R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah

Solved: "Ports" Tab Not Visible in VS Code (WSL2)

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:14:02 +0000

None of the solutions I found on Reddit or GitHub worked, and most of the related GitHub issues were locked. So I'm documenting this here for future reference.

Problem

When using WSL2 in Visual Studio Code, the Ports tab—needed to access your application in Windows browsers like Chrome or Edge—doesn't appear. Even the Ports-related options are missing from the Command Palette.

Solution

After a lot of trial and error, here's what worked:

Run npx serve in the VS Code terminal.
It will output a URL such as http://localhost:3000/.
Click the link (or use the Follow Link option). This will open the app in your default browser.

You may notice that it opens on a different port (for example, http://localhost:64198). At this point, the Ports tab becomes available in VS Code.

After this initial trigger, the Ports tab seems to remain available in future VS Code sessions. The issue appears to occur only the first time you open a project in WSL2.

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Attraction, Status, and the Curious Pattern Behind Some Marriages

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:45:00 +0000

There has been a lot of discussion lately about celebrity divorces. As someone who closely observes human behavior, I have been thinking about a possible pattern behind some relationships.

Before explaining my thought, I should mention something about my own background. From childhood, I was never particularly drawn to the idea of physical beauty. In fact, I even had a somewhat negative view of it. This may have come from the value systems around me while growing up. I also remember a religious gathering where someone said that a woman's beauty reflects her inner mind. Even at that time, I instinctively rejected that idea.

Over the years, however, I have started noticing certain patterns in couples. When couples walk closely together, sit near each other, and interact affectionately in public, there often seems to be an interesting dynamic. In many such cases, the woman appears more attractive than the man. Sometimes she also seems more powerful in terms of wealth or social status.

In other words, when the man appears to be less attractive or of lower status, the emotional bond from the woman often seems deeper or more visible.

This observation made me think about celebrity divorces. When the husband is the bigger celebrity—the creative force or the more famous figure--it is often the wife who eventually initiates the divorce, even after decades of marriage.

When we compare these cases with other celebrity couples who remain together, a different pattern sometimes appears. In those relationships, the husband may seem less attractive or less creatively prominent than his wife.

This leads to a speculative thought: perhaps relationships sometimes feel more stable when the man is perceived as less dominant in status or attractiveness. On the other hand, highly creative or highly successful men might unintentionally be perceived as intimidating or threatening in the long run.

It raises an interesting possibility: could it be that, in some cases, the discomfort exists from the beginning, and the relationship continues until a suitable reason for separation eventually appears?

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Stampede and the "Dirty" "Dark" Crowd

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 15:46:00 +0000

Actor Ajith Kumar’s recent interview has sparked quite a few conversations on social media. The part that caught my attention, was his take on crowds.

About 30 years ago, when I first joined a college in Madurai after growing up in other places, I experienced a few cultural shocks. Perhaps these weren’t unique to Madurai, but that’s where I first noticed them. One major thing that stood out was the behavior of crowds.

For instance, if you suddenly see people rushing to board a bus, chances are there’s a pickpocket in action.

During one of Madurai's annual festivals, I noticed some young men carrying water bags — not to distribute water, but to spill it on women, often on their chests. Shockingly, this was almost normalized; parents would quietly tolerate it to avoid public embarrassment, walking a little farther behind the crowd. When some women happened to witness this, they would just shoo the boys away instead of confronting them. The crowd, in such cases, became a kind of cover — a shield for misbehavior.

Once, during a college cultural event, one of our professors became furious and dragged a student out from an almost dark auditorium where a program was going on. At first, I thought the professor had lost his temper for no reason. Later, I learned that such crowded, dimly lit environments were often exploited by a few to behave inappropriately.

When I later moved to Chennai, I found similar patterns — people losing their wallets or phones in “artificially” crowded trains, where pickpockets create chaos to operate unnoticed. While society often talks about men misbehaving in crowded buses, I’ve personally witnessed the opposite too — some women can be just as aggressive or abusive in a crowd.

Now, when we look at certain stampede incidents — as seen in a few videos — we notice that while some people had enough space to lie down on the floor, only a few others ended up losing their lives. Perhaps the real tragedy isn’t the stampede itself, but the “culture” that hides within the crowd.

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The Overrated Tamil Culture

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 19:28:00 +0000

Since the COVID period, I developed an interest in exploring old books from the 1700s to the 1900s through Google Books. I first focused on the celebrated Protestant missionary Ringeltaube, but over time, my curiosity expanded toward understanding the demographics and social practices of that era.

