On the Street 2

Biking along the sea wall in Stanley Park, I witnessed a new form of art - Balanced Stones.
Kent Avery has an eye for shape and balance. He creates stone pillars that are awkwardly held up by gravity.

On the Street

Bill Cunningham inspires me to "look" while biking on the street. Sometimes, I notice peculiar things, like this almost vintage, carefully patch-worked with wood, car that immediately reminded me of Mater (from Cars).

Dinner

We celebrated DIMACS turning 20 last Friday. Many researchers who have been associated with DIMACS for decades attended the celebrations. Many of them were at some point or the other at Bellcore as well. The day was full of reminiscence. During dinner Peter Winkler reminded us how we have shifted the accent of Thanks-giving into Thanks-giving. Maybe the recession is a good time to switch back to what it really means.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

ad astra

diamond ring
Originally uploaded by c b devgun

Astronomy, a passion that dominated for years, then got buried under city lights. A spark ignited the fire again. The picture on the left is that spark. Recently, my buddies went to Anqing, China, to view the total solar eclipse. I could not. But, I did my bit to add fuel to the fire by visiting an exhibition that celebrated 400 years of Galileo. The masterpiece exhibit was one of the two only surviving telescopes, hand-crafted by the great scientist himself. There was also a fascinating collection of astrolobes. I left Philadelphia with a wish to someday learn to use those instruments.

ps: If you happen to visit Philly, you must try Tinto... truly delicious!

Graduating class

Year after year, the graduating class enjoys the song by Baz Luhrmann from 99: Everybody's Free (To wear sunscreen). Few know that it was based on the column by Mary Schmich in the Chicago Tribune in 97.

Just like the websites of summer resorts get a lot of clicks during the summer, I wonder if this video finds audience in the summer, the graduation season.

Recycled paper

The weather has been rather absurd the past few days. From a high of 49F on 10th to 66F on 11th. Today was warm too, but insanely windy. So much that it brought down trees, utility poles and made walking against the wind almost impossible. For some, the 60mph winds left them without power in their homes. For me, I was left without one of my favorite earrings, handmade using recycled paper in Costa Rica.

evening music

I was especially delighted to listen to Evening Music on wnyc tonight. It aired live Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Anoushka Shankar from Carnegie Hall. Listening to it on radio is certainly not the same as the overpowering feeling of sitting in a hall with 2800 music-lovers and enjoying the artist's creations. Nevertheless, in this economy, its just a small compromise!