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. Srikanth Perinkulam

Sometime around midnight we reach a bridge with one side of its’ railing non-existent. I sprint ahead and heave a sigh of relief when I notice the ‘Old Bridle trail’[OBT] signboard high up on a tree. This confirms this is ’the’ bridge that we’ve been looking out for, for the past few hours and that the trail head should be a few hundred feet away. Meena suggests Jyothsna and I shoot ahead while she and Sanjana would follow behind slowly. With just one headlamp we make our way as fast as possible to the Lafayette camping ground parking lot. As we turn round the corner, we hear a concerned and loud ‘PS, PS?’ cry. I’m relieved to hear Praveen’s voice and as soon he checks all four of us are safe he drops the bomb-shell. Having reached the trail head around 6pm and not hearing from us since then, he apparently had called in a search and rescue operation for us about 30 minutes back. My excitement on ‘finishing’ the hike is short lived as I think to myself - ‘This is not over yet…’. The last 20 hours have been draining, mentally more than physically. What should have been a decent eight hour hike has gone way beyond my initial estimation. Over the rest of Sunday, as we let everything sink in, Meena and I continue to hash out what possibly could have led up to this and what we should do to avoid this from recurring in future hikes. ...

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. ...

Liked: Seriously Simple Podcasting: Including all Episodes in the Podcast RSS Feed Seriously Simple Podcasting is a great Wordpress plugin for hosting your own podcast. However, the number of episodes it includes in the RSS feed is tied to the number of items you include in all your other RSS feeds as well. Srikanth Perinkulam

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. ...

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! ...

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. ...

Whoa! I’ve always thought we’ve already mapped everything out in the ocean. Just 5% so far? Phew! Thanks for the pointer, Eli ! Bookmark: Why The First Complete Map of the Ocean Floor Is Stirring Controversial Waters Earth has no shortage of stunning landforms: Mt. Everest rises majestically above the clouds; the Grand Canyon rents deep into desert rock layers; the mountains that make up the Ethiopian Highlands, aka the Roof of Africa, tower above the rest of the continent. ...

I’ve really liked Standard Notes and Simplenote. Both have markdown, tag support and sync across machines. I’d weigh in on the former for encryption and the latter for version control. I’ve never used nvAlt, so not quite sure what I’m stacking against. in reply to: « Oatmeal Internet! I need help. I’ve been using nvALT for years and years, and have years and years of content in it. Srikanth Perinkulam

Today’s ashtanga practice was insanely powerful. At the end of the first set of the standing pose, I felt like a dark cloud just about letting go of its huge water droplets and by the end of the second set I was a completely wet noodle. Not quite sure if it was the temperature in the room or just the internal heat from the body. What I do know is, I’m slowly but surely getting better in being in the moment and able to focus better on my asana and breath work. ...