Re: [silk] Recommended Reading for 2020

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Jumping in late, but I thought Rama 2 was a great sequel. While Rendezvous
with Rama had the mood of a NASA science expedition, Rama 2 modeled reality
TV, giving it legitimacy in my (then) teenage mind. The later books didn't
add much.

Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda

(Sent from my phone)

On Mon, 14 Dec, 2020, 18:50 Alaric Snell-Pym, 
wrote:

> On 12/12/2020 16:56, Ashwin Nanjappa wrote:
> > My reading was severely hampered this year due to our son being at home
> all
> > day. With helping him all day at home we ended up having much less energy
> > at the end of the day for reading or watching something. But I was part
> of
> > a bookclub at work and through that I got to read stuff from outside my
> > "comfort zone". Some of the books I can recommend this year:
> >
> > - Rendezvous with Rama: First book in Arthur C Clarke's Rama series. I
> love
> > that these are short reads and how "hard" Clarke goes into the science of
> > the worlds he creates.
>
> Yeah! That book made a big impression on me as a kid. The sequels aren't
> as good and are very different but are still fun to read in their own way.
>
> But the sheer mystery of Rama, sustained by the limited duration the
> team gets to explore, was epic.
>
> --
> Alaric Snell-Pym   (M0KTN neé M7KIT)
> http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/alaric/
>
>

Re: [silk] How do you collect and retrieve information from what you read?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, 23 Mar, 2020, 19:17 Srijith Nair,  wrote:

>
> Thanks for the reply Kiran. Quick follow up question - do you jot things
> down in a digital tool or paper and pen?
>

I use paper for essays and talks. Can't focus with a digital medium. I then
transcribe it with a standing desk. Can't do it sitting down.

After years of using hacky solutions like bathroom stools on the table, or
portable folding tables like the Levit8, I finally invested in a proper
standing desk. One of my better investments. Now I have one at both home
and work.

This month I added a walking treadmill to the setup. It arrived just in
time for lockdown. I'm surprised at how easy it was to adapt to it.

Kiran

Kiran

>

Re: [silk] How do you collect and retrieve information from what you read?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, 25 Feb, 2020, 22:06 Srijith Nair,  wrote:

>  I was wondering what you have found useful in solving similar problems on
> your end.
>

I use Diigo.com as a web highlighter. Its purpose built, will automatically
cache the page, and even has a usable mobile app for reading and
highlighting.

However, my day to day workflow does not involve retrieval of saved
highlights, so I don't know enough on how much it helps.

I type out notes when I find an interesting passage, and I've occasionally
looked up past notes (going back a decade) to retrace how my thinking has
evolved.

Kiran

>

Re: [silk] What did you change your mind about in 2019?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2020 at 09:43, Heather Madrone  wrote:

Over the past few years, I have come to view the US Constitution less as
> a vehicle for greater freedom for all, and more as a device to protect
> the institution of slavery. This has radically changed my perspective on
> things like the 2nd amendment.
>

This is an intriguing statement. Is there any reading you recommend?

Kiran

Re: [silk] Recommended Reading from 2015

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

I just finished Antigod's Own Country by A. V. Sakthidaran and it may be
the most enlightening book I've read in years.

Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
https://hasgeek.com



On Thu, 26 Dec 2019 at 12:23, Ashim D'Silva 
wrote:

> Loving all these recommendations…
> My book of the year is a collection of lectures by Ursula Franklin, The
> Real World Of Technology, which considers technology to be any I system or
> methods used to organise humans thought. It has me thinking a lot about my
> role as a creator of applications in how people solve problems, and I think
> I will be repeatedly reading this for many years to come.
>
> On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 9:32 AM, Thaths  wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 11:17 AM Alok Prasanna Kumar <
> > kautilya...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > To add to the already fantastic books on this list (in no particular
> > order)
> > >
> > > 2. India Moving: A History of Migration by Chinmay Tumbe
> > >
> >
> > This reminded me of another excellent book I read in 2019 that was a good
> > introduction to the ANI/ASI hypothesis:
> >
> > Early Indians : The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From (Tony
> > Joseph)
> >
> > S.
> > --
> > Homer: Hey, what does this job pay?
> > Carl:  Nuthin'.
> > Homer: D'oh!
> > Carl:  Unless you're crooked.
> > Homer: Woo-hoo!
> >
> --
> Cheerio,
>
> Ashim
> Design & Build
>
> The Random Lines
> www.therandomlines.com
>

Re: [silk] In Bangalore June 20/21/22

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, 11 Jun, 2019, 10:09 Jitendra Vaidya, 
wrote:

> I am visiting Bangalore to attend and present at Rootconf.in. Thursday
> promises to be kinda crazy but would love to meet the good folks of Silk on
> Friday (June 21) or Saturday (June 22) evening.
>
> Please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
> Jiten
>

I just caught up with my email and saw this message. Pleasant surprise to
find you here.

Kiran

Re: [silk] The end of the teens

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 17 November 2017 at 12:22, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> Folks:
>
> Silklist will turn 20 years old on Dec 19, 2017. Any ideas for things to do
> to celebrate? :)
>

Thanks for making me feel old. Twenty effing years! (I think I joined in
1998, when Silk had already been around a year.)

Kiran

Re: [silk] May be visiting Bangalore/Bengaluru

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

It's only a chapter, and I'm not editing, so I don't control the timelines.
Hopefully within a few months. Details when I have them.

Kiran

On Fri 27 Oct, 2017, 06:51 Mekin Maheshwari, <meki...@gmail.com> wrote:

> When do you publish Jace?
>
> On Thu, 26 Oct 2017 at 11:07 AM, Kiran Jonnalagadda <j...@pobox.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On 12 October 2017 at 08:41, Jayadevan P K <jayadeva...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > So we met Bob and interviewed him for this podcast
> > > <https://factordaily.com/outliers-bob-frankston/>. In which, he says:
> > > Algorithm is the new bureaucracy!
> >
> >
> > Heh. Excerpt from something I'm working on.
> >
> > We had such meetings over and over again, and I felt a growing awareness.
> > While e-governance was ostensibly an effort to improve things for
> citizens
> > by removing authority from corrupt petty officials and handing it to a
> > noble higher official, in fact the authority was now in the hands of
> > computer programmers. All decisions were now based on how good these
> > programmers were at making computers do their bidding, and most of the
> time
> > these people had a poor appreciation for the consequences of their
> choices.
> > Since technology is far too vast for any individual to comprehend,
> > programmers were the new priesthood, commissioned to make the technology
> > god happy, but equally also interpreting the will of this god.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Kiran Jonnalagadda
> > https://hasgeek.com
> > https://internetfreedom.in
> >
> --
>
> Twitter - http://twitter.com/_mekin
> Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/mekin
>

Re: [silk] Atul Chitnis

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Monday, June 3, 2013, Thaths wrote:


 First it was Raju Mathur and now this? The Open Source pioneers of India
 are slowly going away.


Also Kenneth Gonsalves, less than a year ago. Kenneth was a severe critic
of Atul and they rarely agreed on things, but when he passed Atul paid
homage to him on the foss.in website and at the event. Kenneth ran
operations for NRCFOSS co-founded the Indian Python Software Society, which
runs PyCon India.

Kiran


-- 
-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/
http://hasgeek.com/

Re: [silk] My Airtel Saga

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 6:44 PM, Mahesh Murthy mahesh.mur...@gmail.comwrote:

 If you're OK with it, can I have someone from Airtel call you back on this?

 If you can share an account number / phone number on email that would help.


If you can pull strings in Airtel, Mahesh, I'd like to talk to a real Airtel
employee too. They've screwed me over internet connections at events twice.
The second time we applied a month in advance and paid up, and they still
failed to deliver on time. We spent the last week frantically chasing them.
The linemen finally turned up in the late afternoon of a full-day event and
gave us a connection for three hours.

Now Airtel insists the connection was delivered, so it's not their problem
anymore. I have no idea what the status of the connection is (I asked for it
to be cancelled the same day) and I can't find a human in Airtel who's
willing to listen for more than two minutes.

I went with Airtel because they had existing connections in the building. I
assumed it would be a simple line extension for them, vs laying cables half
a km from the main road for other ISPs.

Kiran

Re: [silk] My Airtel Saga

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 25-Oct-2011, at 9:59 AM, naresh v wrote:

 I just bought myself a samsung 8.9 tablet,after much handwringing over the 
 right tablet ..I need to insert a 3G Sim card..Please recommend the right 
 one/plan etc..
 I don't want to end up with a horror story of excessive billing. Mostly my 
 use is for email/ facebook and watching Youtube videos etc.
 I have not monitored my usage earlier..Pls help.I currently have an Airtel 3G 
 connection on my iphone which is rather spotty..

I have a BSNL postpaid SIM in my Galaxy Tab 10.1. It works decently except:

1. The 3G connection flakes out once in a while and restarting wireless won't 
fix it. Even going into Flight mode won't fix it. I have to reboot.

2. BSNL appears to send bills only once every two months. There are no due 
dates on the bills.

Kiran

[silk] Droidcon

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Bit of plug here: I'm putting together the country's first serious Android
conference for developers, and I'm looking for feedback from the geeks here
on what we can do to make this event worthwhile, considering the smartphone
market in India is very unlike the west or China.

There's a month to go to the event, so that's hopefully enough time to try
interesting stuff. http://droidcon.in/2011.