In Tamil Nadu, what is often celebrated as "Tamil Culture" revolves around the practice of monogamy, known locally as ஒருவனுக்கு ஒருத்தி — meaning one woman for one man. Some even compare this tradition with practices in other states, claiming Tamil culture is especially unique. This sense of pride is particularly strong around Madurai, where people often refer to themselves as “pure Tamil” when compared with neighboring regions like Kanyakumari, whose people they call Malayalis.

What’s striking, though, is that this proud image doesn’t always align with historical accounts. A book published in 1885 (I’ve chosen not to mention its title or link to avoid stirring controversy) makes the following observations:

They usually bury their dead...
They have a first and second marriage...
Divorce and remarriage of widows are allowed.
Marriage of near relatives is usual.
[People] of Madura are polyandrists. It constantly happens there that a woman is the wife of ten, eight, six or two husbands, who are held to be fathers jointly and severally of any children that may be born of her.
Many practise circumcision.

It is interesting that the authors of the 1885 book made it clear that people could not easily deny these observations by citing a few Tamil proverbs from that time as proof. This suggests that such practices were not merely isolated or exaggerated claims, but widely acknowledged aspects of society.

The contradiction is fascinating. Within a century, the same regions that reportedly allowed multiple marriages and polyandry became associated with widespread reports of female infanticide — where families, unable to afford dowries or raise girls, resorted to killing newborn daughters. The 1994 film Karuthamma, which won a national award, brought national attention to this issue, prompting new laws to protect female children.

What’s even more perplexing is that despite such a dramatic shift in social practices within a mere hundred years, hardly anyone seems to remember or reflect on these forgotten histories. The narrative of an unchanging, ideal Tamil culture continues to overshadow the complexities, contradictions, and struggles that shaped the past. It’s time we look beyond pride and tradition, and engage honestly with the full story—one that acknowledges both achievements and challenges.

Malayalis may not have valued Nedumudi Venu, but ChatGPT did

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:07:00 +0000

Back in the late 1980s (exactly in 1988, according to some searches)—there was a much-loved Malayalam serial called Mandan Kunju. Ever since then, our family developed a deep appreciation for Nedumudi Venu. His acting was often compared to that of Sivaji Ganesan, who was widely celebrated at the time. There were even debates about how Nedumudi was surpassing Sivaji with his unmatched natural style. Even in his 30s, Nedumudi would appear with grey hair, convincingly portraying elderly characters.

About 35 years ago, I happened to watch a film in which Nedumudi Venu actually played the lead role—something quite rare in his career. I couldn’t remember the plot or the supporting cast, but what stayed with me vividly was the setting. The film had been shot in Munnar’s Madupetty Estate, with the estate school serving as one of the locations. I also remembered a Carnatic-influenced song filmed outdoors in the estate, which left a strong impression on me.

For years, I tried to rediscover that film through Google searches. Strangely, nothing came up. Even my Malayali colleagues couldn’t help; in fact, most of them confidently told me that Nedumudi had never acted as a hero.

Fast forward to just a week ago—I decided to turn to ChatGPT for help. At first, it also struggled, but after several rounds of back-and-forth, we finally struck gold. The film was Marmaram, released in 1982.

I watched it right away, and what an experience it was! Bharathan’s direction was remarkable, and the performances of Nedumudi Venu and Jalaja were simply brilliant. Nedumudi was just 34 at the time, while Jalaja was 21. To my delight, my favorite singer Unni Menon was part of the soundtrack, with all the songs rendered beautifully by S. Janaki. The biggest surprise was that the music was composed by none other than M. S. Viswanathan (MSV). While MSV was a giant in Tamil Nadu, Tamil cinema never quite gave him opportunities like this. In Marmaram, his genius shone through.

Watching Marmaram made me realize once again how extraordinary Nedumudi Venu was—and how underappreciated he remained. The Malayalam industry was blessed with him, yet I sometimes feel that Malayalis never truly gave him the recognition he deserved.

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Did Evolution Undermine Motherhood—or Are We Simply Expecting Too Much from Mothers?

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 20:30:00 +0000

There’s an old saying that, 50 years ago, babies in South India would take 40 days to open their eyes—while today, they open them within minutes. Similarly, people used to believe that breastfeeding worked as a natural family planning method for up to five years about a century ago, but now, they say evolution has overridden that too.

