What is imagination?

                 (from our friend Adithya Chandrasekar)

Imagination – a spontaneous uncontrollable flow of electrical impulses that are interpreted by the brain to give vital solutions to complex problems, to help ignite an already creative mind, to help in understanding complex concepts. So what is this imagination? All of us have it, even a new born begins to imagine things when it just comes out of the mother’s womb. It is said that a man imagines more than the number of breathes he takes in a lifetime. A study conducted on the average life of man proves that the average lifetime of man is somewhere around 3000-3500 weeks.

There is no a specific frame of reference within which we could fit all that an individual imagine. Our imaginations are so random that sometimes we even forget what we had just imagined. We sometimes imagine the weirdest of things. Have we ever wondered, giving respect to the most curious specie of the animal kingdom from where these thoughts or ideas that occur in imagination originate? Most of these thoughts seem to have no basis or proof. They could be thoughts about aliens or a flower growing upside down with their roots above and shoots below. Most of what we imagine are not cohesive with any logical interpretation.

Imagination has no rules or set frames within which the thoughts originate, as I stated previously they are just random. The more and more I keep questioning the more it would become unclear. Therefore, one possible reason why these random, illogical, mysterious thoughts occur is because we have an indirect link with what we imagine. Our imaginations could be something that we have seem or experienced when we were in a different time zone or in one of our past lives. Humans are said to think and imagine in a specific unique pattern. Those weird thoughts that we imagine sometimes could be due to our experience with something similar in a different world in some past life that we have lived there. Sometimes these thoughts give ideas to the most complex of problems. If we do a deep logical research, then we may find that most of these thoughts have followed a similar pattern in becoming solutions.

I consider imagination as a great gift that encompasses time and civilization. Man is free to imagine whatever he wants. Imagination is the only means by which one can transgress stereotyping, laws, rules and so on. It is said that in ancient times if people really were disciplined and principled then whatever they had imagined became true. God has given us this great gift as a means of consolation whenever we feel helpless. It is up to us to use this gift and realise whatever we imagine.

Ancient Indian scriptures indicate various instances where yogis used to surpass time and travel to different places just with the help of their imagination. This is a proof of what imagination is capable of. If imagination has to be put to good use then it depends on the free will of the person. Imagination helps us to find solutions to complex problems only because it takes the victim of a problem outside the problem and makes him/her to view the problem from a third person’s point of view. I prefer to interpret this imagination as the all-pervading consciousness. The more one imagines and observes the more one’s free will has matured. Imagination composes of both good and bad and it is left to the discretion of the imaginer to use his free will and decide which to use.

Imagination is also used in solving criminal cases where the investigating individual after visiting the crime scene imagines himself to be the criminal and tries to enact the entire crime scene which in many cases has helped solve the case. So what is this imagination? I hope I have partially answered your question.

Imagination is a unique experience that is to be understood and those who understand their imaginations become great men. All that I have stated above may be factually correct or could have been my imaginations about imagination. Thank you for reading hope to have kindled your imagination and creativity.

Ambigrams

Sisters Forever, Forever Sisters. Image: John Langdon

Image: John Langdon

The publishing event of this year, however, will be the release of the new Dan novel, Inferno, in May. It will be the fourth outing for Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon, after solving ancient mysteries in Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. Unfashionable though it may be to admit, I have a soft spot for Langdon – since his name is a tribute to a graphic designer who pioneered a genre of typography beloved of mathematicians.

The real Professor (John) Langdon is a 67-year-old American who in the nineteen seventies co-invented the "Ambigram", a word or sequence of words that conceal some kind of symmetry.

The classic Ambigram is a word that looks exactly the same when read upside down, like the Sisters Forever in the illustration above. (This is very hard to see on mobile phones or tablets which reposition the screen when you turn it around!). There are many other techniques – such as words that look the same when seen in the mirror:

"For me Ambigrams were an expression of a kind of symmetry and balance that I was looking for philosophically," says John. "Symmetry is such a fundamental part of who we are that we appreciate seeing it."

