Re: [silk] The anti-bucket list

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 2019/12/26 10:30, Shoba Narayan wrote:


Thanks for pointing Casu Marzu out Udhay. Had never heard of it before.

For me, a similar list would be
1. Networking events.
2. Anything in this list .



Wow, that's quite a list at that link up there. :) I've had a few of 
them but not all. Cheers for a great New Year.


Jim

Re: [silk] Random thought of the day

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 2019/05/26 1:26, Tomasz Rola wrote:


This list, as any other mailing list nowadays (I guess) is distracting
people away because the mail does not have 'like button'.



Thank goodness for that! :) The social media platforms are surely 
convenient (privacy issues aside) for many things, but that "like" bit 
is something I can do without. I much prefer threaded conversations on 
text mailing list written by people who write entire sentences.




Or 'button
like'. But, like what? What button? There probably is a really huge
gap in expectations how things are meant to work. My way is reading
and writing with full size keyboard and terminal emulator. Not gonna
to be appreciated by those who think they can replace computer with
some stuff in their pocket.


I don't mind reading via phone. It's pretty handy. But I really hate 
writing via phone. Perhaps that's just my advanced age talking.




 From the page:

# The problem with no response is that there are five possible
# interpretations:
#
# 1. The post is correct, well-written information that needs no
# follow-up commentary. There's nothing more to say except "Yeah, what
# he said."
#
# 2. The post is complete and utter nonsense, and no one wants to waste
# the energy or bandwidth to even point this out.
#
# 3. No one read the post, for whatever reason.
#
# 4. No one understood the post, but won't ask for clarification, for
# whatever reason.
#
# 5. No one cares about the post, for whatever reason.

I think it is mostly 3 and 4, for whatever reason, like conspiracy to
kill email and move all comms into push messaging directly to cell
phones, plus people dumbing down because they get more and more
shorter and shorter messages faster and faster.

Overally, if you ask me a question which cannot be answered with
conventional explanation/wisdom, I will recall some conspiracy theory
or make up one on demand.



I think numbers 2-5 are closely related and not as important as number 
1. Number 1 is a problem if you are trying to generate some consensus in 
a community and there's no response. Even if a post is correct or 
well-written there is always more that can be discovered by further 
discussions -- either by confirmations or challenges. Rarely is a single 
post complete.


I used to work for a manager once who deeply understood the value of a 
code review. We'd iterate -- rapidly -- on various documents, 
discussions, reports, problems, ideas, bugs, whatever. She'd engage the 
team mailing list and everyone jumped in. The cultural bias was simple: 
you were expected to contribute. And the final bit we produced together 
looked nothing like her original post -- which was usually correct and 
well-written in the first place.


Anyway, that's my take. Even if something is initially good. Give it a 
poke. See if it can be better.


Cheers,
Jim

Re: [silk] Bangalore Visit

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 2019/05/23 11:25, Udhay Shankar N wrote:


On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 12:06 PM Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

Show of hands so far:

Jim Grisanzio
Udhay Shankar
Kavita Chaudhury
Biju Chacko
Huda Masood
Jessica Prabhakar
Naresh Narasimhan
Jahnavi Phalkey
Vinit Bhansali
Surabhi Tomar

Adding to this list:
Venkat Mangudi
Alok Prasanna Kumar
Jayadevan PK
Vinay Rao
Kiran Karthikeyan



Thank you for such a great time last nite. :)  I leave tonight. Back 
again soon.


Cheers,
Jim

Re: [silk] Bangalore Visit

[Jim Grisanzio (jimgris)]

Cool. 

I’m staying at the Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park, Sarjapur, Marathahalli 
Outer Ring, Kadubeesanahalli.

So that’s not too far. Let me know where to go. :)

Jim

[silk] Bangalore Visit

[Jim Grisanzio]

Hi,

Long time lurker here, occasional poster. Based in Japan. Used to be
at Sun on OpenSolaris, still at Oracle doing developer relations.

I'll be in Bangalore in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if
anyone would like to meet up for a coffee or something? No work
agenda, just to say hello. This will be my 5th trip to Bangalore in a
year so it's getting to be a bit of a habit. :)

Have some time on Fri May 24 evening if interested.

Cheers,
Jim

Re: [silk] How much time do you spend cooking?

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 2018/09/04 12:05, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
> Something I am curious about.
>
> How much time here do people spend actually cooking the food they eat? To
> make the data more useful, calculate the time you spent over the past week
> in total.

Both my wife and I cook. A lot. Every day -- easily 2-3 hours minimum.
Mostly Japanese food but a variety of types of food. We do eat out, but
cooking is a top priority due to our desire to always eat the best
quality food possible for ourselves and our daughter.

> Also, please mention whether you work outside home or primarily within home
> (as a homemaker or a long distance worker)

I work at home, at the office in Osaka about an hour away, on planes,
and all over the place I guess. It sucks to eat while traveling so I
fast a lot (especially on planes, I never eat the food on planes). Some
restaurants are good while traveling, of course, but cooking your own
stuff is generally better. :)

Cheers
Jim 

Re: [silk] What's your primary computing device?

