A Small Note On Gears

This is a technical post and irrelevant for most readers but I have been asked a gadzillion times about the need for gears on a cycle and how they work and, inevitably, "do they really help?". So here goes:

A gear mechanism on a cycle consists of a cassette, a derailleur (see picture) and a shifter, all of which are connected through a cable. The cassette is a set of chainrings of different sizes attached to the back wheel of the cycle (let us for simplicity's sake assume that there is only one chainring attached to the pedal). As we push the shifter the tension in the cable alters and the derailleur moves, derailing the chain and moving it from one chainring to another. This changes the angle through which the force (which moves the cycle and comes from your legs) is applied. And how does this help? Well think of pushing a window open. If you push it close to the hinge it requires greater force for it to open but it opens quicker, if you push it away from the hinge it requires less force but it takes a longer time for it to open. Now, unless one is very tired or in a great hurry, one would typically push the window from somewhere in between the frame and the edge. Similarly, on lesser gears a cycle moves slower but less force is required and on higher gears a cycle moves faster but greater force is required. Gears give us the option of choosing our own speed-force level according to our energy/strength/comfort levels. This is known as one's cadence and dictates the frequency with which you finish a pedaling action. On lower gears one completes a pedaling action much faster but each push results in fewer rotations of the wheel. On higher gears, each push takes more time and effort but results in greater rotations of the wheel. Typically lower gears are used while going uphill to counter the resistance (just as one would push a window from its edge and not its hinge when a gale is blowing against it) and higher gears are used when speed is required over short, flat, low altitude distances.

On a whole I recommend gears for anyone who cycles more that five kilometers regularly. You're bound to need them when you feel tired or have to go up a bridge or are running late.

This is a picture of the Christian Crusaders Album Cover which is from a collection of Worst Album Covers. For more hideous album covers go here.

The Indian Clerk

I have just finished reading a wonderful book. The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt. Its themes, though fascinating and complex, can be summarised as Math, Sexuality and the idea of the foreigner. The book is about the interaction between Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy in the Cambridge of World War I and is interesting, among other things, for its description of idiosyncratic Cambridge society at the time. Take the following passage for example:

"Had Hardy not considered himself ugly -and had Moore (G.E. Moore) not left him for Ainsworth (Alfred Ainsworth) (whom he, too, thought beautiful)- he might have greeted the betrayal with outrage or amusement. Instead he observed with dispassion the sorrow spectacle of Moore undermining his own desire. Moore adored Ainsworth, he wanted obviously to sleep with Ainsworth, yet even as he went so far as to move to Edinburgh in order to live with Ainsworth, who was teaching there, he wouldn't admit it. Then Ainsworth married Moore's sister, and Moore returned to Cambridge. Hardy didn't know what to say to him when they first ran in to each other. Congratulations on your sister's marriage to your great love? I'm sorry he left you?"

On another note, psychology is, at times, one of the more bogus disciplines I know. It allows us to theorize and rationalize our faults in a manner I find distasteful. Take for example the fact that none of us are plain greedy anymore, we are, I am told, Shopaholics.

The Statesman on June 24 makes for interesting reading. Under the story "Taxi Drivers Call Off Strike" (as the transport minister has agreed to raise taxi fares) is the story "Petrol Pump Owners Threaten Strike" (as the oil companies are proposing that they sell only branded petrol).

I continue to cycle in the rain.

Of Us

It is not often that on gets freaked out by the future and the past in the same day. When it happens, its worth recording.

I randomly found out today that a Seventeenth century school of creationist thought reconciles creationism with the existence of fossils with the following rationale-God created the Earth. God also created the fossils and put them in the Earth in order to test our faith. Those who view the fossils and see them as proof of evolution have failed the test.

I also awoke to an newspaper report about a prediction by David Levy stating that human beings will have loving, sexual relationships with robots in 40 years. Robots will not only have mechanical sex with humans but will also act as romantic companions and converse with them. I am no technology expert but the question I want to ask is this- In forty years time is human to human communication going to break down so much that we'll require a machine to provide us with companionship? Will the existence of such machines further propel us towards a situation where we actually have no need for each other?

Of Marijuana

From and US Report on the Problems Faced by Homeless Child Prostitutes- "Many of these children indulge in smoking marijuana which creates appetite. This leads to consumption of junk food, which may lead to obesity".

Junk food and obesity. Right. Big problems when you don't have a bed to sleep on and are getting screwed by strangers 7-10 times a day.