Along those lines, I wonder—has evolution diminished motherhood itself, or have we simply misunderstood and overburdened it?

Although I don’t actively follow the news much these days, I still come across troubling stories—particularly from Tamil Nadu—where mothers have harmed or even killed their own children. In one viral video, a husband explains how his wife, addicted to Instagram reels, finds it too inconvenient to feed their child and calls him during work hours to do it instead.

It raises a disturbing question: Are some Tamil mothers starting to see their own children as burdens—or is it the act of caregiving that feels burdensome? Perhaps both. Addictions like gossip, social media validation, and the urge to show off are playing a growing role, enabled by smartphones and social platforms.

But maybe we’ve also misunderstood the concept of motherhood itself—especially in Tamil society. Not long ago, the traditional Tamil family was often a joint family, where the responsibility of child-rearing didn’t fall solely on the mother. Someone else in the extended family—often a less privileged member—would take on that role.

When society transitioned from joint families to nuclear ones, the change was gradual. Initially, it was still a nuclear family plus grandparents. During that period, much of the childcare burden fell on the grandparents. But when even they found it hard to manage, the system transitioned to fully nuclear families—with no one left to shoulder the responsibility. In the end, the children are left without adequate care.

There’s also another layer to consider. I feel that, biologically or socially, women might not feel the same level of urgency or pressure to support the family as men do. Some may argue that women work too—and yes, they do. But when men earn, it often comes with hurdles, emotional strain, and even humiliation—especially in the workplace. They endure all this not for pride or pleasure, but out of sheer responsibility for their families, particularly their children. In contrast, many working women today face fewer obstacles or social pressures in their jobs, and often earn money in ways that feel more accessible or less punishing. As a result, they may not always see their income as a sacrifice, nor feel the same emotional weight behind it. In that sense, what we traditionally called “motherhood”—a selfless, often invisible form of dedication—is increasingly showing up in modern fatherhood. So perhaps, fatherhood is becoming the new motherhood.

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Gaslighting & Emotional Manipulation Among Kanyakumari Parents

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:55:00 +0000

Lately, I’ve been noticing a curious pattern in the behavior of many parents from Kanyakumari, particularly mothers. There’s a recurring tendency to project emotions—anger, sadness, happiness—onto their children, not because the child is actually feeling that way, but to communicate something about the parent’s own desires or discomforts.

It’s a subtle form of gaslighting. For example, if a mother doesn’t want to accompany her husband on a social visit, she might say, “Our son is in a bad mood today, let’s stay home,” even when the child is perfectly fine. The child becomes an emotional excuse, a buffer used to influence someone else's behavior without direct confrontation.

Sometimes, these projections go deeper. If a mother-in-law dislikes her daughter-in-law, she may subtly portray her own son as short-tempered or unstable. The goal isn't to protect the child, but to create distance between the couple—without ever saying so explicitly.

Why do I frame this as a Kanyakumari-specific pattern? In this region, unlike many other parts of Tamil Nadu, there seems to be a strong social undertone that encourages parents to manage their grown children’s public image—or use them to navigate family dynamics. It's less about nurturing, and more about subtly using the child as an emotional tool in adult relationships.

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Mrs. Sujatha, Marriage, and Misunderstandings

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 19:40:00 +0000

I recently watched an interview featuring Mrs. Sujatha on the Aval Vikatan YouTube channel, and I couldn’t help but write this post in response.

In the video, she indirectly expresses regret about her relationship with the late writer Sujatha, implying that they lacked the kind of emotional bonding that today’s couples supposedly enjoy (?!). She also mentions that he would get angry at home, in contrast to his calm public persona. She suggests that they didn’t talk much—ironically, I vividly remember Sujatha’s own writing about the relationship between actress Shobha and Balu Mahendra, in which he quoted something his wife had said! Toward the end of the interview, she talks about the wealth and royalties he left behind, suggesting that material things don’t matter. (It’s ironic—men spend their entire lives working to build wealth and security for their wives and families.)

What struck me even more was the comment section. Most of the viewers seemed critical of writer Sujatha, echoing her sentiments without question. I found only one comment that suggested she might have misunderstood him.