[Jim Grisanzio]

On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 5:32 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> As in, what do you spend the most time doing serious work/play on? For any
> definition of 'work' or 'play' that appeals to you?
>
> For me, it is still an assembled desktop computer running Windows.
> Notwithstanding the existence in the house of 3 laptops, sundry tablets,
> and many, MANY phones.



4 laptops in 2 locations (office/home) running Linux, Solaris, Windows,
Mac. Need the Mac for photo editing. But mostly for day to day work stuff
the phone is slowly taking over with recent models (iPhone 7). It won't be
long till the phone replaces 3 laptops. Haven't used a land-locked desktop
since Sun's Sun Ray (or maybe that doesn't quality as a desktop machine but
more of a thin network client with a nice big screen).  :)

Jim

Re: [silk] When to quit

[Jim Grisanzio]

On Thu, Jul 27, 2017 at 12:00 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> I occasionally listen to the Tim Ferris podcast, and I found last week's
> episode [1] particularly fascinating. It's a panel of people giving their
> take on the question "how does one decide when to quit and when to
> persist". I recommend listening to the episode, but my intention in posting
> here is to ask the community the same thing.
>
> How do *you* decide when to quit and when to persist?
>
> Udhay
>
> [1] https://tim.blog/2017/07/23/when-to-quit/
>
>
This is an important issue. You can burn years of your life by missing
this. And you can also miss critical opportunities along the way as well.

I think it's most important to learn the skill of quitting. And make no
mistake, it's a skill and it needs practice. You don't want to quit
something too soon without giving enough time for things to develop, of
course, but then again you can't let a mess drag out too long either. The
balance here is different for everyone.

To me the best way to manage this is to always be driving your own agenda.
Always be focused on your own goals, in other words. That way you are not
totally influenced by random circumstances and it's less likely you'll fall
victim to someone else's agenda. Part of driving your own agenda and
managing your own goals, though, is being open to new opportunities
resulting from changes in the environment around you.

Once you have that awareness on a daily basis, you are in a much better
position to assess situations and decide whether to quit or persist.

I'll have to listen to the Ferris podcast. I'm a fan.

Jim

Re: [silk] Is sugar toxic?

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 2017/06/08 14:00, Venkat wrote:
Quite a few silklisters are on Keto. Which means no sugar, and no 
carbs. The benefits have been significant for me. Been doing it for 
almost 4 years now. Weight loss, higher energy levels, increased taste 
for even slightly sweet vegetables and fruits, and the list goes on. I 
don't want to bore you folks with the list of the benefits of Keto. :-)


Yep, I agree. Keto has been very helpful to me too on a number of 
fronts. I have not experienced any downsides at all in a couple of 
years. However, really achieving ketosis strictly from diet can be 
challenging. But fasting does the trick jet quick. :)


Jim

Re: [silk] How To Be More Interesting

[Jim Grisanzio]

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:


 9. Grow a pair.
 Bravery is needed to have contrary opinions and to take unexpected
 paths. If you’re not courageous, you’re going to be hanging around the
 water cooler, talking about the guy who actually is.




This is the fastest way to get noticed as interesting by those who are also
interesting. It also works quite nicely in cutting through all the
mind-numbing mud of normalcy out there. But do you have someone watching
your back? If not, you can get picked off pretty easily.

Jim

Re: [silk] Parenting rewires dads as well

[Jim Grisanzio]

Deepa Mohan wrote
On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 11:28 AM, Ramakrishnan Sundaram 
r.sunda...@gmail.com mailto:r.sunda...@gmail.com wrote:


I remember having this conversation with Shiv before my son, now 10,
was born. It most certainly is true, at least in my case.


I have a question...why does this rewiring not work (it obviously 
doesn't) when the father does not accept responsibility for the child? 
Does the re-wiring only occur if the father is willing to 
acknowledge the child as his?...which would mean that the re-wiring 
only happens if the father is consciously willing to let it happen.


Just speculating here ... but the article says that brain cell growth 
is strongly correlated to learning new things so I would imagine that 
the fathers who split and leave their kids simply do not have the 
physical experience of raising a child. So, they do not get the extra 
brain cells that result from the experience. The key seems to be the 
direct experience, which in this case can be rather all-encompassing 
(and quite lovely) so I am not surprised you get a few new brains cells 
in the process. I surely did. :)


Jim

Re: [silk] Debt: The first 5000 years

[Jim Grisanzio]

On 05/06/2010 03:15 PM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:


http://blog.longnow.org/2010/04/22/debt-the-first-five-thousand-years/
  


This is a perfectly horrifying piece, my goodness. :)



 The first and overwhelming conclusion
of this project is that in studying economic history, we tend to
systematically ignore the role of violence, the absolutely central role
of war and slavery in creating and shaping the basic institutions of
what we now call “the economy”. 


I agree with this. And I'd go further. If violence, war, and slavery are 
ignored in the study of economic history, then what does that say about 
the awareness of those issues in popular culture -- such as general news 
and political discourse? In the U.S. I'd say the awareness is as closee 
to zero as you can get. I had thought it would be much higher in 
academia, though. Perhaps not.



What’s more, origins matter. The
violence may be invisible, but it remains inscribed in the very logic of
our economic common sense, in the apparently self-evident nature of
institutions that simply would never and could never exist outside of
the monopoly of violence – but also, the systematic threat of violence –
maintained by the contemporary state.
  


