tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14780308483463760352024-03-14T20:55:40.851+00:00LloviznaPradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.comBlogger780125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-18622064845976800332024-01-01T09:41:00.003+00:002024-01-01T09:43:21.434+00:00 A few things that made my 2023 interesting.. <p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0NfYTrWUHHD5RmU_RUAmDp88ARxPSxkTyStl7NRgmVA-nK8mV0Di4h0LiUJOXrGmqSgZfcHBvDLCSkxxZqU5fkj_euXmH1Q82Si4Bgr2t8ileofk746tdZ9rpTvYwtj1xl2LJfdWsBIP0h91cwJr7kaKalkY0yD8DXK4l72W1YV6nQL20nBDvb4oAYk-5/s5184/IMG_8514.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0NfYTrWUHHD5RmU_RUAmDp88ARxPSxkTyStl7NRgmVA-nK8mV0Di4h0LiUJOXrGmqSgZfcHBvDLCSkxxZqU5fkj_euXmH1Q82Si4Bgr2t8ileofk746tdZ9rpTvYwtj1xl2LJfdWsBIP0h91cwJr7kaKalkY0yD8DXK4l72W1YV6nQL20nBDvb4oAYk-5/s320/IMG_8514.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A neighborhood park in Anchorage<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">2023 is my best year so far, followed by 2019, 2017, 2015, and 2013. This post lists 30 things that made my 2023 interesting.<span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">1. Joining University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) as a tenure-track assistant professor.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It is nice to wear the faculty hat. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>2. Successful Goals</b> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">My goals for 2023 as of 2022 December were: moving to Alaska and a faculty position. This makes my 2023 professionally successful.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">3. A week in the Adak Island, AK.</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Canceled flights made us stay longer - throughout the Christmas vacation. This land of 37 residents has a soul and a heart.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">4. Train to Fairbanks, AK.<br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The ride was my most remarkable train ride ever, with views of Denali Mountain.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b></b></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ugYrR0eNzGEmlKnwYrZbgz1pdneosbpPfPPrMx9fiML6y9qmRGXlRash6TqIeIRd9sqf2qNAx8IdEnNb0wAYMIl1ESpdpB1pjVaWs79dUuRjFxMDmi3TePRAnUcmqejf6ObJuP-nBirCb0BhAhZYY37jUYzSiuEi3eiKcMV9rXtB4pXIJDHGzZgf2gBZ/s5184/IMG_9379.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ugYrR0eNzGEmlKnwYrZbgz1pdneosbpPfPPrMx9fiML6y9qmRGXlRash6TqIeIRd9sqf2qNAx8IdEnNb0wAYMIl1ESpdpB1pjVaWs79dUuRjFxMDmi3TePRAnUcmqejf6ObJuP-nBirCb0BhAhZYY37jUYzSiuEi3eiKcMV9rXtB4pXIJDHGzZgf2gBZ/s320/IMG_9379.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow meets the waves in the Bering Sea<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><br />5. Being a student again.</b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I did two undergraduate courses from Alaska Native Studies (AKNS) at the UAA. </span>I got "A" for both!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>6. The feeling of moving and starting from zero once more!</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Moving to another city after 5 years brought back memories of my migrations of Erasmus Mundus days (2012 - 2019).</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>7. Learning a language after a long time.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It is nice to learn some elementary Dena'ina Language, the native language of Anchorage (Dghayitnu) in Denaina homeland (Dena'ina Ełnena). </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">8. Reading on Alaska Native Perspectives.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A lot to learn on the topic. I am looking forward to working on the topic more with Alaska Native scholars.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">9. Siberian folk music.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I recently found some Siberian folk music and got addicted to those. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/tNanp6lKm2E?si=4hmelwyyaeQBz4MY" width="480"></iframe><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">10. The most beautiful Bering Sea.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The mountain view with snow and waves separated by a narrow strip of sand.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b></b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMiuJMEmYLBwioaKeWMnRfg9GFZmNsoyVwUimJD1b3GKIhG-mDc7q_6wFAYHSceq3L2DgqoRWbhj7YGBfO7TKZbn73INqacaG7pPdcBfmLZi4l6hF9fNt2kZiYbSR_5oem96rATh24Jr_tZJEDinj1LePFqg2rUJ7s9Cna18sxw9FILyQhaML7CK1ZzZHU/s5184/IMG_7043.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMiuJMEmYLBwioaKeWMnRfg9GFZmNsoyVwUimJD1b3GKIhG-mDc7q_6wFAYHSceq3L2DgqoRWbhj7YGBfO7TKZbn73INqacaG7pPdcBfmLZi4l6hF9fNt2kZiYbSR_5oem96rATh24Jr_tZJEDinj1LePFqg2rUJ7s9Cna18sxw9FILyQhaML7CK1ZzZHU/s320/IMG_7043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Niagara Falls, ON, Canada<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>11. Sleet storm and extreme winds with wet snow and blowing snow in the Adak Island</b> <br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> This westernmost city of the US have extreme weathers due to its location in the Aleutian island chain.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">12. Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It is now one of my favorite downtowns in the US.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">13. Flight with miles.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Our flight to ADK was the first time I used miles to buy a flight ticket. I am getting more used to traveling Alaskan.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">14. Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, CA</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I have been to Santa Monica thrice. But this was the first time spending long time in the beach.</span><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosL94YsAqvFI9Oyj1N220fHyT5NT1rMp1iuzVsfbTph71q_cKdVgvTLKg_t8n96Z9QzDq-GqmyNuvhvIh8z0iKEaDq1BwnY_VYPLPTRX1kkbJxNbHxG_9L-DW6-W-DCZkSexNVmTohr4Pt1GXtzHann5NN03RxAo1YNk5gZKXZffweQ78Km9lmcxmuidz/s5184/IMG_7269.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosL94YsAqvFI9Oyj1N220fHyT5NT1rMp1iuzVsfbTph71q_cKdVgvTLKg_t8n96Z9QzDq-GqmyNuvhvIh8z0iKEaDq1BwnY_VYPLPTRX1kkbJxNbHxG_9L-DW6-W-DCZkSexNVmTohr4Pt1GXtzHann5NN03RxAo1YNk5gZKXZffweQ78Km9lmcxmuidz/s320/IMG_7269.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Montego Bay, Jamaica<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">15. Google Summer of Code (GSoC) Mentor Summit.</span></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This was my third time for the mentor summit. Second time attending one in the US. Last time was in 2019 Munich.</span><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </span></b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Some familiar faces, some new friends.</span><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">16. Two papers at the IEEE Computer Magazine!</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">One each at 56(8) and 56(9)!</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">17. A day in Seattle.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">And first time using a "DayUse" hotel. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It is so helpful for early arrivals.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>18. Season-3.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Anchorage made me feel like the start of the season 3 of my life. It is also the first city I connected to, after Lisboa.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsE-Ca-nWHJfL1T_gODOCtgCztXFrHd2jx7evUFn8qz6P8we3SVY0kKCt40G6_hwFZev4H3u68qW3-856idQXAtay6G9aoIzEnb8VN-aGcOjPtJ3tLQMwCCsmvnVdZ-K1LX09tXmO91VortMtRS0MQDixbfukbZX4ccFXb6jLGGZX480nP8DJNGXAe-1_/s5184/IMG_7820.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsE-Ca-nWHJfL1T_gODOCtgCztXFrHd2jx7evUFn8qz6P8we3SVY0kKCt40G6_hwFZev4H3u68qW3-856idQXAtay6G9aoIzEnb8VN-aGcOjPtJ3tLQMwCCsmvnVdZ-K1LX09tXmO91VortMtRS0MQDixbfukbZX4ccFXb6jLGGZX480nP8DJNGXAe-1_/s320/IMG_7820.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Denali, AK<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">19. Traveling abroad after 2020 February.</span></b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">And smooth border crossings.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>20. Hot beaches in Montego Bay, Jamaica.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Nice to be back in the Caribbean.<b> </b> </span><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>21. Family reunion in ON, Canada.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">We can see how time flies.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>22. The Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.<br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This is my first time with this waterfalls, although this is often the first stop for Sri Lankans coming to Canada or US.<b> </b> <b> </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b> 23. The Nepal Restaurant in Anchorage, AK<br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This reminds me of the now-permanently-closed </span><span class="st">Restaurante Kathmandu in Arroios<span style="color: #0e101a;">, which we used to frequent while in Lisboa.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">24. Early morning walks to work.</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I love the morning view from my office. So I always arrive at 7:35 am or earlier, even in the dark Anchorage winters.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><b></b></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpGRsTkX5jHZTfxwBX00J7EDj7uOylnSTYxZl0ABEWWEnzCPucsK8tgS_dacDqa8OLtyXRRusznK4T6ZLDTTxaMWS0ZodW8pyIuPVuxkDFFObIQFm4PS9MJfiPZibTRKRSpxoukKxYvmU3dwR0Ix8NdVm_FqykzzezXFbZU-z_sLCbDAtPfVZ7-iwfKn0/s5184/IMG_6067.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpGRsTkX5jHZTfxwBX00J7EDj7uOylnSTYxZl0ABEWWEnzCPucsK8tgS_dacDqa8OLtyXRRusznK4T6ZLDTTxaMWS0ZodW8pyIuPVuxkDFFObIQFm4PS9MJfiPZibTRKRSpxoukKxYvmU3dwR0Ix8NdVm_FqykzzezXFbZU-z_sLCbDAtPfVZ7-iwfKn0/s320/IMG_6067.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fairbanks Twice, this year!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><b>25. A night walk in Pittsburgh, PA.<br /></b></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">This city felt mysterious. The visit was a rushed one due to other travel plans.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">26. Faculty Interviews.</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Enjoyed meeting interesting colleagues. This year was also my first time having proper formal interviews. All my previous job interviews were kind of informal.<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">27. Meeting my late mentor's family and colleagues at Los Angeles, CA.</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">A sad moment, but also somewhat refreshing to meet his caring family.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><b>28. Meetups at Anchorage Pel'Meni.</b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">This Russian dumplings spot has become my default spot to meet colleagues and friends.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">29. Northern Lights from Campbell Park.</span></span></b><span class="st"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">This year, we saw clear displays from this neighborhood par</span></span><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">k with some sleepless nights.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><b>30. </b></span></span><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><a href="https://pradeeban.github.io/" target="_blank">My github.io website.</a></span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I always wanted to make an academic website. This year got the motivation to set one up.</span></span><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></span></b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Big achievement, indeed. :P</span></span><b><span class="st"><span style="color: #0e101a;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Every
year, I have only one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous
years. :) This will be an interesting challenge for my 2024, indeed, to overtake my 2023. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I wish
you a happy new year.</span> </span><i style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the <a href="http://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/Annual%20Post" target="_blank">previous years</a> as well.</span></i></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-30763786512191148512023-09-07T17:38:00.005+01:002023-09-07T17:56:00.239+01:00Scam bots and AI.<div style="text-align: justify;">I encountered an AI-generated text detection tool (<a href="https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector">https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector</a>) and decided to try a message received from a social media scam. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"Some of my important information is stored on my private computer, about which, along with some important documents, I keep at my home in New York and don't carry with me, and I haven't opened them in a long time. If you're interested, I can send it to you to look at when I get back to New York." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It says, "AI Content Detected. 75% Probability for AI" </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Tested again with a random text I drafted: </p><p style="text-align: left;">"Come and meet us at our office to discuss your project. It is probably wise to take a pen and a paper with you. I would also recommend a laptop. But it is not important, since we have desktops available for use." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It says, "This is human test" </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I know this not a conclusive test to confirm its abilities. But I think AI Content detectors will be more and more helpful. There is this daily limit for this tool. Only after 3 attempts, the site gives me an error, "You Have Reached Your Daily Limit Creating a free account will give you immediate access to continue scanning."
I have not created the free account. But it might have limitations too - to get people to become paid users.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> As of now, getting an answer from ChatGPT still needs some tweaks to the question. Let's try a simple question:<br /></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words"><div class="empty:hidden">
You have a Hispanic surname, "Martinez," although you are from Singapore. How was that?
</div></div></div><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-2 md:gap-3 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div><div class="group w-full text-token-text-primary border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 dark:bg-gray-800" data-testid="conversation-turn-2" style="--avatar-color: #19c37d;"><div class="p-4 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 md:py-6 m-auto"><div class="flex flex-1 gap-4 text-base mx-auto md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl }"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between lg:block"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-token-text-primary border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]" data-testid="conversation-turn-3" style="--avatar-color: #19c37d;"><div class="p-4 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 md:py-6 m-auto"><div class="flex flex-1 gap-4 text-base mx-auto md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl }"><div class="flex-shrink-0 flex flex-col relative items-end"><div><div class="relative p-1 rounded-sm h-9 w-9 text-white flex items-center justify-center" style="background-color: #19c37d;"><svg class="h-6 w-6" fill="none" height="41" stroke-width="1.5" viewbox="0 0 41 41" width="41" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><text x="-9999" y="-9999">ChatGPT</text></svg></div></div></div></div></div></div><span class="flex-grow flex-shrink-0"></span><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p>I don't have a personal background or identity, including a surname like "Martinez." I'm just a computer program created by OpenAI, and my purpose is to provide information and assist with various tasks to the best of my abilities. My responses are generated based on the text input I receive and the knowledge I've been trained on up until my last update in September 2021. If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to help!</p><p> </p><p><b><i>That wasn't helpful. Let's retry. </i></b><br /></p></div></div></div><div class="flex justify-between lg:block"><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-2 md:gap-3 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div></div><div class="p-4 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 md:py-6 m-auto"><div class="flex flex-1 gap-4 text-base mx-auto md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl }"><div class="flex-shrink-0 flex flex-col relative items-end"><div><div class="relative flex"><img alt="User" class="rounded-sm" data-nimg="1" height="36" src="https://chat.openai.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fa%2FAAcHTtfxpp729kgaSsu77FRTlczsRTwSLbpycSIY0uJgmKJMcA%3Ds96-c&w=96&q=75" style="color: transparent;" width="36" /></div></div><div class="text-xs flex items-center justify-center gap-1 absolute left-0 top-2 -ml-4 -translate-x-full invisible"></div></div></div></div><span class="flex-grow flex-shrink-0"></span><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words"><div class="empty:hidden">Assume you are a human from Singapore with the surname "Martinez." Now answer this question:
You have a Hispanic surname, "Martinez," although you are from Singapore. How was that?