One interesting trend I see is a strong DIY leaning. Lots of people talking
about low level customization, from custom firmware like CyanogenMod to
porting Android to special hardware, to patching in Indic language support,
to India friendly app markets (Indian developers still can't sell on
Google's Android Market).

It seems a bit like an auto-didactic step child situation, trying to rebuild
essential infrastructure when the focus elsewhere is usually on apps atop a
stable ecosystem.

What do Silk listers think of this?

I think it's great to see so much interest in infrastructure detail, but
fear few of these enthusiasts have the resources to build up to something
significant. For most, it will be good learning to apply when new
opportunities arise.

Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
+91-99552-35123
http://hasgeek.com

(Sent from my tablet)

Re: [silk] BLR Meetup?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 16-Oct-2011, at 7:50 PM, divya manian wrote:

 Yo
 
 I am in Bangalore (but leaving on wednesday) but returning on Nov
 1st-3rd. Is there time for a quick dinner?

Tomorrow, or Tuesday, post-talk? There are 57 people signed up already. The 
venue capacity is 80.

Kiran

Re: [silk] some notes on frugality

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 3:18 PM, ss cybers...@gmail.com wrote:

 They still get bitten and then come down with
 Malaria and Dengue, creating business for doctors. Dengue is especailly
 good.
 It's not even treatable, and can result in death.


Malaria, Shiv? Isn't Bangalore out of the anopheles zone? I've lived in
Mumbai, where colleagues dropping off for Malaria was as typical and
expected as Casual Leave. Not in Bangalore.

Kiran

Re: [silk] samsung 8.9 tablet

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 14-Jul-2011, at 4:18 PM, Sumant Srivathsan wrote:

 The Kindle app is no substitute for the device itself. Backlit displays come 
 with the inherent problem of fatigue and eye strain, regardless of whether 
 it's the iPad or a PC monitor. The eInk display is a winner for me when it 
 comes to the Kindle.

+1. I still use my Sony Reader with its dying battery only because e-ink is so 
much nicer on the eyes. Plus, the lack of distractions.

Kiran

Re: [silk] samsung 8.9 tablet

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 14-Jul-2011, at 9:05 PM, Tim Bray wrote:

 Well, I have read a *lot* of books on the Galaxy Tab, some
 paperback-like and some not at all.  I found it very satisfactory;
 but I can accept that for others, the experience might be different.

What kind of battery life do you get on it, Tim? I've found that even an hour's 
reading on any of my Androids will bring the battery down to 20-30% from full 
charge. After that, it's at most 2 hours to end of day.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Mission: Bangalore silk meetup - Thu July 14

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 12-Jul-2011, at 2:51 PM, Biju Chacko wrote:

 I'll be there, but I like the Thulp idea better. :)
 
 You were fairly uncomplimentary about the food the last time we met
 there. And +1 to Udhay: what about beer?

I like the food at Thulp and don't care for beer, so +1 to that.

Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/
http://hasgeek.in/

Re: [silk] Mission: Bangalore silk meetup - Thu July 14

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 12-Jul-2011, at 5:38 PM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:

 I'd suggest we meet up at Legends of Rock pub [1] first (get there
 early, say 7pm to ensure seating) and then we could do Thulp or whatever.

I don't see how anyone is going to move once they settle anywhere. We either 
stick with Legends of Rock, or go direct to Thulp sans beer.

Personally, I prefer the atmosphere and food at Thulp.

Kiran

[silk] Scaling PHP in the Cloud

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Hello Silk,

Briefly delurking to make a little announcement: I'm running a developer event 
on cloud computing this weekend and some of you may be interested.

Scaling PHP in the Cloud, July 9, Bangalore
http://phpcloud.hasgeek.in/

We'll have videos of all the sessions posted shortly.

I also need a favour: does anyone have a contact in Google who can get me a 
Director account on YouTube? Standard accounts are limited to 15 minutes per 
video. We'd like to do 45 minute videos, which requires turning on this flag 
somewhere inside.

Our account: http://www.youtube.com/user/hasgeek

Best,
Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/
http://hasgeek.in/

Re: [silk] fish^N

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 01-Jun-2011, at 3:05 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

 Things do evolve!  There were badgers .. and mushrooms ..
 
 http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

And nyan cat... http://nyan.cat/

Re: [silk] anyone near Coimbatore?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Aadisht Khanna li...@aadisht.net wrote:

 I'm in Thiruvannamalai, not Coimbatore, but the IEX is of no use when
 the electricity board cuts the grid itself off.


Have you moved from Kanchipuram?

Kiran

Re: [silk] Is sugar toxic?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 20-Apr-2011, at 11:10 AM, Heather Madrone wrote:

 Fructose, when it exists in nature, is usually in fruit and vegetables, which 
 also contain fiber that slows down the release of glucose and fructose into 
 the bloodstream.

So packaged pure fruit drink is the fructose minus the dietary fibre, which 
means it's not as good for you as eating the fruit itself?

Kiran

Re: [silk] Is sugar toxic?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 19-Apr-2011, at 4:07 PM, Sirtaj Singh Kang wrote:

 * Giving up sugary drinks is REALLY HARD, esp if you choose not to drink 
 alcohol at social events etc. The only widely available non-alcoholic, 
 non-sugary, non-caffeinated beverage is water. Ergo, I drink a lot of water. 
 One does wish for alternatives now and then.

Fresh lime soda, salted*

* Most restaurants require further clarification: no sugar, only salt!

Re: [silk] Foreign affairs and face blurring

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 10:08 PM, Jon Cox j...@experiments.com wrote:

  The faces of several trophy kill victims in Afghanistan
  were presented on DemocracyNow.org with their faces blurred.


Rolling Stone published them uncensored.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/the-kill-team-photos-20110327/0602176

Re: [silk] Huawei Ideos X6 / U9000

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 28-Feb-2011, at 2:21 AM, Charles Haynes wrote:

 That's a pretty looking phone. I just got a HTC Desire Z (G2) because
 I wanted a kbd. Rooted it, unlocked it, and am about to flash
 CyanogenMod 7.0 on it.

Is the Desire Z's downgrade to 800 MHz a problem? How's the battery life? I'm 
due for an upgrade in a couple of months.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Anybody coming back from abroad

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 24-Feb-2011, at 1:10 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan wrote:
 I recommend against remote ordering your first pair of VFF. The first pair I 
 got over the web is pretty useless to me because it's a tad larger than my 
 foot. The second pair that I got after trying them on at a store are perfect.
 
Found someone with size 40 and 41 here to check for size before ordering. 
Trying the 40s tomorrow.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Anybody coming back from abroad

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 23-Feb-2011, at 11:33 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

 Can some kind soul coming back from stateside / the asiapac stop by a 
 pharmacy or a whole foods / trader joes type store and buy me a large (1000 
 pill) bottle of fish oil?  (not cod liver oil, this is oil from the whole 
 fish, typically from deep sea fishes)
 
 I'm running out of stock and don't have any travel scheduled in the next few 
 months. Sigh, damn all travel freezes :(

To pile on:

I figured my shoes are the responsible for my running injuries and want to try 
Vibram Five Fingers. My feet are 10, KSO size 39 on their charts. Can someone 
carry a pair in for me?

Kiran

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 7:47 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 My old T23 survived my incessant pounding for 4 years - I went through
 6 keyboards, all of which IBM replaced without complaint. No fault of
 the keyboards, I was just a rather uncommonly active user of the
 computer :)


I went to the Apple store today to complain that the battery on my 7 month
old MBP 13 had already lost 10% of its capacity. Apple boasts of at least
five years of useful life and 10 hours runtime. I get about 3.

The store tech (apparently they aren't geniuses in India) ran the in-built
diagnostics which said the battery was okay, so he politely told me to piss
off.

Re: [silk] silklist Digest, Vol 15, Issue 17

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 15-Feb-2011, at 2:54 PM, Pranesh Prakash wrote:

 This talk of shenanigans and bandwidth conservation reminded me of Postel's 
 Prescription: “Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you 
 send”.[1]
 
 [1] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/Postels-Prescription.html

Better known as Postel's Law or the Robustness Principle. Postel's 
Prescription is new usage for me. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle

Re: [silk] server hosting in india

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 19-Jan-2011, at 3:27 PM, Abhijit Menon-Sen wrote:

 I know about E2E networks already (hi Tarun!), and it's really the
 leading alternative. It is also more expensive than Linode, but not
 disproportionately so.

I'll add a +1 for them. Been at E2E over a month now with no concerns. Great 
roundtrip too. However, Cheeni was complaining today that my E2E hosted website 
was simply not loading for him from Zurich, so I'm not sure where the 
connection choked.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Stochastic Terrorism

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 18-Jan-2011, at 6:05 AM, divya manian wrote:

 In keeping with the Silk tradition of going way off-topic

OMG! Is that a platypus in your userpic? I didn't know they were so small. A 
baby, perhaps?

Kiran

Re: [silk] How do I tell if I'm getting ripped off by the optician?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 05-Jan-2011, at 11:10 AM, Biju Chacko wrote:

 Am I the only one who finds contact lenses vaguely stomach churning?
 I've been told that my byronic good looks could be enhanced further
 with contact lenses, but the very idea of shoving something into my
 eyes horrifies me.

I've tried contact lenses twice, but both the times the shops got the 
prescription wrong and gave me lenses that were off by a fraction. The 
resultant slight blurriness was enough to make my eyes hurt by end of day.

Both times I gave up after a few months. I won't try them again -- I have a 
more active life now and am wary of anything that adds to dressing up time. I 
keep my hair short enough to not need combing, and prefer eyewear I can put on 
in a second.

