PC Adventures - Part 2

My new office PC is finally setup. I received a Dell Latitude E6420 with Windows 7 installed. 
After a long bout of XP, this new OS is really refreshing. I have been subjected to the pain of  several Vista machines at home so I was expecting the worst from this version of Windows.


The Dell machine itself is designed better than the  bulky designs of the previous Latitudes that lacked finesse or taste. The new PC had curvy lines that softened the rectangles and made it easier to look at. I liked the soft impact feel of the keyboard. The machine is much lighter than the previous ones and the battery lasts longer. I wished the screen would have been larger. It is not heating up as the previous Dell and it is very quiet. It comes with Bluetooth so at some point in the future, I will switch over to Bluetooth accessories.


Windows 7 has the feel of Windows 95 in terms of the maturity of the product. My machine had adequate RAM and a fast HD so the experience is pleasant. Thunderbird, Chrome and even IE are easier to use in this machine. I stopped using Firefox altogether. 


 I got started up fairly quickly after dropping my files from the backup into the Documents folder. The new OS even has backup feature built into it. Wireless networking works much better in this OS. But the most important feature is the quick startup and shutdown. It took less than 2 minutes to restart the machine. XP would have taken more than 7 mins. This make the machine a much greener alternative as this will save a lot of power.


I used the following note to import the itunes library into the new installation: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451


The bottom line for me is this. I was seriously considering a switch over to Macintosh after the bad experience with XP and with Vista. But with the new Dell Latitude E6420 and Windows 7, I am dropping that project. 

Adventures in moving to a new PC - Part 1

I requested for a new office PC and I am moving to my new PC. I am stuck by how painful the experience is. After getting used to the Apple devices (ipad, ipod, etc.) I am now very aware of all the pains that I am putting up with my PC.

Moving or Copying Files and Folders

I am simply trying to copy my documents and other folders to an external drive so that I can copy them back in my new PC. Currently I am at Windows XP. It made me realize how deficient the Windows Copy command is. It routinely stopped and gave me complaining about something or the other and gave me no way to continue with my action unless I started over. For example, it stopped if a file is in use. It stopped if it encountered a file that it thought had a long file name. If Windows can create that file in it's file system, I dont understand why it cant delete it. The fact that Microsoft could write an article to deal with this issue is baffling to me:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320081

I finally deleted my offending file with the long name by using the tips at:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/23801-45-delete-folder

>>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

 

Path Too Long

To work around this problem, reduce the length of the path to less than 256
characters.

In Windows Explorer, select the folder one level above the folder that
returns the error. Right-click the folder returning the error and then click
Rename. Rename the folder to reduce the number of characters used in the
folder name.

Rename the folder so that the target files that are deeper than the MAX_PATH
no longer exist. If you do this, start at the root folder (or any other
convenient place), and then rename folders so that they have shorter names.

Rename subfolders in the path to a file so that the total path or file name
is less than the max_path setting or 256 characters. Start with subfolders
that are closer to the root so that you are always working with less than
256 characters.


You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume
http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] -us;320081 

>>

SyncBack utility

Finally I gave up Windows commands and downloaded the freeware SyncBack. It was a breeze to use. It still could not deal with long name issues but it made my task of backups much easier.

Essentially, I am copying my Documents and Settings folder to an external drive so that I can copy back the contents. 

To Be Continued...

The man he killed - Thomas Hardy

I am watching "Civil War" - Documentary by Ken Burns. The battle scenes are really sad to watch and the causality figures in those battles are stunning. You get the true meaning of the term "Cannon Fodder" by listening to the battle descriptions. The most poignant moment for me was the reference to Thomas Hardy's poem: The man he killed, which describes the meaninglessness of war and how people rationalize the business of fighting wars:

"Had he and I but metBy some old ancient inn,We should have sat us down to wetRight many a nipperkin!

"But ranged as infantry,And staring face to face,I shot at him as he at me,And killed him in his place.[5]

"I shot him dead because—Because he was my foe,Just so: my foe of course he was;That's clear enough; although

"He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,Off-hand like—just as I—Was out of work—had sold his traps—No other reason why.

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!You shoot a fellow downYou'd treat, if met where any bar is,Or help to half-a-crown."

By the way many of the Civil War battle descriptions also reminded me of the Pink Floyd Song:

Us and them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me and you
God only knows
It's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
And the general sat
And the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

Story about the largest mall in the world located in China

What a Bizarre story! If this is how China achieves the huge growth rates, this is also how its bubble will burst.

Here is another evidence:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jamesreynolds/2009/04/chinas_olympic_venues_now.html

Yet another one is here:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/02/high-speed_rail_china

However, this article says it is the strategy of China to keep building.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/weekinreview/07wines.html

>>"Here in the nation that is too big to fail, as long as the bad loans don’t overwhelm the good, the waste is tolerable. That, to me, is the essence of the Chinese strategy,Just keep the machine going fast enough.”>>

I am not really convinced this is going to work.

This is the same argument that we heard during the dot com bubble, the housing bubble and the other bubbles of the Bush years!

Emancipation of Serfs in Russia

Since I have been watching the Civil War documentary from Ken Burns, this article caught my attention.

At St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 3, 1861, Alexander II of Russia emancipated the serfs. His justification to his nobles : “If we don’t give the peasants freedom from above, they will take it from below.” He abolished serfdom by imperial fiat.

Watching Ken Burns' Civil War Documentary

I started watching Ken Burns' Civil War documentary series in Netflix. I think this subject is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of modern American Politics, American Wars and even the American Psyche.

The willingness of a huge population to fight a war for a fundamentally unjust cause;

the ability of even honorable people to rationalize their unjust cause in the name of patriotism and in the name of rights;

that so many people fight so hard for for their rights to deny rights for other people;

the willingness of the people to continue tragic and costly wars that cost huge number of lives;

patience (or helplessness) of the people in putting up with feckless generals who make stupid and arrogant mistakes resulting in the death of hundreds and thousands of people;

the generals with huge political ambitions and the corrupt ones who blur the lines between war and politics and business;

that the war is really cruel, for it was really sad and gut wrenching to hear about some of the battles and its causalities.

And sadly, every one of the above statement is still true and is being clearly demonstrated up until the very latest wars and the very latest politics of today...

I thought that the political success of Lincoln during the Civil war was much more impressive than the military success of the Civil war generals. Union lost more people than the Confederates and the Confederates had more impressive military victories and the Union had more bone headed losses. How did he keep his support through the war and manage to get reelected impressively for the second term in the middle of such uncertainties? And I'm still not clear about why the Union decide to fight this war with such conviction. So far, it doesn't appear to me that most people in the Union were prepared to spend so much money and lives to free the slaves. So why did they fight so much?

Need to finish watching the series and perhaps start reading Lincoln biographies...

Doctor Watson

Inflection Point: An event that changes the way we think and act. -Andy Grove

Watson winning Jeopardy is an inflection point. I think the comparable event is the release of the Mosaic browser. At that time, we could read email, subscribe to mailing lists, connect to the modem and read uunet archives. Even though there were not many sites to visit and O'Reilly published all of the useful sites in a single book, we could see the possibilities and feel the excitement at that time. It took several years to realize those possibilities though.

