What gives one human being the right to take the life of another? At what point do we say, we need to rid the society of this person? And above all, the question that is more important and compelling to me - How do we know we got the right person?
Prisons serve two main purposes. One, to remove the wrong-doers away from the society, punish, reform and get them ready to rejoin the society. Second, is the prohibitive value of it. Just the fear of going to such a treacherous place and be isolated from life as you know it, is supposed to be a deterrent for folks to keep from crime.
Death sentence, definitely does not serve the first purpose. There is no punishment. There is no rehabilitation. There is no rejoining the society. So, the obvious value of death sentence is to be a deterrent. Also, there is the additional benefit of the death sentence; the society is rid of this undesirable element and we don't have to pay for a lifetime of a prison for someone. Their life is of no worth to the rest of the society except - by being taken away - serve as an example to others. Though, a typical death sentence, ironically, does include time in prison prior to the execution. Further, there is the "eye-for-an-eye" motive, which is primitive and panders to the basic human tendency of revenge.
The horror of this is that it is predicated on a system that is not perfect. What if he/she was in the wrong place in the wrong time? I agree that the process is more rigorous and the system is not easy on doling out death sentences but there are still mistakes! With the advancement of technology, new type of evidence is exonerating folks who have been doomed to die bringing us to the inevitable question:
How many people who are already executed were innocent?
It makes me shudder to even think that the answer is very definite greater than zero. Imagine that! An innocent man, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, sentenced and killed. All for committing nothing. And there is nothing we can do now, because he is dead. It is irreversible. Where do you draw the line on the probability of error? How many lives are worth sacrificing to rid the society of these heinous criminals? Is it ok to be wrong once in a hundred times? Thousand times? Ten thousand? Even a million times? Would it be ok to have that one wrong person to be you?
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
Crosswords for dummies
Ever since I first learnt to solve my first crossword, I have been fascinated with this little puzzle. They are a perfect mix of language play, analytical thinking, and general knowledge, all of which I relish. Solving crosswords is an exercise experts recommend to keep your brain fit - something like aerobics for the brain!
I got hooked to it, when the kids' section of our local newspaper (The Hindu), in the town where I grew up ran a section on crosswords in the that explained the different types of crossword clues, with a mini-crossword in tow. It piqued my interest, and I started solving those clues. When I could not get a clue, I diligently checked the answers next week and tried to figure out how it was worked out. They ran this series for a few weeks, before I got confident enough to try the main crossword meant for the grown ups!
So, in an effort to document what I know about solving crosswords, I am going to publish a post or a series of posts on "How to solve a cryptic crossword". I don't claim that I am an expert in anyway. This is just stuff I have picked up when I solve crosswords. I hope this is useful and makes a convert out of you, too! I have tried to use examples that I thought of or have come across in real crosswords to illustrate various clue types.
Now let's cross swords with crosswords!
Introduction
Crosswords are of two types - cryptic and non-cryptic. The non-cryptic ones would not warrant a series of posts on how to solve them. They usually have short straight clues which will lead to one or more answers. You use the number of letters in the clue, or the other letters you have already found on the grid based on solving other clues, to narrow down your answer.
For example, a simple clue might be:
Film's Spielberg (6)
The answer, quite simply is Steven, for Steven Spielberg.
There might be subtle word play in these, and some clues can be multi-word clues, without an idea of where the word's break. Let's see an example
Revenge (9)
This could be very tricky. One answer you can think of could be "Vengeance". It is a perfectly good answer. But imagine that you already have some letters in your grid for this answer. Let's assume, that the gaps in the grid are something like below:
T _ T F O _ T _T
Based on this, I could think of "Tit For Tat" as an answer. Notice that sometimes the clues don't give any idea that is multi-word. Some times, they might. I am sure, it would have been much easier, if the clue read:
Revenge(3,3,3)
The non-cryptic crosswords are typically bigger with a lot more open spaces, and the clue can lead to a few answers but then only one will fit in given the other words that will be intersecting it. The crossword setters make it interesting by identifying a theme and having clues that fall into this theme be the central answers - which typically span the entire width or height of the crossword grid.
