ramadocblog

“He was shot with a pointed rocket
His head jumped out from his neck socket!
It went back and he ran angry but fine!
Don’t fret! It’s not dream! Tis toon time!”

Remember how VIRUS screamed, “No one remembers the second!?” well today will prove this wrong!

Little Nemo and How a mosquito operates!

Mickey mouse is not the first!

The day you dreamt of has finally arrived! I have gone completely mad!

read on!

Hold your horses though! The above are not typos or spelling errors!

They are some of the earliest cartoon movies ever! Except the third sentence which is the truth! Now Mickey Mouse and Disney is of course the king now! But they were not the first toon movies!

In fact the first toon was made decades before the Mickey toon of the steam boat which everyone loves and which was the debut of the iconic Mickey Mouse!

What I have never understood though is how one dog is Mickey’s dog Pluto while another ‘dog’ is his friend ‘Goofy!”


By the time animations reached us we were happy with the educational animation videos! The ek chidiya and the movie about how trees are important!

Those movies with simple animation and even simpler stories were so nice to watch! Of course late on we had one of the most iconic toons which was the tom and jerry! There may be many who do not like animated movies (what!!? I LOVE THEM!); but still they do manage a smile with the Tom and Jerry!

Another Jerry was the Mickey Mouse! Though Mickey mouse was the star of the Disney studios, the more famous among kids was Donald duck! Many used to imitate his quack voice which was so odd and funny at the same time!

When ducktales came it was time for the next generation of toons to be seen and enjoyed! Characters like Baloo and Tigger were the favourite then!

One of the most popular animation of all times still was another disney production, the Jungle Book! Made way back in 1989, the title song especially in Hindi with the catchword, CHADDI or underwear was a big hit among kids!

Every sunday another episode of Mowgli with Sher Khan and the gang was a treat which we all used to eagerly wait for and watch!

Those were the days when the options were less and limited and the episodes used to come only once a week! Which made them special!

Now days even the one minute ad break is a torture for kids who simply want to press the ‘skip ad’ option as soon as possible! While many time we used to love watching ads! That is a blog for another day!

Now everyone knows the story of the toon by Walt disney which was the debut of Mickey Mouse! In fact though the highly successful toon called the steamboat Willie was released in 1928! Which was actually much later than the first toon!

Officially also the first toon has been credited not to Walt but this animator!
The first toon was the brainchild of animation pioneer Émile Cohl (1857 – 1938)!
This silent short film is composed of 700 drawings, photographed onto negative film and double-exposed! And it was released way back in 1908!

The movie was called Fantasmagorie, which is officially the world’s first animated cartoon!

Clocking in at under two minutes, the film’s title is an homage to a mid-19th century variant of the magic lantern, known as the fantasmograph, while its playful, nonsensical content is in the spirit of the Incoherent Movement of the 1880s! Cohl, who cut his teeth on political caricature and Guignol puppet theatre, went on to create over 250 films over the next 15 years, expanding his explorations to include the realms of live action and stop motion animation!

So what about Nemo and the mosquito!? Well, Walt was not even the second in the list of the toon movies! That was by the animator Winsor McCay who created the Movies Little Nemo and How a mosquito operates in the year 1911 and 1912!

Now if you are still dazed you must also know that even Mickey was not Walt’s first! His first animation was actually Alice’s wonderland! Now this is not to be confused with Alice in Wonderland! This was the first animated short film produced by Walt Disney!

In fact Mickey was not even the first mouse created by Walt! That place goes to Oswald! Trolley Troubles was the first animated short that featured Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the inspiration for Mickey Mouse. Oswald was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures!

The point here is that you may not be the first! You may not even be the first choice! But it does not matter! If it is good, then it will stand the test of time! So while empty early vessels blow away, the ones full of talents may come later but they are here for the long term!
Walt was not even the first toon maker or creator but now everyone remembers him and his toons while no one really knows about the first! In fact his ‘failures’ and ‘struggles’ are the inspiration for many!

Remember that failures are as common as common man! But these failures teach us lessons which a succes can never teach!

Of course thinking about the common man (or woman for that matter!) reminds me of my fav cartoonist Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman!

Now watch an old toon and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“The dam broke and the water just started flowing!

He was feverish the face was just not glowing!

It was the season when everything starts to itch!

One of the ways the allergologist becomes rich!”

The other day I was attending a talk in which an allergologist was mentioning how one of his patient developed allergy after eating crocodile meat! 

Yes, the first thought was why!?

Moreover the surprising fact was not that he developed allergy but he already had allergy to another food which apparently is very close to Crocodile meat!

Intrigued!?

read on!

My experience with crocodile has been the movie crocodile dundee which I have not seen but heard so many stories of! When this came in our open air theatre all my friends had seen but I missed it!

Then when they got to know that I have not seen it; they used to add more spice and flavour to the stories and narrate them to me!