Presently we routinely dial into help desks and cellphones to talk to the computers. Google voice search really works. And we now have Watson, a clear inflection point that shows off the advances in Computers understanding Humans. Will there be pitfalls out of this advance, of course! But not if you believe this guy....

>>

Watson Graduates From Game Contestant to Physician Assistant

Quoting from this article:

If science fiction author and physician Michael Crichton were still alive, he might be crafting his latest take on technology run amok using the Watson project as inspirational fodder.

Not to worry, Durlach explained. With so many years of training and practice, doctors may be the ultimate information judges -- ever using it but never yielding to it.

"You know physicians," he said. "They see themselves as the chief decision makers. The very tradition they come from would suggest a very, very low probability that they would take the computer's decision over their own."

>>

Yeah Right!

Low Cost Drip Irrigation From Silicon Valley

This is a very promising story about a very low cost drip irrigation system, DripTech from Palo Alto, for small farm plot farmers around the world (India, china, etc.)

I grew up in a home overlooking small plot agricultural fields where they were growing crops like: Turmeric, Sugar Cane and Rice using the water from a canal off of the river Cauveri. During the monsoon rains and in the wet season, when there would be water in the canal, the field would be green and fertile. During the dry years, the talk of the community around us would be about when the government was going to release water in the canal. The water came from Mettur Dam in the river Cauveri.

Later on, the government subsidized electricity for the water pumps and the pumps would irrigate the land with water from Bore wells. Clearly, I could see a lot of wasted water compared to the drip and sprinkler irrigated farms that I see in California.

There is already a lot of water wars in southern india. More than 80% of the farmers in india are small plot farmers owning 1-5 hectares of land with average plot size around 1 hectare. Their monthly income is between Rs 1500 and Rs 8300. Cost of this system can be as low as Rs 6500.

If this approach takes root (no pun intended) this can be really really good for the small farmers.

Canon T3i DSLR has been released and it is not much better than T2i

According to the PCMag article, Canon T3i is not much better than T2i. The specs are the same, it just has a 3 inch retractable LCD screen compared to T2i. It is always good to know that the technology you bought did not get obsoleted barely 2 months after purchase.

color theme for emacs

I used to put a lot of color customization variables in my .emacs. It is nice to see color themes package for emacs. I got the package from:

http://www.nongnu.org/color-theme/#sec5

unzipped it into my home and added the following to my .emacs. It just worked.

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/colortheme/color-theme-6.6.0/")

(require 'color-theme)

(eval-after-load "color-theme"

'(progn

(color-theme-initialize)

(color-theme-hober)))

It is nice to see emacs dragged kicking and screaming into the easier way of doing things. Stallman would certainly not approve of this, im sure....

Quote From Newton

If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." - Isaac Newton

(latin equivalent: nanos gigantium humeris insidentes)

David Brooks Column: Amy Chua Is a Wimp

I do not often agree with Brooks, but boy, does he sense here. I am starting some projects at my work with several disparate teams and his points about participation in a group and the collective intelligence of a group ring so true.

Also, I can now explain why my grades sucked during my first year of college :)

Unmuting comcast DVR

Yesterday, my comcast dvr suddenly went mute. I can see the picture but there is no sound.

Instead of calling comcast which will first make me go through dumb 101 troubleshooting procedures, i googled: comcast dvr unmuting

And I found this fix in 1 min:

1. Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
2. Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
3. Enter code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice.
4. Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
5. Enter code 00141.
6. Press whatever button you want to map the mute function to.

from: here

Almond Breeze, Silk Pure Almond Spark Fight in Dairy Case - WSJ.com

Singing the virtues of Almond Milk...

Almond Breeze, Silk Pure Almond Spark Fight in Dairy Case - WSJ.com

CAN 35MM SLR LENSES BE USED ON DIGITAL CAMERAS?

If you take a 35 mm SLR lens and divide it's focal length by 1.6 you get the equiv dslr lens focal length. For example, if you take an 80mm lens of 35mm SLR, the equiv DSLR focal length is 50 mm.

The conversion table is at:

http://www.porters.com/LENS%20COMPATIBILE.pdf

Russia in color, a century ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Russia in color, a century ago - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Absolutely gorgeous color pictures recalling a different time and a different place (or is it really?)!

First book of the new year

I persisted and finished through Patrick O'Brian's 4th Aubrey-Maturin Novel: The Mauritius Command. Once I got the time to read it, the book was such a page turner. But being a historical novel and as it was written by Patrick O'Brian, the book was fairly complex to read. Patrick uses a lot of complex and somewhat obsolete words and expressions and ofcourse there are a lot of nautical terms. But once I got over those issues and got used to reading these books, the humor, the plot and the action kept me completely hypnotized.

Here is the review of Patrick's Aubrey-Maturin series in nytimes book review:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5D9113CF935A35752C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Here are the highlights of that review that made me hooked on to these Novels:

=========

On the foundations of this friendship, Mr. O'Brian reconstructs a civilization. The Royal Navy at the beginning of the 19th century was a world of extraordinary breadth and complexity. Its hundreds of ships, the larger of them regular floating cities with close-packed populations of 1,200 souls, allowed Britain first to survive and then to prevail in a struggle whose cost and size would have been unimaginable only a generation earlier. These sailing ships -- today reduced to quaint and soothing images on wall calendars -- were in their time the most complicated machines on earth, and the deadliest.

Patrick O'Brian presents the lost arcana of that hard-pressed, cruel, courageous world with an immediacy that makes its workings both comprehensible and fascinating. All the marine hardware is in place and functioning; the battles are stirring without being romanticized (this author never romanticizes); the portrayal of life aboard a sailing ship is vivid and authoritative.

=========

Retailmenot.com coupon codes

This site: http://www.retailmenot.com/ seems to have relevant coupon codes. Often places like hotels in Las Vegas give a very good price, it is just that you need to save the magic word which is a coupon code. I saved about 30% using coupon codes, which is quite a chunk of money.

Novice Swimming Class

Yesterday i finished my Novice Swimming Class for the fall quarter. We had a kayaking lesson in the de-anza swimming pool. I paddled an ocean kayak and learnt skills like getting back into the boat if it capsizes in the water. Once again, I strongly recommend Mary's classes for learning to swim and to improve one's swimming abilities.

Here is my swimming teacher Mary Donahue's homepage.

The Beginning Swimming classes that she teaches in winter are listed here.

Winter classes are from Jan 3 - March 25.

Hand-Sharpened Pencils, Just $15 | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

say what??...

Hand-Sharpened Pencils, Just $15 | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

apps folders in itunes

>>o It is not clear why itunes doesn't support folders for apps. It is a big pain to reorganize apps on every device that connects to itunes.

Cancel that. It seems like the latest version of itunes has this feature where i can reorganize apps through DnD.

ios 4.2 update for ipad

It took about an hour fromshows up my home computer over DSL internet to download 551M of the OS update which sounds about right. The ipad update finished in about 10 minutes.

Some things that I was eagerly waiting for:

o Multitasking: Pandora Radio worked all the while I was syncing the device.

o Search within a page: finding it was a bit difficult, but it is just integrated into the search box. As you typed the string, there is a Next button that looping you thru the hits.

o It is not clear why itunes doesn't support folders for apps. It is a big pain to reorganize apps on every device that connects to itunes.

o So far I have not been able to use the Airprint to print on a printer shared by my Visa PC.