This is the bit that really makes this article unsettling.


 The institution of wage labour, for instance,
has historically emerged from within that of slavery (the earliest wage
contracts we know of, from Greece to the Malay city states, were
actually slave rentals), and it has also tended, historically, to be
intimately tied to various forms of debt peonage – as indeed it remains
today. The fact that we have cast such institutions in a language of
freedom does not mean that what we now think of as economic freedom does
not ultimately rest on a logic that has for most of human history been
considered the very essence of slavery.
  


And this is depressing, too. I've heard Noam Chomsky discuss this issue, 
as well, but unlike this article Chomsky offers some practical (but 
obviously difficult) ways to help mitigate the situation: activism, 
community building, anarchism, etc. You organize and run your own 
affairs as a community or else you run the risk of getting exploited by 
whatever power structure that comes along.


Jim

Re: [silk] The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

[Jim Grisanzio]

Manar Hussain wrote:

Playing devil's advocate somewhat, there's a cost as well as a
potential pay-off to not just playing along. 


Yep. Huge cost. And sometimes people pay with their lives.


A friend floored me recently with her
approach. I know her as very sure of her (core) beliefs. She let up.
Once every year or two she has a bout of introspection where she
re-aligns. Interesting approach at trying to find the best of both
worlds.


I do this too. That's why some people sometimes hit me with being 
inconsistent (especially when they look at old stuff I've written) 
since my positions evolve all the time. I do it intentionally. If a 
position is not working for me (in whatever way I specify), I eventually 
kill it and move on.


What I like about the substance of the article is that it articulates a 
concept that people can use to change themselves -- even though they 
generally can't change the paradigms in which they live. You can change 
the small things in your world, in other words, and hopefully over time 
those small things add up to bigger changes. And when you are focusing 
on this process, you are more apt to spot bigger paradigm shifts coming 
along and you can jump when the opportunity is right.


Something like that. :)

Jim

Re: [silk] The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

[Jim Grisanzio]

Raul wrote:

Yep, was fun reading... There's this analogy in ThinkerToys:

http://books.google.com/books?id=5ozm2lpj05QCpg=PA51

quote
Imagine a cage containing five monkeys. 

...

Good story. I certainly know a few of those monkeys (and a few 
veterinarians studying real monkeys too). But I suppose we all have the 
ability of acting like those monkeys from time to time even if we are 
consciously aware of the issue and try to disrupt the process. I think 
that's a strong point of the article, that our reactions are hardwired 
to at least a certain degree. Catching (and adjusting) our own narrow 
agendas is cool, but what about what we genuinely miss? And how much are 
we missing on any given day. Probably more than we are comfortable with.


Jim

Re: [silk] The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

[Jim Grisanzio]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/fail_accept_defeat/all/1

Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

Modern science is populated by expert insiders, schooled in narrow
disciplines. Researchers have all studied the same thick textbooks,
which make the world of fact seem settled. This led Kuhn, the
philosopher of science, to argue that the only scientists capable of
acknowledging the anomalies — and thus shifting paradigms and starting
revolutions — are “either very young or very new to the field.” In
other words, they are classic outsiders, naive and untenured. They
aren’t inhibited from noticing the failures that point toward new
possibilities.
  



Really nice article. The acknowledging the anomalies bit from Kuhn may 
enable you to jump paradigms, which is very cool, but it also gets you a 
lot of knives buried in your back. Acknowledge carefully. :)


Jim

Re: [silk] An Operating System for the Mind

[Jim Grisanzio]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:

Very cogent, but my thoughts in response to this are somewhat jumbled.
Do folks here have any responses?

Udhay

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/09/operating-system-for-mind.html

Saturday, September 19, 2009
An Operating System for the Mind
  



I tend to agree with Downes. He is articulating a fresh approach. And it 
seems like an empowering and flexible approach, too. My complaint with 
the common core view of the world is that although I value a Liberal 
Arts education to a certain degree, I find it expensive, poorly 
delivered, and lacking in practical skills to earn a living. At the 
other extreme I am critical of the facts/skills-only crew who pay lip 
service to a more common base of knowledge from which to build and grow. 
Both views lock you into one or another limited paradigm. Instead, the 
operating system view from Downes seems to be a paradigm breaker. I like it.


Jim

Re: [silk] Oracle Agrees to Acquire Sun

[Jim Grisanzio]

Jai Iyer wrote:

Hmmm. I'd like Solaris to be an open-source, big-iron OS. The concept
of Solaris on the desktop has always disturbed me, it's like err the
Pope featuring in Playboy.
  


The OpenSolaris features will migrate to the enterprise (Solaris is 
already there, of course), but the OpenSolaris desktop is coming along 
quite nicely, actually. It hasn`t even been a year. More time needed.


But this desktop question has always been interesting. The desktop was 
never the exclusive goal for Sun, but there is a distribution of 
OpenSolaris that is focused exclusively on the desktop and general users 
-- in other words, Windows users. It`s called Jaris. It`s in Japan and 
it`s independent from Sun. It`s pretty slick. And it`s getting huge 
attention here in Tokyo for a new distro. Should be an interesting 
experiment for a distro to take the OpenSolaris kernel directly to 
Windows uses in a well contained market using positioning Sun would be 
rather unfamiliar with. Don`t be surprised if that Pope turns out to be 
Japanese. Things can get pretty sexy in Tokyo, you know ...