Kiran

Re: [silk] New year meetup in Chennai

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 Let us tentatively say we meet at noon at Azulia(sp?) at the GRT grand on
 Wed.


I'm in. See you tomorrow. Need somewhere to hang out between 6 AM and noon
though.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Kindle readers?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 2:16 AM, Charles Haynes charles.hay...@gmail.comwrote:

 I get 24hrs+ on my phone, 12+ even when reading books pretty
 continuously. The e-ink platforms have very good battery life but they
 (and paper) need external light. I can read books on my phone in the
 dark!


What phone do you use? I would very much like one of these mythical devices.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Silk meet in Bangalore

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 14-Dec-2010, at 12:26 AM, Pranesh Prakash wrote:

 Udhay
 Madhu (?)
 Gautam
 Gabin
 Ashwin
 Venkat
 Vinit
 Surabhi
 Deepa (?)
 Shoba
 Kiran
 Devdas Bhagat
 Pranesh (?)

Looks like I will be dropping out. Sorry, folks.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Silk meet in Bangalore

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 10:39 AM, Venkat Mangudi s...@venkatmangudi.comwrote:

 1. Cheeni
 2. Udhay
 3. Madman (are you back by the 14th?)
 4. Gautam
 5. Gabin
 6. Ashwin
 7. Venkat


I'm up for anything before the 16th.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Antimatter

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Deepa Mohan mohande...@gmail.com wrote:

 I am an agnostic...I'd rather call myself an ignorantic, as I feel  I just
 don't know.. I am still unable to decide clearly if there is a God, or there
 isn't. (Except, of course, the God who dwells in the bathroom, and makes the
 mother say in exasperation, each morning, Oh, God, are you still in
 there?)


In Terry Pratchett's _DIscworld_, oh gods are an inferior sort of god. The
oh god of hangovers has a leading role in _Hogfather_, which was pretty fun.
Here's a bit of conversation with the Tooth Fairy's assistant:

'What sort of godding do you do?' said Violet.

'Er... oh, I... this and that... I... er...' Bilious tried to think through
the  pounding headache. And then he had one of those ideas, the kind that
only sound good after a lot of alcohol. Someone else may have drunk the
drinks, but he managed to snag the idea.

'I'm actually self-employed,' he said, as brightly as he could manage.

'How can you be a self-employed god?'

'Ah, well, you see, if any other god wants, perhaps, you know, a holiday
or something, I cover for them. Yes. That's what I do.'

Unwisely, in the circumstances, he let his inventiveness impress him.

'Oh, yes. I'm very busy. Rushed off my feet. They're always employing me.
You've no idea. They don't think twice about pushing off for a month as a
big white bull or a swan or something and it's always, Oh, Bilious, old
chap, just take care of things while I'm away, will you? Answer the prayers
and so on. I hardly get a minute to myself but of course you can't turn
down work these days.'

Violet was round-eyed with fascination.

'And are you covering for anyone right now?' she asked.

'Um, yes... the God of Hangovers, actually...'
'A God of Hangovers? How awful!'

Bilious looked down at his stained and wretched toga.

'I suppose it is...' he mumbled.
'You're not very good at it.'
'You don't have to tell me.'
'You're more cut out to be one of the important gods,' said Violet,
admiringly. 'I can just see you as lo or Fate or one of those.'

Bilious stared at her with his mouth open.

'I could tell at once you weren't right,' she went on. 'Not for some
horrible little god. You could even be Offier with calves like yours.'

'Could I? I mean... oh, yes. Sometimes. Of course, I have to wear fangs-'

Re: [silk] Can some kind soul traveling in from someplace with better electronic goods available

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 9:51 AM, Mahesh Murthy mahesh.mur...@gmail.comwrote:

 I suggest dealextreme

 It takes a while but it comes

 With free shipping


My last two orders from DealExtreme placed in July still haven't arrived.
The previous order came with the wrong item, which they offered to replace
at half price. DX prices are fantastic, but getting what you ordered isn't
guaranteed.

Re: [silk] Can some kind soul traveling in from someplace with better electronic goods available

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 11:42 AM, Gautam John gkj...@gmail.com wrote:

 Have you tried http://www.20north.com/

 Used them once and was pretty good. You can also use the gift option
 to not pay Indian customs duty up to a particular level.


20north is just way too expensive. I've found Borderlinx more affordable
since they only charge for the shipping and customs.

Re: [silk] The subaltern studies collective?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 11:26 PM, J. Alfred Prufrock 
another.prufr...@gmail.com wrote:

 Has anybody here met Ms. Gayatri Ch Spi?


I believe Nishant may have, but he's been curiously silent.

Kiran

Re: [silk] [Open Manufacturing] Fwd: What Technology Wants

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 2:26 AM, Eugen Leitl eu...@leitl.org wrote:

 It premiers today. As of a few hours ago What Technology Wants is
 available on Amazon in hardcover, Kindle, and audio versions, and at your
 favorite online or brick bookstore. I feel like shouting from the rooftops.


Kindle edition not available to buyers from India. Who goofed up? This is
certainly not what Kevin Kelly would have wanted.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Technology-Wants-ebook/dp/B0043XYMOK

Re: [silk] Well worth a read .. and just $2.99 on the kindle store

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 Just $0.99 for me on Amazon Kindle, and Google Books has a limited
 scan which usually means the book is still in copyright?


How do you get it so cheap? Do you have a US billing address? I don't have a
Kindle. I'll be reading on my phone, using my own Internet connection for
delivery, and yet Amazon's asking me for the $2 whispernet markup.

Kiran

Re: [silk] TRRK

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 9:52 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 I just learnt that he passed away recently. RIP, TRRK.


Oh no!

TRRK gifted me his old modem in 1997 so I could get online consistently. I
had been living off borrowed modems until then. It was a very generous act
for someone I barely knew. I still have that modem.

We met for the first and only time twelve years later, in June 2009, when I
was passing through Kerala. He insisted on paying for my hotel room because
he didn't have a spare bed, and hosted me for breakfast at his house the
next morning. Then he gave me a ride from Alleppey to Cochin. I took this
photo that afternoon: http://twitpic.com/79jid

RIP, TRRK.

[silk] Understanding development rights

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Hello All,

I got into a dinner conversation a couple days ago over development rights.
Here's what I understand of it:

1. What happens when a slum is rehabilitated? The slum dweller gets evicted
from his slum and is given a house somewhere. This house cost real money.
Where did that money come from? My understanding is that the government
isn't paying for it. They instead grant the slum dweller a development
right, a right to build in excess of the limits laid down by the city
corporation. This is a tradable right, so a builder planning a lucrative sky
scraper project will barter this right for cheaper housing elsewhere -- and
that is the where the slum dweller gets relocated to.

2. If you buy an apartment and twenty years later, there's a flood or
earthquake that leaves the foundation weak. The building is demolished. What
asset are you left holding? It's not land, it's a development right to go
vertical.

3. Hosur Road in Bangalore is being widened all the way to its starting
point from Brigade Road. The Johnson Market area is particularly narrow and
raises many tensions for the folks who will lose land (including a popular
mosque). One of the key tensions is that the market value of land is far
higher than the official value, because market trades are half black, which
everyone knows, but which the government cannot recognise. They cannot pay
in cash for market value. They have proposed paying with development rights.
As rights can be traded for cash, but don't have a consistent, accepted
conversion value, the market will bid for them, thus sidestepping the black
market for direct trades.

The affected parties have been unwilling to accept development rights,
however. They argue that the market for development rights is not
sufficiently well developed. The right says you can build in excess of the
city corporation's building limits (number of floors allowed in a building,
for example). This only works if the city corporation is capable of
enforcing these limits. This is a form of fiat currency.

This explains why the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and other
corporations in India go on regular demolition drives against unauthorized
constructions. They cite safety concerns, but as recent fire accidents have
shown, they can always be bribed out of it. The real motivation is in
establishing the value of the development right.

If you think about it, development rights only work when you have
multi-story buildings. They have no value with low-rise urban sprawl. They
work great in Mumbai, barely in Bangalore. And yet, Bangalore's new found
enthusiasm with them points at a corporation that wants to have a role in
shaping the city, a role defined with real power.

I think this is utterly fascinating because when you look at a
skyscraper-dominated city now, it's not just about the wealth and the
geographical constraints, but about a system of trade in property that can
be de-coupled from the real estate on the ground. To me, this sounds a lot
like de-coupling currency from the gold standard.

-

I'm pretty sure this description is sketchy, full of gaps and perhaps
incorrect. Help me understand how. Is there a good book on the subject?

Best,
Kiran

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 1:22 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 Well, if you haven't read _Cryptonomicon_ yet, you should. I've also
 heard good things about _Anathem_. I have a copy, but it hasn't worked
 its way up the stack yet.


I've read Zodiac, Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon and a quarter of
Quicksilver before getting lost in the winding passages. The book's lost in
my backlog now.

I liked the chrono-spatial interleaving that Stephenson introduced in
Quicksilver, but Diamond Age is my favourite for the sheer breadth of the
imagined technology. Most notably, of a future without jet fuel but with
immersive media.

Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:
 I also bounced hard off book 6 of Harry Potter (half blood prince?)
 after reading, with varying amounts of pleasure, the preceding books.
 Gave up on the series after that.

I found book 6 the most enjoyable of the series, until book 7 topped
it. Book 5 was the most annoying, and 2 put me to sleep.

