Author: Ajmal

“Golden Ratio” | Ponder Series

Posted on by Ajmal

Before I start, let’s see this beautiful video “Nature by Numbers” by Cristóbal Vila. I first saw this almost 9 years back and it helped discover a lot of amazing knowledge treasures which I didn’t know before. This number is used by architects and designers extensively, but what we are discussing here is something else. It’s about realizing and pondering on how the entire universe is crafted specifically in a specific metric. Have a look at the video and I shall elaborate further with detailed illustrations. I was pretty pumped up when I first came to know about this and would like to take this write up as an opportunity to share this information with you. Probably this would be the first write up for which I spent the longest time preparing content and illustrations for the only reason that I’m super excited to share this all of you. Now, let’s read.

This piece would be an addition to the Ponder Series that we have been writing extensively over the past several months. When we think about the world around us and also when we look within, it might seem usual and ordinary. But ponder series, as you might know, is all about thinking deeply and delving into the details by going beyond the ordinary perceptions. “Golden Ratio” is such a concept that’ll blow our minds off. I first read about this interesting ratio pervading the universe when I was in college. I shall elucidate it here, preferably with some visual illustrations. If you have not heard about this before, I’m sure this will definitely throw you into some wonder. Read it very carefully. It’s exciting information!

Many of us would be familiar with the Fibonacci series of numbers which were discovered by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci in 1202 B.C.
It’s a series as below:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, …
In this series, if you add two numbers in the series, you’ll get the next number in the series. For example, 0+1=1, the third number in the series. And 1+1=2, the fourth number in the series, 1+2=3, the fifth number in the series and so on.

We might have seen this series in our maths classes and wondered what is special about them. They have an amazing property. If we divide any number in this sequence by the number before it, we would get numbers very close to each other. After the 13th number in this series, the ratio is constant and we get 1.618. This is called “Golden Ratio”

233 / 144 = 1.618
377 / 233 = 1.618
610 / 377 = 1.618
987 / 610 = 1.618
1597 / 987 = 1.618
2584 / 1597 = 1.618

Now, this golden ratio number of 1.618 is pervading everywhere. If you didn’t know this before, get prepared to be blown away.

Human Body
Did we ever think that our body measurements were just random? Boy! we are wrong! The proportions and geometrical ratios are carefully crafted in this specific ratio. For a better visual perspective, I’m sharing a few illustrations below so that you can take a look! These values are universally true for every human body. Isn’t that a jaw-dropping realization if you didn’t know this before?




Now, that’s far from over. Let’s go a little deeper. The same ratio is true for the below:
– Length of face/width of the face,
– Distance between the lips and where the eyebrows meet / length of the nose,
– Length of face/distance between the tip of the jaw and where the eyebrows meet,
– Length of mouth/width of the nose,
– Width of nose/distance between nostrils,
– Distance between pupils/distance between eyebrows.
Even the placement of teeth, as well as the ratio of individual teeth sizes, are on this same ratio.

In a research study carried out in 1987, it was discovered that this magic ratio is also in the structure of the lungs as well. The bronchi network in the lung is asymmetric. The windpipe gets divided into the left and the right bronchi networks. The one on the right is short and the one on the left is long. The geometrical proportion of the shorter one to the longer one of this bronchi is 1.618. Isn’t that amazing? Recent studies have shown that the internal structures of the ears are also proportioned in the same ratio. The more we explore and delve in, the more breathtaking it turns out to be.

This number has garnered significant interest in great minds like Pythagaurus, Leonardo Da Vinci and the famous astronomer Kepler. Leonardo Da Vinci has used it in the painting Monalisa.

Golden Ratio in DNA Helix
DNA has two grooves in its spiral. Major to minor groove proportion measures as the golden ratio 1.618.

Golden Spiral
In geometry, a golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio. That is, a golden spiral gets wider (or further from its origin) by a factor of φ  for every quarter turn it makes. See the below link for a reference.
GoldenSpiralLogarithmic_color_in.gif
Image By Jahobr – CC0, Link

The golden spiral can be found in pinecones, sunflowers, pineapples, and a lot of other plants. Another amazing detail is that the petals of plants commonly grow in Fibonacci numbers.


In sunflower, we can notice two families of spiral patterns: one winding clockwise and the other counterclockwise. The quantity of spirals in each family are always two consecutive Fibonacci numbers. This effect is the result of closely packing points separated by 137.5 degrees in tight spirals. This implies that the a golden-ratio based phyllotaxis allows not only for optimal sun exposure but also for maximal packing in horizontal space. (Reference)



For field daisies, the count of petals is usually either thirteen, twenty-one, or thirty-four petals, all consecutive Fibonacci numbers. Bet you didn’t know about this before! 🙂

And it’s not over yet. We have more!