While challenging in its own regard, to me, the non-cryptic ones are not as much fun as the cryptic ones, as they lack the analytical puzzle-solving aspect of it. That is all I have to say about non-cryptic crosswords.
I prefer and thrive on cryptic crosswords which will be the focus of the remainder of this post and many more to come.
The cryptic ones are the ones which lead you to a unique answer based on some puzzle, and meaning that appears in a clue. Each cryptic crossword clue has two main parts. The first part is the meaning of the answer, the second part is a puzzle by which we can get to the answer. There is no telling in what order these will occur in a clue. In some type of clues, there is also an indicator, that tells you what kind of puzzle it is. The challenge is to recognize where these parts are in a clue, then solve the puzzle to get the answer. Also, there is no specific order in which you have to go about solving it. You can solve the puzzle to get an answer and validate that with the meaning part of the clue, or in some cases, you can guess the meaning and try to validate that by solving the puzzle.
There are several types of puzzles that are employed by most crossword setters. The most common ones are:
In the coming posts, I will try and tackle each type one at a time.
I got hooked to it, when the kids' section of our local newspaper (The Hindu), in the town where I grew up ran a section on crosswords in the that explained the different types of crossword clues, with a mini-crossword in tow. It piqued my interest, and I started solving those clues. When I could not get a clue, I diligently checked the answers next week and tried to figure out how it was worked out. They ran this series for a few weeks, before I got confident enough to try the main crossword meant for the grown ups!
So, in an effort to document what I know about solving crosswords, I am going to publish a post or a series of posts on "How to solve a cryptic crossword". I don't claim that I am an expert in anyway. This is just stuff I have picked up when I solve crosswords. I hope this is useful and makes a convert out of you, too! I have tried to use examples that I thought of or have come across in real crosswords to illustrate various clue types.
Now let's cross swords with crosswords!
Introduction
Crosswords are of two types - cryptic and non-cryptic. The non-cryptic ones would not warrant a series of posts on how to solve them. They usually have short straight clues which will lead to one or more answers. You use the number of letters in the clue, or the other letters you have already found on the grid based on solving other clues, to narrow down your answer.
For example, a simple clue might be:
Film's Spielberg (6)
The answer, quite simply is Steven, for Steven Spielberg.
There might be subtle word play in these, and some clues can be multi-word clues, without an idea of where the word's break. Let's see an example
Revenge (9)
This could be very tricky. One answer you can think of could be "Vengeance". It is a perfectly good answer. But imagine that you already have some letters in your grid for this answer. Let's assume, that the gaps in the grid are something like below:
T _ T F O _ T _T
Based on this, I could think of "Tit For Tat" as an answer. Notice that sometimes the clues don't give any idea that is multi-word. Some times, they might. I am sure, it would have been much easier, if the clue read:
Revenge(3,3,3)
The non-cryptic crosswords are typically bigger with a lot more open spaces, and the clue can lead to a few answers but then only one will fit in given the other words that will be intersecting it. The crossword setters make it interesting by identifying a theme and having clues that fall into this theme be the central answers - which typically span the entire width or height of the crossword grid.
While challenging in its own regard, to me, the non-cryptic ones are not as much fun as the cryptic ones, as they lack the analytical puzzle-solving aspect of it. That is all I have to say about non-cryptic crosswords.
I prefer and thrive on cryptic crosswords which will be the focus of the remainder of this post and many more to come.
The cryptic ones are the ones which lead you to a unique answer based on some puzzle, and meaning that appears in a clue. Each cryptic crossword clue has two main parts. The first part is the meaning of the answer, the second part is a puzzle by which we can get to the answer. There is no telling in what order these will occur in a clue. In some type of clues, there is also an indicator, that tells you what kind of puzzle it is. The challenge is to recognize where these parts are in a clue, then solve the puzzle to get the answer. Also, there is no specific order in which you have to go about solving it. You can solve the puzzle to get an answer and validate that with the meaning part of the clue, or in some cases, you can guess the meaning and try to validate that by solving the puzzle.
