Re: [silk] Good puns

[Charles Haynes]

A horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks "can I help you?" The horse
says "I think not" and vanishes. Those of you familiar with philosophy
surely get the reference but for everyone else - I didn't explain it
earlier because it would have put Descartes before the horse.

-- Charles

On Mon, 14 Jun 2021 at 13:38, Ameya Nagarajan  wrote:

> As promised (threatened?). Hit me with your favourite puns.
>
> Rules:
> 1. Maximum 2 per person
> 2. A good pun doesn't need an elaborate setup
> 3. Bonus points for being bilingual!
>
> One of my all-time favourites:
>
> According to Freud, what comes between fear and sex?
> Fünf
>
> (In German,4, 5, 6 is vier, pronounced fear, funf, and sechs, pronounced
> zex.)
>
> Cordially,
> Ameya Nagarajan
>
> 
>

Re: [silk] Hot food paper towel

[Charles Haynes]

On Wed, 16 Jun 2021 at 3:20 am, Radhika, Y.  wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> (unnecessarily, my husband thinks) by the thought of electron transfer
> between paper (has chlorine that bleaches it and formaldehyde, a known
> carcinogen) and food. I'm aware of the classic example of the bat and ball
> ...

that's my understanding of it. Would any of you be able to advise me on
> whether I have it all wrong? I was wondering too if the heat plays a role
> although I have learned that fresh food is actually quite susceptible to
> picking up chemical residue.  Happy to learn.


It's even safe to eat paper towels themselves, so eating food on paper
towels is perfectly safe.

— Charles

Re: [silk] An anniversary

[Charles Haynes]

When my friend Chris Kantarjiev learned we were moving to Bangalore for a
year he said I should join Silklist. So I did. Still here ten years later.
(Silklist, not Bangalore. Now we're in Melbourne.)

-- Charles

On Sun, 20 Dec 2020, 12:36 pm Udhay Shankar N,  wrote:

> The first message on silklist went out 23 years ago.
>
> There are some members who have been around since then, and many others who
> hopped on at a later time.
>
> How did you find out about silklist? Share your stories.
>
> Udhay
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N))  ((via phone))
>

Re: [silk] What are the things you splurge on that are worth the money?

[Charles Haynes]

Mostly I try to be a satisficer and "buy nothing new/less waste" kind of
guy, but there are a couple of exceptions.

Broadly speaking I'm willing to pay premium prices for food, in particular
cooking supplies. Example we recently sought out "Great Ocean Road" ducks
that are relatively hard to find in Melbourne - but worth it. One duck
(whole, raw) cost as much as a nice dinner out. I'm currently looking for
salted anchovies, in the mean time I'm paying $10/tin for good quality
(Ortiz) packed in oil. I buy fresh locally produced unfiltered olive oil. I
seek out high quality whole spices. On the other hand, I use a $20 santoku
from IKEA (but I keep it sharp!)

The other thing I am willing to pay a premium for is internet speed and
bandwidth. I have an uncapped 1GB fibre connection at home, and Google Fi
on my phone (that's less about speed/bandwidth than no hassle mobile data
no matter where I travel [well, except for Cuba, boy was that an
interesting experience])

— Charles

On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 at 3:44 pm, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> Like it says. I know there are similar threads out there on reddit etc -
> this question is for silklisters. :)
>
> My list:
> - Computers. Every 5 years or so I replace my computer with the best specs
> I can afford.
> - Fragrance. I look at these as art and collect them for regular use.
> - Good gin/vodka. Nuff said.
>
> Udhay
>
> --
>
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>

Re: [silk] Hello from Shreyasee

[Charles Haynes]

Welcome to Silk Shreyasee!

Interactional economics and women's property ownership! I look forward to
hearing more.

I'm currently in Cleveland, thus the relatively timely reply. :)

Cheers,
-- Charles

Re: [silk] How do you collect and retrieve information from what you read?

[Charles Haynes]

> SKN: Over the years I have been getting increasingly frustrated at not
> being efficient in deriving meaningful value from what I have read and
> curated via notes and highlights from these readings. I wanted to get
> better at retaining what I read
>

JJM: I'm on your same boat, but I have found out it makes no sense (for me)
> to try to find a solution. I know I have very bad memory when I read books
> so I don't try to remember most of what I read, it's pointless for me.
>
> SKN: That is a refreshing contrarian view. I am guessing you have not
> regretted not being able to recollect the material that you don't recall?
> Do you not need any such material for professional or daily use in some
> form?
>

I'm with JJM. I can remember anything I want, but I can't remember
everything I want. I'm ok with that. (Since not being ok with that would be
like not being ok with the law of gravity.) Being at peace with it means
NOT regretting. Depending on what things I need to remember I can add it to
something that will remind me, but eventually you can't remember what it
was you wanted to remember.

You have a certain amount of working recall, you have to curate what you
keep in it and let go of the rest.

-- Charles

>

Re: [silk] Recommended Reading from 2015

[Charles Haynes]

On Wed, 26 Feb 2020 at 10:11 am, Thaths  wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 9:47 PM Alok Prasanna Kumar  >
> wrote:
>
> > To add to the already fantastic books on this list (in no particular
> order)
> > ...
> > 2. India Moving: A History of Migration by Chinmay Tumbe
> >
> ...
>
> If any of you are interested in the music of the Indian diaspora, this
> episode of Afropop Worldwide might be of interest to you:
>
>
> https://afropop.org/audio-programs/diaspora-encounters-the-indo-caribbean-world


That's great, thanks for sharing it. If you're interested in the
intersection between modern technology and African music, I can strongly
recommend "Music From Saharan WhatsApp" and it's predecessor "Music from
Saharan Cellphones."

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/sahel-sounds-music-from-saharan-whatsapp-interview

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/nov/01/music-from-saharan-cellphones-mali

Re: [silk] Suleimani

[Charles Haynes]

It will further destabilise the region and has the potential to require
deployment of thousands of troops to Iraq.

On Sat, 4 Jan 2020, 4:49 am Udhay Shankar N,  wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 4, 2020 at 2:31 PM Peter Griffin 
> wrote:
>
> What do you folks think will result from the Qassem Suleimani
> assassination?
> > How will this play out for the rest of the world, in terms of not just
> > stability, but also wars, economies and so on?
> >
>
> War has always been a reliable distraction. From impeachable offenses by
> the bushel (or rather, barrel)
>
> That said, follow the money.
>
> - Iran has announced a major new untapped oil reserve [1]
> - This particular conflict comes at a time when US oil businesses are
> hurting, and the current spoke in prices helps them. [2]
> - It will also (quelle surprise) help Russia, and also the Saudis - who
> have their own strategic issues with a world where reserves are depleting
> and prices are, funnily enough, going down [3]
>
>
> [1]
> https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/iran-crude-oil-discovery-namavaran/
> [2]
>
> https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/irandriven_oil_rally_boon_to_struggling_us_producers-03-jan-2020-160714-article?rss=true=yahoo
> [3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X19300677
>
> --
>
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>

Re: [silk] The anti-bucket list

[Charles Haynes]

I certainly have a list of "a supposedly fun thing that I'll never do again
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Supposedly_Fun_Thing_I%27ll_Never_Do_Again>"
but unless it's to say "ooh, look at this unpleasant thing that OTHER
people do" I'm not sure I get it.

And even those things I think I never want to do again, the universe has a
way of making us eat our words.

-- Charles

PS Wingsuit flying and BASE jumping are things I don't expect to ever try,
just because they're too risky for my taste not because I'm opposed to them.

PPS I will try cazu maru if I get a chance.

On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 at 16:00, Heather Madrone  wrote:

> +1
>
> Charles Haynes wrote on 1/2/20 9:47 AM January 2, 2020:
> > The idea of an “anti-bucket list” is antithetical to my approach to
> life. I
> > can easily understand why someone would have a list of things they want
> to
> > do, but what’s the point of having a list of things you absolutely refuse
> > to consider ever doing?
>
> I think many of us make declarations of the form "If I never do X
> [again], it will be too soon."
>
> I have even told my family "If I ever take up quilting, shoot me."
>
> I don't know why I would want to build a thought-horde of experiences I
> would hate, though.
>
> Is there some pleasurable aspect here that I'm missing?
>
> --hmm
>

Re: [silk] The anti-bucket list

[Charles Haynes]

The idea of an “anti-bucket list” is antithetical to my approach to life. I
can easily understand why someone would have a list of things they want to
do, but what’s the point of having a list of things you absolutely refuse
to consider ever doing?

I mean sure, there are things I think now that I would never want to do,
but when I was a child I didn’t like beets too and couldn’t imagine ever
liking them.

Now l love beets.

— Charles

Re: [silk] Water storage question

[Charles Haynes]

No.

On Sat., 17 Aug. 2019, 5:53 am Udhay Shankar N,  wrote:

> Are there any health concerns I should be aware of if I drink water that
> has been sitting in my car for a few weeks? This is RO filtered water that
> has been in a glass bottle (not a disposable plastic one) and not in direct
> sunlight.
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N))  ((via phone))
>

Re: [silk] Random thought of the day

[Charles Haynes]

I debugged a problem with Google infrastructure using SSH on my phone in
the early 2000's. I'd been using SSH on my phone for a while by then.

These days I use mosh though. And I have a Linux distro running on my phone
alongside android. It's usable but I prefer an external kbd + monitor.

Re: [silk] The Demise Of The Dollar

[Charles Haynes]

On Sat, 1 Jun 2019 at 18:48, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> You seem to be taking a very literal approach, which I'm afraid misses much
> of the picture. Let me spell it out a little more.
>

When you said "The US Dollar is backed by the might of the scariest
military in the world. It may not be the gold standard, but in fact it is
even better." I took you at your word, and I have pointed out why it's
wrong.

The superficial layers like the bond markets or federal reserve are not
> stand alone, I see that they are ultimately inherited from military power.
>

And I have pointed out that falls apart under analysis.


> In fact nobody trusts the Federal Reserve anymore than they absolutely have
> to.
>

That's another bald, unsupported assertion, and it's also false. No one
"has to" trust the US Federal Reserve, and the value of the dollar is an
indication of how much or little they do trust it. If the Fed loses trust,
the dollar loses value precisely because no one "has to" trust it.


> The US can create dollars (QE) as needed with little blowback.


Certainly the Fed can increase the money supply, but I'm not sure what
"blowback" is, why you seem to think it's bad, or what it has to do with US
military might versus the power of the Fed. There are both possible
positive effects of increasing the money supply (primarily stimulating
economic growth) and possible negative effects (inflation or lowering the
value of the currency relative to other currencies).


> This ability
> to manipulate at will is what makes it a strong currency, not the exchange
> rate. If Russia or the Swiss tried it they'd be laughed at, and then
> sanctioned to perpetuity.


False again. The Swiss used QE in 2008 at at the same time the US was doing
so, and did so at a larger rate than *any* *other* *country.* Far from
being laughed at or sanctioned, exactly nothing was done.


> In fact the Swiss and the Russians have been
> sanctioned by the US for much tinier currency manipulation.
>

The US has only ever designated three countries as currency manipulators -
China, Taiwan, and Japan.


> Sanctions are enforced by the military.
>

No, sanctions for currency manipulation are addressed by negotiation and
economic sanctions, not the military.


> Since nearly all American external debt is held in dollars it is the only
> country that can print its way out of a Dollar denominated debt. This
> behaviour is tolerated by the rest of the world because the US has placed
> itself at the heart of all economic exchange using the big stick. Anyone
> who dissents will lose access to most of the international economy. Like
> any good imperialist the US no longer needs to pull out the military  for
> every little thing, everyone knows the stakes and plays along.
>

Which means that the dollar is not backed by the military, it's backed by
the power of the US Federal Reserve, which is what I said.  The WSJ article
cited in the email you quoted points out this very thing - and what
countries are doing to reduce that power and get around that stick. In
particular what European countries are doing to pull the teeth of the USA
in unilaterally sanctioning Iran against the wishes of our European allies.
The US military will not be useful in addressing the European response.


> In fact nobody has any idea exactly how many dollars are out there, and
> that's how the US likes it. So much the easier to dump plane loads of cash
> over Afghanistan or Columbia.
>

Wut? The Fed has a pretty good idea how many "dollars are out there" and so
can you if you want to read their monthly H.6 report. As of April 2019*
there are 14,513,500,000,000 dollars out there.


> They don't control the World Bank, IMF, Wall Street, LIBOR. Supposedly
> independent institutions that in reality answer to America more often than
> not.
>

Now you've veered off into tin foil hat territory. I'm not going to play
sinister global conspiracy games, especially because they have nothing to
do with whether the US dollar is backed by the US military or not.


> The Swiss only recently got off the currency manipulator warning list
> maintained by the US (the biggest currency manipulator) for buying up Euro
> and USD to maintain the CHF.  It costs the Swiss real money to hold up the
> Franc,


The Swiss were removed from the monitoring list as of the most recent
report** (as was India FWIW) the current list is China, Japan, Korea,
Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

they can't print CHF like the US prints dollars. Nobody would wear
> it.
>

This is factually incorrect as I pointed out above. In 2008 they "printed
CHF" (used QE to increase their money supply) to the tune of 100% of their
GDP. The largest such percentage in the world. No one said "boo." They did
print it and everyone did wear it. (Note that QE is materially different
from the currency manipulation criterion of buying foreign currency.)

Look, I know you were engaging in hyperbole, but facts matter. The US

Re: [silk] The Demise Of The Dollar

[Charles Haynes]

If your thesis that a country's currency's value was a function of the
strength of its military then we should see a clear correlation between
strong countries and strong currencies, and weak countries and weak
currencies. But we don't, instead currencies values are correlated with the
economic strength and trust in the strength and independence of their
central banks.

Prime examples are Russia - strong military, one of the top five in the
world, but weak currency and Switzerland who has a cute story about citizen
soldiers but whose currency is strong way out of proportion to their
military strength.

Your thesis is facile, sadly easily disproven.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The Demise Of The Dollar

[Charles Haynes]

Surely I don't have to point out that when Teddy Roosevelt was president
the USA was still on the gold standard, so his remarks are completely
irrelevant to modern currency markets.

-- Charles

On Fri., 31 May 2019, 7:04 pm Srini RamaKrishnan,  wrote:

> On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 1:13 AM Charles Haynes 
> wrote:
> > The US Military has nothing to do with it.
>
> Surely I don't have to quote Teddy Roosevelt to you, "Speak softly and
> carry a big stick; you will go far."
>
>

Re: [silk] The Demise Of The Dollar

[Charles Haynes]

The US Dollar is backed by "the full faith and credit of the US Government"
of which the military is only a part. Much more relevant to the value of
the dollar is the strength of the US economy, the trustworthiness of the US
central bank, and the willingness of the US government to pay honor the
bonds it has issued.

The value of the bonds, and the value of the US dollar are determined by
market forces first, and the willingness of the US central bank (The
Federal Reserve Bank) to prop up the currency.

The US Military has nothing to do with it.

