New url

yeah...yeah...i heard you...deep though the meaning of the title of the blog is (see here), it's not something that's 'recallable'.
So have transfered the contents to http://sharansharma.blogspot.com/ and all new posts will be done there

More Tummy Journalism

Is this a conspiracy to irritate me? Barely a week and Mid-day carries another story of a tummy upset! In case you missed the earlier example of glorious journalism here it is.
and the stupid media newsletter i subscribe to again classifies it as a 'Newsbreaker'. Useless idiots. Banish all these people to Frumthapet (don't bother Googling that - i cooked the name up and it doesn't exist - i checked)

This story too gives all the gory details - see the underlined phrases in the print-screen below:
1) Where she vomited (yikes!)
2) How she feels terrible eating Khichdi (a plain rice dish)

And very creative sub-headings like 'Chaat Chatka' lit. 'Tangy-Snack Thrashing' (sorry couldn't do a better job translating that one - contributions welcome) .
For additional fun read the caption of the snap - translates as 'Till when shall i continue having Khichdi? Man.

TN election special

Man, what a loser!
- It seems he lost to Ko Si Mani, whoever she/he/that is (almost a statistical name - sounded like Cauchy Mani* )
- This is the bloody third time he's losing. Who told him to take a stupid vow like that. Now wait for 5 years.
- The opening line of the article is great - 'a double blow' it seems.











*See http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda3663.htm for a review of the Cauchy distribution

The Auditory equivalent of the Solitary Tulip

This is at Andheri station, Bombay....you should hear him play... and oh, he's visually challenged
same sentiment as the earlier post...how does it matter for the soul whether it is Ann Arbor or Andheri...
(sorry for the bad pic. quality...this was taken from my mobile last year)

A single Tulip can be my garden

Wish i could be like this. Calm, Composed, Simple and Elegant in the midst of all the mess.

Spring (contd.)

Some of the flora are yet to catch up...of course, these snaps are about a fortnight old, so will check the latest status out tomorrow...the trees outside my apartment have more or less caught up with the spring mood...

Glorious Journalism

Can't get better than this. Bombay's very own 'Mid-Day' covering a matter of great interest to the city and nation.

Some Shweta person (some actress, i guess) had a bad tummy upset and couldn't continue shooting for some film/serial/whatever. Ok fine. But 300 words spent on covering it! And gets into real nitty-grities...sample (no pun intended) the stuff i've put in the red block above with the sub-heading as 'Khane mein gadbad' lit. 'Something's wrong with the food'. Even writing about it makes me feel miserable. Why does anyone have to know that she had 'Corn methi malai sabzi' (and over the weekend, may i add).

Then we are fed (again, no pun intended) the gory details - that she puked the next day, unbearable stomach-ache...it just keeps going on an' on, man.

In the last part of the article, Ms. Shweta bravely proclaims to the world at large that 'Stomach problems have become a part of her life' - under the creative sub-heading 'Weak Tummy'. Interesting. What else is part of your interesting life?

Also to note is that 'My mother lives in Thane and has been getting very paranoid about my health'. hmmm. If she had lived in Lokhandwala, she wouldn't have been worried about Ms. Shweta's health.

Sick inane article. The best part is that I chanced upon this when going through the 'Today's newsbreakers' section of a daily media newsletter i subscribe to. This is a newsbreaker? You must be off your friggin' head.

Average of two numbers

What's the average of 10 and 350?
180?
Wrong.

Hint/s:
a) You don't need to be a stat/math person to figure this out.
b) see 'Avoiding Statistical Pitfalls' - Christopher Chatfield. Statistical Science, Vol 6, No.2 (Aug., 1991), pg. 242
c) Send me an e-mail or drop a comment here

An apple a day.....?

Haven't stepped out since the last few days ...been catching up on sleep+reading...so today's installment of spring snaps(see this, this, this and this) are a few days old.

(click on images for larger size)

These snaps are those of pyrus coronaria now referred to as malus coronaria - the blossom of the apple tree. By a nice coincidence, these snaps were taken on 27th April almost exactly 109 years after the flower was declared the state flower of Michigan (28th April 1897). The legislation does not refer to pyrus coronaria specifically but refers to the apple tree blossom in general.
Also just learnt that Michigan ranks 3rd in the US in apple production after Washington and New York.

Now, why is the title of the post thus? Because, apparently the saying is not nutritionally true! So next time someone offers you an apple and starts with 'An Ap..' stop her/him immediately and tell the person that apples are rich in flavor, sugar and starch but poorer in vitamins than other common foods.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/200-299/nb277.htm. However, be warned that this link has info that dates to 1968.

As for the 'latest' resarch - apparently they discovered in 2003 that apples (especially in their skins - so don't peel the skin while having apples) contain 16 different biologic polyphenols - and also components that fight cancer and cardiovascular disease.

http://www.drgreene.com/21_1703.html

But then, there is also data on hand that tells us that apples are one of the most pesticide-contaminated fruits (ranks third with peaches and strawberries before it).

http://www.foodnews.org/reportcard.php

So as usual the scientists have confused us...now we don't know net net whether its good to have apples or should we have something else...as for me, if i feel like having an apple, i'll just have it! Why think so much?

And lastly, who coined "An Apple a day..."?

Benjamin Franklin.

Today's PJ

Why do bad jokes strike me in the dead of the night?
Well, here goes:

Q: Why do you call a statistician who can't fit a non-parametric model?
A: A splineless fellow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spline_(mathematics)
This link above is the math 'intro' to splines.
The word spline is of East Anglican origin.
Dictionary meaning: spline n. A flexible piece of wood, hard rubber, or metal used in drawing curves.