When was the Last Time you did something for the first time?

Today, i went to the toilet with my helmet on,
(oh! and i made my first robot)

Cheers,

Talking Sorrow . . .

Talking sorrow, singing love
Mercy of God far above,
Talking to me - telling me so
The tender heart that loves to go

Around the world, in the eye
And together we live and die
And together we go around
Through closed minds and open ground

Tell me more, of day and night
Of infinite blindness, pointless sight
Treasury filled, is joy no more
To the heart filled with love before

When trees tell, and the birds cry
Far far above, in the sky
He's telling me - to fool around
The gentle touch, and incoherent sound

To tell us more of the tearless eye
The hand that fell in the blazing sky
Tempest, sandstorm, wind and mill
Come and go as it stands still

It whispers something and goes around
Joy discovered, nothingness unfound
Talking sorrow, singing love
The Mercy of God, far above.

-Abhishek

My College - 219999850 years from now.


(Yes, i'm thinking lets call it alongtime centenary, may be to spice it up tes-pui-alongtime centenary)

Yes friends i'm sticking my neck out - (not that i'm sure i'll have a neck after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary but why take a chance - if i'll have it i will stick it out). Anyway all i'm trying to do, is try and be a Kalam (imagine how long his hair would be after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary) and speak out to 'mere pyare vidyarthi mitro' (i'm assuming he would have learnt hindi after a tes-pui-alongtime centenary). So here goes -

" You see I had said to you before you had this .. umm... ah yes tees-poi-alentem centenary i.e after 150 years of your college that may this college prosper till the sun goes around the galaxy. I had said at that time that it requires 220 million years to achieve that. But since then the nation has managed to get enough money from Veerappan's secret bank account which they discovered under the name of RS Lodha ( for the uninitiated it was a unanimous decision taken by the Intergalactic Monetory Fund to scrap the making of wills and pass on all fortunes to RS Lodha about 200 million years back) that they were able to bribe enough of George Bush's 'advisors' to convince him to wage a war on Alpha Centauri 1 because they confirmed reports of Osama Bin Laden hiding there. George Bush even quit playing golf in ensuring research money to produce the intergalactic-earthbooster system which has helped us revolve around the centre in (tes-pui-alongtime centenary/2) years. (Those who were wondering why Osama still hasn't been caught, Bush insisted that we turn the boosters in the opposite direction to get his ball back so that he could tee off at the 15 and reduce his handicap of 10^56). However i am sure none of you must be aware of such basic metaphysical changes because all your old text books which contained the future of science ( it's possible to travel faster than light, electrons can be negatively charged, Bush's handicap is 1) have now been modified to the then correct values.

I feel such a pleasure to visit these hallowed (I'm thinking my speech writer meant hollow) halls again that I wish those stupid people quit testing PEPSI and get to work at the only thing your college has that no other college can every have - The Mulla River. This is a virtual haven for environmentalists to test their skills (after Bush's brain) & if fishes had fortunes Lodha would have been InterGalactic President by now. Anyway I must congratulate your college for educating all your teachers (in a training camp that took 219999850/2 years ) that a singular object has a plural verb. I would also like to congratulate all those people who finally got a project shortlisted for TechFest in paper presentation for their seminal work titled "Mathematical Analysis of Bush's swing and it's co-relation with increasing pollution in the Mulla. "I would also like to heartily welcome what seems like a going back to the 'under the tree - Gurukul' system of teaching because that is all that I see here.

I have had a wonderful time, coming back to these beautiful umm.. environs and would like to come back again when your college has finished inventing a name for 440 billion years - time taken for Bush to get a handicap of 1. Till then I hope scientist have invented a meter which can measure frequencies much beyond the realm of human imagination (which has been calculated to be about 2 mm - yes one dimensional, in a path-breaking book, 'The Human Mind, It's Length and Its Young's Modulus" by Japanese scientist Aatatari Ooduka) to measure the college's identity crisis frequency(A term now denoted ny the symbol COEP) Till then goodbye to everyone at umm let me see what is it now ? - aah. COEP. "

(A certain Vilasrao Deshmukh interrupts saying I hereby declare that my son will only sign films, which ensure that 'COEP cha naav badlu naka' is printed as a social message" and also a certain TV set groans Damn, where's the ball?)