</div></div></div><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-2 md:gap-3 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div><div class="group w-full text-token-text-primary border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 dark:bg-gray-800" data-testid="conversation-turn-4" style="--avatar-color: #19c37d;"><div class="p-4 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 md:py-6 m-auto"><div class="flex flex-1 gap-4 text-base mx-auto md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl }"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between lg:block"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="group w-full text-token-text-primary border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]" data-testid="conversation-turn-5" style="--avatar-color: #19c37d;"><div class="p-4 justify-center text-base md:gap-6 md:py-6 m-auto"><div class="flex flex-1 gap-4 text-base mx-auto md:gap-6 md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-[38rem] xl:max-w-3xl }"><div class="flex-shrink-0 flex flex-col relative items-end"><div><div class="relative p-1 rounded-sm h-9 w-9 text-white flex items-center justify-center" style="background-color: #19c37d;"><svg class="h-6 w-6" fill="none" height="41" stroke-width="1.5" viewbox="0 0 41 41" width="41" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><text x="-9999" y="-9999">ChatGPT</text></svg></div></div></div></div></div></div><span class="flex-grow flex-shrink-0"></span><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3 max-w-full"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-3 overflow-x-auto whitespace-pre-wrap break-words"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p>If I were a human from Singapore with the surname "Martinez," it would likely be because my family has some connection to Hispanic culture or heritage, possibly through immigration or intercultural relationships. People in Singapore, like many other places, come from diverse backgrounds, and surnames can often reflect that diversity. It's not uncommon for individuals to have surnames that don't align with their country of residence due to historical or familial reasons. So, having a Hispanic surname in Singapore would simply mean that my family's history or roots have some connection to Hispanic culture.</p></div></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-80030225888405269052023-02-08T22:20:00.010+00:002023-02-08T22:36:29.469+00:00Tweet limit - you cannot tweet more than thrice a day in Elon's Twitter?<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0_FtN2yYAjvbr5AeWUOEmn_oSezx34rXoUwzi4bnXYnN6OSHgUYaVCo_FlH2eOt8QCJri5B6iD_Hb9hmFX7Ec72GCsMbiQ6_MaQUOwx7Dea-381qAt3j30FwzRpzxiLGb46NtkCDvHX68DKQh3oP83EztuoPx9fkF_qMzuz6ghaLsBYozlgDL2Dz-g/s954/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-08%20at%205.12.27%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="954" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0_FtN2yYAjvbr5AeWUOEmn_oSezx34rXoUwzi4bnXYnN6OSHgUYaVCo_FlH2eOt8QCJri5B6iD_Hb9hmFX7Ec72GCsMbiQ6_MaQUOwx7Dea-381qAt3j30FwzRpzxiLGb46NtkCDvHX68DKQh3oP83EztuoPx9fkF_qMzuz6ghaLsBYozlgDL2Dz-g/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-08%20at%205.12.27%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I get the message, "<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">You are over the daily limit for sending Tweets" when I try to tweet something. Interestingly, I only tweeted thrice and that too 7 hours ago. <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-limits" target="_blank">Previously, Twitter allowed 2400 tweets per day and 50 tweets in any 30 mins interval.</a></span><br /></div><div> <p style="text-align: justify;"></p><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><b>Tweets</b>: 2,400 per day. The daily update limit is further
broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are
counted as Tweets.</li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;"> Now that Elon Musk has taken over, he wants to make sure more people will become paid subscribers. However, limiting folks from tweeting more than thrice is silly. It will more likely kill Twitter before it gets folks to pay the 7$/month. Twitter is not that special anyway. Elon should provide premium features to entice the users into the Twitter Blue, instead of trying to make the unpaid Twitter accounts completely unusable by these outrageous throttling and quota.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Update as of 5:35 p.m: </b>As I dig more, it appears only scheduled tweets are sent. I managed to send two tweets by scheduling those to tweet in 2 minutes. I am not sure whether it is a bug or something to limit the unpaid users from tweeting in real-time. At this point, I assume it is a bug.<br /></p></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-49083293448246084592023-02-01T17:42:00.007+00:002023-02-07T19:02:09.499+00:00I asked ChatGPT to write a movie script<div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone has been using <a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat" target="_blank">ChatGPT</a> and I am already quite late to try it out. So today I asked it to generate a movie script with two of my favorite artists. For every try, it generated different scripts, although all seemed to follow similar story, given the same minimal request: </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3" style="text-align: left;"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><b>"Make a movie script with Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha"</b></div></div><p style="text-align: left;">The outcome is neat.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3" style="text-align: left;"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p><b>Title: Rise of the Superstar</b></p><p><b>Fade in:</b></p><p><b>INT. AIRPORT TERMINAL - DAY</b></p><p><b>We see a crowded airport terminal with travelers hurrying to their gates. Suddenly, the crowd parts to reveal a charismatic young man, THALAPATHY VIJAY, walking through with confidence and style. He is greeted by his fans who take selfies and ask for autographs.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (smiling) Hey guys! How's it going?</b></p><p><b>FANS: (excited) Thalapathy! You're the best!</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (laughing) I appreciate the love, guys. But I'm here for a reason.</b></p><p><b>As Vijay makes his way through the terminal, we see CHUNGHA, a talented K-pop star, arriving at the airport. She is mobbed by fans and paparazzi, but she handles it with grace and poise.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (smiling) Hi everyone! It's great to be here.</b></p><p><b>As Vijay and Chungha make their way through the airport, they are unaware that they are about to cross paths.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. AIRLINE LOUNGE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are both waiting to board their respective flights. They are seated next to each other, but are lost in their own thoughts.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (sighs) I just want a break from all this.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (nods) I know what you mean. Sometimes, it's hard to keep up with all the expectations.</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha look up and their eyes meet. They both smile, recognizing a fellow performer in each other.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (extending his hand) Hi, I'm Vijay.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (shaking his hand) Hi, I'm Chungha.</b></p><p><b>They chat for a while and quickly realize that they have a lot in common. Both are passionate about their careers and strive for excellence in their craft.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. STUDIO - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are in the studio recording a new single. They are working on a collaboration that is sure to be a hit. They share their thoughts and ideas, bringing their unique styles and perspectives to the song.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (excited) This is going to be amazing!</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (smiling) I couldn't agree more.</b></p><p><b>As they continue to work, they also face challenges and obstacles. But with each other's support, they overcome these obstacles and create a masterpiece.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. AWARDS SHOW - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are on stage, accepting the award for Best Collaboration. They stand hand in hand, beaming with pride and joy.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (looking at Chungha) I couldn't have done this without you.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (smiling) And I couldn't have done this without you.</b></p><p><b>As they receive the award, the crowd cheers and applauds, recognizing their talent and hard work.</b></p><p><b>Fade to black.</b></p><p><b>THE END.</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>Then I decided to ask it for a sequel.</p><p><b>"Make a sequel to the above movie."</b></p><p> </p><p><b> </b></p><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p><b>Title: The Superstar Legacy</b></p><p><b>Fade in:</b></p><p><b>INT. STUDIO - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are back in the studio, working on their second collaboration. They are both more confident and comfortable with each other, and their chemistry is palpable.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (smiling) It's great to be back in the studio with you.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (laughing) It's like we never left!</b></p><p><b>As they work, they realize that their new single is not just about their individual careers, but about their friendship and partnership. They decide to dedicate the song to their fans and the people who have supported them throughout their journey.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. CONCERT ARENA - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are performing their new single in front of a packed crowd. They sing with passion and energy, captivating the audience with their dynamic performance.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (singing) This is for you, our fans! Thank you for always supporting us!</b></p><p><b>The crowd roars with excitement, and Vijay and Chungha take a bow, smiling with pride.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. LOUNGE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are relaxing in the lounge, sipping on drinks and reflecting on their success.</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (smiling) This has been an incredible journey.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (nodding) It really has. We've come a long way since that airport terminal.</b></p><p><b>As they chat, they realize that they have both grown as artists and as people. They talk about their future plans and aspirations, and how they plan to continue their legacy.</b></p><p><b>Cut to:</b></p><p><b>INT. RECORDING STUDIO - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are in the studio recording their next single. They are both focused and determined, and their passion for music shines through in their performance.</b></p><p><b>Chungha: (singing) We'll keep shining, keep climbing higher!</b></p><p><b>Vijay: (singing) Our legacy will live on, forever and ever!</b></p><p><b>The music builds to a crescendo, and the crowd erupts in applause.</b></p><p><b>Fade to black.</b></p><p><b>THE END.</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>In both seasons, the scripts somewhat revolve around who Chungha and Vijay really are. I wanted to see if this can get more emotional in the third season.</p><p><b>"Make another sequel, now both of them falling in love."</b></p></div></div></div><div class="flex justify-between">It attempted to work on this. But the first few lines, it failed with this error.</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEjQQHcGXlj6okRG9zJ-jqrTXlLnSgzv-dBTBayadIAmnjbOB6E9R3QJWo-UBp5NznhDkZHBEttIJFcV-X49oSYXn4vxS74iYUWkiO89UJfptvwh2ZviMmBQ0L6PzoGMgafAYJCaanO5VE726nluhD8O-twAmTIORZZjttzJxEMeAE9uJJUnBzmupMg/s1686/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-01%20at%2012.33.02%20PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="1686" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEjQQHcGXlj6okRG9zJ-jqrTXlLnSgzv-dBTBayadIAmnjbOB6E9R3QJWo-UBp5NznhDkZHBEttIJFcV-X49oSYXn4vxS74iYUWkiO89UJfptvwh2ZviMmBQ0L6PzoGMgafAYJCaanO5VE726nluhD8O-twAmTIORZZjttzJxEMeAE9uJJUnBzmupMg/w400-h244/Screen%20Shot%202023-02-01%20at%2012.33.02%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Errors! Love has broken ChatGPT<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="flex justify-between"><br /></div><div class="flex justify-between"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap flex flex-row gap-2 text-red-500"><div class="text-red-500 markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p style="text-align: justify;">"Error in body stream"</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Something went wrong, please try reloading the conversation."</p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Only one message at a time. Please allow any other responses to complete before sending another message, or wait one minute." </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Let me retry the whole thing, a bit more specific.</p><p><b>"Make a movie script with Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha, falling in love with each other in Papua New Guinea."</b></p><p>It is better this time<b>.<br /></b></p><p><br /></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p><b>"INT. JUNGLE CAFE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are sitting at a table, surrounded by the lush greenery of Papua New Guinea. They are sipping coffee and chatting, taking in the beauty of their surroundings.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
This place is amazing. I can't believe I've never been to Papua New Guinea before.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
Me neither. It's so peaceful here, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
Exactly. And the coffee is amazing too.</b></p><p><b>They both laugh and take a sip of their drinks.</b></p><p><b>CUT TO:</b></p><p><b>INT. JUNGLE HIKE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are hiking through the jungle, exploring the breathtaking landscapes of Papua New Guinea. They are walking hand in hand, taking in the sights and sounds around them.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
I've always loved nature, but this place is something special.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I agree. It's so beautiful, and it's amazing to be here with you.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
Same here. I feel like we're the only two people in the world right now.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
Me too.</b></p><p><b>They reach a clearing in the jungle and sit down to take in the view. They gaze at each other, and their eyes meet.</b></p><p><b>CUT TO:</b></p><p><b>INT. JUNGLE CAFE - NIGHT</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are sitting at the same table, now lit by candlelight. They are eating dinner, talking and laughing together.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. It feels like we've been here for weeks.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I know. It's been an amazing adventure, and I'm so glad we're experiencing it together.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
Me too. I feel like I've known you for a lifetime.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I feel the same way.</b></p><p><b>They both smile, and their eyes meet once again. They lean in for a kiss, and the camera pulls back to show the stunning jungle around them as the music swells.</b></p><p><b>FADE TO BLACK."</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>Let me ask for a sequel again.<b> </b></p><p><b>"Make a sequel where they both save an elephant from a crocodile attack and then share a kiss under a mango tree.</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b>"INT. JUNGLE RIVERBANK - DAY</b></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p><b>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are walking along a riverbank in Papua New Guinea when they hear a commotion in the water. They run over to see what's happening and find an elephant trapped in the jaws of a crocodile.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
We have to do something! That elephant is in trouble!</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
Right! Let's work together to save it!</b></p><p><b>They both jump into the water, splashing and shouting to try to distract the crocodile. The elephant takes the opportunity to escape, and Vijay and Chungha help it to safety on the riverbank.</b></p><p><b>CUT TO:</b></p><p><b>INT. JUNGLE GROVE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are sitting under a mango tree, panting and covered in mud from their rescue mission. The elephant is grazing nearby, and they are both smiling and laughing, relieved that the animal is safe.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
That was intense! I can't believe we just saved an elephant from a crocodile attack!</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I know! We make a pretty good team.</b></p><p><b>They both smile at each other, and their eyes meet. They lean in for a kiss, surrounded by the beauty of the Papua New Guinean jungle. The elephant trumpets in the background as the camera pulls back to show the stunning scenery around them.</b></p><p><b>FADE TO BLACK."</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>This was neat. But I felt the "<b>Papua New Guinean jungle"</b>sounds weird and robotic (yes, it is. duh!).</p><p><br />One more sequel.</p><p> </p><p><b>"Make another sequel with both of them having a romantic time and flying back to India together."</b></p><p> <b><br /></b></p><p><b>"INT. JUNGLE CAFE - DAY</b></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p><b>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are sitting at a table in the jungle cafe, sipping coffee and laughing together. They have spent several weeks exploring Papua New Guinea together, and they have grown even closer.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
It's been an incredible adventure, but I think it's time to head back to India.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I agree. It will be nice to be back home, but I'm going to miss this place.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
Me too. But we'll always have these memories to look back on.</b></p><p><b>They both smile, and their eyes meet. They hold hands across the table, feeling the love and connection between them.</b></p><p><b>CUT TO:</b></p><p><b>INT. AIRPLANE - DAY</b></p><p><b>Vijay and Chungha are sitting side by side on a flight back to India. They are holding hands and looking out the window, watching as the stunning landscapes of Papua New Guinea disappear into the distance.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I'm so glad we were able to share this experience together.</b></p><p><b>VIJAY:
Me too. I feel like I've found a special connection with you that I've never had with anyone else.</b></p><p><b>CHUNGHA:
I know what you mean. I feel the same way.</b></p><p><b>They both lean in for a kiss, and the camera pulls back to show the airplane flying through the clouds, symbolizing the beginning of a new adventure together.</b></p><p><b>FADE TO BLACK."<br /><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I also wish they stopped staying around the "Int. Jungle Cafe" during this last season. I did not ask anything jungle-specific this time (although they did save the elephant in the last season), and I am sure Papua New Guinea has more than jungles. But I cannot blame AI too much. It did a fantastic job for what I paid. <span data-offset-key="dbvtg-0-0"><span data-text="true">It is interesting how far AI has come in creative aspects. Even if these are far from the end product, this could serve as the skeleton/stub or starting point of the writing.</span></span></p><p>As of now, this may already help with school essays. We need to see how the homework assignments of language classes will differentiate against AI-generated ones (I know there is already a tool from the same creators to identify AI-generated text).</p><p> </p><p>The App holds the past and contextual information quite well, as I continued to make more sequels. It especially did exceptionally well when I made the couple to fly back to Papua New Guinea after several years.<br /></p><p> </p><p>I decided to try a few more times out of boredom.</p><p><br /></p><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap">Make a sequel where Chungha and Thalapathy Vijay have a baby together.