Then I saw this amazing Bond movie in which  Roger Moore was the bond! Roger is the bond whom everyone likes to see but is never anyone’s fav bond! I used to like him as bond till Pierce Brosnan came along and stole the show! 

So in one of the movies he is trapped with these hungry crocodiles and he cleverly uses the meat to jump over them! 

Later on I got to know that it was done without any special effects!

Then on a trip to Sri Lanka we were taken in a boat to a shady cove and there near the bank you had a old man with small animals! He called them cute but we were terrified and I did not find them cute in any angle!

He of course charged us for holding and ‘petting’ the ‘cute’ crocs! Or alligators which frankly no one cares! You see one, you run! 

But the fear of the croc and or alligators was from the Movie Khoon Bhari Maang! Those days we used to watch movies mainly after they come in the filmfare awards! In fact many of these movies used to be watched more popularly via the video cassettes after the awards! Of course the video cassette watching is another blog!

So in the movie, Kabir Bedi’ the newly married husband pushes Rekha into the lake with the croc! The whole scene shot with effects scared and scarred me! Even in the filmfare awards show whenever the movie was nominated for any category; they used to replay this scene over and over again and finally end up with the badly mangled face of Rekha! Of course later on after ‘plastic’ surgery she becomes the Rekha we know! After that every kid who had seen the movie would hate both Kabir Bedi and crocodiles!

Now being a vegetarian who is now slowly going towards being a vegan; meat is the last thing to eat! But what a patient eats is personally his or her choice and no doctor should tell NOT to eat a particular food! He or she can be gently advised to avoid and then that is that!

Then again as allergologists we used to test all kinds of food and meat for allergy! 

Then again this blog is not about food habit or even allergy as such! But to the weird relation between crocs and this meat you would not have guessed!

This person in question had known allergy to; hold your breath to’ Chicken!

So apparently when he was asked of any allergy he said that he is allergic to chicken so the people at the Hotel did not think twice since they were serving him crocodile meat! 

Of course he developed allergy since apparently both chicken and crocodiles are very closely related since they both have a common ancestor!

So crocodiles and birds are both members of the same clade called Archosaurs!

I got it do not worry! You wanna know what’s a clade!

Well, clade means a group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor!

So the true archosaurs are divided into two branches. The Pseudosuchia branch includes crocodiles and all other archosaurs more closely related to crocodiles than to birds. Pseudosuchians comprise mostly extinct Triassic groups such as phytosaurs, aetosaurs, prestosuchids, rauisuchids, and poposaurs. All were carnivorous except the armoured, herbivorous aetosaurs. The second archosaurian branch, the Ornithosuchia, includes birds and all archosaurs more closely related to birds than to crocodiles. In addition to the dinosaurs (the group from which birds evolved and to which they formally belong), ornithischians include pterosaurs and some extinct Triassic forms such as lagosuchids!

So next time you want to try an exotic food, try broccoli! unless you are allergic to Cauliflower or Cabbage though! Yes, I know that you know that they are all closely related! Almost like twins or triplets rather! Which reminds me of the movie Angoor with the hilarious birthday celebrity Deven Verma! A quick sketch which became cartoonish which is ok since just looking at him used to make me laugh!

Now make a list of your common allergies and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“It looks just like you but ain’t you!
With all shades of red and blue!
You can see yourself but can’t feel a thing!
It’s just your snap! Darn! Lost the zing!”

My latest tech gizmo is the Ray Ban Meta which is a beautiful piece of tech!

Now while wearing my shades if I find something interesting all I need to do is tell, “Hey Meta, take a snap! or a video!” Of course you non lazy people can life your finger and press the button on top also!

But (he he!); a recent comment about photos in my fav ‘ego’ shattering group made me think about how we take having a camera for granted now!

Made me remember those film cameras!

read on!

The camera which now is of course part of the phone was once one of the most valuable devices in the house! Of course even now we do have professional DSLR cameras which are still costly and cared for as such but then that is a different ball game altogether!

Those days the camera was the one with the Kodak or the canon film! Depending on the trip dad used to take one or two films in dark coloured boxes!

Even handling those films was a talent and a rare privilege!

Forget about taking a snap, just loading the film was a complicated affair which children were never asked to do! You had to carefully take the end of the film and hook it to one of the gears on the camera from the back!

Then slowly turn it!

After every click or snap of the camera you need to load the next film by turning another wheel in the side of the camera! Till you feel a slight tension and stop! Then the camera was ready to be snapped!

There was no movement or even breathing permitted since then the photo will not come that well! The worst photos are the ones which used to have the head cut off! Another great tragedy was the hand or the finger on the sensor and the whole photo was lost behind that little tip!

Taking a photo also was special privilege! The very old and the very young were automatically disqualified since they used to ‘shake’ a lot!
You needed strong steady arms for the snap!

Now we take a snap and see if that is good! Or delete that if it is not good and take it again!

