...games people play...

listening to : Don Mclean - Starry starry nights (Vincent)

what a hectic week... phew...
didn't even get enough time to post...
another week ends just like that and before i know i'll be sitting here on the eve of my prelims...
was just wondering about game theory...
in simple words it's a game of probability...
you just have to consider the factors (or players) in a scenario and predict the outcome accordingly...
referring to the origins, the mathematical theory of games was invented by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern...

historically, many military leaders had implemented game theory some time or the other... one beautiful example is of the spanish conqueror cortez, who used this to his advantage... he planned to attack the aztecs with his small cache of troops...
but, there was a problem, the aztecs were far too numerous, and there was a high chance that his own soldiers may think of deserting him...
so after landing in mexico, he burnt all of his ships...
and he did this quite visibly...which served two goals one, was that his soldiers with no escape route had to fight with all their determination so as to win...
the other one was that the aztecs had noted the burning of the ships and this instilled a fear in them...
they thought, any commander who would willfully destroy his own option to be prudent if the battle went badly for him must have good reasons for such extreme optimism...
this proved to be the right poison for the aztecs...
they feared cortez's optimism and retreated into the surrounding hills and cortez had a bloodless victory...

and coming back to the present, many people do implement game theory in their everyday lives knowingly or unknowingly...
and sometimes it does involve a lot of fun...
try doing it sometimes, and enjoy...predicting the future...

read an article about the 'evolution vs. theory of intelligent design' controversy in the u.s. seems that bush and his cronies are really winning in including the absurd(ly dumb) 'intelligent theory' into the everyday lives of the average american...

simply put, evolution pertains to the question - the chicken or the egg and the 'intelligent theory' points to an unidentified intelligent force (god to the average american and 'the truth is out there' to fox mulder)...

they are doing what murli manohar joshi and others did with the indian school curriculum... politicians are such assholes...

been such a long time since i've seen a sky which puts your ever active imagination into suspended animation and fills it with awe for the millions of stars that it holds for all of us to see and admire...
ever basked in starlight???
yup, you heard me right---starlight. try this and you'll love this...

believe me, it's worth the effort...
next time you have a moonless night, venture out, preferably after midnight into some open ground or the best option would be the balcony of the top floor or better still, the terrace of a tower building (that'll cut out all the unwanted city lights). and while you're at it, don't speak or make any sounds...
immerse yourself into the tranquility of your surroundings, lose yourself to the sounds of silence...
bcoz silence really accentuates your state of mind at that particular instance. it really adds to the beauty of the moment. just let your mind do the talking...
let it wander freely into the wonderland of your memories and it's guaranteed that you'll experience ecstacy...
well, i have... this is akin to meditation, and you emerge from it fresh, de-stressed, if you had a really stressful day...
this is better than the high that a chain smoker gets from his ciggies...
though i am averse...(read allergic) to smoking, one of my friends who tried this little experiment of mine told me...
and i really don't know what kind of high these people experience from their stub... have heard that even some girls from my college smoke...sucks bigtime and coming back to starlight, if you want to experience moonlight too, then take your significant other along with you for this excursion of yours...