Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:50:16AM +0530, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan wrote: Define rich. Enough wealth so all this list-making loses significance and I can do anything I want and claim it is something I always wanted to do it. Even if I'd just heard about this something y'day. ITYM filthy stinking rich.
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
--- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? bonobashi Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
--- On Sun, 16/11/08, Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 2:17 PM On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:00:12AM +0530, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] Get rich? Definitely want to do that. Define rich. Not having to work, of course. Necessary, but not sufficient. Don't you think you ought to add Being able to do whatever one pleases to be doing? Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
My first paper - an opinion piece, meaning it was very badly researched, and has few or no references or foot-notes - comes out in the next issue of SIOS - Journal of the Society for Indian Ocean Studies. I may take up a series of ten articles for them: we are talking about the scope and the direction of these, and should agree shortly. Regarding archival material, I wasn't aware until recently how much has already been written on the subject. It is a humongous amount of reading to do. As of now, I have been reading secondary texts on the subject, and drawing preliminary inferences from those. To do this seriously, it needs an investment in a couple of hundred books (most identified). Where do I get the money? More important, to bring this back on topic, when do I get the time? bonobashi --- On Sat, 15/11/08, Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Saturday, 15 November, 2008, 9:09 PM My guru parampara is Kuruvilla Zachariah-Sushobhan Sircar-Amalesh Tripathi/Ashin Das Gupta. super fascinating! would be great if you could point me to any one of your papers. also, which archives have you dipped into most? btw, ashin and sachin are almost anagrams :) On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 9:02 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sat, 15/11/08, Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Saturday, 15 November, 2008, 8:52 PM * Write the definitive maritime history of India; interesting! what got you interested in this area: fascination with the Indian ocean trade routes? (subrahmanyam, ashin chaudhuri etc...) Ashin Das Gupta (not Chaudhuri) was my tutor in College, as well as being the History head. My guru parampara is Kuruvilla Zachariah-Sushobhan Sircar-Amalesh Tripathi/Ashin Das Gupta. However, my interest in maritime history is only partly based on Ashin's work. Independently, I have been reading and exploring maritime history issues, and have written about it in professional journals. I have come to form some surprising hypotheses, and want to research things further to come to a conclusion about these. On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:46 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sat, 15/11/08, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [silk] When I Have The Time To: Silk List silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Saturday, 15 November, 2008, 10:36 AM Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Udhay * Get my Master's degree in History; * Write the definitive maritime history of India; * Re-learn German; * Learn French and Sanskrit; * Tour those corners of India that I haven't seen yet, on my own set of rough-roading wheels; * Go to Leh by road, and bum around Ladakh for as long as I can afford (two days, at present levels); * Lose 20 kgs.; * Photograph Calcutta before it auto-destructs; * Try to understand the different Indian philosophical schools; * Try to understand Economics (if it's really possible; sometimes it seems to be something that Economists invented to keep themselves in an occupation not to be described as idling their time away); * Learn to ride a motor-cycle; * Complete my collection of Western classical music; * Listen to as much jazz as I can; * Travel through Cambodia (without losing limbs, it is to be hoped); * Travel through Scandinavia, and the Baltic states; * Backpack through Africa, and South America, and travel to China and Russia (they don't encourage back-packers, it is said); * Scuba-dive at every feasible Indian location; * Collect and print my daughter's poems; * Find my ancestral village in Bangladesh
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. talking of influence, there has been some work which traces the interconnections between Gramsci's indirect influence on the later Wittgenstein through the intellectual inter mediation of the economist Pierro Sraffa (when they were colleagues in Cambridge) abhishek On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? bonobashi Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does the frog know it has a latin name? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
That's a good definition. But IMHO it's rather more useful to define it slightly tightly. My definition is (and I borrowed it from somewhere, like all other good things in life): When I can live off the interest on the interest on the wealth. By today's standards of living, since I need about 25K p.m., assuming an interest rate of 7% post tax, it would probably imply Rs. 6.2 crores in the bank :) Mohit http://unjustly.wordpress.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitmohit http://tinyurl.com/57lrf3 On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:50 AM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM, Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] Get rich? Definitely want to do that. Define rich. Enough wealth so all this list-making loses significance and I can do anything I want and claim it is something I always wanted to do it. Even if I'd just heard about this something y'day. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Sraffa and Wittgenstein? Good heavens. Not an easy or apparent connection. Do come off line and tell me more. bonobashi --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 3:16 PM Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. talking of influence, there has been some work which traces the interconnections between Gramsci's indirect influence on the later Wittgenstein through the intellectual inter mediation of the economist Pierro Sraffa (when they were colleagues in Cambridge) abhishek On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? bonobashi Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does the frog know it has a latin name? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