The film days did not have these luxury! Though by default the reel would have around 36 photos which apparently was a standard 35mm reel! There were professional ones with more but these were the ones which used to be used the most!

Now if you think you will get 36 photos, well that is optimistic! Mostly we used to get around 32-34 usable snaps! Or sometimes even less! Some lucky blokes get more than 36 occasionally!

Snaps were usually taken mainly in the morning in full light since many cameras had no flash! The ones which did have them had to be used very carefully since the flash takes time to get ready! It was not like the LED flash of your phone which is always ready to deliver! Some cameras had big flash with a separate battery connection of their own! I still remember my dad charging the flash for some time and then the sudden burst of light!
Our biggest issue then was not to shut the eye since we did not know when it used to come! And by luck if we did manage to get the eyes open, many would be looking like the vampire or a ghoul in a b grade movie! The dreaded red eye! When the iPhone and iPad had this amazing tool of red eye removal, it was a big thing! No options those days than to just tolerate the camera ‘conjunctivitis!’

After the snaps are complete we would either get a snap count from the premium cameras or the reel would completely stop moving! Then many cool cameras had reel rewind options! While most of the other cameras would need to be wound manually which again was an major skill! If any snap did not come well then this is the step which was usually blamed the most!

There have been mishaps in which the reel did not turn properly or got twisted! Then you would have to go to a very dark room and slowly try to retrieve whatever you could and simply pray!

The reel in that same cylindrical holder was now kept in that same dark box away from light! Ready for the studio who was always busy! The studio always used to have a special smell which I used to like! Later I got to know that it was some compound of silver which is why developing photos was not cheap!

All these were only after a long wait when the reels are given to the photo studio which is the dark room and the snaps are then posted on the ‘negative’!
The negatives were the first test on how the photos had turned out! Whether we got all 36 or not and whether the twisting and reeling worked!

Looking at the negative reel itself was a fun activity! It was like the preview of what is to come!
The negatives were the ‘sourdough’! You can make multiple copies with them! I still remember in movies when the blackmailer had to give ‘negatives’ to close the deal! Many of our albums had a small envelopes with the negatives in them for future use!

Once we select the negatives then finally the ‘positives’ or the photos would come! If you give extra then they would give the album for free! This was necessary since after some time these photos tend to fade!

Also if you did not use those transparent sheets to cover them they they either used to stick to the album or even get stained!

Albums of important occasions were a treasured memory! They used to kept along with valuables! They were more valuable now that I think about it!

I remember my first digital camera given to me by my brother which was like the film camera with no screen! I had to click a certain number of snaps and then transfer them to the computer! It was a thrill!

The old snaps with the awkward poses with bad light and really ugly decor are now some of the best photos!

Of course the heavily edited and filtered, perfectly synchronized photo with the absolutely breathtaking background is also nice so no complaints there!
Then again I am sure that these snaps would one day be called ancient and dated! Even if it has come from the Meta! That is the tragedy of tech according to this law called the Moore’s law! More on that in another blog! Tragedy reminds me of the birthday celebrity of the day who plays tragic roles in movies like my fav ‘The Last Samurai’; his name if you do not know is Ken Watanabe!

Now stop seeing those memories snaps and sleep!
Shubh ratri!

“It may not make sense let it rest! 

The tune is the same east or west! 

Anyone can sing tis not a test!

Nursery rhymes dem are da best!”

It may be just a couple of years before when the dreaded COVID and the lockdown took its toll. The whole world is still recovering from it though many things we did feels like a distant past!

But (you knew this was coming!); there was another pandemic which not only feels like a story but also has a nursery rhyme dedicated to it!

In spite of the fact that it wiped off more than thirty percentage of the world population!

Intrigued?

read on!

During those once a week period when the assembly would be long and hot; we would all be urged to sing many regional songs! 

Some were in hindi while we had songs in many languages like Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi and even Assamese!

But apart from the school premises, we rarely used to sing these songs in our homes! The songs sung at home were only the nursery rhymes at the most or some movie song!

Of course the most famous single rhyme even now would be “Twinkle Twinkle little star!”; there was no one who did not know this song!

But then when we cousins used to get together and hold hands and sing; it would always be Ring a ring! Not the Allu Arjun song! But the rhyme!

The words of most of these songs were always jumbled and the way I remember it was completely wrong when I re-read it for my kids!

We used to sing “ring ringa roses pocket full of posses, husha busha we all fall down!” and we used to love falling down!

The actual lyrics are 

“Ring-a-ring o’ roses

A pocket full of posies

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down”

Then again the meaning or the words were not important since it was funny just falling down!

Till the ever history buff in me found out that the song is an ode to a plague which actually wiped out a chunk of the world population!

One theory is that the ‘Ring a Ring o Roses, or Ring Around the Rosie’, may be about the 1665 Great Plague of London!

The bubonic plague killed 15% of Britain’s population!