-- Charles

On Thu, 30 May 2019 at 10:19, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> On Thu, May 30, 2019 at 7:30 AM Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
> >
> > A follow up to the follow up (message left unedited below for context)
> >
> >
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dollar-powers-american-dominance-rivals-are-building-workarounds-11559155440
>
> The US Dollar is backed by the might of the scariest military in the
> world. It may not be the gold standard, but in fact it is even better.
> Unlike the gold standard, it cannot be easily faked. The rest of the
> world only has the word of any government that the said amount of gold
> exists. These are not open to destructive inspections, and it is long
> suspected that most gold reserves have some amount of fake bars.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7294665.stm
>
> https://www.businessinsider.com/tungsten-filled-gold-bars-found-in-new-york-2012-9?IR=T
> https://www.cnbc.com/id/43391588
>
> https://www.kitco.com/news/2017-08-24/Germany-Gets-Its-Gold-Back-From-The-Fed-And-It-s-A-Big-Deal.html
>
> The US can ignore international laws (and it does ignore them almost
> daily) only so long as international trade depends on the Dollar, and
> ignoring laws is pretty crucial to the way the US has done business
> for decades now. Given this I don't see the handover of trade power
> happening without entertaining the temptation to lob a few nukes.
>
> Rather than the PetroDollar, a more accurate appellation is the NukeDollar.
>
>

Re: [silk] War on Science?

[Charles Haynes]

On Tue, 5 Feb 2019 at 03:23, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

Things like vaccination are tricky because they are not strictly science.
> Science is repeatable, and things that don't work on everyone the same
> don't strictly deserve the label of science.


What? That's not right. It's perfectly legitimate to use statistics and
measures of uncertainty in science.


> That doesn't mean they should
> never be made mandatory, there merely has to be a very very high bar before
> that is done,


The bar is actually pretty clear - the benefits have to outweigh the costs.
We can have a discussion about how to measure the benefits (reduced
mortality is a simple one. Vaccines kill far fewer people than the diseases
they prevent.)

On Tue, 5 Feb 2019 at 05:09, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> It is what keeps for example homeopathy in business so ..
>


> It is the favorite whipping boy of pseudo science for the moment.
>

Actually I thought "flat earthers" were the favorite whipping boy of
pseudoscience at the moment. You used them yourself. Homeopathy has been
out of fashion as a whipping boy for quite some time. Actually
"anti-vaxxers" and "climate change denialists" are the pseudoscience flavor
du jour.


> Which reminds me of the water memory experiments done by another Nobel
> Laureate, Luc Montagnier. I don't think the science is quite settled
> there.
>

You seem to be attracted to "famous names in science" as if that alone
conferred some kind of scientific authority.

That's not how science works. Those famous names are only as good as their
experimental results. Montagnier's results have not been replicated by
anyone. The publication of the results was in a non-peer reviewed journal
of which Montagnier is the chairman of the editorial review board.
Montagnier himself has said the results do not support homeopathy.

Homeopathy's lack of scientific basis is as settled as anything in science.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] War on Science?

[Charles Haynes]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2019 at 00:23, Suresh Ramasubramanian 
wrote:

As for crowd diseases being benign and immunity, I'd suggest looking at
> either whooping cough or polio for counter examples.  Or German measles
> (rubella) - which, if a pregnant woman contracts it, is mild for her, but
> can and will cause severe retardation in her child.
>

Chicken pox is mild for (most) children but can lead to later shingles in
adults, and while chickenpox is mild and the risks are low, the risk of the
vaccine is even lower and it contributes to protecting those who can't get
vaccinated.


> Young children ... are repeatedly vaccinated ... against hepatitis B
> and HPV, which they are
> extremely unlikely to contract. Meanwhile the adults who should be
> vaccinated against those diseases mostly aren't.
>

It's important to vaccinate against HPV, and it should happen early.
Granted young children are unlikely to be exposed to HPV, but I think the
risk/reward is clearly on the side of early vaccination.

Re: [silk] War on Science?

[Charles Haynes]

On Sat, 2 Feb 2019 at 14:23, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

The goal of applied science is not the truth. Since world war 1 the goal of
> "science" has been subverted to find applications that can be monetized:
> this can be called technology or engineering but not science.
>

So you're saying the goal of technology or engineering is to make money, I
can agree with that. The "goal" of science is still to try to make testable
predictions about the observable world. Always has been.


> Those with the real scientific temper cannot accept a solution that still
> has open questions,


What you call "open questions" I would call "unexplained observations" or
"untested hypotheses."


> We largely don't fund "science", worldwide, we fund technology development.
> We've hardly made any fundamental breakthroughs in understanding reality in
> the last few decades


It's not at all clear that science "attempts to understand reality." The
idea that there is an underlying "reality" to be understood is an
interesting hypothesis, but it's sounds like "hidden variables" which has
been conclusively disproved.

In any case, while the claim is subjective, I'd argue that we've actually
made quite a few fundamental scientific breakthroughs, especially in
nuclear physics, astrophysics, medicine, and mathematics.


> Science is fundamentally about healthy disagreement and debate over the
> truth until it is conclusively found with no room for argument.
>

That's flat out wrong. Science *never* "conclusively finds truth." Not
ever. That's religion, not science. Science merely comes up with "the best"
explanation for current observations and makes predictions about the
results of future observations. Science *always* includes the possibility
of observations that contradict our current understanding.


> There's a club of 500 eminent researchers in the field and doctors
> including Nobel laureate Kary Mullis (the inventor of the PCR test) who
> insist, vehemently so, that there's no proof that AIDS is caused by HIV.
>

Kary Mullis has never actually done any scientific research in AIDS or HIV.
He also believes in Astrology.


> These are unquestionable experts in the field
>

They are not experts in the field of HIV or AIDS.

These are not crazy flat Earthers.
>

Actually they are. HIV as the causative agent of AIDS is solid science.


> Such open questions are routinely brushed under the carpet,


Nope. They've been addressed, and in the case of HIV/AIDS thoroughly
refuted.


> Science must also look seriously at the idea that there's no such thing as
> objective reality,


It does, depending what you mean by your definition of "objective reality."
The Copenhagen interpretation says that "reality" is created by
observeration. I'm personally not a fan of the Copenhagen interpretation
but it's certainly a part of mainstream science.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] War on Science?

[Charles Haynes]

I was about to say that I'm very much reminded of Linus Pauling, when he
mentioned that he's a disciple of Linus Pauling.

It's quite sad when a respected intellect in one field thinks that makes
them an expert in unrelated fields and then promulgates nonsense like
Pauling did.

-- Charles

On Thu, 31 Jan 2019 at 10:55, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 9:52 AM Vani Murarka 
> wrote:
>
> >  Deeply appreciative of the discussion going on here at present, the muck
> > in science and in religion being called out.
> >
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es5lfOeobAs
>
> I came across this excellent talk by Dr. Rustum Roy today. He's a
> celebrated materials researcher who tried to do real ground breaking
> science, and not just please the funding agency.
>

Re: [silk] Steganography: This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task

[Charles Haynes]

On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 at 14:40, Hariharan Rahul  wrote:

> I don't have much to say about the other discussion but the article really
> got my teeth on edge, because of the tabloidy anthropomorphization of
> something much simpler - "the loss function wasn't regularized properly
> leading to overfitting!
>

I agree. My first reaction was "sounds like overfitting."

-- Charles

Re: [silk] it may not be well-done; is it becoming rare?

[Charles Haynes]

On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 at 19:08, Thaths  wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 9:47 AM Dave Long  wrote:
>
> > > These days I think [email] is mostly used by us old fogies.
> > Fair enough, but what, pray tell, do all those non-old-fogies use to
> > convey thoughts that are too long for social media comments and too short
> > for blog posts?
> >
>
> Not being on most popular social media (Twitter, FB, etc.) I am not
> qualified to answer this. But when have I let such trivialities get in the
> way of offering my opinions? :-)
>
> I posit that one way the youth of today are conveying their thoughts in
> through non-textual means: Through Snapchat (i.e., marked up
> photos/images), and through the sharing of meme images/animations. One
> mixed (textual and non-textual) medium popular in many parts of the world
> (and with many parallels to emails/mailing lists) seems to be WhatsApp and
> similar messaging apps.
>

It seems to me that none of those media support the kind of thing Dave was
asking about: "too long for social media comments and too short for blog
posts" does that mean they just don't do that sort of communicating?

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Steganography: This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task

[Charles Haynes]

On Wed., 2 Jan. 2019, 3:48 am Srini RamaKrishnan,  wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 2, 2019, 12:13 AM Charles Haynes  wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Again, not true. Who is this "we" you're generalizing about? The people
> who
> > built AlphaZero did it for the learnings involved. Most of the people I
> > know in AI are not goal oriented but are instead trying to expand human
> > understanding.
> >
>
>
> Can any learning be free of the consciousness of the learner or the
> objective of the exercise?
>

That's orthogonal to the goal orientation of the learner.

Learning can be free of an objective. That's the best kind IMO and
perfectly possible in AI.

-- Charles

>

Re: [silk] Steganography: This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task

[Charles Haynes]

On Tue, 1 Jan 2019 at 13:32, Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 1, 2019, 9:59 PM Charles Haynes 
> > On Tue., 1 Jan. 2019, 1:11 am Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:
> >
> > > Monkey see, monkey do. AI only learns from the behavior of humans
> > >
> >
> > This is not true. Specifically AlphaZero learns from the rules of the
> game,
> > and playing (randomly at first) against itself. GANs (like the one in the
> > article) do not learn from humans. While humans do define the success
> > criteria, that does not constitute "learning from behaviour of humans"
> any
> > more than drawing a finish line constitutes "running a race."
> >
>
> That should be enough.
>
> We are creating the AI to better reach our current end goals
>

Again, not true. Who is this "we" you're generalizing about? The people who
built AlphaZero did it for the learnings involved. Most of the people I
know in AI are not goal oriented but are instead trying to expand human
understanding.

The limitations you see are in your own mind.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Steganography: This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task

[Charles Haynes]

On Tue., 1 Jan. 2019, 1:11 am Srini RamaKrishnan  Monkey see, monkey do. AI only learns from the behavior of humans
>

This is not true. Specifically AlphaZero learns from the rules of the game,
and playing (randomly at first) against itself. GANs (like the one in the
article) do not learn from humans. While humans do define the success
criteria, that does not constitute "learning from behaviour of humans" any
more than drawing a finish line constitutes "running a race."

-- Charles

>

Re: [silk] A question for bloggers

[Charles Haynes]

I'm using WP because I also tend to be photo heavy. Instagram is ok but I
also like longer form writing and Instagram doesn't suit my style there.
Too ephemeral, and I hate the 1:1 aspect ratio requirement.

WP is meeting my needs at the moment.

-- Charles

On Fri., 26 Oct. 2018, 8:50 pm José María Mateos, 
wrote:

> On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 07:37:37 +0530 Deepa Mohan 
> wrote:
>
> > Which blog do you use, and why?
>
> I started my blog in 2003 using Drupal (!). The I moved it to Movable
> Type. Then it was WordPress, and it stayed that way until 2014, when
> the whole thing crashed due to I don't really know why. By that time, I
> had grown a bit tired of the endless trolling in the comments and such,
> so when I had a bit of free time, I moved to Pelican, which is simply a
> set of Markdown files that are then compiled into HTML, with no comment
> system, no PHP and no parts to maintain. And it's really been amazing.
>
> If anyone wants to comment anything, they can always send me an e-mail.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> José María (Chema) Mateos || https://rinzewind.org/
>
>

Re: [silk] My thoughts on old age

[Charles Haynes]

On Wed., 24 Oct. 2018, 10:48 pm Bruce A. Metcalf, 
wrote:

> On 10/24/2018 09:45 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote:
>
> > I wonder how many people on this list are in their sixties?
>
> Well, me for one, and I've been considering the thoughts posted to this
> thread with some care.
>

Me too, but I haven't seen Deepa's mail so while I'd love to contribute I'm
afraid of missing context.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] How much time do you spend cooking?

[Charles Haynes]

Given you have Moroccan chickpeas, I recommend this Moroccan chickpeas
recipe "Kalinté". We had it in Chefchaouen and loved it. (I also recommend
socca if you haven't already tried it.)

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tangier-street-bread-kalinte

On Tue., 4 Sep. 2018, 10:00 pm Heather Madrone,  wrote:

> Udhay Shankar N wrote on 9/3/18 8:05 PM September 3, 2018:
> > How much time here do people spend actually cooking the food they eat? To
> > make the data more useful, calculate the time you spent over the past
> week
> > in total.
>
> I probably average 2 hours a day, but over the past week it's been 4. My
> eldest was staying with us before flying away to graduate school in
> Scotland. Last week, I cooked all the family favorites. #2 child is
> working in the area after finishing her undergraduate degree. She's been
> home weekends, and I've been cooking extra for her to eat during the week.
>
> I work from home, and still have two college-student sons living at home.
>
> My daughter worked as a research assistant on a drought-tolerant
> chickpea genetics project at school. Each year's data yielded several
> tons of chickpeas from strains that come from all over the world. She
> brought home 12 gallons of dried chickpeas from India, Morocco, Spain,
> Turkey, Greece, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, as well as hybrid
> varieties that do well in drought conditions.
>
> Every weekend she comes home, I make falafel (because it's a good summer
> supper) with one of the chickpea varieties. I figure that, if I cook
> chickpeas one day a week, the supply will last close to 15 years.
>
> I have quite a few chickpea recipes and can alter other recipes to
> include chickpeas, but I'd welcome a few more to round out my repertoire.
>
> --
> Heather Madrone  (heat...@madrone.com)
> http://www.knitfitter.com/category/personal/
>
> Nothing worth doing is ever easy.
>
>
>

Re: [silk] How much time do you spend cooking?

[Charles Haynes]

Since we've been travelling I've been cooking less. So maybe 90 min / week.
Most of that is 15 min / day making coffee every morning (hand grinding for
two people, brewing by hand, cleaning up). Back when I was cooking more
regularly, I'd estimate 8 hours a week, including shopping, prep, cooking,
and clean up. Of that maybe 40 min / day actually prep + cooking. That
includes things like feeding the Kombucha, culturing yoghurt, preserving
lemons, etc.

