T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U EIIT KHARAGPURNOVEMBER 6 2007

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Students from the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning added yet another acheivement to their already long list of accomplishments, as they marched their way to victory in Zonasa 2007.

Zonasa is the acronym for ZOnal Convention of the National Associat ion of Students of Architecture. It is a design and creativity fest for architecture students from colleges belonging to the eastern zone. It spans three days, with the events systematically categorized as : formal, informal and c a s u a l . T h e c u m u l a t i v e performance in all determines the champion. This year the fest was held at AUCE, Vishakapatnam from 14th to 17th of October.

Kgp's Archi junta initiates preparation for this event about a month and half before the Durga Puja vacation.The entire intensive practice session is characterized by i m m e n s e e n t h u s i a s m a n d tremendous creative energy among the students. A few professors accompany students and guide them throughout the fest. Kgp has been the runner up team for the last

two years. Despite a great performance, a 2 point lag caused the team to lose the 2005 trophy to CET Bhubneswar. This time Kgp

G o o d g u i d a n c e a n d g r e a t participation from their seniors made this Zonasa indeed a very memorable one for them.

For the first year Archi students, Zonasa 07 was a great, fun learning experience. According to Thulasi, a first year student, Zonasa helped her gain confidence to look at the challenging architectural world with a new perspective. She hopes to participate in the design

Tête-à-têteProfessor D K Tripathy is the new Dean of Student Affairs (DOSA). TSA talks to him to find out

how he feels, and what his plans are for the future.

The Champions return!Team Archi brings home the prestigious ZONASA cup

Professor D K Tripathy is a professor at the Rubber technology centre. He has a B.Tech i n M e c h a n i c a l engineering from NIT Rourkela, and did his M.Tech and Ph.D.

from IIT KGP. He joined the Institute as a faculty in 1984 and has also served as the Director, NIT Warangal for two years.

TSA – How does it feel to be the new Dean of Student Affairs?

DOSA – It feels pretty good, I obviously have a lot of added responsibility. But I like attending to students' needs, so it's a good experience. TSA – What is your opinion about the various student activities going around in the campus?

DOSA – Kgp has a very vibrant student life, and we are all very proud of it.

TSA – Does the behaviour of students on campus in any area or aspect worry you? DOSA – We have very good students on campus, and I am pretty happy with the behaviour of students in the campus. Though, I am not happy with the two wheelers on the campus. We are shortly bringing out a notice, we will give the student community time till December and then two wheelers will not be tolerated inside the campus.

TSA – You must have various ideas about improving the general state of affairs...

DOSA – Yes, I think the things we need to work on are the space crunch and the quality of mess food meted out to the students. We want to eliminate the issue of twin sharing of rooms by next year. We are already taking steps to do that. The top floor of MT Hall is almost done, and Rani Laxmi Bai hall already has its first occupants. It has

also been decided that JCB will have an extra floor. Extra floors on top of other halls are being looked into and as soon as the report of their feasibility is out, work will start. For the mess food I think the major problem is unskilled labour. Usually the mess workers learn how to cook after they are employed. This time we have decided that in future mess workers will be hired on a more scientific basis, taking into account their skills and maybe even educational qualification. A team is being sent to a few colleges in India which have excellently managed mess systems to study and help in eliminating any loopholes that may exist in the same. TSA – Thank you Sir, it has been a pleasure meeting you, and we wish you all the best for all your future endeavours.

DOSA – It is always a pleasure meeting students. I would like to remind all students that they can always come to me to discuss any issues they may be facing.

DPPEntrepreneurs Ahoy!

The Training and Placement section has approved an exciting proposal by Entrepreneurship Cell IIT Kharagpur, The Deferred Placement Program (DPP). A lot of s t u d e n t s d o n o t t a k e u p entrepreneurship because they are unwilling to let go of the placement opportunities on campus, the DPP allows flexibility to a final year student to defer his/her placement by a year (Maximum 2 years) during which time he/she may try their hand at entrepreneurship. DPP will only be available for a select few students (initially, the number r e s t r i c t e d t o 1 0 ) w h o s e entrepreneurship proposal has been approved by the Dean SRIC. The student is first expected to submit a proposal to the TnP section along wi th the ent repreneur sh ip proposal. The TnP section will then seek advice regarding the proposal from the Dean SRIC, on its approval the TnP section may register the student for the DPP. The student should have registered his/her company within 12 months of graduating from the Institute. Once under the DPP the student may seek the services of the TnP the next year or the year after that (only once). A similar program initiated at IIMA this year increased the number of s t u d e n t s t a k i n g u p entrepreneurship two fold. This new proposa l promises to encourage more and more students to become entrepreneurs and contribute to the growing Indian economy, overall its a win win for both the student community and the Institute.