I calculated sometime ago, about two/three years ago, that 3.0 crores would be the figure. but then I took an aggressive ROI of 15%. Right, now that that's out of the way, where do I get ski-masks? bonobashi --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Mohit (मॊिहत) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Mohit (मॊिहत) [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 3:18 PM That's a good definition. But IMHO it's rather more useful to define it slightly tightly. My definition is (and I borrowed it from somewhere, like all other good things in life): When I can live off the interest on the interest on the wealth. By today's standards of living, since I need about 25K p.m., assuming an interest rate of 7% post tax, it would probably imply Rs. 6.2 crores in the bank :) Mohit http://unjustly.wordpress.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitmohit http://tinyurl.com/57lrf3 On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:50 AM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM, Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] Get rich? Definitely want to do that. Define rich. Enough wealth so all this list-making loses significance and I can do anything I want and claim it is something I always wanted to do it. Even if I'd just heard about this something y'day. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463 Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. well, to state the obvious, the historian has to engage equally with historiography as well as 'history'. though putting it this way, gives one the wrong impression of two apparently autonomous and separate fields of history and historiography... what's your take? abhishek On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? bonobashi Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - does the frog know it has a latin name? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Of course, for starters, in a way this can be an argument. But the historian's craft is a well-developed and demarcated one, and goes well beyond merely being knowledgeable about history, to the extent that one can pass exams, even pass exams brilliantly, and not be an historian. The historian, often but not always through applications of historiography - a slippery subject at the best of times - and always through painful acquisition of the professional discipline, through writing a variety of papers of fairly limited scope and very focussed content, and watching these being refined in the crucible of peer review, learns to do history. I notice that not all good historians are particularly into historiography. Some of them are empiricists to a fault; that itself might be taken up as an example of an historiographical position. One can't become an historian just by getting a degree, although the process of getting MAs, M Phils and PhDs does help hone the craft. After that, one has to specialise, to apply thought to the specialised area and come to say something either frightfully original or painstakingly well-researched and soundly founded on primary sources. This is not what a student of history does, or is asked to do. I think that the difference is in the way that an historian does things related to history, rather than in any hypothetical underpinning of historiography. bonobashi Don't you think we ought to take this offline? It's so grossly off-topic. --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Abhishek Hazra [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 3:34 PM Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. well, to state the obvious, the historian has to engage equally with historiography as well as 'history'. though putting it this way, gives one the wrong impression of two apparently autonomous and separate fields of history and historiography... what's your take? abhishek On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 AM]: I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and swimming...and dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Masters degree in cryptography * Learn Perl * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and lose 2 inches around the middle so I can wear them, dammit * Krav Maga * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) * Get back to reasonable fluency in French * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom my primary interaction these days is occasional phone calls saying we MUST meet Share yours, o wise ones? This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 4:00 PM, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: 6. Volunteer with a charity or foundation that helps children to read - time: 6 months-1 year; cost: $$$ Akshara Foundation (www.aksharafoundation.org) might be interested in your help. Wot Sez, Gautam? This is unfortunately not a plan for immediate pursuit. There's other things ahead of it in the queue, but perhaps in a few years. Cost need not be $$$. Opportunity cost can be. PS: Want to add a legend to define $ through $? It's a relative cost, and it's not perfect either - some items could have an extra $. I don't have the definition you are looking for, but it's easy to work out if there's sufficient interest I think. Cheeni
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: 6. Volunteer with a charity or foundation that helps children to read - time: 6 months-1 year; cost: $$$ Akshara Foundation (www.aksharafoundation.org) might be interested in your help. Wot Sez, Gautam? Cost need not be $$$. Venkat PS: Want to add a legend to define $ through $?
