the fat lady comes onto the stage..

so i've been a little busy recently..so i'll ramble stuff that has happened: mom/sis come from abroad, company boat cruise along lakeshore, AI club meeting, two nights of basketball, two nights of dinner parties, working on two websites at the same time...and guitar classes got cancelled.

the days of this blog are numbered (reminds me of a quote i read today: the days of digital watches are numbered..yuk yuk)...but only to reappear on my own website, with more organized structure and rants. I'm aiming for a portal where I can have all my favorite news and sites readily available..as well as an e-commerce thing with Amazon. Just have to figure out how the tax thingy works..altho i dont think i have to worry about it since im a student making a small amount of money.

Now wouldn't this make an awesome birthday present?

Penguin Classics Complete Collection

wise words..funny man

• More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
• What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
• I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.
• His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy.
  
  

Woody Allen

How to achieve World Peace:

Tanzania and Germany

A couple of my classmates have some awesome co-op placements abroad. They have their own blogs going detailing their adventures and work. Really nice pictures as well.

Steve got a placement thru the Waterloo chapter of Engineers Without Borders and is volunteering in Tanzania on some really interesting projects.

Jeff is working at IBM Germany and seems to be having loads of fun touring Europe (oh so lucky) and trying to decipher German groceries.

It's painful watching myself

This is me performing Un Dia De Noviembre by Leo Brouwer. Other than a few squeeks and not so clean playing, I actually froze for a bit and skipped out on about a 45 seconds more of playing to avoid the embarassement of making more mistakes. Ofcourse, since no one in the audience would've heard this, I'm sure no one noticed me skipping a section.

I wasn't happy after this, I knew I could've played it better and complete. GAH!! Nevertheless, only my 2nd real performance infront of an audience.

So i did end up dancing, but only cause I felt like it. That's how I like it..no one forcing me..and alot of people on the dance floor.

Hula Gula

Well, tomorrow is a family friend's engagement party and as per tradition in our circle of friends...the kids (primarily guys) usually do something (read: provide entertainment for old aunties and uncles ..and ofcourse bridge/groom). Its known in pakistani as hula gula. My friends and brother are quite good at doing this; and i am obviously quite out of the loop (i suppose i dont have a hula gula gene). Basically, for those of you who don't know, it's like watching 10 monkeys in a cage. Very fascinating and entertaining for 4 hours, especially if you have a buffet and dessert in between. My bro n friends are all quite talented ... they sing, dance (bhangra ofcourse..and some hip hop), play guitar and dhol (the drum with the crooked stick)..and once in a while...impromptu acting. The aunties love it, especially. There are always a few guys that aren't extroverted enough to let down their gaurd and jump around while screaming infront of 50 year old ladies and gents, including me. And its SOOooooo weird when u think about it. Uncles, aunties and the girls..sitting around on tables in the banquet hall...staring. In the middle, a bunch of guys howling and trying to fix light bulbs to loud punjabi beats. See...if everyone was dancing..it would be less weird. Altho i have been forced to join the group once in a while..where i lose the shyness and try my best to not do anything to attract attention to me on the dance floor. The problem being..since i dont go on that often..now when or if i DO go..i get the feeling that ppl are looking at me..just cause it is a novelty! But maybe the world just doesn't revolve (damn..another word like involve..these damn vovle/volve words!) around me. So tomorrow will be the same. I will be expected to dance, otherwise it will be an insult to the groom. Altho i do not intend to insult them by showing my visually unappealing moves..but i guess its the thought-of-the-action that counts.

And then..u have the moments when
a) uncles think they are the next Muhammad Rafi
b) uncles think that their latifays can't be matched, even by Seinfeld (well, maybe they would be funny if i understood them....hm..ok no...they still wont be)
b) they feel the need to express the need for all of us to return to our religion, Islam...obviously...looking straight at the 15-25 age range of guys and ignoring everyone else. This is ofcourse, right before the bhangra scene takes place. It's the best thing to put a damper in the night. Everyone goes quiet, one uncle comes up and starts lecturing. Crickets chirp in the background. Everyone seems to nod their head and make the commitment to change. That lasts up until 5 sec. till the uncle finishes his speech. Oh, do i ever feel like debating. But its not proper etiquite.