TnP updatesAn interview with the new TnP in charge

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Inside ?

CSE celebratesSilver Jubilee celebrations at the CSE department

Page 2

Astronaut in KGPColonel E. M. Fincke visits KGP

Page 4

Tech AveQR codes and KLUG Korner

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Fest UpdatesTSA reports on the status of SF and Kshitij 2008

Page 3

Bhaat AveBhaat Galore!

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Team Archi at ZONASA 07

made no mistake. They finished first with a grand total of 192 points, a good 30 points ahead of the runner up team. Kgp bagged the second position in cultural events as well as Reubens, where the project works of students are displayed. Although it has hosted Zonasa many times (the recent one being in 2004), Kgp had not managed to bring home the coveted trophy for the past 10 years .

The team was slightly skeptical about their performance without the third year students, who had to stay back for an important submission. Evidently, the absence of an important bunch of students did not dull the spir it of enthusiastic first and second years.

events of the fest in the coming years.

T h e S c h o l a r s ' Av e n u e congratulates the Archi champions and wishes them luck for successful participation in future.

Competition in progress

In Focus-OENAIntroduction

Started as the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine E n g i n e e r i n g i n 1 9 5 2 , t h e Department was the first of its kind in the country. It has seen many name changes from the original to the Depa r tment o f Nava l Architecture in 1974 and thence to the present name Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture in 1985 . The Department was setup under German collaboration exemplified by the first HOD being Dr. Volker. At present, it features six Professors, one Associate Professor and three Ass i s tant Professors . The programmes it offers are B.Tech (Hons.), Dual Degree, M.Tech, Ph.D. and a Post Graduate Diploma in Mar ine Opera t ions and M a n a g e m e n t P r o g r a m m e (PGDMOM) which was started in 2003. In a very broad sense, the Department is concerned with the design of structures and vehicles that operate in the marine environment. This already complex undertaking is rendered even more complex by the uncertainties involved in understanding the marine environment, something that is unique to this field of engineering distinguishing it from Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

Research Areas

In general, the research areas of the Department can be grouped under four heads: Hydrodynamics, Marine Design and Production, O c e a n S t r u c t u r e s a n d Oceanography. Among the thrust areas research are CFD, marine and ocean hydrodynamics, numerical hydrodynamics, marine structural analysis, ocean wave and circulation modelling, marine design and coastal processes and coastal marine hazards.

Research Infrastructure

The Department has a Towing Tank (one of only three in the country) that is used for calm water ship model tests, a Circulating Water Channel , a Welding Workshop and a Structures and

Vibrations lab. It's latest acquisition is a Rs. 90 lakh DHI AWACS 3 2D Wave Maker procured from the Danish Hydrological Institute (DHI) that was installed this June. The wave maker has been integrated into the existing towing tank facility thus making it the only such tank in the country which has the capability to test ship models in a generated wave field.

Personalities

The Department has seen many colourful personalities during its history, the prominent ones among them being the second HOD and a past Deputy Director, Prof. S.C. "Daddy" Mitra, a tour de force persona who many from that time remember with fondness and reverence.

Also present are Dr. S.D. Sharma who went on to head the U.S. Naval Academy and Dr. Raghuram who is regarded to be the best Design Manager Mazagaon Docks has ever seen. Not to be forgotten is Mr. Richard D. Souza (1971), an alumnus who's Gymkhana athletic records are still to be surpassed. For the record, the first Indian head of the American Bureau of Shipping and the present head of the Cochin Shipyard are both alumni of the Department.

Impact and Contributions

By virtue of being one of the extremely few of its kind in the country and the oldest among them, the Department has had an enormous impact on the Indian shipbuilding industry. By and large, t h e m a j o r i m p a c t o f t h e Department's efforts have been felt by the public sector Indian shipyards, the Indian Navy and the various ship classification societies who approve the seaworthiness of a ship. Among the armed forces of the country, the Indian Navy can lay claim to be the more indigenously equipped of the three with most of its warships being designed and constructed within the country and this has largely been due to the efforts of the Department's alumni.