:)

Jim

Re: [silk] All done with mirrors

[Jim Grisanzio]

Mayank Dhingra wrote:

Stumbled upon this TED Talk video by Vilayanur Ramachandran,A journey to the
center of your mind:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html

  


hey, thanks for that link. On the phantom limb part, it`s fascinating 
that the visual connection in the brain (which literally has to be 
fooled) is more important for unlocking the paralysis and pain than the 
logical reality of knowing you have no limb that can be paralyzed. So 
much for what we think is reality eh? He didn`t say how he applies 
this to other brain injuries, such as stroke. In that case, there are no 
missing limbs. I wonder if this treatment can be applied to other forms 
of chronic pain not associated with or originating from brain injuries. 
Must look into this more. Thanks.


Jim

Re: [silk] On Obama's Chances

[Jim Grisanzio]

Dave Kumar wrote:

On that note, for all those
US citizen expats on silklist who are not registered to vote, please see the
message below and (1) register to vote, and (2) cast your absentee ballot!!
  


And be mindful of the deadlines. There are only a few weeks left to act 
or you could miss the election. If you are living outside the country, 
you are basically registering to vote via the state in which you last 
lived. And state registration deadlines vary (although most are 30 days 
or so prior to the election). Also, states' ability to email ballots 
back to you after you register varies, too. I find most states just use 
mail. So, you have to mail your registration application, receive a 
ballot back in the mail, and then mail the ballot back. Watch the clock ...


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] A Capital Idea

[Jim Grisanzio]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:

for rishab.

-udhay

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03wwln-guestsafire-t.html

On Language
Me, Myself and I
By CAROLINE WINTER
Published: August 3, 2008


hey, thanks for sending that. I didn't know where the capital I came 
from. :) I'm not surprised by the answer, though. Seems reasonable given 
the evolution and structure of English.


I'm less convinced by the writer suggesting that capitalizing the word 
I leads to excessive ego, though, when she cites examples of other 
languages that leave these bits out. She says Japanese makes it possible 
to leave out pronouns. Well, sure, but you don't really need subjects in 
Japanese, ether. And in Japanese the emphasis is on the topic not the 
subject, and verbs are usually passive and/or nominalized and buried at 
the end of the sentence well after all the context is explained in 
painfully long detail. But in English, a subject performing an action is 
the focus right up front. And while English can structurally handle a 
topic it has no grammatical role and is generally left out.


I'm not sure about the other languages she cites, but Japanese and 
English are polar opposites and I don't see how comparing them supports 
her argument that using i instead of I will make our 
individualistic, workaholic society ... more rooted in community and 
quality and less focused on money and success if we each thought of 
ourselves as a small “i” with a sweet little dot. Japanese has a lot of 
what she's looking for, yet many Japanese people are workaholics, they 
express a lot of individuality (though not as much as the US), they are 
focused on money, and much of their famous humility/politeness is locked 
inside exclusive groups with rigid rules that would greatly stress the 
Western definition of community. Of course, many Japanese people are 
lovely and kind and community-oriented and all that, just as many 
English-speaking people are as well. It's extremely difficult to judge 
languages/cultures out of their context.


Interesting article, but I think it goes a tad too far. I don't see why 
the capital I can't just be a quirk of linguistic history rather than a 
statement on individual ego -- and a pejorative one at that.


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Is conflict necessary for progress?

[Jim Grisanzio]

Gautam John wrote:
Is conflict necessary for progress? 


It's inevitable. Two good books on this subject: From science, The 
Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn, and from business, 
The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen. There are many others, 
but these are my favs. Bottom like: existing structures or paradigms 
rarely change. Instead, they are replaced. It's clear /conflict/ 
pervades the replacing process, but I'm more interested in exploring the 
more subtle links of /cooperation/ across paradigms. They are most 
certainly there, but I think they are overwhelmed by all the shouting.



Would
individuals be able to reach their fullest levels of potential in the
absence of conflict or is conflict necessary to maximise potential,
individual and social?
  


I don't think so. Just look at some common personal experiences. Someone 
wants to grow in some way -- new job, new degree, get in shape, stop 
smoking, move to a new location, buy a house, whatever -- and that will 
cause a great deal of internal conflict. Conflict /can/ be good if it 
gets you off the couch. It has to be managed properly and then let go 
after an appropriate time, though. I think too many people unconsciously 
focus on the conflict when it would be better to focus on actually doing 
the work necessary to change. You can change or you can be changed, but 
staying the same is rarely an option for very long.


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] On Japanese Waistlines

[Jim Grisanzio]

Charles Haynes wrote:

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 6:26 PM, Perry E. Metzger [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  

The same is happening to Italy and many other first world countries.



I disagree. I believe the situation is qualitatively different in
Japan (Jim please feel free to chime in!)

It's true that the birthrate is below replacement level in other
countries, but I believe that Japan is both further along, 


Yes. Population experts are having a field day studying Japan right now. 
A common expression in this context is that the Japanese population will 
fall over a cliff to describe how fast the decline is expected in 
upcoming decades. At least I'll have more room on the trains, though. :)



and more
importantly an order of magnitude more xenophobic than other countries
facing that situation.
  