Chao,

(Credits - a certain Vinod Jee who introduced me to this genre of writing)

For the Uninitiated see this

Check out new additions to the list :


Gaurav
George
Sarika
Vineet
Vinod G
Samrat
Harish

Cheers,

Shwaas Vs ?

One amazing thing on the second last day of PIFF was that 3 major contenders for the Academy Award for the best Foreign Film were being shown on the same day. Afghanistan's Earth and Ashes, South Africa's Yesterday and India's Shwaas. Albeit these three are yet to be shortlisted, trusting PIFF organizers I have come to believe that these films are hot favourites to make the cut. So what chances does homegrown talent have against these prospective competitors?

Earth and Ashes -

A from the heart tale of a Grandfather and his Grandson travelling to a faraway mine where the Grandson's father works to tell the news of devastation of the whole family in a bombing of their village. Where the film scores, is its simplistic storyline - objective and effective. The screenplay and the cinematography are absolutely amazing. The sweeping desert landscapes, the bombed village, and the appalling haplessness that the Grandfather faces have been wonderfully portrayed. Sub-plots have been woven wonderfully into the main storyline, i.e. the rich merchant from Kabul who helps waysiders, the grandson becoming deaf and his attempts to convince everyone that their voices lay hidden in one of the tanks which lie bombed along the road, the daughter being abused in public, the kid chasing the goat into a landmine where it is reduced to smithereens etc. give the viewer a bone-chilling overview of life during the war. Many people have praised the acting talent of Ashwin Chitale, the child actor in Shwaas. However the grandson in this movie I thought was much better. Ashwin's character is such that he plays himself most of the time in the film. However this kid in Earth and Ashes portrays someone deaf - someone who he is not, with aplomb. The film is technically brilliant, emotionally touching and wonderfully directed and written. The film's end - a pitch-black screen with the Granddad singing (wailing?) for atleast two minutes is absolutely chilling (and brilliant).

Yesterday -

This was the movie that won the best film (The Prabhat Award) at this year's PIFF. This movie tells the tale of a village belle named Yesterday whose husband works in the city. She finds out that she has contracted HIV and on the advice of the doctor tries to warn her husband that he may have it too. She shows the moral power to survive, till her only daughter Beauty is admitted to school. She also lives through her husband's last days and helps to make his end as comfortable as possible. Again the film scores on the same points that the earlier film did. Amazing cinematography and a simple direct story. I thought the film is in some ways a case of old wine in a new bottle - however the brilliance of the filmmaker cannot be overemphasized. Another interesting aspect is the portrayal of South African village life (in Kwazulu-Natal) and a social rhetoric on the state of affairs as regards to scare water supply, electricity, education and medical facilities in rural South Africa. Overall a good cinematic experience however definitely not mind-blowing.

Shwaas -

Much pixels (and indeed newsprint) have been spared dissecting and analyzing Shwaas. So when I saw it again at PIFF I indirectly compared it to the previous two and here are a few observations. Shwaas tries to create the glorious cinematic experience (read cinematography) which the other two films do effortlessly. The village scenes are amazing but the hospital and the city sequences lose the plot as far as visual appeal is considered. Also the film gets caught in the battle between mainstream cinema and art house productions. The 'suspense' is extremely flimsy and the film somehow does not quite match up with the other two. However this does not mean that it does not compare at all with the other two. It has come very close as far as the story, acting, direction is concerned. It loses on the technical front and probably the issue taken up might not appeal to US voters as AIDS and the Afghanistan war might. Anyway all the three films were a treat to watch and I enjoyed my wonderful journey (9 am home -> 9:20 AM INOX -> 11-4 E^2) through these Oscar nominated films.

Indian cinema has some way to go before it can match up to it's wealthier counterpart's, but if a Marathi film can do so much then Hindi cinema should be able to do much better. Till then - Hare Rama Hare Kisna!

My name is Na - Kiss Na

After a long arduous journey we finally reached the promised land(read row f seat 5) at a very convenient 11:30 pm to watch Kisna - Ghai's latest magnum opus. And what I have heard of Jaani Dushman, this movie should give it a run for it's money. Watch out Mithun - Ghai's here.