Interestingly, the largest concentration of naval architecture graduates form Kharagpur are found in Bombay, Houston and then Singapore (in that order). The reputation of the Department in Houston is such that it is said one only needs to say that one's a naval architect from Kharagpur (note the lack of mention of India and IIT) to be considered a person of considerable expertise in the field! This stands as a testament to the Department's outstanding success.

The new wave maker in action

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering is completing 25 years of existence in 2008.The department has a series of events lined up throughout the coming year as a part of the silver jubilee celebrations. A gala alumni meet is scheduled at the end of 2008 or early 2009 as a culmination of the festivities.

The kick-off meeting of the program is scheduled on the coming November 14th. The daylong events comprise felicitation of retired faculty members, two panel discussions and a cultural program. The panel meet will dwell on the prospects of the next ten years of computer education, focusing mainly on the projecting of the department and development of a

world-class research program. The panel will involve retired and current faculty members and alumni of the department. A cultural program in the evening with skits from the students and the department staff will conclude the proceedings of the day.

An Industry-Department-Alumni interact ion i s a l so scheduled on December 22 – 23 with the aim of setting up a good interaction system and getting valuable feedback from the industry people. Apart from these, a number of thematic workshops and distinguished lectures are there in the pipeline. These would be brought to the notice of the students as and when finalized.

A student body is handling the ent i re organ iza t ion of the celebration under the guidance of a few professors. The department is funding the kick off on Nov 14, though it may look beyond itself for funding later on.

The department anticipates sizeable alumni participation for the gala alumni meet. A webpage for the silver jubilee celebrations is up which gives links for the alumni to register themselves and receive updates about the event. As Prof. Sudeshna Sarkar, one of the

conveners of the event put it – "the department wants to reach out to the alumni through this event so as to establish connections between the alumni, the faculty and the present batch."

CSE-25 years and counting

Executive Editors ? Saahil Bhanot, Umang Jain

Editors ? Aditya Marathe, Anuj Dayal, Arish Inam, Robin Anil, Sheekha Verma, Sreeja Nag, Suvrat Bafna

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T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E NEWS AVENUE NOVEMEBER 6 20072

Its' official now. There will be just one fest from 24th-27th January.

After weeks of confusion and stalemate over the ramifications of the Director's directive about the fests, a couple of bishops were traded and pawns were killed, though not necessarily in the same order. In an arrangement-cum-compromise reached between the Spring Fest (SF) and Manzar teams in a meeting between the big-wigs of both sides, Manzar has been made an SF family from the fest status they had the previous season. This and other knitty-gritties were revealed in a bare-all conversation with Mr Kamble Vijay Sukumar, G.Sec, Social and Cultural, TSG and Mr Arunabh Parihar, one of the coordinators of Manzar. While SF will conduct with the star attraction of both fests last year-Kavi Sammelan, Manzar will now concentrate only on the Hindi language events. As a result,

common events like WTGW have all gone to the SF. Once the SF Steering Committee meets and decides the slots, there will be another meeting to decide the slots of Manzar events for which Vikramshila will be the arena.

Another contentious issue-sponsorship was decided with a win-all decision. The SF team with all their experience of running successful sponsorship campaigns will do it again and allot funds to the Manzar family as they do with other families chosen at the time of fest. But a big question mark remains over the liabilities Manzar brings with it. For starters, Manzar has a deficit from last year which runs into lakhs and the SF team had obvious reservations on this issue. While it was decided that SF won't pay any of those, Mr Parihar said the matter will be taken up later in a meeting with the registrar.

Manzar Update

The Technology Literary Society or the TLS as we know it, has progressed laudably from being a society whose sole enterprise was to publish an annual book, to one that is making its presence felt more regularly. The society is trying out new ideas to expand it's horizons as a literary circle. The week before

Hang On!

Taking its success story further, Kshitij 2008 promises to be bigger than any of its predecessors. With sponsors such as Barclays Capital, Ceat, and Google, Kshitij 2008 boasts of huge corporate exposure.