Yes. But this may -- gigantic may -- be changing. The younger people are 
different and more open minded, but change here is slow.



I agree with you that the situation will change radically, but Shiv is
also right in that the situation in other countries will change mostly
by swelling immigrant populations growing to replace (and become!) the
shrinking population of descendants of previous generations of
residents.
  


I would agree with that.


I do not see that happening in Japan. I could see a smaller and
smaller population of citizens eventually ruling a large population of
resident aliens, but not granting them citizenship, nor much political
control.
  


That's the trend, but I would question the large population of resident 
aliens part. There are proposals to both increase immigration and to 
grant citizenship to long term resident foreigners. One proposal being 
discussed by the govt types is to let the foreign population increase to 
10% over the next 50 years. Like I said, change is slow here. :) 
Currently, the foreign population is around 2% and the majority of that 
is Chinese. I doubt the foreign population will rise rapidly to become 
large unless there is a revolution or a depression or other event to 
precipitate such a change. I think we are headed to a 60 million 
population in Japan (half what it is now) way before they consider 
dramatically increasing immigration. It's just my gut feeling based on 
current attitudes.


The root cause of the death of Japan is only partially based on 
restrictive immigration, though. There are many reasons, obviously, but 
one big factor is the truly idiotic work culture in Tokyo, which utterly 
destroys families. However, many young people are rejecting this now, so 
this may change, too. I also think that the rise of India and China will 
wake up the Japanese sooner or later (probably later), but most 
observers feel that the population will be reduced substantially before 
change is implemented.


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] On Japanese Waistlines

[Jim Grisanzio]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:

the millennia of xenophobia that Japan can point to.
This is what is killing the country. And this is why they will simply 
not change internally until they are changed externally first. Most 
aren't even aware of it in the first place. They do have the ability to 
change, though, and their history demonstrates that quite clearly and 
dramatically. Although I see impressively blatant discrimination and 
obviously clueless incompetence absolutely every day, I also see a lot 
of genuine openness, remarkable skill and precision, and some damn cool 
kids in Tokyo. But these kids are not revolutionaries. They are 
talented, they'd like to engage with others (if they knew how), and they 
are much more individualistic than their parents and grandparents (and 
great grandparents). However, they are /profoundly shy/ compared to 
western kids -- I can't stress that enough -- so it takes some real 
doing to get to know them.


My observations are still based on only two years of living here, so I 
could be off on a lot of this. This is my experience at present, though.


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] On Japanese Waistlines

[Jim Grisanzio]

Gautam John wrote:

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies
and local governments must measure the waistlines of Japanese people
ages 40 to 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more
than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the population.

Those exceeding government limits -- 33.5 inches for men and 35.4
inches for women, which are similar to thresholds established in 2005
for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy
guideline for identifying health risks -- and suffering from a
weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three
months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be
steered toward further re-education after six more months.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004474437_obesity13.html?syndication=rss
  


Yep. I've been measured as part of my Sun-mandated annual physical in 
which they pick, poke, and prod every freaking inch of your body. I'm an 
American, so I'm classified as obese according to the Japanese. And I 
didn't fit into the x-ray machine, too. Too tall. Sigh.


But on a more serious note, Japan is dying. Literally. The whole 
country. The population today is about 125 million but will be cut in 
half in 50 years because people are not having kids and the government 
is determined to keep immigrants (foreigners) out. So, Japan will slowly 
die away sometime late this century (estimates range, of course).


People live a very, very long time here, but more recently age-related 
degenerative diseases are rising due to the impressively obscene use of 
tobacco and alcohol and Western food (mostly American food). But even 
though the government is just starting /starting/ to worry about some of 
these things, and even though people are getting heaver, what strikes 
you when you come to Japan is how darn /skinny/ everyone is. :)


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Brian Behlendorf wrote:
If all the U.S. government did was eliminate its subsidies to the 
petroleum industry, it wouldn't have to do anything more - $8/gal gas 
would compel alternatives all on their own.  


Your $8 a gallon seemed high to me. Then I read that Charlie Maxwell has 
it at $12 to $15 a gallon. I'm glad I don't own a car. :) 
http://energytechstocks.com.previewmysite.com/wp/?p=847


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

Lots of Japan has been going bilingual, and even (gasp) hiring non
japanese.

Thaths and I met up with Shradha (quite a character on livejournal) a
couple of years back when she was in kyoto - she's in the bay area now

Did a post grad course in Japan (Keio U I think) and then worked as an 
exec

assistant in the office of the chairman at Sanyo. Speaks fluent japanese,
got quite immersed in japanese culture ..

Got reminded of that seeing an IP post some hours back about how Japan is
finally, reluctantly, hiring more engineers from abroad.


We're getting a tad off topic here, but you may want to stress quite 
heavily the /finally/ and /reluctantly/ bits in the graph above. :)


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Brian Behlendorf wrote:
I would much rather be hitting this curve due to refining capacity 
than to declines in the amount of oil being pulled out of the ground.  
If we could refine all we could pull, then total reserves would 
decline that much more quickly, and the wall we would hit (when oil 
really does start to run out) would be much sharper than it would be 
if prices crept up slowly from here on out, giving us a generation or 
two to switch to alternatives rather than just a few years.