At around the same time, the American Scott Kim also originated Ambigrams, which were popularized by the work of Martin Gardner and Douglas Hofstadter. I absolutely love the playfulness and artistry of Ambigrams - you can find many websites devoted to them, with tips on how to draw them.

Dan Brown discovered Langdon's work via his father Richard, a math teacher, and he initially commissioned Langdon to draw the logo for Angels & Demons, which is an Ambigram.

Adam P Goucher, an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge has devised some mathematical Ambigrams too. These two equations make sense when read like this, or when read upside down:

61 – (8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8) = (8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8) – 19

98 x 99 – (609 + 6969 + 111) = (111 + 6969 + 609) – 66 x 86

Adam's Ambigram equations make sense and are the same when upside down. I wonder if there are any equations which also make sense upside down, but describe different equations?

The limitations are tight - you can only use digits which are reversible: 0, 1, 6, 8 and 9.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has any more examples of nontrivial mathematical Ambigrams, or of any word Ambigrams they are particularly proud of. If you want to send them to me here, I'll list the best ones in a future blog post. The one that I like the most I'll give a copy of my book when it comes out – or if you can’t wait until then, a copy of Dan Brown's Inferno.

 By

K.Prasanna Venkatesh

Our future in the sexiest game ever!

First and foremost, reason is that his price value. With FFP (Financial Fair Play) grooming at the door steps of the European football CHELSEA can’t afford to give £50 million for a 27 year “OOLLDD”. It’s too costly. Now you people might say that his scoring ability is awesome. But still our owner Roman who has made Falcao a top target must look at the following aspects.

GOODBYE grannys and our transition

After the departure of the old men like Drogba (still our striking legend) , Anelka , Bosingwa, Raul Meirless and will be followed by Malouda , Ferraira, Yossi Benayoun this season it is clear that Roman tried to do something different. With AVB bringing in signings like Mata , Cahill , Lukas Piazon,Lukaku etc. and after the firing of AVB , RDM took charge and again bought in Hazard , Oscar , Mosses, Cesar Azpeliquata , followed by Roman’s refusal to sign or extend contracts of the players who’s ages are above 30 , it’s clear that CHELSEA is now in a transition state…

 If you see CHELSEA squad now it’s fully based on pace , counter and accurate passes. Torres is still surviving and scoring goals (though less often when compared to his LIVERPOOL days , at least a goal in 3 games(16 goals in 50 matches this season)) his pace and accelatation and his running abilities. On the other hand Falcao is just a finisher who has no pace, no acceleration, nothing. He can’t survive at CHELSEA with these qualities with the Current CHELSEA squad, filled with pace footed genius.

Also within three years in Falcao’s CHELSEA contract he would reach 30 yrs. and which makes him an unwanted then, unless he proves his worth.

With CHELSEA signing all young prospects now, signing a 27-year-old might be a fool’s decision. Also there is a speculation that we are going to swap Torres for Falcao. Even then Athletico Madrid wants us to pay £35 million plus. So selling a 50million flop for mere 15 million is a big financial loss for us. But now I’m happy to hear that CHELSEA recently refused to include Coutoris (our goalkeeper who’ having an excellent run at A.madrid) .For that we can sell Torres for $25 million to Anzhi, a Russian club who has recently approached CHELSEA for Torres. Also all our striker signings above $30 million for CHELSEA has always resulted in a flop.(Torres, Schevchenko, Crespo)

THE RETUEN OF THE BEAST

One biggest point is Lukaku. The BEAST who is having a dream season at West Brom will return to THE BLUES at the end of the season. Keeping in mind that he shouldn’t to loaned again, alongside with Demba Ba and Torres (in case if we are not selling him) it would turn CHELSEA into striker’s graveyard to striker’s heaven. All three (UNLESS TORRES IS SOLD!!!) can cope up well with CHELSEA easily. Also Lukaku is working with Kevin de Bryune , Hazard Brothers for Belgium National team and their chemistry might be working at CHELSEA too.