-- Charles

On Tue., 4 Sep. 2018, 1:01 pm Bruce A. Metcalf, 
wrote:

> On 09/03/2018 11:05 PM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
>
> > Something I am curious about.
> >
> > How much time here do people spend actually cooking the food they eat?
>
> It varies greatly, largely because my wife and I don't have a consistent
> schedule.
>
> Breakfast ranges from 0 to 30 minutes, with most events at one of the
> extremes.
>
> Lunch I tend to slap together in about 5 minutes.
>
> Dinners well, it depends on how you calculate time. Last night I
> made soup in about half an hour. Last week I made short ribs that took
> 72 hours to cook, though obviously most of that I was sleeping or
> elsewhere (don't ask me about sous vide unless you have time). Some
> nights it can take up to 90 minutes.
>
> Other things need to be counted too. I make my own mustard at 1/2 hour
> per batch; marinara sauce, which takes about two hours per batch; and my
> own stock, which takes 8 hours for vegetable stock and overnight for
> bone stock.
>
> As for averages, I won't even try. We dine out too often and too
> irregularly for any average to be a useful figure.
>
> All of these times are up from four years ago when I retired from my
> part-time job and took up cooking with some enthusiasm.
>
> Don't know if this helps much.
>
> Cheers,
> / Bruce /
>
>

Re: [silk] Building intelligent machines with casual reasoning

[Charles Haynes]

Thinking out loud, it seems to me that for most things Bayesian logic
supercedes Pearls causality. The probability of something given a prior,
versus the probability without the prior is, in some sense, the degree to
which the prior "causes" the result. The beauty is that you can usefully
reason about P(A|B) without knowing P(A) or P(B).

On Thu., 23 Aug. 2018, 9:43 am Charles Haynes, 
wrote:

> You mention Bayesian statistics as a thing like Pearls causality maths
> that's too complex.for most people and so hasn't caught on. I'd argue the
> exact opposite. Bayesian statistics ARE complicated but the first time I
> saw them my reaction was Oh My God this is going to change everything about
> how I reason about anything.
>
> And it has.
>
> So it seems to me.that Pearls formalisms just aren't that useful.
>
> -- Charles
>
> On Thu., 23 Aug. 2018, 3:24 am Bharat Shetty, 
> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 11:38 PM Landon Hurley 
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Sorry to delurk with a massive rant but I love this field and Pearl's
>> > work, and spent the last 18 months being denied my doctorate because I
>> use
>> > to much maths for a Psych department.
>> >
>> > >Anyone else have opinions on why his ideas haven't caught on more
>> > >generally?
>> >
>> >
>> > There are two connected problems (sorry, this area of statistics is my
>> > field and raison d'etre, so bear with me) as to why Pearl's work isn't
>> > universal.
>> >
>> >
>> Thank you for sharing your insights and discussion!
>>
>> Regards,
>> Bharat
>>
>

Re: [silk] Building intelligent machines with casual reasoning

[Charles Haynes]

You mention Bayesian statistics as a thing like Pearls causality maths
that's too complex.for most people and so hasn't caught on. I'd argue the
exact opposite. Bayesian statistics ARE complicated but the first time I
saw them my reaction was Oh My God this is going to change everything about
how I reason about anything.

And it has.

So it seems to me.that Pearls formalisms just aren't that useful.

-- Charles

On Thu., 23 Aug. 2018, 3:24 am Bharat Shetty, 
wrote:

> On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 11:38 PM Landon Hurley 
> wrote:
>
> > Sorry to delurk with a massive rant but I love this field and Pearl's
> > work, and spent the last 18 months being denied my doctorate because I
> use
> > to much maths for a Psych department.
> >
> > >Anyone else have opinions on why his ideas haven't caught on more
> > >generally?
> >
> >
> > There are two connected problems (sorry, this area of statistics is my
> > field and raison d'etre, so bear with me) as to why Pearl's work isn't
> > universal.
> >
> >
> Thank you for sharing your insights and discussion!
>
> Regards,
> Bharat
>

Re: [silk] Building intelligent machines with casual reasoning

[Charles Haynes]

Pearl has been spruiking his causality formalisms for years, but they don't
seem to have caught on despite widespread dissemiy of the ideas. I've read
them and my reaction was "hm, interesting" rather than "oh! I see how this
could be useful"

Anyone else have opinions on why his ideas haven't caught on more generally?

-- Charles

On Wed., 22 Aug. 2018, 5:28 am Bharat Shetty, 
wrote:

> Sharing an intriguing interview with Judea Pearl related to his book "The
> Book of Why", a book that I have been reading and enjoying.
>
> "In his new book, Pearl, now 81, elaborates a vision for how truly
> intelligent machines would think. The key, he argues, is to replace
> reasoning by association with causal reasoning. Instead of the mere ability
> to correlate fever and malaria, machines need the capacity to reason that
> malaria causes fever. Once this kind of causal framework is in place, it
> becomes possible for machines to ask counterfactual questions — to inquire
> how the causal relationships would change given some kind of intervention —
> which Pearl views as the cornerstone of scientific thought. Pearl also
> proposes a formal language in which to make this kind of thinking possible
> — a 21st-century version of the Bayesian framework that allowed machines to
> think probabilistically.
>
> Pearl expects that causal reasoning could provide machines with human-level
> intelligence. They’d be able to communicate with humans more effectively
> and even, he explains, achieve status as moral entities with a capacity for
> free will — and for evil."
>
>
> https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-build-truly-intelligent-machines-teach-them-cause-and-effect-20180515/
>
> PS: If there are similar mind-bending and worldview changing books, holler
> about them at me.
>
> Regards,
> - Bharat
>

Re: [silk] When was the last time you changed your opinion on something?

[Charles Haynes]

Either I don't change my mind very often or I don't notice when I do, but
two things do come to mind, one trivial, one less trivial. Which is which
is up to you. :)

1) I used to think Rothko was way overhyped. I didn't get why anyone cared.
Then I went to the Tate Modern's Rothko room. I think I spent an hour just
sitting in there looking.

2) I used to think beggars on the street were scammers, drug users,
alcoholics, or mentally ill and I shouldn't give them money because they'd
waste it or were lying to me. Now I think they may be scammers, drug users,
alcoholics, mentally ill - or not - and that I should give them money
regardless, that it's not up to me to judge what's best for them.

-- Charles

On Sat, 18 Nov 2017 at 14:22 Shenoy N  wrote:

> The biggest thing I changed my mind about in the recent past - heck, like
> in ever - is Narendra Modi. I seriously believed the man meant it when he
> said Maximum Governance Minimum Government. It didn't take long to realise
> I had picked a lemon, and a particularly foul smelling, decomposed mess of
> a lemon at that. I now my days trying to figure out what in hell it was
> that made me believe that nonsense in the first place
>
> On 17 November 2017 at 16:53, Dave Long  wrote:
>
> > I've posted a few of my own opinion-changes here; I think the last major
> > one may have been deciding my naive opinion of the 1990's as a decade of
> > "world peace" was rose-colored.
> >
> > Maybe someday I'll change my opinion on the opportunity costs of
> podcasts;
> > for now, I'm giving Fukuyama's new 2-parter on "The End of History" a
> miss:
> > although I'm vaguely curious as to whether his current line might be more
> > retrospective or more retcon, I'll wait for a print version.
> >
> > -Dave
> >
> > Stupidity is the continuation of History by other means.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Narendra Shenoy
> http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com
>

Re: [silk] Ashim - An Introduction

[Charles Haynes]

I lived in Jo'burg (and visited Rwanda) for a while. I mostly used taxis
which were cheap and plentiful. This was a few years ago so uber was not
yet a thing in za.

On Mon., 6 Nov. 2017, 6:15 pm Ashim D'Silva, 
wrote:

> Thanks Ingrid, exactly what I was hoping to hear, and our plan to begin
> with.
>
> I have ended up using so many photo services like these over the years,
> I’ve lost track of most of them. For an actual portfolio, Adobe’s own
> service ends up being pretty nice and minimal (
> https://ashim.myportfolio.com)
> though it would be ideal if you could manage it directly from Lightroom. If
> I’m giving the photos away, there’s nothing like the traction on Unsplash.
>
> On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 8:28 AM Ashwin Kumar  wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > ~ashwin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> > From: silklist  on
> > behalf of Thaths 
> > Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 11:45
> > To: silklist@lists.hserus.net
> > Subject: Re: [silk] Ashim - An Introduction
> >
> > On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 4:04 PM gabin kattukaran 
> > wrote:
> >
> > >Which are the ones you have tried? As a consumer, I have found
> > > 500px nice. Haven't tried posting there though. I find Instagram a tad
> > > too restricting ( https://instagram.com/cyntalist ) Also, their move
> > > away from chronological feed has been an irritant.
> > >
> >
> > So far, I have looked at Smugmug and self-hosted galleries. I asked
> fellow
> > photographers at work and they recommended against 500px. Apparently
> there
> > have been quite a few cases of photo theft.
> >
> > I am considering Smugmug too since I bought this ->
> >
> https://photorumors.com/2017/11/01/luminar-2018-for-mac-pc-now-available-for-pre-order-lightroom-alternative/
> > (since LR is going the Creative cloud/subscription way)
> > the introductory offer comes with a one year Smugmug subscription.
> >
> > ~ashwin
> > PS: Thaths you are in India?
> >
> --
> Cheerio,
>
> Ashim D’Silva
> Design & build
> www.therandomlines.com
> instagram.com/randomlies
>

Re: [silk] Few MacOS questions [was: What's your primary computing device?]

[Charles Haynes]

Um when I talk virtual machines it's so I can get environments I control
onto my machine. I'm not hosting people I don't trust on my laptop...

In that environment the risks of running something in a a VM or container
are the same as running it directly on your desktop - or less.

I use Mac laptop and Emacs as my primary Dev environment. Certainly there
are differences between that and a Unix distro but I find them minor. The
Mac is POSIX compliant, but the UI is certainly different from linux's GUI.
I think it's better, but obviously mileage varies.

For me the "killer app" is my photo workflow using Lightroom and Photoshop,
I can well believe you might have some native linux app or customisation
you can't live without.

On Sat., 30 Sep. 2017, 3:53 pm Tomasz Rola, <rto...@ceti.pl> wrote:

> Alok, Charles - thank you for the answers. Very much appreciated,
> because there is no way I could run "MacOS experiment" on a spare
> *puter - no time, no money.
>
> Well, so it looks like even though Emacs works without problem, there
> would have been some limitations if I moved to MacOS and I would have
> to redesign good part of my dataflow, and not quite for the better. I
> have kind of suspected that, but it is good to have some info on the
> subject.
>
> On Mon, Sep 25, 2017 at 03:38:23AM +, Alok Singh wrote:
> > On Mon, 25 Sep 2017 at 02:22 Tomasz Rola <rto...@ceti.pl> wrote:
> >
> > > would that be under MacOS - I mean, virtual desktops, ram disk,
> > > lots of windows?
> > >
> >
> > Haha. [...]
>
> Haha? Oh my.
>
> On Tue, Sep 26, 2017 at 03:42:23AM +, Charles Haynes wrote:
> >
> > You didn't include virtual machines. [...]
>
> Yeah. VMs were very cool and sexy (technologically), but after hearing
> of escaping code, rowhammer, ime and who knows what will future bring,
> they have lost almost all of their technological charm. Certainly, a
> rational actor will not waste time to have my archive of emails (and
> most of it is on gog already), but irrational actor will be happy as
> hell when destroying a decade or few of somebody's life. And I can
> easily envision a future where rational actors will be minority. Thus
> carelessly running alien code in VM, even one as well written as
> Windows [0], is gradually becoming a non-option. Just MHO and I am not
> sure yet how to react to this.
>
> [0] ...
>
> --
> Regards,
> Tomasz Rola
>
> --
> ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.  **
> ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home**
> ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...  **
> ** **
> ** Tomasz Rola  mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
>

Re: [silk] Kids and porn

[Charles Haynes]

I've got a number (three is a number, right?) of friends here in Australia
that are women working as producers of feminist porn.

Certainly there is a huge amount of problematic media that promulgate
unhealthy attitudes about women, including in porn, but I would say that's
a systematic and structural societal problem as opposed to something
inherent to pornography.

-- Charles

On Wed, 6 Sep 2017 at 23:37 Cindy Gallop  wrote:

> You may find this interview I gave to Summerill & Bishop on why it's so
> important nowadays that parents talk to their children early about sex and
> about porn, interesting/helpful (I explain exactly how to have the
> conversation with your kids about porn).
>
> https://www.summerillandbishop.com/blogs/meanderings/unchartered-territory
>
> Obviously, this is why my startup MakeLoveNotPorn exists - to help parents,
> and everyone, recognize the concept of and promote good sexual values and
> good sexual behavior. I spoke to The Swaddle about how important this is in
> India:
>
> https://theswaddle.com/cindy-gallop-sexual-values/
>
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 9:08 AM, Nikhil Mehra 
> wrote:
>
> > On 6 September 2017 at 13:25, Madhu Menon  wrote:
> >
> > > On 5 September 2017 at 07:11, Heather Madrone 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm sex-positive, but, by and large, porn-negative, *because women in
> > > porn
> > > > almost never look like they're enjoying it*. If porn celebrated
> female
> > > > ecstasy rather than female humiliation and degradation, I'd be bang
> > > behind
> > > > it.
> > >
> > > Oh, this isn't the 90s. There's plenty of the kind of stuff you want.
> > > There are even subreddits on Reddit for it. ( /r/passionx and
> > > /r/chickflixxx for the curious.)
> > >
> > >
> > Speaking of which, there's apparently a subreddit on Dhanushasana sex.
> Now
> > to me it seems like physical abuse of women being sanitized through a
> > connection to yoga.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Nikhil Mehra
> > Advocate
> > B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) (NLSIU), LL.M (Northwestern)
> >
> > Chambers of Nikhil Mehra
> > E-348 Ground Floor | Greater Kailash - II | New Delhi 110048
> > +91 98107 76904 <+91%2098107%2076904>
> > nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com
> >
>
>
>
> --
> http://ifwerantheworld.com/  http://makelovenotporn.com
> Sign up for beta: https://www.makelovenotporn.tv/
>
> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cindygallop
>
> Book me to speak: http://www.robinsonspeakers.com/cindy-
> gallop-speaker-speakers-bureau
>
> Hire me to consult:  http://www.businessinsider.
> com/top-15-marketing-thought-leaders-2012-10
> 
>

Re: [silk] Kids and porn

[Charles Haynes]

On Tue., 5 Sep. 2017, 3:39 am Heather Madrone <heat...@madrone.com> wrote:

> Charles Haynes wrote:
> > Given that "porn addiction" isn't any kind of scientific thing I would be
> > extremely surprised at any scientifix studies at all linking it to
> anything.
>
> There have certainly been studies that link porn viewing/consumption to
> various minor ills, so I suppose you are extremely surprised.
>

I am indeed because I haven't seen any such. Do you have a pointer handy?

Thanks,
-- Charles

Re: [silk] Kids and porn

[Charles Haynes]

Given that "porn addiction" isn't any kind of scientific thing I would be
extremely surprised at any scientifix studies at all linking it to anything.