Overheard: What was the lady(Isha Sharvani) doing on the trees for half the film - Just hanging around.

PS: Watch out for reviews of Page 3, Black Friday - and an overview of PIFF in coming times.

'Iske badle me Woh'

'Delegates' are requested to note the following changes in the film schedules -


'Beautiful by Day' will be shifted from 11 am to 9pm.

'Swimming Pool' will be replaced by 'The Bathtub'

'Fire' will be replaced by 'Water'

'Hungarian Rhapsody' will be replaced by 'Swedish Parody'

'Run Lola Run' will be replaced by 'I Ran'

'Officers' room' will be replaced by 'The Magic Broom'

'The Straight Path' will be replaced by 'Hera Pheri'


'Delegates' are also requested to note cancellation in screening of the film 'Procrastination' due to delays in the arrival of the film, and 'I will survive' due to the tragic passing away of the film's Chinese director Mae Togaya.


We at Purely Insipid Formula Films(PIFF) would like to thank all or delegates for their kind co-operation in making this event a big success. Delegated are also requested to note that next year 'we' will be replaced by WCCBFF
(We Cheated the Censor Board Film Festival). Till then, Chao.

Cheers,
Abhishek

PS: All of the above is inspired from the replacement of Howrah Bridge by China Gate and the notice being place at E^2 while the movie was being screened at NFAI.

PIFF - Scene One Take One

I don't know if the organizers had planned this or whether it accident that King Lear and Ran both featured on the same day within a few hours of each other. Now it was pure chance that i watched the two movies. The original King Lear being a Russian version the main beauty of dialogue was lost, Shakespearen plots being exemplified by their wonderful imagery apart from the compelling storyline. Siddharth suggested that i watch Run, a french-japanese film (directed by Akiro Kurosawa who Nikhil told me was a brilliant director). Anyway i couldn't help notice the similarity it had to King Lear. Later it turns out the film is a Japanese adaptation of the same and King Lear's daughters are replaced by 3 sons. Even a few scenes where they carries the dead bodies of Cordelia and King Lear,the role of the Knave, the scnene where he picks grass in a field among others have been adapted.
However just for the record i thought both the films were pretty boring and to see the same thing twice - My first film VISA USA saved the day.

PS: Why was Ran - a Japanese adaptation, shot in Japan, with Japanese actors in French ?
Cheers,

"Na.am badalale ki ka.am sudharat naa.hi "


Pu.La.Deshpande - in Pestankaka

A Question of Fun Art.8

Gaston Glock


Gaston Glock - is the founder of Glock GmbH, the makers of handguns recommended by 90% of the US police force. The standard 18 round,24-ounce, 500 $ gun became so popular with the US police authorities, that when it came on the market in 1985 - it was snapped up by the dozens. The police forces were already combating growing terrorism, violence and petty robberies during that time and were eager to keep pace with the better-equipped, well-armed criminals. It's main competitor, the heavier and more complex .45 caliber Smith & Wesson was more expensive, and bulkier. Also since most of the mere 34 parts (except the carbon steel barrel) were made of a polymer, the gun had lesser recoil and was therefore much easier to handle. It soon became extremely popular with major police forces across he States including NYPD, US Special Forces, The FBI and other major anti-terrorist squads all around the world.

However, this incredible success story had its twists and turns. The story begins in Glock's country of birth - Austria. He was engaged in producing plastic grenade shells and also manufacturing plastic curtain-rod rings. He happened to overhear a certain comment by a few officers in the Austrian army about the inadequacy of their guns. Immediately Glock offered to make them one. They laughed away at him, but that made him even more determined to complete his mission. He got down to work in his basement every night and built the gun from scratch. Probably his greatest advantage was his total ignorance about gun making and his relative knowledge of polymer science. He built one of the simplest, lightest semi-automatics around. A mere 34 part Glock became so popular, than in 1983 he received an order for 25,000 guns. A man so determined, that he tested his prototypes with his left hand so that if his gun blew up - he could still draw blueprints with his right hand - was finally on the road to success. Two years later, eager to expand and attracted by nearby Luxembourg as a tax haven Glock met a certain Charles Ewert by chance - a man who was to change his life - and almost end it. Ewert, claiming he had international contacts se up many phony companies to which a large part of Glock's earnings were diverted. He opened various offices in Hong Kong and most importantly was responsible for Glock Inc. Glock's US subsidiary - it's most important company. Glock once said to his family that if anything happened to him they should go to Ewert.

