Category: poetry

Cloud Computing for Christmas

My second book – R for Cloud Computing : An Approach for Data Scientists is now ready for sale ( ebook). Softcover should be available within a month. Some of you have already booked an online review copy. It has taken me 2 years to write this book, and as always I accept all feedback on how to be a better writer.

I would like to especially thank Hannah Bracken of Springer Publishing for this.

and I dedicate this book to my 7 year son Kush.

http://www.springer.com/statistics/computational+statistics/book/978-1-4939-1701-3

Screenshot from 2014-12-10 10:23:45

“Everything that is good in me, come from your love, Kush“

How to go around a Writer’s Block

Tales from the crypto-

1) Accept the inevitability of writer’s block and surrender to it for a few days. Even Nobel Prize Winners have had it

2) Divert your attention from constantly thinking on the same topic by reading a completely different topic

3) Relax your body . Some people exercise and run. Me, I prefer a pedicure

4) Open your computer and start typing whatever comes to your mind for five minutes. Think of it as a game of speedy fingers. After 5 minutes pause. Hey that was not so bad

5) Distract yourself .Watch Benedict Cumberbatch and Listen to Freddy Mercury. or Mika. Music helps

6) Tea is the only stimulant that is legal AND healthy even if you take it a lot. Everything else including alcohol, pills, weed, coffee will cause pain OR side effects

7) Create an artificial deadline and type type type. Edit  for quality later.

8) Stop worrying on getting the right words in first go and focus on creation first and polishing later. Worrying kills creativity

9) Time spent on Internet is not counted as time spent productively, so go for a digital detox. Switch off all technology for two days if you can

10) More relaxing- Pray to someone or something you believe. Visit someplace you enjoyed. Smell the roses. This too shall pass.

 

 

EH-354-e1361297347123

continued from- How to be a Better Writer

https://decisionstats.com/2013/08/02/how-to-be-a-better-writer/

 

2013 Thank You Note

I would like to write a thank you note to  some of the people who helped make Decisionstats.com possible . We had a total of 150,644 views this year.For that, I have to thank you dear readers for putting up with me- it is now our seventh year.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
13,940 12,153 12,948 13,371 12,778  12,085  12,894  11,934  9,914  14,764  12,907  10,956  150,644

I would like to thank Chris  (of Mashape) for helping me with some of the interviews I wrote here .I did 26 interviews this year for Programmable Web and a total of 30+ articles including the interviews in 2013.

Of course- we have now reached 116 excellent interviews on Decisionstats.com alone ( see http://goo.gl/V6UsCG )I would like to thank each one of the interviewees who took precious time to fill out the questions.

Sponsors- I would like to thank Dr Eric Siegel ( individually as an author and as founder chair of www.pawcon.com ) , Nadja and Ingo (for Rapid-Miner) , Dr Jonathan ( for Datamind) , Chris M (for Statace.com ) , Gergely ( Author) and many more during all these six years who have kept us afloat and the servers warm in these days of cold reflection, including Gregory (of KDNuggets.com) and erstwhile AsterData founders.

Training Partners- I would like to thank Lovleen Bhatia ( of Edureka  for giving me the opportunity to make http://www.edureka.in/r-for-analytics which now has 1721 learners as per http://www.edureka.in/)

I would also specially say Thank you to Jigsaw Academy for giving me the opportunity to create
the first affordable and quality R course in Asia http://analyticstraining.com/2013/jigsaw-completes-training-of-300-students-on-r/

These training courses including those by Datamind and Coursera remain a formidable and affordable alternative to many others catching up in the analytics education game in India ( an issue I wrote here)

Each and Everyone of my students (past and present) and Everyone in the #rstats  and SAS-L community, including people who may have been left out.

Thank you sir, for helping me and Decisionstats.com !

Wish each one of you a very happy and Joyous Happy New Year and a great and prosperous 2014!

Free Tibet

We should all ask China to free Tibet because of the following reasons-

10 Reasons to Free Tibet

1) Replace a system of governance which is giving 12% GDP growth with a 1000 year old belief that one old guy is really a reincarnation of GOD

2) Because it is a romantic idea

3) The average Tibetan is much better economically than most other countries in Asia and Africa. Still freedom is messy- Donald Rumsfield.

4) So we can sell beer, Facebook ads, Internet Pornography to Tibetans which do not have the liberty to do so currently

5) So we can explore that area for mining and minerals

6) Damn it. We need one more ally for the free world. So we can invade more non free countries.

7)  Tibetans girls are hot.

8) Dalai Lama is cool. and he doesnot charge by the hour unlike other yoga Gurus.

9) We need to encircle China just like we did in the 19th Century and Opium Wars

10) So artists like Ai Wei Wei can blog freely

1 Reason not to Free Tibet

1) Tibetans want to be free. If we give them democracy- they will be disappointed to know that the bullets just get replaced by the pepper spray. How silly is that? The desire to be free- when there is no such thing as free anymore.

(This was an article in Sarcasm and meant as literary and not a pseudo-intellectual political article. I have no training in Politics. For details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Anonymous Hacker

Digital salmon swimming alone upstream
Sacrificing sleep for bits of some dream
Patiently stalking impatient trolls
Denying web crawlers omnipotent stroll
Digitally Dividing and conquering
Masquerading charlatans of new age ball
Sheep like server waits for hacking hammer to fall

Amazing nights but boring days
Lord forgive us our digital merry ways
Going back to the day job in the morn
Keeping up appearances to earn bread and daily corn

Masking emotions daily outrage
Waging lonesome wars of rage
we are small but proud
forced sometimes kneel and crawl
hacker cracker phisher phracker
wont you be my friend after it all

by –
Ajay Ohri
Happy Guy Fawkes Day-
V

 

Google Doodle for Diwali Greetings

Hey,

If you like Diwali the festival and want Google to create a doodle for it, just send an email to proposals@google.com

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali

Diwali or Deepavali[note 1], popularly known as the “festival of lights,” is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-November for different reasons. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC.[1][2]

Diwali is an official holiday in India,[3] Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore,[4] andFiji.

The name “Diwali” is a contraction of “Dipawali” (Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāwalī), which translates into “row of lamps”.[5] Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas or dīpas) in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.

The festival starts with Dhanteras on which most Indian business communities begin their financial year. The second day of the festival, Naraka Chaturdasi, marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama. Amavasya, the third day of Diwali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his dwarf incarnation vanquished the Bali, and banished him to Patala. It is on the fourth day of Diwali, Kartika Shudda Padyami, that Bali went to patala and took the reins of his new kingdom in there. The fifth day is referred to as Yama Dvitiya (also called Bhai Dooj), and on this day sisters invite their brothers to their homes.

While the story behind Diwali and the manner of celebration varies from region to region (festive fireworks, worship, lights, sharing of sweets), the essence is the same – to rejoice in the Inner Light

from-

http://www.google.com/doodle4google/history.html

How can Google users/the public submit ideas for doodles?

The doodle team is open to user ideas; requests for doodles can be sent to proposals@google.com