I have to see how this OS compares to the 4.1 on my iphone which keeps choking often. On ipad the OS appears to be very stable so far.

ios 4.2 update for ipad

It took about an hour fromshows up my home computer over DSL internet to download 551M of the OS update which sounds about right. The ipad update finished in about 10 minutes.

Some things that I was eagerly waiting for:

o Multitasking: Pandora Radio worked all the while I was syncing the device.

o Search within a page: finding it was a bit difficult, but it is just integrated into the search box. As you typed the string, there is a Next button that looping you thru the hits.

o It is not clear why itunes doesn't support folders for apps. It is a big pain to reorganize apps on every device that connects to itunes.

o So far I have not been able to use the Airprint to print on a printer shared by my Visa PC.

I have to see how this OS compares to the 4.1 on my iphone which keeps choking often. On ipad the OS appears to be very stable so far.

iOS 4.2 will be released at 10 AM today

Here is the ios 4.2 announcement.

iOS 4.2 Now Available, Brings Multitasking to iPad

I checked itunes and the update is not yet available.

This post says the update is available only at 10AM PST

http://techpinger.com/2010/11/apple-ios-4-2-to-be-released-at-10-am-pacific-time/

I am very curious to check how the servers are going to hold up. I am going to check at 10AM today.

Kind of like the online version of standing in the line outside the Apple store for a new release of an Apple device...

Amazon.com: How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond (9780316098304): John Powell: Books

Amazon.com: How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond (9780316098304): John Powell: Books

I heard about this book from Science Friday show today:

Science Friday Archives: How Music Works

Giants Win First World Series for San Francisco - NYTimes.com

Giants Won! Renteria and Lincecum and Wilson were fabulous!

Giants Win First World Series for San Francisco - NYTimes.com

And the sweet thing is George W came for all the world series games in the Rangers stadium and their team lost :))

RT @davewiner: "Getting Things Done" sounds like "Using An Outliner." http://r2.ly/729c

Totally right.
I had connected these concepts when I read this book 2 yrs ago.
In practice it works very much like an outliner.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Novice Swimming Class

Today we went into the deepwater pool (up to 16 feet) in the swimming class. We first practiced our underwater swimming stroke in the shallow pool, wore our flotation pad and then headed out to the deep pool. In the deep pool, we then got a hang of the pool, lost our fear of the deepwater with help from the pad.

Then we removed the pad, pushed ourself up in the edge of the pool and sank in the water. This gave us a sense of going inside the deepwater and then we floated up. All along, 2 lifeguards were assisting with the training. We then jumped into the water from the deck and then floated up and then swam to the sides with assistance. Finally, we used the springboard to dive into the pool feet first and then swam or kicked to the side. All along, we could also wear our flotation pad and practice treading in the deepwater pool.

It was an exciting class and I never thought I would ever get into the deepwater pool. It was looking very daunting in the first day of the class. Now I have a feeling that I could deal with it. Mary, the instructor, says that we could dive head first into the pool by the time the class would end. That would be awesome. Actually, If I am able to tread water by the end of the class in that pool, i would have achieved what i wanted to achieve from this class.

Obama, Jon Stewart and Change - NYTimes.com

Obama on Daily show was gripping. Jon gave Obama some tense moments. I watched Obama's appearance when he was a Senator and he was a bit loose then. This time, he was acting a bit tight (presidential as some would say). I thought obama really did say: "larry summers did heck of a job" echoing George Bush's comment on Brownie. But he recovered very quickly and sharply once Jon tried to make fun of him and said it was "pun intended".

Obama, Jon Stewart and Change - NYTimes.com

Yes they Cain! SF Giants, Matt Cain take 2-0 World Series lead!

Absolutely joyful to watch!

The bayarea is abuzz with October baseball fans! (including myself)

SF Giants, Matt Cain take 2-0 World Series lead

I never thought baseball would be this much fun to watch!

List of unusual words beginning with X

While looking for words starting with X: List of unusual words beginning with X,

I came across this interesting site:

http://phrontistery.info/x.html

World Series Backdrop Comes in Red and Blue - NYTimes.com

I said it before here and NYTimes is also saying it.

This year's World Series is Blue Vs Red!

World Series Backdrop Comes in Red and Blue - NYTimes.com

Paul the Octopus Who Predicted World Cup Winner Has Died - ABC News

The Octopus that entered the pop culture, including some bollywood movies, has died.

Paul the Octopus Who Predicted World Cup Winner Has Died - ABC News

Wi-Fi Direct Promises Device-to-Device Connectivity: Tech News «

Wi-Fi Direct Promises Device-to-Device Connectivity: Tech News «

If this pans out, it will be nice. I can have hopefully have a Wifi-direct adapter for my printer, hard drive, camera, stream data, music and video over the wifi, etc. This will probably replace AirPlay but probably not in the next couple of years.

Using feedburner to connect twitter and blogger

This weekend, I discovered the blogger and twitter extensions in chrome. It is now very easy to blog about anything very very quickly. I was also trying to kickstart my twitter habit. While doing so, I found myself blogging an entry and then tweeting that entry at the same time. I always wondered why blogger wouldn't tweet for me when i posted my blog entry. Maybe its because they are competing tools in a sense.

I then found out from this link that feedburner allows posting tweets for every blog post automatically. feedburner was recently acquired by google apparently. I then created a feedburner feed for my blog and in the feed preference, i requested for twitter connection. This was fairly easy to setup and in a minute or so, i am now setup to tweet for every blog post. If it worked, this post will be the first one for me that will appear as a tweet as well.

Picture of a Mosquito Heart

This Picture of a Mosquito Heart Is The Year's Best Microphotograph | Popular Science

Novice Swimming Class

Im taking the novice swimming class at DeAnza college. The class is from late September to first week of December. The instructor Mary Donahue is a very good swimming teacher. I think that subjects like this taught by really good teachers like Mary will really develop people with good skills that can be used through the rest of our lives. I think community colleges are such a good use of my tax dollars. The facilities in de-anza college and the teaching quality are just so good.

Here are my class summaries:

Class 1:

This class was all about getting used to the water. We had to dunk our head and immerse ourselves inside the pool. We learnt beach ball float and got used to floating in the water learning about the nature of our bodies in water (i.e. your body floats naturally!). We got used to holding our breath and floating in the water.

The final exercise in the class was to do a somersault by doing a beach ball float and then a windmill hand rotation.

It was a lot for the first class but it got our attention.

Class 2:

In this class we learnt about treading water, watched videos about water safety and practiced the previous class material. We did more of somersaults and floats. Then we started floating in the water and doing flutter kicks.

Class 3:

We learnt about jumping into the water from the deck and swimming from there. We learnt about underwater stroke, i.e. swimming under water. We learnt about backstroke (soldier, monkey, bird(or airplane)) and swimming while facing up. Using the underwater stroke we swam to the bottom of the pool and did handstands. We also learnt about the rudiments of freestyle by keeping our hands like chicken wings and swimming that way. The other drill was to keep our arms well stretched and swimming forward using flutter kicks.

We jumped into the pool from the deck and swam facing down and later facing up using backstroke.