Then one day Glock received a phone call from an employee Ewert had fired - telling him that there was something fishy about the way Ewert was operating. Glock immediately dismissed the idea as a clear case of a disgruntled employee's ire against his former employer. However just to put his mind to rest, he called a meeting with Ewert in Luxembourg. That's when - at Ewert's suggestion he stopped to have a look at a car parked near the road. A masked man leaped from behind and struck him with a rubber hammer. Ewert ran away from the scene. Glock struggling for his life managed to summon all his energy and hit back at the man - who later collapsed in a heap at the powerful man's blow. It was later discovered that the man was a French relation of Ewert. Ewert was later charged with attempted murder, and allegations of large misappropriation of funds and fraud. His case is still in the courts in Luxembourg but if found guilty he could face upto 30 years imprisonment.

They say 'You don't mess with Gaston Glock'. Now in his 70s Glock GmbH is still very much a one-man company. His son says that at the company he is his 'father's slave'. He is also known to be extremely private, one of his favourite pastimes being flying his Cessna wherever he travels. He had fought vehemently against the gun protection act that Clinton proposed, as it would have adversely affected his business. He has also fought against the frequent use of 'Glock' by rappers as he fears it will become a generic term for handguns.

Certainly having a violent and indeed colourful story a lot of Gaston Glock's past is shrouded in mystery. His incredible fight for his life on that fateful day in Luxembourg, his hugely public spat with Charles Ewert and the countless court lawsuits by him and indeed against him stand testimony to that. But one thing seems sure - until this man is at the helm, Glock GmbH will always be at the top of the list when it comes to choosing a handgun.

Some links

Glock webite
Glock FAQ
Frank Boosman's Blog

X - Am
I know it's that time of the year when most of you would be saying X-Mas rather than exam, but p(c?)IET decided to have exams postponed, so here i am - not going to Mood I - and sitting at home just saying to myself - you must study sometime,

Till i am free of this moral obligation,

Cheers,
Abhishek

Public Notice

issued by : (as per aai rules) My parents

We hereby proclaim that our son is an adult (atleast by law) and we are not responsible for any future misconduct on his part. And by the way - happy b'day.

PS:Abhishek says : atleast i can be a member of inquizitive now(i.e. without faking your age)
Cheers,

Children

I peeped out of my window
To see an alarming thing
Two extremely charged-up children
Were very fiercely fighting

My heart pained, On seeing
This very alarming thing
To see such young noble children fighting
Is not a heart-warming thing.

Shouting and screaming,
Seemingly out of their wits!
They seemed to be tearing,
Each other to bits

I couldn’t bear the trauma
And shut my painful window,
I thought I hadn’t seen it
The fighting, and the power show

Next day on my walk,
And what do I see
The two same children
Playing together with glee

I looked at the heavens
And flashed an inward smile
I applauded Him on making , children
In such a beautiful style !

A 7th Std. Abhishek

Baithe Baithe kya kare,
Karna hai kuch kaam,
EEE ke circuit suljhaye
Ya Taylor/McLaurin ko kare salaam !

Cheers,

Blogroll

Some long awaited additions to the roll,
Nikhil K , Siddharth Dani, Kunal T. and ex-PIET quizzing don Arka
Cheers,

A Question of Fun             Art.7

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882 - 1945) is popularly known as the rocket man. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1882 he was always fascinated with everything pyrotechnic. Sticks of TNT, explosives, or small firecrackers or rockets fascinated him as much, as today's kids love their PS2s. He schooled at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and later became a professor at Clark University, teaching physics, for nearly 29 years.

At that time it was believed that propelling anything in space was technically impossible because there was no air to push against. However Goddard in his paper titled "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes" was able to prove that if you built a big enough rocket, with enough power then it would be possible to reach the moon. He was much ridiculed for his efforts in the media and was even quoted in the papers as "Professor Goddard, lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." after he proposed the idea of space propulsion. Enraged, Goddard intensified his efforts to prove the editors wrong and went into a shell of his own private research from which he never fully recovered because it wasn't until after his demise that his technologies were proved to be correct and could be applied practically.