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Oh, I think that (building a key to define $ through $$$) is likely to be hopeless at a top-down level. There are too many diverse contexts on this list. Maybe the best would be to define only three levels, using the $ sign only as a signifier of value, and standing for 'very costly', 'valuable' and 'not expensive', and let everybody decide for herself/himself which activity is rated what. bonobashi --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Srini Ramakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 4:14 PM On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 4:00 PM, Venkat Mangudi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: 6. Volunteer with a charity or foundation that helps children to read - time: 6 months-1 year; cost: $$$ Akshara Foundation (www.aksharafoundation.org) might be interested in your help. Wot Sez, Gautam? This is unfortunately not a plan for immediate pursuit. There's other things ahead of it in the queue, but perhaps in a few years. Cost need not be $$$. Opportunity cost can be. PS: Want to add a legend to define $ through $? It's a relative cost, and it's not perfect either - some items could have an extra $. I don't have the definition you are looking for, but it's easy to work out if there's sufficient interest I think. Cheeni Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 4:39 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Oh, I think that (building a key to define $ through $$$) is likely to be hopeless at a top-down level. There are too many diverse contexts on this list. Maybe the best would be to define only three levels, using the $ sign only as a signifier of value, and standing for 'very costly', 'valuable' and 'not expensive', and let everybody decide for herself/himself which activity is rated what. Yep, I was thinking of the restaurant guide approach too. Cheeni
[silk] Omniphobic
Amusing term. Makes me want to play some Ugly Kid Joe. Udhay http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16006-dirt-wont-stick-to-omniphobic-material.html Dirt won't stick to omniphobic material * 22:00 10 November 2008 by Colin Barras * For similar stories, visit the Nanotechnology Topic Guide Water might run easily off a duck's back, but oil does not. Now US chemists have created a material antisocial enough to repel liquids of both kinds. They have gone one better than nature, which is not known to have made materials with such properties. Robert Cohen's team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even had to coin a new word to describe their creation - omniphobic - literally meaning it hates everything. Toadstool surface The material forces away watery and oily liquids into tight droplets due to its surface texture, made up of 300-nanometer-tall toadstools with broad silicon dioxide caps and narrow silicon stems. All liquids have a surface tension that attempts to pull a drop into a perfect sphere, like those seen in the zero gravity of space. But the strength of that tension varies between liquids. Water's very high surface tension, 72 milliNewtons per metre (mN/m) at room temperature, means it easily forms near-spherical drops when placed on a surface. Because of their near-spherical shape, the droplets meet the surface at a high angle - above 150° if the water is sitting on a superhydrophobic surface. Oils such as pentane have a low surface tension - 15mN/m - so they sag under gravity and tend to form a flat pool rather than a spherical droplet, meeting the surface at a low angle. All the angles The shape of the omniphobic toadstools makes it possible for even that weak surface tension to hold a droplet together, allowing liquids like pentane to form a sphere without collapsing, Cohen told New Scientist. If you stand on top of one of these [toadstools] and start walking towards the edge, you'll pass through all angles and eventually you'll be standing upside down, he says. That means even oily liquids can find their ideal angle with the surface and form a meniscus between adjacent toadstools that can support a spherical droplet. The meniscus rests on a layer of air beneath the toadstools' caps. Although the toadstools are slightly omniphobic on their own, making it possible to knock droplets of water or oil around them like marbles with ease required adding a surface coating to enhance the effect. The chemical used - fluorodecyl POSS - is more usually used to make surfaces more hydrophobic. After the coating, the new MIT material repels even oily liquids with low surface tension, such as pentane. Pentane is probably the lowest energy liquid you can have at atmospheric pressure, and we were able to get drops of that just rolling around on our surface, says Cohen. It's so robust that even when droplets of hexadecane - with a surface tension of 27.5 mN/m - are dropped onto the surface, they simply bounce and retain their spherical shape (see video, above). Philippe Brunet at the Mechanics Laboratory of Lille, France, is impressed with the material. To my knowledge, no such universal repelling properties have been observed before this work, he says. What's quite convincing is that the robustness was evidenced by drop impact experiments. But David Quéré at the Higher School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris wonders how easy it will be to find real-world applications for the material. Many concrete and glass companies have been interested in similar surfaces to improve their materials, he says. But when you put this texture on the surface of a solid it is very easily destroyed - [the toadstools] are quite fragile. If they could be made more robust, they could make easy-to-clean surfaces that are difficult to soil with either watery or oily dirt. Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804872105) -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one Indic 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done about a third of the TN coast, though not on one trip) 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike 5) Sleep 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work with the Epigraphical society/ASI in TN 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. I don't want to be a historian. My interest in history is purely arm-chair and perhaps to impress the odd friend with knowledge about cultures. I do have a fairly good idea of south Indian/Tamil empires and would like to build on it. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettresUnless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Um, that was mentioned half in jest. I buy books based on how I feel for that month/quarter - currently I am in a fiction/classics phase. Three months ago it was graphic novels. Making a list is not very difficult, but I prefer to not make one. Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. :)) My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? Nope. Studied accountancy, business communication, economics. And received a totally worthless paper at the end of it. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Before we take this off list... On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 3:54 PM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I notice that not all good historians are particularly into historiography. Some of them are empiricists to a fault; that itself might be taken up as an example of an historiographical position. One can't become an historian just by getting a degree, although the process of getting MAs, M Phils and PhDs does help hone the craft. After that, one has to specialise, to apply thought to the specialised area and come to say something either frightfully original or painstakingly well-researched and soundly founded on primary sources. My only coughrolemodelcough is a guy called Muthiah. As far as I know, he hasn't written any paper, nor has he passed any test/exam for historians. He has done original, painstaking research though, and applied years of journalism experience to ferret out information about his subject - Madras history. This he popularises with his weekly columns in the newspaper, and his few books. This is not what a student of history does, or is asked to do. As I mentioned, I do not want to be a historian professionally, nor be a full-time student of history. I do want to know a lot more and lot deeper (digging wide and deep) about where I come from, where my family comes from, the things we did to get there. If, in the process, I am able to achieve some level of expertise/get acknowledged, all the better. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Saturday 15 Nov 2008 10:41:57 am Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) Actually most of the things in the When I have time list will never get done. I missed so many movies for a decade and a half that I told myself that I would (this was some technological years ago) set up a room with a VCR and watch all the movies I had missed. But then time moved on - tech improved - and many of the movies that I missed turned out to be bad. When I was in the UK I recorded hours and hours of wildlife video and cartoons, imagining that my daughter would never get to see such stuff when I returned to India. Luckily, I have now found a taker who will accept for recycling 45 Kilos of junk videotapes. I deliberately keep my to be read books list to 6 and refuse to acknowledge that there are others. They may be there - but knowing that is of no use to me. I always keep reading material in the craphouse - not to be crapped on - but to be read. What have I done when I have had time? Converted videotapes to Mpeg I format and redone the same stuff to make Mpeg 2 in some cases. because technology moved the goalpost. I have converted 1000 odd transparencies to digital images time and time again using different techniques - each giving a slightly higher resoultion. My current project is digitizing hours of gramophone and tape music so I can throw away kilograms of cassette tapes. I have backed up all this on CDs initially, later DVDs and now on almost-terabyte size external drives. In short I am packaging all my experiences into a format that is going to be as unreadable as my brain when I am dead. What a waste of time. When you have time, the best thing to do is play golf. shiv
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
OK, thought back and here's a slightly fuller list. * Go back - this time on vacation, a week at a time - to at least some of the more interesting cities I've been to on conferences (aka airport - hotel - conference - dinner - hotel, catch up on work while also attending / presenting / taking part in panels, lather rinse repeat .. as for sightseeing, well, I saw the Eiffel tower and the Arc d'Triomphe from my taxi window once, when I was in Paris. For example..) * Paris, Perth, Singapore (which I've mostly only transited through), SFO, Boston, Kyoto, Buenos Aires, ... * Get back into quizzing - which I have shamefully neglected for some years now. And a lot of fun has gone out of my life thanks to that. * See more of various relatives, several of who live in the same city as I do but I haven’t seen in weeks, or even months. That's not even starting to count the relatives in Bombay, Delhi and parts unknown. * Get back to working on APCAUCE (www.apcauce.org) - which I have been falling behind on for the last year or so. srs
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
ss wrote, [on 11/16/2008 10:12 PM]: Actually most of the things in the When I have time list will never get done. I don't know about many of the other posters in this thread, but at least part of my motivation in starting it was to wryly acknowledge this. On a similar note: http://quotagious.r08.railsrumble.com/tags/138 Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Well, having 'retired' twice before on achieving this once-desirable state of having enough money to 'not have to work' I can tell you that it's a state that is probably over-romanticised. In a word, two actually, I was soon bored shitless. And in each case, my retirement lasted about 3 months. It went something like this: 1. I enjoy a month of reading, watching TV, rooting around in the garden, hanging out at Borders. 2. Around week 6 the restlessness creeps in - was I really going to spend the rest of my life doing nothing? 3. Around week 9, the brain kicks in. There must be something interesting I could do. 4. By week 12, I've started something new. I am now happily consigned to the state of knowing that I can never really retire. And that is a retirement of some sort, actually :-) Mahesh On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:17 PM, Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 11:00:12AM +0530, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [...] Get rich? Definitely want to do that. Define rich. Not having to work, of course.
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 01:24:51AM +0530, Mahesh Murthy wrote: And in each case, my retirement lasted about 3 months. It went something like this: Who said anything about retirement? It's about not having to work (to pay the bills). So you're free to pursue your heart's true desire, whatever that is.
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Zigackly. I think this is the tersest and most appropriate statement-of-purpose I've read. You don't do the shit you happen to be doing in order to pay the bills, you start doing the beautiful stuff just waiting to be done. Off-roading in Iceland, for instance, comes to mind. Put another way, it'd be nice to have my tires at 2 psi instead of 32. From fragmentary, blissful past experiences, this actually involves 'working' harder than ever, wringing oneself out physically and mentally, but enjoying every second, every little action involved to the fullest. bonobashi --- On Mon, 17/11/08, Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Monday, 17 November, 2008, 1:33 AM On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 01:24:51AM +0530, Mahesh Murthy wrote: And in each case, my retirement lasted about 3 months. It went something like this: Who said anything about retirement? It's about not having to work (to pay the bills). So you're free to pursue your heart's true desire, whatever that is. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
Here is mine: 1. Learn swimming 2. Be consistent in working / out get a trainer to work out 3. Run a marathon 4. Become a full time illustrator. 5. Write at least 1 book (on any topic). 6. Travel all continents specially Africa. 7. Be the owner of a big (finger-in-many-pies) company (like Martha Stewart). 8. Read all my unread books which are in a list here ( http://www.bookjetty.com/people/nimbupani/books?category=wanted)
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 5:18 AM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You don't do the shit you happen to be doing in order to pay the bills, you start doing the beautiful stuff just waiting to be done. Off-roading in Iceland, for instance, comes to mind. I'm currently doing a pretty good thing that pays my bills. But I do want to not do it day in and day out, if that makes sense. And yes, off-roading in Iceland sounds like something I'd try, if I can get to a road in Iceland. C -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/ravages http://www.linkedin.com/in/ravages http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/ +91-9884467463
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Monday 17 Nov 2008 1:24:51 am Mahesh Murthy wrote: Well, having 'retired' twice before There is the story of the Alchemist's apprentice who beged his boss to teach him how to make god. The man taught him, but warned him that while he is chanting the magic words he must never ever think of the pink elephant. Elated, the apprenctice started wrok immediately, but found to his horror that the thought of the pink elephant kept coming and the gold failed to appear. He then complained to his master, Sire - if you had not told me about that pink elephant I would never hvae thought about it, but I am now unable to get it out of my mind Retirement is like the pink elephant. Whose bright idea was it to conjure up the idea that people need to retire What sort of stupid concept is that? shiv
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time - gold not god
On Monday 17 Nov 2008 9:21:30 am ss wrote: There is the story of the Alchemist's apprentice who beged his boss to teach him how to make god. I normally ignore my own typos - but this one changes the meaning too much to be ignored. It should have been how to make gold sorry shiv
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
--- On Mon, 17/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Date: Monday, 17 November, 2008, 8:45 AM On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 5:18 AM, Bonobashi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You don't do the shit you happen to be doing in order to pay the bills, you start doing the beautiful stuff just waiting to be done. Off-roading in Iceland, for instance, comes to mind. I'm currently doing a pretty good thing that pays my bills. But I do want to not do it day in and day out, if that makes sense. And yes, off-roading in Iceland sounds like something I'd try, if I can get to a road in Iceland. C ? You lost me on the bends. You want to get to a road in Iceland, so that you can go off the road in Iceland? I agree that there is a strange beauty, almost a symmetry, in that logic. If there is no road, one cannot after all go off-road. On the duller side, however, there are some gorgeous off-roading videos on You Tube, and any number of exhilarating web-sites on this. More when I have been pacified and brought down to the usual state of neurosis from my present distraught frame of mind. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 08:45:44AM +0530, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan wrote: I'm currently doing a pretty good thing that pays my bills. But I do want to not do it day in and day out, if that makes sense. And yes, off-roading in Iceland sounds like something I'd try, if I can get to a road in Iceland. They use trucks like that http://leitl.org/ice2/88.html More http://leitl.org/ice2/ Since their national economy collapse it's getting pretty grim over there, though. 1/3rd are considering emigration.
[silk] Ancient Monty Python Sketch Discovered
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE4AD72J20081114?feedType=RSSfeedName=oddlyEnoughNewsrpc=76 Ancient Greeks pre-empted Dead Parrot sketch Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:56pm EST By Daniel Flynn ATHENS (Reuters) - I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it. For those who believe the ancient Greeks thought of everything first, proof has been found in a 4th century AD joke book featuring an ancestor of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch where a man returns a parrot to a shop, complaining it is dead. The 1,600-year-old work entitled Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, one of the world's oldest joke books, features a joke in which a man complains that a slave he has just bought has died, its publisher said Friday. By the gods, answers the slave's seller, when he was with me, he never did any such thing! (continued)