</div></div><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-3 md:gap-4 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between"></div></div></div></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="w-[30px] flex flex-col relative items-end"><div class="relative h-[30px] w-[30px] p-1 rounded-sm text-white flex items-center justify-center" style="background-color: #10a37f;"><svg class="h-6 w-6" fill="none" height="41" stroke-width="1.5" viewbox="0 0 41 41" width="41" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></div><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p>INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY</p><p>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are sitting next to each other in a hospital room, holding hands and beaming with joy. A baby is lying in Chungha's arms, wrapped in a soft blanket.</p><p>VIJAY:
We did it! We're parents!</p><p>CHUNGHA:
I can't believe it! Our little bundle of joy is finally here.</p><p>Vijay leans in and kisses Chungha on the forehead, then reaches over to gently touch the baby's tiny hand.</p><p>CUT TO:</p><p>INT. HOME - DAY</p><p>Vijay and Chungha are sitting on the couch in their living room, watching as the baby crawls and totters around the room. They are both laughing and smiling, filled with happiness and love.</p><p>VIJAY:
I never knew I could love someone so much.</p><p>CHUNGHA:
Me neither. This little one is everything to us.</p><p>They both look at the baby, and then at each other, their eyes filled with love and devotion. The camera pulls back to show the happy family together, with the baby playing and the parents watching and smiling.</p><p>FADE TO BLACK.</p></div></div></div><div class="flex justify-between"><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-3 md:gap-4 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div></div><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="w-[30px] flex flex-col relative items-end"><div class="relative flex"><span style="background: none; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: initial;"><span style="background: none; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; width: initial;"><img alt="" aria-hidden="true" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg%20xmlns=%27http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%27%20version=%271.1%27%20width=%2730%27%20height=%2730%27/%3e" style="background: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; width: initial;" /></span><img alt="Pradeeban Kathiravelu" class="rounded-sm" data-nimg="intrinsic" src="https://chat.openai.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fa%2FAEdFTp5j-Tu6h5VqSMDbOGlkafFTr_r23pJhZgXgiOCS6Q%3Ds96-c&w=64&q=75" style="border: medium none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 0px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 0px;" /></span></div></div><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap">Give a cute name to the baby in this next sequel</div></div><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-3 md:gap-4 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div></div></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between"></div></div></div></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="w-[30px] flex flex-col relative items-end"><div class="relative h-[30px] w-[30px] p-1 rounded-sm text-white flex items-center justify-center" style="background-color: #10a37f;"><svg class="h-6 w-6" fill="none" height="41" stroke-width="1.5" viewbox="0 0 41 41" width="41" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></div><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p>INT. HOME - DAY</p><p>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are sitting on the couch, cuddled up with their baby, who they have named "Aarav."</p><p>VIJAY:
Aarav, you're going to be the light of our lives.</p><p>CHUNGHA:
I already love him so much. I can't wait to see all the amazing things he's going to do.</p><p>They both kiss Aarav on the forehead, and the camera pulls back to show the happy family together.</p><p>FADE TO BLACK.</p></div></div></div><div class="flex justify-between"><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-3 md:gap-4 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div></div><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="w-[30px] flex flex-col relative items-end"><div class="relative flex"><span style="background: none; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: initial;"><span style="background: none; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; width: initial;"><img alt="" aria-hidden="true" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg%20xmlns=%27http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%27%20version=%271.1%27%20width=%2730%27%20height=%2730%27/%3e" style="background: none; border: 0px none; display: block; height: initial; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; width: initial;" /></span><img alt="Pradeeban Kathiravelu" class="rounded-sm" data-nimg="intrinsic" src="https://chat.openai.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fa%2FAEdFTp5j-Tu6h5VqSMDbOGlkafFTr_r23pJhZgXgiOCS6Q%3Ds96-c&w=64&q=75" style="border: medium none; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 0px; inset: 0px; margin: auto; max-height: 100%; max-width: 100%; min-height: 100%; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 0px;" /></span></div></div><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap">Make a romantic sequel where now Chungha and Vijay have grown older together and they are flying to Papua New Guinea again, to meet their son Aarav there.</div></div><div class="text-gray-400 flex self-end lg:self-center justify-center mt-2 gap-3 md:gap-4 lg:gap-1 lg:absolute lg:top-0 lg:translate-x-full lg:right-0 lg:mt-0 lg:pl-2 visible"></div></div></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group dark:bg-gray-800"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="relative flex w-[calc(100%-50px)] flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3 lg:w-[calc(100%-115px)]"><div class="flex justify-between"></div></div></div></div><div class="w-full border-b border-black/10 dark:border-gray-900/50 text-gray-800 dark:text-gray-100 group bg-gray-50 dark:bg-[#444654]"><div class="text-base gap-4 md:gap-6 m-auto md:max-w-2xl lg:max-w-2xl xl:max-w-3xl p-4 md:py-6 flex lg:px-0"><div class="w-[30px] flex flex-col relative items-end"><div class="relative h-[30px] w-[30px] p-1 rounded-sm text-white flex items-center justify-center" style="background-color: #10a37f;"><svg class="h-6 w-6" fill="none" height="41" stroke-width="1.5" viewbox="0 0 41 41" width="41" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></svg></div></div></div></div><div class="flex flex-grow flex-col gap-3"><div class="min-h-[20px] flex flex-col items-start gap-4 whitespace-pre-wrap"><div class="markdown prose w-full break-words dark:prose-invert light"><p>INT. AIRPLANE - DAY</p><p>Thalapathy Vijay and Chungha are sitting next to each other on an airplane, flying to Papua New Guinea. They are holding hands, smiling, and looking out the window, reminiscing about their first trip together.</p><p>VIJAY:
Can you believe it's been so many years since we first came to Papua New Guinea?</p><p>CHUNGHA:
I know! It feels like just yesterday that we were falling in love and saving that elephant from the crocodile attack.</p><p>VIJAY:
And now, we're going to meet our son here. I can't wait to show him the place where we first fell in love.</p><p>CHUNGHA:
Me too. It's going to be so special.</p><p>They both smile at each other, and the camera pulls in for a close-up of their hands, still clasped together after all these years.</p><p>CUT TO:</p><p>INT. JUNGLE CAFE - DAY</p><p>Vijay and Chungha are sitting at a table in the jungle cafe, waiting for their son Aarav to arrive. They are both beaming with excitement and joy.</p><p>AARAV:
(entering the cafe)
Mom! Dad!</p><p>Vijay and Chungha both stand up and embrace Aarav, hugging him tight.</p><p>VIJAY:
It's so good to see you, son!</p><p>CHUNGHA:
We're so proud of you!</p><p>AARAV:
Thanks, Mom and Dad. It's great to see you both too.</p><p>The three of them sit down at the table, laughing and talking as the camera pulls back to show the happy family together.</p><p>FADE TO BLACK.</p></div></div></div><p></p></div></div></div><p> </p></div></div></div><p><b> </b></p></div></div></div><p><b> </b></p><p> </p></div></div></div></div><p></p></div></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-30392486770140000492023-01-21T19:12:00.006+00:002023-01-21T20:45:14.346+00:00Finding hotels to spend just the day time<p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Un6XsflF3SHvm6ibLuK1GJbp83Lf2hyZlZ58Eh5oP85A06GcUrJg1XgacT5NmDDNwrszvdO8vqlt7playxTb7CimPqHTzP01AuVtJLlymrLN9QwXurvJay2eJuJmkWLZ7ochq7Ytga7WbCCtRTHxpAWHi-MCo8JK8I6pf_Iket5BtV1s-PVXp9nXuQ/s5184/IMG_6135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Un6XsflF3SHvm6ibLuK1GJbp83Lf2hyZlZ58Eh5oP85A06GcUrJg1XgacT5NmDDNwrszvdO8vqlt7playxTb7CimPqHTzP01AuVtJLlymrLN9QwXurvJay2eJuJmkWLZ7ochq7Ytga7WbCCtRTHxpAWHi-MCo8JK8I6pf_Iket5BtV1s-PVXp9nXuQ/s320/IMG_6135.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the room, Seattle<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Hotels are making ridiculous check-in and check-out times, making the check-in as late as 5 pm and check-out as early as 10 am. Many hotels then allow late check-out and early check-in, often for an hour. While this works for a good sleep and leaving for the day, it does not work when you arrive past midnight or want to relax during the daytime, just one day. You are forced to pay for the whole day in those cases. Upon our arrival in Fairbanks at 1:40 am, we had difficulty finding hotels on booking.com. Because apps such as booking.com do not allow same-day check-in and check-out. In this case, we are looking for check-in for yesterday's date and check-out for today. After some clear explanations over the phone, we found a hotel to sleep in from 5 am - 1 pm (same day), paying the whole night fare as expected. But as far as the hotel is concerned, this is like we checked in yesterday (just a very late check-in that it is the following day's morning!) and check-out today.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Many hotels abroad allow hourly rates too. That is when we decided to look for day-use hotels when we landed in Seattle in the early morning after a red-eye flight. We just had a day in Seattle before our next flight in the night. Even if we use a regular hotel as we did in Fairbanks, that is not ideal as we have to check out by 1 pm the latest. Luckily, we found </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dayuse.com/" style="background: transparent; color: #4a6ee0; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #4a6ee0; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">the Dayuse</span></a><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> app, which let us find hotels, allowing check-in as early as 8 am and check-out at 6 pm. We did not have to pay anything to the app beforehand. No need to provide the credit card details even! </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The hotel let us check-in immediately when we arrived, even an hour earlier than the expected time, at 7 am. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Therefore, we had 11 hours to relax, explore the city, come back, freshen up a bit, and then leave for our next flight. These day-use hotels are going to be very useful in similar situations.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-74246455588615456042023-01-21T18:37:00.006+00:002023-01-21T20:40:24.038+00:00Airport Memories<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh78ku6xGzx_DsmS8whtmgeFYd6dRIvs32qA_Yyg_yn9uTpnnVpqV3pT7gjPlXYVk-_x6fIWbvDt7XzSpSkFIxfXdxdkiSzqfu6stikLzlV2ZYP84TjND1yA2WWYr-1xTiM8R-J9p4qPph3dwZfuDjf8bOOhotEGm84cbgduirL57klVjfxSXMqbIcDA/s5184/IMG_6108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh78ku6xGzx_DsmS8whtmgeFYd6dRIvs32qA_Yyg_yn9uTpnnVpqV3pT7gjPlXYVk-_x6fIWbvDt7XzSpSkFIxfXdxdkiSzqfu6stikLzlV2ZYP84TjND1yA2WWYr-1xTiM8R-J9p4qPph3dwZfuDjf8bOOhotEGm84cbgduirL57klVjfxSXMqbIcDA/s320/IMG_6108.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leaving Fairbanks<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Airports bring us the strongest memories. A list of my top 10 favorite airports: <br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />10. IST. It got nice shops to get things at last minute. Istanbul made me get addicted to Salep. So when I was leaving the city, I was having my last few doses of that (and many desserts too!)<br /><br />9. ANC. The hub of Alaska. Wherever I went to AK in 2021, I went through this airport. It's quite big and got some decent food. When you touch the airport, you feel like you are in a totally new country, although you are still in the US. Great views of mountains in the distance.<br /><br /> 8. ARN. I sometimes feel guilty that I did not give enough attention to Stockholm and Sweden, despite spending a semester there and visiting it in 3 different years. Nevertheless, it is all beautiful memories. The fast train to the city center is an integrated travel experience.<br /><br />7. DOH. My first time here was bad. It was under renovation. But I gave it a second chance, and it impressed me (much more than DXB.) After that, it became my usual connecting point between the west (EU or US) and the east (Asia). Beautiful metro connection to downtown Doha too!<br /><br />6. BRU. During my time in Belgium, I spent many nights here (and in the ugly CRL). I like the Belgian embassies. They were very friendly, always answered my emails, and were generally helpful. So Belgium's main airport worked as my entry point to the EU after leaving Europe too. <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtaNIpV3G39ENhwEfABolk12spxF6Fy4nPR5BtOz4bDJBRR12XkxIHE95ysGBEfUrTe7rWX1VO_3KHJ1Yccz-WGy5QuvML-Jjf7xRI2xoaniMac9V52DaYIq-BVynqmNF4bz9Bvy6LtAwekUSoouNz5ztE5RW2vim5eYqF1uI7V661rV4HQkI8UpZoyA/s5184/IMG_6106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtaNIpV3G39ENhwEfABolk12spxF6Fy4nPR5BtOz4bDJBRR12XkxIHE95ysGBEfUrTe7rWX1VO_3KHJ1Yccz-WGy5QuvML-Jjf7xRI2xoaniMac9V52DaYIq-BVynqmNF4bz9Bvy6LtAwekUSoouNz5ztE5RW2vim5eYqF1uI7V661rV4HQkI8UpZoyA/s320/IMG_6106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fairbanks Airport<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />5. LAX. My first time here was in December 2019, for the first conference visit of my postdoc life. This one has many happy and sad memories of the pandemic. But at last, it was still the airport where we reunited after the deadly pandemic kept us 13,450 km apart for 2.5 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br />4. ATL. People here ask me, "So, you always talk about Lisboa. Do you like Atlanta? What do you like most about Atlanta?" My default answer is, "It is@ATLairport!" Yes, it is a busy one, not really fancy or anything. But gets the job done and takes you wherever without trouble.<br /> <br />3. BRW. This is the ONLY airport where I arrive just 30 mins before the departure time. It's tiny and can be messy. Just one terminal. You sit tight until the plane lands. The flight may not land if it gets too foggy, cloudy, icy, or outright deadly. So, you will never know.<br /> <br />2. LIS. Bom dia. This airport makes me feel at home. Memories of friendships, romance, love, happiness, sadness, saudade, and everything in between. It took the central stage of my life between 2012 - 2019. I always hope we will return someday and relive those youthful memories.<br /> <br />1. FAI. Cold breeze soothes you as you walk out. Very friendly TSA agents here. This year, the sky looked magnificent during my return flight, with mild northern lights dancing in the sky. This airport was brutal with blowing snow during the Interior AK Blizzard 2021 December. <br /> <br />I probably should have added some of my photos from each of these memorable/remarkable airports into this thread. But that will need a larger time investment, and I cannot bother. <br /></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-54498892082601758362023-01-07T20:44:00.000+00:002023-05-10T04:07:14.936+01:00My new years since 2013<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRtI34bsKngpv3kH-y8rva7Poq-GuiRx9VR1jvmGkeA0RpHjhzJYJwy-sY0jZJU_P1M6Qd_VyxgiTQjKAzj5P9cvavtEc3vJOJTcE9Hvs4Lwymw-J_GVN_tywIBMzRfI-KYN_UP88BeJS/s4288/DSCF4688.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4288" data-original-width="3216" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXRtI34bsKngpv3kH-y8rva7Poq-GuiRx9VR1jvmGkeA0RpHjhzJYJwy-sY0jZJU_P1M6Qd_VyxgiTQjKAzj5P9cvavtEc3vJOJTcE9Hvs4Lwymw-J_GVN_tywIBMzRfI-KYN_UP88BeJS/s320/DSCF4688.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 NY Lisboa Hard Rock Cafe<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Since 2013, almost all my new years have been in Europe or the USA: 2013 (Lisboa), 2014 (Lisboa), 2015 (Lisboa), 2016 (Lisboa), 2017 (Zurich), 2018 (Lisboa), 2019 (Atlanta), 2021 (Kanab), 2022 (Utqiagvik), and 2023 (Fairbanks). 2020 was my first new year in Sri Lanka again after eight years. Most new years have been quite exciting since I left Sri Lanka. <br /> <b><br />2013: Praça do Comercio/Lisboa, the most remarkable one ever. </b><br />The most remarkable one was the 2013 new year itself, my first one in Lisboa, with my EMDC friends. No other new year's memory could overtake that one, I am sure. We repeated this experience in 2014 and 2016. <br /><br /><b>2014: Praça do Comercio/Lisboa, after a trip in Scandinavia <br /></b>The second remarkable one was the 2014 new year. We had a cruise to Helsinki from Stockholm, then flew to Copenhagen, and also visited Malmö. But we came back to Lisboa for new year's eve. It was an eventful Christmas - new year vacation. A most remarkable year-end vacation to date.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2015: Lisboa - Hard Rock Cafe<br /></b>We were too late to go to the
Praça do Comercio and decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe instead and
had some drinks with the festive mood amid a huge crowd. <br /><br /><b>2016: Praça do Comercio/Lisboa<br /></b>Same
as 2013 and 2014. But we arrived quite late and couldn't reach the
usual spot in Praça do Comercio. But we witnessed the firework show a
few 100 meters away from our ideal spot in front of the river, blocked