Publicity for the fest is already in high gear. A series of external workshops have been conducted by Kshitij in association with the Robotix team in Calcutta, Bhopal, Jaipur, Noida, and Raipur which were received with tremendous enthusiasm. The Kshitij website is up and running and playing host to a number of online events, including a new and improved Woodstock and a brand new event called Forex. New events which will be introduced this year include Economic Mode l ing , Open Hardware, and Math Olympiad. Overnite, the popular C coding event has received certification from ACM, paving the way for it to become an international event. Problem statements for events with preliminaries are already up on the

site.

A n u m b e r o f e m i n e n t personalities such as Eric Drexler, the father of nanotechnology, and Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia are expected as guests.

'Project Green Earth', a social cause taken up by the fest and sponsored by ITC will be a part of the fest. This will comprise of an advertising event and a workshop on carbon trading conducted by ITC. Also, Mr. M. C. Mehta, a world famous environmental lawyer, will deliver a guest lecture.

C o n s i d e r i n g t h e accommodation problem faced last year due to the massive number of outstation participants , this time there has been a conscious effort to make the publicity event specific so as to attract only genuinely interested participants. A specific team with an assigned head, will handle hospitality issues to make the stay more convenient and hassle

free for the participants.

Spring Fest 2008 has had its own share of problems, as its clashes with Manzar, and the uncertainty about star nights. But with Vodafone and Unitech sponsoring the fest, and the issues with Manzar settled (see inside for details), SF seems to be back on track again. As always, the organizers choose to remain tight lipped about the stars that they are attempting to bring to KGP. The condition of TOAT and its capacity to host a mega event has been a cause of concern over the last few years. With TOAT not having undergone any renovation, it seems unlikely that its full capacity will be available. Using Jnan Ghosh Stadium as an alternate venue was proposed, but no concrete steps h a v e b e e n t a k e n b y t h e administration as of now. This year Spring Fest will be featuring a myriad of new events including a Lit Marathon. Also, the SF website will soon launch a number of online events.

Fest Fever!

Jerseys for Inter IIT?

For the first time students participating in the Inter IIT Meet will be sporting f l a shy branded Reebok gear, as they march to the 4 3 r d M e e t a t Bombay this year. I n a w e l c o m e initiative taken by Debashis Sarangi (General Secretary - Sports and games, TSG), Reebok has agreed to supply 150 track suits at a concessional price of Rs.750 as against MRP of Rs.3500 per suit. In return, the suits and jerseys will carry the Rbk logo. Gymkhana budget for one tracksuit is also Rs.750. The only h i t c h i n t h e sponsorship was that Reebok demanded payment in advance, which is not the system the Gymkhana follows. But even that has been sorted out.

Another company, Vega, had also agreed to provide the tracks (at

a price of Rs.600 ). Vega has past experience in designing the jerseys

f o r I n t e r I I T contingents of other IITs. As the design earlier sent by Vega w a s g o o d , t h e G y m k h a n a h a d approached Reebok to incorporate it into their suits. The colour decided is black and cream and the fabric to be used is imported Dobby fabric. The sample design has already arrived and has been approved. The 150 track suits will be in Kgp by the end of November (Inter IIT c h a m p i o n s h i p commences on 15th D e c e m b e r ) . T h e Reebok dea l was c o n s i d e r e d a f t e r sponsorship rejection by companies like Tata

Steel and Adidas.

With the fest season knocking at the door, preparations for Spring Fest and Kshitij 2008 are in full swing.

The Scholars' Avenue takes a look at what’s going on behind the scenes.

the Puja holidays, it came out with a fresh concept - Hang On. It is a wall magazine stuck in the foyer of every hall. The content is mainly sarcastically comical articles along with random interesting snippets related to literature. The magazine also has an FT stats chart to spice things up. The response to the idea has been very encouraging. Judging by the crowd around the magazine, people don't seem to mind spending five minutes of their time while passing through the foyer. TLS promises that this is the first in a series of new concepts and programs the society is coming up with in future. Let's wait and watch!!

A wi-fi network was installed in the department of Architecture and Planning recently and came as a breath of fresh air. Given the upsurge in the number of laptops owned by students as also our

insatiable appetite for connectivity, this comes as a very welcome step towards making the unavoidable night-outs at Archi much

more fun.

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U ENEWS AVENUENOVEMBER 6 2007 3

Trivia: The Perspex models of the Institute's buildings seen in the main building and CL have all been built by OENA alumni.