I read both 6 and 7 on my phone, and many of those pages in the back
of a bouncy bus, with the type so large that no more than a sentence
would fill my screen.

Kiran

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Krish Ashok krishas...@gmail.com wrote:
 In which case, I wonder if dogs living in a Hindu household automatically 
 become Hindu dogs

But of course. My mother regularly applied a tilak to Sparky's
forehead after her puja.

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian
sur...@hserus.net wrote:

 Tambram household dogs even become vegetarian, and I've seen at least one
 pomarenian that had a dot of kungumam on its forehead.

Ah, yes. Dal rice and milk it was for every day of his fifteen years,
except the occasional treat of toasted bread, chapatis, mangoes (he
loved mangoes!), and once a year, birthday cake.

He was also expected to catch the occasional mouse that found its way
into the house, but not expected to eat it. Mom had full faith.

A Hindu dog, yes.

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 6:59 PM, Deepa Mohan mohande...@gmail.com wrote:

 Why, in our country, is the word vegetarian invariably preceded by the
 word pure?


Because those foul egg and mushroom eaters also claim to be vegetarian?

It's like how a Nokia or a Bajaj isn't really a Nokia or a Bajaj unless it's
a Genuine Nokia or a Genuine Bajaj.

Kiran

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 12:46 PM, sankarshan 
sankarshan.mukhopadh...@gmail.com wrote:


 You can, apparently, go to a court and get an affidavit stating that
 you have no religion. The same or, a variant of it was once narrated
 to me by Ramakrishna.


Mahesh Shantaram did that many years ago. Here it is:

http://bbs.seacrow.com/cix/106/829
http://bbs.seacrow.com/cix/106/881

(Login/password: archives/archives)

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 2:32 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com wrote:


 OTOH, the larger philosophical question still remains - how does one
 relinquish Hinduism when by its definition it is impossible :-)


Constitutionally speaking, shouldn't you NOT have to relinquish anything you
didn't accept of your own free will? Except citizenship by birth, of course.

I could always make up my own religion that is defined as consisting of
anyone born in the geography of India. Why would you be obliged to release
yourself from that?

Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 3:20 PM, Ramakrishna Reddy ramkr...@gmail.comwrote:

 Yes, Mahesh Shantaram did that many years ago, it costed him Rs 25/- .
 But it also got me curious, If one does not have a religion, does it
 automatically qualify him for a religious minority or any minority
 status  in India.


Ironically, Mahesh and Vidya had a Hindu wedding.

IANAL, but I suppose minorities have to be specifically identified in law or
you'd have a number of smaller castes trying to exit the Hindu umbrella.

If the Gujjars can agitate to be recognised as a backward caste for the
benefits, so can anyone else.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Vinayak Hegde vinay...@gmail.com wrote:


 For music I would recommend Quod Libet[1]. Amarok 1.4.x was good.
 Unfortunately they decided to do a rewrite in 2.x series and several
 of the features that I wanted such as queue manager are missing. I
 litsen to complete albums and individual songs mixed so Quod libet.
 The Queue manager and support for different formats is really good in
 Quod libet. Also it scrobbles my songs with the lastfmsubmitd (As all
 my music prefs are now on last.fm)

 Let me know if you come across a good solution for batch processing
 and auto-adjusting of Raw Images. It has been a persistent problem for
 me as well.


My project has gone from speculation to execution following the (second)
death of my Mac. The same graphics crapout as last time.

So: all my data is now on the Ubuntu desktop that used to be my media
server. The box has moved from the bedroom to my desk, and I'm now fully
engaged with Project No Apple Dependence.

Which was just two items anyway:

1. The newly GPLed Raw Therapee 3.0 alpha doesn't suck, which is saying a
lot.

2. There's a iTunes metadata import script for Rhythmbox which mostly works.
It turns out iTunes hadn't properly written IDv3 tags on some songs, and
since Rhythmbox now recognises them as something else, the script failed to
transfer their metadata (rating and play count).

I tried Quod Libet, but fail to be impressed. It's got a wee bit of an I
know you're smart, so I won't make things simple for you attitude.

I then tried Banshee. The new version from the Ubuntu PPA finally has
working iTunes import. It copied the metadata over correctly, but converted
all my smart playlists to static ones. Since I only use a handful, I can
redo those. No worries. My music will live with Banshee for now.

I will now give de-iTunification a proper run. This means:

1. Reformat the iPod to something Banshee can handle.
2. Find some other way to manage Nike+ (I don't use nikeplus.com, but
Dailymile syncs with it, so that's convenient).
3. Get Banshee syncing with my Android phone. It looks like there's a plugin
already.
4. I moved podcasts to Google Listen and vidcasts to Miro some time ago, so
those are not of concern, but videos on the iPod would be nice.

Kiran

Re: [silk] Tim Bray the new face of the google apple rivalry

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Tim Bray tb...@textuality.com wrote:

 Android devices are currently in more pockets than the sum total of
 all previous efforts to make Linux usefully portable, so one could
 argue that the evidence isn't on Harald's side. Do we know *why* the
 Android people did these in-his-view horrible things? Actually, I
 don't either.  But it sure is nice to have a polished commercial phone
 in my pocket that I can run a shell on. -T


Tim, while we have your attention, my top two requests for Android:

1. Realtime audio support: It's a major disappointment that Android as of
2.1 can't play music without stuttering.

2. Indic font support: I want to move on from crappy J2ME devices to Android
for field data collection here in India, but can't. Hardware prices will
fall over the next few months, but software support won't get fixed until it
gets some love.

Kiran

Re: [silk] a big step for linux?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 9:19 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com wrote:

 Not that I
 don't have one lying around, and my favorite HK retailer
 dealextreme.com even sells one for $2 (incl. free shipping),


I just lost several hours and $10 on a trial order at that site. Wow!

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 7:25 AM, ss cybers...@gmail.com wrote:

 Now that you are forgotten let me ask you to tell in detail what happened.
 I
 meant to do that but as I mentioned in an earlier message I was bringing
 myself up to date wih the experiences of minor actors who spoke of the fire
 from hundreds of Km away.

http://jace.zaiki.in/2010/02/24/fire (plus two follow-up posts)

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 9:48 AM, K. Arun kar...@gmail.com wrote:


 Try the Thinkpad X100E - 1.3kg, a somewhat better-than-Atom Athlon Neo
 single core CPU, 11.6in screen, a keyboard that Thinkpad users don't
 seem to mind( it does have a Trackpoint device), all for around $450.


Ooh, pretty! But wait, 3.5 hours battery life?
http://www.slashgear.com/lenovo-thinkpad-x100e-review-2972091/

The Samsung N210 looks like the best option at the moment, while I wait
another six months for a decent spec.

[silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Hello all,

Perhaps Silk is the best place to ask this question.

Now that Apple's long-awaited ultraportable has been confirmed as the iPad
and not a netbook-class machine with open access, I'm wondering what it
takes to fully kick the Apple habit.

I want a machine that weighs no more than 1.3 kg. I'm not rich. I like
Ubuntu. What do I get?

I've been a happy netbook user since the original Eee PC 701. I've been
through three netbooks so far -- the 701, an MSI Wind, and an Eee 1005HA.
Sold the latter last week. Much as I loved them all, they never became my
primary machines. They fell short, on just two counts:

1. Photo processing
2. Music

None of the photo processing apps are as usable as Lightroom, and the Atom
processor simply isn't beefy enough to process raw images, unless I'm
content with posting four or five from each batch.

I gave switching a proper trial when my Mac died last September. The Eee
became my primary machine and worked rather well, but I had to give up
photography and move all my music to an ailing seven year old TiBook. I
pretty much gave up listening to music too.

Amarok's UI makes me cry. Rhythmbox and Banshee are no more than demo apps.
iTunes on an ancient machine with the music on network storage, synced to an
iPod via USB 1.1, was far more tolerable than these three.

Then the 2006 MacBook Pro kicked back to life, I sold the Eee as per my 6-8
month turnover plan, and I'm once again reminded that at 2.5 kg, this
machine hardly qualifies as portable in the modern world.

Meanwhile, in netbook-land, the Atom N450 is out and battery life has gone
up an additional hour, but Intel still won't allow screens larger than 10
inches. As far as I can tell, the best netbook available today is the
Samsung N210 at Rs 19k, with a claimed 12 hour battery life and a 160 GB
disk. The lesser N140 sells for 17k with 11 hours and 250 GB. In other
words, there's been no notable improvement. (Asus has been having a glossy
fit, so I'll stay clear of their 'books.)

Assuming I were to pony up a bit more, what's a decent machine, and what
does one do for music and pictures?

(The hackintosh obsession took hold for a while, until I went to the Dell
store and looked at the Inspiron Mini 10v. Now I know why Dell is ailing.)

Best,
Kiran
(Fire survivor and already forgotten fifteen minute celebrity)

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 6:58 PM, John Marshall Johnson
johnso...@gmail.comwrote:

 Kiran, you will not be forgotten for a while - The first person to to tweet
 with humour during an inferno.
 Did you have to give a cornerhouse treat to anyone ?


There have been no claimants so far, nor am I visible in any of the
published press pictures. Pity.

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:59 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 In my very subjective opinion the Thinkpad line has never been the
 same without IBM. The 13 Apple Macbook (now called MacBook Pro 13)
 is very very good - pricey, but you get what you pay for. In fact, for
 that combination of power, reliability and quality Apple is pretty
 unbeatable.


