This weekend our family attended the locally famous Offut Air Show. We had a leisurely lunch at our friend Ramesh’s house and by the time we had lunch, chatted, had dessert and changed into comfy clothes, we ended up getting there exactly one hour before the show ended. The regular driveways and approaches were barricaded, and we ended up going through a convoluted approach to the base. We were so glad that we could make it..

So here are the photos from the wonderful one hour that we spent there.. After the show, my dad and I promptly wanted to join the air force to fly planes. What impressed us the most was the precision with which they flew the planes.!!!

• View the entire 2008 photo set over here
• View the entire 2005 photo set over here

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• Let’s face it. India is not into sports in any meaningful way. Our schools do not support sports. They also don’t sport support. School sports requires a healthy, competitive atmosphere to thrive like those in the US or Europe, where inter-school matches are cheered by large crowds of students from both schools, and the official school team for any sport is a brand name in itself.

The second firmly rooted malaise to have penetrated the entire nation is every desi politician’s biggest tool, namely religion and caste. Even an affluent Saif Ali khan is not above the religious divide.

• Our sources in the construction industry say that Saif did approach a few Hindu housing societies and was rejected - despite being a superstar. Saif, however, says that he went straight to a Muslim builder to buy his dream house. “I know there are localities and building societies that won’t sell real estate to anyone who’s a Muslim. I didn’t want to get involved in that problem. I went to a Muslim builder to avoid complications.

Living in Omaha, I have yet to see the expatriate Indian community band together and celebrate the day cohesively, keeping aside employers, state of origin, mother tongue issues. Heck what am I cribbing about? I’m one of those who jumped countries for a better life! Guilty as charged. No wonder, Bharat Maata is crying….. [refer pic..]

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To keep up with the demands of the increasingly digital world, the
“multi-core” or “many core” approach is necessary because by 2015,
running chips at faster and faster frequencies could have yielded
products like laptop or desktop computers that create as much heat as a
nuclear reactor, engineers said.
- from the Washinton Post

With the current influx of dual core chips, I could see a windows parallel in action on our macbook (thanks to geeky hubby who installed all that).

The first thing that struck me about the multi core chips was that I could run 3 OSs atleast on the same system without having to reboot.. yeah.. Of course, Im fully relying on the dependable OSX and Linux guys to come up with the software for the same.

No No Im not a racist etc. but have you really used a windows system? Its awful.. And I had to LOL when I read this nugget

The drawback of the new approach is that it requires an equally dramatic shift in the software industry. Some experts, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, initially expressed reservations because of the disruptive nature of the transition.

Of course Gates would be worried. Microsoft has to actually do a lil more than copy paste old code. They have to think, and actually write efficient code.

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A couple of weeks earlier, I had a lovely installation of Ubuntu going.. The radio and sound system actually rocked. Plug and play went on like a dream. I was so happy. Then the unthinkable happened. My dad, who shares the system, accidentally opted for a “Windows recovery” option in the boot menu. Tadaa… Everything crashed, and windows got restored to x-y days. I now have to install everything one by one.. So am still working [and re-learning] along with my myriad daily chores.. So something had to give, and it was Chilligavva that took a brunt! Sorry dear readers. Like I said, I shall strive!!

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“Did you develop a new product called twitter” was the question I encounter in a phone conversation in response to my “join me on twitter email”. I was shocked into silence. Especially since the person asking me this Q was a MCA and working in Oracle products in the USA, and not an average dude by any standards.

I immediately switch to Telugu. “Kaadu, adi social networking site.” [no its a …]
I get a “Ardham ayyindi, nuvvu edo chesavemo ani” [I figured it out (that it was a social…), but thought that you developed the site.]
I stop this disgusting conversation with “Antha scene ledamma naaku..” [I dont have that kind of scene.]

Naturally I was hopping mad, as I didnt expect this dumbness to emerge from a facebook generation. But I’m trying to come to grips with dealing with “people who dont get it..” After reading Matt Balara’s article on Stowe Boyd’s site “Why aren’t you talking to me”, I realize I am not alone.