Goddard proved first that space flight was possible even with the absence of air. Later he realized that if he had any chance of reaching space, gun powders and other such chemical concoctions would have to be replaced by much more powerful fuels. He conceived the use of Liquid fuel like hydrogen which when mixed with liquid oxygen to act as a propellant fuel for the rockets. In fact this is the technology that still powers today's rockets. Thirdly he realized that a single stage rocket would be impossible to get in space and conceived multistage rockets. He was awarded patents for his ideas of liquid propellants and multistage rockets in 1914. Probably during this period the only commercial success that he had was the development of the "Bazooka" done for U.S. Army Signal Corps and Ordinance Department, in the Magnetic Lab (now Skull Tomb) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, at Clark University, and later at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. By 1917 he started receiving financial assistance to sustain his work from the Smithsonian Institution. Later he was to receive a lot of research funds due to the efforts of Charles Lindbergh. It was during the 1920's and the 30's that he did the bulk of his work. Much ridicule came his way, as his failed rocket experiments were difficult to hide from public eye, as they had to be performed in the open. This is probably best highlighted by this hilarious headline in a local paper " MOON ROCKET MISSES TARGET BY 238,799 1/2 MILES."

However his first major breakthrough came in 1926 when Goddard successfully launched a 10-ft rocket he called Nell from his aunt Effie's farm. That flight which lasted for 2.5 seconds launching the rocket at 60 M.P.H. was as historic in the history of modern rocketry as the Wright brothers' 12 sec flight at Kitty Hawk. That 41ft climb was the first stepping stone in Goddard's flight to success. Though in the initial stages his work went largely unnoticed in America, The German Rocket Society, formed in 1927 took considerable interest in his work. His work basically outlined what was to be the famous German V-2 ballistic missile. He indigenously developed all the technology required for flight including liquid propellant driven pumps, steering units, and gyroscopic control. It was in the month of March 1937 that he achieved an altitude of 9000 feet that was to be his highest flight. Even in World War II, Goddard services were used by the U.S. Navy to the development of practical jet assisted takeoff (JATO) and liquid propellant rocket motors capable of variable thrust. He died on August 10,1945, four days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan.

Robert.H.Goddard was a man who had both the creative genius to think beyond the obvious and the technical brilliance to bring these wonderful ideas into reality. He not only thought of what was then considered impossible, but also carried on with his research in the face of much public humiliation and ultimately succeeded. All the honour that he got, though belated, was richly deserved. The Congress issued a Gold medal in his name in 1959 and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland was named after him.

From that cloud of smoke from a powder rocket fired in the basement of the physics building in Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1907 as a kid, to the first 2.5 second flight on that the afternoon of March 16 in 1926, to the dizzying height of 9000 feet he achieved in 1937 Goddard's journey was truly remarkable. His genius is an inspiration for all engineers in today's 'Space Age' that would have been quite impossible without the creative genius called Robert.H.Goddard.

Additional Info :
NASA entry
TIME magazine

Cheers,
Abhishek

Snippets of PIET

My first month at PIET has been quite hectic, thus contributing to the neglect of this blog. However my teachers have taken over the content creation for this article. Here are a few masterstrokes.

Deshpande V.L.
* Now I will take attendance, pls. say 'Yes Sir' or 'No Sir'

* Please students, don't perform mischief, don't perform mischief. Last year 10 boys were expelled for performing mischief - out of which five were girls.

'Director' Ghatol

* I don't say PIET is the best college. There are colleges like IITs and there are other colleges. PIET is somewhere in between. But students we have something that no college in the world has, (long pause...) The Mula river!

Our Maths Teacher - Mrs. Kavishwar

* How can you say that 'x' is negative. If it had been '-x' then it would have been negative.

Our Physics Sir - Mr. Kamble

* Now students for extra knowledge on the subject of semiconductors, please write down the name of the website -
www.google.com


Such is the wonderful life at PIET - never missed FC esp. with regard to the teachers.

Cheers,
Abhishek

FE or F.Y.B.Tech is really taking is toll,

So much work so little time - is it always the case or are these the signs of PIET different from erstwhile COEP,

Anyways weekends are here and a little time for some good stuff !!