Prof B K Mathur is the n e w P r o f e s s o r - i n -Charge, Training & Placement. TSA caught up with Professor M a t h u r a n d t h e

Placement Committee for a general update on the placement scene.

Prof B K Mathur is the head of the P h y s i c s a n d M e t e o r o l o g y Department and the head of the Information Cell. Prof B K Mathur joined the institute in 1974. The Placement committee consists of the VP, Gymkhana along with UG and PG representatives.

TSA: Congratulations on the new appointment sir.Prof Mathur: Thank you.

TSA: This is the first time students are formally taking part in the Training and Placement proceedings . How would you define their role? Prof Mathur: The Placement Committee has been working hard in all possible ways. They are involved in everything from contacting companies initially to confirming their participation.

TSA: How many companies have confirmed participation in this year's placement season?Prof Mathur: The placement scene looks promising this year. It is too early to give out any confirmed details. We are expecting a lot of

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E NEWS AVENUE NOVEMBER 6 20074

December promises to bring us a truly uplifting experience. IIT Kharagpur will be graced with the presence of NASA astronaut Colonel Edward Michael 'Mike' Fincke between Dec 27 and Dec 29, 2007. This visit is being organized by the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Colonel Fincke graduated from Sewickley Academy, Pennsylvania in 1985. He was awarded a B.Sc degree in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences by MIT in 1989, followed by an M.Sc in Aeronautics and Astronautics by Stanford University in 1990. He was awarded an associates of science degree in Earth Sciences (Geology) from El Camino College in Torrance, California in 1993 and then a second master of science in Physical Sciences (Planetary Geology) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake in 2001.

Upon graduation from Stanford University in 1990, Colonel entered the United States Air Force where he served until 1996 at many locations over the United States. Colonel Fincke has over 825 flight

hours in more than 30 different aircraft types.

Selected by NASA in April 1996, Colonel Fincke reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. After two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch where he served as an International S p a c e S t a t i o n S p a c e c r a f t Communicator. He also served as back-up crewmember for ISS

Expedition-4 and Expedition-6 and is qualified to fly as a left-seat Flight Engineer (co-pilot) on the Russian Soyuz TM and TMA spacecraft.

Expedition-9 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft, docking with the International Space Station on April 21, 2004. As the NASA Space Station science officer and flight engineer, Colonel Fincke spent six-months aboard the ISS continuing ISS science operations, maintaining Station systems, and performing four spacewalks. The Expedition-9 mission concluded with undocking from the station and safe landing back in Kazakhstan on October 23, 2004. Colonel Fincke completed his first mission in 187 days, 21 hours and 17 minutes, and logged a total of 15 hours, 45 minutes and 22 seconds of EVA time in four spacewalks.

Having served as the back-up Commander for ISS Expeditions -13 and -16, Colonel Fincke has been named to lead the Expedition-18 crew, starting with a Soyuz launch in October 2008 and supplemented by several Shuttle launches in 2008 and 2009. Colonel. Fincke is currently stationed in Baikonur

Cosmodrome in Russia for this mission.

currently stationed in Baikonur Cosmodrome in Russia for this mission.

Colonel Fincke is a recipient of many special awards and honours, including the NASA Distinguished Serv ice Meda l , the NASA Spacefl ight Medal , the ISS Leadership Award, and a United States Air Force Meritorious Service Medal.

The Colonel will deliver a Keynote Lecture of 30-45 minutes duration on 27th December 2007, and a popular lecture of about an hour's duration on the evening of 27th December 2007. He will meet and interact with the students on the 28th and 29th December 2007. His lectures will be about the International Space Station, his 188 day stint in space, and future missions to the Moon and Mars. He hopes and believes that this will give the IIT student community exposure to the ongoing space programs in the world. IIT Kharagpur keenly looks forward to his visit.

Astronaut E.M. Fincke

From Baikanour to KGP!The Eagle is about to land...

IIT Kanpur's annual cultural festival, Antaragni-"the Fire Within", was held from 25th to 28th October this year and featured the Finnish band – Poets of the Fall. The latest sensation in the international rock arena, this band gained popularity with songs like 'Late Goodbye', the theme song of Max Payne 2. The IIT-K stop was a part of their ongoing world tour and hence, reportedly, eased the otherwise substantial monetary constraint. The performance was a fitting end to the rock music competition 'Synchronicity’ and left the 5000 strong head-banging crowd screaming their lungs out for more.