-- Charles

On Mon., 4 Sep. 2017, 6:56 pm Nikhil Mehra <nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 4 September 2017 at 05:07, Charles Haynes <charles.hay...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > As far as I know there is no scientific evidence that viewing porn is
> > harmful. Lots of anecdote, lots of "it's obvious that..." but no data.
> >
> > So what's the (supposed) problem?
> >
> > -- Charles
> >
>
> Aren't their studies now linking behavioural and physiological changes to
> porn addiction? Like erectile dysfunction in physiologically healthy males?
> Some of the theories are available here: www.yourbrainonporn.com
>
>
> Nikhil Mehra
> Advocate
> B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) (NLSIU), LL.M (Northwestern)
>
> Chambers of Nikhil Mehra
> E-348 Ground Floor | Greater Kailash - II | New Delhi 110048
> +91 98107 76904
> nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com
>
>
> >
> > On Sun., 3 Sep. 2017, 10:35 pm Ingrid <ingrid.srin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > > On 03-Sep-2017, at 9:50 AM, Udhay Shankar N <ud...@pobox.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I saw this article [1] that makes the (quite obvious, if you think
> > about
> > > > it) case
> > > > ​ that kids will look at porn whether you want them to or not - and
> > that
> > > > people need to figure out how they will deal with that.
> > > >
> > > > Since many people on silk are in the right demographic to have seen
> > this
> > > > either with their own kids or with friends/family, please share
> > > > thoughts/advise/experiences.
> > > >
> > > > Udhay​
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > [1] https://www.wired.com/2017/08/kids-and-porn/
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
> > >
> > > Similar advice from NSPCC whose guides on online safety I find useful.
> > >
> > >
> > > https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/advice-
> > and-info/online-pornography-keep-child-safe.pdf
> > >
> > > Ingrid Srinath
> >
>

Re: [silk] Kids and porn

[Charles Haynes]

As far as I know there is no scientific evidence that viewing porn is
harmful. Lots of anecdote, lots of "it's obvious that..." but no data.

So what's the (supposed) problem?

-- Charles

On Sun., 3 Sep. 2017, 10:35 pm Ingrid  wrote:

>
> > On 03-Sep-2017, at 9:50 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
> >
> > I saw this article [1] that makes the (quite obvious, if you think about
> > it) case
> > ​ that kids will look at porn whether you want them to or not - and that
> > people need to figure out how they will deal with that.
> >
> > Since many people on silk are in the right demographic to have seen this
> > either with their own kids or with friends/family, please share
> > thoughts/advise/experiences.
> >
> > Udhay​
> >
> >
> > [1] https://www.wired.com/2017/08/kids-and-porn/
> >
> > --
> > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
> Similar advice from NSPCC whose guides on online safety I find useful.
>
>
> https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/advice-and-info/online-pornography-keep-child-safe.pdf
>
> Ingrid Srinath

Re: [silk] Searching in google is a result of prior synapse - true or false ?

[Charles Haynes]

I'm afraid I cannot answer you because the language you are using isn't
close enough to how I express myself for me to be able to either feel
confident in what you're asking, or to know how to phrase a response that
would communicate my intent in a way that would successfully convey that
intent to you.

Sorry.

-- Charles

On Fri, 11 Aug 2017 at 22:47 Vasanth Kamath 
wrote:

> I had asked. - "Searching in google is a result of prior synapse -
> true or false ?”
>
>
> The word google was intentionally inserted to make it sound more real.
> In the backdrop of a simulated world, I believe that there is
> significant influence of cues coming from multiple external dimensions
> on what one searches for vs a sense of discovery..so I wanted to seek
> thoughts from this group if one could “search” without bias or without
> any sort of prior conditioninng
>
> So,
>
> You often search when you know what you want to search..
> How do you know what you want? How was it conditioned ?
> how does one perfect the art of searching? Or better conditioning?
> Is it better search terms? OR
> Is it to know better what you want? OR
> Is it to know various methods of searching and retrieval?
>
>
> Is it possible to search without Without any precincts of “conditioning”
> In other words how we do we know this is what we were searching for?
> Without having any “models” or “features” of what to search
> What are the ways to formulate unique new search terms ?
> What are the ways to discover anything for that matter (independently)?
>
>
> Consider these facts…
>
> "Each keyword or phrase needs to mirror the language used by your
> target consumer. If you understand how consumers are finding
> businesses like yours, you will begin to see increased visits to your
> website as your copy will match search queries”
>
> A dog can spot a bomb only when its trained to (it knows the model)
>
> A  team of researchers gave eight of the cats meals of beef treated
> with the deworming agent thiabendazole in doses large enough to make
> them temporarily sick to their stomachs. “It basically causes a bad
> case of indigestion,” WildiZe founder Eli Weiss told The Aspen Times.
> After a few meals of treated beef, the lions were once again offered
> untreated meat. Seven of the eight refused to eat it, while an eighth
> actually refused to eat at all for a short period.
> .
>
> On Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 6:30 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
> > On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 10:58 PM, Vasanth Kamath <
> vasanthmkama...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > Id be glad to rephrase the question
> >>
> >
> > That would be a good idea. Provide some context as well, so people can
> > decide whether it's something that interests them.
> >
> > Udhay
>
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Vasanth
>
>

Re: [silk] CAT5 vs CAT5E vs CAT6 cable for home

[Charles Haynes]

I'm curious, what gigE devices do you have connected to your home network?

I use 5ghz WiFi for everything. Including streaming large media files. But
I am not streaming 4k video. Only 1080p.

-- Charles

On Wed, 7 Jun 2017 at 17:05 gabin kattukaran  wrote:

> On 7 June 2017 at 12:09, Biju Chacko  wrote:
> > However, given that installing cable is a gigantic pain, if
> > there isn't a big price difference go with Cat6. No doubt 10G home
> > networking kit will be standard in a few years
>
>
> +1 to that. I recently got my new apartment wired up with Cat6. While
> there will be WiFi, the cabling is for streaming as Udhay says.
>
> -gabin
>
> --
>
> Don't confuse me with facts. My mind is made up.
>
>

Re: [silk] Conspiracy Theory for the day...

[Charles Haynes]

Hapgood was a kook.

On Fri., 3 Mar. 2017, 5:20 pm Nani, <nani2...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Can't speak for Auchincloss Brown or Hapgood. And (knowing nothing about
> cartography or geology) I hardly have a hypothesis so much as a fun
> explanation for why the US might 'appear' to be lackadaisical about an
> accepted global phenomenon.
>
>
> That said, I sure would love to find out answers (but not alternative
> facts!)  to these questions:
>
>
>
>1. How did those Siberian mammoths happen to have tropical grass in
>their bellies?
>2. What event caused them to get buried alive by *that* much snow that
>rapidly?
>3. How was it possible for ancient maps to be right about the existence
>of a mountain range in Antarctica (that modern science only discovered
>buried under a mile thick sheet of ice) and YET so wrong about that
> entire
>continent being tropical?
>4. Why is so much ice accumulating in Antarctica every year? Has this
>been happening in perpetuity?
>5. If a trillion tons of ice piled up in just TEN YEARS, what effect, if
>any, would long-term accumulation have on planetary motion?
>
>
> Hapgood wasn't a kook (at least, Einstein didn't seem to think so), so I
> for one am curious why there aren't published studies (or rebuttals) of his
> ideas instead of passing scorn.
>
> BTW, I am new to this forum; the intent of my post was to stimulate
> thought/discussion on a topic that I found interesting. No offence meant
> (and none taken). :)
>
> Cheers,
> Nani
>
> On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 4:05 PM, Charles Haynes <charles.hay...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > The first question to ask anyone with a wild new theory is - what would
> it
> > take to falsify your hypothesis? What evidence would convince you it was
> > false?
> >
> > -- Charles
> >
> > On Mon, 27 Feb 2017 at 22:04 Nani <nani2...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Slow Monday... figured this is as good a time as any to get folks wound
> > up
> > > a bit... :D
> > >
> > > ​THE ASTONISHING THEORIES OF CHARLES HAPGOOD AND HUGH AUCHINCLOSS BROWN
> > >
> > > ​Have you guys e
> > > ver wondered why the most powerful nation on earth seems hellbent on
> > > ignoring global warming, a phenomenon that virtually everyone is in
> > > agreement as being real?
> > >
> > > Conspiracy theories are seen as being kooky; but what if, instead of
> > > climate change denial, there is a 'conspiracy' of willful ignorance,
> and
> > it
> > > is a GOOD one for the benefit of mankind?
> > >
> > > #1 Tropical Antartica:
> > > Those of you who've watched "2012', the Hollywood blockbuster starring
> > John
> > > Cusack, may recall a far out reference to an "Earth Crust Displacement
> > > Theory" espoused by a Prof Charles Hapgood.
> > >
> > > Turns out, this gent did solid research on the world of cartography,
> and
> > > unearthed scientifically accurate ancient maps describing Antartica and
> > > other parts of the Earth that weren't "discovered" until centuries
> later.
> > > These maps were so sophisticated and accurate that they couldn't have
> > been
> > > created without the use of advanced math such as plane geometry and
> > > spherical trigonometry; yet the ancient sources, on which they were
> > based,
> > > dated back to times when such knowledge purportedly did not exist.
> > >
> > > Apparently, Antartica was a tropical land, rather than a barren
> icescape
> > > with a mile-thick layer of sheet ice, as we know it today. Giant woolly
> > > mammoths supposedly roamed the Arctic and the Antartic. Scientists have
> > > found mammoths preserved under the Siberian permafrost - frozen solid
> and
> > > standing upright with the flesh on their bodies still intact - as a
> > result
> > > of being almost instantaneously covered by meters of snow/ice - due to
> > > rapid climate change from tropical to arctic within a matter of hours.
> > Now
> > > here’s a mind-blowing fact - the undigested grass inside their bellies
> > was
> > > TROPICAL grass!
> > >
> > > Modern experts dispute segments of these maps that show South America
> > > merging with Antartica. But what if there was no sea there at that
> time?
> > > What if these continents were indeed connected by a land bridge, much
> > like
> > > Sri Lanka and India were in antiquity?
> > >
> > > In fact, what if ALL plac

Re: [silk] Conspiracy Theory for the day...

[Charles Haynes]

The first question to ask anyone with a wild new theory is - what would it
take to falsify your hypothesis? What evidence would convince you it was
false?

-- Charles

On Mon, 27 Feb 2017 at 22:04 Nani  wrote:

> Slow Monday... figured this is as good a time as any to get folks wound up
> a bit... :D
>
> ​THE ASTONISHING THEORIES OF CHARLES HAPGOOD AND HUGH AUCHINCLOSS BROWN
>
> ​Have you guys e
> ver wondered why the most powerful nation on earth seems hellbent on
> ignoring global warming, a phenomenon that virtually everyone is in
> agreement as being real?
>
> Conspiracy theories are seen as being kooky; but what if, instead of
> climate change denial, there is a 'conspiracy' of willful ignorance, and it
> is a GOOD one for the benefit of mankind?
>
> #1 Tropical Antartica:
> Those of you who've watched "2012', the Hollywood blockbuster starring John
> Cusack, may recall a far out reference to an "Earth Crust Displacement
> Theory" espoused by a Prof Charles Hapgood.
>
> Turns out, this gent did solid research on the world of cartography, and
> unearthed scientifically accurate ancient maps describing Antartica and
> other parts of the Earth that weren't "discovered" until centuries later.
> These maps were so sophisticated and accurate that they couldn't have been
> created without the use of advanced math such as plane geometry and
> spherical trigonometry; yet the ancient sources, on which they were based,
> dated back to times when such knowledge purportedly did not exist.
>
> Apparently, Antartica was a tropical land, rather than a barren icescape
> with a mile-thick layer of sheet ice, as we know it today. Giant woolly
> mammoths supposedly roamed the Arctic and the Antartic. Scientists have
> found mammoths preserved under the Siberian permafrost - frozen solid and
> standing upright with the flesh on their bodies still intact - as a result
> of being almost instantaneously covered by meters of snow/ice - due to
> rapid climate change from tropical to arctic within a matter of hours. Now
> here’s a mind-blowing fact - the undigested grass inside their bellies was
> TROPICAL grass!
>
> Modern experts dispute segments of these maps that show South America
> merging with Antartica. But what if there was no sea there at that time?
> What if these continents were indeed connected by a land bridge, much like
> Sri Lanka and India were in antiquity?
>
> In fact, what if ALL places in the world that are deserts today, like the
> Sahara, Gobi, and Thar, were once colossal lakes or even completely
> undersea?
>
> #2 Global Warming:
> Here is an unreal but true factoid - the Earth accumulates billions of tons
> of ice at the poles EVERY year - that is billions with a B! A satellite
> study by NASA concluded in 2015 that the Antartic sheet had a net gain of
> 112 billion tons of ice EACH YEAR from 1992 to 2001, and 82 billion tons
> per year subsequently. That is a whole lotta ice!
>
> Back in 1948, an electrical engineer named Hugh Auchincloss Brown
> postulated a wild theory that when this polar 'weight' becomes too high,
> once every 7 thousand years or so, the Earth "wobbles" on its axis and
> "tips over", thereby causing the poles and equator to 'switch places'
> rapidly, presumably to maintain centrifugal balance.
>
> If true, that might explain how Antartica could've been equatorial land
> once.
>
> So what's the Conspiracy?
>
> HAB's fantastic theories have long been ridiculed, and Hapgood's theories
> have never been investigated at all.
>
> But here's the thing - WHAT IF the powers-that-be had secretly figured out
> all along that a cataclysmic event was indeed on the brink of occurring?
> What if they have deliberately ALLOWED global warming to progress, thereby
> causing the ice caps to melt at a controlled rate, sufficiently enough to
> reduce polar weight gradually without causing gigantic tsunamis that could
> wipe out the human race?!
>
> Even within our lifetime the North Pole has changed from being an icy land
> where intrepid explorers once walked and planted their flags, to a seascape
> where ships can now sail through at all times of the year. Maybe when
> outcomes were weighed in the balance, a few polar bears losing their
> habitat wasn't the worst thing compared to the potential obliteration of
> mankind.
>
> Food for thought… ;)
> ​​
>
> ​Cheers​,
> Nani
>
> References:
>
> https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-study-mass-gains-of-antarctic-ice-sheet-greater-than-losses
>
> http://www.archive.org/stream/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp/eathsshiftingcru033562mbp_djvu.txt
> http://www.skrause.org/writing/papers/hapgood_and_ecd.shtml
> http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/fall_2000/ft_linehan.html
> http://www.knowledge.co.uk/velikovsky/index.htm
>
> http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198001/piri.reis.and.the.hapgood.hypotheses.htm
>
> http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/libraries/about/exhibits-new/ONLobbyExhibits/deepfreeze.html
>

Re: [silk] In praise of slowness

[Charles Haynes]

> the above probably doesn't apply to the typical intelligent,
multi-dimensional silk lister.

Hah. It especially applies to people who think it doesn't apply to them. I
found when I first started "slowing down" that my partner and I, as much as
we love and are devoted to one another, need a certain amount of "our own"
time. That if we spend all of our time together we are less happy than if
we spend a certain amount of it apart. So we have that built in.

For me "slowing down" has meant spending more time doing fewer things but
really paying attention to the things I do.

