tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-351646992024-09-11T20:39:14.684+05:30Fiction, Philosophy, Design, Software Architecture, Music and Problem SolvingNagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-5686087936402267792007-04-11T01:01:00.000+05:302007-04-11T01:04:14.382+05:30

Now, the canopus archives blog is moved to my own domain. The new blog url is:http://canopusconsulting.com/canopusarchivesThe new blog has a completely new interface - which is more suited to the long posts that are a norm of this blog.Please visit the new blog and leave your comments.And, for those of my good friends who provided a link to this blog from theirs, may I request them to update

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-7050355901326684242007-03-12T00:52:00.000+05:302007-03-12T01:30:00.529+05:30

This article is about security and privacy issues that the new generation of Internet poses to individuals, groups and societies at large. For some strange reason, the power, benefits and the positive aspects of the Internet are very widely known, but there seem to be very little public awareness - especially among the average users of the Internet - about some of the dark elements and inherent

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-80619131657060714782006-12-28T20:35:00.000+05:302006-12-28T20:43:14.107+05:30

According to an ancient saying in India, the secret of long and fulfilling life lies in avoiding four types of people at all costs - bankers, doctors, lawyers and police. There is only way to avoid these four types – don’t earn too much, take care of your health, don’t get into disputes with anyone, and don’t commit any crime. This must be true in most countries, but here in India - this is the

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-424951839700544662006-12-27T20:07:00.000+05:302006-12-27T20:11:03.732+05:30

Many young people from India are writing to me asking about freelancing. If you are also ‘bitten’ by the freelance bug – and you are thinking of writing to me, read this before you shoot that email to me.I believe self employment will take off in a big way in India in the next two to five years – therefore, there will be lot of scope for people to be on their own. There is a need for specialized

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-3850170167422907382006-12-16T03:31:00.000+05:302006-12-18T23:36:33.712+05:30

Many people ask me about freelancing – how it works, how do I make it work and so on. Most often I duck the question because it is a difficult question. This article is a short guide on how to survive as a freelancer.It is not easy to be a freelancer. Most freelancers want work, not a job – which makes it tough for them in the long run. They want freedom, they value competency, they think they

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-32014935995233411142006-12-11T23:49:00.000+05:302006-12-11T23:53:37.852+05:30

The Design and the Designer – Part 8There is a lot of talk about Service Oriented Computing these days – mostly by people who don’t seem to understand what it really stands for. Until now, we have very good models of infrastructure engineering and applications engineering, but we are yet to see a reasonable model for process engineering and structural engineering in the computing science. This

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-54659962885303001072006-12-04T01:19:00.000+05:302006-12-04T01:22:05.370+05:30

The Design and the Designer – Part 7 In the last post, I made some observations about the process of Architecture – very briefly I stated that Architecture is the process of bringing meaning to space, and expressing the meaning in terms of certain engineering transformations, which transform the problem into an engineering problem. The process of design – transforming ‘meaning’ into a set

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-6105682394654327582006-11-17T01:19:00.000+05:302006-11-17T01:34:01.949+05:30

Recently a very close friend of mine asked me a very simple question. He heard from many radical fundamentalists that there is a sanction in Islam to kill infidels – meaning the Koran specifically grants the permission to do so. He wanted to know from people who read Koran whether such a statement does indeed exist. Basically his point is very simple – how can other religions coexist with Islam

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-55891787880531861282006-11-16T12:02:00.000+05:302006-11-16T12:07:14.127+05:30

The Design and the Designer – Part 6 A gap of more than two weeks interrupts the flow. But, the gap is probably required because from here – the approach is very different. Until now, I largely covered a lot of breadth, and was able to give examples in one paragraph – an approach that may not be sufficient from now onwards. It is like getting into the second chapter of a book – by nature, it

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-32883310050995850542006-11-13T00:21:00.001+05:302006-11-13T01:18:09.540+05:30

First – my apologies to all the regular visitors of my blog. Last two weeks have been very hectic. I made a promise to myself that I would upload at least two articles every week. Promises are like spoilt children – as soon as you make a promise - somehow, it brings along situations with it and is always bent upon proving that you are not worthy of it. There are about seventy articles that I

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-46053431169482819082006-10-26T00:28:00.000+05:302006-10-26T14:55:58.129+05:30

The Design and the Designer – Part 5In the last post, I made a brief mention of Nasruddin, Heuristics and Non-Linear Thinking. I shall continue in this post on the same theme and establish the role of semantics in Design and Non-Linear Thinking, and explore some techniques of practicing non-linear thinking.First, here is a very brief synthesis of the previous posts on this subject: In the