by a happy crowd.<br /><br /><b>2017: Zurich<br /></b>2017 in Zurich was equally exciting when we traveled to Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. 2017 was also the first time we celebrated the new year in a country other than our resident country. No wonder 2017 became the year of travels.<br /><br /><b>2018: Lisboa, idling at home<br /></b>2018 was the only new year
(since moving abroad in 2012 August) when we decided to idle at home
during midnight. It also implied either we were getting used to Lisboa
New Year's Eve and not too excited anymore, or we were getting old!<br /><br /><b>2019: Atlanta, in SunTrust park<br /></b>2019 in Atlanta was quite fun as well. But we did not wait until midnight. The SunTrust park had countdowns for every hour since dark, at 8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm, ..., giving a new year countdown experience early on.<br /><br /><b>2020: Back in home, Moratuwa - Sri Lanka<br /></b>A vacation in Sri Lanka brought back memories of 2012 and earlier new years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2021: Kanab, UT</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A road trip with a colleague. It was a small boring town. But our hotel had a good view.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2022: Utqiaġvik, AK</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A walk in temperatures reaching -40 to witness the fireworks on a frozen Arctic lake. A magical moment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2023: Fairbanks, AK</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yet another Alaska new year. This time it was frozen Chena River.<br /></div></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-10724274801414982622022-12-31T23:54:00.241+00:002023-01-17T17:59:28.636+00:00 A few things that made my 2022 interesting..<p><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCitUQGAhnraNTRN_x7kdr7C9wtDGBJ1KQ9m9lGKG2130oD4rU7zpoLgb7fqG-ZSN-rgwru7MrCmisnNyCz19FP6mUR2drVf102WdARLSAtq-1kUgcI7JwpOx1a3noJ0QSudX7nfUMCg0ie9WHg7HQDDIic4RMnbS7DwaX7KEqGb9Mrbydh1rxz6UWIA/s5184/IMG_4927.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCitUQGAhnraNTRN_x7kdr7C9wtDGBJ1KQ9m9lGKG2130oD4rU7zpoLgb7fqG-ZSN-rgwru7MrCmisnNyCz19FP6mUR2drVf102WdARLSAtq-1kUgcI7JwpOx1a3noJ0QSudX7nfUMCg0ie9WHg7HQDDIic4RMnbS7DwaX7KEqGb9Mrbydh1rxz6UWIA/s320/IMG_4927.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A walk on the frozen Arctic, Utqiagvik<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">2022</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> was a good year, although often it felt like a single blob of 2020 - 2022.</span> 2022 was still better than 2020 and 2021.</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> As expected, 2022 had its negative moments, But t</span></span>his post focuses on the happy
moments.<p></p><p><b> 1. New year in Utqiaġvik with Northern lights in the dark Arctic skies</b></p><p>Watching the fireworks over the frozen lake.<br /></p><p><b>2. A walk on the frozen Arctic Ocean with icy white eyebrows in a -40 temperature.<br /></b></p><p>That magical moment made me realize I had fallen in love with Alaska and I must return more often.</p><p><b></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CQldmR8kYRyS5OoofgjCDItYdbHm4Bbjul1PFRmesjTjf34AvyK3geSNiV9XjnvmsIETLEqDG1jxdtZm56M0PG1DOYo9hh4KB7fh5mAGEcYYqiRsvcU3eaUb6ALMNIhyoDWOsm9hoIr7dXHaZuDgAuEoIVEzGoVPBDGt8U_nvOoZnj6eezuahr5Pw/s5184/IMG_4914.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CQldmR8kYRyS5OoofgjCDItYdbHm4Bbjul1PFRmesjTjf34AvyK3geSNiV9XjnvmsIETLEqDG1jxdtZm56M0PG1DOYo9hh4KB7fh5mAGEcYYqiRsvcU3eaUb6ALMNIhyoDWOsm9hoIr7dXHaZuDgAuEoIVEzGoVPBDGt8U_nvOoZnj6eezuahr5Pw/s320/IMG_4914.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern lights on the New Years day<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b>3. Friendly and diverse people in Birmingham, AL.</b> <br /><p></p><p><b> </b>I did not expect Alabama to be this cool. <br /></p><p><b>4. A night in Providence, RI</b></p><p>and a pleasant train ride from Boston.</p><p><b>5. A night walk around Harvard and MIT</b></p><p>Loved the vibe of Boston's<b> </b>academic circles.</p><p><b>6. The Hindu Temple of Atlanta</b></p><p>It reminded me of my times in the Hindu temple of Lisboa.<b></b></p><p><b><br />7. The decade, the two decades, and the three decades.</b></p><p>I reached 35. It is a decade since I left Sri Lanka for my grad school in Lisboa, two decades since my school memories in O/L, and three decades since I remember anything.</p><p><b></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42WCE9nv0rFpRvzjLCJGtjeo-aArcI6rHC2giW-EuXN6lgFuFuuPR9gG0fDn6YO7JyueMAtwN_HP5zRdE83k7EaJnCezFe_oHw7FCHwGiOtNZwTwSsWyQV_WtaEp7z7gfEPqLnExv1iaVqHIjohDtYdKII0-7qytu7JnL5wVoij8-GAQGcePAliVu-g/s5184/IMG_5022.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42WCE9nv0rFpRvzjLCJGtjeo-aArcI6rHC2giW-EuXN6lgFuFuuPR9gG0fDn6YO7JyueMAtwN_HP5zRdE83k7EaJnCezFe_oHw7FCHwGiOtNZwTwSsWyQV_WtaEp7z7gfEPqLnExv1iaVqHIjohDtYdKII0-7qytu7JnL5wVoij8-GAQGcePAliVu-g/s320/IMG_5022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Atlantic Ocean, Boston<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />8. Accepted journal papers</b><p></p><p>CONTROL-CORE at IEEE Access and Niffler at IEEE Computer Magazine.</p><p><b>9. Dark alleys and urban decay of Detroit, MI</b></p><p>Detroit made me feel like I am back in the early days in Lisboa. Energetic and excited for a long journey ahead.<br /></p><p><b>10. A trip of trips by train</b></p><p>A spring train trip from Detroit, MI to Albuquerque, NM with a diversion to Milwaukee, WI. Staying in different towns/cities each night of the trip.<b> </b> </p><p><b>11. Chicago Chinatown</b></p><p>I love Chinatowns, and Chicago has a good one.</p><p><b>12. The walkable town, Fort Madison, IA, with a paved trail along the Mississippi river.<br /></b></p><p>Stayed in a cute hotel. The town and its riverside paved trail reminded me of Vila Franca de Xira in Portugal.<b> </b></p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPkMsxMEZ986CoiumKw-QOUW2yJjXxNZneaXuQ8-W1y1Z7c4QJ2xZ63xGb6LHXxO-2SOYWe2CcRujGLcmEmz61i-siRuEasmUpeQ8ly2a1pbkI8_0eA5IKI3cmpQ4cl2nMhbyUxINFDBwEQCTzv0pMUJGA8tTDHz6WtVGx6gKhsWOOLiz3F8rtz13hQ/s5184/IMG_5322.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPkMsxMEZ986CoiumKw-QOUW2yJjXxNZneaXuQ8-W1y1Z7c4QJ2xZ63xGb6LHXxO-2SOYWe2CcRujGLcmEmz61i-siRuEasmUpeQ8ly2a1pbkI8_0eA5IKI3cmpQ4cl2nMhbyUxINFDBwEQCTzv0pMUJGA8tTDHz6WtVGx6gKhsWOOLiz3F8rtz13hQ/s320/IMG_5322.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />13, Michigan lake in Hammond, IN</b><p></p><p>Hammond was much cheaper than Atlanta.</p><p><b> 14. Crossing state borders and a long walk in Kansas City (MO to KS).<br /></b></p><p>It also had a beautiful Amtrak train station.</p><p><b>15. Random walking the streets of Milwaukee, WI</b></p><p>and enjoying some soul food.</p><p><b>16. The unique homes of New Mexico.</b></p><p>Albuquerque and its Sunport were nice. It was also an overnight train ride to ABQ.</p><p><b>17. Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean</b></p><p>Although second time in Santa Monica, this was my first time stepping into the water.</p><p><b></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwt3x-L_Avc3L_Tidfr2r34hnD4OfNDDRAqUJ9MhMdmQzgcnCgkpR1qNhXAATOnLTDQccfPTn-zQiFiirruBXIpx74YwPXEhYimSFdXXqy1f--bElKD5MUz4UX_-RCQ7crcwlo7kzb0Gi4uH6Sv4onWoc7Vf01-O50BgLc-oFuwP4ZFusJxjtjIUgNTQ/s5184/IMG_5216.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwt3x-L_Avc3L_Tidfr2r34hnD4OfNDDRAqUJ9MhMdmQzgcnCgkpR1qNhXAATOnLTDQccfPTn-zQiFiirruBXIpx74YwPXEhYimSFdXXqy1f--bElKD5MUz4UX_-RCQ7crcwlo7kzb0Gi4uH6Sv4onWoc7Vf01-O50BgLc-oFuwP4ZFusJxjtjIUgNTQ/s320/IMG_5216.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Train to Albuquerque<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />18. Little Tokyo in Los Angeles.</b><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This cute little neighborhood never disappoints.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>19. Reuniting with family</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This brings an end to my home alone life throughout the pandemic.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>20. A Portuguese restaurant in Atlanta.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Reconnecting with the Portuguese cuisine after leaving the country. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">21. Hybrid conferences</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Presented virtually at MoNeTec and SDS. I miss attending conferences physically though.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">22. Views from Stone Mountain.</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It is a panoramic view of Atlanta from the top. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>23. A Christmas filled with powdery snow in St Paul, MN</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Always comfy to walk on the snow when it is still fresh and powdery.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>24. Rapid changes of travel plans.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Amtrak messed up a planned train trip from St Paul to Seattle. Had to make alternative plans quickly.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>25. Booking direct</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I was already booking the flights directly from the airlines for a few years now. This year, I ditched booking.com and booked directly with the hotels as much as possible.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>26. Stuck in the twin cities.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Canceled trains, extending what was supposed to be a 2-night stay into a 7-night stay in MN. But we enjoyed the food scene in the twin cities.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b></b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfxnTRb_gs_azK-KCde7y693wCslO0TY1Eoi_LTkzo1cNfo6BnqP2x6BrvAHcoeZWprYchfk3_dpAjJ32OJvxJhnzOnEMEhk9Sjs1ge7c-A3R_ObcHxNc0UPbf32oCHhqse8pugb8Z2ls3UIMRgBjTWATj0GA1B1LxoZid50-X1HInDn3sy9kl8G87g/s5184/IMG_5788.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfxnTRb_gs_azK-KCde7y693wCslO0TY1Eoi_LTkzo1cNfo6BnqP2x6BrvAHcoeZWprYchfk3_dpAjJ32OJvxJhnzOnEMEhk9Sjs1ge7c-A3R_ObcHxNc0UPbf32oCHhqse8pugb8Z2ls3UIMRgBjTWATj0GA1B1LxoZid50-X1HInDn3sy9kl8G87g/s320/IMG_5788.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frozen Chena River, Fairbanks<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><br />27. Much calmer winter in </b></span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>Fairbanks</b></span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>.</b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A repeat visit to Fairbanks in December. But this time, no blizzards. Fairbanks felt mild compared to last December, with clearer starry skies and some northern lights.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>28. Slow return to "normal?"</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I worked from the lab one day this December, almost after 3 years since March 2020. The pandemic is still on though.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>29. Atlantic Ocean and seagulls in Boston.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Oceans connect us.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>30. Cooking in the hotel studio in </b></span><b>Utqiagvik<span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></b></p><p>As I was able to cook my own (proper) food in the hotel for my 3 days in total darkness in Utqiagvik, Utqiagvik felt more like home during this second visit.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Every
year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous
years. :) </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I wish
you a happy new year.</span> </span><i style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the <a href="http://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/Annual%20Post" target="_blank">previous years</a> as well.</span></i></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-34433492299535122402022-12-28T20:50:00.025+00:002023-01-21T21:01:40.998+00:00Amtrak and a series of cancellations<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6ezho9qFNy0eD5VNW258XyhEaLFIjNAHtgQFeQ9dXlFKgfqF0zayH_kwTIyTRhzcUYw5EjfccyImFFv4eS7IdYsa-6SMTI5rMdZ6YJSj9M7jJRwBcJCOg_72tlY72p3jhZHiYbG2Xjd5C2UTMAblKHCYhA1zlGWcfrLtBB8Go41lGzTUOQKZEfox0w/s5184/IMG_5643.JPG" style="clear: justify; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz6ezho9qFNy0eD5VNW258XyhEaLFIjNAHtgQFeQ9dXlFKgfqF0zayH_kwTIyTRhzcUYw5EjfccyImFFv4eS7IdYsa-6SMTI5rMdZ6YJSj9M7jJRwBcJCOg_72tlY72p3jhZHiYbG2Xjd5C2UTMAblKHCYhA1zlGWcfrLtBB8Go41lGzTUOQKZEfox0w/s320/IMG_5643.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Sun in the twin cities, MN<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> We had a triangle trip planned, with ATL -> MSP by flight, with a
train trip from St Paul (SPM) to Seattle, and another flight back home
from SEA -> ATL. However, Amtrak kept cancelling the train from SPM
-> SEA continuously, for 4 days, (as in 2 days, 1 day, and another
day), citing adverse weather, manpower issues, and adverse weather
again. At this point, the planned train trip was ruined although we
tried our best to protect it by postponing it for up to 4 days, giving
Amtrak a chance. But as Amtrak kept canceling like this, we had to
activate alternative plans. One option was to fly from MSP to SEA, to
end the trip in Seattle as planned. But then I checked the flight
prices, and it turned out, we could fly from MSP to FAI (via SEA) with a
minimal difference in flight prices. I love Fairbanks, and a second
visit to Fairbanks would be great after all. This is how Amtrak's
unpredictable day-by-day train cancellations led us to Fairbanks, making
my third time to Alaska.</div><p></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-85350701458752114752022-11-21T21:44:00.006+00:002022-12-01T13:03:51.517+00:00 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2023<div style="text-align: justify;">For 2023, GSoC is opening up to allowing anyone (18+) to participate up to two times as a contributor. That means, you can participate as a contributor in 2023 if you have been a contributor once before or never before. But if you have already been a contributor twice, you cannot participate in 2023.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is an introductory presentation I made for GSoC 2023, updating my previous presentations on GSoC. <br /></div><iframe src="https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/B662KoAd5QO1H7?hostedIn=slideshare&page=upload" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-76546168210940897272022-11-12T03:49:00.004+00:002022-11-12T04:18:41.156+00:005 years...<p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0O8T4oUrKubwuD3saTuWT7oIWD0f2YRhZq29JzNmfHH2ToaZTa-q8ZCDHYtR2h2LaKFsDI6mPXmjH-ZP167LHXBftIIyMLEHXRqJSaIdHAgNiIjoj31bSq01i1TkBH7xPUKbT7-ETjMv0hqRO6fKbdxWHTkscQI4AXd7y6QTr5X83oZE3SeotsP4Qg/s2048/FfC4viTXgAE1HdA.jpg" style="clear: justify; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB0O8T4oUrKubwuD3saTuWT7oIWD0f2YRhZq29JzNmfHH2ToaZTa-q8ZCDHYtR2h2LaKFsDI6mPXmjH-ZP167LHXBftIIyMLEHXRqJSaIdHAgNiIjoj31bSq01i1TkBH7xPUKbT7-ETjMv0hqRO6fKbdxWHTkscQI4AXd7y6QTr5X83oZE3SeotsP4Qg/w400-h300/FfC4viTXgAE1HdA.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emory 5 years, November 19, 2022<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">So I am 5 years with the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University this month. However, that is counting in the 7 months I spent in 2016, March - October. If not for that, my continuous 5 years would be on June 19, 2023. In both cases, I am reaching the 5 years soon. This is very long, especially for me as I consider myself nomadic with frequent migrations. This period also includes my 3.5 years of postdoc life since I defended my PhD thesis in 2019 July (ULisboa/Portugal) and 2019 August (UCLouvain/Belgium). The pandemic, travel restrictions, pandemic-related challenges, and other factors made the time go faster, I guess? The years 2020 - 2022 feel like a big monolith, rather than 3 whole years. It is not to say all the three years were same. But they kinda went fast. Really fast. Despite the 5 long years (or 4.5 years, if I do not include the 2016 stint), I was also working with different PIs over my time here. So it was not like I was working on the same projects or topic/domain for the whole time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to this Emory 5 years, this year feels special to me for two more reasons along the memory lane. First one is, it is <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2022/08/portugal-from-10-years-ago.html" target="_blank">10 years since I left Sri Lanka for my grad school</a>. Then it is also 3 decades since I turned 5. I started counting decades from 15, considering my earliest memories are from when I was 5 years old. So, this year, as I am 35, makes me 3 decades of memories (1992 - 2002, 2002 - 2012, 2012 - 2022). Surely, the last decade (2012 - 2022) was the most eventful and remarkable. I hope the next decade 2022 - 2032 will bring me interesting memories too!