This left me a bit shocked. Society often holds Brahmin women in high regard—considering them wise, grounded, and conservative. But perhaps that image doesn’t always align with reality. It seems to me that Tamil women, like all women, vary widely: some happily carry the weight of an entire household while married to alcoholic husbands, while others struggle to find peace even with loving, devoted partners. To me, this all points to one thing: the state of a person’s mental and emotional well-being plays a far bigger role in relationships than we often admit.

Though it might sound old-fashioned or even chauvinistic to some, the ancient proverb says: “A wise woman builds her home.”

I’m reminded of a conversation I had years ago when several of my friends were on the verge of getting married. During one discussion about an ideal bride, my friend Venkatesh said something that stuck with me:

“The only tangible thing you know about a girl is her beauty. Everything else can be misleading.”

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Looking Back at My Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 19:35:00 +0000

People who work closely with me often appreciate my ability to anticipate trends in technology stacks. With that in mind, I recently revisited some of my old blog posts—and it turns out, many of those predictions have held true.

Here are a few handpicked posts that aged well:

Prediction: Expensify will crash through its insane question-based hiring process February 23, 2022
BlackLivesMatter campaign may consolidate votes for Trump June 15, 2020
Technology prediction for 2018 January 16, 2018
Node.js and client app are the future of webdeving? December 29, 2011
Yahoo! and delicious.com - What's wrong? December 19, 2010

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Shaping the Future: My Hopes and Dreams for My Children

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 19:08:00 +0000

I believe every parent has their own hopes for what their children might become, often shaped by personal experiences or insecurities. For instance, a janitor may wish for his child to achieve the success of his boss, and so on.

My aspirations for my children stem from my own life and career experiences. There were many things I wanted to pursue but couldn’t, for various reasons. Over the years, I’ve suggested career paths to others based on their talents, and some have succeeded to the extent I anticipated. This gives me confidence in my ability to foresee what might be best for someone.

For a long time, I’ve had ideas about my children’s future, and I want to put them in writing to see how things unfold.

In short, I have a positive view of the freelance economy and royalty-based work. Royalty-based careers are a dream for many—creating something once and earning from it for a lifetime.

I see similarities between Pillai and Heleena in how quickly they pick up new things. Pillai is a natural engineer—able to disassemble and reassemble unfamiliar objects with ease. She can also start a new game and master 80% of it on her first try. Thambi, on the other hand, is more like me. He might only grasp 10% of a new game at first, but with practice and persistence, he reaches 100% after a few days. My hope is that, together, they can complement each other and improve their chances of success.

Freelance and Royalty-Based Work as a Family Business

I think my kids can thrive if they focus on the following royalty models and work together:

YouTube music and videos
Developing iOS and Android apps, or even desktop or SaaS businesses
Writing blogs, creating comics, or publishing books

Individual Career Aspirations

Our family comes from a legacy of white-collar employees, which could be demotivating for those with creative or unconventional ambitions.

Pillai

Like me, Pillai is quiet, and I worry that this might make her susceptible to being exploited or cornered. That’s why I’d like her to become an IPS officer, a role that commands respect and authority. Since she’s a natural engineer, I believe she could excel in engineering while simultaneously preparing for the IPS exam. Pillai is also talented in other areas—she’s achieved Trinity Grade 4 in piano and is skilled in painting. I think she needs time to explore these talents, which is why highly demanding education paths like NEET may not be the best fit for her.

Thambi

In an interview, actor Sivakumar once mentioned how he used to worry about actor Surya because his younger brother was always the smarter one. Similarly, whenever I think of Thambi, I feel a surge of emotion—he’s been innocent from the start. Even when he has to hit his sister, he does it gently, with care. Unlike most parents, Heleena doesn’t interfere when the kids argue; she believes they should resolve conflicts on their own, and I’ve never seen a mother quite like her. As a result, Thambi has developed a submissive nature and rarely complains. Heleena has also noticed his strong language skills. When I encouraged him to write blogs, he did so beautifully, though he often needs a little push. Heleena, however, is against pushing the kids, arguing that it can harm their mental well-being.

When I urged him to learn touch typing, his speed improved significantly. He has another unique trait—he loves learning history through YouTube videos and avoids content that isn’t rated for kids. I’ve often thought he’d make a good lawyer. Recently, I heard about a Justice Swaminathan who humorously reviewed few movies in his legal judgments. It made me think—Thambi, with his innocence, self-discipline, love of history, and fast, articulate writing, could one day excel as a judge.

