Introducing the Bhavana Little Magazine

 The first volume of the Bhavana Little Magazine is ready. We are excited. 

It is available from this link: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11iavbitiPGvKCemzKmb0wBSiVx48Saxn/view?usp=sharing

Thank you to the editorial team (special thanks to Lekha Sengupta and Manoj Pooleery) for all the help with editorial suggestions. Thanks also to all the contributors, without whose efforts this first volume would not have been possible. 

Please share the magazine with friends and family. We eagerly await your comments and suggestions. Please write to us at bhavanamag@gmail.com

The next volume is anticipated in Spring 2021. The theme for that volume is the interplay of mathematics, literature and art. We solicit original contributions in that realm, although other contributions deemed appropriate for the little magazine are certainly welcome. 

Stay tuned for a formal call for contributions in early Spring.

Sharp shinned hawk on a tree outside our house.

More information about the bird is available here - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sharp-shinned_Hawk/id

 

Identifying finches/warblers and Google's image identification software

American Goldfinch

From a distance

The wings

I spotted an American Goldfinch today during my morning walk. Check out more about them here.

Naturally, I was excited and wanted to photograph it, knowing well that finches/warblers are not cooperative subjects and in fact are among the toughest to photograph given their size and habits (they are small and very fast). Don't get mistaken by the size of the photograph -- I used a 12X50 High Power Magnification Monocular Telescope to get that picture.

But the point is this -- Google's image matching software was a disappointment. It identified my image as an Eurasian Golden Oriole. I have seen orioles frequently in India and at least know that they are much larger in size and have different features than finches/warblers. Their algorithm needs fixing.

Flowers from the vegetable garden

Summer squash and its varied uses

The leaves, stalk and flowers of the summer squash are all edible. 

Fritters: Cut the flowers into long thin strips. Dip in a mixture of corn flour, turmeric, salt and a dash of baking powder thinned with water and fry in oil -- the fritters are crisp and golden yellow in color. The leaves can also be chopped into small pieces and added to the corn flour mixture and fried as fritters. These end up being more greenish in color. 

Vegetable medley: Chop pumpkin leaves, stalks, flowers into small pieces. Dice some potatoes, arbi, egg plant, pumpkin or squash. In hot oil, add jeera and mustard seeds until the mustard splutters. Add in chopped green chillies (to taste) and ginger. Put in all the diced vegetables, add turmeric and salt and let in cook covered for about twenty minutes. Stir to make sure that there is adequate water and the vegetables are cooking properly. When they all dry up, add hing and garam masala to taste. A recipe from rural Bengal, usually enjoyed with daal or kichuri -- on a rainy day with pitar pater of raindrops on the windows.

Kadhi: Take thick curd and mix with a pinch of salt and sugar. Add water to thin out the curd. In a wok heat onions, tomatoes and ginger and saute until they turn mushy. Add curry leaves and green chillies to taste. Transfer this mixture to the curd diluted with water (almost the consistency of butter milk). Add in the fritters from above and enjoy on a warm day! 

How does one get the support vectors from Weka's version of libSVM

Here is a small snippet of code that let's you accomplish this task. It uses reflection in java.

Bird watching on a hot summer day

Conception of a nest

Eastern Phoebe

Cardinal

Barn Swallow