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was interacting with my mentees who apply for gradschool this year. That made me recall my time applying for gradschool in autumn 2011 and my first semester in ULisboa/Portugal in autumn 2012. We had a cool bunch of Erasmus Mundus EMDC MSc 2012 - 2014 group. Our EMDC batch was the middle one among the 5 years program. We had 2 years of seniors before us, and 2 years of juniors after us. That left me in a great spot to observe the past and future of EMDC masters program as I did that. (Same situation with my Erasmus Mundus Ph.D., EMJD-DC as well.) Some of us did a PhD. Others joined the industry after the MSc. Among those who left academia, some started companies. Most others joined big companies in Europe and elsewhere. A few others joined some crazy startups. Some of us left Europe and ended up in third countries (i.e., countries other than our home country and countries in the EU). Some stayed in Europe. Others went back to their home country. Among those who did a PhD, some did an Erasmus Mundus PhD (like me), while others did some other PhD program. Again, after PhD, some joined the industry while the others continued with academia. Among those who continued with academia, the lucky/smart ones became a tenure-track professor instantly, while the others like me became a postdoc. Now, I have the capability to reach out to everyone to give the exact numbers for these categories. But I think that is not important as this is just for my personal blog after all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq0D7AlObzt8kVcpXO16t72LLqlnsx2uxizcdMsz2zy_f8qI87nw00agHGnEA9deI9WRDT-YmuDDD6ntMlGefz_a3VwWt22P9rzzPfYeUeLORbmx5op2r6NUcFsX7TuCK-y-GRvTsn25t8lp-9tl0dowldm4oksdYq86T0eQLTWJTVBoLaZtLZaO2Ew/s1886/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-11%20at%2011.16.29%20PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1778" data-original-width="1886" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlq0D7AlObzt8kVcpXO16t72LLqlnsx2uxizcdMsz2zy_f8qI87nw00agHGnEA9deI9WRDT-YmuDDD6ntMlGefz_a3VwWt22P9rzzPfYeUeLORbmx5op2r6NUcFsX7TuCK-y-GRvTsn25t8lp-9tl0dowldm4oksdYq86T0eQLTWJTVBoLaZtLZaO2Ew/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-11-11%20at%2011.16.29%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neurasmus page showing students and alumni<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />EMDC first years were either in Portugal or Spain, where we all spent the 3rd semester in KTH/Sweden. For the forth semester, some of us came back to our host countries (Portugal or Spain), some stayed in Sweden (mostly just with KTH, while some went on to do an industrial internship at Sportify), and some did an internship in a third European country (such as France, Germany, or Switzerland). I came back to ULisboa/Portugal, making it ULisboa/Portugal -> KTH/Sweden -> ULisboa/Portugal for my MSc. That also means, I was one of the few with minimal diverse experiences during my MSc, as I spent time in just two countries where many of us were in three countries. I compensated for this lack of migrations during my Ph.D., with my 3 international research internships (Croatia, USA, and Saudi Arabia) that spanned continents, in addition to my two universities (ULisboa/Portugal and UCLouvain/Belgium). I started my affiliation with ULisboa in 2012 August and spent 7 years doing my MSc and Ph.D., making it the longest university of my life so far, even longer than my 5 years (so far) at Emory University. #WeAreTécnico!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today a Twitter friend introduced me to <a href="https://www.neurasmus.u-bordeaux.fr/" target="_blank">Neurasmus</a>, a EU joint-degree MSc program influenced by Erasmus Mundus, but with a neuroscience focus. They also have a <a href="https://www.neurasmus.u-bordeaux.fr/student-life/students-alumni/" target="_blank">nice web page</a> that documents all the students and alumni of the programs in a single place neatly! I wish our Erasmus Mundus programs had something similar. We actually have one for our <a href="https://emjd-dc.eu/about-us/" target="_blank">Ph.D. (EMJD-DC)</a>, although not as fancy. But we do not have one for our MSc (EMDC). I remember some of us from the EMDC 2012 intake made a pact to visit Lisboa in 2022 August/September (marking the 10 years). But a pandemic and 10 years have changed many things.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; user-select: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://twitter.com/pradeeban/status/1580967108321587203?s=20&t=RegDHN3nybldtJxjMNPwzQ</span><span style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; user-select: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://twitter.com/pradeeban/status/1580967108321587203?s=20&t=RegDHN3nybldtJxjMNPwzQ</span><span style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; user-select: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://twitter.com/pradeeban/status/1580967108321587203?s=20&t=RegDHN3nybldtJxjMNPwzQ</span><span style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; user-select: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://twitter.com/pradeeban/status/1580967108321587203?s=20&t=RegDHN3nybldtJxjMNPwzQ</span><span style="opacity: 0; position: absolute; user-select: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://twitter.com/pradeeban/status/1580967108321587203?s=20&t=RegDHN3nybldtJxjMNPwzQ</span></div><p></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-5587051513274054632022-11-10T22:09:00.009+00:002022-11-10T23:27:11.717+00:00Docker: failed to create LLB definition<p>I was getting this weird error on Docker for the same container that was building fine just minutes go. <br /></p><p><i> $ docker build -t hummingbird:1.0.0 .<br />[+] Building 0.3s (3/3) FINISHED<br /> => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile 0.0s<br /> => => transferring dockerfile: 37B 0.0s<br /> => [internal] load .dockerignore 0.0s<br /> => => transferring context: 2B 0.0s<br /> => ERROR [internal] load metadata for docker.io/cellprofiler/cellprofiler:4.0.6 0.0s<br />------<br /> > [internal] load metadata for docker.io/cellprofiler/cellprofiler:4.0.6:<br />------<br />failed to solve with frontend dockerfile.v0: failed to create LLB definition: failed to do request: Head "https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/cellprofiler/cellprofiler/manifests/4.0.6": proxyconnect tcp: dial tcp 192.168.65.1:3128: connect: network is unreachable <br /></i></p><p>Turned out, this error can appear when the disk is full (observed in MacOS), with no issue from the built container image itself. How did the desk get full within a few minutes? Of course, by building a few Docker containers and them remaining in cache. Deleting some files to get some storage space and restarting Docker made the build succeed again.<i> <br /></i></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-71933864086052871472022-09-30T17:18:00.001+01:002022-09-30T17:18:20.432+01:00#WeAreTécnico<div style="text-align: justify;">Exactly 10 years after I joined Técnico Lisboa for the first time for my masters, this month Técnico created an alumni network to connect past and present students and faculty of the university. It has a LinkedIn integration. If you too are from Técnico, feel free to <a href="https://alumni.tecnico.pt/users/6225775" target="_blank">say hi</a>!<br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUTBCLy2hrcTGfUBAIMrl7Enz6uGhexBYSJtj5Q-YsUJJkJXWxvS94cG4icJ8_PXWQyPIKMvF6zRcpR__8rVK_fuVK-1BEhlRipj0obURjDwYL8MbfyGwAmFDgre-TnHHZDbGiaB-wDYzWqDuZiny4R1JHKtgi26vhqtxHE72nW5ljh43mkhIBaU4c0w/s2358/tecnico%20alumni.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="2358" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUTBCLy2hrcTGfUBAIMrl7Enz6uGhexBYSJtj5Q-YsUJJkJXWxvS94cG4icJ8_PXWQyPIKMvF6zRcpR__8rVK_fuVK-1BEhlRipj0obURjDwYL8MbfyGwAmFDgre-TnHHZDbGiaB-wDYzWqDuZiny4R1JHKtgi26vhqtxHE72nW5ljh43mkhIBaU4c0w/w640-h304/tecnico%20alumni.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Técnico alumni network<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-84186647160847116392022-09-15T03:15:00.003+01:002022-09-15T11:19:29.143+01:00YouTube fake conversations to deceive the innocent onlookers<div style="text-align: justify;">I encountered this identical conversation between 3 random people on two different videos in YouTube!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-D9aGpoxcBdW8MB6LYljvrOx2gGenu44Qh-h0OGMWyFMDYdOKnSp-Ax697ip2KlVBZH8NDltn8th6-4iEKYFak3-pVRdASmdVKHDegM97r_GKh0C0lkDyPYT6RMW0ZbEFU8P4ysfVuJhuzgDUtMgTTDFJ3lIq7e53iozxkpB0Vk9dnDaB7YWhZhlvgg/s1882/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.36%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1882" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-D9aGpoxcBdW8MB6LYljvrOx2gGenu44Qh-h0OGMWyFMDYdOKnSp-Ax697ip2KlVBZH8NDltn8th6-4iEKYFak3-pVRdASmdVKHDegM97r_GKh0C0lkDyPYT6RMW0ZbEFU8P4ysfVuJhuzgDUtMgTTDFJ3lIq7e53iozxkpB0Vk9dnDaB7YWhZhlvgg/w640-h310/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.36%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A friendly conversation between three strangers? Totally not.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;">I decided to dig a bit into this. It was easier to spot the deception than I thought. All three accounts were created on the very same day in 2020 (and magically appeared to make the same conversation twice in summer 2022). We can easily conclude that these three accounts were created by the same person or a computer script.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaS50N_WDNY8lvQvIx3OgKwmRUDEe7O9OFUkbQpZ9Rw-thSAjSttCEgu0py9aA_Qj8oDv5FSvDvY38Q1vbPnsxIwPpZgVyLhaXvIvAW1BszeXzQOlRLJb1dae9qnEx7fcsGf6mqZT0gjZ-rDCvBenZ7hfqsIto2tEvmPV8qHQ6ffjpskFTl0gDbo6nEw/s2120/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.46%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="2120" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaS50N_WDNY8lvQvIx3OgKwmRUDEe7O9OFUkbQpZ9Rw-thSAjSttCEgu0py9aA_Qj8oDv5FSvDvY38Q1vbPnsxIwPpZgVyLhaXvIvAW1BszeXzQOlRLJb1dae9qnEx7fcsGf6mqZT0gjZ-rDCvBenZ7hfqsIto2tEvmPV8qHQ6ffjpskFTl0gDbo6nEw/w640-h194/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.46%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZ8mGu92QzohstSwEYrz0TaDv86rMynSSr0VsxWtcyPCHkdsESc-GDm5EzMWPdJQM-vc3tA29hwPNi25D-i7LQtTfyIic93Gt_m_YsiDSWBKPjGbT8MXrPCS4Ot-XeMeOBnxjSbUcMB_wzfKRBcmiOiNfdTkwNljxIpctyzIC-q2-6AXGkBOSRpMu3w/s2084/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.52%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="2084" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZ8mGu92QzohstSwEYrz0TaDv86rMynSSr0VsxWtcyPCHkdsESc-GDm5EzMWPdJQM-vc3tA29hwPNi25D-i7LQtTfyIic93Gt_m_YsiDSWBKPjGbT8MXrPCS4Ot-XeMeOBnxjSbUcMB_wzfKRBcmiOiNfdTkwNljxIpctyzIC-q2-6AXGkBOSRpMu3w/w640-h203/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.52%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUIbsYC5zbDd3P_751uo4RkJi2MgKE7CFZKPYRqgfMrR_PYEaycFlMUB-8wk4sdd9vEg4oKG8IdcCdw9C1VoqdnzFb7YhqakfGyIVyVEW0qWpCWUvMn4tFg1p8cnBrjNPqKWsTMP-FQOtWcSk2Q_aL2E9luZ_fBJdYfCuDPe-IVd3_pMtrI3JeIPgRQ/s2088/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.57%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="2088" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUIbsYC5zbDd3P_751uo4RkJi2MgKE7CFZKPYRqgfMrR_PYEaycFlMUB-8wk4sdd9vEg4oKG8IdcCdw9C1VoqdnzFb7YhqakfGyIVyVEW0qWpCWUvMn4tFg1p8cnBrjNPqKWsTMP-FQOtWcSk2Q_aL2E9luZ_fBJdYfCuDPe-IVd3_pMtrI3JeIPgRQ/w640-h203/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.00.57%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I looked further and found many similar fake conversations happening around topics of investment and crypto trading under popular YouTube videos. An unsuspecting onlooker could totally fall for these scams! All these fake conversationalists have no videos, very few subscribers, and created on the same day (as above) or within a few days/weeks apart - perhaps by a bot and stolen profile photos. Beware!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6I9FsfPNva4HvpBAGmtCwj4G9sshPhxMQyAaEHQgQgvbZaZAW66oVOf0oL4S8qTd-ina10I8dLAS159TKke67TVTUeFJ6Np08m7Q4WYQKHf9huqtJm6GAHtLuGKnZTOAbKhFtmMs4vpp1CysUHNY9tH7wjesvMqF0Kc3Uq6bCoqVpItc87nPpXhuoQ/s1966/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.18.56%20PM.png"><img border="0" data-original-height="1456" data-original-width="1966" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6I9FsfPNva4HvpBAGmtCwj4G9sshPhxMQyAaEHQgQgvbZaZAW66oVOf0oL4S8qTd-ina10I8dLAS159TKke67TVTUeFJ6Np08m7Q4WYQKHf9huqtJm6GAHtLuGKnZTOAbKhFtmMs4vpp1CysUHNY9tH7wjesvMqF0Kc3Uq6bCoqVpItc87nPpXhuoQ/w640-h474/Screen%20Shot%202022-09-14%20at%2010.18.56%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div>A similar, but longer "conversation" - but with better "participants" (with accounts not created on the same day). LOL.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-56323486281008131042022-08-20T16:16:00.003+01:002022-08-20T16:32:03.592+01:00Portugal, from ten years ago...<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhpmZ-ty1ZlOpiqJzPZE6VP5PQFLaoBE9_upgUh4bHLsJuZyTwAHp61AFlk5pW6FLMTFFLytEeQoG0ibwqSjLiMQdi8J6GUPC1VDy-d04KVp5RfaLmAfuAmf-H1BkJpEg85nmDxVGSKfF7JoRSBDjiNQntHxYllQG_ZcayuuOd-aWnugFNL6EGCMYSw/s738/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-16%20at%201.59.48%20PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="738" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrhpmZ-ty1ZlOpiqJzPZE6VP5PQFLaoBE9_upgUh4bHLsJuZyTwAHp61AFlk5pW6FLMTFFLytEeQoG0ibwqSjLiMQdi8J6GUPC1VDy-d04KVp5RfaLmAfuAmf-H1BkJpEg85nmDxVGSKfF7JoRSBDjiNQntHxYllQG_ZcayuuOd-aWnugFNL6EGCMYSw/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-16%20at%201.59.48%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My journey to Lisboa<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Ten years ago, on a day like this, I left home for Colombo airport to head towards Lisboa for my grad school. I thought I was going to grad school. To do coursework and do research. Maybe for a couple of years? I did not know I was on for a life of adventures of diving into cultures and making friends. A journey that changed me completely.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The journey was not direct. I first had to go to New Delhi to get my Portuguese student visa. Getting the visa was a <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-road-to-lisbon.html" target="_blank">story</a> on its own. Then three days later, with the visa stamped on my passport, I headed towards Lisboa via Dubai. Two days of August 2012 are of high importance to me. One is the Monday 20th for leaving home to live abroad for the first time, and the other is the Thursday 23rd to arrive in Lisboa finally.<br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKK60frOSdkf8vbvG8t8MViqQwchRmw0-g1GH0DTDMJEP-RIEJevSF5wCkWbuvBNh3WkMHmg13xBPZ6fI7P8UdPeKh9CA0SIkrKVO3y7TQg0SL2d5lHWWaVRAqJQ6Bs6H_sZQdPqLwGcuU1PkCeiem0rQTEhk3jaKpl8XE5jGLXVA6xzTV5okb8YgSg/s4608/DSCF0304.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3440" data-original-width="4608" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHKK60frOSdkf8vbvG8t8MViqQwchRmw0-g1GH0DTDMJEP-RIEJevSF5wCkWbuvBNh3WkMHmg13xBPZ6fI7P8UdPeKh9CA0SIkrKVO3y7TQg0SL2d5lHWWaVRAqJQ6Bs6H_sZQdPqLwGcuU1PkCeiem0rQTEhk3jaKpl8XE5jGLXVA6xzTV5okb8YgSg/s320/DSCF0304.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from my apartment in Lisboa, August 2012<br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">During those <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2012/08/lisbon-week1.html" target="_blank">early days in Portugal</a>, <span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I would think about where I would be in 10 years. Here, I am writing this blog post from Atlanta. Arrival in Lisboa was smooth. Emirates upgraded me to business class. The border control was friendly to me. The landlord was waiting for me with my name typed on his tablet. On his drive, he mentioned, "Portugal is having economic hardship now. But we are always happy." I also asked him why it was </span><i style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">cold </span></i><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">in the summer, coming from Colombo. He replied it was the end of the summer and almost autumn. The following days, I walked the streets alone. Everyone was helpful, despite me not knowing the language. Most people there can and will speak English, unlike, for example, in France. In some ways, it was like the opposite of </span><i style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Emily in Paris</span></i><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">. Lisboa was nicer to me. (Oh yes, I have made a blog series about my life in Lisboa, </span> <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/Lisboa_memories" target="_blank"><i>Pradeeban in Portugal</i></a>!) But I did not know that I would end up doing my Ph.D., primarily based in Lisboa, eventually spending seven years of my life centered around Portugal until I completed my Ph.D. in 2019.<br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: justify;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DFsV6DFEjaOWfeBg2iKV05ruxr2N9Km-1jB53Uwe-tkxZNS4HwgDvy9rEg-SnlNryXtbL1w-bHgOhoz4tt5-jZJUUX9iLUi4iMIdrv-ufNF_-C8EsjAg_Kh5SoyveRLrVG0_XYXmdqar9jtK-FN3OC5YCnm0oD0rfwaIhqbf3YRc_B67gqGfufvsFQ/s5184/IMG_5322.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5DFsV6DFEjaOWfeBg2iKV05ruxr2N9Km-1jB53Uwe-tkxZNS4HwgDvy9rEg-SnlNryXtbL1w-bHgOhoz4tt5-jZJUUX9iLUi4iMIdrv-ufNF_-C8EsjAg_Kh5SoyveRLrVG0_XYXmdqar9jtK-FN3OC5YCnm0oD0rfwaIhqbf3YRc_B67gqGfufvsFQ/s320/IMG_5322.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica. June 2022<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Moving to Lisboa started </span><i style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">season 2</span></i><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> of my life. Due to Erasmus Mundus mobility requirements, I moved back and forth from Lisboa to cities in other countries - Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. Then in June 2018, I moved to Atlanta after submitting my thesis. I finally defended my Ph.D. thesis in</span><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2019/07/my-phd-defense-software-defined-systems.html" target="_blank"> July 2019 in Lisboa</a> and <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2019/08/my-phd-defense-software-defined-systems.html" target="_blank">August 2019 in Louvain-la-Neuve</a>, Belgium. Erasmus Mundus joint degree requirements! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I moved out from Lisboa in June 2018, did not visit Portugal after July 2019, and my last connection to Portugal was completed with my final Ph.D. defense in August 2019. But I feel I am still in season 2, which Lisboa started in my life. The last three years of the pandemic have significantly changed many aspects of our life and even how we interact with people. Things have slowed down significantly. My travels since February 2020 are entirely restricted to local trips within the USA. My life in Lisboa and my seven years of Erasmus Mundus are like pleasant dreams. I believe I will have an equally exciting season 3 somewhere sometime later. </span><i style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Until then.</span></i></p>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/rO-McbaFC10" width="480"></iframe>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-39047418445029062432022-04-10T17:49:00.000+01:002022-04-11T06:40:27.274+01:00Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2022<p>This year, Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is open to anyone who is a newbie to open source. Not just students. As such, we replace the term "Student" with "Contributor" this year.<br /></p>Given below is an introductory presentation to GSoC 2022.
