blog@Yantrajaal

  Trams in Vienna Trams of Budapest Trams in Warsaw Trams in Prague Trams in Brno , Czech  Tram in Berlin Trams in Krakow Tram at Poznan and tram at Rashbehari Avenue , Calcutta all images from 2016 sorry, you may not be able to see these pictures unless you are a friend of mine on Facebook!

Modern science is sceptical of astrology because it cannot be explained in terms of any physical phenomenon. This fear of inexplicability of this ancient body of knowledge has metamorphosed into derision and hostility by those who claim to be rational and of a scientific temper. This behaviour follows a trajectory best described as “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.” [ Nicholas Klein, 1914 , wrongly attributed to  MK Gandhi ]   In this article, I argue that astrology is no more inexplicable than quantum mechanics, one of the two crown jewels of 20th century science, and hence should not  be excluded from scholarly discussion and research. In an earlier article I have argued astrology is the science of correlations. We do not care about how and why a particular planetary pattern affects a person’s life. Instead, we look for correlations between patterns of positions of a...

 Learnt about a new video-editing software, ffmpeg , and used it enhance the output of the Transit Tracker module of my Parashar21 suite of free, python based astrology utilities. Check out the Parashar21 github page of simply enjoy this video.

 Significant updates made to the Parashar21 software. See the Github repository for the latest.

  Van Gogh style Unreal Engine

 

 

More Digital Art from Generative Adversarial Networks  First, the "Unreal Engine" Version Then, the "Watercolour" Version

  My first attempt at original, digital art using the magic of Generative Adversarial Networks. Using the Colab notebook built by Hillel Wayne.

Whether it is really true or not, Twitter has often been accused, often in anecdotal terms, as being biased towards the “Left-Liberal” edge of the political spectrum. This point of view got a boost when Elon Musk launched a hostile take-over bid of the company under the banner of free-speech and a whole bunch of self declared Left-Libs claimed that they would leave Twitter and move to Instagram if and when Elon Musk takes over. Now that the Board of Twitter has capitulated and accepted Musk’s offer, it is time to explore how this issue of censorship and free-speech will be addressed. Musk has of course tweeted that even his most severe critics will be allowed on the platform but opinion is divided on his real commitment. Will he be fair? The answer to that question lies in the womb of futurity but in the meanwhile, let us explore an alternative approach to ensure free speech. We are looking for something that eliminates or reduces the discretionary power of human beings, the so-called ...

 Introduction Astrology is based on the analysis and detection of correlated patterns. Causation and correlation are two different ways of studying related phenomena. Switching on an oven is the obvious cause for a cake to be baked but the consumption of flour, sugar, eggs, butter and electricity in the kitchen is strongly correlated to the appearance of a cake. These six events are part of a pattern and the presence of the first five will be correlated to or lead to a prediction of the presence of the sixth.  Viewed from this perspective of pure correlation, astrology is no different from data science where a pattern of data - in this case the positions of planets at birth – is used to calculate the possibility of certain outcomes. The astronomical observations that were made with the naked eye and recorded in a vast database by Tycho Brahe and his sister Sophia were the basis for the formulation of Kepler's Laws of Planetary motion, that in turn led to Newton's laws of gravi...

 

Five Drivers of the emerging civilisation It is always fascinating to speculate on the contours of the future, but perhaps it is easier to do so in terms of what might actually shape it. Rather than trying to define where we want to go or determine how to go there, let us instead try to determine who, or what, our drivers are and let them lead us into whatever it is that awaits us in the years, and the road ahead. So sit back and take a ride through a  thoughtscape  delineated by nuclear energy, space travel, biohacks, the metaverse and artificial intelligence. A ride that ends with an unusual Indic twist in the tail or tale. Energy The first driver is energy which is what gives dynamism to an otherwise static universe. It is obviously a prime driver for the emergence of civilisation, which is why the discovery – and control – of fire was such an epochal event in the evolution of human society. Without access to substantial sources of energy, human society can only regress to...