-- Charles

On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 at 21:51 Shyam Sunder 
wrote:

> Fascinating thread. I have a slightly contrarian view.
>
> Probably not very relevant to silklisters but I am very wary when my
> clients talk about early retirement. Not because they would put their
> financial independence at risk, but because they hugely overestimate their
> ability to fill the day with meaningful pursuits. A typical conversation
> (which occurs very frequently, I might add) would go along the lines of
>
> Client - I would like to explore retirement by 50.
> Shyam - Given your financial situation, it is quite likely you will be
> able to do that from a financial perspective. But what do you plan to do
> after you retire?
> Client - I really want to make time for the things I enjoy. I want to
> spend more time with the family (First red flare), travel (second red
> flare), and volunteer my time with NGOs (big third red flare) or coaching
> young professionals or start-ups
> Shyam - Great. How specific are your plans?
> Client - What do you mean?
> Shyam - Is there a specific NGO you have already been associated with? /
> Do you currently mentor start-ups or coach?
> Client - Not really. But I am sure I can easily figure that out. I mean, I
> don't want any money for it.
>
> I fear that the above describes someone who will wake up six months later
> with nothing to do during the day, and drives everyone around him / her up
> the wall! For someone aged 50, they need a plan that will last decades, not
> months. Their family perhaps doesn't want them hanging around all the time.
> Their life's travels can be completed in six months, and reasonably
> well-run NGOs want a volunteer who comes and wishes to
> optimize/streamline/improve the set-up like they want a bullet to the head.
> For many, work gives them identity and self-worth. My advice for someone
> without specifics is to work for as long as they can. For most people,
> there is 20% of the job that makes the remaining 80% worth it.
>
> Like I said at the beginning, the above probably doesn't apply to the
> typical intelligent, multi-dimensional silklister.
>
> Warm regards
>
> Shyam
>
> -Original Message-
> From: silklist [mailto:silklist-bounces+shyam.sunder=
> peakalpha@lists.hserus.net] On Behalf Of Vijay Anand
> Sent: 24 January 2017 11:06
> To: silklist@lists.hserus.net
> Subject: Re: [silk] In praise of slowness
>
> "Slowing down" - the phase in life when making money is not the priority
> anymore and there is the intention to expand to other interests that have
> been at best side projects, so that they get focus.
>
> It seems that the more i read the viewpoints, unless and if there is a) a
> significant windfall that money isnt a big concern anymore or b) you make
> the financial planning so that  there is an insurance of sorts so that
> something doesnt take you unaware - worse put your dependents ar risk, this
> is a hard one to pull off.
>
> I often mind myself going back to a bookmarked linked of self-sustainable
> farms. An acre or two of land, grow what you want and get away from the
> race of making your monthly commitments, seems like a dream. BUT...
>
> 1. Any self sufficient farm thingerie is a lot of upfront capital - to
> cure the land, and setup things needed for substanence - food, water,
> electricity.
>
> 2. Given the scenario with the government where the apt definition is
> "revolutionary governance", and what holds value, suddenly goes out of it
> and land reform policies might be on the horizon, i wonder if any of the
> planning we do would be free of risks.
>
> 3. All said and done, to keep up with inflation we need an asset that goes
> up in value and creates liquidity over time, as agri for eg will never be a
> commercially successful enterprise (atleast at that scale). And building
> assets right now, take a lifetime in India.
>
> Vijay
>
> On Jan 24, 2017 10:54 AM, "Venkatesh H R"  wrote:
>
> > It is a terrific experience reading all your thoughts. To me, it
> > appears that most people, when talking about slowing down, are just
> > referring to removing clutter from their lives. It doesn't mean they
> > are actually slowing down.
> > Indeed, in some respects they might be working harder on a few aspects
> > of their life than ever before! Of course, there is a good chance I'm
> > mistaken in this 

Re: [silk] In praise of slowness

[Charles Haynes]

Your goals sound similar to mine, I too stopped working as a full time
salaried employee and became a consultant. That does give you control over
your time, and allows you to slow down your life, but only if you commit
 yourself to that. It's all too easy to let clients soak up all of your
time. I've found I have to set firm boundaries both in my own mind, and
explicitly with my clients. As an example, for the last few years I've not
worked Mondays. I make it clear to myself and my clients that Mondays are
for doing those things I wouldn't have time for otherwise - reading books,
watching plays, visiting with friends (or in my case, working on little
hardware projects that bring me joy but aren't for a client.)

The hardest thing for me was becoming more comfortable in enforcing that
limit, and saying "no" to clients. "I'm sorry I can't come to that meeting,
I don't work Mondays." I've learned you don't have to give an explanation,
just "I don't work Mondays." Smile, and if they ask why I just say "I only
work four days a week." And I keep strict "work hours" as well. I set aside
time for reading, for cooking, for doing ceramics, the things I know give
me pleasure and energize me.

The best part of slowing down is making more space in my life for the
things I love most. Stepping back and taking a clear-eyed look at those
things and those people that I actually enjoy, and not paying so much
attention to the things I think I'm *supposed* to enjoy. Mostly what
slowing down has allowed me to do is to *stop* doing things. Things that
don't give back joy or energy in proportion to the time they take.

So I just spent three weeks in Tasmania, in a campervan. Each morning we'd
decide where we wanted to go (within at most 2 hours of driving) and then
go there. Set up camp, and just be wherever we were. It was glorious.
Tasmania is incredibly beautiful, and it can feel almost uninhabited.

-- Charles

On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 at 16:32 Venkat  wrote:

>
>
> On 23/01/17 10:49 AM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
> > On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 2:48 PM, Venkatesh Hariharan 
> > wrote:
> >
> > "What do you.love the most about living a slower life?"
> >
> >
> > ​To be able to do things on the spur of the moment. This is more a goal
> > than an achievement at this point, but still.​
> >
> > ​Oh, and naps.​ One of the great pleasures of life and a criminally
> > underrated productivity enhancer.
> And travel. Although I would not call mine a slow life, I took off for
> Kabini on a whim last Tuesday and spent a few days there. But I am
> gainfully employed with some freedom.
>
> --
>
> Cheers,
> Venkat
>
>
>

Re: [silk] Request - Recommended reading list / songs for a 5-month old baby girl

[Charles Haynes]

Oh that's much better than my search. For some reason "lending library"
only returned Eloor and Bookleaze for me.

Thanks!
-- Charles

On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 16:39 Deepa Mohan <mohande...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Google amma gave me this:
>
>
> https://www.google.co.in/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant=1=2=UTF-8#q=lending%20libraries%20in%20bangalore=ls:-1,lf_od:-1,lf_oh:-1,lf:1,lf_ui:3,lf_pqs:EAE=1=0=12950140,77638673,5288=lcl=7502844426495328141
>
> Deepa.
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 11:03 AM, Charles Haynes
> <charles.hay...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Yeah, that's the one we found - we lived across the street from it. Are
> > there others? Any that are public (i.e. paid for by the government?)
> >
> > -- Charles
> >
> > On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 15:51 Suresh Ramasubramanian <sur...@hserus.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Eloor behind Safina plaza on Infantry Road has been around for 30+ years
> >> unless they closed down, I haven't borrowed anything from them recently
> so
> >> I hope they're still there
> >>
> >> Google + a website says yes they are
> >>
> >> --srs
> >>
> >> > On 30-Dec-2016, at 9:59 AM, Charles Haynes <charles.hay...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Suresh,
> >> >
> >> > For future reference, could you please share the lending libraries of
> >> > Bangalore? That was one of the things we (especially Debbie) missed
> the
> >> > most about our time there - we were used to easily findable and
> >> accessible
> >> > public libraries, and couldn't find such in Bangalore.
> >> >
> >> > -- Charles
> >> >
> >> > On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 05:04 Suresh Ramasubramanian <
> sur...@hserus.net>
> >> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Which city are you in?
> >> >>
> >> >> Plenty I know of in Chennai.  Bangalore has its fair share + second
> hand
> >> >> book stores like Blossoms.
> >> >>
> >> >> And there’s always the kindle / ipad and such.
> >> >>
> >> >> On 29/12/16, 9:59 AM, "silklist on behalf of Preetha Chari-Srinivas"
> >> >> <silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net on behalf of
> >> >> bling...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>Howdy folks,
> >> >>I would like to seek your suggestions on the recommended reading
> >> >>list/songs/nursery rhymes etc. for a 5-month old baby girl. Is
> there
> >> a
> >> >>lending library where we can get children's books from - just
> >> >> wondering for
> >> >>I haven't seen one in India, so far. Could be mistaken, though.
> >> >>
> >> >>Cheers,
> >> >>Preetha.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>

Re: [silk] Request - Recommended reading list / songs for a 5-month old baby girl

[Charles Haynes]

Yeah, that's the one we found - we lived across the street from it. Are
there others? Any that are public (i.e. paid for by the government?)

-- Charles

On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 15:51 Suresh Ramasubramanian <sur...@hserus.net>
wrote:

> Eloor behind Safina plaza on Infantry Road has been around for 30+ years
> unless they closed down, I haven't borrowed anything from them recently so
> I hope they're still there
>
> Google + a website says yes they are
>
> --srs
>
> > On 30-Dec-2016, at 9:59 AM, Charles Haynes <charles.hay...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Suresh,
> >
> > For future reference, could you please share the lending libraries of
> > Bangalore? That was one of the things we (especially Debbie) missed the
> > most about our time there - we were used to easily findable and
> accessible
> > public libraries, and couldn't find such in Bangalore.
> >
> > -- Charles
> >
> > On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 05:04 Suresh Ramasubramanian <sur...@hserus.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Which city are you in?
> >>
> >> Plenty I know of in Chennai.  Bangalore has its fair share + second hand
> >> book stores like Blossoms.
> >>
> >> And there’s always the kindle / ipad and such.
> >>
> >> On 29/12/16, 9:59 AM, "silklist on behalf of Preetha Chari-Srinivas"
> >> <silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net on behalf of
> >> bling...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>Howdy folks,
> >>I would like to seek your suggestions on the recommended reading
> >>list/songs/nursery rhymes etc. for a 5-month old baby girl. Is there
> a
> >>lending library where we can get children's books from - just
> >> wondering for
> >>I haven't seen one in India, so far. Could be mistaken, though.
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >>Preetha.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

Re: [silk] Request - Recommended reading list / songs for a 5-month old baby girl

[Charles Haynes]

Suresh,

For future reference, could you please share the lending libraries of
Bangalore? That was one of the things we (especially Debbie) missed the
most about our time there - we were used to easily findable and accessible
public libraries, and couldn't find such in Bangalore.

-- Charles

On Fri, 30 Dec 2016 at 05:04 Suresh Ramasubramanian 
wrote:

> Which city are you in?
>
> Plenty I know of in Chennai.  Bangalore has its fair share + second hand
> book stores like Blossoms.
>
> And there’s always the kindle / ipad and such.
>
> On 29/12/16, 9:59 AM, "silklist on behalf of Preetha Chari-Srinivas"
>  bling...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Howdy folks,
> I would like to seek your suggestions on the recommended reading
> list/songs/nursery rhymes etc. for a 5-month old baby girl. Is there a
> lending library where we can get children's books from - just
> wondering for
> I haven't seen one in India, so far. Could be mistaken, though.
>
> Cheers,
> Preetha.
>
>
>
>
>

Re: [silk] Mysore Masala Dosa in Bangalore

[Charles Haynes]

+1 to Vidyarthi Bhavan. Had a dosa here in Melbourne just yesterday, it was
soggy and they FOLDED it. This place did have "mysore masala dosa"  on the
menu but I am unwilling to try it just to report back what they put in it.

-- Charles

On Fri., 9 Dec. 2016, 9:22 pm Namitha Jagadeesh, 
wrote:

> Second all the recommendations below. Vidyarthi Bhavan in Gandhi Bazaar
> pretty famous, can get crowded. You can sit but most of the times you'll
> share the table with others. Most Upahara Darshinis are good for masala
> dose too.
>
> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 11:10 AM, Venkat Mangudi - Silk <
> s...@venkatmangudi.com> wrote:
>
> > If you mean masala dosa with chutney smeared inside, that is just a
> > regular masala dosa here. It’s called Mysore Masala Dosa in Mumbai and
> > places north. Good dosas at
> >
> > 1. Central Tiffin Room, Malleswaram
> > 2. Dosa camp, Jayanagar
> > 3. Food street, V V Puram (no sitting)
> > and many many more places.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Venkat
> >
> >
> >
> > > On 08-Dec-2016, at 4:02 PM, Aditya Kapil  wrote:
> > >
> > > Anyone know any good Mysore Masala Dosa place in Bangalore? Preferably
> > > where one might sit and eat.
> > > Thanks, Adit.
> >
> >
>

Re: [silk] Things that are worth the money

[Charles Haynes]

Well in theory acquiring knowledge and skills doesn't impact the "scales"
in practice it's possible to become attached to acquiring knowledge and
skills in a "grasping" way too. To acquire them for the sake of having
them, to satisfy a craving. I've been doing that with digital media, and I
may end up self imposing a limit there too. Maybe 1 TB?

As I get older, I realize more and more that "you can have anything you
want, but you can't have everything you want." In that sense "worth the
money," "30kg," and "1 TB" are all ways to get you to prioritise. To think
about what really matters to you and in that sense they're all helpful ways
of thinking about your "things."

-- Charles

On Wed, 30 Nov 2016 at 00:53 Dave Long  wrote:

> > My partner Debbie and I have 30kg of stuff.
>
>
> That's a handy constraint, in that you both can acquire arbitrary
> amounts of knowledge and skills without any impact on the scales.
>
> Riffing off of Aristippus' advice to give one's children the sort of
> assets which would swim out of a shipwreck with them, and the
> original blog post's mention of books, I'd say (having learned the
> hard way myself) that for disciplines which are difficult to learn
> from books, it's worth paying more for better teachers.
>
> -Dave
>
>
>

Re: [silk] Things that are worth the money

[Charles Haynes]

My partner Debbie and I have 30kg of stuff. Each. That's it. (Ok, right
this minute we're actually living in a house! With housemates! So we've
bought a few more "things" that we will leave behind when we leave, but the
general rule remains.)

So every single thing we own must satisfy one or both of the criteria:

   1. It's beautiful
   2. You love it

When you only own one of a thing, or you can only have one of the ten
things you think you want the cost becomes less important and the beauty
and lasting love for it becomes much more significant. For the last ten
years I've carried around a ten-inch chef's knife that I love, but I think
it's time to leave it behind. I can't imagine buying pre-cut vegetables -
the joy I get from picking out the perfect eggplant, cutting it just so
with the perfect tool, and cooking it just the way I like it versus saving
a few minutes in preparing food is just not worth it to me.

