1 February 2014

Slow Run

Went out for a run near my neighborhood. Ran slowly for 5 miles. Need to stretch now desperately.

Was listening to songs all the while running on the left edge of the road. Suddenly, as a song ended, I thought I heard footsteps alongside me. Turned around and sure enough, there was a dog following me. Not sure how long it had been running with me. It would not bark, it would not go away – it just kept going with me. Thought of trying a trick and turned around and retraced my path. The dog kept running back with me and then suddenly stopped in front of a property. I am quite sure that is the right house for the dog and also am guessing the owner is a runner and takes the dog for a run… Wish had my phone with me to take a picture….

Category: Running | 1 Comment on Slow Run
1 February 2014

Great Evening…

Great evening with the family at Azul with the new tapas menu. Amitesh, Sudipto and Mishti joined us to make it a perfect evening. Chris, Holly and Jenny took great care of us. Lauren belted some mind blowing songs. Owners Chuck and Saloni were unbelievably gracious, as always! Got to meet the Consular General of India too!!
The new Indian tapas menu is perfect !!!

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Category: Our Friends | 3 Comments on Great Evening…
30 January 2014

Puzzle time: False positives

This week’s trip is over. Time to leave Florida and start skidding on icy Atlanta roads. Also time for a puzzle.

Many of you are aware that my current job involves catching fraud in online transactions. We of course focus on building systems that can catch maximum amount of fraudulent transactions. However, what you may not know is that an equal challenge in building these systems is making sure that we do not flag the good transactions as fraudulent (and irritate the good customers). This is always a tough balance. This is also called the “false positive” problem. (The test showed “positive” but that is a false result).

Here is a false positive puzzle. A village has only one lab that can perform a particular test for a particular disease. The test, however, is only 98% accurate. So, a patient who does not have the disease will get “you do not have the disease” report 98% time. 2% of the time, it will say (erroneously) say “you have the disease”. Similarly, a patient who indeed is suffering from the disease, will get a “you have a problem” report 98% of the time. The rest 2% time he or she will get a clean chit erroneously.

You also know that 0.5% of the village population has been indeed afflicted by the disease.

Your friend from the village just received a report that he has the disease.

How concerned should he be? What is the real probability that he has the disease?

Category: Puzzles | 12 Comments on Puzzle time: False positives
28 January 2014

Degrees of separation…

Sharmila sent me a picture of snow starting to accumulate in Atlanta. I was missing the cold and snow so much that I had to sent her a picture of my poor condition as of now (we get this afternoon off during the company event). She is not talking to me now!!

Forget six degrees of separation… Right now we are separated by sixty degrees to be precise 🙂

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Category: Travelogs | 13 Comments on Degrees of separation…
27 January 2014

Since when we did we get more control of our happiness?

Interesting take by Daniel Gilbert on the history of control of our own happiness…

“Most of us make at least three important decisions in our lives: where to live, what to do, and with whom to do it. We choose our towns and our neighborhoods, we choose our jobs and our hobbies, we choose our spouses and our friends. Making these decisions is such a natural part of adulthood that it is easy to forget that we are among the first human beings to make them. For most of recorded history, people lived where they were born, did what their parents had done, and associated with those who were doing the same. Millers milled, Smiths smithed, and little Smiths and little Millers married whom and when they were told. Social structures (such as religions and castes) and physical structures (such as mountains and oceans) were the great dictators that determined how, where, and with whom people would spend their lives, which left most folks with little to decide for themselves. But the agricultural, industrial, and technological revolutions changed all that, and the resulting explosion of personal liberty has created a bewildering array of options, alternatives, choices, and decisions that our ancestors never faced. For the very first time, our happiness is in our hands.”

Category: Musings | 4 Comments on Since when we did we get more control of our happiness?
27 January 2014

Kondal !!!

Another guy I was able to spend an hour and a half this week was with a long lost friend – Kondal! We worked together in my first job in Bombay back in 1991-1993. Had a fleeting glimpse of him and his family a few years later at a restaurant. Was able to sit down and chat after a long long time. I still marvel at my friends from my first job who stayed true to their love of technology. He is surely one of them – and I have lost all ability to code these days… He was waxing eloquent on “cloud” and I was wondering if it might rain in Dallas 🙂

It was simply wonderful seeing him after such a long time and catching up on so many people he has kept up with and I have not….

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25 January 2014

Houston crowd

It was a little late by the time the meetings ended. But that did not deter a couple of my friends and their families to come and meet me. Subrata and I went to middle school together. Nirmalya (much younger than me) used to play together with my brother and myself and other neighbors every summer when he visited his uncle – who was my neighbor! The last time I saw his daughter was when she was barely standing up in his apartment. Now she is a sixth grader!!

That was one of the best Indian food I had. And certainly the most awesome “adda”!! Also, I can’t remember the last time three forty-something Bengali guys sat down with so little hair to show for themselves 🙂

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25 January 2014

Interesting antonyms !

After the Tech fair competition, on our way back, Nikita and I stopped at a Starbucks. The entrance to the Starbucks was a little convoluted. On our way out, we got stuck. After pulling out of the parking spot, I could not move forward since there was a car there waiting to move who was waiting for the car in front to move who could not take a right turn because another car was blocking the way trying to come in. And that car could not move either since there was a car in front of it who wanted to get into my parking spot. But it could not do that till I cleared out!!

So, I explained to Nikita that in computer science, this is what is called a “deadlock”. Nobody could move since we had a circular dependency. Eventually, all the drivers realized that we have an unsolvable problem. It was solved when the car wanting to take a left turn, decided instead to go forward into the Drive Thru lane.

As I finally pulled forward, Nikita asked, “So, are we Liveopen now?”.

I am like – “What? Oh!!!!” 🙂

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