24 November
2013
23 November
2013
The Roy Clan
23 November
2013
That is a big fan!!!
23 November
2013
Traffic Cops!
Landed in Liberia (Costa Rica) and headed to the nearest supermarket to get some grocery stuff for the kids.
Started discussing speed zones and traffic tickets with the local driver. Found out something interesting.
The traffic cops cannot hide here to catch you speeding. They have to be clearly visible from some distance. At night, they have to keep their red and blue lights on.
Of course, I had a logical question – “But people will slow down if they see the cop. How is he going to catch them?”
The driver who has been to US, politely asked “Isn’t that the whole idea? Get everybody to slow down? It is not about making money by giving tickets!”
I quietly murmured “you actually have a point there”
23 November
2013
That was too close!!
23 November
2013
Pura Vida!!
21 November
2013
Birth of a morning
Finished my run, grabbed my Starbucks and sat outside the coffeehouse in slightly strong winds. And then watched the morning struggle to break thru the canopy of clouds till it was clear that a new day was upon us. Reminded me of an old poem (forgot the author’s name) that I had once read and copied down….
“So stop waiting until you finish school,
until you go back to school,
until you lose ten pounds,
until you gain ten pounds,
until you have kids,
until your kids leave the house,
until you start work,
until you retire,
until you get married,
until you get divorced,
until Friday night,
until Sunday morning,
until you get a new car or home,
until your car or home is paid off,
until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter,
until you are off welfare,
until the first or fifteenth,
until your song comes on,
until you’ve had a drink,
until you’ve sobered up,
until you die,
until you are born again
to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…”
21 November
2013
In vino veritas!
(In wine lies the truth)
(Also, why I have my two glasses of red wine everyday 🙂 )
Got to know this from an email from my friend Karthik Mani via Raj…
From Herodotus’ writings…
If an important decision is to be made, they [the Persians] discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision for reconsideration when they are sober. If they still approve it, it is adopted; if not, it is abandoned. Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober, is reconsidered afterwards when they are drunk.
19 November
2013
Interesting unintended consequences. And a puzzle.
Part of an email I got from my good old friend Jyotsna from Singapore:
“Btw your puzzle format on FB was an inspiration to the math teachers at the boy’s school. I had asked the teachers to look at posting puzzles in a forum so that kids can help out each other and gave your puzzles discussion as an example. It is the second week of this discussion on the school forum and the class kids seem to love it!! So you are pretty influential in far away Singapore! :-)”
What started as an exercise to get rid of boredom on a flight back from DC a few years back has certainly had some unintentional – but highly welcome 🙂 – consequences. Thank you Jyotsna!
This puts pressure on me to post the next puzzle. This one is dedicated to the kids in Singapore and elsewhere. And also adults.
(Again, do not post in Comment section; send me FB msg; I will respond)
A few days back, I was cleaning my pool and talking to my another good friend Kuntal over the phone. He had posed a question – “what is the last digit of 19^19 + 99^99”. Over the phone we discussed our answers – he had taken an elegant way to solve it – I had used a short cut.
So let’s try that:
1. What is the last digit of the sum of 19 to the power of 19 added to 99 to the power of 99. (19^19 + 99^99).
And an extension..
2. What is the last digit of
9^9 + 19^19 + 29^29 + 39^39 +……+ 99^99
3. If you have an younger kid – or you are stuck yourself – try with the following simpler version – and then the above two become easier. What is the last digit of 99^99?
19 November
2013