I totally agree with this. But with demand now rising so fast globally, 
will we hit that inevitable decrease in supply that much sooner? 
Behavior is changing, sure, but I'm not sure current prices in the US 
are high enough yet to really move the government (I'm talking about the 
next government, not the current one, of course) to invest in 
alternatives in a way that is serious enough to re-tool the country's 
energy infrastructure. I believe the US supply has been declining since 
the 70s, but I'm not sure the global supply has peaked yet.


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Brian Behlendorf wrote:


And evidence that consumer behavior *is* changing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/business/10transit.html?_r=1themc=th



wow. I hadn't realized Americans were changing that much. Cool. If 
Americans are going to start using mass transit in a big way, I'll be 
interested to see how they deal with the restrictions in freedom of 
movement. When I came to Japan two years ago, I loved the efficiency of 
the trains here, but I also felt rather restricted. Sometimes I just 
want to go over /there/ and I don't want to have to go through /here/ 
with all those people just to arrive at my destination. Still an 
American, I suppose. :) Anyway, the trend is good.


But I had to laugh at the lead pic in the article to illustrate the 
standing room only text in the second paragraph. That train has is 
down right roomy! My goodness. Try this 
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/entry/packed and this 
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5127313249780524359


:)

Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:

i was amazed driving down the 101 carpool lane at peak time with several
km of stationery traffic on the other 3-4 lanes, when i realised that
they were not moving because they were not in the carpool lane which
meant that there were 1000s of cars with just a single occupant, all
going to (almost) the same place.

if they were on a train, they'd spend less money, less time, and be able
to read, work, sleep, eat or whatever.
  


Sure, but that's California (assuming you mean Rt. 101 in Silicon 
Valley). There are only 40 million people in California, so there is 
plenty of space. A good rail system would be wonderful there. But during 
rush hours in Tokyo you can forget about reading, sleeping, working, or 
eating. :) The trains are cattle cars. Although I must say, they are 
remarkably quiet and clean (and on time) for cattle cars, which is 
extremely impressive. There are 130 million people in Japan, and Japan 
is the same physical size as California. So, more than triple the 
population in California and you'll need trains there, certainly, but 
those trains will be very crowded (perhaps not on a China or India scale 
of crowded but 130 million people in California would make most 
Americans quite unhappy).


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Bush's Arabian visit....

[Jim Grisanzio]

Vinayak Hegde wrote:

Still not extreme enough.
  


Sorry. I couldn't do better than that if I tried!  :)

Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

Re: [silk] Crazy English in China

[Jim Grisanzio]

ss wrote:
This seems to support my impression that the Chinese are far more serious 
about foreign languages than Indians are.
  


I've been traveling to China for only about four years now, so I don't 
have that much experience. But even in those few short years, I've seen 
a big difference in English skills at Chinese universities. It's not 
only that their actual language skills are increasing, but it's also 
that they are becoming more assertive about engaging verbally (which is 
very cool). I don't have the same experience in South Korea or in Japan, 
though, where I find the language barriers much higher. So, I do think 
the Chinese are much more hungry to reach out to West using English. I 
wonder where this places the already established markets of South Korea 
and Japan, actually, when in the near future (10 years?) there will be 
very large numbers of Chinese engaging in English to go along with the 
English already in India. Will the reshaping of the global economy 
toward Asia increase in speed as a result? 

By the way, I do know that Indian schools in Japan are *very* hot right 
now since they stress English (and math) from a very early age. There's 
one such school near my house, so I'll have to check it out for my 
little kid. :)


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Why Bother?

[Jim Grisanzio]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1oref=sloginpagewanted=all

If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. 


Absolutely great article. To me that one sentence right there carries 
the whole piece. Setting an example is the best way to influence people 
to change.


Jim

--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/

[silk] NYT: Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy In dia’s Schools

[Jim Grisanzio]

Very interesting.

NYT: Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/business/worldbusiness/02japan.html?_r=2oref=sloginoref=slogin

This has been on the local news here lately as well. And there is an 
Indian school near where I live. Who knows, maybe I'll send my half 
Japanese/American kid to an Indiana school in Tokyo. :) Wild world.


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Will India Become the New Vanguard of the Open Source Movement?

[Jim Grisanzio]

Gautam John wrote:

Last month, when Sun Microsystems announced a $1 million grant for
innovative open source projects at the Free and Open Source Software
conference in Bangalore, it wasn't the sort of news that makes major
headlines. Larger amounts have been committed before. IBM, for
instance, is spending $1.2 million to set up an open source Software
Resource Center in partnership with the Center for Development of
Advanced Computing in Pune and the Indian Institute of Technology in
Mumbai. And this is only one of IBM's India projects. Sun has spent
almost $2 billion supporting open source initiatives across the globe.