Signing Falcao will make Lukaku a third optional striker for us, which would force Lukaku to be sent on loan again and ruin Lukaku’s talents for CHELSEA.

Competition		Matches	Goals	Minutes Played
	WC Qualifiers Europe	1	-	46
	Premier League	28	13	1524
	League Cup	1	-	69
	FA-Cup	2	-	177
	Friendlies	3	1	107
Total:		35	14	1923

CHEAP AND BEST

Another point is that R.V.Persie was also a goal scoring machine for the Gunners for the last couple of seasons he was just sold for $25 million even though he is just a year elder to Falcao. This might be an valid point to argue with. Cheap signing of a striker for about $10 to $20 million is enough for CHELSEA (likes of Aspas-Celta Vigo, Bony-Vittese, Aubameuang-St.ettiene who all come under a price tag of below $20 million) is more than enough. Also players like Bamford and Feruz who are having a great season at youth team also should be given an optional chances periodically.

Also if Aston Villa is relegated this season, world-class strikers like Benteke who would like to continue playing in Premier League topflight ,  might be eyeing transfer to top class teams. So Chelsea might consider this too as an option as Benteke as already proved his worth and also comes in handy $15 million price tag which is affordable for CHELSEA.

Wilfred Bony,24, who is having a dream season for Vittesse has scored 27 goals in just 24 league games and he’s an Ivorian as Drogba has a price tag of just $10 million.  

EMOTIONAL DECISIONS MIGHT LEAD TO DIASTER

·       Another problem with CHELSEA OFFICE is that they make a player their target once when he scores against them.

·       For example Falcao (in UEFA super cup where he scored hat-trick against us), Mireles(for Liverpool) , Shakthar’s Willian(his 2 goals in this year’s UEFA CL) , Torres, etc.

·       So please. Roman Abrahamovich  don’t get emotional  and sign our FUTUTRE FLOP FALCAO.

·       Also Lukaku and Demba Ba might become a surplus item as was Torres at CHELSEA during his early days.

JUDGEMENT

Hey Roman if you have £50 million($60 million) just divide it and buy the following players,

·       o  Fellaini (a possible replacement for LAMPS)-          $25 million

·       Luke Shaw-Southampton left back(As replacement for Ashley Cole)- $8 million

·       Isco -$20 million

·       Benteke - $10 - $15 million (only if Aston Villa is relegated)

·       Bring back Kevin de Bryune, Lukaku, John McEachran and Courtois, Piazon and give them an ample amount of chances.

·       Try buying Yaya Toure - $25 million (optional).

·       Sell Essien, Torres, Malouda, Benayoun, Ferrirra, Turnbull…

·       And no more signing of attacking mid-fielders…

Finally bring back “our” SPECIAL ONE…

IF NOTHING WORKS IN CASE OF STRIKERS JUST PLAY 4-6-0 ‘COS EVERYONE SAYS “CHELSEA???!!!...STRIKER’S HELL (except Drogba) AND MID-FIELDER’S HEAVEN” 

 By

K.Prasanna Venkatesh

OUR(CHELSEA) YOUNG PROSPECT-THE LUKAKU

THE LUKAKU

The holy trinity of Mazacar (MATA HAZARD AND OSCAR) has worked wonders this season, slotting in perfectly with the rest of the squad. Hazard especially has just walked into the first team and played as though he’s been at Chelsea for five years. The through ball for Ramires against United in the League Cup was extraordinary, the back-heel for Torres against Newcastle was exquisite, but only in recent weeks has Eden shown his true powers. He’s scored beauties against Stoke, Man United, Sparta and West Ham. He changed the game completely when he replaced Moses at Old Trafford, and against West Ham at Stamford Bridge, the link-up play between him and Juan Mata was eye-poppingly good. Both of them know exactly where the other is, and where they will be in a few seconds’ time, it’s telepathic. Eden got a goal and an assist that day, and with 12 goals and 21 assists in his first 7 months, it’s becoming clear that £32m was a steal.

