downgraded to a tropical storm is plowing through a different part of the state on its way to the interior parts of the country. For some, the worst of the ordeal is over.

On the other side of the world, soon-to-be freshmen in the state of Karnataka, India are breathing a sigh of relief as the admission process is about to start after a whirlwind of court battles and negotiations between the college management boards and the state government. The seat sharing structure between the government (which admits in-state students) and the management (which admits both in-state and out-of-state students at a higher fee rate) has been worked out. At last, the ordeal has ended.

And in Beslan, Russia the heartrending cries of mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and sons and daughters and relatives and friends could silence the noise of a Frances or a Charley. Hundreds are buried and hundreds are still missing. Many bodies are charred beyond recognition. For President Putin and the rest of Russia, the consolation is that hundreds made it out alive. And at least, the ordeal is over.

Of monoliths and republicans

There is a lot of chatter about how the Republicans are showcasing people with widely differing opinions, moderates etc. in the ongoing convention. For instance, there's muscle-man Schwarzeneger from a liberal state, California, former mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani (curiously, both their names are not easy to spell!), Senator John McCain whom everyone loves! And just in the past week, VP Dick Cheney who has a gay daughter, reiterated his position against a constitutional amendment against gay marriage at a time that seemed politically convenient. And added in the same breath that the President makes policy decisions and that he is for an amendment. In that case, Cheney said he just goes along with whatever the Commander says. I can't help but admire the cleverness of the Republican strategists. Not only did they manage to say that there is room for differing opinions in the administration but also that the President decides at the end of the debate.

Come to think of it, if one supports the amendment barring gays from entering matrimony, then if one takes the argument to its logical conclusion, one has to support Hitler's idea of exterminating the homosexuals. You see, if one accords a second-rate citizenship to the gays and lesbians and says that such relationships are "not what God intended" using sentiments like "hate the sin" etc., then this hubris that drives one to say I'm-better-than-you will turn to saying "I'm better than you and I don't want to have anything to do with you because you were not meant to be here in the grand scheme of things." Well then, short of blasting the gays and lesbians and whomever one doesn't like, off to Mars or creating a city beneath the Yucca mountains, one is left with little choice but to go the Hitler way! But I digress..

To go back to what I started talking about, i.e. the presence of moderates on the Republican stage - again, you have to hand it to the political pundits in the GOP. It may be moderates who are batting, but President Bush would take the winner's cup. And I should probably stay away from sports metaphors!

On a different note: WMATA which is the Washington Metro transit authority has created this cool animation about evacuation in emergency - check it out: http://www.wmata.com/riding/safety/evac.cfm .

Did he really say that?!

The Republican National Convention kicked off yesterday with 9/11 being the predictable theme. From the family members of 9/11 survivors to the popular Senator John McCain to the then Mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani, everyone had praises for President Bush for his able leadership during and after those trying times. That they said all that and more, keeping a straight face, is itself praiseworthy. Never mind that the current administration is far from being "humble" as it had promised during the 2000 campaign. Never mind that, in the eyes of the world, they have reinforced the American stereotype of being the damn-the-rest cowboy. Never mind that they wasted away the tremendous outpouring of sympathy from all over the globe immediately after that fateful day.

And, oh the cheesy comment of the night? I would give that distinction to Rudy Giuliani's : "At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and I said to him, “Bernie, thank God George Bush is our President. I say it again tonight, I say it again tonight: thank God that George Bush is our President. And thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background is our vice president."

Row, row, row a boat ...

So the Swift Boat Veterans drama continues. A lawyer working for the Bush campaign who was also partly responsible for the ad attacking Kerry, has resigned. Senator McCain wants the President to "tell his sleazy Texas buddies to stop these negative ads". And President Bush comes back with a meek all-such-ads-including-the-present-ad-are-bad response. Senator McMain saying that's not enough commented, "I've said before I would like for the president to specifically condemn that ad, but the president has said John Kerry served honorably and also the president is now committed to acting to try to bring 527s into regulations that are appropriate."

You have to hand it to the Republicans. They are trying (quite successfully, I think) to kill two birds with one stone. Through such irresponsible ads that is filled with untruths and half-truths, they attack Senator Kerry. At the same time, they say they are not to blame but the "soft campaign money" is. It is a well-known fact that there are more ads attacking Bush than Kerry, thanks to organizations such as moveon.org .By shifting the focus from the ad in question to some vague assertion against 527s, they not only control debate about who gets to question the Bush administration but also make wild charges against the Kerry campaign that are largely baseless. They can always issue something that sounds mildly apologetic but the damage intended is done. As President Bush said to Senator McCain during the 2000 primaries, "its all politics, John." Senator McCain's reply? "No George, not everything."

Attack!

