August 22, 2009
An interesting comment...
Saw this on Slashdot as a comment to an article on multinationals moving away from the US.
Look I am an Indian, and I think that there are a few things all of you need to know.
America is not going anywhere for now. The fundamentals of your future lie in the hands of your people, especially the select few who have a vision and can buck the status quo. As long as you have plenty of such individuals you are going to weather any geo-political storm.
Whereas in my nation life is so linear that it is a goddamn joke.
Almost every kid is expected to be an engineer and most of these engineers hardly even know what the hell they are talking about. As Feynman would say their knowledge is fragile.
Our educational system itself is a joke. Trust me on this.
At the same time entrepeneurs are discouraged and looked down upon. They are sorta treated with ice, as everyone wants a son in an MNC with a prestigous MBA. So, basically our society is choking itself. Sure, these people are awesome paper pushers, but despite the fact that some of them do have a decent brain they all seem to fail to do anything different.
No revolutions are put into motion. No brilliant new synthesis are formulated. No groundbreaking patents are filed. In short, the truly important stuff is in stasis.
Your society whereas pushes its outliers and that is why, as Kay once put it, most software is written on one side of the atlantic. I think that you should stop looking at IBM and start looking at MIT. That is where your future lies.
And seriously drop all of that economics mumbo-jumbo. As the foundations of society are the ability to create things, transport those things and dessiminate them. I think that those earning a living by making a killing in stocks are living a sham.
Oh and Thomas Jefferson would kill himself if he saw Bush in action. Despite his failings Obama is, at least, a breath of fresh air. So, value him for that. At least he had the courage (unlike me) to step up to the plate.
P.S. – /.s javascript is screwed, haven’t they heard of simplicity?
The comment itself is here
April 30, 2009
Religious books?
Someone on one of the tech mailing lists I subscribe to portrays a couple of religious books as books that portray “murder, war, sexism, torture, genocide, sexual mutilation, slavery, revenge, rape, gambling, prostitution, and so on.”
Wanna take a gander on which books these are?
March 16, 2009
Why do consumers buy such trash?
Imagine that. You want a pair of headphones to listen to music. You can’t plug in any garden-variety headphones into the new iPod. Third-party iPod shuffle headphones will require Apple-licensed authentication chip. What kind of digital tyranny will it take for consumers to finally revolt and break free of such stupidity?
February 26, 2009
Education, Technology, Outreach...
My slides from a couple of weeks ago. I did this presentation to a class of Early Childhood Education students. It was featured as “Editor’s pick” on Slideshare.net!
Slides are at Education, Technology, Outreach and the One Laptop Per Child project
February 25, 2009
Bobby can't talk
Just saw a bit of the Republican response to President Obama’s address to Congress. This response was done by Bobby Jindal. Piyush Jindal, that is, who goes by the name of “Bobby”, Governor of Louisiana.
Let me say, it was painful. I didn’t watch it through. He sounded like someone selling insurance on Indian TV channel. I could barely follow it.
He may be a good governor, but oration is a skill best left to those who can deliver, and it looks like Bobby can’t deliver.
YouTube – Republican Response to Pres. Obama Address to Congress
February 6, 2009
Selling your eyeballs...
As seen on Slashdot…
...you’re not the customer, you’re the product. Google’s customers are the advertisers, and they’re selling your eyeballs.
February 2, 2009
Getting directly to the people...
We’ve had radio and TV in the past that let’s people in power get their message to the masses. This is a new generation, where modes have grown. We still have radio and TV, but now the Web is quickly adding to that experience.
I’ve watched the previous president on youtube, but unfortunately the search words were comedy and spoof related. Lots of goofs and comedy, but little substance. This one is way better.
If you want to keep up, grab the RSS feeds at http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss/
October 14, 2008
Videocassette recorder
My twelve year old Videocassette recorder finally died yesterday. The circuitry burned out. Now I am left with a stack full of tapes…what will I do now? Time to hit Craigslist!
October 4, 2008
Jamaican food
Cuisine of Jamaica – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stuff I had in Jamaica:
Ackee and saltfish, Jerk chicken, pork, fish, Curry goat, chicken, Rice and peas, patties, brown stew chicken,red peas Soup, escoveitch fish, mackerel rundown, callaloo, steamed fish, festival, johnny cakes, bammy (fried and steamed), candied plantains, conch soup, fish tea, curried shrimp and of course Red Stripe.
Hope I didn’t leave anything out.
September 21, 2008
Concrete and grass
Groklaw – Interview with Walter Bender of Sugar Labs
I liked PJ’s comparison of Sugar to grass “You can pour concrete over it, and it will still grow, pushing through every crack in a sidewalk to reach the sun’s rays, and then it grows and spreads and flourishes.” Microsoft just
seems sooo determined to cover the world in concrete.