Branching Out

Yesterday was faced with the quite difficult task of choosing between Comp. and Mech, I never really wanted to do ENTC so having a choice betn my 2 fav. branches was difficult. I absolutely love computers and have been programming since 5th std. albeit in QBASIC. Anyways i chose to stick with my first love (with due apologies to scooty owners) and take CS. Anyways i hope that means i may have Ramanand as an alumni teacher. Also i hope that i will enjoy my years at PIET,

Cheers,
Abhishek

(AD)Mission Accomplished !!

Finally after an admission procedure which lasted for about 3 months the allotment list have been annouced for FE admissions. I have managed to get PIET(formerly COEP)
So thats one very important job done. Hope to start college soon, maybe by the first week of sep. We are expected to pay by next week. Then maybe a second list. So Sep. is a good guess.

******

Inquizzition posters were finalized and printed. Thus AnAstAsiA Arts(a company whose founder, chairman, clerk, cleaner etc etc is me) gets its first credit though last years poster was also designed by the same company. Therefore that's one major work done and expect FC Quest ppl swarming around ur institution and putting up the posters. A copy of the poster will soon be put up here. So watch this space.


******


Quizzing League News :

It has been decied by general opinion that the league will be executed on a test basis this year. That means that only a certain amount of ppl.(read regular BC quizzers) will be included. However invitations will soon be sent and then a list will be drawn up. This has to be finalized before InqV as that will be the first event under this programme.

******

On a personal note t'day i'm feeling really good for getting in to COEP nay PIET. Hope to have four fulfilling and enriching experience for four years. There are about 4-5 friends who have also got through, so hope i enjoy my time with all of them. Also am looking forward to be a member of the boat club. Do we get to row etc etc. i think that would be quite interesting. Also looking forward to help organize chakravyuh and witness the grand treat that is the regatta. Also most imp looking forward to loitering on the lawns of BC as ppl shoot of questions every saturday at BCQC. That i admit has me smiling from ear to ear. So with lots to look forward to here's signing off !

Cheers,

TESTING SYSTEM FOR QUIZZES

Some time back I had thought of creating a simulator for testing various systems. Following is a general outline of the testing method to be used.
(Just for reference for the non-quizzing readers I have included a general discussion of the types of scoring systems used. Quizzers may skip.)

Detailed description of the three scoring systems :

1. Direct and Passing(D&P)

In this round the total number of questions per round is equal to total number of teams.(This point is common to all the systems) Every team gets one direct question and on account of that teams not knowing/passing the question passes till each team has either got it wrong or till one of the teams gets it right. There is usually a discrepancy regarding the scoring. i.e. 10 & 10 or 10 & 5. Now in this simulator there will be an input window regarding the points for direct and the points for passed. We should be able to key in this value.

2. Infinite Rebound(IR)

In this system also total number of questions per round is equal to total number of teams. However the first question is asked the first team. Then the question passes till someone gets it right or till we come back to the original team. If no one gets it right then the next team to the one that attempted the previous question gets the question on direct. However if someone gets it right then the next team gets the next direct question. Each team gets 10 points for a correct answer. Rounds do not matter in this system and therefore the order does no get set to the first team after the end of each round.

3. Centaurian Scoring System(CSS)

(PS:I quote from an article that I had written)

"....... The total no of direct attempts by each team is noted down. Once a question is answered or attempted by each and every person and there comes a time for the next question then the team with the least no of direct questions should be posed the next question. Following is some sample data

DIRECT ATTEMPTS TABLE

A B C D
. .

(where the dots represent no of direct attempts)

Consider following case. Direct Q to A - no one gets it. Therefore every team gets an attempt. Now B,C,D all have min no of direct Q answered. Then we go by alphabetical or round order(clockwise/anticlockwise)Then B gets direct Q. C answers correctly. Therefore as C & D both have min no of direct questions the order is decided by no of attempted questions(i.e. D gets next question).

ATTEMPTED QUESTIONS TABLE

A B C D
. . . .
. .
(where the dots represent no of direct & indirect attempts)

Now when D gets direct question suppose A answers it. Then according to above rule as C is the team with lowest no of direct attempts it should get the next question instead of B as in the case of IR. What we do is that we fill up the gaps in the table so that each team gets the same no of direct questions. ...."

