The first answer is “No”. I mean, whatever you’re writing about, the onus is on the writer to break his subject down to its simplest components, and then put them back together in front of the reader’s eyes. If the writer fails to do that, then the blame can’t be placed on the subject. It … Read more
Disgusting things are broken, unnatural manifestations of beauty in an otherwise beautiful world. If anything, isn’t it the symmetrical and the alluring that we must fear for their full mastery over chaos? Disgusting things are defeated things. With our fear comes the baleful regard we credit them with, the attention of our minds. They don’t … Read more
The oldest galaxies are observed today as elliptical, and to be found in clusters. These clusters are the remnants of older protoclusters that dominated the landscape of outer space in the universe’s early years, years that witnessed the formation of the first stars and, subsequently, the first galaxies. In regions of space where the … Read more
Are destructive but naturally occurring environmental phenomena important to Earth’s atmosphere? Does the mere acceptance of its innate “environmentalness” free it from having to tolerate human intervention? For example, how do hurricanes contribute to Earth’s atmosphere and the atmosphere’s “well-being”? If humans were to prevent hurricanes from ever taking shape again – in the process … Read more
Why is it considered OK to flaunt hard work? Will there come a time when it might be more prudent to mask long hours of work behind a finished product and instead behave as if the object was conceived with less work and more skill and intelligence? Is it because hard work is considered a … Read more
When habits form, rather become fully formed, it becomes difficult to recognize the drive behind its perpetuation. Am I still doing what I’m doing for the habit’s sake, or is it that I still love what I do and that’s why I’m doing it? In the early stages of habit-formation, the impetus has to come … Read more
This is a tricky question. And for background, here’s the tweet from IBN Live that caught my eye. RT @ibnliveTech: India plans fastest supercomputer by 2017 http://t.co/rRtjl4Gd — News18 (@CNNnews18) September 16, 2012 (If you didn’t read the IBN piece, this is the gist. India, rather Kapil Sibal, our present telecom minister, will have a … Read more
The interplay of energy and matter is simply wonderful because, given the presence of some intrinsic properties, the results of their encounters can be largely predicted. The presence of smoke indicates fire, the presence of shadows both darkness and light, the presence of winds a pressure gradient, the presence of mass a gravitational potential. And … Read more
The most fear I’ve ever experienced is when I smoked up for the first time. I thought I’d enjoy it – isn’t that always the case when you foray into an unknown realm of experiences, a world of as-yet uninhabited sensations? With that promise firmly in mind, I’d taken a few drags and settled back, … Read more
Unlike the special theory of relativity that the superluminal-neutrinos fiasco sought to defy, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle presents very few, and equally iffy, measurement techniques to stand verified. While both Einstein’s and Heisenberg’s foundations are close to fundamental truths, the uncertainty principle has more guided than dictated applications that involved its consequences. Essentially, a defiance of … Read more