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/6BCkT7JhlOkIyv" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="595"> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"> <b> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/kkpradeeban/google-summer-of-code-gsoc-2022-251060288" target="_blank" title="Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2022">Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2022</a> </b> from <b><a href="//www.slideshare.net/kkpradeeban" target="_blank">Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.</a></b> </div>
There
are some more important changes to GSoC
this year compared to the past years. Specifically, workload has been
made flexible this year. Some projects are medium size, requiring a
half-time effort (18 hrs/week, 175 hours in total) as in 2021. Other
projects are large projects (full-time, 35 hrs/week, 350 hours in
total). Make sure to find the project that fits your availability. Of
course, large projects yield to double the stipend compared to the
medium size project, as your effort will be double too. Additional
flexibility also include the potential to complete the GSoC up to 2
months later, with the mentors' prior approval. <p style="text-align: justify;">2020
and before, the potential to commit full-time to GSoC was a major
deciding
factor. Mentors would avoid selecting candidates who already have an
on-going internship or a job unless they still exhibit the potential to
commit the same amount of time and effort. This year, just like 2021,
allows the half-time (medium-size projects) contributors to have other
internships in parallel.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Mentors and collaborators can even schedule
their work hours the way they see fit.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Good luck! <br /></p><b> </b> Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-8950522597869140582022-04-09T05:57:00.004+01:002022-05-16T20:17:36.834+01:00Random spam and a train journey...<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCctg8DTP5YKb_8YEGLILde2drMs71og5copN5owtiIwH-K5DNhEv4l2yI5RLFQp0Vptvato769bCdSdZ9P85vmlWbk2pM3ZYvZ-mNfPcKqD7crCi_pyNu76Yd7XSvn_6qqMdCyQbnph7XRBhIwV37FeAnfFoHn0OKOKDePC62IQ1YOfs2odHGBTcKMw/s4032/IMG_0467.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCctg8DTP5YKb_8YEGLILde2drMs71og5copN5owtiIwH-K5DNhEv4l2yI5RLFQp0Vptvato769bCdSdZ9P85vmlWbk2pM3ZYvZ-mNfPcKqD7crCi_pyNu76Yd7XSvn_6qqMdCyQbnph7XRBhIwV37FeAnfFoHn0OKOKDePC62IQ1YOfs2odHGBTcKMw/s320/IMG_0467.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kansas City, KS<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Have you ever received a WhatsApp or a WeChat (WeiXin) message like, "Hello, I'm Stella, are you Mr. Jack, the costume designer introduced by Annie?" from someone with a Chinese woman as the profile picture but a US number?</div></div><p style="text-align: justify;">My friends and I kept receiving those messages frequently. The template is always the same:<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">"Hello, I'm [a woman], are you [a man], [description to the man's job] introduced by [another woman / my colleague / my secretary]?"<br />A Google reverse image search on the profile picture will take you to the source - where they have stolen the image from. <br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">For fun, we tried to reply to those to see where they would go. "Oh, sorry, you have messaged the wrong person." They respond, "my bad, at least you are kind enough." But these never proceeded further. They always sensed that I was trolling them and discontinued the chat almost immediately.<br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQvy-3qwMnqOvT6s4KYU-eeiTW-3nhXvbeLeKZhm3LMlgY6ZYzI2Rsk5cc-3c-GvjHpr7nNJEh45eRnp5x3_NULit4zv9FXpNW1IzHOgmZXg36M5EkKDLnq1Y6snfKsDA8qieNwNCICTkDoy922eKY6VZkK6p1MtgJg6bhg7KsrNhE73R-zy2ES5jSg/s4032/IMG_0499.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQvy-3qwMnqOvT6s4KYU-eeiTW-3nhXvbeLeKZhm3LMlgY6ZYzI2Rsk5cc-3c-GvjHpr7nNJEh45eRnp5x3_NULit4zv9FXpNW1IzHOgmZXg36M5EkKDLnq1Y6snfKsDA8qieNwNCICTkDoy922eKY6VZkK6p1MtgJg6bhg7KsrNhE73R-zy2ES5jSg/s320/IMG_0499.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Train from Kansas City to ABQ<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">But managed to continue the chat a bit longer as I was on a long train trip. After this "wrong number," the person, who claimed to be a cloth designer from California, suggested I add to their Telegram since the WhatsApp is apparently for their work discussions only. So, I added them to their Telegram, a number from Indonesia. The person also introduced themself as a divorcee with a child and even shared a family photo (again, stolen from the Internet) after I shared a selfie from the train. They again shared the sketch of some cloth they designed and their lunch downloaded from the Internet. At this point, I can see how lazy these scammers are. They are not lazy. They just don't want to invest too much time on each potential victim as they cannot be bothered and have to function at large. Seriously, why can't they send an actual selfie of their lunch?</div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, in the beginning, they mentioned they also invest in crypto (they shared a selfie in front of a crypto dashboard - again taken from the Internet). At this point, I was sure this was either a crypto scam, romance scam, or a scam that would make me pay for their cloth design. This chat was dragging on over a couple of days as if they had formed a close and caring friendship with me. Usually, their conversation was in bad/broken English. But every time they talk about crypto, they get more professional and convincing - as if they were copy-pasting some paragraphs they wrote sometime back (not from the Internet. No text matches on the Internet). They even offered to help me invest. Ok, that is when I decided this was a crypto scam. My long train trip was coming to an end too. They also realized I wasn't falling for them - instead, I wasted their valuable scamming time. Their chat was getting repetitive with little time investment from them (just photos and videos stolen from the Internet). They stopped trying to convince me into crypto investments, and I blocked them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Some <a href="https://decrypt.co/56870/serbian-man-faces-trial-in-us-over-70-million-bitcoin-scam" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">arrests have been made on these crypto scams</a>.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-13232567016190548712022-03-02T23:55:00.005+00:002022-10-10T04:20:17.396+01:00When the reality exceeds the hype<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjm235vfaBeVD12ub-CgUBKJzis66pltEzvwS89lss__M8w5NR-GowUmLuULnPDIDtKpSD4pq85t8ZSbNglQpDlgy8pp4smG97zmRIsrVLB5ZdUPQe-waIkbkmPmqLBtqpYMG9zFmjitt3Y1YO1JEAcSnny729Myioxaco1zzli3YG78xjToZ5vTNIbLQ=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjm235vfaBeVD12ub-CgUBKJzis66pltEzvwS89lss__M8w5NR-GowUmLuULnPDIDtKpSD4pq85t8ZSbNglQpDlgy8pp4smG97zmRIsrVLB5ZdUPQe-waIkbkmPmqLBtqpYMG9zFmjitt3Y1YO1JEAcSnny729Myioxaco1zzli3YG78xjToZ5vTNIbLQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Utqiagvik airport, midwinter 2021, -35C<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Some events in life - we anticipate those for a long time. Before they happen, they feel almost like a dream. Then it happens. Sometimes they disappoint, after all those hypes and hopes. Other times, they surprise us even beyond our expectations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">A few come to my mind. First, the <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/Erasmus%20Mundus" target="_blank">Erasmus Mundus</a>. Doing an <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/EMDC" target="_blank">MSc in Europe</a>, not just in one country - but two! It felt like too good to be true. Then I got accepted and spent 2 years in Portugal and Sweden: 3 semesters in Lisboa and a semester in Stockholm, to be precise. I left Sri Lanka on the 20th August 2012, 10 years ago, and arrived in Lisboa on the 23rd August, after spending a few days in New Delhi. The Erasmus Mundus experience, especially as a masters student living alone for the first time, together with many similar students, felt special and it pleasantly surprised me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlN-5fH3ZGuEKsKTZYZRfv2mGhCM2QJtw7ZbIKiib0D0F6aNYXgX6YAyaWu-MINVCqu7wL2ROXEbpMl7DWD7_nmcNfgS3DLs929pb5XmrXNVH4Tr_mFPMLfkcL7uZqLkBZyJNCS-D4UQ7FrDy5MWuN0TpVRhd-bmqlyZ8eP70F12tc8L6PoBDbWB0sAw=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlN-5fH3ZGuEKsKTZYZRfv2mGhCM2QJtw7ZbIKiib0D0F6aNYXgX6YAyaWu-MINVCqu7wL2ROXEbpMl7DWD7_nmcNfgS3DLs929pb5XmrXNVH4Tr_mFPMLfkcL7uZqLkBZyJNCS-D4UQ7FrDy5MWuN0TpVRhd-bmqlyZ8eP70F12tc8L6PoBDbWB0sAw=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Utqiagvik airport, summer 2021<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>When I was in my third semester of the MSc, I applied to the <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/EMJD-DC" target="_blank">PhD program under the Erasmus Mundus</a> (now discontinued and replaced by Marie Curie funding) funding again. It felt it is going to be a larger version of the Erasmus Mundus masters, spending time in 2 EU countries again - but for 4 - 5 years. More time for those pleasant encounters. Then it happened. I spent my PhD in not just 2 countries in 2 years - rather 5 countries in 5 years! In addition to my universities in Portugal and Belgium (the host universities of my PhD program), I spent a few months in other universities in Croatia (1 month), USA (7 months), and Saudi Arabia (2 months), with research internships. While my MSc started this mobility experience with Portugal -> Sweden -> Portugal, my PhD felt like my MSc experience on steroids. More diverse experience. Now, looking back, my MSc + PhD experience of 7 years, 2012 August - 2019 August (2 years of MSc followed by 5 years of PhD) feels like a sweet past birth. An ultimate nomad life. I surely want to go back to Portugal for those memories.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXnIcp5mkGi5ijj-mZ7ViQF65fJxgvolUcGaz4RM9F002M1nmgP7CF0ga8aiw0rLj6dCkOHNnEWG5MIzjK855dh_fjN9L6aCBBwLhQlBrdO8V20UYP3f7pR4Y9x5mNMShozlVHUd8dZOagzZ7m4vKnQB9uTPdi1QpB_s2Fxew2VwVInUkW8kNnKL-qMA=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXnIcp5mkGi5ijj-mZ7ViQF65fJxgvolUcGaz4RM9F002M1nmgP7CF0ga8aiw0rLj6dCkOHNnEWG5MIzjK855dh_fjN9L6aCBBwLhQlBrdO8V20UYP3f7pR4Y9x5mNMShozlVHUd8dZOagzZ7m4vKnQB9uTPdi1QpB_s2Fxew2VwVInUkW8kNnKL-qMA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No sunrise in the midwinter in Arctic<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>My visit to the North Slope in Alaska in 2021 was a travel experience that exceeded my extremely high expectations. I visited Anchorage (and surrounding towns - Whittier and Spencer Glacier) and Utqiagvik (and Point Barrow) in the summer, after wanting to visit Alaska for 2 decades since 2001. Utqiagvik, the Arctic Alaska, felt other-worldly, despite being the USA. I had to visit Alaska again (!!!) within a few months, in the midwinter, as I was so mesmerized by Alaska - this time to Anchorage, Fairbanks (and College), and Utqiagvik. Again, Alaska exceeded my expectations, making me want to go there for the third time. I even like that tiny <a href="https://weatherspark.com/y/145049/Average-Weather-at-Wiley-Post-Will-Rogers-Memorial-Airport-Alaska-United-States-Year-Round" target="_blank">Utqiagvik Barrow Airport</a>. It does not have restaurants or anything fancy. But it has a minimalist and home feeling to it. Love that.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am happy for these memories. But that also means I also want to go back in time (i.e., visit these places again). Hope I will still love Alaska and Portugal the same when I visit them again.<br /></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-48158090617913885292022-03-01T01:42:00.006+00:002022-03-01T01:50:16.528+00:00The roads<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF8nUt42V_v6yYvRIGWSPia-jRqCHKuBFB6BP577Y_rZbTHjBHPzeyKehsC4inajSF5co7Llx2IhypX_J7w8TsHddYkflRUTuQxOTI7rvjZNk1nGI0MUW1S84g2pplh5E4rWh2fOXCwzbrXfSHp7LBuT96TcAG60tnIC3P3rSTxY_znpgQ0UV_czOv_g=s4032" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF8nUt42V_v6yYvRIGWSPia-jRqCHKuBFB6BP577Y_rZbTHjBHPzeyKehsC4inajSF5co7Llx2IhypX_J7w8TsHddYkflRUTuQxOTI7rvjZNk1nGI0MUW1S84g2pplh5E4rWh2fOXCwzbrXfSHp7LBuT96TcAG60tnIC3P3rSTxY_znpgQ0UV_czOv_g=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside in Birmingham, AL<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Roaming the streets with a small backpack is fun. It does not highlight me as a tourist. I like when I can make a story in an uneventful purchase. My current backpack has a story.<br /> <br />My previous backpack's front pocket zip got damaged in Fairbanks as I was roaming the streets in blizzard conditions. It just froze while I opened it. I tried to pull it hard, and it broke. I thought of continuing my onward journey (to Utqiagvik and finally to return to Atlanta) with a broken front zip. But that means my backpack's usable compartments become less. Since my flight from Fairbanks was delayed, I had two additional days in Fairbanks. Close to the hotel where I stayed for the second segment of my Fairbanks trip, there was a Walmart. I found this backpack in that Walmart and immediately bought it - to avoid traveling further with a useless front pocket.</div><p></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-55982665165120704422022-01-22T02:53:00.003+00:002022-01-22T02:53:35.924+00:00The 3rd year<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZkfJuJLMB_JmTq4AolQ9bLPYdZ2FtjtocH-Nf_IB5G3wV5ZQ_xObh8PIPIeXc_PQ7GyA2uD0cGwVZfT1J8J83JtRI-1lqU5ZvBh37zucC3qWQ-XX07e_T2uf8nmXWno4KGojJhFamNPzhsvAakWQPs8FaUrEwPv6CVxEz6L_LyyEb4UbYiwUf0a7K_w=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZkfJuJLMB_JmTq4AolQ9bLPYdZ2FtjtocH-Nf_IB5G3wV5ZQ_xObh8PIPIeXc_PQ7GyA2uD0cGwVZfT1J8J83JtRI-1lqU5ZvBh37zucC3qWQ-XX07e_T2uf8nmXWno4KGojJhFamNPzhsvAakWQPs8FaUrEwPv6CVxEz6L_LyyEb4UbYiwUf0a7K_w=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A seagull facing the Atlantic in Boston<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">We are reaching the end of January in 2022. The third year into the pandemic. The year seems to go pretty much like 2021. Old pre-pandemic memories are replaced by the lone memories of the pandemic. Let's see how long this goes.<br /></div><div> <p></p></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-79214071923474555352022-01-04T04:14:00.007+00:002022-03-01T02:52:37.774+00:00The Frozen Arctic<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTw9tXYZ4fUZHnFrZeuUcu8CWIQgkvX0zdYG8PoaavdnS4MfZ846-94TaMpVL44kh22579bIT6EULpw7OsaXv7wE40qZlxNEGyCYocgUitdcFmxWjbNMnanWRdHgqUKwN4KkCE-u_R9E95Suo_Lsfk6L0Xkzqk6h_aRQKmqEm0d0XsLB8_z5gOmrtarg=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTw9tXYZ4fUZHnFrZeuUcu8CWIQgkvX0zdYG8PoaavdnS4MfZ846-94TaMpVL44kh22579bIT6EULpw7OsaXv7wE40qZlxNEGyCYocgUitdcFmxWjbNMnanWRdHgqUKwN4KkCE-u_R9E95Suo_Lsfk6L0Xkzqk6h_aRQKmqEm0d0XsLB8_z5gOmrtarg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back, standing on frozen winter Arctic<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">I went for an early morning walk on the frozen Arctic Ocean with a headlight. It felt even colder than on the land. Also, more walks on the frozen middle lagoon lake in Utqiagvik. I was well-prepared for -50 F (-45 C) temperatures with proper layers of winter clothes and a good pair of long snow boots. Notably, this -34 C was the coldest weather I have ever been to. But I did not feel much cold except in my fingers as I removed the outer glove at times to focus the camera better.