He’s even beginning to surpass the mercurial Juan Mata, who has been nothing short of sensational this season. Mata’s consistently excellent displays last season, culminating in 12 goals and 20 assists, won him Player of the Year in his first season at Chelsea. After 7 months of this season, Juan Mata has 18 goals and 26 assists. This is a team in a constant state of transition, with 3 managers in Juan Mata’s 19 months at Chelsea. And amidst the confusion, with players leaving, arriving and being rumoured to be coming and going, Juan Mata has risen above the chaos and shown us the true future of Chelsea. The vision, creativity, flair and skill is breathtaking at times, and never better than when Eden Hazard is in close proximity. They have probably become the world’s best attacking partnership, and the two of them have only known each other for 7 months. Staggering.

The final piece of the holy trinity, Oscar, has also had a season to remember, with some unbelievable moments of individual brilliance. The goals against Sparta, Shakhtar, Juventus spring to mind, as well as the genius he has shown in the Brazil shirt. His crossing ability is out of this world, his eye for a through ball is unrivalled and he never, ever loses possession. Oscar knows exactly when to play the simple pass, when to shoot, when to hit it long and when to dribble. His finishing needs some work, although he has come up with 6 goals in Europe this season. And finishing isn’t his job anyway; Oscar’s game revolves around his ingenuity and ability to control the pace of a game. Predicting what these three will grow up to be is almost impossible, because after only seven months together they’ve racked up a cumulative 39 goals and 58 assists. My guess is that Oscar will be our Xavi, Mata our Iniesta and Hazard our Messi.

Another man with the world at his feet is the magical Belgian Kevin De Bruyne. Signed from Genk for a meagre £6.7m, he’s been farmed out on loan in Belgium and Germany. In a fairly weak Bremen team, Kevin De Bruyne has been phenomenal. The numbers are good, 6 goals and 8 assists from midfield in his first season of top-class football is very impressive. But KDB brings a whole lot more to the table. His ability to pick out his man is incredible; he’s got a crossing accuracy of 31.3% this season, and Bremen are hardly a team of giants. At Genk last season he racked up 8 goals and 15 assists, but that was with the giant Christian Benteke alongside him. At Bremen, KDB has run the show, with reliable passing, dead-eye set-pieces and an eye for goal. He’s been playing all across midfield and attack, and has been Bremen’s star player. And he’s only 21!

Chelsea’s other two summer additions, Victor Moses and Marko Marin, haven’t had quite the same impact, but that’s simply because they’ve got the likes of Mata, Hazard and Oscar ahead of them. Moses and Marin are different types of attackers to Mazacar; very fast and direct, with excellent dribbling ability. Moses has been ahead of Marin in the pecking order this season for his superior defensive contribution, and has been a good replacement for Mata, Hazard and Oscar when he’s been used. Moses was signed because top target Hulk was just too expensive. 26-year-old Hulk has delivered 7 goals and 4 assists for Zenit for £50m. 22-year-old Moses has delivered 6 goals and 4 assists for Chelsea for £9m. Which would you have preferred?

Marin, sadly, just hasn’t had the opportunity to stamp down a place in the team. As fifth choice in his position, and sometimes lower, he’s been restricted to just 336 competitive minutes, and only 85 in the Premier League. Most of his appearances have come as a substitute, and the only game in which he actually played well was Sparta away. He did score our 100th goal of the season at home to Wigan, but that was the last goal in a 4-1 win. What Marin offers is ridiculous dribbling ability at close quarters, but generally he just isn’t as good as Eden Hazard, who plays the same role. With KDB returning next year, Marin isn’t likely to get many more opportunities to showcase his talents, and a return to the Bundesliga where he made his name might be the best outcome for all parties.