Update as on 22 June 08: I accidentally thought the article on /message was Stowe’s as it was on his site. But i soon realized that it was Matt Balara’s article as a guest blogger. I visited Matt’s site, and liked the site and the articles he has been writing. So am giving him a honor mention here..

The article also made me reflect on a conversation I had with a local Indian at the Indian store. We both realized we were on orkut which is big amongst Indian circles, in the social networking scene. We promptly encountered “What is orkut” from another person at the store. I turned and said “Its a social networking site”.

But deep inside, I was flabbergasted. Why? If my dad asked this Q I would understand, or if a non IT person asked ditto. But a wife of a software(s/w) person and even a s/w person asking this. Too bad!

Out of sheer disgust combined with frustation I quipped to the person “If you are not on linkedin, twitter or on a social network such as facebook you are lower caste! Now you know what to do if you want to be identified as a forward caste”, hoping this would drive the point across.

I saw the face of the other person blanche a little. Believe me I am not this aggressive normally! The caste analogy was crude as well, but most Indians get caste faster than technology!.

But personal opinions aside, I think very soon, we shall face a big social divide. Of people who know technology and trends, and leverage the same, and people who claim to be s/w enggs. because they want technology based high paying jobs. A clear case of a new kind of social haves and have-nots!

And I do agree with Matt’s observation of being able to continue a conversation reference in in the web 2.0-meatspace continuum.

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My good friend Bharath Raganathan is a walking wikipedia on history and trivia on a number of subjects. Lately I have been spending time at another interesting blog TuLu Studies run by Ravi Mundkur from my native Mangalore.

Both of them expressed curiosity on shells as currency, and whether I knew anything about it. Today I spent some time on some internet research, and stumbled upon two references, which I have promptly added to my colophon. The read was very fascinating for me.

Long before our era the cowry shell was known as an instrument of payment and a symbol of wealth and power. This monetary usage continued until the 20th century. If we look a bit closer into these shells it is absolutely not astonishing that varieties as the cypraea moneta or cypraea annulus were beloved means of payments and eventually became in some cases huge competitors of metal currencies. All characteristics of money, i.e. durability, handiness or convenience, recognizability and divisibility are embodied in these small shells. In comparison with foodstuff or feathers which can fall prey to vermin, shells withstand easily frequent handling. They are small and very easy to transport and their alluring form and looks offer them a perfect protection against forgery. Besides, counting was not always absolutely necessary. As the shells almost all had the same shape and size weighing often sufficed to determine the value of a payment.
Courtesy:National Bank of Belgium

Other links on shells as currency:

• Courtesy:The Hindu
• Courtesy: Indian Mirror

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Pundits have been yammering away for years about a “celestial jukebox” that will give everyone the ability to access all content ever created, from anywhere, at any time. This long-discussed concept is finally becoming a reality, at least as far as music goes.
via Celestial Jukebox falls to earth

‘Hey, making applications for the iPhone shouldn’t be that hard’…. [I] thought how useful it would be to have a P2P client (first for me, then for the people) so I started learning and developing it myself.” - Wired

I therefore was pretty excited when I was reading Wired’s article on Eric Castro’s “iSlsk”. Eric is a 19 year old student of Universidad Tecnologica Nacional (UTN) (System’s Engineering career) located in Buenos Aires, Argentina and quite a geek with a life (to quote him) !

I had written earlier about how P2P will redefine Web 2.0/3.0 in my post researchers aim to make internet bandwidth a global currency. As internet traffic gets heavier, quicker and more efficient ways to do things are naturally going to be explored. I think that this is a definite and possible direction social media will take.

Now if Eric can handle the direction the app is going, he is definitely sitting on something very very big.

I was already impressed about my website going from just 10 to 20 visits per day to about +6000 visits overnight. Not to mention that iSlsk has already over 41,000 downloads, again, only in two days. Those numbers may not impress most people, but they do for me, since I never made something that massive.

• Wired Interview with Eric
• Eric’s Blog

PS: Since I don not own an unlocked i-phone and unable to get my hands on one, I shall of course have to wait to test out iSlsk.. Sorry Eric…

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Two women known to me were hospitalized in the past 10 days. Shirley is my friend Cynthia’s mom and Phyllis is my friend Mary’s mom. Here is wishing both of them a speedy recovery and good health.