First, some background. One of the advantages the Kerry campaign prides itself on is Senator Kerry's Vietnam service. The presidential candidate who commandeered a boat during the Vietnam war is a decorated war hero and his campaign doesn't miss a chance to remind the country about it. Contrast this with President Bush's record and you see that there really is no contest. Again, as the democrats never fail to remind the nation, the President chickened out of the war and enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard where his attendance, apparently, isn't much to speak about. In any case, a lot of water has flown under the proverbial bridge since then - yet, the war card carries considerable weight and anyone who watched the democratic convention would surely agree with me. From his opening line in his acceptance speech - "I am John Kerry and I am reporting for duty" (Gee.. can anything be more cheesy?!) - to his war buddies coming up on stage to testify to Kerry's courage under fire, it was one big chest-thumping party that could put Tarzan to shame.

On to the story that has made headlines this week. A few days ago, a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for truth" consisting of military men who were also in Vietnam at that time, some of whom were in the boats in the same boatalion (sic) as Senator Kerry, have taken out a TV ad accusing Kerry of fabricating evidence of his own bravery. Never mind that there are inconsistencies in what they say. Never mind that their connection to the White House is a hop, skip, Karl Rove away. Never mind that the President won't condemn such below the belt attacks as Senator John McCain (a well-regarded Republican Senator from Arizona) does. Of course, given that the Republicans have successfully attacked former Senator Max Cleland and questioned his patriotism, there's nothing surprising about this ad per se. And by the way, Cleland also fought in the Vietnam war and lost both his legs and an arm in the bargain. What I find funny is that the people are willing to ignore Iraq, the economy, healthcare (a word of caution: don't get sick in America!) and any issue worth talking about, and spend all their energy, money and power on the length of the Kerry's wound decades ago. One of the people in the now-famous TV ad is the doctor who treated Kerry on at least one occasion. He says Kerry's wound was so superficial that it was a mere scratch. (I paraphrase). Man, he must have a photographic memory if he can remember the extent of some soldier's wounds during a war that happened decades ago even when the wound in question was not something one could write a paper about. And oh, the medical records don't say anything about a scratch either.

McGroovy :)

A couple of days ago Governor McGreevey of New Jersey heralded "I am a gay American" and tendered his resignation. He had an extra-marital affair and just when things looked like they would blow up in his face, he pre-empted all the hoopla by announcing his intention to step down. Of course, it was foolish and unethical on his part and it is safe to assume that the voters wouldn't be kind and forgiving although I don't think people are all too shocked when politicians are caught in sex scandals. If the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is any indicator, the Republicans would've had a field day with McGreevey's confession.

But the fact remains that Clinton, with Senator Clinton by his side weathered the storm and went on complete his innings. Would we live to see a world where the likes of McGreevey don't have to act straight (no Oscars for that!) - and go on to be openly gay governors and presidents?!

Lance, again!

He did it again! Not that anyone was surprised, of course. Like the duracell bunny that keeps going on and on, Lance Armstrong keeps going on and on and on. Six times now - the number of times he has won the Tour de France. Isn't that something?! His is a story that one cannot help but love. Here's a man who beat testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain and went on to conquer one of the most challenging sporting events in the world - a record six times! When I hear of such great accomplishments, physical or mental, there is a part of me that whines "If only I could do something like that ..." Is that a bad thing? I wonder...

With such glory comes suspicion. There have been several allegations of illegal drug use by colleagues and peers and if I recall correctly, he tested positive once a few years ago. And people have been making the same noises yesterday and today. I say to them, give it a rest! The man has earned his place there!

What do we know?

About a week ago, I was at this year's CVPR (IEEE Intl' conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) that was held in Washington. It is one of the premier conferences in the field and expectedly, there were many good papers in the main conference and in the more-focused workshops. Some of the workshops like the one on GOR(Generic Object Recognition) had some professors sounding a cautious note (case in point: Professor Michael Tarr's talk entitled - "Do we know more than we did 20 years ago?" His answer - "Not really!"). But there were others that were more upbeat. For instance, people were a little more hopeful in the Event Recognition workshop - which is good news for me, since I'm working in that area.

My only peeve about the conference? You see, due to a ban on skyscrapers, many of the buildings in DC - including the conference venue - the Grand Hyatt, has several underground floors. Everyday, descending three levels below the ground to reach the conference venue was like going into a bunker of some kind. Of course, given that we were in the midst of some very smart people from around the world, it might be a good idea!

More technology-related stuff: They are saying BPL could be the new mantra. No, that's not the company that makes TV's in India (or used to, at some point in time). BPL stands for Broadband over Power Lines. I remember during my senior year at REC Surathkal, one of my classmates was working on "Internet over power lines" as his final year project and it was exciting stuff!

Censor this!

VP Dick Cheney used the "F" word in the Senate when talking to- make that shouting at -Democratic Senator Leahy during a photo-op in the Senate earlier this week.( The senator, like many Americans have been questioning the VP's link with Halliburton, the firm that has profited handsomely in the wake of Iraqi war). It gets better. Today's Post reports that Cheney defended saying f*** the senator! Apparently the VP thinks that Senator Leahy deserved it. This coming from an administration that made all the brouhaha after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super bowl halftime performance. Can you imagine their reaction if Janet Jackson had said "Yeah! it was part of the act .. The American public deserved it!" or something along those lines...