The presence of an international band greatly enhanced the image of the fest with the sponsorship amount seeing a whopping jump from Rs. 25 lakhs last time to Rs. 45 lakhs this year. The footfall for the rock event "Synchronicity" was boosted to 6k as against the 1- 1.5k seen in its earlier editions. The crowd was treated to some amazing rock music and the electrifying atmosphere drew crowds from their rooms and even pink-mobile-girls seemed to enjoy the experience. The band were also seen having a great time as they belted out their hit numbers one after the other with ease. Poets of the Fall sure managed to ignite the "fire within".

TnP Section Update

investment banking companies to participate this year. All I can say is, as of now, we're in a much better position than we were in last October.

TSA: There was a proposal to introduce placement holidays. Any updates on that front? Prof Mathur: The idea has already been implemented. We expect more students to avail the option this year.

(Any graduating student, who plans to start his own venture shall be allowed to take a (minimum of one year) placement holiday to pursue his/her venture.)

Placement Committee

TSA: Have steps been taken to increase the number of companies taking interviews per day ?VP: Yes. We're working on that aspect. We have more guest rooms f o r a c c o m m o d a t i n g m o r e companies per day this year. We also increased the number of interview rooms hence allowing more companies to take interviews simultaneously.

TSA: What major changes have been brought about this year?VP: The introduction of the TnP website has made things a lot easier. Students have access to the notices

from their rooms itself. We put up urgent notices on DC++'s message board. The other new idea this year is the TnP brochure. The companies we sent it to liked it a lot.

TSA: Finally, there has been a major uproar by the alumni regarding Dow Chemical's visit to IITM for placements. Are they coming to IIT Kgp this year?VP: The Company is not being invited to Kgp this year.

TSA: Thank you for your time Sir. We wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavours.

POTF@ IIT-K

E-Summit 2007Kgp's second entrepreneurship

summit was held from 2nd to 4th of November. The summit had many lectures by distinguished speakers, panel discussion, workshops,

Some of the featured speakers were Biswajeet Sahrawat (VP, NASSCOM), Anand Sen (VP, flat products, Tata Steel), and Sarath Naru (APIDC Venture Capital).

Workshops on “How to write a B-plan”, “Entrepreneurial Finance” and Social Entrepreneurship were held.

Barcamp was a unique event held for the first time in Eastern India during E-Summit 07. The camp was based on the theme of entrepreneurial opportunities in the Web 2.0 sphere.

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U EAD AVENUENOVEMBER 6 2007 5

T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E TECH AVENUE NOVEMBER 6 20076

Thus Spake... Blaise PascalBlaise Pascal, (1623 – 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. Pascal helped create two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen and later wrote another on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science.

Pascal is famous for his "Pascal's Wager" - it is a better "bet" to believe that God exists than otherwise, because the 'reward' of believing (which Pascal assessed as infinite) is always greater than the 'reward' of not believing. Pascal begins with the premise that the existence or non-existence of God is not provable by human reason, since the essence of God is "infinitely incomprehensible." Since reason cannot decide the question of belief, he posits that the issue must be decided on the basis of happiness. In short, one must "wager," i.e., evaluate the gains and losses involved in believing that God is and thence choose the better option. In essence,

ØSupposing you live as though God exists. ?If God exists, you go to heaven: your gain is infinite. ?If God does not exist, you gain nothing & lose nothing.

Ø Supposing you live as though God does not exist. ?If God exists, you go to hell: your loss is infinite. ?If God does not exist, you gain nothing & lose nothing.

"Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is." … thus spake Blaise Pascal.

If you always thought the Wiki tab on your browser was the be all and end all of any information you ever needed for your research paper or for the upcoming quiz, think again. Wikipedia, as is well known, includes several million freely-usable articles and pages in hundreds of languages worldwide; content generated by millions of contributors. However, one of the major disadvantages of Wikipedia which has been gaining more and more significance for quite some time now is that the articles are freely edited and need not always be authentic. Though Wiki does promise quality control, it relies on how many people read the article and take the initiative to edit it and make it transparent.

