Expectations of performance have certainly out-paced any real improvements in performance due to technology. Herman Kahn (of Hudson Institute fame) in his 1976 book "The next 200 years: A scenario for America and the world" predicted that work cultures would become more forgiving, artists and people of creative expression would see fame and fortune, yada yada yada. Interestingly some of this is true, and yet not.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kalyan and Jace jace) these days encounters fame and recognition far easier than a few years ago. This has technology written all over it of course, and so too with tele-commuting. Everyone telecommutes, at least some of the time, even if only on weekends. On weekends and nights, I still check my office email - quite unlike my dad who 20 years ago had keys to his office so he could sneak in on weekends to check telegrams and telex messages (the postal service didn't deliver on Sundays, and it was a 6 day week back then!!). He would book an international long distance call on a Friday, expecting full well to be connected only on Sunday.Link: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/24/1324213 Posted by: Zonk, on 2006-02-24 13:53:00 [1]Ant wrote to mention a C|Net article exploring U.S. workers' productivity. People say they [2]actually accomplish less now than they did a decade ago. Research blames technology as the culprit. From the article: "Technology has sped everything up and, by speeding everything up, it's slowed everything down, paradoxically ... We never concentrate on one task anymore. You take a little chip out of it, and then you're on to the next thing ... It's harder to feel like you're accomplishing something.'" References 1. http://aqfl.net/ 2. http://news.com.com/Tech+makes+working+harder%2C+not+easier/2100-1022_3-6042719.html
It appears there is a class-action lawsuit being filed against Wikipedia by a bunch of scammers. The law suit looks to ride on the coat tails of the recent Seigenthaler episode, which sort of ended in an anti-climax with the anonymous John Doe offendor, either owning up or being traced, depending on who you ask.
For example, whatever's happened to Slashdot these days? This is not the first time I'm making my disgust for the 'new' slashdot plainly known, but yes, I still do care, because /. was a geek institution once upon a time. For that matter, 'the Internet' was a geek institution once upon a time...
Newly declassified US documents show
that the US government knew well in advance about the invasion plans of
Indonesia into East Timor. Once in East Timor, Indonesian forces
committed a mass genocide of the local population - anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000 people, which was only 600,000 to begin with according to Wikipedia.
As the first link shows, The US government actively suppressed news
stories from getting out about the genocide. This isn't exactly news to
Those who followed the invasion, But most people are unaware of the US government's support, perhaps the number of Newspapers covering the story according to GoogleNews can go some way to explain why many are unaware of this fact.
Also see, E. Timor timeline (via BBC)
I've found an excellent hack for effective document sharing in a small collaborative work group, like in a LAN.
1. Setup a Windows file share on a dedicated Windows machine, and get members to dump shareable docs in a neat folder hierarchy.
2. Install Google Desktop Search (GDS)
3. Install DNKA (dnka.com) - DNKA[1] is a GDS plugin that allows GDS to be searchable over the network.
DNKA adds web based directory browsing, which can be pretty neat too. Authorized users can login / authenticate by IP and browse/search docs in less than 30 minutes from step 1.
Now, tell me this isn't effective and neat! [2]
Ideas, comments, rants?
--
[1] DNKA is pretty neat since it has host-based-allow rules, and password authentication, and login based content filtering (more or less). I also liked the extensive logging feature.
[2] I especially like this for the relative lack of administrative overhead. I'd imagine doing the same with Apache Lucene and antiword, pdfextract and other tools would be quite challenging.
I was at home this (sunday) evening, and I decided to make myself some dinner a little early. So I started working on some potatoes, and ended up making a super tasting dish. I think I have a new award winning recipe for crunchy spicy potatoes :-) Anyway, I had this along with some thing from the refrigerator (rasam) that was a week old - but it tasted good anyway, so I finished off a significant portion of it.sriramb had conveniently parked on his rooftop ))
sriramb? ;-)
I'd guess my personal cache is about 400++. I have about 450 non-technical books on my laptop (not including audio-books), and about 2 GB of technical books (45,506 files, 1,393 folders) - that's I'd say about 1,000 or so technical / quasi-technical books.2) The last book bought?
'Piece of Cake' by Derek Robinson - a very realistic look at the young lives of RAF pilots in a fictional RAF bomber squadron maturing through the course of WWII.( See more on 'Piece of Cake' )
3) The last book you read?
His Dark materials trilogy by Philip Pullman - enthralling read about a little girl who travels between many worlds, and challenges the creator.( See more on 'His Dark Materials' )
4) 5 books that mean a lot to me
i) The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage, by Clifford Stoll.
A review and excerpts from this book that appeared in a Reader's Digest issue more than a decade ago implanted the idea of the cyber age in my head.( See more on 'The Cuckoo's Egg' )
I greatly admire the hacker lifestyle of Cliff Stoll's generation - when technology was still complex enough to be geeky, and yet computers were far removed and obscure enough to not be burdened with bureaucracy. Sort of like the Wild West!
I'm still so in love with the 80's computer geek lifestyle, when computers were just for the geeks!
ii) Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution
I'm trying hard to find a single book or source that stands for The open source revolution. This comes the closest. One of the many books that convinced me that I was on the right path.( See more on 'Open Sources' )
iii) The Wooden Horse, by Eric Williams
Absolutely the best prison-breakout story ever, and it all happened. I remember this book mainly because it was among the earliest books I can remember reading. It was my sister's copy. It was my favorite form of procrastination, along with 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. I would read it everytime I was supposed to be in my room working on my homework, or preparing for a test. I guess I was about 10 or 12 then.( See more on 'The Wooden Horse' )
iv) The Great Indian Novel, by Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor is one of my favorite writers. This is a nifty description of modern India via the Mahabaratha, and I find myself gifting this book to many friends. It's not easy to choose among his books, but I'm trying to align my favorite books with my interests, and this wins.( See more on 'The great Indian novel' )
v) Swami and Friends, by R.K. Narayan
The book is a well written funny account of the heavy burdens that are carried by a 10 year old boy in 1930's India. This book won't win any prizes, but Narayan is a good story teller. Another book that I remember reading as a kid; this time from my father's collection.( See more on 'Swami and friends' )
5) Passed on to
Since I enjoyed this so much, I will pass this on; with no strings attached:
I would like to eat some banana nut bread. Yes, as simple as that, I can even feel it in my mouth. Some days, I crave for a pumpernickel bagel and cream cheese, but right now a slice of banana nut bread will do, thank you very much.
cheeni. Check it out, and add it to your friends list. 
| Considering that a return ticket to Singapore from Bangalore costs less than INR 10,000; are you thinking what I am thinking? |
jace for lending your camera. And, thaths for your macro lens.
2fargon has a note on grad school and sleep deprivation on his blog. I thought it worth my while to share my experiences with him. Maybe you don't want to read it if you don't like long personal accounts.
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timeasmymeasure