I watched the Michael Moore movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, last night. Of course, it does not even pretend to present an unbiased view of the administration. So I don't know why some people are taking potshots at the movie and not thinking about the charges the movie makes - charges based on facts. For instance, after the President was informed that the two towers were struck by planes and that the nation was under attack, he continued to sit there in the Florida classroom reading "My goat" (or whatever) to the elementary school kids. Shouldn't he have bolted out of there and I don't know talked to somebody to know what was happening?

After all the planes in US airspace were grounded, including those of former President Bush and Ricky Martin, why were more than a dozen Saudi jets allowed to ferry the bin Ladens out of the country? Yes, Osama's relatives were right here in this country. Now I agree that shots showing Wolfowitz using his saliva to tame a stray strand of hair etc. were merely titillating. But what about the Bush-Saudi-binLaden oil money connection? I could go on but I might get in trouble for saying such things - I don't want the FBI to come knocking on my door! Am I being paranoid? I don't know but the PATRIOT act sure gives me a pause.

Bill Clinton's book "My Life" is making big news. He's a smart guy and everything but when he says "after the cold war, the right-wing needed a new target" and that he replaced communism in the eyes of the right - I couldn't help rolling my eyes. I mean, Come on!!

Beauty in math

Huffman is a name that's familiar to all Electrical/Electronics/Computer engineers. (If not, looks like you pulled off a perfect Rip Van Winkle through 4 years in college!). Of course, he's familiar for the codes that are named after him and is used in many places - including this page. The jpeg pictures you see around - they are coded using Huffman codes (among other things). Bet you didn't know that Professor Huffman was also into paper folding! The New York Times has a must-read piece on it. I'm sure my mother will be intrigued by this.

If only the algorithms that we cook up and the equations we write were half as elegant and beautiful as Huffman's work!

Craigslist

This is how it should be. Free. Controlled by the people who use it. Uncensored. That is not how it always is, of course. The internet is slowly becoming more chained - maybe it was inevitable all along. Craigslist.org, however, has remained unchained. People control what they want to see - that doesn't mean you'll see formulas to make explosives -no. That's just reductio ad adsurdum. I came across craigslist a couple of years ago when I was bargain-hunting for some furniture. And I never quite realized its humble beginnings until I read about it in today's LA times.

Bend the truth till it breaks

Truth is like light - truth, like light, bends. It bends near important people. It gets distorted to suit the needs, whims and fancies of powerful people. And, over time, truth gets distorted. If at time 't', one linearly projects the current perception of truth backwards in time, then one reaches a state that is quite different from the state of affairs that actually existed at time t=0. The exulting eulogies of Mr. Reagan notwithstanding, some say the characterizations are at least in some cases, wildly off the mark. Today's Washington Post, scrutinizing Reagan's legacy, points out that not everything people are giving Mr. Reagan credit for, is completely accurate. A lot of people didn't like the President's policies. As Barbara Streisand put it in an address to an AIDS Project Los Angeles fundraiser in 1992: "I will never forgive my fellow actor Ronald Reagan for his genocidal denial of the illness' existence, for his refusal to even utter the word AIDS for seven years, and for blocking adequate funding for research and education which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives." In the CNN, Professor Dorf writes about Reagan and the courts. Of course, one doesn't speak ill of the departed.

Bombs and cells

Its been an eventful weekend - some for the right reasons, but mostly for the wrong reasons. After fighting Alzheimer's for about a decade, former President Reagan passed away in his California home. Just a few days ago, Ms. Nancy Reagan had spoken out in favor of stem-cell research that should significantly improve the quality of life of people suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's etc. It remains to be seen if the Bush administration will make the right decision sooner, rather than later.

George Tenet's resignation from the CIA has understandably led to a lot of speculation. Mr. Tenet who apparently likes basketball ("Iraqi WMD ... slam dunk case"), will probably have time to practice shooting hoops now. Err.. wait a minute. May be the CIA was doing just that when Al Qaeda was busy planning the attacks! But something doesn't jell well here. About a week ago, Attorney General Ashcroft issues a dire warning saying that another Al Qaeda attack is imminent. Within 24 hours, Secretary Tom Ridge says the threat is no bigger than what he has seen in the past few months, apparently unaware of Ashcroft's statement. And now, the intelligence chief steps down at a time when, according to Ashcroft, something big is brewing in the Al Qaeda cauldron. If the administration is going to continue with its policy of selective honesty, the least they can do is speak in one word, albeit true or false!

Forever yours

It takes immense generosity and a sense of equanimity to decide to donate one's body to scientific research, after death. A decision that cannot be easy for either the person himself or his family. Michael Palmore took that step, as the article in today's LA times describes. In his case, organ donation was not an option since cancer had spread to several places. He and his wife had assumed that his mortal remains would be studied to further cancer research - a selfless act indeed. However, much to her dismay, Mrs. Palmore finds out that fate and ScienceCare Anatomical Inc. had different designs for her husband's body.