I n c o m e s Ve r o p e d i a . A collaborative effort by a group of Wikipedians to collect the best of Wiki's content, clean it up and save it for all time; Vero promises a quality version of Wikipedia’s content that can be trusted by students, teachers, and anyone else who is looking for top-notch and trustworthy information. The articles included are established and cannot be edited; the result is a genuine and stable version of Wiki. In addition, each article will b e g i v e n t o r e c o g n i z e d academicians and experts to verify. These experts will provide their stamp of approval or make suggestions as to how the article can be improved further. In that way, users will know that the article is consistent. Vero works in collaboration with Wiki so as to e x c h a n g e c o n t e n t a n d authenticate the same. As expected , the amount of information in Vero will be limited but undeniably reliable.

Do You Vero?

Guest Article

Your Online

Presence - Anirudh Sanjeev

Encoding the WorldWelcome to the world of physical codes

Are you so hooked to the internet (wirelessly, of course!) that internet access from your room isn't enough? Do you find typing out an entire URL on your cell-phone too tedious a task? In come the QR codes.

A QR Code is a two dimensional

bar code, or a matrix code, created in 1994 by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave. They are in fact the most popular 2D arrays in Japan. The abbreviation "QR" stands for "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. They are as big as a large postage stamp, and can store up to

7000 alphanumeric characters, t h r e e t ime s a s much the conventional bar code.

Although initially used for t r a c k i n g p a r t s i n v e h i c l e manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in for both commercial tracking applications as well as convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear on any object that a user might need information about. How it works is that users first take a picture of the QR code with the camera on their phone. The pre-loaded software on the phone then interprets the information encoded

in the QR code and the result is a URL. The phone's web browser is then used to gain access to the website that the URL points to. Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites.

The future of the world of wireless communication is most certainly exciting. Codes like QR added a new dimension to communication. It is, indeed, a small world after all.

In today's age where the internet is the first place a potential employer looks for information, having a sufficient online presence is critical. Almost any information is easily findable and easily accessible, and more often than not, many jobs are lost because of some old teen angst ridden weblog post. It is also critical to have your footprint on the internet to be visible for likeminded professionals, friends, family and future employers

1. Social networks: Social networks like orkut, facebook, myspace etc, while not valid as a web presence is only accessible to people logged into that network, moreover i s unprofessional and the content other people put on your page might affect your standing. Be careful about what you say online as everything is preserved, and it can bite you at any time. There are social networks like LinkedIn which are specifically for professional use, and are acceptable by most people.

Google's cache preserves older versions of content. Having regular articles in an area of expertise on a professional weblog creates a huge i m p a c t , a s s o m e o n e w i t h c o m m u n i c a t i o n s k i l l s a n d knowledge with the desire to share it. WordPress and Blogger are the two leading free weblog providers, or you can go in for a self hosted weblog on a domain name.

3. Personal Websites: There are several services for creating a personal website for little or no cost. Google Pages is a leading service offering sub domain hosting and readymade templates which can be edited by people with no expertise in web design. For extra impact, consider buying a domain name and hosting. It costs well under a rupee a day, but it will appear high on search engine queries for your name, and you can control what people see. Added benefits include a custom email address for more impact.The future is truly online, and if you

make sure that accurate, credible and positive information is easily accessible it will definitely give you an added advantage for employers, and other people who wish to have more insight into your life.

Google, during the recent Analyst Day, announced a future release of an updated version of Gmail that's supposed to be faster than the current one, thanks to a JavaScript back-end rewrite. Users who have been upgraded to the newer version have blogged in their customer satisfaction citing their newfound abilities to chat, simultaneously, with all their IM accounts i.e. IMAP functionality, message prefetching at login, a new contact manager integrated with Docs and Calender and of course, the tremendous speed improvement and a better interface.

2.0

Guy: I'm new here in town and I keep getting lost

… in your eyes.

Girl: oh.. (speechless)

So where are you from? (blushing)

uy: G

From where the stars go blue

From where the roses grow a brilliant red

Where your laughte flows like a gentle brookr

F owing over he lay of my heartl t

Girl: Oh! That’s exactly where my

last boyfriend came from.Well... he also said that the flowers there look like me..

Is that so?

Guy: It can't be...

You can't be like the flowers there....

i l:G rd y t m not a

An wh no ? A I spr ty het as t em?

Guy:Their beauty withers in winter

unlike your resplendent beauty that is ever so eternal.