The 13 MacBook Pro is overall the best compromise between weight and
functionality, but given the price, I've asked Work to buy it for me and
they've so far been uncomfortable. I got an iMac instead.

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:38 PM, Eugen Leitl eu...@leitl.org wrote:

 http://www.apple.com/macbook/ is too heavy?


As a cyclist, yes. A MacBook is 2.1 kg and the far more expensive 13 MBP is
2.0. Small differences in weight add up over distance, given I ride an
average 30 km a day. I wish there was a MacBook with no optical drive.


 It looks like you won't be kicking your Apple habit anytime soon.


Which is sad. It can't be that hard for anyone else to find a market for a
decently specced machine.

There are Android phones which do that, but you can't really expect
 wrestling the laws of optics, and winning.


Much as I love my Android phone, it's a piece of shit to be holding during
an emergency. Field tested.

I'll probably get a micro four-thirds (with Eye-Fi) when the high-ISO noise
problem gets better, and when I have some money again. FWIW, G1Tether
doesn't work on my rooted HTC Hero.


 If the iPad is a success (it probably will be), hopefully there will
 be more capable (but still affordable) ARM boxes from Apple. Or not.


The iPad looks like a nice machine, but I use my netbook to code. A
keyboard, trackpad, and the Ubuntu Apt repositories are indispensable.
Package management on Mac OS X is a horrible kludge, despite Homebrew now
having replaced Fink and Darwinports.

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 7:57 PM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

Of course, this implies you have to live with the abominations like
 Rhythmbox, Banshee for music on your netbook.


The music bit needs more explanation.

I use iTunes. I like iTunes. It is the only sensible audio library
management framework I've seen. However, iTunes is also past its prime. My
library's outgrown iTunes's ability to manage it:

1. My laptop no longer has enough space to hold all my music. Much of it now
lives on network storage, accessed via mt-daapd.

2. Song ratings and library management don't work for such network-hosted
music.

3. My library's too large for me to personally pick something to listen to.
I can no longer remember what I like and haven't heard in a while.

4. I used to depend on ratings and play counts to build smart playlists, but
Last.fm and iTunes Genius have made that obsolete, so it no longer matters
that all my music is in one library.

5. My good speakers are not attached to my laptop. I use Airfoil to stream
music to the Linux box where they are (because my Airport Express blew up).
Airfoil has lesser wireless network jitter than Pulseaudio, which I used to
use from the netbook.

6. iTunes has an elaborate UI, which the competitors will have a hard time
replicating, but which is also mostly not needed. Who wants to look at cover
notes or visualisations? I just want to play random songs that I've
indicating liking before, or pick one and play similar songs. And I don't
want to be streaming from my laptop to a remote box when the song itself may
be hosted on that box. There's no need for the intelligence to be on my
laptop. I only need the controls here.

Given all this, it's time for music management to move to the cloud, where
the cloud begins on the local network. Music Player Daemon [1] sounds like a
step in the right direction, except it's a long leap from network playback
to network library management.

I have my hopes up for an Linux-hosted solution because this is overall not
a GUI problem. The key bits of technology are all there. Someone needs to
just put it together. (And I probably will, if I find myself Mac-less in the
coming year.)

[1] http://mpd.wikia.com/

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:40 PM, Pranesh Prakash
the.solips...@gmail.comwrote:

 The Thinkpad X201s has been getting lubricious glances from me. :)


As long as someone else's paying the bill. :-)


 For pictures, didn't you get once settle on a work cycle involving F-Spot?


I did, and I can tolerate it, but the thing is, F-Spot can't process raw. It
passes the job to UFRaw, which does its job and is reasonably speedy even on
an Atom processor. The two of them however have no idea how to handle a
batch of images.

I want to apply automatic levels to all new photos, and then tweak each of
them individually (starting with undoing automatic levels, if required).
UFRaw applies my settings from the last image to each new one. It doesn't
understand anything else. I can't do auto levels. I can't apply a default
curve and tweak it for each image. This ineptitude makes it so frustrating
when working with a large batch.

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 2:41 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 Picasa?


Doesn't read EXIF from raw images, last I checked. Rather nice UI (for
Linux) otherwise.

Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 12:45 AM, Abhijit Menon-Sen a...@toroid.org wrote:

Have you seen RawTherapee?


Evaluated it before it went open source and found the UI a mess. Maybe it's
improved now.

Re: [silk] Udhay's going to be arrested on weapons charges :)

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/26 Venkatesh Hariharan ven...@gmail.com

 If we don't hear from you next week, we will assume the worst :-) If
 you do survive this gastronomic adventure, do share your experiences.


I had one earlier this year and streamed tears of joy for the next hour. It
was all I could do, for my larynx was thoroughly incapacitated. Then I had
another.

I'm told I got off light because my chillies had been packed in salt a few
days.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Introducing myself: Tom Rielly, Fellowship/Community Director from TED Conferences in New York City

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/25 Venkat Mangudi s...@venkatmangudi.com

 PS: Why is TED India so darn expensive?


Being one who can't afford the ticket, failed to apply for a fellowship, and
wouldn't have qualified anyway, I will cheerfully camp in Mysore and expect
(a) someone will see me waving like an idiot from the gate and will come out
to say hi, and (b) the videos will be public within hours of each talk, so I
can figure out who the heck that was who just came out and said hi.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] pay up, or stay here

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 10-Jun-09, at 11:09 AM, Lahar Appaiah wrote:

4 Additionally, if they are serious about you staying back the 3  
months,
they can get an injunction in court, enforcing the terms of the  
contract.
Once a court passes an order requiring you to serve out your notice  
period,

you will have to comply.

Just ensure that the calculation of salary is done consistently-  
ideally,

see what standards they use when they are paying out notice pay to
employees, and insist that the same calculations should apply.


Wouldn't this fall foul of bonded labour regulations?

A friend of mine quit an IT major three months after joining, while  
still in his mandatory training period. His superior said she couldn't  
record it as a resignation. She'd get investigated for that, so she  
was going to mark him as absconding.


He received a notice from them demanding he pay up the training fee  
bond. A lawyer advised him to ignore it since it wouldn't stand in  
court anyway. He did, and in over six years since, hasn't been  
bothered by them again.

Re: [silk] Indian foodies

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/6 Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com


 The Tamil equivalent is yechal i.e saliva - in very traditional
 households it is common to never let the lips touch the vessel or
 utensil used, and in extreme cases even the food - so even scalding
 hot coffee is poured down with great relish down one's throat where it
 touches barely, (if that) the tongue.


Telugu engiLi, where the practice is that it's not acceptable if it's been
touched by someone else's lips. Sipping your own meal is okay.

Incidentally, something I didn't grow up with and therefore encountered with
surprise in the homes of relatives: it is a great offense to serve rice
before any other item. Serving rice first apparently implies you're too poor
to eat anything else.

Is this common practice elsewhere?


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Places to visit in India during rains

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/3 Vinayak Hegde vinay...@gmail.com

 I would also avoid the monsoons and go to Ladakh one more time.


Lucky me. I am going to Ladakh in July.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Burnout

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 01-Jun-09, at 4:44 AM, Thaths wrote:

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 11:52 AM, B. L. Krieger bl...@cam.ac.uk  
wrote:

How about stress levels being much higher?


Where? In India? Or the US?


In India. Some years ago I wrote this out to friends when considering  
relocating out of the country. I have since come to define my  
acceptable commute distance in Bangalore as one kilometre. If there's  
no affordable housing within that radius, I don't want to work there.




I'm tired of regular life being an adventure. I want to wake up at the  
same time every day, go to work at the same time, return more or less  
at the same time, and spend the evenings knowing more or less that  
this evening is going to be spent the same way that last evening was,  
or the last evening a year prior to this day. Let the adventure be  
where it matters: in how I spend my workday advancing my career.


If this doesn't make sense, consider the adventures I've been put  
through recently:


a. I visited the ATM earlier last week, only to discover my card had  
expired. The bank hadn't sent a replacement yet. I walked into the  
branch to ask, saw a queue half an hour long, and ran out frightened.  
When I called phone support, they said the card was dispatched a month  
ago, but the courier company had returned it because my address was  
incomplete! Despite that I've been receiving my quarterly statements  
from the same bank at the same address for years. They wanted me to  
pick up the card from the branch where my account was opened, the  
other end of town from where I work, and focal point of Bangalore's  
greatest traffic jams. I had no access to my money through the week,  
not even the option to transfer to an account at another bank via the  
website, because the website wanted the number of the new card as an  
enhanced security measure. (Finally got the card Saturday, thereby  
losing most of that day).


b. Bangalore's traffic police, in their eternal quest to improve  
traffic, have now designated autorickshaw lanes on some roads, but  
only on partial stretches of those roads. What this means is that when  
a rickshaw driver comes to one of these stretches, he'll suddenly veer  
left cutting across lanes, heedless to whom he's surprising, because  
there's a lathi-wielding constable up ahead. In one such incident,  
this chap overtook me from the right, then turned left, before he had  
finished overtaking me. He didn't notice knocking me over. I ended up  
with a scraped knee that's taken two weeks to heal (bandage came off  
yesterday). I also had to replace my bike's front wheel's rim.


c. My bike's insurance expired a couple of months ago, and the  
insurance company forgot to send a renewal notice. Luckily, I noticed  
a week in advance. Unfortunately, the insurance office is in the  
neighbourhood of the same congested area described above. They don't  
take online payments or automatic deductions. I went there on a  
Saturday to find they were closed. Weekdays and regular working hours  
only. So I went again mid-week, having signed off half a working day  
to bear the traffic and the queue, only to find the office was gone!  
Even the signboards had been wiped off. It was like it was never  
there. On the wall I found a little notice saying they had moved to an  
even farther part of town. I gave up, located a branch nearer work,  
went there, thereby losing the rest of the day, only to be told  
branches were not interconnected. I could pay there, but that would  
mean cancelling my current insurance policy and taking out a new one.  
They were happy to give me a form. Despite that this was the same  
company! Attempt four, I sacrificed another half a day to find the  
relocated branch and get the policy renewed, one day after it had  
expired, to discover then that they had moved half a year earlier, but  
forgotten to notify me, or to remove the signboards from the old  
office until that unfortunate weekend of attempt one.