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Blogging Divides Family

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 18:58:00 +0000

I was surprised to find out that Heleena reads my blog and took one of my posts personally—thinking it was about her. To be honest, she never crossed my mind when I wrote that piece. However, convincing her of that has been tough. She tends to hold a grudge for a couple of months and waits for the right moment to give back to me!

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Teachers' Kids: The Topper Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 06:56:00 +0000

Tao Te Ching
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

I have some intriguing theories about teachers' kids, and I've noticed a phenomenon I call "topper syndrome" in many of them. It seems that teachers, often due to their demanding schedules such as office politics, spend less time or prefer to spend less time with their own children. Consequently, they set vague goals for their kids, such as becoming the class topper or always winning first prizes.

In their early years, teachers often encourage their kids to showcase their normal or minimal talents, like memorizing sacred texts, in front of friends and family. This can build early confidence. Additionally, due to the influence these teachers have in their schools or communities, other educators might show bias, awarding higher marks to these children and further boosting their confidence.

However, what happens when these kids grow up, leave their familiar circles, and face the real world?

Stage 1: They strive to maintain their topper status. While some succeed, many struggle because the competition is now much broader.

Stage 2: They begin to complain about the "stage," or the teachers and judges who evaluate them.

Stage 3: They start seeking out smaller, more manageable environments where they can still excel. They might prefer smaller colleges or community groups where they can maintain their comfortable position as top performers.

Stage 4: They avoid challenges. For instance, if offered an easy job, they may reject it with vague excuses. When faced with tougher tasks, they find other reasons to decline.

Stage 5: Eventually, they may give up altogether.

My take on this is that parents should avoid flattering their children excessively. It's important to push kids out of their comfort zones, help them avoid the trap of being a perpetual "topper," and most importantly, appreciate their efforts rather than just their outcomes. By doing so, we can prepare them better for the real world, fostering resilience and a genuine sense of achievement.

Disclosure:

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Prediction: Expensify will crash through its insane question-based hiring process

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 19:12:00 +0000

I have huge respect for David Barrett for his technical background. But, his company, Expensify is following a modern psychometric test called a question-based hiring process. The company claims to look for candidates with 'Talent, Ambition, and Humility'.

The psychometric test was a fad in India about 20-years ago and the companies that followed the hiring approaches are no more and some have changed the approaches to survive.

I just thought of blogging my thoughts here to see how Expensify evolves.

Amazon India Prime Offer - A scam or a bug?

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 07:09:00 +0000

TLDR; Amazon.in shows and sends me a Prime offer that I can't avail (it leads to an error message)

I have escalated this issue to Amazon India through various means, but the team wants screenshots (even after sharing them through Twitter) and so here's the post explaining that...

1. Amazon India sends me an email: Your Prime membership ends soon - Renew early to lock in old price of ₹999 1499 for another year of Prime.

The newsletter comes like this:

Rajesh, Renew Prime early and save ₹500

Your Prime membership ends soon Renew today

Expiring soon

DON'T GO A DAY WITHOUT PRIME!

Your Prime membership ends soon - Renew early to lock in old price of ₹999 ~~1499~~ for another year of Prime. Continue enjoying uninterrupted Prime benefits.

Renew today

Kindly ignore if you have already availed this offer.

Please note that product prices and availability are subject to change. Prices and availability were accurate at the time this newsletter was sent; however, they may differ from those you see when you visit Amazon.in.

Reference: 645589581

2. Amazon Prime Video shows a banner asking me to renew with an offer

3. Clicking the Amazon.in Prime offer, leads to an error page

You are no longer eligible for this offer.

This purchase is non-refundable. Offer limited to one per customer and account. Your Prime membership will not be auto renewed after next membership. Terms & conditions apply.

Contacting Amazon India Support

Here comes the weirdest support loop...

I contacted the chat support and explained the issue
Chat support connected me with a Prime team through the call
A Prime team member says it is a Youth-only offer (which is wrong)
I contact Amazon Twitter support with the necessary screenshots. Even after seeing those screenshots, they either reply with canned messages and then say it is a Youth-only offer (they also shared a link to the Youth-only offer page, which was not opening for me)
Another canned reply came from the Amazon social media team.

What could be the reasons (Amazon India Scam or bug?)

It is definitely a programming issue in terms of UI/UX. The error page should have provided more details.
Probably auto-renewal might be already enabled and the price increase may not be affecting me. In that case, again the error message should have been clear.
Since, I didn't avail this offer already, there might be some programming errors.
The sales team, email marketing team, and development team may not be in sync. Or, the QA team might not have enough details to test the UX part.
While I don't think it is a scam, the support and responses received here are really pathetic

Spotify's Greenroom Vs. Clubhouse - Missing Text Chat and Other Impacts

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 16:34:00 +0000

We have Clubhouse clones from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and now Spotify. Unlike others, Spotify seems to target directly into the Clubhouse audience/members. It is extremely obvious inside Clubhouse as you can find many spammy clubs and rooms created to attract the Clubhouse users.

Greenroom Vs. Clubhouse

I was stumbled upon one such room Clubhouse influencers are jumping off to Greenroom? - All things Hollywood. Few takeaways from the room are:

Text chat is not available in Clubhouse, whereas it is available in Greenroom. This is the most talked-about USP.
The recording feature is not available in Clubhouse and the same is available in Greenroom.
Spotify has opened up a creator fund for Greenroom creators in the USA. However, I think, there are better indirect monetization options available for Clubhouse users.

Stream's chat component & million-dollar opportunity?

As I tweeted, Clubhouse can quickly bring the text chat feature by using Stream's chat component. If they do so, it is a huge opportunity for the Stream!

What if the Stream misses the opportunity?

As I strongly believe that Clubhouse will implement the text chat feature sooner than later, it may choose any chat components to speed up the development. In case, if they don't choose the popular chat component--namely Stream, they may pick up Stream's competitors.

Stream alternatives / competitors

Valen Smith, the English teacher videos are missing!

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 03:30:00 +0000

I vaguely remembered that sometimes around 2009, engVid on YouTube was very popular. I especially liked a teacher by name Valen Smith's videos. She was not only beautiful but also very good at explaining the English usage. I also vaguely remembered to check her channel ValenESL around 2015. But, not sure what happened to her or engVid, all her videos are sadly gone. I have also noted that many people on Twitter were asking the same.

Not sure what happened. Some people seem to have reuploaded her videos and YouTube continuously removing them with a note "This video contains content from LearnVid, who has blocked it on copyright grounds."

Strangely though, on Facebook, some people have managed to create a fake account using her old channel name ValenESL.

RIP: MOOC materials; the coronavirus effect

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 03:30:00 +0000

Coronavirus (Covid 19 caused by SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and lockdown disrupted lives and market in a completely unexpected manner. One market that seen a spike during lockdown is MOOC and online education.

What I realized of late is that many of these MOOC materials are not suitable for remote viewing. I have taken a couple of courses in random pseudonyms in Coursera and also another one in my real name in PadhAI conducted by IIT faculties. Most of these materials were recorded in a way as if they teach in physical classrooms. Because of that reason, they're very tiring to watch; they lack some basic video editing. Compare that to animated education videos posted to YouTube.

One exception to this MOOC material is MIT 6.S191: Introduction to Deep Learning (I'm yet to watch them all though)

Classical teaching jobs are in danger

These days schools are starting up online classes that follow materials similar to these MOOCs. Students are finding hard to follow them as they're used to YouTube videos. So, based on feedback, schools started to switch to a readymade library of videos. This in turn poses danger to many teaching jobs.

BlackLivesMatter campaign may consolidate votes for Trump

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 03:30:00 +0000

Personally, I compare this BlackLivesMatter campaign with India's secularism campaigns that tried to protect BJP and Narendra Modi from capturing the power. But, BJP's political marketing made that in favor of them and cleverly consolidated votes. A similar thing may happen in the US too in the upcoming presidential election.

NDAs and contributor-restrictions crippled Indian IT

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 17:51:00 +0000

NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) is a common requirement in the Indian IT sector. So outsourcing clients indirectly forced the companies not to disclose the projects and other specifics. This in turn restricted many developers from contributing to the open-source and other community efforts.

New age developers and NDAs

I recently stumbled upon a resume of a fresher based in Chennai whose resume filled with speaker portfolios. Though the experience and meetup topics didn't look attractive, the overall presentation of the profile was great. In fact, that seems to have helped them to get a new attractive offer.

In the Indian IT scene, the new fad is Product Management. Most of the young wannabe product managers are now speaking and presenting in many meetups. So nowadays it looks like these folks are not following NDAs or the clients have become lenient.

International scenario

I also stumbled upon highly talented Nadieh Bremer and Sara Soueidan websites. In fact, Nadieh Bremer has created a new field and released her works in MIT license. Sara's profile is slightly arrogant in the Indian context, but that opened up her lots of opportunities. In my opinion, all these opportunities may not be possible if there's a strict NDA as we had.

