Friday, July 4, 2008

Some nice links...........

Technical:
Giving an Academic Talk click here

Links from taken from ece (IISc) site:
Patterson’s tips on writing click here
Armando’s paper writing & presentation page click here
The “How to Give a Talk” Talk click here
“The Task of the Referee”, A.J Smith – Advice on How to Review Papers click here
Jason Hong’s very extensive list of links – Links on research, writing, presentation, thesis click here
Do's and Don'ts for young EEs here

Others:
Murphy's laws click here
Check time around the world (very useful when chatting with friends around the world) click here
Dilbert (a must see) click here
The official BMTC site (just happy they even have a site, albeit badly out-of date) click here

To sit or not to sit...........

Interesting way to start a day....................
I was pleasantly surprised to find platform 17 (at the Majestic Bus stand) relatively less crowed today. Hoping to catch a seat, I waited for a Volvo to arrive. When one finally came I ran to the door and was happy to find myself to be the first one to enter the bus. I chose one my favorite window seats on the first row of the elevated back seats. Not only does this provide ample leg-space, it provides the best view and a comfortable position to get-off with the minimum of fuss. I waited here patiently for the bus to start. As the bus was about to leave the stand an old man entered the bus. His hair was all Grey and he looked kind-of fit (you know, not the limping, struggling sort). The bus was full-now and so he decided to stand in front of my seat. The bus soon left the stand after picking the last minute guys, who ran and climbed in. Now back to the old dude. When one sees an elderly person standing we are expected to give-up our seat right?? Here started the dilemma......
It is not easy to catch a seat in our BMTC buses. Today I had been the first one in, so in some sense should be the last one to be asked to get up (well in some sense have more right to the seat)!!. There were other young guys seated, why didn't they get up? I was at a window seat, people seated along the aisle were more obligated to give-up, why didn't they do so? Didn't the old man see there were no seats, then why did he get on the bus? Was he trying to take advantage of the sympathy shown by others? These questions kept plaguing my mind. All these years of education, and the audacity of letting your conscious grow when the world is becoming increasingly hostile, can be very painful sometimes. There I sat letting my conscious eat me from the inside, until I could take it no more and graciously offered my seat.