Another player who sadly isn’t ever likely to get his chance is Gael Kakuta. The young Frenchman was signed under Ancelotti and the intricacies of the deal put the club under a transfer embargo, which cost around £5m to sort out. He showed brilliant poise and footwork in his cameo appearances in his debut season, but became marginalised and farmed out on loan to Fulham, Bolton, Dijon and now Vitesse. Given the plethora of young attacking midfielders and wingers at Chelsea, Kakuta isn’t likely to ever break into the first team. Nevertheless, his performances for Dijon and Vitesse indicate that he should have a long and prosperous career at the highest level. His recent words about wanting to leave Chelsea because of too much competition for places means that we’re highly unlikely to ever see him in a Chelsea shirt again. We should be able to recoup the money we paid to sign him, though.

A happier story of a young attacking midfielder out on loan is that of 19-year-old Lucas Piazon. Signed from Sao Paulo for an initial £5m, he impressed in the U21s grabbing 2 goals and 2 assists before making his way into the first-team squad in the autumn. He got two starts in the League Cup, and was especially impressive against Man United. He announced himself with an eye-catching 17-minute cameo against Aston Villa, in which time he provided an assist for Ramires and won a penalty. He couldn’t break into the first team though, and was loaned out to Malaga in January. Piazon has taken the departed Diego Buonanotte’s position, and nine competitive appearances later, we can safely say that this loan was a very good idea. Malaga will be playing Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and it will be intriguing to see how Piazon fares.

Beyond these exciting young attackers, there are heaps and heaps of more promising youngsters. Lewis Baker, Jeremie Boga and Alex Kiwomya have excelled in the U21s, the NextGen Series and the FA Youth Cup, helping the baby Blues to the semi-finals of both tournaments. Boga especially looks to have a very bright future at Stamford Bridge with his flair and creativity, playing against 21-year-olds aged 15. Boga was easily the best player on the pitch in the stunning 2-0 away win over Barcelona, while the pace of Kiwomya and Baker’s craft destroyed Juventus 4-1 at Cobham. These results are all the more extraordinary when you take into account that Chelsea started the season with no less than 25 players out loan, almost all of whom are eligible for these competitions. Both Eden Hazard and Oscar are eligible for the U21s, for example.

As for Benayoun and Malouda, well, the less said about them, the better. Both are on very high wages while not contributing to the first team, and thankfully both will be out of contract at the end of the season. Malouda doesn’t deserve the treatment he’s had from the club, be he should have found himself a new club last summer. Benayoun is frankly useless.

I’ve cataloged The Chronicles of Torres, and I think we can all agree unanimously that it’s time for him to leave, despite a respectable-looking 16 goals and 8 assists this season. If the pace or the touch had gone but the instinct and work-rate were still there, I’d consider letting him stay. But there’s no passion in his performances, his movement is akin to that of a tranquilised sloth and Fernando Torres goals are almost as frequent as snowstorms in the Sahara these days. The ideal scenario is for Nando to return to the Vicente Calderon where he started his career; Diego Simeone has been talking up the prospect of an Atleti return for Nando, and I’d be very pleased if it happened. Failing that, Torres can simply be auctioned off to the highest bidder (presuming there are bidders). It’s not unrealistic to hope that PSG, Anzhi, Zenit or Guangzhou Evergrande might go to £20m for Torres as a marquee signing.