I will be performing a piece on classical guitar called Un dia de Noviembre, which was written by Leo Brouwer. Jeff Carter, whom i found thru google, plays it quite well actually and adds a bit of flair from the original too. I would hope that my performance will redeem me from taking to the dance floor, but i doubt that i will be excused. In case there is time or request for a 2nd song..then its Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven intro. So..today i must spend countless hours prepping..so i dont make a fool of myself while playing this tune. As my last teacher said; never make a face..always pretend like you meant to play what you did. And my current teacher: sometimes, people KNOW you did not mean to play what you did..then you have to make a face.

Fine Tuning of the Universe

1. strong nuclear force constant
   if larger: no hydrogen would form; atomic nuclei for most life-essential elements would be unstable; thus, no life chemistry
   if smaller: no elements heavier than hydrogen would form: again, no life chemistry
2. weak nuclear force constant
   if larger: too much hydrogen would convert to helium in big bang; hence, stars would convert too much matter into heavy elements making life chemistry impossible
   if smaller: too little helium would be produced from big bang; hence, stars would convert too little matter into heavy elements making life chemistry impossible
3. gravitational force constant
   if larger: stars would be too hot and would burn too rapidly and too unevenly for life chemistry
   if smaller: stars would be too cool to ignite nuclear fusion; thus, many of the elements needed for life chemistry would never form
4. electromagnetic force constant
   if greater: chemical bonding would be disrupted; elements more massive than boron would be unstable to fission
   if lesser: chemical bonding would be insufficient for life chemistry
5. ratio of electromagnetic force constant to gravitational force constant
   if larger: all stars would be at least 40% more massive than the sun; hence, stellar burning would be too brief and too uneven for life support
   if smaller: all stars would be at least 20% less massive than the sun, thus incapable of producing heavy elements
6. ratio of electron to proton mass
   if larger: chemical bonding would be insufficient for life chemistry
   if smaller: same as above
7. ratio of number of protons to number of electrons
   if larger: electromagnetism would dominate gravity, preventing galaxy, star, and planet formation
   if smaller: same as above
8. expansion rate of the universe
   if larger: no galaxies would form
   if smaller: universe would collapse, even before stars formed
9. entropy level of the universe
   if larger: stars would not form within proto-galaxies
   if smaller: no proto-galaxies would form
10. mass density of the universe
    if larger: overabundance of deuterium from big bang would cause stars to burn rapidly, too rapidly for life to form
    if smaller: insufficient helium from big bang would result in a shortage of heavy elements
11. velocity of light
    if faster: stars would be too luminous for life support if slower: stars would be insufficiently luminous for life support
12. age of the universe
    if older: no solar-type stars in a stable burning phase would exist in the right (for life) part of the galaxy
    if younger: solar-type stars in a stable burning phase would not yet have formed
13. initial uniformity of radiation
    if more uniform: stars, star clusters, and galaxies would not have formed
    if less uniform: universe by now would be mostly black holes and empty space
14. average distance between galaxies
    if larger: star formation late enough in the history of the universe would be hampered by lack of material
    if smaller: gravitational tug-of-wars would destabilize the sun's orbit
15. density of galaxy cluster
    if denser: galaxy collisions and mergers would disrupt the sun's orbit
    if less dense: star formation late enough in the history of the universe would be hampered by lack of material
16. average distance between stars
    if larger: heavy element density would be too sparse for rocky planets to form
    if smaller: planetary orbits would be too unstable for life
17. fine structure constant (describing the fine-structure splitting of spectral lines)
    if larger: all stars would be at least 30% less massive than the sun
    if larger than 0.06: matter would be unstable in large magnetic fields
    if smaller: all stars would be at least 80% more massive than the sun
18. decay rate of protons
    if greater: life would be exterminated by the release of radiation
    if smaller: universe would contain insufficient matter for life
19. ¹²C to ¹⁶O nuclear energy level ratio
    if larger: universe would contain insufficient oxygen for life
    if smaller: universe would contain insufficient carbon for life
20. ground state energy level for ⁴He
    if larger: universe would contain insufficient carbon and oxygen for life
    if smaller: same as above
21. decay rate of ⁸Be
    if slower: heavy element fusion would generate catastrophic explosions in all the stars
    if faster: no element heavier than beryllium would form; thus, no life chemistry
22. ratio of neutron mass to proton mass
    if higher: neutron decay would yield too few neutrons for the formation of many life-essential elements
    if lower: neutron decay would produce so many neutrons as to collapse all stars into neutron stars or black holes
23. initial excess of nucleons over anti-nucleons
    if greater: radiation would prohibit planet formation
    if lesser: matter would be insufficient for galaxy or star formation
24. polarity of the water molecule
    if greater: heat of fusion and vaporization would be too high for life
    if smaller: heat of fusion and vaporization would be too low for life; liquid water would not work as a solvent for life chemistry; ice would not float, and a runaway freeze-up would result
25. supernovae eruptions
    if too close, too frequent, or too late: radiation would exterminate life on the planet
    if too distant, too infrequent, or too soon: heavy elements would be too sparse for rocky planets to form
26. white dwarf binaries
    if too few: insufficient fluorine would exist for life chemistry
    if too many: planetary orbits would be too unstable for life
    if formed too soon: insufficient fluorine production
    if formed too late: fluorine would arrive too late for life chemistry
27. ratio of exotic matter mass to ordinary matter mass
    if larger: universe would collapse before solar-type stars could form
    if smaller: no galaxies would form
28. number of effective dimensions in the early universe
    if larger: quantum mechanics, gravity, and relativity could not coexist; thus, life would be impossible
    if smaller: same result
29. number of effective dimensions in the present universe
    if smaller: electron, planet, and star orbits would become unstable
    if larger: same result
30. mass of the neutrino
    if smaller: galaxy clusters, galaxies, and stars would not form
    if larger: galaxy clusters and galaxies would be too dense
31. big bang ripples
    if smaller: galaxies would not form; universe would expand too rapidly
    if larger: galaxies/galaxy clusters would be too dense for life; black holes would dominate; universe would collapse before life-site could form
32. size of the relativistic dilation factor
    if smaller: certain life-essential chemical reactions will not function properly
    if larger: same result
33. uncertainty magnitude in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle
    if smaller: oxygen transport to body cells would be too small and certain life-essential elements would be unstable
    if larger: oxygen transport to body cells would be too great and certain life-essential elements would be unstable
34. cosmological constant
    if larger: universe would expand too quickly to form solar-type stars
    
