31 January
2013
31 January
2013
Engineering Skills
Unintentional 7.5K run in Chateau Élan. The story is to “die for” 🙂 Originally, the idea was to run through the neighborhood behind the winery for 5K. Somewhere in the hills in the dark, I took a wrong turn and found myself on a State Highway and by now 5K away from where I needed to be. It was a single lane highway with no median and barely any shoulder to run on.
Throwing caution to the wind, I just ran on the highway (on the left side so I could see oncoming traffic). A ferocious looking dog that had greeted me about a mile back might have something to do with the decision 🙂 Judging by the reaction of the drivers, they are not used to seeing runners on that highway 🙂
At one point, after running downhill, I faced a long bridge with absolutely no side space to run on. So, I had to clear the bridge before any oncoming car could enter the bridge.
I summoned all my engineering skills – estimated the length of the bridge, knew my speed, estimated the vehicle’s speed, adjusted for the fact they will accelerate as they hurtled downhill on the other side of the bridge and estimated the point on the road other side of the bridge which was the cut off point (I had to make sure no car had crossed that point). Finally found an opportunity where the next car was beyond that point and I ran like the wind…
And met the car about half way into the bridge 🙂
She was kind enough to move over to the wrong side lane. And I ran the rest of the distance mumbling to myself “One minute is 60 seconds; not 100. One minute is 60 seconds…” 🙂
27 January
2013
Walden Pond!
26 January
2013
Caught in a circle!!
New puzzle!! Like every other responsible brother-in-law, I called up my BIL this morning to check on him and his family. As is his wont, he immediately rewarded me with a puzzle which has stumped me ever since. (I think he is trying to give me a hint 🙂 ). Anyways, I got to the answer intuitively (and I am assuming it is the correct answer since he confirmed it) but for the life of me, I cannot come up with a proof for the answer.
So, here it is: Think of a circle. Now think of all the n-sided regular polygons that can fit in it (all the vertices of the regular polygon will touch the circumference of the circle). Which figure (i.e. for what value of “n” – triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon etc etc ) will have the maximum value for the sum of squares of the sides.
As always, if you know or crack it, send a PM. I will acknowledge in the common forum.
25 January
2013
Man on the moon
22 January
2013
Run in Key. Biscayne
21 January
2013
Cold but sunny
20 January
2013
New members!!
5K on our Sunday morning Bengali run. Today, we almost doubled our team size with Arup Dhar and Manas Chatterjee joining us. The usual Amitesh Mukherjee and Samaresh Mukhopadhyay was there too. We missed Amitesh for the coffee though. It was a crisp cool morning with freezing temperatures but sun out in full glory…
19 January
2013
Glass half full
18 January
2013
Updates on the Bomb Squad
A few more details are trickling in… (you have to read the previous post to get the context).
After finishing up my office work, I called India back to get more details of the incident. Funnily enough, nobody admitted that they were the first to suggest it might be a bomb. When I talked to my dad upstairs, he said it was my sister’s idea. When I talked to my sister downstairs, she suggested it was the niece who got afraid it might be a bomb!!! My mom claims that right from the beginning, she had a hunch that it might be a nice package from me! And of course, the niece claims she knew all along it had to be books!!! 🙂
Everybody seemed to remember that all the neighbors agreed that those burglars whose attempt to rob was thwarted a few days back must have been so enraged that they sent a bomb!!
An outstanding moment occurred when the neighbors came. Picture this – there is a small brown packet in the middle of the parking lot in the ground floor. And a bunch of neighbors and my parents, sister et al. are circling it from a safe distance completely confused what to make of it. At that time of “You first” mentality, one brave gentleman stepped forward a little and was able to decipher some letters on the package from that distance. Petrified, he yelled “It says, HANDLE WITH CARE”. Everybody simultaneously jumped back three feet and a half convinced that their worst fears had come true!!! For, as you undoubtedly know, terrorists always take care to warn you to handle with care 🙂 🙂
At the end, I asked them – So, all of you and your neighbors and the police were at the police station with the package? And who was going to fend off the burglars that had attempted a robbery a few days back if they came during that time?
There was pin drop silence on the other side. I kept the phone down 🙂