So basically we check if the no. of direct attempts remain the same, if all the teams have the same no, of direct attempts then we check if the total no of indirect attempts is also same, if all is same then we proceed according to clockwise/anti-clockwise as usual. If not then the team with the least no of direct questions gets the next questions and if the teams have equal no of direct questions then the team with least no. of attempted questions gets the next question. Rounds do not matter in this system and therefore the order does no get set to the first team after the end of each round.

4. WRITTEN ELIMINATION

In this system each team is asked each question. They get equal points and the one with max. no of correct answers wins.

OTHER IMPORTANT PARAMETERS :

When the no of teams are selected then each team is given a IQ no. i.e. basically this no indicates the probability of their answering a particular question. Now this quotient will be a whole number between 1 and 5 and the program will give us an option to either enter these or randomly generate. Now if the particular round is a specialty round then the program will generate separate set of IQ no. for each team just for that round.(it should be noted that this no should lie in the threshold of plus-minus 2. i.e if the team has a general IQno of 3 then the possible assigned values should be between 1 and 5 for this speciality round. However IQ no. should be within the limits of 1 and 5.)

Now the program gives us an option to input difficulty level of the quiz. This number will be between 0 and 4.The lower the difficulty no, the tougher the quiz. If the difficulty no is set to then the probability of answering each question by a team is given by the formula ;

PROBABILITY = (DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF QUESTION + IQ no of team)/10

That means if the difficulty no. is 3 and the team IQ no is 4 then the probability of answering the question is 7/10. Max probability is when a team with IQ no 5 gets the easiest difficulty of 4 then the probability of answering is 90%.

However it must be noted that the difficulty no is not a whole number while IQ no is a whole number. Also the Question difficulty no for each question must be randomly generated. However it must be plus-minus 'consistency number' of the quiz. The consistency no is a number between 0 and 1 and so if the consistency no if .5 and the quiz difficulty no entered as 2 then difficulty of each question must be a random no generated between 1.5 and 2.5 . Using these rules the program generates the probability of a team answering a question and using this it says whether the team gets the question right or wrong.

This probability number remains the same for every question-team combination. i.e. if for a particular case in IR and CSS systems the same question is asked to same team then their probability of answering it should remain the same irrespective of the method of scoring. This is very IMPORTANT point, and if not implemented will make the system extremely unfair. That is if a particular team gives a certain answer right, then that team should get it right irrespective of the method of scoring.

CONCERNING SPECIALITY ROUNDS

There are some rounds in a quiz for specialties i.e. sport etc. Now the teams aptitude changes for such rounds and teams that are damn good at general quizzing may be damn dumb at a particular specialty or vice versa. Therefore for such round the IQ no. is to be regenerated however it must remain plus-minus 2 of the general IQ no as mentioned before.However this number should never exceed 5 or be below 1. The number of specialty rounds is taken and a different IQ no is generated for each specialty round.

FAIRNESS QUOTIENT :

Written elims are the fairest way to conduct a quiz however it is not practically possible to have written quizzes. The fairness quotient is generated for each method of scoring. It is defined

(points got in a particular system)/(points got in written elimination.) X 100

Major Inputs ;

Number of teams
Number of questions
No of rounds
No of specialty rounds
IQ no of Teams in definite order.
Difficulty Level of quiz
Consistency no of the quiz
Scoring system for D&P
There should an option to rearrange the order of teams.
(each input wherever possible should have the option of randomly generating the value)

Major Outputs ;

Detailed round by round scoring with each system with the round no. and specialty if any
Total final scores
Ranks
Number of direct and indirect questions each team attempted
Number of direct and indirect questions each team got right
Fairness quotient of each system
IQ no of each team


That's all folks. Just something to get your brains racking and thinking again. After long time do I write a technical article. Pls. feel free to point out mistakes and additions if necessary. I plan to implement the sim. as soon as I have the necessary coding/programming skills, which will I suppose take some time. Anyways, till then -

Adios & Cheers,

(note : just finished reading PAPILLON, absolutely amazing, fabulous, must read. )

SNAP QUIZ

Connect
Santiago, San Antonio, Conception, Trinidad, and Victoria.

Pls. try answering without google search.