Oh - I bought a new 13" MacBook Pro. :)

-- Charles

On Tue, 29 Nov 2016 at 15:49 Vinayak Hegde  wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 9:38 AM, Amitha Singh 
> wrote:
> > On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 8:26 AM, Udhay Shankar N 
> wrote:
> >
> >> I saw a post by Ramit Sethi [1] that got me thinking.
> >>
> >> What, to you, are the things that are worth the extra that you might
> pay?
> >>
> >> My incomplete list:
> >>
> >> Shoes, computers, fragrance.
> >>
> >> Udhay
> >>
> >>
> >> [1] http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/5-things-that-are-worth-
> >> the-money
> >>
> >> --
> >> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
> >>
> >> Coming out of the woodwork for this! :)
> >
> > I have been trying to follow the concept of simplistic living over the
> past
> > 7 years. Buy only what you need, buy only on cash and not credit, give
> away
> > things you haven't used for 9-12 months (barring sarees ;)) and so on...
> Of
> > course my 14-year old daughter hates it because according to her she is
> in
> > the "want" stage of life and doesn't like to be content with just "needs"
> >
> > Having said that, over these years that I have chosen this path, I've
> > realized there are three things I absolutely cannot resist splurging on -
> > books, travel and sports goods (Decathlon has been my Waterloo for years
> > now)
> > So I have made sure these three go in to my "need for the soul" list!
> (Note
> > how I've convinced myself these are still "needs" and not "wants"!)
>
> I think this article is pertinent to this thread. I often found that I
> use this "mental accounting" both to spend and justify it as well.
>
>
> http://qz.com/825006/this-classic-thought-experiment-explains-the-weird-decisions-we-make-about-spending-money/
>
> -- Vinayak
>
>

Re: [silk] Bump in the road, or end of the road?

[Charles Haynes]

"any task that can be well defined is inherently capable of being automated"

Why do you believe this? Math is littered with well defined unsolved
problems. Just because you can define it doesn't mean it's even possible,
much less automatable.

It's certainly possible that we will automate ourselves out of the need for
"jobs" but that's only a problem if you believe that existing structures of
wealth accumulation and distribution are appropriate for such a world. It
seems obvious that they are not. It could be unrest, or it could be an
unparalleled opportunity to provide basic needs universally and allow for
unprecedented creativity.

-- Charles

On Tue, 18 Oct 2016 at 12:21 Srini RamaKrishnan  wrote:

> The benediction and curse of the age of automation is that any task that
> can be well defined is inherently capable of being automated.
>
> There's no sugar coating this, a vast majority of middle class jobs across
> industries are going to disappear in the next decade or two. The
> aftershocks of this are getting noticeable with more frequent calls for
> universal basic income (UBI) and the rise of demagogues on the back of
> social unrest.
>
> Silicon valley start ups, and Wall Street are gold rush cultures - by
> design they are chaotic, wild, ill defined and risky. Though they will
> remain fertile in opportunity, it's not everyone's cup of tea.
>
> Gig economies and service industries will thrive in the near term, but they
> don't make a career.
>
> We are entering a phase of social unrest and adjustment like never before.
> This is a far scarier conclusion than the end of IT.
>
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 16, 2016 at 3:34 PM, Bhaskar Dasgupta 
> wrote:
>
> > i was interviewing for one of the IT corporates some time back for their
> > COO position and once i managed to dig a bit into their financials, i
> > backed out. the majority of their revenue streams are from processing in
> > advanced stuff, processing code, processing transactions, processing
> > quality control. They do this very well. Very very well. standardise the
> > process, six sigma the shit out of it, hire the great unwashed herd of
> > graduates pouring out of the universities - retrain them to be great
> > processors and great business model. But this kind of model is very
> > susceptible to dis-intermediation from further advances in technology.
> When
> > I asked if can have some serious seed funding to develop products rather
> > than just provide services, there was a bit of a hoo ha. I think a
> product
> > plus service model is the best option, create great products and then
> have
> > a long tail in services and maintenance contracts. we have some of these
> > products but not enough. not easy to develop products - the eco-system
> > isn’t there yet.
> >
> > so whilst i don’t think its the end of the road, but for example, every 2
> > months I am in a conference where vendors pitch up talking about robotic
> > process improvement or AI and how they are showing 20–50% reduction in
> warm
> > bodies in agency/outsourced/offshored units. Where will these 20-50% of
> > highly trained processors go when the infosys or TCS lets them go?
> > Thankfully the economy is ginormous and we are well accustomed to poverty
> > and pain and still have the joint / extended family to fall back upon.
> But
> > for the IT industry? pain...
> >
> > i agree with Srini, changing careers is not easy for us desi’s….(says the
> > man who has made a career of changing careers, heh).
> >
>

Re: [silk] Headspace and similar meditation "services"

[Charles Haynes]

I agree with Thaths unsurprisingly. Debbie and I use one of the simple
timer/tracker apps (insight timer) and it's working well for us, but
anything that gets you into a regular practice is good.

I wish I had a way to tell the app "add  to the duration
every " like "10 seconds per day" or "one minute per week."

Just sit!

-- Charles

On Sat, 10 Sep 2016, 1:39 PM Nandkumar Saravade  wrote:

>
>
> > On 10-Sep-2016, at 3:38 AM, Prashant P Kothari 
> wrote:
> >
> >> On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Srijith Nair  wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I have been looking at doing guided meditation for several reasons.
> >> Apps/services like Headspace (headspace.com) seem to offer good
> options.
> >> I was wondering if any of the silklisters have any experience on using
> >> such apps or in general on (technology) guided meditation? I have just
> >> started on the free Level 1 series, but it is too early to tell.
> >>
> >> One thing I am realising about myself is that I seem to work better with
> >> technology-mediated services (FitStar is an example that comes to mind)
> >> than with personal/group trainer based sessions. Not sure why, but that
> >> is a different exercise in navel-gazing altogether :)
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Srijith
> >>
> >
> > I have tried a few classes/ CDs for meditation over the years but
> couldn't
> > find something that I could convert into a practice until I found
> Headspace
> > and 10% Happier.  Been using both apps (alternate every other month) and
> > love them... do one module from either most days.
> >
> > I'm a fan of the 10% Happier podcasts as well
> >
> > Best
> > Prashant
>
> I have been using the Yoganidra technique for last several years (
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_nidra) and find it very effective.
> Eventually, my entire family took to using it.
>
> My son Advait has created a free Android app for guided meditation. Called
> Deep Relax, it combines elements of Yoganidra and binaural tones. You may
> want to check it out at
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.advait.saravade.relax=en
>
>
> Regards,
> Nandkumar
>

Re: [silk] Immortality Begins at Forty

[Charles Haynes]

Oh my goodness that young person is absorbed in so much crap that doesn't
matter.

On Tue, 10 May 2016 at 13:33 Shenoy N  wrote:

> I quite enjoyed reading it. Self wankery, without doubt, as Thaths
> correctly diagnoses it, but lots of terrific quotes, worthy of inclusion
> into the Unix fortune cookies file, if they ever do that one again. My
> faves:
>
> Time, of course, is the merciless slaughterer of all these infinitely
> qualified anchors of the meaning of life. Wait long enough, and every truth
> will crumble. Wait long enough, and every value will dissolve into moral
> ambiguity. Wait long enough, and every habit will decay, first into ritual,
> then into farce. Wait long enough, and every slain demon will rise again.
>
>
> The transience of the seemingly permanent is well-recognized, even though
> Buddhists around the world work hard to mystify it
>
> On 10 May 2016 at 08:30, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
>
> > On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 8:12 AM, Thaths  wrote:
> >
> > I'm in my 40's and dammit I don't want to waste it reading
> > > intellectual-self-wankery premised on dubious extrapolations from
> limited
> > > first-world data sets.
> > >
> >
> > ​"Self-wankery" reminds me of the awesome Madras expression "self
> > suicide".​
> >
> > ​Udhay​
> >
> > --
> >
> > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Narendra Shenoy
> http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com
>

Re: [silk] The Need for Guaranteed Basic Income or why Kiran is worried sick

[Charles Haynes]

You misspelled makaʻāinana (ʻokina not ` backtick, and you missed a kahakō)

You're welcome.
-- Charles (haole not makaʻāinana)

On Mon, 2 May 2016 at 23:22 Dave Long  wrote:

> > http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/4/the-history-of-mana-how-an-
> > austronesian-concept-became-a-video-game-mechanic
>
> Nice.  I must admit my knowledge is also based more on Michener (and
> travel) than much research, but...
>
> Mana: we can't point to it, or measure it, or count it[0], but
> believe us, if you have it, you'll succeed, and if you fail,
> obviously you either never had it or failed to use it properly[1]...
>
> -Dave
>
> [0] unless, that is, we're charging you per seat ...
> [1] what?  didn't you remember to sacrifice a maka`ainana under the
> corner office?
>
>
>

Re: [silk] Luck Matters More Than You Might Think

[Charles Haynes]

Strongly agree. I'm smart, but my success, such as it is, is more luck than
skill.

That said - luck favors the prepared, and "the more I practice, the luckier
I get."

-- Charles

On Tue, 19 Apr 2016 at 11:18 Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> This strikes a chord. I work with early stage technology entrepreneurs, and
> have done for over 2 decades (this includes the dot.com boom, a period
> that
> has special relevance to this topic) I have come across several people who,
> through some confluence of circumstances, have made a lot of money. The
> temptation (including for the people involved) is to imagine this is
> because they were smart. This is almost certainly not true, as can easily
> be demonstrated by the fact that there are always many other people who are
> demonstrably at least as smart who have not succeeded.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Udhay
>
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/why-luck-matters-more-than-you-might-think/476394/
>
> Why Luck Matters More Than You Might Think
>
> When people see themselves as self-made, they tend to be less generous and
> public-spirited.
>
> ROBERT H. FRANK  MAY 2016 ISSUE   BUSINESS
>
> I’m a lucky man. Perhaps the most extreme example of my considerable good
> fortune occurred one chilly Ithaca morning in November 2007, while I was
> playing tennis with my longtime friend and collaborator, the Cornell
> psychologist Tom Gilovich. He later told me that early in the second set, I
> complained of feeling nauseated. The next thing he knew, I was lying
> motionless on the court.
>
> He yelled for someone to call 911, and then started pounding on my
> chest—something he’d seen many times in movies but had never been trained
> to do. He got a cough out of me, but seconds later I was again motionless
> with no pulse. Very shortly, an ambulance showed up.
>
> Ithaca’s ambulances are dispatched from the other side of town, more than
> five miles away. How did this one arrive so quickly? By happenstance, just
> before I collapsed, ambulances had been dispatched to two separate auto
> accidents close to the tennis center. Since one of them involved no serious
> injuries, an ambulance was able to peel off and travel just a few hundred
> yards to me. EMTs put electric paddles on my chest and rushed me to our
> local hospital. There, I was loaded onto a helicopter and flown to a larger
> hospital in Pennsylvania, where I was placed on ice overnight.
>
> Doctors later told me that I’d suffered an episode of sudden cardiac
> arrest. Almost 90 percent of people who experience such episodes don’t
> survive, and the few who do are typically left with significant
> impairments. And for three days after the event, my family tells me, I
> spoke gibberish. But on day four, I was discharged from the hospital with a
> clear head. Two weeks later, I was playing tennis with Tom again.
>
> If that ambulance hadn’t happened to have been nearby, I would be dead.
>
> Not all random events lead to favorable outcomes, of course. Mike Edwards
> is no longer alive because chance frowned on him. Edwards, formerly a
> cellist in the British pop band the Electric Light Orchestra, was driving
> on a rural road in England in 2010 when a 1,300-pound bale of hay rolled
> down a steep hillside and landed on his van, crushing him. By all accounts,
> he was a decent, peaceful man. That a bale of hay snuffed out his life was
> bad luck, pure and simple.
>
> Most people will concede that I’m fortunate to have survived and that
> Edwards was unfortunate to have perished. But in other arenas, randomness
> can play out in subtler ways, causing us to resist explanations that
> involve luck. In particular, many of us seem uncomfortable with the
> possibility that personal success might depend to any significant extent on
> chance. As E. B. White once wrote, “Luck is not something you can mention
> in the presence of self-made men.”
>
> Seeing ourselves as self-made leads us to be less generous and
> public-spirited.
> My having cheated death does not make me an authority on luck. But it has
> motivated me to learn much more about the subject than I otherwise would
> have. In the process, I have discovered that chance plays a far larger role
> in life outcomes than most people realize. And yet, the luckiest among us
> appear especially unlikely to appreciate our good fortune. According to the
> Pew Research Center, people in higher income brackets are much more likely
> than those with lower incomes to say that individuals get rich primarily
> because they work hard. Other surveys bear this out: Wealthy people
> overwhelmingly attribute their own success to hard work rather than to
> factors like luck or being in the right place at the right time.
>
> That’s troubling, because a growing body of evidence suggests that seeing
> ourselves as self-made—rather than as talented, hardworking, and
> lucky—leads us to be less generous and public-spirited. It may even make
> the lucky less likely to 

Re: [silk] intro

[Charles Haynes]

Hi Maia. Nice to see you step out of the shadows. :) I'll be interested to
see if anyone tries to explain what Silklist is about.

-- Charles

On Tue, 5 Jan 2016 at 22:10 maia sauren  wrote:

> hello all. i've been lurking for a few months. still not entirely sure what
> this list is for, or about, but it seems lively and interesting, and
> contains interesting people.
>
> i've recently relocated to hyderbad from melbourne, here for a year (or
> more - that decision is to be made later).
>
> i do, among other things:
> - things that are science, though the official parts of that are mostly in
> my past life - used to be a biomedical engineering researcher
> - things that are open, particularly around the intersection of software &
> science, and lately, software and healthcare, mostly in and around my
> dayjob
> - food, at all stages of its formation and disformation
> - cryptic crosswords, hoping to graduate to languages other than english
> - queer, feminist, non-cis-het life and activism
> - knitting
> - community building
> - reading and writing all kinds of stuff.
>
> nice to make your acquaintance.
>
> cheers
> maia
>

Re: [silk] Not quite your dad's cup of tea

[Charles Haynes]

Heather there were a few studies out of the USSR that seemed to show an
effect but they have not been replicated and so are considered at best
inconclusive, could it have been one of them? I'd be interested in any more
recent study. Distilled water is standard on US Navy ships and there have
been studies looking for effects without finding them.

On Mon, 14 Dec 2015, 2:35 PM Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 8:55 AM, Heather Madrone 
> wrote:
>
> > One study I read about a dozen years ago showed that a higher rate of
> > osteoporosis in people who drank a lot of RO water, even if they took
> > calcium supplements.
>
>
> ​Got a citation?
>
> (I suspect that South Indians, who tend to consume plenty of calcium via
> dairy products such as curd, will have less to worry about in this context
> anyway)​
>
> Udhay
> --
>
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>

Re: [silk] Not quite your dad's cup of tea

[Charles Haynes]

I believe water treated with reverse osmosis may be better for you
especially if the local water is suspect or hard and at worst does no harm.
I think any concerns come from the realm of magical thinking. "It's a
process I don't understand and it seems like magic. Maybe it has other
magically bad effects."

Just drink pure rain water and vodka. You'll be right.