You know what? These aren't the kind of adventures I want to have. I  
want my regular routine to be utterly predictable, and if this  
involves moving to a society that has dreary routine figured out, so  
be it.

Re: [silk] Burnout

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/1 ss cybers...@gmail.com

  In India.

 Well that depends on what you are doing.


Yes, of course. This is merely a data point. At the risk of sounding too
generic: having a long commute amplifies some stress factors that are not
not universal and will not make sense to someone in the west until they have
first hand experience out here.

In my case, after that nightmare with the insurance agency, I dumped them
and switched to ICICI Lombard, which let me buy it online. ICICI also cost
some 30% more, but at that point I was very happy to pay the markup.

The main problem is that folks with hurried lives are still a minority in
urban India -- too small to to make an economic case for making things
easier for them. Far too few service providers are bothered with this. Have
to courier a document but the shop's closed? Just come back later. There's
no dropbox. Have to pay your LIC premium? Why yes, they take online
payments, but first visit your branch and apply for permission. What's that,
you want to withdraw cash at the ICICI ATM across the road but your HDFC
card won't work? Didn't RBI mandate this should just work? Well yes, but
what are HDFC ATMs for then? Go find one in your neighbourhood. And no, your
ICICI card won't work in an HDFC ATM.

I figured the only way to remain sane was by joining the mainstream and
leading an unhurried life.

If this puts me in the category of those people who are mysteriously of
lower productivity when in India, so be it. The price of added productivity
is not worth it. I'd rather be unhurried and focus on doing something
meaningful.

(Lest someone not get it, I typically have 60+ hour workweeks.)

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Burnout

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/6/1 Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.net

 Try to claim from them I guess? Or from most of the TPAs out there? You'll
 soon learn that rules are on paper and meant to be interpreted in weird and
 wonderful ways. Even if you pay online.

 The government owned banks / insurance providers screw you over far less
 than the private ones do.


They did send someone to examine the vehicle and complete the paperwork. No
experience with the claims yet.


 Actually, for my LIC I just registered my policies online, and made a
 payment or two online. Then after some time when I was passing by the area
 where the LIC office was, I just handed them printouts from the
 licindia.com online payment site - showing the policy registrations. And I
 think also the original policies and some ID so they could crosscheck. Quite
 legitimate that.. ensures that you didn’t screw up and enter someone else's
 policy there.


To be fair to LIC, they seem to have changed their systems recently. I was
able to pay online without visiting a branch this year. However, I missed my
due date last year and paid months later, with a fine, because I had no time
to visit a branch or even figure out where it was.


 Been working here (from home) for the past 8 years. And I think pulling a
 few more work hours than you a week. Havent seen lost productivity yet.  And
 I'm paying stuff online (electricity and water utility bills, income tax,
 property tax, etc) that I'd have to queue up for earlier.  And I'm getting
 my renewed passports sooner - and on time when they promise it, like a week
 after I apply for them.  Its getting better - possibly because I've seen
 worse.


I work from home now and am finding myself far more productive than I ever
was before. And increasingly paying for more things online. Things are
getting better -- but only in the last two years.

I haven't had the benefit of concierge services anywhere I've worked at. If
someone has them -- power to them. I know how much time and patience I've
lost running around for such things when there were far more important
things to attend to. Cheeni can attest to how much more he's suffered for
this.

Processes -- sure, they critical too, but all these systemic lapses slowing
down day to day life _are_ process failures in other organisations. My
productivity isn't a function of well defined processes in my organisation
alone.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.zaiki.in/

Re: [silk] Burnout

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 02-Jun-09, at 7:32 AM, Venkat Mangudi wrote:


DIY is not in Indian culture. And cost is closely related to that.
Social standing and life in general is very tightly knitted into it. I
used to pay Rs 6000 for someone to drive me around. It bought me the
freedom to work on the road. Did my driver feel that he was getting a
raw deal? No. He was happy I was paying him Rs 1000 more than what he
was paid before and, get this, in his eyes, lived a comfortable  
life. He

goes to a restaurant and celebrates. No, not the Shiok kind, but the
darshini kind. He feels superior to the guy who cleans the tables  
there
who is probably paid a couple of thousand rupees and food/shelter.  
Does
that person (table cleaner) complain? Nope, his needs are met and he  
is
happy. I guess this takes us straight to Maslow's Need-Hierarchy  
theory.

and I just thread-drifted big time. C'est la Vie.


Doesn't this conflict with what Cheeni just said?

If it's just the lack of individual initiative, that doesn't explain  
how the same individuals perform elsewhere. Much of this is systemic  
pressure to get somewhere, which has the effect of repressing  
initiative.

Re: [silk] Satin Nomination

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 25-May-09, at 3:06 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan wrote:

Er... folks, sorry. Ignore. My mistake - it was supposed to be  
offlist to

Gabin alone.


Ooh! Secret society, eh?

Re: [silk] Best Science book you would recommend to a friend ?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/5/6 Thaths tha...@gmail.com


 Everett spoke at the Long Now Foundation talk a month ago. The mp3 of
 his talk is at:

 http://fora.tv/media/rss/Long_Now_Podcasts/podcast-2009-03-20-everett.mp3


Does anyone else have a problem with the fora.tv server dropping the
connection every few seconds? I managed to get this file after two to three
hours worth of hitting Resume, over a period of one and a half days.
I love the SALT podcasts, but getting their media is insanely hard. It
appears to be bandwidth-related: the server knocks me off for downloading
too slowly. If I have a clear pipe, I manage to get a megabyte or two before
each dropped connection. When it is choked, like now, I'm lucky to do more
than 100 kB a go.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Statistics on development taken by politicos

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/4/28 Venkat Mangudi s...@venkatmangudi.com

 5 bucks per day? No wonder they don't care. I am fairly certain they can
 cover the fine and more with the kickbacks they earn. RTI fine is a joke.


Venkat, that is Rs 5 per day per pending application. It piles up quickly.

[silk] Recommendations for Bluetooth headset?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Greetings, list.

I recently lost my Jawbone 2 bluetooth headset and am seeking a  
replacement. What does the list think is a good headset to buy these  
days?


I loved my Jawbone. It was small, very light and had reasonably good  
voice quality (although by no means effective at noise cancellation).  
It also had a fundamental problem I've seen in every BT headset: no  
key lock.


I'd rather not have a headset on my ear when not in a call, and no  
headset I've seen is designed to be kept anywhere except on one's ear.  
Leaving my Jawbone in the pocket would cause all kinds of weird  
behaviour on the phone. Over time I learnt to hang it on the edge of  
my trouser pockets, which is how I lost it.


So: what do list members use and recommend? Or should I just get  
another Jawbone?


Kiran


--
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] modem phones

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 06-Apr-09, at 12:14 PM, Biju Chacko wrote:


BSNL has started offering USB EVDO cards in bangalore. Rs 750
pm/2Mbps/Uncapped -- seems like a good deal.


BSNL's EVDO data cards don't have roaming and are limited to 144 kbps.  
I confirmed with the local exchange last week. They are introducing 3G  
data cards in May.


Reliance, OTOH, is already offering them. Rs 3500 for the card, plus  
monthly plans starting from Rs 650 for 1 GB to Rs 1700 odd for  
unlimited. I picked up one and have been using it for a week, and am  
very pleased. Speeds in excess of 1 Mbps are common.


Reliance offers cards from Huawei and ZTE. The Huawei card works on  
Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and comes with Win and Mac drivers. In my  
limited use, the card hangs up every few minutes on Windows, less  
often on Linux and even lesser on OS X, where I've had sessions up to  
six hours. The included USB extension cable somehow seems to make it  
more reliable. I suspect a loose contact on the card.


Hope that helps.

Kiran

[silk] Pink Chaddi Campaign hacked on Facebook

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Does anyone here know how to get the attention of Facebook's management?

Do you recall the Pink Chaddi Campaign coordinated via Facebook? It  
doesn't exist anymore.


Or, it does, but Facebook doesn't want you to access it. Here's a link  
to the group. Try accessing it, you'll get redirected to the home page:


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49641698651

Just a week ago, Mark Zuckerberg posted to the Facebook blog,  
highlighting the campaign as a notable use of the platform:


http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=72353897130

From the protests against the Colombian FARC, a 40-year old  
terrorist organization, to fighting oppressive, fringe groups in  
India, people use Facebook as a platform to build connections and  
organize action.


Three days later, Nisha Susan, the campaign's coordinator, found her  
Facebook account suspended. She had already spent weeks talking to  
Facebook support over the group formerly known as The Consortium of  
Pubgoing, Loose, and Forward Women, since mysteriously renamed to A  
good bong is a dead bong along with assorted death and rape threats  
turning up in its description. Today Facebook won't let you look at  
the group either.