Girl:(oh y god!!)

m

Guy:"God made woman beautiful and

foolish; beautiful, that man might love her and foolish, that she might love

him."

Guy:There's this adage I'm fond of and I find it

particularly appropriate

Girl: Uhuh...

Girl: So how many women have been

foolish enough to love you?

Gu :y

I v ?n lo e

t v we woLove: wo o ls, t

o an s, t f o ju t

c nson t wo o ls - s

me an yd ou

Girl: You are like every other man… You don't listen to what I say.

Guy:

e us

It's b ca e I'm so wrapped up in

e f .

th in inite depths of your eyes

Girl: You seem to have an answer for

everything...Now tell me.. If I were to ask you for a

gift.... What would you give me?

Guy:

h Ro of v r ha f h

T e se Fore e t t adet

e r.n ve ..

Girl: And where will you find this

rose?

Guy: “Where man in all his truest glory lives,and nature's face is exquisitely sweet;

Those fair climes for which I heav impatient sigh;where I shall live and I shall die.... with you”

BHAAT AVENUENOVEMBER 6 2007 T H E S C H O L A R S ’ A V E N U E 7

One of the things that we Kgpians take pride in is the large and varied Bird population in the campus. This is probably because of the lack of other ground based life forms, like deers, monkeys and girls. But alas, all good things in life have a very big BUT following them. This 'but' can range from a minor disadvantage to a very major offset that we all learnt to live with. In this case the 'but(t)’ is very disgusting. Or rather what comes out of it – Bird droppings. The birds have a knack of tormenting you anywhere and anytime. In your hall, at Nescafe, while playing tennis and even during a class in Bhatnagar or Raman auditorium. The place which stands out as the most notorious of all is doubtlessly… the road just outside the Gymkhana. The place is so notoriously dangerous that people refrain from talking about it. They curse it silently, but never mention it in a conversation. We at Bhaat Ave decided to break the stigma and bring facts out in the open.

Being budding engineers and scientists, we decided to go about this issue scientifically. Using the results of a survey conducted earlier, we calculated the probability of a student enrolled in a 4 yr course being hit at least once before he leaves the campus. The figure turned out to be so close to 1 that we refrain from putting it in print. We shudder to think what the figure will be if we considered 5 year courses.

The next step in our scientific endeavor was to follow the thought process and analyze the psychology of an average Kgp bird. We infer that the habit is inculcated from childhood. We summarize it all as a dialogue between a young bird and its mother.

Baby bird: Mom, I need to poop.

Mom: Oh! Then off to the gymkhana we go.

Baby: It's urgent. Why can't I just do it here?

Mom: You just cannot relieve yourself anywhere. Where are your manners?

Baby: Manners? Get a life mom. We're birds.

Mom: Oh dear, you’ve got your dad's low self-esteem.

Baby: But why not here? What's wrong?

Mom: Nice birds don't ask questions.

(Off they fly to the gymkhana… the conversation continues…)

Baby: Now can I go ahead?

Mom: No, wait till someone passes below you.

Baby: But why?

Mom: Nice birds don't ask questions. Do what I ask you to.

Baby: But mom…

Mom: Now listen… would you rather do what I ask you to or do you want to do illu work?

That clinches the deal. This we concur is the story of every single bird on campus. The birds have gotten used to it as have the students. Pass outs fondly remember the time they first got 'bombed' or ‘creamed’. If you, the person reading this, haven't yet been honored as yet, then all we can say is...

wait and watch… they’re coming to get you...’

The Treehouse of HorrorWeee!!!!!

Poop in (out) the hole!

For World Peace!(and oil!)

DID YOU KNOW? Bird poop can survive a blast into space! Source: NASA’s white Discovery Shuttlepolka-dotted

Disclaimer: Bhaat Ave disclaims all responsibilities for any brain haemorrhaging caused by reading this column. Cheesy Self Publicity Stunt: Send in your hate mail, fake credit card numbers, soup recipes, old bottle caps and runny eggs to bhaat@scholarsavenue.org

ow it 2 m re ho c n en !

N w h 4 % o um r o t t

Girl:

My my... You can g t m e y

number from the phone book

any time.

Poets of the Balls!

G y:uBut a prett fac like you must h ve

y ea name...

a

Girl:Oh! That’s in the phone book too!

With love as pure as yours, this small thing certainly won’t stop you!