Rk's shared items in Google Reader

Did You Know? "We are living in exponential times" (A Must Watch, Really)

2009-10-27T23:18:15Z

I favorited a YouTube video: A unbelievable video, one for sure you need to watch. Fantastic video on the progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman, remixed.

15 short Ads Mac vs PC

2009-10-19T19:33:46Z

I favorited a YouTube video: 15 short Ads Mac verses PC

The girl who silenced the world for 5 min! Must watch.

2009-10-18T23:45:07Z

I favorited a YouTube video: The girl who silenced the world for 5 min--"It's high time that we wake up"

David Foster Wallace On Using Prior To

2009-10-07T23:35:17Z

I favorited a YouTube video: Taken from LAWPROSE.com "Bryan Garner routinely interviews judges and others on the art of writing. LawProse maintains a one-of-a-kind video archive of these educational interviews. These are excerpts from some interviews."

Links for 2009-10-02 [del.icio.us]

2009-10-03T00:00:00-07:00

family portrait

2009-09-19T16:47:00Z

triciamary via jpgmag

Rocket attacks

2009-09-13T08:47:12Z

Rocket attacks originating in Pakistani break the ceasefire twice in three months

“In a rare incident of its kind on the international border,” reports Pakistan’s Dawn, “the Indian forces opened fire from across the Wagah border on Friday night after mistaking an unexplained explosion in a village in East Punjab for ‘rocket fire from Pakistan.” It goes on to quote anonymous analysts who suggest that “the Indian allegation as an attempt to create an impression that Pakistan was still aiding terrorists and not taking steps to check their activities.” The Pakistani Rangers’ spokesman goes further: they were rockets and they were fired “on the Pakistani side”.

It’s a familiar story. The attacks didn’t happen. Those Indians want to blame Pakistan. And oh, the attacks did happen and the Indians did it themselves.

But when at least three 107mm rockets land in Indian villages across the international border in Punjab twice in three months it is serious. It is a violation of the ceasefire, but it is a different kind of violation of the ceasefire. In all likelihood, these rockets were fired by the jihadi component of Pakistan’s military-jihadi complex. It might be a worrying sign of something this blog had warned of in July 2006—that India might face a similar situation as Israel does with Lebanon. Just as Hizbullah, a ‘non-state actor’ fires rockets at Israel from Lebanese territory, the Lashkar-e-Taiba could attack Indian civilian targets from Pakistan. [Related Link: See the War Nerd's take on rockets in the hands of Iraqi insurgents]

After yesterday’s rocket attack, the Border Security Force retaliated with machine-gun fire, not a particularly effective or meaningful response, given that the rockets might have been fired from mobile launchers and timed or triggered remotely. Raising the issue at field commanders’ meetings will not work given the mindset of the Pakistani authorities. On a broader level, the Pakistani government is quite likely to put up its hands and say that it too “is a victim of terrorism” and it is doing all it can.

An ideal way to prevent such attacks is to strike at the supply-chain of these rockets—but that requires the Pakistani government to search for, confiscate and secure rockets on its side of the border. But that’s like asking the dentist for a candy bar. Getting the Pakistani government to do this needs a mix of coercion and diplomacy on the part of the UPA government. That too is like asking the dentist for a candy bar.

The other option is for India to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering along the border. This might mean equipping the BSF with more advanced surveillance capabilities—including a number of weapons-locating radars (WLRs). When combined with good intelligence, it might even be possible to detect, prepare for and retaliate against future rocket attacks. Indeed, it is better that India equips the BSF with the requisite retaliatory capacity now than wait for a rocket spectacular to happen.

http://www.watblog.com/2009/08/17/now-access-twitter-inside-gmai

2009-09-15T03:36:25Z

http://www.watblog.com/2009/08/17/now-access-twitter-inside-gmail-read-to-know-how/

How a sewing machine works

2009-08-26T16:20:47Z

I always wondered how that thing worked.

via

US funds were diverted to strengthen defence against India: Musharraf - Pakistan - World - NEWS - The Times of India

2009-09-14T02:47:58Z

US funds were diverted to strengthen defence against India: Musharraf

The Saturday Profile - Migrant in Russia Is Reborn as Tajik Jimmy, an Internet Star - Biography - NYTimes.com

2009-09-13T01:35:13Z

Shared by Rk
Sings both male and female voices of some bollywood songs..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7azBYOHQooE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-K39UaT19o&feature=related

The rise of Baimurat Allaberiyev, a migrant worker in Russia who delivers astonishing renditions of Bollywood musical numbers, is a testament to the strange power of the Internet.

Obama Health Care Speech: FULL VIDEO, TEXT

2009-09-13T00:06:42Z

Video clips of various segments of the speech are available throughout the transcript below. Scroll down to the bottom to watch the speech in full.