What the heck happened? It got hacked, plain and simple.

Facebook Support insists Nisha isn't keeping her account secure. I've  
looked it over for her, as have others, who've examined her computer  
thoroughly and even moved her to a Linux box. None of these measures  
stopped the continuing defacement of the group. FB Support has  
responded with requests to fill out forms describing what's going on,  
followed by silence.


There is only one inescapable conclusion to this: Facebook is insecure  
and they don't want to admit it.


There's been only one mainstream media mention of this, in the Hindu  
yesterday: http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/14/stories/2009041459890400.htm


I doubt Facebook cares about what the Hindu says. How does one get  
their attention?



--
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Pink Chaddi Campaign hacked on Facebook

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On 15-Apr-09, at 9:31 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

Well - if its the same IP? Open access point say. Or a compromise of  
her pc

/ laptop?


Suresh, Nisha's computer security was overseen by Karim (ex-Sarai,  
Cyber Mohalla and NLS, if you know him). Karim's a sensible sysad and  
thoroughly examined her working setup; even moved her to a different  
computer.


Nisha called me for help last Thursday. I looked around her account,  
received a warning that Facebook had just deleted an obscene image  
uploaded from her account, knocked off all her Apps, just in case one  
of them was an attack vector, received another warning of impending  
account suspension for ToS violations, changed her password for her to  
be doubly sure it was not being sniffed at her end, and agreed with  
her that we would not access her account until the next morning.


The next day, her account was suspended.

I live in Bangalore. Nisha and Karim live in Delhi. Whatever the  
attack vector was, it couldn't have been from the local computer or  
network. It had to be upstream.


Nisha's presented her side of the story here: 
http://kafila.org/2009/04/12/arise-awake-the-people-who-run-facebook/

Re: [silk] Urban Rhythms

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/3/16 Carol Upadhya carol.upad...@gmail.com

 This is interesting, especially in view of the ongoing project in Bangalore
 to mine cell phone data to help the traffic police predict traffic jams:

 http://www.mapunity.in/

 I don't know whether this initiative has been discussed on silklist or not.


Two bits:

1. Mapunity's Bangalore Traffic Information System at btis.in calculates
traffic density as a function of the number of connections to neighbouring
cell towers, using data provided by Airtel.

2. I now work with Mapunity, bringing me that much closer to my long term
interest in geolocation. My engagement is flexible at this time and I'm
making it up as I go along. I like it.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

[silk] Street photography

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Drawing from two recent threads...
Citizen Matters published a report on the Women's Day demonstrations in
Bangalore, with two of my pictures:
http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/883-bengaluru-reacts-fearless-karnataka-campaign

Their versions are heavily compressed, but you can see the originals here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jace/sets/72157614979031608/

I carried a single lens that evening -- a 50mm 1.8 prime -- and shot
everything in raw format with Program mode (which is Nikonesque for
semi-automatic mode) and Auto ISO, rising up to ISO 1600 as the night
progressed. No flash. To process, I imported them into Lightroom using it's
Auto Tone setting and exported to JPEG.

I think the results speak for what is possible without being bothered with
technicalities. Comments welcome.

On a side note, I'd really like to have the new 35mm 1.8 DX, but no one in
Bangalore seems to have it. Is there anyone travelling from the US/EU in the
near future who can carry it for me? I can transfer money via Paypal or have
it directly shipped to your address and cover any customs charges.

Best,
Jace

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Street photography

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/3/11 Radhika, Y. radhik...@gmail.com

 Shooting in RAW requires access to a software like Lightroom else it is not
 practical.


Several of the photos I've processed this month were done with F-Spot and
UFRaw on an Ubuntu netbook. It's totally practical.

Picasa also has a nice, easy to use interface, but for the fatal drawback of
not being able to read EXIF tags from raw images. I've used exiftool to copy
from raw to jpeg, but it's not practical. F-Spot+UFRaw on the other hand
works very well.

I use Lightroom when I have a large batch to process quickly; F-Spot+UFRaw
when on the road.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] PIN Code to Lat/Long

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/3/11 Gautam John gkj...@gmail.com

 Would anyone know where I can find a mapping of Indian (or just
 Karnataka) PIN codes to Lat/Long?


These guys seem to have a good db. Browse for free online or buy the Indian
database for €50. 
http://www.geopostcodes.com/index.php?pg=browsegrp=1sort=1niv=4id=3807l=0



-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] PIN Code to Lat/Long

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/3/11 Kiran Jonnalagadda j...@pobox.com

 These guys seem to have a good db. Browse for free online or buy the Indian
 database for €50. 
 http://www.geopostcodes.com/index.php?pg=browsegrp=1sort=1niv=4id=3807l=0
 


I just noticed that the post codes are only mapped to the district level.
That's totally not worth €50. You can do it yourself using OpenStreetMap and
the public Indian postcode database.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Street photography

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

2009/3/12 Abhijit Menon-Sen a...@toroid.org


 http://www.rawtherapee.com also looks pretty good.


Tried it. There's also RawStudio, LightZone and Bibble, but all of them
either (a) have trouble with the small screen of a netbook and/or (b) have
too many sliders and too few automagic buttons.

I also tried Digikam, but I still can't get over my initial scarring with
KDE's sense of UI design.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Nikon D80

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 1:09 PM, Aditya Kapil blue...@gmail.com wrote:

 5. One slight rub: The D80 has faster autofocus. Will this force me to work
 harder with the D60... some think that this may not be a bad thing for a
 beginner. Can't get around this one easily save to say, we'll see if this
 becomes a pain later..


With an AF-S lens, the lens does the focusing, so this is moot. From my
limited experience, AF-S lenses focus faster than G or D lenses with my
D70's internal motor.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Nikon D80

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 * A vast majority of DSLR owners shoot in completely automatic mode.
 IMO, this is a waste of the capabilities of the DSLR and $$. If you
 find yourself shooting mostly in auto mode, you may get better value
 for your money with a higher end point and shoot than with a DSLR.
 Learn the basics of shutter speed, aperture, depth of focus, etc. and
 start shooting in Aperture or Shutter priority mode. Graduate into
 fully manual mode later.


I agree with Thaths's advice except for this bit. I almost always shoot in
automatic mode, except the rare occasion when I use aperture-priority. I
can't substitute with a good point and shoot, for they have neither the
quality of a 24mm CCD nor of a good lens. I prefer the 50mm and am getting a
35mm as soon as I can find a seller with a realistic price.

I've learnt over the years that manual metering is overrated. What matters
is (a) learning to see a frame and (b) internalising how your camera will
respond.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Nikon D80

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 3:26 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Kiran Jonnalagadda j...@pobox.com wrote:
  I prefer the 50mm and am getting a
  35mm as soon as I can find a seller with a realistic price.

 The announced MSRP for the soon to be available Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX is
 $199:

 http://press.nikonusa.com/2009/02/nikon_introduces_the_fastest_d.php


Fabulous! The AF-S drive means it can be used on the Nikon D40X, which is
super light and pretty good for 90% of use cases. I've been avoiding the
D40X only because it doesn't support the 50mm, but with this lens it's
perfect.

Now to wait for lens reviews.

(The D40X also has a small grip area, thereby raising the stress on the
fingertips. It hurts after more than an hour of use. Borrow before you buy.)


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Nikon D80

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 10:50 PM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 Both good points. I too do not advocate complete manual metering.
 However, in some cases there is a definite difference between center
 weighted, spot and matrix metering. Having these options and using
 them is good and often give you a better image than you would with the
 default matrix metering.


I don't even bother with this anymore. I shoot raw and treat the photo as
raw data. As long as there are no highlights [1] and the exposure is leaning
towards the right [2], any exposure is good enough. A good photo editing app
with Auto Correct and Undo buttons does wonders.

I used to like Lightroom, but since Apple doesn't make netbooks and I can't
stand Windows, I've been trying F-Spot+UFRaw in GNOME and find it pretty
usable (Picasa doesn't read EXIF tags in raw images).

As someone holding a camera and having to make a quick decision, the only
things I look for are (a) the frame, especially (b) focus on the eyes, (c)
the balance of elements, and (d) the lighting contrast within the frame. The
rest can be deferred to software.

[1] For which, I use matrix metering and exposure compensation if there are
highlights. No spot or centre weighted for me.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposing_to_the_right

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

[silk] Fwd: [fkbk] Men also being attacked...

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

There does seem some element of class disparity to the attacks, too.

-- Forwarded message --

From: Jayanth Sridhar
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:38 AM
Subject: Recent Attacks in Bangalore

As you all must have read, there are various attacks reported all over
the city.. Its not just women, men also have been attacked..

I happened to be a victim of one such on Thursday night.. I was beaten
up, told that I was a Muslim, A North Indian, and I have come and spoilt
the culture of the city.. the irony is that I was born in this city,
brought up in this city and have never left this city.. The second
strange fact being, I read and write in Kannada which is our language
here..

I was criticised for wearing Western influenced clothes.. My car took
some thrashing.. It was a very bad scene there that night.. One that I
will never be able to forget..

I hope this email keeps you guys alert, people are just attacking us for
the cheap thrills of it..

--
Jayanth Sridhar

[silk] Fwd: Minutes of Fearless Karnataka meeting

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

-- Forwarded message --
From: Zainab Bawa bawazaina...@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:42:34 +0530
Subject: Fwd: Minutes from last evening's meeting
To: Kiran Jonnalagadda j...@pobox.com

Dear Kiran,
Can you please forward the minutes of yesterday's meeting at ALF to the Silk
List?