There are several types of puzzles that are employed by most crossword setters. The most common ones are:
- Anagrams
- Homophones
- Homographs
- Word play
- Containment
- Construction
- Literal
In the coming posts, I will try and tackle each type one at a time.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Spring Forward and Fall Back
A familiar expression by now, for all the folks who live in an area where day light savings is observed- "Spring Forward and Fall Back". Quite a useful mnemonic, when you try to remember which direction the clock's hands need to be moved. There are revellers, who spend that extra hour on the Saturday night in late October, and curse the Gods for the lost hour in April.
A bunch of friends and I, were taking advantage of that precise extra hour this past Saturday, and was wondering, how does it benefit? Why not have all days observe daylight savings? Why confuse folks? And if there are places that do not observe - that do just fine, why do we bother?
Well, all good questions, and it was quite shameful, that after 10 years of life in the United States, I did not have a clear answer for this. So, the curious cat in me went plodding for answers. Is "googling" officially a word yet?
Voila! It is all about conserving energy. The spring forward, essentially makes the sun set later, hence you get home late, and the time to bed from that point is shorter - by an hour to be precise - so you switch off your TVs, lights, etc., and hit the sack sooner! As simple as that.
There are some good links that gave a more detailed explanation and a history of daylight savings. One of them below:
http://www.timeanddate.com/time/aboutdst.html
As for me, my clock quickly adjusts to whatever time it is. I tell myself I should utilize this extra hour, to get to work early and make it a habit, but it has never worked. It is still a morning rush, as if nothing changed!
A bunch of friends and I, were taking advantage of that precise extra hour this past Saturday, and was wondering, how does it benefit? Why not have all days observe daylight savings? Why confuse folks? And if there are places that do not observe - that do just fine, why do we bother?
Well, all good questions, and it was quite shameful, that after 10 years of life in the United States, I did not have a clear answer for this. So, the curious cat in me went plodding for answers. Is "googling" officially a word yet?
Voila! It is all about conserving energy. The spring forward, essentially makes the sun set later, hence you get home late, and the time to bed from that point is shorter - by an hour to be precise - so you switch off your TVs, lights, etc., and hit the sack sooner! As simple as that.
There are some good links that gave a more detailed explanation and a history of daylight savings. One of them below:
http://www.timeanddate.com/time/aboutdst.html
As for me, my clock quickly adjusts to whatever time it is. I tell myself I should utilize this extra hour, to get to work early and make it a habit, but it has never worked. It is still a morning rush, as if nothing changed!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
What's in a name?
Finally, I have my blog!
Is this just about the most favorite opening statement in each blog? I wonder.
Anyway, I have moved mountains, crossed the seven seas, fought the dragon, and created my blog! What a pain to come up with a name for this darned thing. Ranging from wanderlust to edsblog, and from braindump to compasspointe - purely inspired by the name of a street near where I live - I had to go through a myriad in my head. How do I select a name that is cool yet not too silly, smart but not too nerdy, hip but not too weird? Oh well, what do I know? I can only babble, and it does not matter, anyway. Which is precisely what I will call my blog!
It makes me skeptical if this blog phenom will catch up in my confused, over-ambitious, perfectionist brain, given that I took so long to just come up with a name! Am I going to struggle with each and every line that I write, wondering if there is a better way to say what I did? Am I trying to impress others or myself? Are there even going to be others? Would I have corrected this posting many times before I posted this?
We'll see!
Is this just about the most favorite opening statement in each blog? I wonder.
Anyway, I have moved mountains, crossed the seven seas, fought the dragon, and created my blog! What a pain to come up with a name for this darned thing. Ranging from wanderlust to edsblog, and from braindump to compasspointe - purely inspired by the name of a street near where I live - I had to go through a myriad in my head. How do I select a name that is cool yet not too silly, smart but not too nerdy, hip but not too weird? Oh well, what do I know? I can only babble, and it does not matter, anyway. Which is precisely what I will call my blog!
It makes me skeptical if this blog phenom will catch up in my confused, over-ambitious, perfectionist brain, given that I took so long to just come up with a name! Am I going to struggle with each and every line that I write, wondering if there is a better way to say what I did? Am I trying to impress others or myself? Are there even going to be others? Would I have corrected this posting many times before I posted this?
We'll see!
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