IT cos: Look who all are hiring- Indiatimes Infotech

2009-09-12T00:25:38Z

And he’s doing it before even winning the Booker prize

2009-08-26T06:38:35Z

Chetan Bhagat uses sophisms to advance an argument for surrender

So how many cliched sophisms can you squeeze into one 900-word op-ed piece? Chetan Bhagat manages to do five. More than a defence of the prime minister as it announces itself to be, his op-ed in Hindustan Times (linkthanks Rohit Pradhan) is merely a series of lazy arguments and an intellectual superficiality that is more suited to a discussion of Hindi films, cricket matches and cafeteria-gossip, not the grave issues surrounding geopolitics, foreign policy and national security.

Mr Bhagat begins with a profound misunderstanding of “our attitude”. Instead of reconciling with Pakistan, he says, Indians want to “teach Pakistan a lesson” and put them in their place. Now assuming this is true, does Mr Bhagat pause to examine why? Is it perhaps because Pakistan has devoted itself to damaging India right from the word go? Reconciliation is not a rational response towards Pakistan until the time it unequivocally transforms itself into a country that is at peace with itself and its neighbour. Yet, the story since 1998 at least is one where India has made repeated attempts to reconcile—at political and popular levels—and on each occasion received a dagger in its flesh in return. So yes, bashing Pakistan might be considered patriotic and make good politics, but for good reason. Mr Bhagat doesn’t get into these reasons, of course, because they wouldn’t lend themselves to his conclusions.

The second sophism that Mr Bhagat uses is that ‘every Indian’s future is inextricably linked to Pakistan…because of what India spends on defence.’ This is not the (flawed) “we can’t change our neighbours” argument, it’s not even the (flawed) “guns vs butter” argument. It is a (flawed) “let’s submit to our neighbour’s blackmail” argument. It is disguised as (or confused for, if you want to be charitable) a guns-vs-butter argument by pointing to the opportunity costs of defence expenditure. But it sounds plausible for only as long as it takes you to realise that there are opportunity costs of non-defence too. Ask the Morioris, if there are any left to tell the tale.

A reasonable case can perhaps be made around the concept of a peace dividend—that giving Pakistan something would result in a lower defence expenditure that would in turn allow India to channel the ’savings’ for development. That depends on what is the “something” that would satisfy Pakistan, and whether the act of giving that something away will actually result in a net positive dividend. Instead, Mr Bhagat asks “how badly do we want Kashmir?” As if giving away Kashmir would automatically lead to the building of colleges, irrigation projects, roads and power plants. This is the third sophism—the plausibility of which lasts only as long as it takes for you to listen to a Hafiz Mohammed Saeed’s speech. Giving in to Kashmir fatigue is a terrible idea. Mr Bhagat doesn’t bother to explain just conceding on Kashmir will lead to lower defence expenditure, less more colleges and roads. It’s a double sophism, actually, because Mr Bhagat presumes that government expenditure is required to build colleges, irrigation projects, roads and power plants. You know, just like it was government expenditure that put phones in almost everyone’s hands.

You should really put up your hands when you see India described as the land of Buddha and Gandhi which has somehow lost its peace goals, the fourth sophism. India’s national symbol is not The Other Cheek. As much as Buddha and Gandhi, this is also the land of the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Arthashastra—treatises that reveal a sophisticated approach to statecraft. These books do not advocate peace at any cost. Even Gandhi drew inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita.

When you don’t have to support your argument with evidence, you can just about say anything you like. Like, for instance, “we need to have peace…because we can’t afford to fight or stay prepared to fight for the next 20 years.” How does Mr Bhagat arrive at this extraordinary conclusion? If India struggling at economic growth rates of 5% or lower could afford to fight and stay prepared for the last 20 years and yet achieve over 8% growth today, surely, it can more easily afford it now? To use Mr Bhagat’s own analogy, if you could afford a security guard when you were poorer, you certainly can afford him now when you are richer.

The byline identifies Mr Bhagat as the author of The Three Mistakes of My Life. With this op-ed he’s made one more.

Where Your Taxes Go: 41

2009-09-07T04:48:01Z

On a Rs 42 crore mansion, on “a sprawling 1,00,000 sq ft area”, for Mayawati.

Outlook reports:

Mayawati’s latest mansion is to be seen to be believed. With 18-ft high stone walls and matching copper and brass gates, it looks more like a fortress on Mall Avenue, the most prized address in Lucknow. With every second house here having been taken over directly or indirectly by Mayawati—be it in the name of the Bahujan Trust or the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) office—her detractors, including Mulayam Yadav, have taken to calling the street ‘Maya Avenue’.

The chateau-like bungalow betrays Mayawati’s weakness for pink Dholpur stone and expensive granite.