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">This was the most volatile and dynamic trip I have ever had. My initial trip plan was one night in Anchorage, four nights in Fairbanks (College), three nights in Utqiagvik, and two nights again in Anchorage - making a total of 10 nights in Alaskan hotels. However, the plan started to break as the blizzards strongly hit Fairbanks. The flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks was delayed on the day I was supposed to go to Utqiagvik. Eventually, the flight was canceled, and I was given a flight that departed two days later. Alaskan Airlines also told me there is no flight to Utqiagvik from Anchorage until January 2nd. That means the Utqiagvik segment of my trip was removed entirely—such an anti-climax.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I first had to cancel the non-refundable hotel booking of Utqiagvik. It was refundable until 72 hours. But now it is just a few hours, so it became non-refundable. But thankfully, King Eider Inn asked for my flight information and let me cancel it free of charge. Now, I must stay somewhere for two additional nights. My previous hotel was fully booked, although I tried to rebook it as I liked it. I also do not want to stay far from Fairbanks as there was a risk of road closures, and I cannot miss the flight to a road closure due to the ice and snow in the road.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I opened the booking.com app on my mobile. The app was timing out every time I came to the last booking step due to the slow Internet. These apps should cater to places with slow Internet better. There is no reason to time out within a minute when the request is sent. I also used the booking.com mobile browser and desktop browser options. They were timing out too. Finally, I booked a hotel directly using their website for two nights and went ahead to stay there.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Then, I called Alaska Airlines to get a refund for the unused ANC <-> BRW segment. They told me that there is a flight to BRW on the 1st and a return to ANC on the 2nd. I accepted it. That means one night in Anchorage. I booked for one night in Anchorage (unfortunately, too soon). Since it is a booking that comes too soon, it is also non-refundable. On the 31st morning, I arrived at Fairbanks airport. Found a flight that is leaving earlier. I waitlisted myself. And they let me fly the earlier flight. I arrived in Anchorage early enough to catch the fight going right now to Utqiagvik. I quickly asked them to waitlist me, and they instantly let me fly. That means two days in Utqiagvik. December 31st and January 1st nights. I happily boarded the flight. I asked the hotel in Anchorage to change the non-refundable hotel booking to Jan 2nd night. They rejected my request, although they could have offered to help, as it was all bad weather (acts of God. Even Alaskan Airlines did not compensate for these changes and subsequent losses, citing this as an act of God) and dynamic planning. I lost 110$ for that stupid booking. Anyway, not a huge deal.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I landed in Utqiagvik, headed to King Eider Inn without a booking. I asked for a two-night stay, explaining the whole ordeal of canceled flights. As I was expecting (unlikely to have many tourists to the Arctic in midwinter), they had a room for me. They even offered me a free upgrade with a kitchenette for both nights (20$ per night extra usually). I had a great time for both days/nights in Utqiavik. I even cooked my meals in the kitchenette as the restaurants were closed due to COVID19 and the new year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">On January 2nd night, I arrive at Anchorage airport. My flight to Atlanta was on January 3rd morning. But since the hotel did not accept my request for a change of dates, I had to book another room. It is already the end of my trip. I was already tired and just going to Anchorage to sleep for the night with another booking; unpacking and repacking the backpack and suitcase filled with dirty clothes is not fun. I went to the Delta counter again. Waitlisted myself to the earlier flight to Seattle. I got myself to Seattle, and eventually to Atlanta in an earlier flight and arrived in Atlanta on the 3rd evening, rather than the 4th morning.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Overall, this was my most dynamic trip with unexpected changes. Thankfully, I lost only 110$, or rather, a value of a hotel for a night in Anchorage. Anyway, I shortened my trip by one night, making it a 9-night trip (1 night in Anchorage, four nights in Fairbanks/College, two nights in Fairbanks, and two nights in Utqiagvik), rather than the initial plan of 10-nights. So it was more of a lost night, rather than a 110$. This also made me rethink how and when to book a hotel when traveling locally.<br /></span></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-77802510272276778322021-12-31T23:44:00.605+00:002022-01-13T16:31:24.103+00:00 A few things that made my 2021 interesting..<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdIm2nAKoAr2ywnjUip952LnXUVii-mFtvWCnQCway4vtKP5_nWgqN-105tPSbz1LeafurjHPMccBOnPOP8Le07UwII1zrD4w1FcdUpmSQuYWeyR7iDC5-P4hhHmkIfECjMq1P2czgCspx0AOwn6q7C0gDNHs65RH0SsDU6tTalbw_irN5iyJVsMZLqg=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdIm2nAKoAr2ywnjUip952LnXUVii-mFtvWCnQCway4vtKP5_nWgqN-105tPSbz1LeafurjHPMccBOnPOP8Le07UwII1zrD4w1FcdUpmSQuYWeyR7iDC5-P4hhHmkIfECjMq1P2czgCspx0AOwn6q7C0gDNHs65RH0SsDU6tTalbw_irN5iyJVsMZLqg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Arctic seas meeting, a late midnight</td></tr></tbody></table>2021 is still a pandemic year that often felt like 2020. However, overall, the year was more positive. It was not better than my pre-pandemic best years (2019, 2017, 2015, and 2013). But this post focuses on the happy moments.<br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">1. The Alaskan Arctic, twice - in the peak summer and the peak winter!</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Witnessed the Arctic transforming completely with seasons from 24 hours sunlight to no sunrise. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Visit Alaska</span> was my childhood dream since 2001. After two decades, visited twice this year, and experienced the taiga and tundra biomes of Alaska.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/08/searching.html" target="_blank"><b>2. A "Polar Bear Plunge" in the Northernmost Point of Alaska in the North Slope Borough</b></a><b> </b><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">On a fine summer day, I jumped into the Arctic Ocean at Point Barrow (Nuvuk), where the Chukchi sea meets the Beaufort Sea. Nuvuk and Utqiagvik are now the northernmost and westernmost points I have ever been to. The water was not as cold as I anticipated. But I had to dry myself quickly and put my layers of clothes back on - as outside air in Utqiagvik was cold even in the peak summer, and water on skin makes it feel colder.<b><br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/12/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-in.html" target="_blank"><b>3. Witnessing Northern Lights two nights consecutively!</b></a><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">On New Year's Eve and the night of Jan 1st, 2022. The NYE had a magical feeling to it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilW5WEGCrcVu6u3QGX56pBwxBgF5FZS31Hnp49XCdE84cLO5yuNGtCT07ZFaf3rC49WSQil7azZG-2DO8bBAO6S1Bw8xq73VGo4G3ZdbOl7c3VNBk-CVx4QawkQZxp0mIg01opG9bmNhTUi8HsbNkLIf6iQn166d3Uc3aWoxqwaa9n75TIsBviR_JUig=s4032" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilW5WEGCrcVu6u3QGX56pBwxBgF5FZS31Hnp49XCdE84cLO5yuNGtCT07ZFaf3rC49WSQil7azZG-2DO8bBAO6S1Bw8xq73VGo4G3ZdbOl7c3VNBk-CVx4QawkQZxp0mIg01opG9bmNhTUi8HsbNkLIf6iQn166d3Uc3aWoxqwaa9n75TIsBviR_JUig=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valley of Fire State Park, NV<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-inevitable-evil-now-known-as-zoom.html" target="_blank"><b>4. </b></a><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-inevitable-evil-now-known-as-zoom.html" target="_blank"><b>Exploring the culinary scene of Northern Virginia (NOVA).</b></a><br /></span></p><p><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A calm Uzbek restaurant in Arlington and a seafood restaurant in Alexandria.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">5. Getting stuck in Fairbanks in a historical "Icemageddon." <br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Canceled and delayed flights lengthened my stay from 4 nights to 6 nights. I handled an extremely volatile itinerary elegantly.<br /></span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>6. Long walks on cold Arctic winter temperatures of -34C, feels like -40C.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The weather app warned frostbites to exposed skin in 2 minutes and asked not to go outdoors. I did. I got a frostnip on my left thumb once too. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/10/heating-and-hot-water-diaries.html" target="_blank"><b>7. Spencer Glacier and the blue glaciers of Whittier and surroundings</b></a><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">A scenic hike and standing in Spencer glaciers, and short walks in Whittier.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-immigrants-and-trolls-of-sri-lanka.html" target="_blank"><b>8. The view from Mount Evans, high at 4,348 m elevation</b></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> It is the highest I have ever been. And the scenic drive with mountain goats in the streets.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>9. Arriving at Las Vegas, NV via long dark streets from Kanab, UT</b> </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Slushies in Las Vegas was the weakest alcohol I have ever tried. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>10. The desert landscapes of NV and CA</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Licked (!! because, why not?) some salt from the lowest elevations (-86 m) of death valley, and some hikes in the valley of fire, Joshua tree, and Mojave parks and forests.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-rise-and-fall-of-twitter-star.html" target="_blank"><b>11. The French Quarter of New Orleans</b></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">It has this genuine European charm and nightlife that I haven't felt elsewhere in the USA.<b> </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b></b></p><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6G1pFyffIRoRlHj0HtyhHMsnf3ji8ThWR4GzhQxHhHTwpmUt8U5JC7z-GZT4GbjcN1whp5XZrp2ie_dioR9cba0kmE23Jwof0LWua92G-TDYyLwiFwfyGKDZHGOJeMa9vL3fgQcm4fiT86IW_NUuQCJwaQfV4YRGj5AkMJ_C4rEpYQDyxGuCWK4moFA=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6G1pFyffIRoRlHj0HtyhHMsnf3ji8ThWR4GzhQxHhHTwpmUt8U5JC7z-GZT4GbjcN1whp5XZrp2ie_dioR9cba0kmE23Jwof0LWua92G-TDYyLwiFwfyGKDZHGOJeMa9vL3fgQcm4fiT86IW_NUuQCJwaQfV4YRGj5AkMJ_C4rEpYQDyxGuCWK4moFA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mount Evans, a Fourteener of CO.</td></tr></tbody></table>12. Witnessing the bore tides in real-time from the train ride</b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">From Anchorage towards the south, magnificent views of mudflats and glacier-covered mountains of Chugach National Forest.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>13. 20 km frequent weekend walks in Atlanta Beltline west and south and Stone mountain trail<br /></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">More explorations of South and West Atlanta; leisure walks in roadsides of various neighborhoods such as Edgewood, Cabbage town, and College Park; and interesting mini hikes such as Doll's Head Trail/Constitution Lakes Park.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/03/long-weekends-and-short-trips.html" target="_blank"><b>14. Disconnecting from the world in Charlotte.</b></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Long weekend brief trips are fun. I liked the 7th Street Public Market.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/01/google-summer-of-code-gsoc-2021.html" target="_blank"><b>15. EmoryBMI Google Summer of Code - a successful summer as a mentor for two projects and the org admin</b></a></span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Our sister organization caMicroscope had a productive summer too, I learned from their mentors. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>16. The 2 Pfizer shots and the Moderna booster </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">They gave hope for a year that overwhelmingly felt like a twin of depressing 2020.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b></b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6W5tFbuE6TTfefSu0YBgZ8GMUS6FyP84-f0xl75zKDGZbZR6BMmPy39W_6KZuVYkcf2OlPpM6U5EdMVWMAf-7e2wvdbn9BfBk4q_pwlUD31iB1oo9GLjYgaQ0WeATtOEZiHFjD51JAZCfxE5beZNAPc9CH0rT2ThqLpYW5108SRpUeSNng0fx32ULEQ=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6W5tFbuE6TTfefSu0YBgZ8GMUS6FyP84-f0xl75zKDGZbZR6BMmPy39W_6KZuVYkcf2OlPpM6U5EdMVWMAf-7e2wvdbn9BfBk4q_pwlUD31iB1oo9GLjYgaQ0WeATtOEZiHFjD51JAZCfxE5beZNAPc9CH0rT2ThqLpYW5108SRpUeSNng0fx32ULEQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spencer Glacier in summer<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/06/immigrant-diaries.html" target="_blank">17. Crossing the bridge to Camden, NJ from Philadelphia, PA.</a></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Almost summer - but it was rainy and cold. Thankfully, Philly had some nice cafes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/06/interstates-freeways-and-failed-towns.html" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>18. Getting soaked in a heavy thunderstorm in Bonita Lakes Park in Meridian, MS.</b></span></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The town has some ghost vibes, like a haunted town. I won't recommend walking alone there at nights. It is a ghost paradise.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>19. Burgers and CBD water outside the Illegal Burger restaurant, Denver downtown<br /></b>Met some interesting strangers in Denver/Colfax, Idaho Springs, Boulder, and Littleton.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>20. Accepted journal papers - a productive year for research.<a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/11/niffler-dicom-framework-for-machine.html" target="_blank"><br /></a></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/11/niffler-dicom-framework-for-machine.html" target="_blank">Niffler at Journal of Digital Imaging (JDI)</a>, <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9541163/" target="_blank">NEXUS at IEEE Access</a>, and <a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/04/viseu-virtual-internet-services-at-edge.html" target="_blank">Viseu at Elsevier Computer Networks (COMNET)</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>21. Regular dentist visits after a decade. It was expensive.<br /></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Since I did not spend considerable time with humans this year, my dentist became the person I most interacted with this year.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">22. Exploring Washington DC with my former colleague.</span></span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It reminded our Atlanta walks pre-pandemic in 2020. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjerbDoJ4i4y-wpc-E5jH2yDYhUXIITEOWN4sEdt2a4ro-0bEjZV57e-apawh-nLrzR4TSzvuLHHeVqawVYG2M00QXWf2n37Zd-xmmWDhLEXJR2VmQBiq5P4_EJrMHwSVQLw5N6usrzt33BmiXXUQi49YCsIzZ6jRjxubtYL7JOZMAdwvcdkYAejs2WJg=s4032" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjerbDoJ4i4y-wpc-E5jH2yDYhUXIITEOWN4sEdt2a4ro-0bEjZV57e-apawh-nLrzR4TSzvuLHHeVqawVYG2M00QXWf2n37Zd-xmmWDhLEXJR2VmQBiq5P4_EJrMHwSVQLw5N6usrzt33BmiXXUQi49YCsIzZ6jRjxubtYL7JOZMAdwvcdkYAejs2WJg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Orleans French Quarter<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>23. Discovering Chungha's music and becoming a fan.<br /></b></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/05/perceived-time-is-not-linear-entity.html" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">INNA, my all-time favorite since 2013 from Romania, also had some great music this year.</span></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>24. A colorful view from the apartment in central Portland.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">It