Demba Ba was a bargain at £7m, he’s a clear upgrade over Torres and is reasonably clinical. He’s an above average Premier League striker, but nothing more than that, and I can’t help thinking he’s a bit of a misfit at Chelsea. Chelsea are looking to move towards a more exciting, pro-active brand of football, and Demba Ba’s style is more re-active and old-fashioned. Ba represents a throw-back to the days when we could relieve pressure by booting the ball up to King Didier, safe in the knowledge that Didi would retain the ball and bring the rest of the team into play, or draw a foul. Ba isn’t Drogba, and he will never truly replace King Didier. I expect many of you will disagree and say that we should show him some faith, but I would sell Demba Ba. I don’t think he’s ever going to score 20 goals a season, which is the minimum we require from a first-choice striker at Chelsea. I’m sure we could get at least £12m for Ba, and PSG might be a possible destination.

What Chelsea needs is currently trapped in the West Midlands, at The Hawthorns to be precise. Romelu Lukaku has had a magnificent season on loan at West Brom, leading the line for Steve Clarke’s side. He started the season with a bang, coming off the bench against Liverpool, destroying Jamie Carragher and scoring the clincher in a 3-0 win for West Brom. Since then, he’s established himself as the Baggies’s first-choice striker and a firm favourite amongst the Hawthorns faithful. His comments to the press have shown him to be an incredibly humble and modest young man, saying that he is only interested in being a good role model to his younger brother Jordan and not interested in going to nightclubs and womanising.

If he’s close to perfect off the pitch, he’s even closer on it. Basically, Romelu Lukaku is the complete modern-day striker. He’s blessed with immense physical strength, burning pace, a basketball-esque leap and exceptional agility. His dribbling and technique have come on in leaps and bounds, as Liverpool and Sunderland will testify. He’s also become a very clinical finisher, and can be relied upon to take every chance that comes his way.

18 months ago, Chelsea were chasing a prolific young Argentine striker named Sergio Aguero. Torres had flopped, and Aguero was seen as the perfect strike partner for Drogba. Blessed with lightning pace, Messi-esque dribbling ability and clinical finishing, he had everything to perfectly complement Drogba’s strength, pace and hold-up play. It should have been the dream partnership, but alas, Aguero signed instead for £38m for Manchester City. Instead, Chelsea signed an 18-year-old Belgian weapon of mass destruction named Romelu Lukaku for an initial fee of £13m. Sadly, he found himself behind Drogba, Torres, Anelka, Sturridge and Kalou, so we never discovered the truth: Romelu Lukaku is the best of both worlds, and there was no point getting Aguero when Lukaku was available. Lukaku is just as fast as Aguero, just as good at dribbling, and even more agile (remember Lukaku can do backflips and bicycle kicks). He is taller, stronger and faster than Drogba, and even more of a menace in the air. His work-rate is phenomenal (just ask Sunderland). Lukaku has helped himself to 13 goals already, making him the third-highest scoring teenager in Premier League history, and he’s close to catching Michael Owen in second place. Oh, and he has the best minutes-per-goal ratio of anyone with 13 goals or more! Happy days!

	Suarez	Van Persie	Bale	Ba	Michu	Benteke	Lambert	Lukaku
Club	Liverpool	Man Utd	Spurs	Newcastle + Chelsea	Swansea	Aston Villa	Soton	West Brom
Age	26	29	23	27	27	22	31	19
Goals	22	19	16	15	15	13	13	13
Minutes Played	2593	2313	2291	2145	2408	2233	2440	1434
Mins/Goal	118	121	143	143	160	172	188	110

So yeah, Lukaku is the best striker in the Premier League. If the Premier League is the “best league in the world”, Romelu Lukaku is the world’s best striker, guys! Take that, Messi!

And Lukaku’s not the only exciting young striker on Chelsea’s books. 17-year-old Islam Feruz has been smashing in the goals in the U21s, NextGen and Youth Cup for the Baby Blues, and he’s bagged 13 goals in 1409 minutes – a minutes-per-goal ratio of 108, better than anyone in the table including Lukaku! Patrick Bamford is another; he bagged four goals and six assists in his 10 games for the U21s, before heading off to MK Dons on loan. Bamford and Feruz have certainly both got the talent to make it at Chelsea, and either of them would make a great partner for Lukaku.