    

From this website and originally from Big Bang Refined by Fire by Dr. Hugh Ross, 1998. Reasons To Believe, Pasadena, CA.

finally

after a month of submitting my poem..its finally published on Chowk!

its not a new poem..one of my older one that can be found on this archive (called Elusive). ill just send a few others from my archives once in a while..although i am working on new poems...but i wont put them here..ill wait till i finalize my Mambo website.

major update coming soon

yep..i've been dabbling with Mambo..and I'm thinking of finally starting up visualmetaphor.com as an interface for a blog, my paintings, pictures, poetry, random thoughts, not-so random thoughts, a depository of information and links about things that interest me ...and stuff such as that. which means ill probably stop using this addy. Prolly within the next month..ill announce when i've uploaded the site. I haven't even upgraded my web hosting service (so i can use mambo/php/sql) yet..so..need to get on that. plan to use www.123ehost.com ..unless someone knows a better offer.

In other news, Google has launched the Summer of Code. I know I dont have the skills to participate nor the time management and effort and...on and on to be one of the 200 open source projects (students only) they plan to accept (and hand out US$4500 if successful at the end of the term in completing project). Anywho..if i do come up with a good idea...ill try to make my shpeel to google and whatever mentor organazition involved..and see what happens.

And..for the life of my i can't spell the world involved. i have to type it slowly..almost every single time i type the word i end up typing: invovled. u might not see that..because i notice it and correct it.