Of lightning bolts and fat men

          Some months ago, we witnessed a remarkable feat- Usain Bolt's performance in the 100m dash in the Olympics. A natural 200m runner, he was slow off the blocks (sixth it turned out) lagging behind till he could hit his stride about a third of the way into the race. Once he was got going at the pace only he can, the only question was whether 100m was enough for him to pull clear. He pulled clear with a little distance to go, looked to his two sides, and pulled began his celebrations a good 15m from the tape. This did not stop him from getting a world record.

          Watching this on television, we were subject to a certain fat man, supposedly a cricket expert, going on about how it was so wrong for the lightning bolt to start his celebrations early and so not finish faster. Somebody should have told him that if he trained 1/1000 as much as Usain Bolt, he would not be so fat (and presumably less obnoxious too). 

         We are a country of `experts' criticising (abusing) all out public figures and analysing all their actions, with performance being attribute to `teamwork', `confidence' etc., or the lack thereof. The (immense) hard work during training, as also the reality that the task these performers face are very difficult, never figure. Hardly surpirising - much of the `analysis' happens in lieu of doing one's job.

Mathematical Exceptionalism

           During the 2008 elections in the US, `American exceptionalism' - the idea that america is special and so what holds for the rest of the world does not hold for the US - had become a campaign issue with Sarah Palin as the face. 

           Mathematicians often work in the setting of a Science and Engineering research institute. This leads to friction - the needs of mathematics are somewhat different for reasons good and bad. Mathematicians keep trying to convince others that they are `different'. 

           The disturbing side to this - when coming from mathematicians,`different' really means ... . In other words -  Mathematical exceptionalism.