Why would the internet need zipping?
Well, let’s take documents, images, music and movies.
Each of them is encoded in different formats. And the higher the file resolution, the bigger the file size.
To send them across the net, especially when bandwidth was nowhere near the capacities we have today, there was only one way to do it.
Lossless compression.
Thank Jacob Ziv. Born in 1931 in what would become a part of Israel.
His Ph.D. research at Cambridge University in 1960 involved finding a method to encode and decode messages sent through a noisy channel.
At that point, no one had a clue on how it could be done.
The principle was the same as the way Morse code was developed. Since 'e' is the most used letter, it was depicted by a single dot.
He and Abraham Lempel developed an algorithm to scan data and the moment it found matching bits; it would simply point to the location where the previous one was. No repeats.
It didn't matter what was being transmitted - the data was compressed to a fraction of the original making it much easier to send on those rickety channels of the early internet.
That's how WinZip and GZip became the preferred 'zipping' software to send large files in the 90s.
Or else, we would still be couriering disks!
Why don't Indian wives call their husbands by name?
Tch. Tch. Ketto? (In Malayalam, it means 'Listen')
Raju ke Pappa in North India. (substitute appropriate child's name instead of Raju here)
The mysterious ways in which husbands are addressed in Indian households is one on which PhD's in psychology can be obtained.
It's ok to use rude sounds, taps and clearing of throats but the name must never be uttered.
Much like Voldemort - he who must remain nameless.
Does not work in reverse, though. Husbands are free to address their wives any way they choose. By nicknames. Affectionate turns of phrase. Or sarcasm.
Apparently, calling husbands by their proper names is disrespectful. The reasons are never explained because there isn't any logic to apply.
Thankfully, the current generation has thrown caution to the winds, but it remains a potential mother-in-law daughter-in-law flash point.
If I can't call my husband by his name, how can you take that liberty?
Even today, some wives in Kerala address their husbands as 'Chetta' (brother)
How does one mix and merge familial relationships which are polar opposites?
The origins should be interesting.
Human behavior and customs evolve in ways that aren't predictable or rational.
And reading between the lines throws up nuances not visible on the surface.
Paternity is the easy answer.
Will robot pizza deliveries intrude into our spaces?
First you had to teach robots to navigate.
Then, they were instructed to stick to lanes, not mess up traffic.
Now, cyclists in Austin have expressed unhappiness at an experiment, having to share bike lanes with pizza delivery robots.
The questions a technical team may not have factored in.
The robots look like ice cream carts and travel at about 10-15 kms per hour.
So far so good.
Now, what happens when cyclists come up behind the robots?
How do you deal with them in day-to-day traffic?
What happens when several robots crowd lanes during peak demand?
Will cyclists have to grin and bear it?
The problem with a test is that it simulates rush hour but not the ripple effects among humans and the takeover of lanes.
Or else this is glossed over because no one has any real answers.
Robots were supposed to solve efficiency problems, but they are creating fresh ones.
They can't take over sidewalks because pedestrians will protest encroachment on 'their' space.
And adding to regular traffic is going to complicate matters further.
There's going to be an uneasy jockeying to find the right mix. Or else, it may never happen.
Robots took over factories without deep resistance, but daily push and shove will be another matter altogether.
Expect fireworks.
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