The golden ratio is even found in the shape of galaxies, hurricanes, and waves.


What I have shown here is only a small portion or subset of how this golden ratio pervades in almost every other stuff we are surrounded with. Leonardi Davinci has used this ratio in some of his greatest paintings. Architects use this ratio in designing structural solutions with better aesthetics. In architecture, they bring balance and height to structures and allow the usage of specific geometries and varying shapes and eventually help build aesthetic structures.  They are also extensively used in arts and music as well. The ratio is made use of in the design of several musical instruments and in timing musical compositions (Climax reaching at 61.8% of the song sequence to make it more appealing, for instance). Beethoven’s fifth symphony uses this ratio. The ratio is also used in other fields like facial plastic surgery and cosmetic dentistry. This is really thought-provoking. If we ponder deeply on these realities, we come to the realization that everything around us is formed and ordered in a measure which we even don’t notice. We require the eye of wisdom and insight to contemplate these realities. Don’t let these astonishing marvels around you hide from your thoughts and cogitations when we get engulfed ourselves in the blurred rush of routine life.  Uncovering this hidden mathematical miracle around us has a profound impact. Think about it, friends! Let’s widen our horizons and augment our perspectives. Personally, I believe this ratio is sort of like a divine signature. God bless friends!

digitize better.

Posted on by Ajmal

We are living in a world wherein documentations are increasingly handled digitally and governments and institutions are pacing swiftly towards a paperless future. Every one of us has important documents that we need for different purposes. These important documents may include your national ID card, passport, driving license, ATM cards, credit cards, health cards, vehicle licenses, insurance documents, visa copy (in case if you are an expat living in a foreign country), any other relevant certificates, etc. There are instances when we need to have them shown or submitted for a variety of administrative or clerical purposes. People generally have their digital versions scattered all around the place. Either it might be in an email abyss or in some pen drive or some cloud service which is not organized well. The core reason for relying on digitization of any sort of document is retrievability.  If we cannot retrieve a particular document when it is exactly required, that defeats the purpose of documenting them in the first place. In this post, I shall share some of the ways that I have been using for several years now for digitally organizing documents.

The first thing is to have a scanning app on your phone. My recommendations are Scanner Mini and Microsoft Office Lens. This will help you to quickly scan any paper documents you’ve. After you have the documents scanned and available, you can try any of these options:

Google photos has been really useful for everyone to organize their photos very conveniently and curate them well using AI technology. But we can use it as a tool for storage and retrieval of our documents as well. Let’s say you have a driving license to be scanned. Use any of the apps specified above and get it scanned as an image. Rename them as “Driving License” and save them to Google Photos. In Google photos, select this photo and add it to a new album and rename it as “Driving License”. So the next time, when you’re outside and you quickly need to have the soft copy of your driving license, just search by “Driving license” in your Google photos library, and the license would pop up as an album. I recommend spending an hour digitizing all the important documents that you may need to retrieve for any purpose.

In the same way, cloud backup services like Dropbox, Box or Google Drive shall also be used to store these documents. All the relevant documents can be properly named and archived with any of these services. The same approach can be also used for other documents like receipts, certificates, etc as well. Scanning alone is not sufficient. Archiving is closely tied with a proper identifiable organization of these documents and their swift retrieval. Archival, identification and retrievability need to be a cohesive process. Each person has got different sets of requirements and the way of archival would also be different. The key is to adapt the method that is the most effortless for you.

We can’t underestimate the convenience and ease of use that this practice of digitizing documents and organizing them properly ensues in our daily lives. Let’s be more organized. God bless!

kindness.

Posted on by Ajmal

I happened to see this interesting message in a forum and thought of sharing it with readers. My firm conviction is that a little restraint, patience and calmness in dealing with a situation would definitely drastically change the course of it in ways unthinkable. It applies to all spheres of our lives, professional and personal. Regardless of any avenue we are in, we would be continuously fed with opportunities to mend and grow our patience. As Rodney Williams famously said, “Patience is the gift of being able to see past the emotion“. Being relentless in having a calm composure is not easy, but that’s something we shall try our best for, considering the empathy and kindness they directly ensue. God bless.

The man doesn’t know that there is a snake underneath.
The woman doesn’t know that there is a stone crushing the man.
The woman thinks: “I am going to fall! And I can’t climb because the snake is going to bite me! Why can’t the man use a little more strength and pull me up!”
The man thinks: “I am in so much pain! Yet I’m still pulling you as much as I can! Why don’t you try and climb a little harder!?”
The Moral is :
you can’t see the pressure the other person is under, and the other person can’t see the pain you’re in. This is life, whether it’s with work, family, feelings or friends, we should try to understand each other. Learn to think differently, perhaps more clearly and communicate better. A little thought and patience goes a long way.
Be kind to people. Everyone we meet is fighting their own battle.