Simon Phipps, chief open source officer at Sun, notes, however, that
[India] is where so much innovation is happening. The award is meant
to catalyze projects in six Sun-created environments -- OpenSolaris,
GlassFish, NetBeans, OpenJDK, OpenOffice and OpenSparc. While the
competition is not limited to open-source programmers in India, Phipps
said he was announcing the award in India because that's where I
expect the greatest open source community growth to come from in the
near future.

snip

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4250#
  


Corporate-sponsored contests aside, in terms of OpenSolaris 
community-building, India is ahead of the other emerging markets for 
this one reason: the people there get the concept of contribution and 
participation and they are taking action. They are not talking. They are 
doing. Some other regions are not that far behind, but India leads. 
China is incredibly interesting for us, and most recently Brazil and 
Venezuela and Eastern Europe are spinning up with some creative ideas 
and events. We are still a very small community and primarily based in 
the US around Sun. But, things are starting to diversify a bit, and 
little communities within communities are forming all over the place. 
I'm convinced India will turn more than a few heads in the US (actually, 
they already have, to be honest). It's very cool. I'm looking forward to 
spending more time there ... :)


Jim

--
Jim Grisanzio http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Generic Proposal

[Jim Grisanzio]

Binand Sethumadhavan wrote:

This is quite... what? (funny? romantic? weird?):

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/09/24/clued_in/

Binand



It's absolutely lovely. :) Thanks so much for that link. I used to live 
in Boston, too. Great city.


Jim
--
Jim Grisanzio http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency

[Jim Grisanzio]

Kiran Jonnalagadda wrote:

On 28-Sep-07, at 8:19 PM, Nandkumar Saravade wrote:

After I got to know of GTD, I unsuccessfully tried to find the book 
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done/ 
in a couple of book shops in Mumbai.  Ultimately, had to ask a friend 
to get it from US.  It is a recommended read.


I bought six copies from FirstAndSecond.com a few months ago. They may 
still have it. IndiaPlaza.in (nee FabMall.com) was out of stock when I 
last checked, as were Crossword and Landmark in Bangalore.



Fascinating guy. Love the bit in the Napa State Hospital, too. My 
goodness. I'll have to try his stuff. I'm pretty well organized now, but 
I can go a lot further. And if there's Nirvana in there, well, what the 
heck. :) His quote in the article about people being afraid of the 
void I find to be very, very true among tech types. Thinking is not 
all its cracked up to be, IMHO. :)


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Multiculturalism a corroding influence?

[Jim Grisanzio]

Jim Grisanzio wrote:
Interesting piece. I'm trying to find the original study so see how he 
arrived at these conclusions. Does anyone have a link to that? I can't 
seem to find it ...


I found the original source:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10./j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x?cookieSet=1

It's very good. After I read the study I realized just how bad the TCS 
Daily story is.


Jim

Re: [silk] Multiculturalism a corroding influence?

[Jim Grisanzio]

Interesting piece. I'm trying to find the original study so see how he 
arrived at these conclusions. Does anyone have a link to that? I can't 
seem to find it ...


Venky wrote:

This should make for an interesting discussion! :)
Venky (the Second)

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=090507A

Diversity's Dark Side
By John Luik : 11 Sep 2007

For at least the last twenty years the cultural and political
elites of the United States have championed the cause of
multiculturalism by claiming that diversity was something that
made all of us better. 



I can think if many ways it's made me better. It *is* challenging, 
though, I really must say. It requires work and flexibility and a hugely 
open mind, but I think it's worth it in the long run. We need to 
understand how others think and communicate and make decisions so we are 
less inclined to drop so many bombs on people. History demonstrates that 
humans really don't have a good record in this respect. We overreact far 
too much, and I would hope that diversity would teach us to not do that. 
Perhaps I'm wrong (as this article certainly suggests!)




Little effort was ever made to define
precisely just what was meant by diversity, difference or most
crucially better. Nor was there any significant research that
provided empirical support for the claim that multiculturalism
and diversity translated into better people, better communities,
better organizations and businesses or a better country.



I'm not sure about the hard core science involved, but just based on 
personal experience I'd have to say that diversity is better. It's 
certainly more interesting! :)




But now a considerable amount of solid evidence about
multiculturalism is in, and it suggests that far from something
positive, it is a corroding and corrupting influence on just
about everything that it comes in contact with, from social
capital, trust, and community spirit to altruism, volunteering,
friendship and even happiness.



Seems a bit sweeping here to say just about everything ...

I grew up in New York and lived in Boston and San Francisco. All three 
of those regions of the US are quite diverse and there's no way that you 
could describe those areas using the above paragraph to the exclusion of 
all else. It's extreme to say the very least. There are big problems, 
sure, but how about balancing some of this out? It's reading too one 
sided for me.




That's the startling conclusion from Harvard's Robert Putnam best
known as the author of Bowling Alone. According to Putnam a
variety of research from the United States, Canada, Australia and
Europe 



Nothing about India, China, Korea, or Japan? And is he saying that 
Australia represents Asia? And does Europe represent only Western 
Europe or both East and West? How about South America? Africa?




shows that ethnic diversity is associated with lower
social trust, lower investment in public goods, less
reciprocity, and less willingness to contribute to the community.
In workplace situations diversity is associated with lower group
cohesion, lower satisfaction and higher turnover.



I wonder if he studied more monolithic societies to juxtapose the two?



Putnam's own research in the United States, confirms this
international picture. 



How could research /in the United States/ confirm an /international/ 
picture and leave out most of the world? That makes no sense.