-- Charles

On Mon, 14 Dec 2015, 12:41 AM Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 8, 2015 at 7:09 PM, Nikhil Mehra 
> wrote:
>
> Minerals. I believe the issue was that there were more than enough minerals
> > in the water. Anyway, bit of an off the cuff email. Let me round up the
> > material I collected at the time and write a more detailed email to you.
> >
>
> ​So, anyone want to comment on the health effects (good and bad) of long
> term use of RO treated water?​
>
> The scientific consensus at this point seems to be that it is overall a
> good thing. Most of the folks saying it is a bad thing tend to quote this
> study [1] but that is a suspect one [2]. WHO itself seems to contradict it
> in this paper [3].
>
> ​Udhay​
>
> [1] http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf
> [2]
>
> https://www.wqa.org/Portals/0/Technical/Technical%20Fact%20Sheets/1993_ConsumptionOfLowTDSWater.pdf
> [3] http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/43836/1/9789241563550_eng.pdf
> --
>
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>

Re: [silk] The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work

[Charles Haynes]

How can we enable incremental improvements in privacy and security? My
impression of security software development has been that there's a very
"all or nothing" attitude. If your software has any weakness it's viewed as
worthless, even if it's an improvement over the current state of software
in use.

How do we avoid "the perfect is the enemy of the good?"

-- Charles

On Sat, 5 Dec 2015 at 02:02 Ramakrishna Reddy  wrote:

> Rogway tries to describe the moral responsibilities of the
> cryptographic community — responsibilities that, he believes, that
> community has failed to live up to. Worth a read. "We need to erect a
> much expanded commons on the Internet. We need to realize popular
> services in a secure, distributed, and decentralized way, powered by
> free software and free/open hardware. We need to build systems beyond
> the reach of super-sized companies and spy agencies. Such services
> must be based on strong cryptography. Emphasizing that prerequisite,
> we need to expand our cryptographic commons."
>
> http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/moral.html
>
> --
> Ramakrishna Reddy   GPG Key
> ID:67E226F5
> Fingerprint =  BA51 9241 72B9 7DBD 1A9A  E717 ABB2 9BAD 67E2 26F5
>
>

Re: [silk] Bay area meet-up?

[Charles Haynes]

Will you go out for Authentic Mexican Food™?

-- Charles

On 21 October 2015 at 18:10, Venkat Mangudi - Silk 
wrote:

> Anyone interested in one? Say 29th Oct?
>
> Venkat
>

Re: [silk] Indo-Mexican fusion restaurants and recipes

[Charles Haynes]

You and I should do a Mexican-Indian fusion dinner some time. I'll probably
be in Sydney sometime in the next month or so, or next time you're in
Melbourne...

-- Charles

On 21 October 2015 at 18:07, Thaths  wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 6:02 PM Thaths  wrote:
>
> > These days my culinary skills are put to simple pursuits of feeding
> > friends and family.
> >
> >
> Also, what passes for Mexican food in Sydney sucks. So I have mostly been
> making my own sauces, salsas and dishes.
>
> Thaths
>

Re: [silk] Indo-Mexican fusion restaurants and recipes

[Charles Haynes]

Dal Makni made with black beans, cumin, and cilantro.
Channa masala made with mexican spices
Cochinta pibil made with kokam and tumeric

Just off the top of my head. ;)

On 21 October 2015 at 11:44, Thaths  wrote:

> Inspired by the biography of M.N.Roy for the last couple of years I've been
> thinking of Indo-Mexican cuisine's possibilities. There are a handful
>  of  restaurants
>  around the world that serve this food, but
> I've haven't been to any of them yet (came close to going to Avataar's in
> Sausalito, but they were closed the day I walked to Sausalito from San
> Francisco). Their menus seem to full of "curry" in mexican clothing
> (Chicken Tikka Burrito, Prawn vindaloo enchiladas..., you get the idea). I
> was thinking of food that was fused the other direction.
>
> Some of the potential dishes I've been dreaming of:
>
> Bhel puri with chorizo (or soyrizo), pico de gallo, sour cream
>
> Pani puri with tomatillo rasam
>
> Uppuma made with masa harina
>
> ...
>
> What are some dishes that you think would make great Indo-Mexican dishes?
>
> Bonus points if you can actually whip up and share a recipe.
>
> Thaths
>

Re: [silk] Indo-Mexican fusion restaurants and recipes

[Charles Haynes]

Habanero bills itself as "Tex-Mex" which, while potentially delicious, is
not "Mexican." (It does, however look relatively authentically Tex-Mex. The
proof is in the eating, anyone can write a menu.)

Chinita does not look especially Mexican either. The menu looks pretty
generic. "Mexican" food is pretty regional - Oaxacan food is quite
different from Yucatecan food for example. "Mexican" food makes about as
much sense as "Indian" food.

-- Charles (grew up on the Mexican border, has travelled in Mexico, loves
Yucatecan food.)


On 21 October 2015 at 14:24, Lakshmi Pratury  wrote:

> The only one that I have been to is "habaneros" http://www.habanero.in/
>
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 8:04 AM, Biju Chacko 
> wrote:
>
> > Starting the obligatory thread drift: does anyone know of an authentic
> > Mexican restaurant in Bangalore? I've experienced little Mexican food and
> > I'd like to fix that.
> >
> > -- b
> > On Oct 21, 2015 06:14, "Thaths"  wrote:
> >
> > > Inspired by the biography of M.N.Roy for the last couple of years I've
> > been
> > > thinking of Indo-Mexican cuisine's possibilities. There are a handful
> > >  of 
> > restaurants
> > >  around the world that serve this food,
> but
> > > I've haven't been to any of them yet (came close to going to Avataar's
> in
> > > Sausalito, but they were closed the day I walked to Sausalito from San
> > > Francisco). Their menus seem to full of "curry" in mexican clothing
> > > (Chicken Tikka Burrito, Prawn vindaloo enchiladas..., you get the
> idea).
> > I
> > > was thinking of food that was fused the other direction.
> > >
> > > Some of the potential dishes I've been dreaming of:
> > >
> > > Bhel puri with chorizo (or soyrizo), pico de gallo, sour cream
> > >
> > > Pani puri with tomatillo rasam
> > >
> > > Uppuma made with masa harina
> > >
> > > ...
> > >
> > > What are some dishes that you think would make great Indo-Mexican
> dishes?
> > >
> > > Bonus points if you can actually whip up and share a recipe.
> > >
> > > Thaths
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> *Lakshmi Pratury*
> Host and Curator
> +91 99456 56864
> *inktalks.com  | twitter
>  | facebook
>  | INK blog *
>
>
> *INKtalks for you
> <
> http://www.inktalks.com/discover/289/anu-vaidyanathan-india-s-first-triathlete
> >*
>

[silk] Peter G Neumman explains "the Zipf mystery"

[Charles Haynes]

Statistical Metalinguistics and Zipf/Pareto/Mandelbrot
I frequently see cryptic
references to the magic of Zipf or Pareto or Mandelbrot, with reference to
linguistic and other structures, and sometimes in the context of 80-20
rules relating to almost anything. (See Note.)

There is no surprise at all in the Zipf/Pareto/Mandelbrot theories once you
understand that each formula can be derived mathematically. In 1959, my old
Russo-Belgian friend Vitold Belevitch [2 Mar 1921--*26 Dec 1999] (see On
the Statistical Laws of Linguistic Distribution, *Ann. Soc. Sci. Bruxelles
73,* III, 1959, 310-326) considered a wide class of more or less
well-behaved statistical distributions (normal or whatever), and performed
a functional rearrangement that represents the frequency as a function of
rank-ordered decreasing frequency, and then did a Taylor expansion of the
resulting formula. Belevitch's lovely result is that "Zipf's Law" follows
directly as the first-order truncation of the Taylor series. Furthermore,
"Mandelbrot's Law" (which seem even more curious and mysterious to most
people) follow immediately as the second-order truncation.
and this delightful tidbit later (possibly apropos the recent thread about
language and how we think)Multiply-Mixed Metaphor Mania

* Pandora's cat is out of the barn, and the genie won't go back in the
closet. [This polymorphic statement can be variously applied to
cryptography, export controls, viruses, spam, terrorism, outsourcing, and
many other issues.]

* It's like shooting a straw herring in midstream. [Straw men have a
difficult time catching red herrings!] An alternative version that I have
used is ``It's like flogging a straw herring in the foot.''

* In an article by John Schwartz in *The New York Times*, 30 Mar 2001, on
Internet technologies in business, reflecting on the acceleration being a
double-edged sword, I was quoted as saying, ``Many of the swords have more
than two edges -- sort of a Swiss Army Knife with the blades in upside
down, so that you keep cutting yourself on some of the implements whenever
you try to take one out.''
but really the whole thing  is just a
delight to read. Thank you Peter.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The Name of the Road

[Charles Haynes]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 11:12 PM, Lahar Appaiah  wrote:

> Surely one of these places can be called The Island of the Day Before?
>
> On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 3:21 PM, Dave Long  wrote:
>
> > I once lived in a town where referring to landmarks by what had been
> there
> > before was a matter of "ancient" usage and custom.
> ...
> > Now I live someplace where this game is played by designating regions by
> > their names from a few thousand years ago; the scope is grander but the
> > tactics remain the same.
>

I have started calling Melbourne "Marr" somewhat in this spirit.
Fortunately (or not) I have yet to encounter any Wurundjeri who know what
it was called before it was Marr.

Mostly though I do it to encourage discussion about the fact that this
place already had a name.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The Name of the Road

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 1:33 PM, James Bonilla 
wrote:

> Native populations often significantly reshaped landscapes and areas.
>

For sure. For example it's quite suggestive that large marsupials in
Australia became extinct around the time that humans first arrived.


> Does that strengthen or weaken the case for renaming Mebourne to Marr?
>

How would it be relevant? In any case, it's not "renaming" to Marr, Marr is
already the name for this area. If anything Melbourne is the "renaming" and
if morality is a criterion for being allowed to rename something, then
Melbourne would seem to have even less justification than Marr.


> Heaven knows. The native populations cannot be considered to totally lack
> instrumental ability, the ability to colonize or the ability to engage in
> environmentally destructive activity.
>

Was someone suggesting otherwise?

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The Name of the Road

[Charles Haynes]

Oops

s/if morality is a criterion/if morality were a criterion/

I'm mortified that I misused the subjunctive.

Please forgive,
-- Charles

Re: [silk] What does success mean?

[Charles Haynes]

Save all sentient beings, overcome all imperfection, completely know the
Dharma, attain enlightenment.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Fwd: Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 5:10 AM, Vinayak Hegde vinay...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 8:09 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:
  We've had (parts of) this discussion here before, but this is worth a
  read. Especially interested in Charles' response to this one.
 
  Udhay

 Another article on Wine Tasting is bullshit series
 http://www.vox.com/2015/5/20/8625785/expensive-wine-taste-cheap


I wouldn't say bullshit as much as subject to well known biases. That's
why I recommend double blind tastings, and buying the wines YOU like in
those tastings regardless of the price or what anyone else thinks. That's
how an avowed Champagne snob (me!) started drinking Cava.

However, having done double blind tastings that included Indian wines, I
can safely say that I'd rather drink something else. (As of a few years
ago, perhaps they've improved since then. I'd be willing to try if someone
told me not just that they were good but that they had improved a lot.)

Typical wine tastings where everyone stands around informally quaffing
various known wines and eating finger foods are a fine way to socialise but
a terrible way to judge wine. Even going to wineries and tasting there
isn't all that great because you are usually tasting a bunch of different
styles of wine, and you're subject to all the biases that come from not
tasting blind.

That doesn't mean that wine tasting is bullshit, that there aren't
significant differences between wines, that people can discern those
differences, or that there can be a consensus on good and bad wines. It
does mean that you have to taste wines for yourself to figure out what you
like, and if what you like is available at a good price then you win!

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The Jade Helm conspiracy

[Charles Haynes]

If you liked that, you owe it to yourself to read Molly Ivins.

Here are a few choice quotes:

“As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can't drink their
whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway,
you don't belong in office.”
― Molly Ivins http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/98880.Molly_Ivins

“I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the
first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A
general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness.
We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't
ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives.”
― Molly Ivins http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/98880.Molly_Ivins

“There are two kinds of humor. One kind that makes us chuckle about our
foibles and our shared humanity -- like what Garrison Keillor does. The
other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule -- that's what I
do. Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the
powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the
powerless, it is not only cruel -- it's vulgar. ”
― Molly Ivins http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/98880.Molly_Ivins

On Thu, May 7, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 Because a truly incandescent rant is a thing of beauty. I wish someone
 would write like this about the many, many idiot politicians we have in
 India.

 Udhay

 http://m.dailykos.com/stories/1382733

 Meet the Jade Helm conspiracy theory: The federal government's plot to
 invade Texas
 May 06, 2015 8:10am PDT by Hunter


 The supposed Jade Helm 15 conspiracy may be the single stupidest thing to
 come out of Texas in 20 years, and for a state that has reliably given us
 such treasures as Louie Gohmert, Steve Stockman, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, and
 George W. Bush himself that is saying something.

 It may not even be possible to adequately convey how stupid this story is.
 There may not be words in the English language—there may in fact be no
 words in any language, simply because no civilization has yet existed that
 ever needed to convey a stupidity as deep or as empty-headed as would apply
 here. It is a stupidity so stupid that we may be able to use it as future
 measure of the viability of nation-states; if a majority of any definable
 population is stupid enough to believe this thing, it is evidence that that
 population has lost the intellectual ability to maintain a government.

 Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered members of the Texas Military to
 monitor federal troops in an upcoming two-month training exercise planned
 for the Lone Star State.

 Let us explain. Below the fold we go, not because we want to but because we
 have to.

 Let us explain. Jade Helm 15 is the latest in a very long series of
 whimsically titled training exercises conducted by the U.S. military in
 order to maintain troop readiness, test combat strategies, and otherwise
 work out the kinks in America's reliably top-notch ability to blow the holy
 hell out of any nation on Earth with a single presidential phone call. This
 particular one will be a two-month-long affair meant to simulate special
 operations in a the brutally harsh environment of a third-world desert
 hellhole—hence the choice of Texas—and will feature some of the nation's
 most skilled special operations experts, including the Rangers, the Green
 Berets, and the Navy SEALs. Like all similar operations, it is likely to
 funnel serious cash into local coffers, but otherwise is not likely to have
 any noticeable impact on state residents aside from the inconvenience of
 having to pass lines of camo-painted Humvees on local freeways as troops
 make their way to and from the training grounds.

 None of this would merit more than a few stories in the local papers, had
 not some of America's singularly stupidest patriots(TM) decided that it was
 all a cunning ruse. Because Obama. And Muslims. And FEMA.

 The announcement follows weeks of growing public outcry over the training
 event. Super right-wing news websites first circulated an Army document
 describing the planned exercise in March, and since then a broad theory of
 military plans to subdue Texans and institute martial law has emerged.
 Indeed. There are internet websites devoted to claiming everything from
 childhood vaccinations to Burrito Night at your local community center are
 in preparation for instituting martial law. We call the purveyors of those
 sites lunatics and morons, and we generally try to avoid paying attention
 to them. Town meetings do admittedly tend to attract these people, because
 lunatics and morons tend to have considerably more free time on their hands
 than you or I, but yelling your internet-sourced, deeply stupid,
 in-all-probablilty-drug-fueled theory into a microphone does not make it
 more intelligent. It just makes it louder.

