Category Archives: Life notes
To be a depressed person reading about research on depression
It’s a strangely unsettling experience to read about research on an affliction that one has, to understand how scientists are obtaining insights into it using a variety of techniques that allow them to look past the walls of the human … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Scicomm, Science
Tagged ansatz, anxiety, CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy, depression, mood disorders, paranoid android, reductionism, reinforcement learning
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Justifying organic chemistry
Johanna Miller writes in Physics Today about how she was able to enjoy learning organic chemistry in her senior year of undergraduate study: by understanding that science is a collection of concepts, not a collection of facts. She also argues … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Science
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Seven years
Today, I complete seven years as a journalist. Scratch that. Today, I complete seven years in the journalism industry. Wait, scratch that too. Today, I complete 6.58 years in the journalism industry. Is that entirely accurate? Today, I complete two … Continue reading
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The fiction of men
After you find out that a male writer has been a lesser person than you thought he was, have you found it harder to read and appreciate his work? I bet you have. I’m sure it’s the case with female, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Life notes
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Rich-poor divide
Deadly air exposes rich-poor divide, Channel News Asia, March 21, 2019: Delhi’s affluent, who are often better informed about the dangers of pollution, increasingly expect the same safety measures they have in place at home, to be available when they … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Op-eds
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6.35 pm
The world was a bowlA container of thingsWith cities at the bottomLike the abyss turned upside downStars blinked back from belowWhen ancient volcanoes eruptedOrange lava assembled on the rimStilled on the cusp, afraid to fallDown the black wall of the … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes
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Lightning strikes and sex
No, not that sex. Biological sex. In the past eight years, an astounding 80 percent of those killed by lightning strikes have been men. This astonishing statistic is from an article in Bustle, from 2014 – but it quickly stops … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Science
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Reading Manto
What is a short story? If you were to visualise the completeness of a ‘long-story’ as arcs of different lengths on a circle, then I would say a finished novel could be 90% of the circumference. Or an epic fantasy … Continue reading
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Driving down the moderated way
There’s a really yucky scene in the really yucky movie based on the half-yucky book Atlas Shrugged. A copper-mining tycoon who blew up his own mines says in a conversation with his railroad-tycoon friend, “They say money is the root … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Op-eds
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On time, and turning 30
It was recently my birthday. I turned 30. The celebrations were muted – if at all – because there’s something of a moment when you exit the tweens, and the first digit of your age changes from 2 to 3. … Continue reading
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