Class 4:

This class was all about learning freestyle swimming. We watched videos about freestyle swimming, the entry, pushdown, pushback and recovery (maybe there were different terms for these). We were not supposed to learn breathing while swimming yet. We did a lot of drills of swimming in backstroke and then freestyle, swimming under water and then freestyle, etc.

Fear the Beard!

Crazy persona of Giants' Wilson has sober roots - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Apple ipad purchase

We bought an ipad this month. It is a very cool device and reinforces my desire to switch over to Mac. It is really a media consumption device and not a computer. You can browse, read books (but too heavy to be a good ereader), read mail, calendar, write simple docs, notes, mails, etc., listen to music, watch netflix and youtube, tweet or blog, use all the cool apps, play games, etc.

And you get to do all these in a very enjoyable and interactive way. That is what i like about ipad. You can do almost all of these on a PC but you will not enjoy doing any of these as much as doing them on ipad. Usability makes all the difference in using these devices.

For example, i felt that my PC became really usable only after i switched over to google chrome (firefox sucks and IE is horrible), itunes, latest version of thunderbird, picasa, etc.

What i dont like about ipad? The screen just has too much glare. The device is a bit too heavy. The screen gets too smudgy after a few minutes. You cannot search within the page in safari web browser.

Another major gripe, you cannot watch any flash content. I think Steve Jobs just picked a religious war and not a technology fight. His reasons for rejecting flash are not very convincing. However, i do agree about the poor quality of the current Adobe plugins. My chrome browser and firefox crashes too often in shockwave plugins.

Apple ipod and ipad are surely "walled gardens". But im not complaining too much because I think the "walled gardens" like the one that Apple built are pretty convenient, pleasant (not many virus infections or mcafee caused slowdowns to prevent them) and makes me very productive. If i want the freedom and anarchy of an open environment, i will go to my PC and Linux machines, but i am happy that i have a choice of going into beautiful but restricted "walled gardens" like what Apple provides.

Amazon to Allow Book Lending on the Kindle - PCWorld

Amazon to Allow Book Lending on the Kindle - PCWorld

Final: Giants win National League Pennant - NYTimes.com

Final: Giants win National League Pennant - NYTimes.com

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Was a REAL TORTURE!

And loved every innings of it, especially the last one!

This year's world series is BLUE state vs RED state!

FEAR THE BEARD!!

GO GIANTS!!

First class postage stamp

As of today, it seems like it is 44cents for 1oz first class US postage.

Early Voting in California 2010

I voted early for this election. This year's voting sheet was really long. It had a long list of different propositions. Some of them really are about lawmaking which in my opinion should be in the hands of the legislators. Isn't that the way "democracy" is supposed to work? You elect legislators and they are supposed to make laws?

California's "Direct Democracy" through the Proposition process, in my opinion, is out of control.

However, I wouldn't want to get rid of it altogether. For example, in the last election, there was Proposition 17, which changed California to have "Open Primaries". I am eagerly hoping to see a lot of moderate candidates as a result of that Prop.

As for the long voting sheet, I really hope that they bring in some good web applications to show the voting recommendations from notable opinion makers, from newspapers or even from your social network. With a very busy schedule, I really do not have the time to read about the merits of a little known proposition in my county government. I would rather take the word of someone that I would trust for this one.

Cellphoon Reapars

I found this from Neeru Khosla's (wife of Vinod Khosla) blog. A very interesting blog post from the director Shekar Kapur. Very heartwarming story reminiscent of "slumdog millionaire".

Who fired Steve Jobs?

Given Larry's comment ( "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago."), I was curious about the smart ones in Apple board who fired Steve Jobs.

Here is the link where i found the answer. The bright businessmen who did this smart move were:

A.C. (mike) Markkula

Peter O Crisp

Arthur Rock

Henry Singleton

Philip Schlein

John Sculley

I remember reading that Steve Jobs insisted on getting rid of Mike Markkula from Apple board as part of his taking the role of Apple CEO again.

I always wondered about this list because when I worked at Taligent, people used to point to a conference room in one of the buildings and mention "this was the conference room where Steve Jobs was fired".

Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party - Rolling Stones article

This article is sure to get more publicity:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904?RS_show_page=0

Malcom Gladwell's Post in Newyorker about social networks

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell

(good takedown of social networks as an agent for political change)

Pidgin Docking windows on my desktop

I am using pidgin 2.6.5 (our current IT standard issue) and it has a really bad default option that docks the windows in an annoying way. Once you bring up the buddy list, it will shove the desktop and the other windows to its side. I really couldn't find a way to disable it easily. After googling,

i found this:

http://pidgin.im/pipermail/support/2009-July/004511.html

I followed the advice in this post:

> You've enabled the "Dockable Buddy List" in the "Windows Pidgin > Options" plugin and then dragged your buddy list close enough to the > side of the desktop that it has docked. > > If you disable that feature, it will no longer dock. 

I invoked: 

Tools->Plugins->Windows Pidgin Options->Configure Plugin and disabled (Dockable Buddy List)

Ripping a DVD for iPod/iPhone

Moving workout videos to ipod/iphone makes them easier to take out.

Here is how it is done:

o dvdshrink or dvddecrypter can be used to take the vob files out of the dvd into filesystem.

o Handbrake for Windows can be used to convert the vob files from the file system into mp4 files.

o The desired filesize can be configured during the Handbrake conversion so that the output file is small and can fit in the ipod/iphone.

Remastering the video files into a different DVD turned out to be a challenging task and i gave up on it. I tried with adobe premier and with windows dvd maker and both of them crashed or took too long and hence i gave up.

itunes upgrade problems again and iphone issues

itunes asked me to upgrade to version 10. I took up the offer because i wanted to upgrade to the new ios 4.1 that was made available today. My iphone got very slow after i upgraded to ios and the 4.1 version was going to fix some of those bugs.

Unfortunately, itunes upgrade on my xp machine did not go well. After upgrade, the ipodservice that connected to the devices did not start up. I got the error:

iPodService Module (32-bit) has encountered a problem and needs to close...

I was going to follow Apple's advice and downgrade itunes when i came across this thread:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2565060&start=0&tstart=0

It was a lifesaver. The suggested workaround really worked for me:

Morgane wrote:
I have encountered the same problem related to iPodService.exe v10.0.0.68, also running WinXP SP3.

I experimented a bit and found a workaround, simply using the old iPodService.exe from v9.2.1.4. It seems to work fine so far.
You can do it as follows:

1. With iTunes v9.2.1.4 installed, make a copy of the folder "Program Files\iPod".
2. Install iTunes v10.0.0.68 (confirm/ignore errors related to iPodService.exe).
3. Delete (or rename) the folder "iPod" in "Program Files" and rename the folder "Copy of iPod" (or whatever you named it) created in step 1 back to "iPod"

iTunes now uses the old iPodService.exe.
It works with all my devices (several generations of nano, classic, and iPhone 3), but I don't know if the new devices released yesterday will also work.

Poincare Conjecture

A video that introduces the history of Poincare Conjecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUoaTrQTM5o

The quote that i liked in it:
By logic we prove by intuition invent
- Henri Poincare

A good primer on this topic: http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/what_is_the_poincare_conjecture/

iphone problems and resolutions

My iphone 3GS stopped working on Friday and required me to upgrade when i tried to sync.

