Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity

Some of you might be wondering about the difference between being committed to something and contributing to it. (For example, I am committed to writing this paper, but I only contributed to the other paper.)

It turns out that the difference is quite simple. Consider a serving of scrambled eggs with ham. The chicken contributed to the dish, but the pig was committed to it.

–

This led to the famous Simon and Garfonkel song:

I’d rather be a chicken than a pig
Yes I would, if I could, I surely would
I’d rather be a Hammer than a Riksha
Yes I would, if I only could, I surely would

I did contribute to this entry, but I would hopefully not be committed for it.

Now that I read a small fragment of your blog I understand why you were
not at all surprised
by the trip and impressions I had last night. Today I went to Kutab
Minar, and also got myself
head-to-head with a herd of wild boars that shows a lot of intent on
attacking me, and also in a situation
(nearby) with a few people who were trying to call me in the middle of
hill of “kholot” for no clear reason
(and they took the pain of following me for about half a mile, while I
was trying to get away from the
“kholot” and back into the city). Besides that, was quite exciting, and
now I appreciate my hotel much
more
How was your day?

E

There is a classical beautiful result of Emo Welzl about spanning trees with small crossing number. I blogged about this before.

It turns out that in the plane, one can do better – compute a spanning tree of n points, such that if a line l has k points of P on one side of it, then it crosses (roughly) O(sqrt(k)) edges of the tree. This leads to better relative approximations in some cases. See the recent paper in JPWS.

There are numerous open problems for further research related to this problem, including: why? when? and where?

Here is a cute question I got from Amit Chakrabarti which took me a few hours to solve:

Consider two multisets of numbers S and T, each containing n integer numbers in the range 1..n (since they are multisets, repeating the same number several times is allowed). Prove, that there are two subsets A and B, of S and T, respectively, such that the total sum of the numbers in A is equal to the total sum of numbers in B.

Oh, the sets A and B should not be empty.

New comment on your post #440 “India 9 – Traveling is not fun”
Author : Sariel Har-Peled
Comment:
I whine also when I a flight is delayed in the US. Which happens all the time. It is when it happens 3 out of 4 days of travel in less than 8 days, that it really start getting to me. I apologize for the whining. But, heck, it is my blog and I whine if I want to.

BTW, Shripad, I had fascinating experiences on the train. I jumped in the front car of the train (since I could not find my car before the train started moving) [it was a car with some train people in it], and met some very nice people, and had a *great* view of the fields outside Kanpur. The land is flat and green, and covered with fields of wheat, an expense of greenery that reminded me of Urbana-Champaign. And on the platforms in Kanpur, people were making food (some kind of nans and samosas) by frying thingies in boiling oil just on the platforms. The speed they did it, was quite impressive. and the platforms are very long, and walking from one side of them to the other is a fascinating experience, equivalent to going in a zoo, where it is not clear if you are the visitor, and everybody around you is the animals in the cells, or the other way around.

The interesting thing is that I got used to the visual look of cities in India. I no longer feel this is unnatural or dirty or being in a some unnatural state. I still remember the well paved, well spaced, clean, homely, organized street of my home in Urbana, but it is no longer what I expect when I go out. A receding memory of other existence.

Since I am in rambling mode, here is a nice poem of Yehuda Amichai. In India, this poem comes to me all the time. In my little nice home in Urbana, it easier to forget. Oh well, the power of self delusion.

(Disclaimer: This comment in no way endorses any view on the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the US, and India (not sure I have one anyway). It does not imply that I consider the price of cotton in the world-market to be inflated when considering the gross national product of Uganda, even in view of Perlman’s result on the topology of spheres in four dimensions. Any analysis of this entry using the geometry of innocence might lead to triangles of illusions and angles of deceptions. Circles of atonement, and higher degree curves of certainties might also follow. You had been warned, but probably too late to save you from these consequences.)

I whine also when I a flight is delayed in the US. Which happens all the time. It is when it happens 3 out of 4 days of travel in less than 8 days, that it really start getting to me. I apologize for the whining. But, heck, it is my blog and I whine if I want to.