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-12648607303340613342006-10-22T02:19:00.000+05:302006-10-22T02:31:25.203+05:30

The Design and the Designer – Part 4In these series of articles on Creativity and Design, my intention is to explore if there is a “formal” model of creativity. I am not interested in the psychological aspects of creativity, how it works and so on. The Psychology of discovery and invention is wonderfully described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his classic book called Creativity.My interest is to

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-69007093852145599222006-10-18T22:36:00.000+05:302006-10-18T22:43:46.889+05:30

Many people ask me how to become a successful freelancer and how and why I became one. Most often I had to repeat the same story with some variations every time. So, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to write a small note on "Joys of Freelancing". Later, it struck me that it is an ideal opportunity to experiment with Fiction.This is my first attempt at writing fiction. Let me know what you

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1161027006948125172006-10-17T00:52:00.000+05:302006-10-18T12:52:02.661+05:30

The Design and the Designer - Part 3In the last post, I made an observation that the design of complex products has a higher probability of success than the design of really simple applications. I believe it is an important principle from the context of creativity and the modern professional design.If you are a professional designer – you may not get a contract to design a Stethoscope. Most

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1160681964969983422006-10-13T01:04:00.000+05:302006-10-18T12:54:54.077+05:30

The Design and the Designer - Part 2I made a brief mention about systems thinking and associative thinking in the last post. In this post, I shall describe them in some detail, and explain their relationship to creativity.There are basically two methods of formal thinking – one is analytical thinking and the second one is synthesis.If you are asked to design a product – and if you are applying

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1160420826529377192006-10-10T00:33:00.000+05:302006-10-18T12:56:21.338+05:30

It is good to be back in touch with old friends and students who are all fired up about Design with a capital D. I have been reading the blogs of some of my young friends who are starting their careers as Designers. Recently I have been reading Manjiri Joglekar’s blog. She posted many interesting thoughts and observations. This series of posts are prompted by what I read in her blog.It took me

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1160153168532732812006-10-06T22:13:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.478+05:30

I know this post will generate a lot of controversy. I hope the Hindu fundamentalists will not come after me.I want to establish that the Bhagavad-Gita as we know today is not what Krishna taught Arjuna, and to try and provide some convincing arguments that it is in fact a Buddhist teaching.*****I was first introduced to the Gita some time in the early 90s. Right from the beginning I had some

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1159904001264676222006-10-04T01:00:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.407+05:30

Peak Oil and Future of Humanity - Part 3In this last and final installment, I shall propose a model of our future development that ensures sustainable environment.Following are the links to the first two posts:Peak Oil and Future of Humanity - Part 1Peak Oil and Future of Humanity - Part 2First, let me summarize the previous two posts.1. We stated that there is an impending oil crisis that has

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1159725203177358702006-10-01T23:21:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.342+05:30

Peak Oil and Future of Humantiy - Part2This is a continuation from the previous post.In this post, I examine a possible solution to the Peak Oil question, and use this as a basis to evaluate the current economic models.In order to investigate the current predicament of mankind, we have to first examine – what is the real progress we achieved from an evolutionary stand point, and what are some of

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1159655496846682952006-10-01T03:48:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.274+05:30

In this article, I examine some of the implications of humanity's dependence on Oil as its primary resource, and propose some counter intuitive theory of how to survive in a world where Oil would become increasingly precious. If you search Google for "Peak Oil" - you get about 28 Million Hits. The Peak Oil is supposed to be the important event that will shape the Humanity’s future. It is the

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1159622808331812232006-09-30T18:54:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.211+05:30

This article is a tribute to one my teachers - Mangipudi Peri Sastry. We affectionaltely call him 'మాస్టారు గారు', and in the usual Vizianagaram colloquial slang - 'మేషారు'. Many people know him as a great mathematics teacher. I am fortunate to be counted among his 'close friends' - so I know a great deal more about him. He told me some very remarkable stories and experiences of his life. I

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35164699.post-1159437463810185812006-09-28T15:14:00.000+05:302006-10-18T00:24:30.089+05:30

In this post, I examine the attitudes of various thinking categories. There is no need for scholars to be offended. This is not an indictment of the scholastic community. I intend to update this article soon and make it more complete.In the last couple of years, i had a very bad experience working with scholars and the so called intelligentia. I thought about the source of my discomfort with them

Nagaraju Pappuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10038561857036058430noreply@blogger.com0