In the Social Capital Community Benchmark
Survey carried out in 41 US communities ranging from Bismarck,
North Dakota to Boston and involving 30,000 individuals, Putnam
found that the more ethnically diverse the people we live
around, the less we trust them. This translates into nine
particularly troubling behaviors, including reduced confidence
in government and in one's ability to influence politics, reduced
voter registration and interest in social change, lowered
expectations about the willingness of others to work together
cooperatively, less charitable giving and volunteering, fewer
close friends, a reduced quality of life and more time spent
watching television. Indeed, one could hardly come up with a list
of behaviors more likely to undermine democratic society.



Sure, I see some of these things in the US, no question, but I wouldn't 
describe the US (or any other relatively diverse society) that way. It's 
just part of the picture. And, by the way, I see many of these very same 
problems right here in good ol' /monolithic/ Japan. And it's very 
obvious, too.




But the consequences of the multicultural diversity extend beyond
its effect on social and community engagement. For instance,
criminologists have found that effective community policing is
much more difficult in areas with increased ethnic diversity.

[Of course it is open to defenders of multiculturalism to argue
that Putnam's findings are skewed by the fact that poverty, crime
and diversity are themselves interconnected, making causal
conclusions difficult. But Putnam's research show 

Re: [silk] Introduction

[Jim Grisanzio]

Anil Kumar wrote:

HI Jim!

I am curious no, really!.  How do you manage going through 200 lists,
participate and also have time for your work (and family / kids / friends
(or all), hobbies, shopping and other general things in life).


Oh, you are assuming I have a life! :) I don't. I read a lot. I skim 
even more. And I miss even more than that. There's no way to keep up 
with everything going on in the project at this point, and the 
development projects are too technical for me anyway so they are easy to 
skim. I pick fights with trolls from time to time for kicks, too. I've 
never worked harder in my life, but open source is personally liberating 
so I very much enjoy it.


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

[silk] Introduction

[Jim Grisanzio]

Hi ...

I'm new to this list, so I thought I'd say hello. :)

I run community development projects for Sun on the OpenSolaris project 
and have done so for 4 years now. I moved to Japan last year to focus on 
open source in Asia. I'll be traveling to Bangalore for the first time 
for FOSS.IN in December and Sun's Tech Days in February. So, I'd love to 
get to know more people in India since I hope to visit very often. More 
info at my bio: http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/page/bio


Jim
--
Jim Grisanzio http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Introduction

[Jim Grisanzio]

Eugen Leitl wrote:

On Wed, Aug 22, 2007 at 09:39:17PM +0530, Venkat Mangudi wrote:


Is it really that good? I wouldn't mind trying it out. How does it
compare to Ubuntu as a desktop OS?


Very, very badly. 



Hi ...

Well, sure it's not as good as Ubuntu as a desktop OS. It's not a 
desktop OS yet. Remember, OpenSolaris is source code. There are a few 
distros, but there is no single OpenSolaris-branded reference binary 
based on 100% of the open code, and Indiana will not solve that problem 
initially. In the meantime, you can use Solaris Express, which is Sun's 
binary based on the OpenSolaris source /plus/ the closed bits we can't 
open or haven't opened yet. All the distros are linked here 
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/downloads/ and BeleniX is the best.


As far as comparing to Ubuntu as a desktop, I'd say make that evaluation 
in a year. Solaris was an enterprise OS for the super technical that we 
opened and are moving to the desktop for everyone. Even people like me! 
Indiana will help, but there have been engineering projects underway to 
address some of these issues (install, package management, etc) for a 
while now. In fact, the first iteration of Dave Miner's new install went 
in this week, and there will be many more updates as the installer is 
re-written: http://blogs.sun.com/dminer/entry/try_out_the_dwarf_caiman. 
And if you want to see what we have planned for packaging, check out 
Stephen Hahn: http://blogs.sun.com/sch/entry/pkg_no_more_installer_magic 
http://blogs.sun.com/sch/entry/observations_on_packaging


And by the way, I use Solaris, Windows, and Linux and I'm perfectly fine 
with all three. I run Ubuntu on one of my laptops at home, and it's 
quite lovely. We're getting there ... slowly but surely. And, yes, it's 
been slow ... :)


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris

Re: [silk] Introduction

[Jim Grisanzio]

Venky TV wrote:

Hey Jim,

Welcome to Silk!  We've talked often on the OpenSolaris mailing lists.


Indeed. I'm on something like 200 lists now. That's why I figured I 
needed just /one/ more ... I'm just not busy enough, I guess. :)


 Looking forward to meeting you at FOSS.IN.  


Cool. My camera is ready. I take a lot of pics, so I'm looking forward 
to these events. If there is anything I can do to help in the meantime, 
let me know. When it comes to India, I know nothing so I'm all ears.



I could certainly use
some help getting some of the Linux zealots here to try out
OpenSolaris! :)  (Biju, you there?!)


Oh, we have a few zealots of our own to deal with, my goodness. It's 
practically been my full time job on this project! But I /do/ have some 
very cool stories now, though ... :)


But seriously, one of the key issues we have to learn on OpenSolaris is 
to grow the community internationally and work across cultural and 
language barriers. I don't think we do that particularly well at this 
point, and that's what I'm trying to focus on and learn as well.


Jim
--
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris