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Science of Survival Ep. 19: A Very Scary Fish Story
The search for the Alabama sturgeon. Reminded me of the incredible documentary on How wolves can alter the course of a river.

Podcast: Science of Survival Ep. 19: A Very Scary Fish Story

The swamps of Alabama are one of the most biodiverse places on earth. They’ve been called America’s Amazon for the remarkable number of species of fish, turtles, mussels, and other aquatic creatures.

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Jaberoo
Took the day off last Friday and hit the coast after the regular early morning Ashtanga class. Last years rain-check for the whale watching got us pretty lucky. Sighted around 6 to 7 whales at Stellwagen bank, 31 miles off the coast from Gloucester. A couple of them got up close (and not so personal) to the boat. These Humpbacks were pretty sober. Not much breaching, but they did flaunt their flukes! First in-person sighting and I’m psyched. Water has always fascinated me and with the Scuba diving a few years back, I’ve learnt to appreciate the depths a lot more.

Later that afternoon, spent a few hours at the Good Harbor beach. Water was much warmer than expected but pretty calm, possibly due to low tide. Hiked up a small hill right by the beach for a real nice view of the ocean. Absolutely no Greenheads. Crane beach still trumps!

Some delicious dinner at a friends place and we head back home. So glad I decided to take the day off.

Also time to add Blue Mind to my reading list.


The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI
Makes me wonder if we as humans, were engineered by another intelligent form as a version of an AI, to create a smarter generation of AI. And if this really is a cascading iteration, which neural node are we in? Drawing a parallel, the current ‘generation’ of AI isn’t probably ‘aware’ of the existence of us humans and are currently evolving in a ‘universe’ of their own and self engineering themselves based on their own feedback loops. We probably will never truly understand how and what they’ll evolve to. Or as Dennett says, unless a system can explain its actions better than we humans, it should not be trusted.

Just read: The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI

Last year, a strange self-driving car was released onto the quiet roads of Monmouth County, New Jersey. The experimental vehicle, developed by researchers at the chip maker Nvidia, didn’t look different from other autonomous cars, but it was unlike anything demonstrated by Google, Tesla, or General Motors, and it showed the rising power of artificial intelligence.

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7 and 5

7 years of togetherness. Thanks for everything you do every single moment. You complete us, Miss Me!

[x] Coffee date at Esspresso Cafe in Jamaica Plain. Decent stuff but no vegan options. Probably will not go back here again.
[x] Volunteered at the VT100, an altogether different experience
[x] Suresh paced someone for the first time and did a 14miler, So proud!
[x] Helped fix the van’s flat tire. Coincidence?
[x] Fabulous drive back home. Fog, Mist, Sunrise, mountains, clear roads and music…Should have stopped and got a few pictures..
[x] Missed the Ashtanga practice by 8 minutes – Was already zapped though
[x] Coffee @ Cafe Flora – Pinball machine by some artistic wood tables – Will be back here sometime soon.
[x] Breakfast at Veggie Galaxy with Suresh. LOVE these relaxed morning eat-outs.
[x] Ayurveda training
[x] Appa’s FB post fires up some heavy commenting!


VT100 Finish

Photo taken at: West Windsor, Vermont

In races of all kinds, there’s always a push to finish strong. Most runners conserve that little energy to turbo boost at the last quarter mile. While it’s exhilarating to watch that strong finish, I’ve always been enamored by those who trudge in slowly, with almost no display of gratification as they cross the line.

Today as I stood behind the finish line watching runners slowly trickle in, one particular runner swept the ground away from beneath my feet. The clock froze at 03:04am as he limped across the line. Pale face, headlamp off and no support crew. All he did was turn around, looked at the finish line for that bleak second, stopped his watch and plopped on the ground. I could sense he was frozen in time and so was I. Wonder what was grinding in his mind. Was he happy he finished the run? Was he in pain? Did he know he’d finished? Was he just soaking it all in? Or was he contemplating what to do next? Why was he all alone there? I heavily resisted the urge to go speak to him and let him savor the moment. Some questions are better left unanswered.

Volunteering at the VT100 this weekend has truly been an experience. Way different from last year. Last year I was predominantly taking care of the runners needs and ended up pacing a gentleman for about 17 miles. This year, I ended up primarily taking care of parking duties, closing out the camp and fixing a support van’s flat tire.  Nothing beyond the call of duty. But if I were to steal one snapshot from this weekend, it would be that brief moment at the finish line where I seemed to connect with that runner.

The Wapack and Back 50 miler earlier this year was a reasonable goal I’d set for myself. Something that I put in a ton of effort for but miserably failed. I let my practical side easily override my neural urges and THAT is something I want to breach. Someday I’d like to cross a bold finish line. Something that I demarcate myself. And when I do that, I want to have invested everything that I could in my realms into it, and go beyond that. Only then will I possibly start scraping the surface…

Not all finish lines are the same…