It seems like it was coincidental that there was a new iphone OS release and i had hardware problems at the same time. I spent the Friday trying to get it fixed.

Multiple attempts to upgrade the OS and trying to "Restore" from itunes did not work. I kept getting Error 23 while trying to restore. I took it to ATT store. They tried to sell me all kinds of crap without getting my iphone problem resolved. They directed me to the Apple Store. I went to the Valley Fair Mall Store and unfortunately it was just too crowded and I couldn't get an appointment to get my iphone fixed. Apple Stores have a service department called "Genius Bar"s which address Apple hardware problems. The next appt I could get was on Sunday evening which was too bad. I checked the appointment scheduler on the Apple Store website late at night and I got an appt at 9AM at Palo Alto Store. I drove to the store and the "Genius" guy there got me a new iphone 3GS device. He got it upgraded to ios 4.

But the sync did not work and i thought i would not get my data. Fortunately, when I did a "Restore", I got all the data from the backup. I couldn't be happier. I still had to type in all of the passwords again but all of my data showed up.

iOS 4.0 upgrade seems to be ok. The device freezes infrequently and you had to push the power button to kill the app that froze. Lifehacker site has some good tips about iOS 4.0. My main pet peeve about iphone was that the device changed orientation unpredictably and there was no option to lock the orientation. We now have that feature. My next pet peeve was addressed by the folder functionality which helped in organizing Apps into folders so there was no clutter.

I am now able to use Voice Control feature of iphone. It never worked for me before. But after reading some of the websites, it seems like you have to do 2 things:

o wait till it emits a beep/ding before you say your command

o say your command clearly and confidently like a Jedi master.

If you get the hang of it, it works really well and i am very happy with this feature.

Other cool things are the "Universal Inbox" with the mail, the calendar looks better somehow (I now started receiving invitations properly and it never worked before), so is the mail app.

Overall my gloom about iphone gave way to a good feeling with the brand new phone and the OS upgrade. I think Apple has a store that is as good as its products and a phone that is a lifechanger.

Orthogonal Defect Classification

I have been reading up a lot on this interesting methodology, which specifies a very simple process for capturing the necessary information that can help the stream of defects reported against a software product into a stream of information that can help in improving the software development process. This is a method for doing ongoing rootcause analysis on product defects that is lightweight to implement but turns about high value.

Related to this is an intersting book that i am reading:
Handbook of Software Reliability Engineering
There is a chapter in this book discussing ODC as well.

emacs-clipboard gotcha

I was using emacs on linux and i was accessing emacs window on a vnc terminal window on a windows box. I couldn't seamlessly transfer copy paste, clipboard contents between the windows. Here are the things that must be done:
o For enabling copy paste between vnc and windows, use the app: vncconfig
o For enabling copy paste between emacs window and the other windows on the linux box as well as the windows box from which i was vncing into, you should do this in your .emacs file:
(set-variable (quote x-select-enable-clipboard) t)
o I tried invoking the emacs function: menu-bar-enable-clipboard but it didn't enable the clipboard but once i evaluated the above lisp fragment, things seemed to work fine.

MyMaps on iphone doesn't work - here is a workaround

I was trying to use the MyMaps function to help organize the places to visit for my vacation.
Mymaps works on google earth app on iphone. However, it doesn't work on google map.
Google earth is not very useful for your travel needs.

Here is a wonderful workaround i found from this site:
http://www.skiptotheend.com/blog/2008/08/29/planning-holidays-with-google-mymaps-an-idiots-guide/

It has to do with building the my map, using the kml of the my map to send to a script at:
http://maps.taurich.org/cgi-bin/print-kml.cgi
which formats the map to a useful format and you can then print a pdf of it to view in the iphone.
This is much more functional for viewing the map itself.

However, if you want all the details of the places that you added (their address, etc.) the above instruction wont work. You have to print the map into a pdf and email it to yourself and view it in the iphone. So i ended up using the pdf+email workaround.

Google maps user interface around the map is rough around the edges and leaves much to be desired.

You could book mark the locations in Yelp and Yelp works very well by integrating the Location awareness of iphone. But all these apps are walled gardens. Once you put information in there you need to stay within the features of the app. They do not allow to export out the data to another app for exploiting the strengths of another app.

Dido's Lament

One of my new discoveries in concert music is Dido's Lament.
The aria is pretty simple and is sung when Dido commits suicide and is about to die and she sings it to her maid:

When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create
No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate,

The instrumentation is a Passacaglia with descending bass which gives a sense of enormous pathos to the aria. The best version i have heard so far is Susan Graham's.
If you are feeling sad or depressed you want to put your arms around it and give some realization or visualization for the depression, this song and Susan's rendition of it is your best bet. She wrings the pathos out of the words and music which seeps out slowly and takes enormous shape around you in your ears and in your minds eye.

The words "Remember me" reinforces and etches the sadness in your feeling, ensuring it is not brushed away or ignored and hence it pacifies and assuages the dark feeling. At the same time, the words "No Trouble" and "forget my fate" rings again and again it is going to be okay after all.

And all of this is reinforced by the ground bass lines. While they paint a deep blue as they ominously start going down, they resolve each time at a comfortable place where it is dull but it is not so dark. This passage from dark to dull each time consoles the heart and gently pats the soul to reconciliation. The train that started descending down to the abyss in the beginning of the aria come to a gentle stop at the end of the aria.

Wonderful music!

How to Listen to and Understand Great Music - by Robert Greenberg

This is the first teaching company course that i took and it was absolutely fabulous. I finished all 48 lectures of it. The instructor is a very good teacher and his voice and his lecturing style are very suitable for the audiobook. This is not a book that gives you drowsiness as you listen to it and on the other hand it keeps you very attentive.

The course is a combined music history and music appreciation course. I learnt a lot of subject matter from this course. The only complaint i have is that the author sometimes has an edgy sense of humor so this course is perhaps not sharable with small children. But the subject matter itself is very accessible for children too, especially if they have some musical background.

Book Reviews: Patrick Lencioni's Business Fables

I read the following books from: Patrick Lencioni

In general, I hate business or philosophy books that are structured as fables. The following books just made me cringe:
Who Moved My Cheese?

Our Iceberg is Melting

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Books But Patrick's way of storytelling is a bit different and less cringe inducing when the book is well written. However, when he uses the same style for all of his books, soon they get old and as annoying as other fables. Having said that, his concepts are very good and very usable. If you want to cut to the chase and save yourselves from those fables, you can read the methods from his website.

Here are my reviews:

Three Signs Of a Miserable Job

This book talks about how the root of misery in workplace is rooted to 3 things: Immeasurement (lack of measuring one's progress in the job),
Anonymity (when people are not known, recognized and appreciated for what they are and what they bring to the job)
Irrelevance (People need to know how their works matters to someone or a group of people).
I liked the fable part which was actually instrumental in illustrating the above 3 concepts. The fable was about an old executive trying to revive a clunky pizza place using the above 3 concepts.

The Five dysfunctions of a Team
More than the concepts, you need to read the fable which illustrates how an executive revived a team and helped them function well. The five concepts are too many to remember crisply, however, here is how it stuck in my mind.