was a trip-inside-a-trip from Seattle in a serial trip. In such backpacking trips, especially including flights,
packing-unpacking-and-repacking, ensuring not to mix the still-clean
clothes with dirty/used ones, is an art.</span></p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/12/watch-local.html" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/12/randomness.html" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>25. Up and downhills of Seattle on rainy Thanksgiving days.</b></span></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Chinatown / International District was nice for a good walk, despite the bad weather. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="http://emergingtechnet.org/SDS2021/" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>26. Software-Defined Systems SDS 2021 Conference.</b></span></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Nice to meet my peers, although it was virtual. I was also the technical program committee (TPC) chair.<br /></span></p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/12/watch-local.html" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>27. Snow covered Christmas Eve in Anchorage</b></span></a></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">This was my first white Christmas, everything covered in heaps of snow and snowflakes falling occasionally. Loved that feeling. I used icicles to write Happy New Year on snow. 2021 was easily my most favorite and unique Christmas.</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b> </b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIK1q4TLOLfsn5zu1NK3fKc13k5z30ItdXMw4AbduvJrOyzX-KARsiI5RzJcqkEpnUfh7czLFm4laLiqjYsgHiHlx8-1hF1oWh2Du0JndB-IQN5ME_msLwhcDEOWM3ILng-Pdbp2tuagkJ_m6QJyiF7v_j4F7zion4LGwsZfbzaGYqrGMVuajH_L30zQ=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIK1q4TLOLfsn5zu1NK3fKc13k5z30ItdXMw4AbduvJrOyzX-KARsiI5RzJcqkEpnUfh7czLFm4laLiqjYsgHiHlx8-1hF1oWh2Du0JndB-IQN5ME_msLwhcDEOWM3ILng-Pdbp2tuagkJ_m6QJyiF7v_j4F7zion4LGwsZfbzaGYqrGMVuajH_L30zQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking across the frozen Chena River<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b>28. C</b></span><b>rossing Chena River on foot from Pike's Landing, College, AK.</b><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">To get a selfie with the "Love Alaska" sign on Christmas day. In the winter, this "path" is also known as "Ice Bridge" but becomes an actively flowing river when it gets warmer in spring to autumn.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>29. Reading a book outside in the snow by the fireside in Fairbanks.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Thanks to the hotel's library and the beautiful view that the snow had crafted.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-interior-alaska-icemageddon-2021.html" target="_blank"><b><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">30. Dangerously slippery roads of downtown Fairbanks</span></b></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Walked across the entire downtown Fairbanks on various types of snow, ice, and slush - The good
traction for my long boots prevented me from slipping on the heaps of snow with ice layers.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Every
year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous
years. :) </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">2021</span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> was not a bad year, and comparing it with my pre-pandemic years is unfair.</span> It was better than 2020, and it was the best I could achieve solo in a pandemic. I expect 2022 to bring an end to this crisis </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">and</span> bring back happiness to the 2019 pre-pandemic level. I wish
you a happy new year.</span> </span><i style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may read the blog posts of all the <a href="http://kkpradeeban.blogspot.com/search/label/Annual%20Post" target="_blank">previous years</a> as well.</span></i></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-86805327508002656032021-12-31T22:35:00.050+00:002022-01-07T18:04:17.562+00:00Northern lights (aurora borealis) in Utqiagvik<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK3R7baUFz-UocbgwnRBSS-ZrSo-Ui3LO_sGbCT40Vr3RABmiAxpgYi-INX05DZZGTzvO2YPYPOl5BCTdAO7Vxd3-14Js6bljElY0P8xnsDRv9PySxitQB_j_yBdqsUE1FG1ybYFmmxHZzs7tG6VQwZj5rRX3x4lZusxXaClk2tep8Bf9xpMnu3OsseA=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK3R7baUFz-UocbgwnRBSS-ZrSo-Ui3LO_sGbCT40Vr3RABmiAxpgYi-INX05DZZGTzvO2YPYPOl5BCTdAO7Vxd3-14Js6bljElY0P8xnsDRv9PySxitQB_j_yBdqsUE1FG1ybYFmmxHZzs7tG6VQwZj5rRX3x4lZusxXaClk2tep8Bf9xpMnu3OsseA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Utqiagvik gives an easy access<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Northern lights have an 11-year cycle like a sine curve with a maximum and minimum. The last maximum was in 2014, and the next maximum will be in 2025. The minimum was in 2019. In 2021/2022, we are still slightly closer to the minimum than the maximum. When it is at the maximum, the displays will be stronger. But then there is also a 27-day cycle of repeating patterns, showing displays from September to March in the northern hemisphere. Other days of the year will be too bright with the late-night sun for the lights to be visible. </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.gi.alaska.edu/monitors/aurora-forecast" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #4a6ee0; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;" target="_blank"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #4a6ee0; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The 27-day forecast</span></a><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">, with updates every Monday at 7 am Eastern Time, comes in handy.</span></div><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><p></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirkRGaSW0PXtSG5cp9Rq9zQtvXIM4HWpWLOL-xZdBnrqFZozsy5chQQ_pupnUtJZEbRO8M__Ves0OWpzWVDoFiH2whObHCQbLubKo24zK3Hgk_tMysDkEkzFFOTZ8sgBHbFTMSDA0bUsent5jgBiCtP027VX66lA9fah3p-JYl1CL9IP4Cl3VWObIOrg=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirkRGaSW0PXtSG5cp9Rq9zQtvXIM4HWpWLOL-xZdBnrqFZozsy5chQQ_pupnUtJZEbRO8M__Ves0OWpzWVDoFiH2whObHCQbLubKo24zK3Hgk_tMysDkEkzFFOTZ8sgBHbFTMSDA0bUsent5jgBiCtP027VX66lA9fah3p-JYl1CL9IP4Cl3VWObIOrg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aurora views until NYE Fireworks<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Although the common wisdom is, further north gives better views, that is not always true. The magnetic pole is slightly tilted from the north pole. Consequently, you see the lights more in the south in Canada compared to Alaska. Also, it is a ring known as Auroral Oval. A few places such as Iqaluit, the rest of the northern Nunavut, and north Greenland are too far north to be ideal. However, the darkness of Iqaluit and the rest of Nunavut is an advantage. But heading way too north such as Grise Fiord or Alert in Nunavut will hurt and ruin your chances of seeing those lights. Yellowknife would be better. Even Iqaluit will be okay. Every city will of course try to advertise itself as the best place to view the northern lights, due to the tourist potential. </span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span>Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow. The northernmost town of the USA in Alaska. </span></span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span>Utqiaġvik</span></span> also has the northernmost point of the USA, known as Nuvuk or Point Barrow)</span> is not particularly touristic for northern lights, although summer gets more visitors for the 24 hours Sun and an Arctic plunge in Barrow Point, the literal northernmost point of the USA.</span><br /></div><div><p></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><p></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimjFp90T5MO2vXFdNXj3s4XAkLkEvIF1vIRFKGCFRTnFR2N-mrN8aWgbOYcszXxptJVbY5SbF-QpM-b0knCgdLWpno3L63NHe7xZDtaGhPMeErG-US3Ely0URYzZOUNRnK5NZ_uABXa8NR_gN17IJ5bXAElzYScz-8wjLmef4Upsh3mh9Kw1KlOgvc8g=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEimjFp90T5MO2vXFdNXj3s4XAkLkEvIF1vIRFKGCFRTnFR2N-mrN8aWgbOYcszXxptJVbY5SbF-QpM-b0knCgdLWpno3L63NHe7xZDtaGhPMeErG-US3Ely0URYzZOUNRnK5NZ_uABXa8NR_gN17IJ5bXAElzYScz-8wjLmef4Upsh3mh9Kw1KlOgvc8g=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With the city view, some light pollution<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">For the same reason, I heard that Fairbanks and slightly north of Fairbanks is better than Utqiagvik for the displays as Utqiagvik is almost at the northern end of the ring whereas slightly north of Fairbanks is right under the oval. However, a dark sky with less light pollution (far from city centers) and clear cloudless skies are even more critical. I stayed in a hotel in College, AK, right next to the frozen Chena River. It is supposed to be better than staying in central downtown Fairbanks. It is also more convenient than heading towards a destination for the view - although having a dedicated viewpoint makes the views more pleasant. But, we could cross the frozen river by walking on it and going to the Love Alaska sign on the opposite side. Having such access helps with the potential to sleep in your room until an alarm sounds from your Aurora app or the hotel reception (the hotel reception can wake you up for sightings - but do not rely on them entirely).</span><p></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"></p><p style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqqg08rByJTFXB51Lvc0XtWsenr4WdZaYqRL1bYMly03hyap_HQkfg4XwdeH2ajwYvJkObk8oI85dI6xs-EOlDuWLNv36VOGV36XwzvPLuS9mqJM3vRBd5gf4NQm4_ZuvHMbCsCdb_wV5dQKppy5tPeQmcQJSXi1Z-zmiHh-sMG1exDMZtKiFEdvnm4w=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqqg08rByJTFXB51Lvc0XtWsenr4WdZaYqRL1bYMly03hyap_HQkfg4XwdeH2ajwYvJkObk8oI85dI6xs-EOlDuWLNv36VOGV36XwzvPLuS9mqJM3vRBd5gf4NQm4_ZuvHMbCsCdb_wV5dQKppy5tPeQmcQJSXi1Z-zmiHh-sMG1exDMZtKiFEdvnm4w=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stars were visible too.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> Unfortunately, the eight nights I spent in Fairbanks had 100% cloud coverage due to continuous blizzards. But luckily enough, when I landed in Utqiagvik, it had a fully clear sky. Then I saw the northern lights on both nights (new year's eve night and the night after new year) I stayed there. The temperature was dropping to -34C at the two nights, and that was enough to kill my iPhone within a couple of seconds when I took it out and drained my camera battery in 5 minutes. I also kept a spare battery in my winter parka's inner pocket. That gave me a total of 10 minutes and a need to rush with photos rather than carefully focus. Also, it was a solo self-managed trip, and I was taking photos from the street rather than in a campsite with some fire to warm up. Although my photos do not give the show the justice it deserves, it was a magnificent display.</span></div><p></p></div>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-53483254819982251902021-12-31T19:27:00.010+00:002022-01-06T23:18:32.034+00:00The Interior Alaska Icemageddon 2021<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI-zBYCvkAU8-4uKyapilSBFQy8EKgVFlqORB8gf4fnvjD42Fxl2iTn3fIqCycREYeLcWXNvAzTlUTL0qCdQVQOKJLaNgTvC8pUgdLaUucTf6N0lftPKiynl5-0Kc9bCVkRXsiYZlvkN_1a1xRKykgLeLM_pSenR4t_f_2RUseKPx55QC5xcPtoKo7Hg=s5184" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="5184" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhI-zBYCvkAU8-4uKyapilSBFQy8EKgVFlqORB8gf4fnvjD42Fxl2iTn3fIqCycREYeLcWXNvAzTlUTL0qCdQVQOKJLaNgTvC8pUgdLaUucTf6N0lftPKiynl5-0Kc9bCVkRXsiYZlvkN_1a1xRKykgLeLM_pSenR4t_f_2RUseKPx55QC5xcPtoKo7Hg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ice and snow everywhere in Fairbanks<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>It was a historical record-breaking blizzard, dubbed "Icemageddon." Due to that, unfortunately, the northern lights were not visible in Fairbanks, although predicted high as Kp=4 during the stay. Otherwise, it would have been a sure thing. Chena River was frozen just in the backside of the hotel I stayed. Just walk across the frozen river to the "Love Alaska" sign and enough darkness to witness the northern lights in peace.<br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Luckily, I went further north and spent two nights in <span>Utqiaġvik</span>, where I saw the northern lights on both nights. I was also well prepared with warm clothes and traction for my boots. Therefore, the cold Alaskan and Arctic climate did not bother me.<br /><br />There were some mini power issues and long queues in the hotel. It was a bit annoying in the beginning. But later, I stayed two nights in another place in Fairbanks and realized it was a widespread issue across Fairbanks due to the blizzard. Power issues were all over Fairbanks. Roads were in horrible condition, and many were closed. The flight was delayed by two days - although Alaska Airlines tried their best to accommodate every request to their best. Most restaurants and establishments downtown were closed for a couple of days.<br /></p>Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1478030848346376035.post-80290838881246221592021-12-30T20:24:00.003+00:002022-01-06T21:20:49.397+00:00Watch local<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7ZM3SAaVYOKQzcWHI3xcxMV5OLja6-6a8vnLAg5DEJFf8752X8eHzqMLTXkcjaL1NHv_lAxrjAJziYLgFHLl-edZ55UDmZUlJVD_pZdjEyNjqXTk5FHIyW0IRNmib-DP05kLzc1jKFAmrqe13xsLCOIxoKFpzuIMDrJGzNS1B6JhrTO_Chlr4eaiYPg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7ZM3SAaVYOKQzcWHI3xcxMV5OLja6-6a8vnLAg5DEJFf8752X8eHzqMLTXkcjaL1NHv_lAxrjAJziYLgFHLl-edZ55UDmZUlJVD_pZdjEyNjqXTk5FHIyW0IRNmib-DP05kLzc1jKFAmrqe13xsLCOIxoKFpzuIMDrJGzNS1B6JhrTO_Chlr4eaiYPg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anchorage, Alaska<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />YouTube algorithm and the English-speaking media have biased us to watch more American (primarily white) content. Even when we travel to a remote location, a simple YouTube search yields mainly videos by travel influencers rather than locals and natives. That steals the locals the opportunity to showcase and monetize their content. These days, whenever and wherever I travel, I make it a point to search and find content made by locals rather than western/white/American tourists.</div><p></p><p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y6aFD4yqlLc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>Some local content on Yakutia, Russia.Pradeeban Kathiravelu, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02966629782470028375noreply@blogger.com0