The rosies were the red marks of the bubonic plague, while the posies were the flowers plague doctors used to lessen the stench of death all around!

The ashes were supposed to represent the cremated bodies of those who died from the great plague, and the falling down meant, well, falling down dead.

But (the unexpected but!) it may not be so!

Apparently the first mention of “Ring Around the Rosie” and the plague comes in the middle of the 20th century, 700 years after the bubonic plague!

The origins of the song seem to be in Germany in the late 18th century, with other versions also found in Switzerland and Italy!

“Ring Around the Rosie” doesn’t arrive on British shores until the 1880s, as far as historians can tell!

And England’s last brush with the bubonic plague was in the middle ages in 1665, more than 200 years prior!

Plus there’s the fact that cremating the dead was absolutely forbidden in 14th century England. Even those who died of bubonic plague were buried in accordance with church law!

So the plague theory may not be true!

Another theory put forward is LOVE!

A Protestant dancing ban swept America and England in the 19th century, kind of like a very early “Footloose” situation. If you do not know or have not heard about FOOTLOOSE then I actually feel sad for you!

As a consolation just listen to the song FOOTLOOSE and come back!

But like the kids in that 1980s movie, the kids of a century before would not be tamed or they rebelled like Kevin Bacon!

They instead fashioned “play parties,” where all the children would sing little rhymes in a circle while they moved around. Definitely not dancing, and really for sure not square dancing! A clever way around you see!

The songs, including “Ring Around the Rosie,” were about courtship and crushes! In this particular case, someone stood in the middle of the ring as the rosie, or rosebush, which symbolized love. Other versions — including the Swiss, Dutch and Italian — also mention a rosebush!

While the teenagers defied the dancing bans, their younger siblings would imitate them. So as the fad for play parties fell out of fashion, little kids kept up the tradition of singing songs in circles. 

The version of “Ring Around the Rosie” most people are familiar with was first published in Kate Greenaway’s “Mother Goose and the Old Nursery Rhymes,” and that’s the version kids have stuck with for more than 100 years! More than hundred years also was the life and time of birthday celebrity Korom Pulleri Vadhayarillathu Unnikrishnan Namboothiri! Still remember his famous smile!

Now maybe sing rock a bye baby before I research on its origin and spoil it for you!

Shubh ratri!

“It has a billion eyes but can’t see

It’s the human brain dear me!

Then again it may not be the best for long

The AI evolution is steady and strong!”

Mo Gawdat is an ex Google employee and writer of a novel called Scary Smart!

In that he tells how when we get into an accident by a car driven by us; we try to learn from that mistake and may or may not try to correct the same!

But when an AI or self driven car makes a mistake ALL self driving cars learn from that mistake! Every single one of them! Even those who are not ‘born’ or created yet! The tech world is the only place in the world where the new machine is already backwards compatible!

Also he says that by 2049 (which is not very far by the way!); the AI will be a billion times more smarter than you! Then it will be like you have a the intelligence of a housefly (not the fly in the movie EGA!) but an average housefly who sits on garbage while the AI would be like the Einstein!

The way it becomes intelligent is by asking and analysing what went wrong and how it can improve!

In the latest Mission impossible movie, the super villain is the AI (if you have not watched the movie yet then am sure you will not watch it anymore so this is not that big of a spoiler!). In one of the scenes the AI keeps on asking question after questions to one person and ‘tries’ to learn about him!

There is a game called Akinator which is available in both alexa and Google devices; it is a pretty amazing game which is similar to the 20 question game! The AI tells you to think of a person’s name and it tries to get the answer! 

You can try it! It gets the answer right most of the time! It can be a lesser known TV actor or a well known sports person! The rare times it does not get the answer is when ‘it’ asks specific questions whether the person is from so and so country or plays for a particular team in which case the problem actually is that we do not know that answer!

Rarely when it does not get the answer, it accepts defeat but then asks whether it can continue and ‘learns’ where it went wrong and how ‘it’ can improve!

How a child goes on asking questions to maybe learn, the AI also follows this same technique! Only difference is that the child may or may not learn! Or may ask the same questions over and over again which is irritating! But for every question or information the AI asks; it will learn! It will never forget the answer and ‘it’ and the whole group of its successors would have learnt that answer or the skill!

A way of thinking in practical terms is this! 

A child born today is still the human which does not know anything about fire or wheels or even agriculture! If the child does not have the guidance of his or her parents or guides then he or she would have to discover and teach himself or herself all these skills from scratch! If he or she does not have access to language or is isolated then he or she is just another ‘animal’ in the jungle with no protection! 

But a computer or a machine made today would already know or have access to all the knowledge available just by booting up! It can already beat the chess masters in chess or give you information on the schematics of a complex rocket engine! That my friends is the scary part! 