When you have a team of people, they need to function in such a way that they are accountable to each other. They should expect open criticism from their team and should not feel vulnerable because they could be criticized. So you could have conflicts and you should not be afraid of facing such conficts. Conflicts need to be played out and resolved instead of trying to achieve artificial harmony which does not resolve the underlying conflicts. After having such conflicts and the decisions are made, everyone needs to stick to their commitments and be accountable for those commitments. And the team must pay attention to the results of the team. So individual goals should give way to the goals of the team.


Death By Meeting
This book is when the fable structure stopped working for me. Essentially this book talks about how the meetings must be like performances. They should have drama and conflict and they have to be played out and resolved. Just like the different forms of performances (ex: sitcom, serial drama, movie, etc.) you should have different types of meetings: daily checkins, weekly meetings, monthly strategic and quarterly offsite reviews.


Three Big Questions For A Frantic Family
This fable was the most boring. But the concept was interesting. It asked families to make a value statement for themselves embodying what made their family unique. Then it asked families to identify their most urgent rallying cry (like: buying a new home, getting the child into college, etc.) for things they should do in the next 2 to 6 months. Then it asks to identify defining objectives, the way they will achieve the rallying cry. Then it asks to outline the standard objectives, i.e. standing responsibilities. This is a good framework for families.

I liked all these books but the above order indicates my ranking for this series.

Interesting program in KQED forum this morning

Interesting forum program : Astronomical Update

I need to check out the book from:

* Ken Croswell, astronomer and author of "The Lives of Stars"
More info:
* View images from the Hubble Telescope : at HubbleSite.org

Need to check out the book and the website.

Theodore Rex [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio CD)

I listened to this book about 2 years ago. A fine book detailing the life of Teddy Roosevelt one of the great American Presidents. This was a man with a great appetite for everything in life. His hunting was big, his political career was supersize, his dedication to his causes and what he got done for them were big too. You can learn a lot about the way American politics is run in this book through his life. Although times have changed some of the basic workings of political life has not changed much. This was the first guy who understood the power of the bully pulpit, which still defines an important way in which the presidency operates, even in this era where anyone having an internet connection can have a pulpit. Here is also a president who sowed the seeds of American imperialism, which is still an important tendency of American foreign policy. Here is also a hunter and a conservationist who did so much to the cause of environment. American presidents still reach over to conservation initiatives for defining their legacies and Teddy set the blueprint for the grand presidential conservation initiatives. Here is also a Republican who started out representing the interests of the rich and the powerful and who turned into a polar opposite of a progressive minded populist reformer. For me, while this book illustrated all of the above points about Teddy, the essence of what i got from this book was a portrait of a man of BIG ambition, BIG actions, BIG appetite, BIG impact and BIG legacy.

Book Review: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (Paperback)

Recently finished the audiobook version of this book.
Engrossing book for me, combined elements of History, Technology, Governance, Politics, Nautical science, technology, astronomy in this story of how Longitudes were "discovered" or more correctly how they were established. A great account of how the nautical and navigational technology advanced through the active involvement of monarchy and the royal institutions in Britain. This is another example of how the original inventors only partially benefit from their hard work and innovation and how others exploit them and make profits from them. One more lesson is how the academic group think can hinder innovation and how practical techniques often overtake other techniques that are considered to be technically purer. In this case, the "Lunar method" of finding the longitude was considered technically more accurate by the academics, but in practice it was impossibly difficult. Meanwhile, the chronometer based method was much more easier. However the astronomy establishment looked down upon the chronometer method and threw all kinds of roadblocks at it. However, the practical chronometer method succeeded.

Last 12 months in SQL query

After some researching i found the way to query for last 12 months in sql:

The following expressions can be used:

select add_months(trunc(current_date, 'MM'), -12), trunc(current_date, 'MM')-1 from dual;

here trunc function truncates current date by the granularity of month so the returned date out of current date is the first date of current month.

add_months function is used to subract 12 months out of that date. Using interval was not recommended for this purpose according to asktom:
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:1157035034361

This code bit retrieves the DAY of the first month (sunday or monday, etc.)
select to_char( trunc(current_date, 'MM'), 'DAY' ) from dual;


This link gave a good overview of all available oracle sql functions:
http://www.ss64.com/orasyntax/functions.html

Using these expressions in OBIEE

I was trying to use these in OBIEE Answers report. But had no luck. Still has to figure that out.
If i used these i get the following OBIEE error:
Error getting drill information:

Error Codes: YQCO4T56:OPR4ONWY:U9IM8TAC:OI2DL65P

Odbc driver returned an error (SQLExecDirectW).

State: HY000. Code: 10058. [NQODBC] [SQL_STATE: HY000] [nQSError: 10058] A general error has occurred. [nQSError: 27002] Near <(>: Syntax error [nQSError: 26012] . (HY000)

Book Review: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Paperback)

I read this book during the beginning of last year (2008) and have been practicing this method for getting organized for about an year. I can totally vouch for its effectiveness. The take away for me is that organize your work into a simple system consisting of file folders and a prescribed way to label and organize your folders. Then bring all your work items into that system. Then crank this system periodically by processing the items that come into the system. The premise is that if you have this operating system for your work, you will not get items piled up on your desk but you will be processing the items efficiently.

I have to admit that i am rather poor follower. The author's advice about using a good filing system to organize your workstuff is spot on. Labelling your files, making them easily accessible are all valuable advice. I have switched over to the plain manilla folder system instead of hanging folders. One practical tip i found out is that, if you want to use plain manilla folders, the best way to keep them standing up inside your filing cabinet is using bookends, especially the heavy tall magnetic bookmarks do the job admirably well. Authors advice to put everything into paper and organizing the folders instead of keeping anything inside your brain is very valuable. Surely by doing this, you reduce the stress. The only thing is that you need to visit your filing system periodically. That is the issue that keeps stumping me and I keep telling myself to go back to visiting my inboxes and processing my incoming stuff.

Book Review: ENIAC, the triumphs and tragedies of the world's first computer / Scott McCartney.

History of computing is full of unsung geniuses and hard work put on by so many people who are not given enough credit for their work. Eckert and Mauchly are these 2 great inventors of the first electronic computer who were not given enough credit for the invention of computer. This book claims that the computer scientist: John von Neumann stole away the credit for a lot of the ideas (especially the memory device) from the ENIAC team. History is kind to those who articulated and popularized an idea rather than the original minds who conceived an idea. The book also vividly illustrates how many of the inventions, especially those as complex as a computer do not occur out of the blue, but they are the result of a long tradition and history of ideas proposed around them and happen when various other conditions become favorable and the right people with prepared minds happen to be at the right place to take advantage of all those favorable factors to push the invention out. Also once an invention comes into being, it gathers momentum of its own and soon enough the envelope gets pushed so far ahead that the original invention appears so far removed and ancient. ENIAC is a fitting example of that where a light switch has more computing power than the 30 ton ENIAC.

Book Review: The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM

This book read like a novel, in fact a better novel than many that i have read. It starts with white collar crime then a life remade through determination, then rich business exploits and adventures follow, but it has drama and ups and downs. The central character is a charismatic super-hero but he also has a number of fantastic flaws. There is a lot of family dysfunction and tragedy, but still the son receives the baton from the father and excels his achievements in many ways.