Not many Indians know of Lou Gehrig. Probably those who have followed the life of Stephen 'Black Hole' Hawking might have heard the name probably in a different context. If one remembers Hawking has been struck with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or motor neurone disease. This is also called as Gehrig's Disease. That's what had this name in the back of my mind.

It was when reading something about Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth that I happened to chance upon the name of Gehrig and to my surprise I learnt that he played baseball. In fact Gehrig held the record for the most number of consecutive games played till Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it in 1995. Gehrig's consecutive game streak of 2,130 games did not come easily. He played well every day despite a broken thumb, a broken toe and back spasms. Later in his career Gehrig's hands were X-rayed, and doctors were able to spot 17 different fractures that had "healed" while Gehrig continued to play. His endurance and strength earned him the nickname "Iron Horse."

Gehrig was born on June 19, 1903 in New York City. The son of German immigrants, Gehrig was the only one of four children to survive. His mother, Christina, worked tirelessly, cooking, cleaning houses and taking in laundry to make ends meet. His father, Heinrich, often had trouble finding work and had poor health. In 1921 he went to Columbia on a football scholarship to pursue a degree in engineering. Before his first semester began, New York Giants manager John McGraw advised him to play summer professional baseball under an assumed name, Henry Lewis, in a different college - Hartford. "Everyone does it," McGraw explained, even though the illegal ball playing could have jeopardized Gehrig's collegiate sports career. Gehrig was discovered after playing a dozen games for Hartford in the Eastern League. As a result, he was banned from intercollegiate sports during his freshman year.

Yankee manager Miller Huggins petitioned McGraw to permit Gehrig to replace the ailing Wally Pipp on the Yanks' roster for the World Series. McGraw, always looking for an edge, exercised his prerogative and refused. The Yankees won the World Series that year anyway. After a full season at Hartford, became a Yankee for good in 1925. Once he replaced Wally Pipp at first base, Gehrig didn't leave the playing field for over 13 years.

Ruth and Gehrig dominated baseball in 1927 in a way two players had never done before. Ruth hit 60 home runs (breaking his own record of 59) and Gehrig hit 47, the second best. In that season Ruth not being eligible for the MVP as he had won o before, it went to Gehrig. By 1932 Ruth's dominance was slipping and Lou stepped right into his shoes. On June 3, 1932, Gehrig became the fist American Leaguer to hit four home runs in a game.

During an off season trip to Japan, the two stars had a massive fight apparently about some comment that Gehrig's mother made about how Ruth's daughter dressed. After that they didn't talk for 6 years. Though being in New York and playing for the Yankees, Gehrig was never much in the news as Ruth eclipsed him. It was though that after the exit of Ruth, Lou would be in the limelight, but then came the talismanic Joe DiMaggio. These two hit a combination like Babe and Gehrig had done some time ago and the Yankees won 4 consecutive World Series.

On May 2 1939 the game announcer intoned, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lou Gehrig's consecutive streak of 2,130 games played has ended. He was diagnosed with ALS and realized that he couldn't play baseball ever .Gehrig was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame that December. On June 2, 1941, Lou Gehrig succumbed to ALS and baseball lost a great player. Gehrig was cremated and his ashes were buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Actor Edward Hermann was hired to play Gehrig in a TV movie later. He is best described by saying that he was the ever popular, ever smiling superhero. He was somewhere in between the average and the extra-ordinary. He was as they say - "The Iron Horse'.

Lou Gehrig might not be known to Indians as we rarely follow baseball. However he has become immortal the world over unfortunately because of that fateful disease, which carries his name. He was that that kind of person had he lived in another age that babe Ruth and DiMaggio, would have become a superstar and to some extent he was. His personality can best be rounded of by this affable quote on being asked about playing in Ruth's shadow

"It's a pretty big shadow. It gives me lots of room to spread myself."

for more info see : lougehrig.com

Update

Hi, ppl just coming back from a vacation,
will be back blogging soon,

Cheers,
Abhishek

PUNE QUIZZING LEAGUE

All those who wish to take part in Pune Quizzing league, please register urself as the registrations are now open. Please click here to register.

The final rules etc will be put up shorty. tentatively the quiz league starts with Inquizzition. Those quizzing wishing to participate please post expression of interest on PQC.

Thanks,
Abhishek