I encourage to read through The Parable of Mexican Fisherman.

Elegant bridges.

Posted on by Ajmal

As a part of my job, I do engage with the design of lots of structural components used on bridges like bridge bearings.  The literature and work-related adherences normally intimidate me to see bridges with a very technical eye. Along with the technicality and the engineering behind them, it was really interesting to take a listen at this wonderful TED talk by Ian Firth, the famous British structural engineer and bridge designer which interestingly wasn’t about technical jargon, but the spirit behind why bridges are built and the beauty and passion that has to subsumed with the design, engineering and procurement behind them.

As he says in the talk, bridges are not just a safe way about a river or an obstacle, they shout about connectivity and community. He quotes several examples of how bridges empower people and communities. He walks us through the history of bridge construction and the different materials and technology options used during those times as well as brilliant synergies of architecture and engineering with examples of cable suspension bridges and fiber reinforced concrete to sculpt marvelous concrete bridges, that often becomes part and symbol of the regional landscape of certain places. I really loved the wonderful postulation of building bridges that are beautiful and elegant and at the same time are safe, durable, functional and serviceable. He says:
” We tend to design bridges for 100 years plus. They’re going to be there for an awfully long time.  Nobody is going to remember the cost. Nobody will remember whether it overran a few months.But if it’s ugly or just dull,it will always be ugly or dull. Bridges — beauty enriches life. Doesn’t it? It enhances our well-being. Ugliness and mediocrity does exactly the opposite. And if we go on building mediocre, ugly environments — and I believe we’re becoming numb to that stuff — if we go on doing that, it’s something like large-scale vandalism, which is completely unacceptable.   ”

 

fine art.

Posted on by Ajmal

There are days when Almighty helps to consummate those little trivial novel longings we nurture in the back of our hearts. Yesterday was such a day. I’ve had a little wish to have paintings from an original artist rather than getting something online that’s printed in thousands and does not have the distinctiveness and grace of a painting prepared exclusively by a real artist. That has a personality of its own in comparison with a computerized print head churning out several paintings and drawings in a batch out of a printing facility. Not only that, the rawness of the color palettes used and the depth is truly profound if we have an eye to appreciate it.  I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to have some original fine art from Karolina Nowak Konieczna, an art historian and painter, originally from Poland. Me and Netta met her yesterday and collected a few paintings that we really liked. She was really kind and showed us a lot of her other artworks as well which were truly remarkable. Reading from this exhibition page, Karolina Nowak-Konieczna is an Art historian and painter, held exhibitions in Poland and Germany, currently, her works are shown in several galleries. The works depict stories of contemplative character, dream-like states, full of metaphors, emotion, not easy to decipher. The painted images are created through a meticulous process and the finer details are comprised of small dots. Karolina’s paintings are made for those who are searching for something more in art than only a faithful depiction of reality.



Above painting is “Golden coat” (Source: Galleria)

Lunar Silhouette

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This Illustration is based on an original photograph by dear friend MHP. This was taken when we strolled into some of the beautiful inner desert ranges in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE. We initially went to photograph an eclipse but some cloudy patterns prevented us from taking the customary eclipse photograph and our roaming there was destined to be protracted for that perfect snap. The frame that you see was always there in the back of my mind. I’m always fascinated by celestial entities and is unapologetically fervid about stargazing. The beauty of glancing at them comprises the pattern in which they manifest of our feebleness in the grand magnificence and grandeur of the vast universe. For me, stargazing is about embracing humility and lightness. I somewhat feel the same with mighty mountains as well.

In the beautiful poetry of Serbian poet and essayist Dejan Stojanović,

“ To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning. ”

Said Nursi writes:
“The beauty of a finely worked object points to the beauty of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the craftsmanship points to the beauty of the name which was the source of the craftsmanship. The beauty of the name of the craftsman’s art points to the beauty of the craftsman’s attributes manifested in that art… The magnificent cosmos is a palace that has the sun and the moon as its lamps and the stars as its candles; time is like a rope or ribbon hung within it, on to which the Glorious Creator each year threads a new world. “

divine timing.

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“God opens millions of flowers without forcing the buds, reminding us not to force our way but to wait for things to happen perfectly in time.” says a beautiful quote. The bandwagon of precariousness drives us through events of uncertainty and dubiety but always trust in the divine timing in which events uncover like a flower growing out of a bud. For young minds reading, always relay this when important decisions or events pass your life so that we come sanguine and hopeful to pass through them with grace. God bless.