Hardening WordPress at WordPress Community Meetup - Mar 2020

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 17:45:00 +0000

Today spoke about hardening WordPress at the WordPress meetup. It's a nice experience as the audience were from mixed backgrounds (developing, marketing, product management, etc).

My slides and links are available in the Pinboard. I have also shared an actionable checklist to harden a WordPress instance, that anyone can use in the form of the Restyaboard app (Restyaboard similar to Trello but open source and can self-host).

.fig extension used by Figma software - source of confusion

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:30:00 +0000

Recently one of our customers sent design files in fig format (with .fig extension). As .fig is an extension used by famous old Linux design tool Xfig, we tried to open in it and were getting errors.

And then the designer came to rescue and informed about the online tool Figma.

Figma provides easy prototyping options for lazy aka productive designers. In my opinion, it is somewhat comparable to Pingendo. It is more of an online tool developed in JavaScript. They also provide desktop version / downloadable software. I'd thought that its performance will be better in desktop tool, but noted that it is only an Electron app.

3-years of Ubuntu MATE - Good and the bad

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 17:30:00 +0000

Many people are getting shocked to know that I'm using Ubuntu in my workplace. Linux/Ubuntu is more of an alien here as Windows 10 and Mac OSX is having good market here.

First of all, I'm a very happy Windows XP user. In XP, I used to do most of my JavaScript and PHP in Devl, the editor that our team has developed.

Reason for switching to Ubuntu MATE

Primary reason for switching to Ubuntu was, at one point of time PHP team stopped supporting Windows XP. So, we're left with few options: 1. Upgrade to Windows Vista, 2. Switch to Ubuntu.

We chose the second option to experiment it. One of the major challenges was choosing the right code editor and we chose VS Code.

Ubuntu MATE - Pros

Linux comes with lots of command line tools. I have started to do many tasks using these shell scripts and found very productive.

We switched from Google Chrome to Chromium for good.

Ubuntu MATE - Cons

We started with GNOME for desktop, but it was memory hungry and was not suitable for our old machines and so had to switch to MATE. MATE is great for memory and good when we compare with other desktops. But, the speed is still not good as compared to Windows XP--if we don't add at least 2-GB RAM.

Though we switched to Chromium and happy, few things like translate options won't work out of the box; will need manual steps to enable it.

But, the major challenge is the editor. VS Code is good, but being an Electron app, it is more of a memory hog. In my experiment, the only editor that is somewhat reasonable in performance is Pluma.

In Ubuntu, we have LibreOffice (previously, OpenOffice) and WPS Office as two alternatives for MS Office. But, neither of them are real alternatives for MS Office. If your work is heavily based on MS Office, unfortunately Ubuntu/Linux is not yet ready for that.

Of late, we're feeling the heat from 64-bit push. As we're in 32-bit, we can't use tools like docker that are only 64-bit.

Tamil Castes and Consolidation - Hacker Style Cheat Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 11:30:00 +0000

Tamil caste system and its hierarchies are complex and difficult to understand--due to different addressing systems. Similarly, the caste consolidation or grouping of similar or different castes under some title is extremely confusing. In many cases, the caste consolidation doesn't make any sense, but due to ulterior motives of politicians for their vote bank politics, these systems exist.

So, to explain the system, I created a formula like cheat sheet:

Vellalar = Pillai + Mudaliar + [Gounder]
Pillai > Mudaliar ~ Gounder

Thevar = Maravar + Kallar + [Agamudayar + [Senathipathi]]
Senathipathi >>> Agamudiyar > Maravar ~ Kallar
Agamudayar ~ Gounder

Vanniyar = Padayachi + Gounder + [Naicker + [Reddy]]
Naicker >>> Reddy > Padayachi ~ Gounder
* Gounder is BC, Padayachi is MBC

Open source resume templates with JSON-LD (SEO-friendly) support

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:30:00 +0000

I don't usually keep track of the projects that I worked on. I have been recently advised to keep resume updated with the projects list. And so I have searched for resume templates and tools.

Indian resume Vs International resume

During the process, I have found that there are vast differences between the format of Indian resumes and International resumes. Indian resumes are extremely verbose with number of projects, team size, client name, etc. whereas international format is more succinct and short. So I was kind of lost in the process in adopting the template.

LinkedIn to the rescue?

