Comments for Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park

Comment on Going Vegetarian by Growing Tomatoes – Day 1 | Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park

Growing Tomatoes – Day 1 | Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:48:56 +0000

[...] I’ve been getting the feeling that I’d better know how to grow my own food. Of course, now that I’ve gone vegetarian, it’s less than a pipe dream than it once was. But till now I was always deterred by the [...]

Comment on Climate Change – I’ve given up and lost hope by Growing Tomatoes – Day 1 | Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park

Growing Tomatoes – Day 1 | Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:46:47 +0000

[...] since I gave up and lost hope of us preventing catastrophic climate change, I’ve been getting the feeling that I’d better know how to grow my own food. Of course, [...]

Comment on US Corporations to India: “Don’t dare use Free Software!” by the plasticgraduate

the plasticgraduate — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:20:21 +0000

The roof is falling!

Imagine, an industry group formed to protect intellectual property, whose main purpose is to fight against piracy, also has a few lines in their report on about perceived unfair trading practices.

It’s shocking! Shocking! These companies want to be able to sell more software on an open market. They also want to do away with other import quotas, including local film quotas in Indonesia – but I don’t hear anybody boycotting Avatar (FYI, your truly has yet to see that cinematic marvel. I’m waiting for the book).

Well, kids, that’s what capitalism is. And yes, even companies that deal in FOSS also make money. You have to pay your engineers, you know (Red Hat, Canonical). Oh – wait, I don’t think Sun did a very good job of that, though.

Excuse me while I shut down Firefox & reopen this in IE.

Me – See I don’t mind them trying to promote their own products – but not in a government report and certainly not by turning it into a diplomatic issue – which is what the special 301 report is all about.

Second, it’s not an unfair trade practice for a government to advise it’s own departments to save money by using legitimate and free software. There’s an opportunity cost to buying proprietary software and for a country like India, that cost is pretty high. The same money can be used to improve the lot of people here who badly need it.

In short, this is an example of a corporation overstepping its bounds and trying to bulldoze governments into not doing what’s best for their own citizens.

Comment on Why are we angry with M F Husain? by Sraboney

Sraboney — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:40:59 +0000

I agree with you…Best of all, most of the people protesting haven’t even seen the paintings!

Comment on 5 reasons why I won’t tip you if you’re a waiter by KW

KW — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:46:12 +0000

Why don’t you go work in a restaurant for a week, earning $2.13 per hour, and see how you feel when you don’t get a tip from a cheap arrogant customer such as yourself. If you can’t afford to tip (whether financially or morally), then go fucking eat at McDonalds. If you don’t want to interact with a server, then go fucking eat at McDonalds. Better yet…make your own food and stay out of restaurants entirely.

Comment on US Corporations to India: “Don’t dare use Free Software!” by Sraboney

Sraboney — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:09:07 +0000

I wish I were programming savvy to move to opensource software but alas, I lack the skills…

I think poor countries are doing the right thing by moving to free software to save money…It’s legal, so why shouldn’t they? If I were a paid software producer, I too would probably be pissed like Microsoft but since I’m not, all I want to say is “go for it!”

Me – Open source software like Openoffice is as technical as MS Office. So if you use one, you can use the other. If you’re interested, here’s the link to download and install OpenOffice: http://www.openoffice.org/ . Try it if you’re feeling happy with life

Comment on Using Moneybookers to send money to India – Paypal alternative by Smart Indian

Smart Indian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:41:45 +0000

bty, PayPal is back on track, just received the withdrawal money in ICICI.

Comment on Using Moneybookers to send money to India – Paypal alternative by Smart Indian

Smart Indian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:11:55 +0000

This is the reply I got from MB, when I told them that I was a freelance writer.

***
Dear Mr XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting us again regarding this issue.

We would like to confirm that unfortunately, your US customers will not be able to send you funds via Moneybookers, as we do not provide our full range of services in the US. However, you will be able to receive funds from oDesk and other freelancing sites.

As you’re using your account for business purposes and in order to welcome you as a trusted business partner of Moneybookers you need to get your account verified. Therefore we kindly ask you to provide us with the following documents:

1. A colored copy of a valid official identification document of the Moneybookers account holder such as your international passport, national identity card(front and back) or driving license
2. Please fill out the attached merchant Questionnaire (in case some of the fields are not applicable to your business status / model please kindly mention in the relevant field “not applicable”

Additionally, as you are using your moneybookers account for commercial purposes it is now considered a business one, and therefore from now on we are applying our standard fee on the processed ‘receive money’ transactions.

Thank you in advance. We are looking forward to your reply.

With kind regards,
Moneybookers Merchant Services

***
Hope this helps.

Comment on US Corporations to India: “Don’t dare use Free Software!” by Hari Batti

Hari Batti — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:36:33 +0000

This post has left me very nearly speechless. If I weren’t afraid of waking up the kids, I’d start ranting right now. What can one say to this nonsense? I’d like to figure out how to move to openoffice etc. myself.

Comment on Using Moneybookers to send money to India – Paypal alternative by Piyush Agarwal

Piyush Agarwal — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:02:05 +0000

Hi bhagwad,

Is the Referral thing working for you? I mean, I have had quite a few clicks on my link. Acc. to MB I should get a report under history->referral report. But I get nothing there.
Also, how can I get the swift code for my bank(ICICI, Bangalore)

Like you I registered for an individual account but I am a freelancer, so I think it should be made a commercial one. Should I contact MB via mail or is there a better way?

Thanks

Me – Referrals seem to be working for me. I have accounts listed under “progenies” so it must be ok. Are you sure that the people who clicked on your link went on to sign up for a Moneybookers account?

AFAIK, the ICICI SWIFT code is the same as the one I mentioned in the article for all branches. I use USD for my currency and this MIGHT make a difference, so use the same SWIFT code I used if you have USD as well. What is your currency?

I’ve found the best way to get your personal account changed to a commercial one is by calling them via Skype – you get a good response and they’ll send you an email as confirmation. Remember though that making it commercial will cause you to get a 2% charge on incoming funds. But if you don’t do it, Moneybookers will likely just suspend your account after a while and then you’re screwed. And now Paypal also charges this amount since personal payments are suspended, so there’s no way out of it…