BTW, Shripad, I had fascinating experiences on the train. I jumped in the front car of the train (since I could not find my car before the train started moving) [it was a car with some train people in it], and met some very nice people, and had a *great* view of the fields outside Kanpur. The land is flat and green, and covered with fields of wheat, an expense of greenery that reminded me of Urbana-Champaign. And on the platforms in Kanpur, people were making food (some kind of nans and samosas) by frying thingies in boiling oil just on the platforms. The speed they did it, was quite impressive. and the platforms are very long, and walking from one side of them to the other is a fascinating experience, equivalent to going in a zoo, where it is not clear if you are the visitor, and everybody around you is the animals in the cells, or the other way around.

The interesting thing is that I got used to the visual look of cities in India. I no longer feel this is unnatural or dirty or being in a some unnatural state. I still remember the well paved, well spaced, clean, homely, organized street of my home in Urbana, but it is no longer what I expect when I go out. A receding memory of other existence.

Since I am in rambling mode, here is a nice poem of Yehuda Amichai. In India, this poem comes to me all the time. In my little nice home in Urbana, it easier to forget. Oh well, the power of self delusion.

(Disclaimer: This comment in no way endorses any view on the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the US, and India (not sure I have one anyway). It does not imply that I consider the price of cotton in the world-market to be inflated when considering the gross national product of Uganda, even in view of Perlman’s result on the topology of spheres in four dimensions. Any analysis of this entry using the geometry of innocence might lead to triangles of illusions and angles of deceptions. Circles of atonement, and higher degree curves of certainties might also follow. You had been warned, but probably too late to save you from these consequences.)

New comment on your post #440 “India 9 – Traveling is not fun”
Author : Joydeep
Comment:
I am compelled to side with Sariel (unsolicited) on this one. His personal experiences are not a figment of his imagination. One is entitled to be angry if a train or flight is delayed – anywhere in the world. Yes, he whines a little (as opposed to his other well-written commentaries), but that is his prerogative on his blog.

I am compelled to side with Sariel (unsolicited) on this one. His personal experiences are not a figment of his imagination. One is entitled to be angry if a train or flight is delayed – anywhere in the world. Yes, he whines a little (as opposed to his other well-written commentaries), but that is his prerogative on his blog.

New comment on your post #440 “India 9 – Traveling is not fun”
Author : Shripad
Comment:
If I may be so bold, I would suggest that you think of a train journey in India (especially a long-distance trip) as an event/adventure in itself. Indian Railways does not want to merely deliver you to your destination, they want to give you on the way ample time and opportunity to strike friendships and swap life stories with your fellow passengers, experience the sounds, smells, and tastes around you in addition to the sights, contemplate your existence, the meaning of life, in crowded waiting rooms and on exposed platforms. In short, you should not be untouched by any aspect of life around you during your train journey. ;-D

Train journeys in India can be a lot of fun, more like your Rajdhani trip. I remember the train ride between Pune and Mumbai as a kid, where the train would pause after a steep climb into the mountains, and monkeys would come down from the trees for passengers to feed them. It’s easier to strike up a conversation with fellow passengers; in fact, it’s sometimes hard to avoid the chatty ones! Even when there are delays and other problems, there is a sense that “we are all in this together”, rather than “every man for himself”. You’ll find most people quite helpful, though quite often the people who are supposed to be in charge are often the ones least informed. Oh well.

Have you tried the Palace on Wheels? I suspect it’s an overpriced tourist trap, but then you *are* a rich tourist.

If I may be so bold, I would suggest that you think of a train journey in India (especially a long-distance trip) as an event/adventure in itself. Indian Railways does not want to merely deliver you to your destination, they want to give you on the way ample time and opportunity to strike friendships and swap life stories with your fellow passengers, experience the sounds, smells, and tastes around you in addition to the sights, contemplate your existence, the meaning of life, in crowded waiting rooms and on exposed platforms. In short, you should not be untouched by any aspect of life around you during your train journey. ;-D

Train journeys in India can be a lot of fun, more like your Rajdhani trip. I remember the train ride between Pune and Mumbai as a kid, where the train would pause after a steep climb into the mountains, and monkeys would come down from the trees for passengers to feed them. It’s easier to strike up a conversation with fellow passengers; in fact, it’s sometimes hard to avoid the chatty ones! Even when there are delays and other problems, there is a sense that “we are all in this together”, rather than “every man for himself”. You’ll find most people quite helpful, though quite often the people who are supposed to be in charge are often the ones least informed. Oh well.

Have you tried the Palace on Wheels? I suspect it’s an overpriced tourist trap, but then you *are* a rich tourist. !