Quality | indelible objectivity

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“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”, said Benjamin Franklin or Aldo Gucci. This is something that’s cemented in my thought process when I conceive of quality in a product or service. We’re living in an age and time where monetary considerations and market situations generally impel companies and individuals to sacrifice quality to a certain extent and base the purchase decision, in some situations, solely on the aspect of price. It doesn’t happen with everyone and all companies and is definitely not a generalization, but you know, that’s the general way things are dealt with. I’m always with the idea of getting something durable and long-lasting and using it for sufficient time rather than getting something cheaper and of inferior quality and then lugging around fixing it when it breaks down or does not serve its intended purpose every other week. Even if it doesn’t break, if the lack of quality in the product or service does not make you happy for whatever reason we bought the item/service in the first place, that requires some careful thought and consideration. Of course, that doesn’t imply splurging on some product that’s priced more than its really worth of, but the intent here is to cautiously use our intuition and sound judgement to carefully evaluate what works specifically for each one of us, and to get things with a long term plan and intention. As the famous social media joke run reads, Tajmahal wouldn’t have been so stunning if Shah Jahan had asked for three quotations and decided to go with the lowest. In total quality management (TQM) principles, it’s often said that the “cost of quality” isn’t the price of creating a quality product or service. It’s the cost of NOT creating a quality product or service. The highest price does not always necessarily yield the highest quality. And another aspect of this thought is that something expensive for a particular person may not be the same for another person, but everyone can decide their priorities and invest in quality catering to their requirements. Empirically if we generically assess the products we have used for the past couple of years and recollect the service industries that we have engaged with directly, we can get sort of a pragmatic and realistic emphasis on the importance of using high-quality products for the long term. That’s definitely worth to get our thought on.

“We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Vision | Pondering on the intricacies

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Today’s disposition is to write something into our ponder series. For new readers who aren’t aware of these series, below is the thematic intention of this initiative that I mentioned in my first post on this topic.

”  Often in the rush of our routines, we fail to appreciate certain hidden subtleties and nuances of living in this universe, which we can only admire if we consciously make an effort to think deeply with profundity.  We have to pause for a moment and ponder, and hence the name of the series. “

Let’s ponder on vision today. We are aware of the technical description of vision and how it’s accomplished in our bodily systems. The intention here is to delve in little deeper and explore the miraculous aspects of this process which we deem as pretty novel and relegate as trivial.

    ..Illustrated by The Border of a Mind Studios…
The illustration above shows a person gazing at a candle. Light bundles from this candle fall on the retina upside down. The image of the candle gets converted into electrical impulses and is transmitted to the centre of vision situated at the back of the brain. As you would know, the brain is pitch dark inside and it’s totally insulated from light. It’s technically impossible for light to reach this centre of vision. But we see the candle image transmitted there. In other words, the world of lights and depth is formed in this tiny spot which does not receive any sort of light from outside. The candle outside is hot. This applies to all senses. If we think about it, when we see the light of the candle and even when we feel its heat, the inside of our brain is completely dark, pitch dark and there’s not temperature change there. Isn’t that truly miraculous? Spare some thought into it. Ever wondered on how this happens? Those are the first steps that open up our thought process on several important things that we tend to wade off in our routines. Those who have been reading me for a long time might recollect the post “perceptions” which also conceptually shares the same context.

In his famous book ‘Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing‘ , Richard Gregory writes:

“We are so familiar with seeing, that it takes a leap of imagination to realize that there are problems to be solved. But consider it. We are given tiny distorted upside-down images in the eyes, and we see separate solid objects in surrounding space. From the patterns of stimulation on the retina we perceive the world of objects and this is nothing short of a miracle.” (Eye and Brain, 1966)

ostentatious culinary illusion

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I tried my hands on creating a menu for Genie’s cove. It’s actually sort of like a sobriquet for the den we inhabit and is indirectly a poem of the culinary catalog which I and Netta are accustomed to in our routines. Tried the art and craft of converting normal food items by sprinkling in all those fancy terminology acumens you’d normally expect when you skim through a restaurant menu. It’s definitely pretentious but hey! boy we can make one 🙂 and also you now know that when you see a cafe menu, what you see is apparently an ostentatious culinary illusion made by some exuberant artist.

Fun fact: The name Genie’s cove is derived from:

genie /ˈdʒiːni/ (noun)
a spirit of Arabian folklore, as depicted traditionally imprisoned within a bottle or oil lamp, and capable of granting wishes when summoned.

Netta usually summons me for several things and I’m sometimes colloquially referred to as Genie in our conversations.