To Markov chains and circuit relays...

I spent the whole day understanding stochastic processes and power protection. In between, to not to lose contact with reality, I read a few pages of Linguistics by David Crystal and the evergreen ToI.

Just to get a feel of Markov chains I wiki-ed the term and found that they are used in myriad applications. From Music theory to biology the usage was marvellous. Then I looked up Stochastic Process and found that the Brownian motion which is exhibited by pollen grains floating on water surface is an example of continuous-time stochastic process. A very interestingly comical link which I found was of Markov Bible. The Markov monkey claims that each time you open a book of the Bible, the content will be different from that obtained the previous time.

Though the practicality of what I was studying increased by enthusiasm, but the latter part of the theory couldn't keep me awake for long.

Next I went over to Power System Engineering and it proved to be much more soporific than its predecessor. Even the match wasn't interesting enough.Test matches have lost their sheen to the much more exciting 20-20 format. Who wants to wait for five days when three hours are enough to decide? The common man seems to have given precedence to instant satisfaction, over class and beauty(aesthetic contentment) which comes out in full flow only in Tests.

The relays and their hardware were too bizarre and gross to digest. So I switched over again to Linguistics. It told me the importance of communication and how it differs from language in a very fundamental way e.g. the mention of the word 'automation' by a manager can have far-reaching consequences for the company. The workers might consider it to be a threat pertaining to attrition. Whereas the manager simply wanted to stress upon efficiency and optimization. This is 'communication gap' which can sometimes wreak havoc upon the company. Another point it stressed upon was that the 'speaking form' of English is very different from the 'writing form'. What is actually taught is the latter one with almost negligible stress on the former -a subtle mistake upon the part of the linguists scholars and teachers.

The drag carries on to the next day which will then be carried to the next and next and so on. Procrastination is my way, otherwise it's the highway!