‘Maya Avenue’ is a suitable name in more ways than one. The nugget I found most delicious in the report was that to make room for her bungalow, “Behenji ordered that the Sugarcane Commissioner’s office shift out from next door.” A sugarcane commissioner? Why the fug do we need a sugarcane commissioner anyway?

Mayawati has featured in the Where Your Taxes Go series before, here and here. I’m no longer surprised at the scale of her excesses, though. The way our political system is structured, it is entirely rational to enjoy the spoils of power after you get to such a post. We elect governments not to serve us, but to rule us. As long as that is so, our rulers will take full advantage.

(Link via email from Noor. For more on how our government loots us, click here.)

The India Uncut Blog © 2007 Amit Varma. All rights reserved.
Visit: India Uncut * The IU Blog * Rave Out * Extrowords * Workoutable * Linkastic

Collaborate on Picasa Web Albums

2009-08-20T04:57:00Z

Posted by Thomas Kang, Software Engineer

After a recent trip to Yosemite, I was frustrated to see my traveling companions share their photos in three different online albums on three different photo-sharing sites. What we really needed was a single album to which everyone could add their photos. Google Docs makes collaborating on documents easy. Why not try a similar idea with photos? Starting today, every album on Picasa Web Albums is potentially collaborative: multiple people can add pictures to the same album.

To make an album collaborative, sign in to Picasa Web Albums and add contributors. Just click the 'Share' button, add contributors, and leave the 'Let people I share with contribute photos' checkbox selected.

You can also manage access for contributors you've added to the 'Shared with' list by toggling the 'plus' icon next to their name – when the plus icon is green they can add photos.

Contributors will need to log in to Picasa Web Albums with their Google Account to add photos. When they visit your collaborative album, they just need to click the 'Add Photos' button to start uploading.

Contributors' photos will be attributed to them, and they can rotate, delete, or add captions to the pictures they've uploaded.

A few limitations worth noting: contributors won't be able to upload to collaborative albums from the Picasa software. Also, if you're contributing to an album using Internet Explorer, for now you will only be able to upload five photos at a time. While this limit is standard for other browsers, we're already working to allow easier collaborative uploads for Internet Explorer.

As always, we'd love to hear your feedback in our help forum.

Update (8:25 PM, August 20): We've fixed the issue with Internet Explorer, so contributors using IE can now upload more than five photos at a time to a collaborative album. Learn more.

Calvin and Hobbes for August 21, 2009

2009-09-07T13:45:46Z

The Swine and Shah Rukh

2009-08-18T05:00:00Z

Drama, drama, drama—that’s all our newspapers want. The Indian media’s been full of two overblown stories in the last few days, so much so that I feel I need to wear a mask before I pick up a damn newspaper. First up, there’s swine flu. Swaminathan Aiyar examines some numbers and finds:

[In India] 1.37 million people die annually of respiratory diseases and infections, 7,20,000 of diarrhea, and 5,40,000 of tuberculosis. These are staggering numbers. They imply that on an average day, 3,753 people die of respiratory diseases and infections, 1,973 of diarrhea, and 1,479 of tuberculosis.

Seen in this light, 20-odd swine flu deaths are almost laughably trivial.

If there is an epidemic in India, it’s the hysteria over swine flu, not swine flu itself. I’m not complaining, because for the last few days, the places where I usually hang out have been less crowded than usual. Things are getting back to normal though, but with narrative-hungry journalists all around, other infections will no doubt pop up.

Like Shah Rukh Khan. The outrage over Khan’s detention at a US airport is most silly. Our media, if you go to the heart of it, is not outraged because of the racial profiling in play—that’s old hat, at least eight-years-old in the context of the US, and I didn’t see Bombay Times cry a river when Rohinton Mistry had to cancel a US book tour because he was fed up of being questioned at airports, or when hazaar random Indians have been questioned over the years. Racial profiling story—not pushed before because there’s limited masala.

Shah Rukh spices it up. Our media’s on this story because of the celebrity angle. How dare they mess with Shah Rukh? Don’t we fawn over Brad Pitt when he comes to India? India has arrived, Slumdog won Oscars, Shah Rukh is loved by hundreds of millions, Madonna wears only a bindi to bed, blah blah blah. How could they not have recognised our hero? That’s what the outrage comes from, the celebrity angle with a pinch of nationalism thrown in—and it makes me want to barf.

If the cops threatened to slap section 377 on Shah Rukh and Karan Johar, you can bet there would be outrage about that as well, because the guys are celebs. But it’s been happening to ordinary people for decades, and the media hasn’t given a damn. It’s the celeb angle that makes stories here, ordinary people don’t count.

All this in a week when Bob Dylan was also detained for suspicious loitering. I don’t see him weeping and wailing about that.