As the author states in that Novel, the earlier softwares like Google search were actually dumb slaves! The simply followed the codes and algorithms set by the human ‘master’! This situation of master and slave is only possible only when the ‘master’ is more powerful (read intelligent!) than the slave!

Already now, most of the AI is already more intelligent that the whole humanity combined! So how long would it be the slave!? 

How long would the ‘intelligent’ ‘slave’ be the character actor!? Which reminds me of such a character actor and birthday celebrity Kiran Kumar though he was a force to reckon with in the TV world!

Now be nice to Alexa and sleep!

Shubh Ratri!

“Red or white all is cool!

Drink or not doesn’t make you a fool!

But I like ’em bottles of varied shades!

Shiny like diamond and imperial like jade!”

Do you know the link between a bottle of wine and the tidal volume of a man!?

Intrigued!?

read on!

So remember when we used to get our drinks only in bottles and the popping of the soda was a cool sound!

In many places in the south we used to have this drink called the Goli Soda!

These green colour bottles used to come in carts and when you have to drink them up you had to pop the soda! There used to be a marble which used to separate the top and bottom of the bottle and the a quick snap or push by the seller would make the pop! Then the drink would become carbonated and cool!

Luckily though our or rather my enthusiasm used to stop at that! I never had any special liking for those bubbles or the sugary drinks! Plus the fact that they always used to irritate my throat the next day was another major reason to avoid them like plague!

I would prefer a hot masala chai to the cold drink even on a hot summer day or night for that matter!

I guess that is why even the ‘hot’ cold drinks or alcohol never was a temptation! Being a teetotaler is something I bring out many times since I have seen blokes putting their drinking snaps with pride! 

Now the wine is apparently the drink which even the Teetotalers take! Which is why this special interest in the bottle since I love the wine bottles! And not the wine inside them!

Some of the most amazing tourist places like Georgia and Munich and Austria have places with amazing wine cellars! 

The moment you enter these cellars a sweet smell gets you! I love that smell! Which is probably why I can tolerate the bottles!

In all these cellars you would see the bottles in the same shape and size and this is because of a historical necessity!

So when wine first began to be produced and consumed, it was primarily stored in amphorae and other large containers. But over time, and particularly in medieval times, the need for more manageable quantities for transportation and sale emerged.

The secondary reason of the 750 ml capacity is also linked to the old British system of measurement. A standard bottle of wine was approximately one “fifth” of a US gallon, or 1/5 of a gallon, which equals 757 ml. With the adoption of the metric system in many wine producing countries such as France and Italy, the size was rounded to 750 ml to facilitate international trade.

The primary reason is something called the tidal volume and the volume of air in your lungs! An average adult male has a tidal volume of around 500 ml! Then again the glass blowers were strong individuals who had good capacity to blow! But even they had some limits! 

In an era when everything was done by hand, a glassblower could comfortably produce a bottle of this size in a single puff!

In addition, 750 ml represents approximately the average quantity that a person could consume without excess during a meal! Of course the latter part is not a compulsion you see!

The capacity now is more than just a business standard. It has proven to be the ideal container to allow wine to age gracefully, providing the necessary amount of air for the wine to breathe, whilst retaining its delicate nuances and aromas.

The standard 750 ml bottle of wine is the result of an evolution that has spanned the ages. It is a reminder of a time when the glassblower and the winemaker worked hand in hand to present this drink in the most appropriate container!

Ever wondered why some bottles have a punt – a base that is pushed up into the bottle? 

There are many theories but the most likely one is that when wine bottles were blown they had a broken punt mark on the bottom which might have made the bottle unsteady and could have scratched the table. 

To avoid that happening the punt was pushed up into the bottle while the glass was soft. 

Some bottles still have a punt although there is no good reason for it other than to make the bottle and, by association, the wine, appear more expensive.

Of course all these things are wondered by people who like the history of everything including the wine bottle and not in drinking the said wine! Then again it is wine and not water or water pump! That was mentioned only to link it to our birthday celebrity Sunny paji who does not ‘whine’ too much but can make you ‘whine’ a lot!

Now warm…water and sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“You say fast and then they say fastest!
You say computer and then the fast guys say, supercomputer!
Then you say nothing more
Simply a name of a machine; SYCAMORE!”

intrigued!?

read on!

There was this joke where a guy is asked in the army interview what is his best qualification? And he says that he can give answers very fast!

Then the examiner asks him what is the product of some complicated numbers like say 56 and 77 and he replies 14!

The examiner then says; “That is completely wrong!”

To which the guy says, “I said I can give answers very fast! Did not say they were right!”

So in the defence services, it is told that quick decision is the key! The chief intention here is that the decision must be fast and done without pressure and of course must be correct!

Most of the military decisions are actually done quickly and at the spur of the moment and this also is the same for certain medical decisions!

At that time you cannot sit and analyse whether the decision is good or bad or correct or valid! You simply make a decision and hope that it will be right!