No. Unfortunately, LinkedIn format is "common" and is not easy to update. Moreover, these days LinkedIn has become signupware [sic] and so accessing resume is a nightmare.

Enter JSON Resume

JSON Resume is an awesome open source approach for creating resume. I accidentally came across while searching for JSON-LD format for resume. Couple of great features:

Resume hosting (optional). I think, it is better to ignore this one.
CLI tool to create resume JSON structure: resume-cli
Templates or themes support. So number of themes are possible for same resume.

Apart from these, it has good ecosystem surrounding it with different tools and projects:

Tool to generate JSON-LD out of it resumeToJSONLD
Tool to generate JSON Resume from LinkedIn linkedin-to-json-resume
Tool to generate Microsoft Word resumes from JSON Resume data ResumeFodder
Skill set visualization using D3.js SkillSet

I have also noted similar approach from other project json_resume But, it is not using resume schema.

Caveat

Unfortunately, this project is not very active. It doesn't support projects list for Indian context, but we can work around it.

Update (June 11, 2020)

Now open source ecosystem has few other players:

Resumake - has LaTeX support
Reactive Resume - No support for JSON Resume yet and has few active forks

Comparison and review of MacBook cases and brands

noreply@blogger.com (R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah) — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:22:00 +0000

Of late, I have worked on the development of AppleOnly.in, a website that sells cases, sleeves, covers, bags, etc for Apple MacBook Air/Pro, iPhone, etc. Because of that, people started to ask questions about cases and their reviews. I'll try to summarize my answers here:

i-Blason Vs iBenzer -- what is the premium brand and why?

Both i-Blason and iBenzer are from the USA. Hence, both are priced around Rs.3,000/- to Rs.8,000/-
i-Blason is relatively an established brand (and so, they're popular in social media)
iBenzer is relatively new compared to i-Blason. But, cost wise and quality wise, iBenzer is much superior to i-Blason. For example, Hexpact by iBenzer is an award winning design at the CES
At AppleOnly.in, we have not received a single return and complaints for iBenzer. But, many times, we have received complaints and returns from customers for i-Blason.

What MacBook Pro/Air case would you recommend and why?

I would personally recommend iBenzer cases without any doubt.

Hexpact series would be best bet in case if you're expecting complete 'fall proof' aka drop resistant. You can even experiment it. It is really super solid. Unfortunately, it is difficult to explain; in layman terms it can be comparable with silicon rugged cases..

iBenzer Hexpact provides complete protection

Check Hexpact in Amazon India and Hexpact in AppleOnly.in

Neon party series would be better if you prefer to show off your Apple laptop in events and meetings. I would also suggest complementing it with Slickwraps skins. Not to mention that Slickwraps is also from the USA; but their packaging is not that premium when compared to their quality and price.

iBenzer Neon Party series for show off

Slickwraps Wood series skin

Check Neon Party in Amazon India and Neon Party in AppleOnly.in
Check Wood Slickwraps in Amazon India and Wood Slickwraps in AppleOnly.in

iBenzer sleeves Vs Amazon basics laptop sleeves -- what is better and why?

iBenzer 'Neoprene' Protective Laptop Sleeve

Obviously, iBenzer. Amazon basics are 'basic' laptop sleeves. But, premium MacBook Air/Pro would deserve iBenzer. Also, it is very difficult to explain the quality difference here. But, if you feel it, you'd definitely appreciate iBenzer. Please also refer to this YouTube video for its quality (if that helps).

Check iBenzer sleeve in Amazon.India and iBenzer sleeve in AppleOnly.in

AppleOnly.in Vs Amazon India -- what should I use and why?

AppleOnly.in is authorized reseller and genuine importer of these premium brands and focused on premium customers of Apple products and the like. It provides all best services of Amazon like free shipping, easy returns, replacements, etc.

More importantly, many products in AppleOnly.in are sold for much lesser than Amazon.in. Reason is that, Amazon India charges hefty fees from sellers for these laptop accessories categories; but in AppleOnly.in, these fees are not there and so products are much cheaper and with friendly customer support. (You can test the customer support, if you want!)

Why is that imported Mac gears are costly in India?

First reason is that these premium brands are from the USA; not from China. Another reason is that we have to pay hefty shipping fees and custom duty. However, in AppleOnly.in, all products are competitively priced as they’re sourced in bulk unlike other retailers. So, best prices are definitely guaranteed here.