This is about Thomas Watson Sr. who built IBM to be a great corporation by building a great culture and becoming an embodiment of that culture. IBM is a very customer oriented and sales oriented company. But it also made huge R&D investments, spearheaded enormous number of technical advancements and did a number of "bet the farm" technological initiatives. So they are no doubt a technology company. But the important thing about IBM is that it a very customer and sales oriented company. And the reason lies in it's history and its roots laid out by Thomas Watson Sr. And this book essentially gets into the essence of what IBM is all about by dissecting the life of Mr. Watson.

Some of the fascinating things to learn from this book are how the computing era dawned from the mechanical calculators and the cash registers. Mr. Watson figured out how to sell technology long before others did. This explains totally the "IBM Middleware commercials" which only talks about the solutions and the business benefits and never gets into the technological mumbo-jumbo.

Lou Gerstener in his book: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
talks about how his turnaround job was essentially to re-establish IBM's culture like it was under the Watsons. Reading this book will really help in understanding Lou's book and what he accomplished at IBM.

When I read that book, Mr. Watson's persona often reminded me of Larry Ellison (Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle ) with their outsized ego, penchant for publicity and self-promotion and impeccable business instincts. I was delighted to find out that the author thought the same too.

DNA: The Secret of Life by James D. Watson and Andrew Berry

I could not have received a more enlightening introduction to the DNA and Genetic Sciences and BioTechnology than this book from a worthy and eminently illuminating author - Dr. Watson.
He weaves his book with tales, trivia, history and facts and information as well as deeply involved scientific subject matter from the world of DNA and Genetic Sciences.

From DNA fingerprinting to Genetically modified Corn and Potatoes that is ubiquitous in the Soda, Sweeteners, Chips and Fries, I bet that no one living in the US is left untouched by the genetic technologies.

What i liked about Dr. Watson's book is that parts of it is history and tales around this large subject area: Biology, Genetics, Forensics, Law, Science, Technology, etc. I listened to the audiobook version of the book so that style works well for the audiobook. I think the printed version might feel excessively long winded.

Dr. Watson is a controversial figure. I do not agree with all the ideas that he espouses. Especially in the last chapter, he argues for aggressively pursuing Gene Therapy and advocates differential learning programs to account for the difference in learning potentials that are dictated by the genes. I thought those arguments were not clearly articulated and I do not agree with all those ideas.

In any case, for a novice to these subjects, this book presents the best choice by weaving several threads in this large story and presenting how all these connect and intertwine. The blurb says this book is an "Instant Classic". I think I agree.

The HP Way - David Packard - Book Review

I was led to this book after reading Tom Perkins' Valley Boy. The book is somewhat of an inconsistent read though. It is part memoir and part Valley history. But partly it reads as the HP employee benefits package explaining the history and values of HP. You can learn about how Fred Terman mentored Packard and other entrepreneurs of the Bay Area. In turn, Packard helped other budding businesses (Tektronix for ex.) The book illustrates the spirit of cooperation amidst competition that existed in the hi-tech industry, HP and General Radio, for example.
Many of the practices that are taken for granted in the Valley companies like: comprehensive benefits program, profit sharing programs like ESPP, stock options, education reimbursement, etc., company offsites and company picnics, informal work atmosphere, de-centralized organization structure, open door policy, etc. all of these were pioneered or early adopted by HP.

The takeaway messages from the book are the principles of Management by Objective and Management by Walking Around. Packard talks about how the management works effectively by laying out the objective and leaving the details to the team doing the execution. He also talks about Management By Walking Around (MBWA), which balances the former principle. He talks about how the managers need to have a deep view of their business, including all the details of how execution happens. His approach for gaining that is by walking around the factory floor and watching everyone doing their jobs. He argues that detailed view is vital for effective management and that Walking around will help in overseeing exactly how the goals of a business are carried out and in correcting the mistakes that could happen in Execution.

The book although it was a very good read, it somehow did not fit together and did not feel complete to me. I still recommend it.

Quote of the day - from John Adams

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. - John Adams

Rise and Fall of King Cotton - Book Review

This is a book about the history of Cotton plant. This is a very well written book. It is out of print now and can be either loaned from libraries or purchased from used book sellers. I loaned it from our library.

I grew up in a cotton town - Erode. My town was a big market for cotton clothes. I had many many friends from the weaving families and i had even visited their family handlooms and powerlooms. We had a spinning mill (natesar mill) in front of my house and everyday the mill workers came on bicycles with their lunch pails. When the siren went on, workers would enter and the earlier shift workers would leave. Occasionally there would be picket lines for the workers strike. Almost every month there would be union members standing outside and would shout slogans announcing their demands. I was naturally curious to know about Cotton. India was a major cotton producer in the ancient times. Indian cotton was the luxury fabric used for the Roman togas.

This book combines the history of technology of processing cotton with the social impact that the crop had on so many continents.

o Cotton was the crop that largely fueled the Slave trade and the Plantation system in American South.
o The Lancashire cotton mills employing poorly paid and treated workers and that produced cotton cloth were essentially funding the whole Slave operations!
o When American Civil War raged, it shut off the cotton from American South and thus pushing the British to go to India to source their Cotton. They had originally given up on growing cotton for their industries in India due to various reasons.
o Many of the Indian Railway projects that the British built were actually for transporting cotton! And many were funded after civil war, perhaps indirectly by the Cotton industry. The cotton crop was introduced in my home town Erode around 1819. I believe, the original railway lines (railroad) and railway station in my home town were originally built by the British. It is astonishing to know that it perhaps got built there only because of the American Civil war!

The book chronicles how many important inventions that made the cotton cloth production possible were invented by American and English inventors and how despite the patent laws, they were cheated out of their inventions by the ruthless capitalists of the early industrial age.

The book is a strong cautionary tale for the modern times. Technology, Trade, Consumption and Social changes all feed off of each other in powerful ways in both good and bad. There are plenty of examples that were contemporary to the cotton's development like: Automobiles. But there are also plenty of modern examples: internet, mobile phones, etc.

The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World - Alan Greenspan - Book Review

The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World By Alan Greenspan - Audiobook version

This is a very long volume. Thankfully, the audiobook version was very well produced and did not induce sleep despite the mundane subject that it covers - economics. Actually that is not quite true, because although Alan is the personification of an economist and the tone his memoir sounds very much like the his congress briefings, he covers a lot of history and current events. After all, he is the ultimate insider who was thick in the middle of so much action in the recent times.

He argues forcefully this book behalf of market based economy, rule of law, strong property rights, free trade and globalism. He expresses disgust at Nixon and George W's presidencies. He doesn't have much of an opinion for Bush Sr. He adores Bill Clinton as he probably achieved the most under his presidency. He readily admits that Iraq was was about oil. He proclaims that "the Republicans traded power for principles and ended up with none", which rings very true. He certainly does not come across as the "Republican Hack" as Harry Reid called him.

When i finished the book, i got a very good insight into how the macroeconomics works and i got a very good introduction into how the government regulates the monetary system. I am now very curious to read Adam Smith's book. I am going to start with P.J. O'Rourke's The Wealth of Nations.