Then of course the cyclone hit Burma. My deepest sympathies to the victims and condolences to the bereaved families.

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Last friday, I got a “Mom Andre’s mom wants to come home, and she will follow your car” when I went to pick up Miti from school. So I waved and proceeded home with Miti. On the way he gently told me that the plan was to go to Andre’s mom’s house on the weekend and be back on Saturday morning.

Andre is Mitis best friend from school, and the boys are entirely inseparable. All through the evening I could see Andre beam ear to ear. He was flushed pink with excitement, and Miti too. Having 3 boys in the house did feel different as we girls got attacked by foam bullets constantly.. We were caught in the crossfire of a nerf gun war, till the boys left!

So when we reached home, I socialized with Andre’s mom and after a little bit of playing and visiting, Miti managed to pack a weekend bag. After guzzling milk, the boys proceeded to the farm which was a 45 minute drive from Omaha. The whole experience felt a little strange to me, but I nevertheless let Miti visit.

In retrospect, I was glad I did allow him to go. When Miti returned, all Saturday afternoon it was Andre this, the farm that, in the parade this and that. After that over the weekend, i received a lot of pictures, and thats when I realized what a good time Miti had.

So I especially thank Ozana, Andre’s mom for giving us this wonderful oppurtunity..

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Would love to hear from my readers, what this bird is called. I shall of course, try to find out.
Update: My son comes back from school and takes one look at the photo and says “Its a cardinal mom!”

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Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

WW

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As per usual, I have rehauled the look of chilligavva again. This time its all dark, and very magazine style inspired. I had a copy of an old web magazine called “Practical Web Design” [printed in England, issue #160] and the cover dark gray, yellow and white, and it formed the inspiration, color-wise. So do tell me how this one turned out..

Back to default theme

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Sometime during my MA years at Hyderabad, India my classmate Dhanalakshmi and I went to see a telugu movie called “Bava Bava Paneeru”. We landed very early for the movie, and actually got seat numbers 1 & 2, which for me is the rarest of rare events, ever. So we had time to kill and landed at a shop called Iyengar’s bakery opposite the theatre and ordered some baked goodies, wolfed it down and came back.

When we came back, they were letting people into the theatre and we made a mad dash to the balcony. And surprise, we saw two ladies, their kids [both under 2 years] sitting in our seats. I was very keen to experience seat numbers 1&2. So I opened my mouth and out came “I think you are sitting in our seats aunty”.

For the non-british, non-Indian crowd, “Aunty” is how we address any married lady older than you, in India. This is a workaround relationship to ensure that we are not calling her by name, which is VERY RUDE in India.

We got a very angry “LOOK FIRST OF ALL DONT CALL ME AUNTY OKAY! AND CANT YOU SEE WE HAVE SMALL CHILDREN WHO NEED TO GO TO THE TOILETS, AND WE ARE NEAR THE DOOR..”

I had to think quickly on my feet. Even if we insisted, we would be dealing with brats asking us to move, at the instigation of their mums. So we retreated gracefully, and sat next to an older couple who were well into their 70s+ years. I had noticed this couple while we were buying tickets. Anyone from Andhra Pradesh [Movie mad Southern state] know that a movie is enjoyed by all age groups. And a visit to a friday release is a must.

Come interval (Obviously a 3 hour movie had to be split into 2 halves), the theatre lights came on, and the old man next to me asks his wife what she wants, and actually comes back with popcorn, and a soft drink. I was so impressed by the concern and care. Dhana and me were very envious too, and decided then and there that if we could grow old like this with someone, we should consider ourselves very blessed.

Now a few days ago, I saw the picture from my artist scientist friend Pritesh, and my memory floodgates opened up.

Picture courtesy: Pritesh Dagur

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[My rating for the video.. 8/10.. what do you think?]

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Source:Krish Asok’s very interesting blog

Caution! You need to know your indian mythology really well..

What cracked me up absolutely was the entry “Click here to listen to Yudhisthra’s podcast ‘Aswatthama is dead’ “

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