The Simon-Ehrlich Wager

In 1980 Julian L. Simon and Paul Ehrlich entered in a famous wager, betting on a mutually agreed upon measure of resource scarcity over the decade leading. Simon had Ehrlich choose five of several commodity metals. Ehrlich chose 5 metals: copper, chromium, nickel, tin, and tungsten. Simon bet that their prices would go down. Ehrlich bet they would go up. Replacements were found for most of these metals (for example, copper was replace by fiber optics in telecommunication) and their prices fell through the floor. Simon lost and as a result had to pay Ehrlich the difference in the collective price of the bundle of metals, $576.07.

The above example is often cited as an argument against those who advocate energy conservation in the face of an impending oil crisis. The example of the bet is cited in order to show that human society has continually innovated and found new uses for their resources to replace the ones that are rapidly being depleted. Thus it is probable that a replacement for oil shall soon be found. I find this argument problematic for a number of reasons:

First, it ignores a simple philosophical question which every stock market analyst has spent sleepless nights over: How good an indicator to the future is the past? The phrase "there's always a first time" exists for a reason.

Second, history is replete with examples where human society has been unable to innovate fast enough to avoid catastrophe; famines, water shortages and economic disasters have followed as a result.

Third, innovation requires a supportive environment. Most innovation requires economic support. Research into alternative energy is discouraged and not funded by most of the world's powerful nations as their governments remain hostile to cash rich oil companies. As of date, there is not one known alternative energy resource that can contribute even a quarter of our needs in the absence of oil.

In conclusion, the belief that we shall be able to come up with a replacement for oil and avert disaster is baseless. It is rooted in a misplaced faith in big business and capitalism to solve all our problems and in our desire to continue a way of life that is clearly not sustainable.

Sryon and I took the binocular up to the NUJS terrace the other day. Thanks to Sryon we had a tripod and it made a great difference to the viewing experience. We saw the moon and Jupiter clearly but couldn't stay up to watch Pleiades rise.

Of Boathouses

I've fantasized for sometime about living in a boathouse. It'd be rather cool, especially if three guys were stying together because then we'd be three men in a boat. Further, I came up with the following lines I could say on almost a daily basis.

When stopping a dispute- "Lets not rock the boat."

When we have a common problem- "I guess we are all in the same boat."

While hurrying to work- "Time and tide wait for no one."

And here's one that really cool but I can't think of an occasion to use it- "O God thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."

I clearly have too much time.

Of Apes

Once, while referring to the tendency of the Indian judiciary to be heavily dependant on English and American jurisprudence, a teacher of mine said, "If Darwin had come to India he would have discovered that we descended from apes long ago. First we aped the English and now we ape the Americans."

Fair comment but one that can be said of most former European colonies I guess. Anyway what reminded me of this was a show on NDTV the other day. The interviewee pointed out that the current Indian corporate obsession with glass buildings makes little economic or ecological sense. While these buildings are perfect in the West, in India they simply trap the heat inside the building, necessitating strong air conditioning to lower the temperature. A better way of beating the heat is by hanging a khus-khus (a wet mat) on each window, something that has been done in Indian homes for centuries now.

The other postcolonial habit that has always irritated me is the Indian rule of wearing a tie with a shirt but whithout a blazer. In schools this is taken to a new level and children are made to wear ties with half-sleeved shirts. My point is if you are going to imitate the British go all the way; damn the heat and insist on the blazer too. At least that way you won't have the rest of the world laughing at how ridiculous you look.

World Environment Day

Today is world environment day. A number of interesting things happened today.

The government took the one of those rare steps which makes social and environmental sense but little political sense- It raised the price of petrol by five rupees and encouraged fuel conservation.

The Economic Times published a supplement on World Environment Day outlining the activities one can do to save the environment. This included recycling, rainwater harvesting and using solar energy. I was surprised to find no mention of cycling. I needn't have been. On the back page of the supplement was a full page colour advertisement of Honda Accord, a car which provides a mileage of less than 10 Km/L. One needs money to print these supplements I guess.

A filmmaker has started a cycling journey from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in order to promote the environment. Best of Luck to him. Sorry I can't remember his name.

Barack Obama has won the democratic primaries. Best of luck to him too.

The Trinamool Congress and the Left Front have called successive Bandhs in West Bengal to protest the fuel price hike and protect the common man. As a result the common man has lost 2 days' earnings.

My net at home is not working. Hence posting may be irregular over the next few days.

The Colour of IPL

Ravi Shastri at the IPL Final Presenatation as Makhaya Ntini is handed his rinners-up medal - "[here is] Makhay Ntini who added so much colour to the Chennai Super Kings".

Ntini was the only black member of the Chennai Super Kings.






Makhaya Ntini adding a bit of colour.