I thought his long term economic preditions are a wash. They are very much similar to his famous Fedspeak pronouncements. It was like if we don't run into any crisis and if we dont screw up, we will do just fine in the long run. Thank you very much Nostradamus!

o I very much agree with his stressing of the "Rule of Law" and strong property rights as a key foundation to the Wealth of a nation.
o He seems to be still convinced that Gold Standard is a good idea. Similarly there are several instances where he seem to adhere to ideas that have more to do with Libertarian purity than being more practical.
o Regardless of his convictions he seems willing to set them aside to arrive at practical solutions under the rules of the economic system we have setup for ourselves. His libertarian bent and strong advocacy of free market economy seems to have checked the tendency of politicians to meddle in the economy.
o His argument that Adam Smith's approach won over Keynesian, Fabian and Marxist economic philosophies is very convincing. Having grown up in the centrally planned economy of India, I still remember the days when we had to stop the building of our house because of the cement scarcity. We had used up our quota, which was grossly inadequate for the building requirements, and we had to wait for the next cycle to get our next quota.
o His survey of the major economies was very interesting. He is very bullish on china, not very impressed with India, understandably so.
o He is very much against the dependence on foreign oil and optimistic about the technologies which can reduce that like: plugin hybrids. And the surprising thing was that he was not opposed to introducing taxes in order to promote and accelarate the adoption of green technologies that will reduce our oil dependence. I thought that was remarkable coming from a staunch libertarian.

However, he certainly seemed to have made compromises in order to remain in power. The constant support of Republican administrations, even when they pursued bad economic policies is a good example. He strongly supported Republicans even when Nixon imposed price controls. He supported George W Bush's tax cut even when the balanced budget was clearly resulting in widespread prosperity for the country and the tax cuts essentially would bring back the deficits.

Overall a very worthwhile book for understanding the world that we live in and the political and economic context of our generation. I highly recommend it!

Valley Boy - The education of Tom Perkins Book Review

This is a memoir from Tom Perkins a founding partner of the legendary Silicon Valley Venture capital firm: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

This book provides a rare insight into the personal dynamics between some of the legends of the Silicon Valley, Hewlett, Packard, Perkins, etc. It chronicles the adventures of founding new companies and in many instances new industries that generate billions in turnover. It has an interesting interview about Perkin's relationship with Danielle Steele, which talks much about the prolific author's writing habits. It also has a great chapter on building of Perkins' high tech yatch: Maltese Falcon.

These days venture capital has become a big industry that in many instances they don't provide the value in guiding a young company by providing the executive input and connecting it to the vital network of people that will help the company to succeed. Instead they just provide the money, which seems to be abundant these days in the venture capital industry. Even hedge funds are getting into providing venture capital and they provide nothing other than money to the budding venture.

For anyone living in the valley and working on hitech, i think this book should be high on their reading list. If you want to understand how the valley was founded and the values of entrepreneurship that still powers it and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, you must read this book.

In Defense of Food - Book Review

This book by Michael Pollan warning the public about the harms caused by our modern culture of food and eating is built around a simple set of rules of eating that he outlines:

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.

The first one points out that the modern and scientific sounding inventions of food industry like "fiber rich", "vitamin fortified", "omega 3 enhanced", "protein formulated" etc. probably come at a high cost to us. The industry takes the basic food ingredients, processes them removing them of one nutrient or the other and then adds others to make up for the ones they removed like a mad scientist who always invents things that always have a downside to them.
He says: if any food is marketed for its nutrients, avoid it.

The middle rule talks about our culture of fast food, of removing the culture of eating from our lives and turning ourselves into food processors for the Food industry so they can sell us more food than we need, sell mindless nutrients instead of food and later sell food to deal with the effect of too much food and thus pocketing the profits.

The final rule talks up the benefits of not eating too much meat. It illustrates how humans had never in the past, late as much meat as often as the western world does today. It talks about how so much meat eating was due to the promotion of Meat by the Meat industry with ample support from government.

This is not a big book but it is well written and is a wonderful read.

Basic Brown - Book Review

For a memoir from a politician, this book from Willie Brown, the colorful and engaging mayor of SFO was a very gripping read. I loaned this from the library not expecting to read it within the 1 week rental period. I finished it in 2 days. I bought Hillary's memoir but never read more than 2 pages.

Willie fills the book with anecdotes, his political conquests and skullduggery, sacremento and san francisco politics, san francisco city vibes and lots of fashion tips.

o Im rather proud of the liberal and progressive roots of the Bay Area where i live.
o California is on the forefront of forward thinking legislation (Civil Rights, Environment, etc.) because of the liberal influence of our area and of the politicians coming from our area like Willie.
o As much as i do not like the politicians who tax and spend, I do not like the direct democracy system either. Proposition 13 is evil and took the pendulum in the other extreme. This is Athenian democracy and ultimately, it is not not very democratic. I like the Roman republican system better.
o Term limits are not evil. They are absolutely necessary for posts with a lot of power like presidents. But term limits for legislators are completly useless. Perhaps term limits for powerful assembly positions like Speakership could be term limited.
o Business people seem to have huge influence in the California government. Lots of bad initiatives come from down in SoCal.
o Anti Politician attitude may be good populist politics but not good for our civic system and government. Legislators control a lot of our lives and take a number of important decisions, you want it or not. So instead of bringing quality people into the system by paying them fairly, why treat them in a miserly way thus encouraging corruption? Im not convinced "Citizen Legislators" idea will ever work in the modern world unless you pay them properly.

I do not believe all of what Willie says in the book but a lot of it. I do not like some aspects of his persona but i do respect him much better than the likes of people like Gingrich, Dashle, Byrd, DeLay, Bob Dole, etc.

Very interesting book, i recommend it!

Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond

I listened to the audiobook version of this book
It is a treasure trove of facts, history and science and was intellectually stimulating.
The author uses anthropology, history, linguistics, archeology, etc. to make a case for his theory on how the European/Eurasian dominance of the world was due to environmental and geographical reasons and not a result of any genetic or racial superiority.
The book won lots of prizes. However, it had a lots of sweeping generalizations. Maybe in order to embrace his theory more completely, author did not spend much time on the shortcomings and determining factors, other than the environmental ones, of some of the areas of the world that did not fare as well as Eurasia.

Here are somethings i learnt from the book:

o Humans are so different. They come in all different kinds and they can survive in all kinds of places and conditions.
o The achievements of Australian aborigines who landed and colonized the continent probably about 60000 years ago are as amazing or more amazing than the european expeditions to Northpole.
o Polynesian people are fantastic. They could go on the unbelievably expansive pacific ocean in their puny canoes for thousands of miles and reach the island they intended to go land in. All using their neolithic technology and using only the stars and other natural elements as their navigatory aids. Im going to feel so little when i fire up my GPS to go to an address 5 miles away!
o Different hunter-gatherer people survived their entire life, just eating fruits, tubers, grubs and worms, moths and insects and occasionally some people ate others as delicacy when they had meager food and protein supply.
o Competition between countries is good for our collective advancement, as long as it doesn't involve violence.
o So called "advanced and civilized" people who call others "savages" or "uncivilized" or perhaps the real "uncivilized" ones because in spite of their so called advancements, they are unable to understand why other people are the way they are.

In summary, i was left with awe of our shared human heritage and with deep respect for the land, the environment that we live in, where ever we are, because the environment is what shapes our collective destiny.