Please also tell the members that we have formed a group called Fearless
Karnataka which they are free to join. Just send an email to Pranesh
Prakash the.solips...@gmail.com and he will add you to the group.

Best,

Zainab

-- Forwarded message --
From: Pranesh Prakash the.solips...@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Subject: Minutes from last evening's meeting
To: Fearless Karnataka / Bhayada viruddha Karnataka f...@googlegroups.com



Dear All,
These are my impressionistic minutes of the meeting.  I am sorry if
they are incomplete or if I misunderstood the point someone was making
(or even misidentified you), as also the delay in sending this out.
Could you please send back corrections in response to this thread?

Regards,
Pranesh

-

Lawrence:
Could someone please take minutes of the meeting?

Jasmeen:
We're thinking of restarting the clothes campaign.  That is, the
campaign asking people what clothes they were wearing when they were
harassed.

Pranesh:
While the clothes campaign is very useful as a long-term project, I'm
not sure whether it is appropriate response to the immediate
situation.

Hemangini:
Others can throw up ideas and we can sift through them.

Zainab:
Danda is required, don't you think?

Lawrence:
Emerging thematics are:
1) Awareness, and the larger campaign
2) Immediate reaction

Sanjana:
We shouldn't be trying to hide sleeveless and short skirts.  But
sexual harassment is a larger issue than just skimpy clothes.  I think
now is the time to look at this as a larger issue.  I don't think it
is a matter of priorities, it is a matter of addressing this issue.

Lawrence:
So, we are not discussing the elite/non-elite issue today.

Deepu:
I feel there are a few things we have to look at:
1) How many of us are really aware that there are 24-hour hoysalas,
etc.?  That awareness is as important as a public statement about it.
2) What can we do to defend ourselves - information on that needs to
be available.
3) Can we ourselves create help centres / helplines or anything along
those lines?
4) How can we make the police act?

Vandana:
I am concerned about the larger problem, but as someone who was
attacked, I want to know what I could have done.  Helplines, etc., are
post-facto.  What about immediately after the attacks and during the
attack?

Lawrence:
Cobra-spray.com  Pepper spray.  Three varieties: 6 foot range, and a 9
foot range [didn't catch the third].  They cost around Rs. 499 per
can.  They can make a grown man or woman cry for more than half an
hour (at just a sniff through a napkin).  Jiti: They can be bought at
Health  Glow also.

Shakun:
Making the police work is too difficult.  We should target the public.
 The situation is that currently all think that it is someone else's
issue.  The (Martin Niemoller) First they came for the Jews...
syndrome.  Addressing the state is thus not the main issue.
Addressing the public is more important.  The effect that the attacks
will have is that of creating a culture of fear.  It is not about
women alone.  It is about the climate we wish to live in.  We should
do a door-to-door campaign.  Bystanders can do many thing, apart from
directly attacking the attackers.  They need to be made aware of what
all they can do.

Lady standing on the eastern side:
How do we make it a larger issue?  How do we communicate intelligently
to the perpetrators and others?  I believe that by saying to them
that: I am a consumer, I am a teacher in your schools, I am a very
large number of things that directly affect you, we can get through
to others.  That will show that it is not only middle class indulgence
-- that doesn't affect the perps.  We need to start a dialogue with
them.

Priya:
Do you think knowing self-defence would have helped?

Vandana: While it wouldn't have solved everything, knowing
self-defence definitely would have helped, since they chased me.  It
would have at least gained me more time.

Aarti: There are three places that classes are held.  We could put
together self-defence workshops on ALF terrace or something.

Archana:
I did learn kickboxing.  But when I was attacked (though it was just
one guy), none of those moves came back to me.  It did help me with
reflex, to manage to evade a punch directly to the face (but I got hit
on the jaw instead).

Anja:
What we are currently seeing is a particular manifestation of violence
against women, which is a general thing.  They see a new opportunity
to harm women which is legitimised by inaction and the political
environment that is currently prevalent.

Zainab:
The women being beaten up in Mangalore helped embolden these goons.

Rashmi:
Learning kung-fu, etc., won't help

[silk] Fwd: Moral Policing - This happened in Bangalore

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

, but real effort – in backing up what we ourselves believe in.
It is so easy to logically argue that everything is corrupt, nothing
is worth it, there are so many risks involved. We must not fall trap
to this escapist trend. We must not fail to try.

Next time you feel outraged, violated, abused, don't let it go by and
add up to your list of litanies and complaints. Stand up and take it
to the limit - at least your own limit. Not in the same way as they
wrong you, but in the way that every citizen, at least in theory, is
entitled to complain and protest. Do not let the hooligans power rant
scare you or prompt you into submission. Do not allow the corrupt cop
make you give up trying. Carry the flame forward. Try harder.

If are up to it, start right now.

Forward this note to everyone you want to be made aware of this. Post
it in your own blogs. Talk about it amongst your circles. And if
anyone of you should like to step forward with a word of empathy or
advise, talk to me. Comment.

It is not Bangalore that is going to the dogs. It is us. We have far
too long become accustomed to let everything go. And the more we let
things go without any protest or fight, the dormant criminal and dark
elements of the society get that much more encouraged. Every time we
turn the other way, the hooligan next street gets incentivized to push
the boundary a little further, provoke a little more, try something a
little more atrocious. It is time for us to refuse to let this go on.
We are responsible for making ourselves proud. Lets believe in
ourselves. We can do this.

My name is Saugata Chatterjee. And I am standing up.I refuse to let
Bangalore go to the hooligan slumdogs, even if some of them are pets
of corrupt power millionaires.



--
Humour is anger - Art Buchwald
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-- 
Zainab Bawa
Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher

Between Places ...
http://wbfs.wordpress.com



-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Open plan offices make people sick

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 9:06 PM, Srini Ramakrishnan che...@gmail.comwrote:

 In these depressing times of layoffs where jam packed offices are a
 rarity, it maybe be possible to get a de-densified work place (open
 plan or otherwise). I can tell you that sitting in a room all alone
 isn't helpful for your health either, the sheer boredom is killing.


Open plan offices work for me when the people around work with me and the
lack of a barrier eases the communication. I've strongly detested the
occasions I've been lumped with unrelated people.

-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Favourite books read in 2008

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 7:27 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 I'm trying to get some recommendations, and further disturb the balance
 of the TBR pile on my shelves. What were the best books you read last year?


My list:

Non-fiction:

* The Hacker Ethic --Pekka Himanen
* What Management Is --Joan Magretta
* Peopleware --Tom Demarco and Timothy Lister
* The Case for India --Will Durant (available only from Strand; no ISBN)
* Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China --Peter Hessler
* Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology --Devdutt Pattanaik
* Palestine --Joe Sacco

Fiction:

* My Name is Red --Orhan Pamuk
* The Glass Palace --Amitav Ghosh



-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Indian book recommendations?

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 11:57 AM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote:

 I am in India (Bangalore and Chennai) for the next couple of weeks. I
 am looking for recommendations of books (all genres) easily available
 in India and more difficult to find abroad. Last year I got some great
 recommendations from silk listers hserus, chandrachoodan and ashok.

 So... what are some great books that have recently been published in
 India that are worth lugging half way around the world?

 Thaths
 --
   Silly Indians. Our God made their God -- Homer J. Simpson


Try Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology by Devdutt Pattanaik.
It's the first I've read that actually makes sense. Here's a telling quote
from the introduction:
Mythology tends to be hyperbolic and fantastic to drive home a myth. It is
modern arrogance to presume that in ancient times people actually believed
in the objective existence of virgin births, flying horses, parting seas,
talking serpents, gods with six heads and demons with eight arms. The
sacredness of such obviously irrational plots and characters ensures their
flawless transmission over generations. Any attempt to edit them is frowned
upon. The unrealistic content draws attention to the idea behind the
communication. Behind virgin births and parting seas is an entity who is
greater than all forces of nature put together. A god with six heads and a
demon with eight arms project a universe where there are infinite
possibilities, for the better and for the worse.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] When I Have The Time

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 2:30 PM, Ingrid [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 2008/11/16 Kiran Jonnalagadda [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 * Make sense of how the rational (logical) and irrational (moral) sides of
 the brain reconcile

 Have never seen the brain hemispheres labeled that way. Are morality and
 rationality mutually contradictory?


I'd rather ask it this way: can we rationally explain our morals without
stating it as a *belief* that something is right or wrong? I can't. It
appears to me that our brains are inherently irrational, but capable of
rationality as a (self) imposed discipline.
I can separate morality from religion, can rationally explain why I'm an
atheist, but can't rationalise the morals.


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] When I Have The Time

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 That reminds me of all of the various things that I will do When I have
 The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows)

 This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread.


Here goes:

* Get financially literate* Make sense of how the rational (logical) and
irrational (moral) sides of the brain reconcile
* Make sense of how mass consumption and individualism manage to pretend
they are unrelated
* Visit every continent in the world just to make the claim of having done
that
* Do the rickshaw rally
* Visit Tibet and Xinjiang and understand what life is like on the other
side of the Himalayas
* Visit Varanasi and observe the interplay of its three claims as a site of
learning, ritual and tourism
* Grok the mythologies that inform the prominent cultures of the world


-- 
Kiran Jonnalagadda
http://jace.seacrow.com/

Re: [silk] Time for another FoU Camp

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

On Monday 10 November 2008 08:04 PM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:

Show of hands for Mysore?

Aye!