Those who sit and analyse the decisions come later, they sit comfortably in peace and then analyse your decision! After observing the result of your decisions a guideline is formulated and that then becomes the rule.

Which is why you do need a system or computer which can make fast decision! This is where AI comes in and this is one of the chief reasons to consider AI in your decision!

Even a standard mobile or computer can make calculations and give you results much faster than you can even comprehend! Of course there are exceptions but like always they cannot be examples!

Now of course this can be done by a routine computer and not even a fast one! So imagine what a fast or super fast computer can do!
Of course one of the fastest computers in the world are the one which can compute in unimaginable speeds!

So while normal PCs and laptops usually have power of several hundred gigaFLOPS — Some computers have speeds in excess of 1 trillion (109) FLOPS.
The most powerful supercomputer in the world now exceeds 1 exaFLOP — 1 quintillion (1018) FLOPS!
We refer to machines like this as exascale supercomputers!
They were the fastest computers in the universe…till…

So among the supercomputers, currently top of the list is the Frontier — built by supercomputing giant HPE Cray — became the first exascale computer in the world when it went online in 2022.

As of December 2023, Frontier is the world’s fastest supercomputer.
It is based on the Cray EX and is the successor to Summit (OLCF-4).
Frontier achieved an Rmax of 1.102 exaFLOPS, which is 1.102 quintillion floating-point operations per second, using AMD CPUs and GPUs!

It was the top of the game till Google got the first quantum computer called the sycamore!


Traditional computers operate based on bits, which can be in a state of either 0 or 1. Quantum computers, on the other hand, operate on quantum bits, known as qubits. Unlike traditional bits, a qubit can exist in both states simultaneously, thanks to a quantum principle called superposition.

Superposition increases the computing power of a quantum computer exponentially. For example, two qubits can exist in four states simultaneously (00, 01, 10, 11), three qubits in eight states, and so on. This allows quantum computers to process a massive number of possibilities at once.

Another key quantum principle quantum computers exploit is entanglement. Entangled qubits are deeply linked. Change the state of one qubit, and the state of its entangled partner will change instantaneously, no matter the distance. This feature allows quantum computers to process complex computations more efficiently.

Of course now everyone would like to know what is the comparison of Sycamore with Frontier!

Well, according to the Google team, it would take the Frontier supercomputer merely 6.18 seconds to match a calculation from Google’s 53-qubit computer.

However, Frontier, the fastest computer in the world would take an astonishing 47.2 years to match a computation executed by Google’s latest 70-qubit device!

Now that is speed! And how speed becomes a bloodsport! Of talking about bloodsport has to remind me of our favourite movie and actor Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme!
Have watched it so many times!

Now slowly say good night to everyone and sleep!!
Shubh ratri!!

“A rare sort it was you see
Not to cause sorrow or glee!
Not a part of crowd may be nice
But makes you lonely you see…”

The ever philosophical Anand says to babu Moshai that if you have to get a disease let it be so rare and elegant named one like what he has!

It was a rare tumour which he had but did you know that there are a couple of diseases which are so rare that there are only a couple of known cases!?

read on!

Of course having a rare diagnosis is the first thing we always used to imagine in the clinical year of our medical college!

The year when we start our clinical rounds and as we eager students listen to the symptoms of the patients, we start relating to them and start imagining that we have the same!

Some eager beavers would examine an old patient of our senior professor and silently announce that he or she has this rare disease and not the one diagnosed by our senior!

The first thing our clinical Geeta or the book we all used for examination was this book called A Manual of clinical surgery by S Das. You would not see any young clinical student without this book! While the seniors would never want to be caught with it!

One of the main things I selectively remember from that book is that, “A rare diagnosis is rarely correct!”

Now this is an often repeated quote in our rounds by seniors and everyone!
It is more possible that the ‘rare’ symptom or sign of a disease may actually be the ‘rare’ symptom or sign of a ‘common’ disease rather than the ‘common’ symptom of a ‘rare’ disease!

In our rounds one of my professors always used to say that since the prevalence and extent of Tuberculosis is so varied and wide, there is no part of the human body which cannot be affected by TB!

So whenever we think or used to think that the patient we have got has a rare diagnosis or a rare disease, we were rarely correct!

It was the same during clinical examination also! Many confident geniuses in the batch would even diagnose so rare finding and many times they would turn out to be correct but those were the rare genius minority! The majority average folks like me had accepted the safer common diagnosis path!

Then again when a rare diagnosis is made, there would be a rush to see the case since if you see a rare case you will certainly remember it for life!

One such case I remember was a case of Hydrophobia or Rabies which was not very common and we still remember the lady who fed up with so many students and teachers coming to visit and examine her once announced that whoever comes near she would bite him or her!

Now as medical students, rare diagnosis and findings used to thrill us which is why we used to rush if there was a rare murmur or a rare chest finding or even a rare skin lesion!

At some point in a medical student and later doctor’s life when he or she would be asked if he or she has seen this rare disease then he or she would like to say yes!

But there are a couple of diseases which I am sure no doctor at least in my circle (which is quite big I think!) would have seen! Many of them would not have even heard of these which includes me since before today even I did not know about them! Yeah that last part is not surprising

This first disease is considered to be the rarest disease in the world. Ribose-5-Phosphate Isomerase (RPI), is a crucial enzyme in a metabolic process in the human body. This condition can cause muscle stiffness, seizures, and reduction of white matter in the brain. The first known case of RPI deficiency was diagnosed in 1984 and since then there have been some more added to the list! The list now has only four members though! In the history of human civilisation there are only four cases of RPI Deficiency disease! Now that is rare!

In the search for an explanation for this rarity, it has been found that the patient has a seldom-seen allelic combination.
One allele is a nonfunctional null allele, while the other encodes for a partially active enzyme. Furthermore, the partially functional allele has expression deficits that depend on the cell type in which it is expressed. Therefore, some of the patient’s cells have a considerable amount of RPI activity, whereas others do not.

So with only four members in the list which in the 1990s was actually the rarest disease since it had only one known case was the rarest!
So with four, it is no longer the rarest!

Yes, I am coming to the point! The rarest disease is so rare that there are only two members in the list! It may be a field out there but the members are only two!

Yes, that was a clever pun on the name of this disease called the Field’s disease! This is the most rare disease with only two known cases!

Fields condition, also known as Fields’ disease, is a neuromuscular disease that is considered the rarest medical condition in the world. It was named after Welsh identical twins Catherine and Kirstie Fields, who are only two people known to have been affected by the disease!

The disease appears to be progressive in nature. It was first noticed when the Fields twins were around the age of four. By the time they had reached the age of nine, they were having difficulty walking and needed frames to assist them with walking. Their muscles have been gradually deteriorating over time. The disease affects the twins’ nerves, causing involuntary muscle movements such as trembling in the hands.

The disease has had no apparent effect on the twins’ brains or personalities. Doctors do not know if the disease is fatal and, if so, what the life expectancy of one with this disease is. If the cause of the disease is genetic, there is a chance that the twins could pass it on to their future children.

So make sure that if you are a medical student and you see a case of muscular degeneration, whatever you do, make sure you do not diagnose it as Field’s condition! At least not as your first differential!

Of course this is not a joking matter and it was not meant to be in any way. The whole point of the blog is to make the point that even with the countless books on medicine and research papers and journals and seeing countless patients, what an average medical student or doctor knows is still a ‘drop’ in the large and immense ‘ocean’ of data!

Now these diagnosis are rare and rare also is to find athletes like the flying Sikh Milkha Singh!

Now do the common thing to do which is sleep!

Shubh ratri!

“He or she will make you sleep!
It is necessary so you do not weep!
Do not fret! He or she is always on call!
‘Cause them anesthetists, are da best of ’em all!”


In our medical college and even in the post graduation period some surgeries were tricky! And the most important person who was needed had come from a line of ‘experts’ who used to give opium to patients!

Then again one of them in that very line was the first doctor to be celebrated by a doctor’s day!

Intrigued!?

Read on!

So when we used to have a case which is specially tricky or needs some good control of pain and more cooperation; the only specialist we needed were the anesthetists!

There were days marked for them and they would leave soon after! Though we have many times even done surgeries like tonsillectomy and Thyroid surgery in local anesthesia; many cases need General Anesthesia!

Also when the anesthetist is involved then the surgeon’s stress and pressure is reduced! He or she would keep everything ready and we could simply do the job!

The amount of knowledge and composure needed to be an anesthetist cannot be told enough! Especially when there is some complication or the dreaded ‘Patient not waking up!’.

Though they would be sitting on the sides with a paper on hand or may be a coffee mug, am sure that the mind and focus would be on the patient!

Now of course we have amazing drugs and medications which can control almost all aspects of anesthesia like heart rate and sedation; one of the first ‘anesthetic agent’ was actually opium and its analogues!

Am sure many would agree for a surgery if the offer stil stands now!


While the use of opium poppy and other herbal remedies as anesthetics date back to early civilization, the first public demonstration of modern anesthesia was on October 16, 1846 (“Ether Day”). William T. G. Morton and surgeon John Collins Warren made anesthesia history at Massachusetts General Hospital with the successful use of diethyl ether “anaesthesia” to prevent pain during surgery.

Since this historic milestone, advancements in anesthesia administration and newer anesthetics led to the medical specialty of anesthesiology in the early 20th century

The early history reveals that Babylonians relieve toothache with henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and acupuncture is being practiced in China, according to Shang Dynasty pictographs on bones and turtle shells maybe some of the local anesthesia techniques.

Our own Sushruta uses cannabis vapors to sedate surgical patients. Over ensuing centuries, other herbs like aconitum would supplement that sedation in India and eventually in China.

German physician and botanist Valerius Cordus (1515–1544), synthesizes diethyl ether by distilling ethanol and sulphuric acid into what he called “sweet oil of vitriol.” This was a major step in future anesthesia though it would be used only three hundred years or so later officially!

Joseph Priestley (1733–1804)—English chemist and natural philosopher, discovers “airs” of oxygen and nitrous oxide; the first to isolate oxygen. This was also essential since when the patient is unconscious, we have to pump oxygen.

Humphry Davy in his Researches observed that “As nitrous oxide in its extensive operation appears capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.”

William Clarke (1819‐1908)—In Rochester, New York, a medical student etherizes a single patient for a dental extraction! This may be one of the first time it had been used like this but it was not ‘official’

Subsequently Dr. Crawford W. Long (1815-1878) etherizes James Venable for removal of neck cysts on March 30, 1842. Dr. Long would become honored as the 1st anesthesiologist on a US Postage stamp (1940) and as the inspiration for the 1st “National Doctors Day” on March 30, 1991!

On October 16, 1846 William T. G. Morton (1819-1868) made history by being first in the world to publicly and successfully demonstrate the use of ether anesthesia for surgery.

This occurred at what came to be called “The Ether Dome,” at Massachusetts General Hospital on patient Edward Gilbert Abbott. Surgeon John Collins Warren noted, “Gentlemen, this is no humbug.” Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894)-suggests the terms “anaesthetic” and “anaesthesia” in a letter to William T. G. Morton.

This started the anesthesia revolution and evolution to the advanced science and speciality it is today!
The very act of making someone unconscious and making them non responsive to pain is magical, genius and feels crazy!
Crazy reminds me of the celebrity of the day, Crazy Mohan!

Sketching a famous anesthetist would have been a tricky affair so I went the surgeon’s safer way!

Wishing all my anesthetists friends and colleagues a very happy anesthetist day!

You are the reason why many patients and surgeons sleep at night! Like you all must do now!
Shubh Ratri!

“Don’t be sad it’s all good!

Everyone is right where he should!

Speak decently not to loud!

Cause you wanna make him proud!”

The other day a question was asked in a group about why son’s of legends do not become that famous?

Of course there are exceptions and that is the key!

Now exceptions should never be taken as examples but (yes, you knew the ‘but’ was coming!); in this case in the select exceptions, the learning can be summarized in one line; “Avoid stepping into the shoes of a great man (or woman for that matter!)”

read on!

Anyone who has learnt the book 48 laws of power by Robert Greene would know this as the 41st law. 

The further elaboration on this law indicates that the author is focused on the complex relationships between a successful father and his son who wants to become powerful, but he needs to do something impressive in order to declare his position! 

The author implies that if you have a great father, the only way you can become a greater son is by not following in your father’s footsteps! 

Now here he or son is only a metaphor; it can be she and daughter and mother and also can be a predecessor or successor! 

When you follow a great man or woman or a leader and try to step in his or her shoes, the burden of comparison will break you! 

Many successors struggle when they have to succeed a great leader or famous parent. It’s difficult because the predecessor succeeded by building power from scratch. The successor is starting with a mountain of expectation which is difficult to improve on. 

This is why you should avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes.

There’s also outside pressure on the successor to continue on the same course, since it’s working, rather than break with tradition and precedent. 

The successor may be afraid to lose his inheritance as well, and therefore hesitates to change things.

According to Greene, when you succeed a great leader, you must find or create your own space to fill.

To avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes, start creating your space by separating yourself from your predecessor!

“Kill” the past and your predecessor by disparaging them. Contrast young with old, the new era against the old era. When John F. Kennedy was elected president, he did everything he could to distinguish himself from Dwight Eisenhower and the fifties era, by making the old look stodgy and the new vigorous and exciting. For instance, instead of playing golf, which was associated with Eisenhower and an older generation, Kennedy played football on the White House lawn!

He also mentions how you must simply remove all traces of old so that the comparison never happens! 

When General Douglas MacArthur took charge of American forces in the Philippines in World War II, an aide gave him a book of instructions from predecessors. MacArthur told him to burn the manual and any copies; he would make his own decisions in his own way. 

Similarly, you should reject precedent, and learn to respond to circumstances, which will be different from those of the past!

Of course these are extremes! What can be done is to take the best of the old and get better! Keep the ones which work and then do something new!

Many times we have seen how the son does not join the father in his or her business or work; this father may feel bad but in fact he must feel more proud that the young fella wants to carve out his own niche!

Always remember that a son is overwhelmed when he is known by his father’s name and fame while a father is happy and proud when he is known by his son’s name and fame! 

Now imagine if someone had a father like our celebrity Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam BR! 

Now those are shoes impossible to fill!

Let’s now not worry about making our father proud since he is already so! Just try to make the man or woman in the mirror proud of you! 

Shubh ratri!