There is a theory that all this is a publicity stunt for Shah Rukh’s forthcoming film, My Name is Khan, which is supposedly about racial profiling. I find it hard to believe that he can get US authorities to cooperate with him on a publicity stunt, so that’s a bit beyond the pale. But it is entirely possible that after the incident happened, he decided to milk it in the media. But that’s the game, and I wouldn’t blame him for that. I’d blame the media for making such a fuss about it.

Or maybe it’s our fault, because the media only gives us what we want? As it is, we are to blame for Shah Rukh being a star in the first place. A curse upon us.

How many of you think Shah Rukh should be locked up in Guantanamo for his bad acting alone? Hmm, I thought so.

The India Uncut Blog © 2007 Amit Varma. All rights reserved.
Visit: India Uncut * The IU Blog * Rave Out * Extrowords * Workoutable * Linkastic

08/10/09 PHD comic: 'Where would I go?'

2009-08-12T02:09:24Z

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham		www.phdcomics.com

title: "Where would I go?" - originally published 8/10/2009 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

Revisiting Nilgiris’ Peaks and Passes

2009-08-07T05:09:50Z

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to be invited to be part of an expedition team led by Dr AJT Johnsingh. The trek was from Mukurthi National Park in Tamil Nadu to Silent Valley National Park in Kerala and the primary purpose was to evaluate the importance of the two national parks in the conservation planning for large mammals. A delightful and detailed account of the expedition has been written by Dr AJT Johnsingh in the Frontline magazine.

While I had no scientific expertise to add to the mission, I did have ulterior motives. This route goes via the famous Sispara pass. Sispara was used by the British as the shortest ditance between Ooty and Kozhikode.

Now this is where it gets interesting

Around the 1830s a British officer of the Bombay Army named Stephen Ponsonby Peacocke was in India with his regiment and was in Ooty up in the Nilgiri Hills convalescing from an illness for some time during this period. He had a lot of free time on his hands and since he was good at painting, he created 17 drawings of spectacular landscape views in the Nilgiri Hills. His artwork is known for being lifelike and to proportion and scale. He finally published all of them in 1847. Thanks to wikipedia, you can browse through all of them.

Before the trip, I printed out all these photographs and carried them with me to search for these landmarks which were painted more than 170 years ago. From the start of the walk, I was looking at every mountain, every peak, and every pass, and was trying to compare them with the photographs that I had with me.

Devils Gap (map)

I found this one by accident. It was just 10 m away from the main walking path, but was not at all visible from the path itself. For some funny reason I decided to check it out and there it was, the Devil’s gap. The minute I saw it, I knew this was the one. Not much has changed here in the last 170 years it seems. The rocks were still the same, the hills in the background were the same too. And the forests that can be seen through this gap is the Nilambur Reserved Forests, renowned for their teak timber.

Koondah Pass (map)

This is a very well described place, so I more or less expected to find this place. Infact if you look at this location in google maps, you will know why it was so easy to find. I photographed this from a ridge, but looks like Peacocke painted this landscape from a place much lower than where I was, since the perspective is different. But if you observe the peaks, they are more or less the same.

Sispara shed and the peak (map)

This was another location which I found by accident. We had reached the Sispara Pass trekking shed, and after a brief period of rest, were about to start climbing down into Silent Vallery National Park. The peak itself was covered in clouds, but suddenly it opened up and I realised that this was the main peak that I was looking for. I took some quick photographs before the peak disappeared behind the clouds again. When this place got declared as a National Park, all the people were moved out. So now this place is a good patch of forest. You can still see some remains of old houses in the new photograph and the possible stream (now with a check dam across it) that was flowing with water back then. The forest guard also told us that there were some more remains of the old shed inside the forests which we didn’t have enough time to explore.

Overall I was more than happy to find 3 out of the the 17 landscapes. Mr Narayan Swamy owns some of the original lithographs and he has been very kind enough to scan them and put them up on Wikipedia. Would anyone else who knows Nilgiri hill ranges well be interested in trying to find the other locations and photograph them ? I think it will be a great project to record landscape level changes over centuries.

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Where do lost megabits go?

2009-08-02T01:19:21Z

Broadband users aren't getting the speeds they are paying for, says Ofcom. One reason is because the signal degrades over distance when sent through copper wires, so where do the missing megabit go?

Links for 2009-07-12 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-13T00:00:00-07:00

Freeware Home - Download Freeware - Only Free Software Downloads

Links for 2009-07-07 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-08T00:00:00-07:00

Links for 2009-06-13 [del.icio.us]

2009-06-14T00:00:00-07:00

Online Conversion - Clothing Conversions

Links for 2009-06-12 [del.icio.us]

2009-06-13T00:00:00-07:00

How to Rebuild your Computer and Reinstall Windows from Scratch

Links for 2009-03-30 [del.icio.us]

2009-03-31T00:00:00-07:00

Bangalore trips

Links for 2009-02-27 [del.icio.us]

2009-02-28T00:00:00-08:00

Good animated movies