 At this point, newly ensconced Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could 

Re: [silk] Is any industry actually profitable?

[Charles Haynes]

By that token, it's clear that the marginal costs of adding human beings to
the planet outweigh the benefits.

-- Charles



On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 3:42 PM, Rajesh Mehar rajeshme...@gmail.com wrote:

 
 
  But to be
  fair, one needs to note that neither do balance sheets capture social
  benefits (quality of life after Company ABC set up in a remote area,
  perhaps?)​
 

 Recently I read that farmers protesting the Jaitapur power plant (
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaitapur_Nuclear_Power_Project) explicitly
 articulated their views on this. I'm paraphrasing from memory as They take
 away our land and then employ us as peons and orderlies. Even if the money
 we earn is more, our standing in society becomes that of a servant. We
 don't want their jobs. Tell them to leave our land alone.

Re: [silk] The least random number

[Charles Haynes]

When we were about to move to Bangalore in 2007 Chris Kantarjiev said we
had to join this list.

-- Charles

On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 8:12 PM, Biju Chacko biju.cha...@gmail.com wrote:

 Jace suggested I join silk some time in 2001 I guess. I remember some epic
 threads those days. Things are very tame nowadays.

 -- b

 On Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:30 Amitha Singh amithasi...@gmail.com wrote:

  Some time in 2000 when we were using our Grey Cells to find a mythical
  creature, Unimobile (not related in any way to the Unicorn) and you
 invited
  me to join in one afternoon when bunch of us were talking about the
  universe, psychology, technology and everything else under the sun!
 
  Amitha
 

Re: [silk] best indian whisky and rum ?

[Charles Haynes]

On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 5:37 PM, Mahesh Murthy mahesh.mur...@gmail.com
wrote:

 If you have a friend in the Armed Forces who has access to a CSD canteen, I
 am told Sulas are available for close to Rs. 100 a bottle.

 Quite ridiculously cheap for nice stuff.


Seems about right for stuff that isn't even as good as two buck chuck.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] What book changed your mind?

[Charles Haynes]

 Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama by Daniel
Goleman

As a rationalist and skeptic, I had been extremely suspicious of woo woo
claims about meditation, but I was interested is Dan Goleman's research
into meditation and stress and I was intrigued by the scientific dialog
claim. I was reading along with a rather skeptical attitude when I ran
across a chapter talking about an experiment that Paul Ekman did with a
trained meditator, in which he suppressed his startle reflex. That should
not be possible! Digging further I discovered that meditation does seem to
have objective measurable effects and I now meditate daily. Because of this
book.

-- Charles

On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 12:57 AM, John Sundman j...@wetmachine.com wrote:

 I was happy to see The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the
 Bicameral Mind on the list in the Chronicle (although it's more than 30
 years old. Closer to 40, I think.)  I remember reading it shortly after it
 came out, and while some of its conclusions seemed a bit of a stretch, it
 was certainly provocative  answered questions that I had never thought
 about but which are in fact interesting  legitimate.

 If I had to choose 1 non-fiction book that has changed my mind it would be
 Hofstadter's Goedel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.  (It too is dates
 from 1970's but if Jaynes gets in, then I'll assume Hofstadter can too.)
 This book changed me in two ways. The first was in tying together the
 various ideas about recursion, self-similarity, and of course the Strange
 Loop, and the provocative thesis that strange loops are at the core of
 self-awareness  consciousness (which I believe is very likely on the right
 track  which has certainly influenced me as a novelist; all of my work
 touches on this central idea in one way or another).

 The second way that the book changed me was in convincing me that I could
 understand concepts that had scared me away before I read it. I graduated
 from college in 1974, a few years before I read GEB. In college I didn't
 take a single math (maths) course or course in logic. After college I
 spent 2 years in the Peace Corps, most of that time living in a mud hut on
 the edge of the Sahara, a full day's travel from reliable electricity or
 running water. I was interested in agriculture  my philosophy was pretty
 romantic -- still feeling the after effects of the whole hippie thing.  GEB
 showed me that what I really love, where I'm really at home, is in the geek
 world where ideas  fixations like his predominate.

 jrs



 On Nov 14, 2014, at 5:29 PM, Thaths wrote:

  This post
  http://chronicle.com/article/What-Book-Changed-Your-Mind-/149839/ of
  people talking about the books that changed their minds made me
 wonder
 
  Which book made *you*, dear Silk lister, change your mind? How?
 
  A handful of books have had such an impact on me. I need to whittle it
 down
  to one.
 
  Thaths
  PS: The annual Silk List Book Recommendations thread is starting early
 this
  year.

Re: [silk] Podcasts with transcripts

[Charles Haynes]

I 3 99% Invisible. You should treat yourself to the audio, Roman Mars has
a great voice.

-- Charles

On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 2:07 PM, Bharat Shetty bharat.she...@gmail.com
wrote:

 I recently began reading the transcripts for audio podcasts for these:

 1. Roman Mars podcasts:
 http://99percentinvisible.org/category/episode/page/15/

 2. Freakonomics podcasts:

 http://freakonomics.com/category/freakonomics-radio/transcripts/podcast-transcripts/page/5/

 3. BBC A History of the World podcasts:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/about/transcripts/episode1/

 I'm wondering if there are other podcasts which are very interesting and
 highly informative. I'd like to know some of them in the hope there might
 be transcripts floating around for those. So please pour the collections of
 podcasts that you are fond of!

 Regards,
 Bharat

Re: [silk] Podcasts with transcripts

[Charles Haynes]

Ah then I'm happy they make transcripts available because the content is
awesome!

-- Charles
On Nov 13, 2014 4:54 PM, Bharat Shetty bharat.she...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 10:13 AM, Charles Haynes charles.hay...@gmail.com
 
 wrote:

  I 3 99% Invisible. You should treat yourself to the audio, Roman Mars
 has
  a great voice.
 
  -- Charles
 

 I'd love to. But the thing is, since I'm a hearing impaired guy, cannot
 treat myself to that unfortunately. Hence the mail in the hope that a lot
 of audio podcasts out there have transcripts.

 Regards,
 Bharat

Re: [silk] Books and libraries

[Charles Haynes]

I keep all my books in epub, but have considered getting a Kindle device.
Calibre will convert to un-DRMed Kindle format if you're willing to do a
bit of work. Last time I looked it was also possible to put an epub reader
on a rooted Kindle if you want to go that route.

On the other hand, those PocketBooks look nice...

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Long Now's Manual for Civilization Lists

[Charles Haynes]

I wonder how many of the books will be in Chinese. They say they aren't
limiting nominations to english, but selection bias and subsequent voting
bias will be huge.

-- Charles

On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 2:55 PM, skn s...@skn.fastmail.fm wrote:

 Long Now Foundation has a very interesting project - Manual for
 Civilization Lists, roughly 3500 books most essential to sustain or
 rebuild civilization.
 http://blog.longnow.org/02014/02/06/manual-for-civilization-begins/

 The recent blog post on the subject has list from David Brin, Bruce
 Sterling  Daniel Suarez

 http://blog.longnow.org/02014/09/29/science-fiction-authors-manual-for-civilization/

Re: [silk] USA West Coast restaurant recommendations

[Charles Haynes]

Danese's list is great! I'd only add that Tartine and Aziza are don't
miss Tartine is usually the first place I visit after getting off the
plane, (and you know I lived there for 20 years) Besides Delfina if you get
to the East Bay I recommend Pizzaiolo. Good pizza was one of the things I
missed the most in Bangalore. You should also really have Chinese while in
San Francisco. I personally go down to Little Sichuan for authentic
Sichuan, or Hong Kong Flower Lounge for dim sum - both in San Mateo. I also
love Zuni Cafe, especially the whole roast chicken, the caesar salad, and
the fresh oysters.

I'd also make a point of getting Ethiopian while in the Bay Area, Red Sea
in San Jose used to be my favorite. Blue Nile in Berkeley was also good but
I hear it may have closed?

If you get a chance, go to the Ferry Building Farmer's market on Saturday.
It's a zoo, but worth it. If you don't get oysters at Zuni, get some at the
farmer's market. You can visit Slanted Door while there, also Blue Bottle,
Cowgirl Creamery, the salumeria, and then go say hi to June Taylor. Get
some of her preserves while you're at it.

I could go on and on, but can give better advice if you could give me a
number of days and a budget. Are you interested in high end? Can you make
it up to Yountville or out to Saratoga? Quince and Boulevard are great
suggestions, but would not be my top two if you're only there for a few
days or if you're looking to splash out a little. I'd go to the French
Laundry for lunch, or to Michael Minna or Gary Danko.

Go up to DM Wine and drool over the selection of champagnes, scotch
whisky, and armagnac.

Have fun!

-- Charles

On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 4:12 PM, Madhu Menon m...@madhumenon.com wrote:

 On 25 September 2014 11:07, Tim Bray tb...@textuality.com wrote:
  It’s a pity there’s “USA” in the subject line, because there’s damn fine
  food just across the border in Vancouver. Including some of the best
 Indian
  food over on this side of the globe.

 Heh. Don't need to travel thousands of miles for Indian food when it's
 in my backyard, so to speak. Canada visit shall happen one day when I
 get a visa. :)

 Madhu

 --
 Madhu Menon
 Food Photography: http://madhumenonphoto.com
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/madmanweb

Re: [silk] Written vs. spoken version

[Charles Haynes]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 1:27 PM, Rajesh Mehar rajeshme...@gmail.com wrote:


 The little I know of the simplified Chinese character set is that it is a
 set of 2 dozen or so pictograms that are then combined with each other to
 get other pictograms for other sounds.



 Could anyone else elaborate or correct my notions?


Your description is a bit of an oversimplification. The components of
simplified Chinese (sometimes called radicals) are usually semantic
classifiers, used in dictionary lookup, rather than phonetic. While some
radicals are used to indicate sound mostly they are related to meaning
albeit sometimes only loosely or fancifully.

Those pictograms do not represent sounds, so much as words or parts of
words. One of my favorite examples of why trying to represent Chinese
phonetically is the poem Lion Eating Poet In the Stone Den
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den in which
every word has the sound shi (though with varying tones).

There are 189 official radicals in simplified chinese, quite a few more
than 2 dozen!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xinhua_Zidian_radicals

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Written vs. spoken version

[Charles Haynes]

You're welcome - and to fix a bad sentence above one of my favorite
examples of why trying to represent Chinese phonetically is nearly
impossible is the poem...

which means it's also a great example of the disconnect between written and
spoken Chinese languages. Famously in the past sometimes Northern and
Southern Chinese would have to write notes in order to communicate - their
spoken dialects were not mutually intelligible, but the written language
was.

-- Charles


On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 10:08 PM, Rajesh Mehar rajeshme...@gmail.com
wrote:

 Thanks for the corrections Charles. Anybody knows enough about Arabic to
 explain?

 And maybe Meera can clarify the meaning of her original question?

Re: [silk] Any thoughts on the subject?

[Charles Haynes]

On Sun, Jul 13, 2014 at 3:12 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com
wrote:


 All reality is mental perception.


That's what you think...


 When the earth was flat, it was, when everyone started to believe it
 was not, it was not.


This is what prompted me to comment. If everyone believed the Earth was
flat (and it was) why would anyone believe anything else?

Right now for most of this world material satisfaction is the highest
 objective.


How do you know?


 If there comes a point when one realizes for oneself that
 achieving the summum bonum of material life is still unsatisfying,
 then one sets off on other paths of enquiry.


So - have you? Does your individual realisation affect the consensus
reality? If so - how?


 Neither is right, neither is wrong.


It is what it is? Be careful, rat will throw you off a cliff.

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/07/12

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Scientists find treatment to kill every kind of cancer tumor

[Charles Haynes]

So many breathless announcements of treatments that work in vitro, or in
animal studies, and are never heard from again. Wake me up after human
trials.

[From Science]

Cancer researcher Tyler Jacks of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 in Cambridge says that although the new study is promising, more research
 is needed to see whether the results hold true in humans. The
 microenvironment of a real tumor is quite a bit more complicated than the
 microenvironment of a transplanted tumor, he notes, and it's possible
 that a real tumor has additional immune suppressing effects.


Original paper The CD47-signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPa)
interaction is a therapeutic target for human solid
tumorshttp://www.pnas.org/content/109/17/6662.full


And as usual in science, not everyone is so impressed On the mechanism of
CD47 targeting in cancer http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2843.full

Finally, our own recent studies
(5http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2843.full#ref-5)
 applying the well-established syngeneic B16 melanoma cell model to
 SIRPα-signaling death mutant mice did not demonstrate any effect of the
 CD47–SIRPα signaling axis on tumor metastasis and outgrowth. However, when
 therapeutic antibodies against the melanoma cells were injected, the
 SIRPα-mutant mice cleared the tumor cells much more effectively than
 wild-type animals. Furthermore, in vitro ADCC experiments of human
 neutrophils toward Trastuzumab-opsonized breast cancer cells showed an
 enhancing effect of CD47–SIRPα antagonists in the presence, but not the
 absence, of cancer therapeutic antibodies. This result suggests that
 targeting CD47–SIRPα interactions may be beneficial in combination with
 antibody therapy in cancer. However, the evidence that targeting the
 CD47–SIRPα axis may also work in the absence of therapeutic antibody seems
 incomplete and contradictory.


and a reply Reply to Soto-Pantoja et al. and Zhao et al.: Targeting CD47 on
human solid tumors http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2844.full

We strongly disagree with Zhao et al.
(7http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2844.full#ref-7)
 that targeting the CD47–SIRPα interaction with anti-CD47 mAbs does not
 produce a therapeutic effect in the absence of a second, cancer-specific
 antibody. We have demonstrated that anti-CD47 mAbs alone enabled the
 phagocytosis ≥24 patient tumor samples in vitro and inhibited tumor growth
 or metastasis of ≥10 solid tumors in vivo. We believe this result is beyond
 sufficient to demonstrate that a second antibody is not required to produce
 a therapeutic response. A second, cancer-specific antibody may further
 enhance the efficacy of anti-CD47 mAbs, but it is not required 
 (8http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2844.full#ref-8).
 It is possible that blockade of CD47–SIRPα interactions, in the absence of
 an intact Fc region, may not be as effective at producing a significant
 antitumor response. However, the members of the van den Berg laboratory
 themselves have shown that F(ab′)2 fragments prepared from anti-CD47 mAbs
 can induce the phagocytosis of human cells 
 (10http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2844.full#ref-10).
 In no way do these issues detract from the conclusion of our papers 
 (1http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/E2844.full#ref-1),
 that anti-CD47 mAbs can inhibit the growth and metastasis of solid tumors,
 especially of human origin.


Most interesting to me is to contrast the breathless tone of the Fox/NY
Post/Murdoch reporting with the facts themselves as contained in the
paper.

-- Charles

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 3:49 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 Researchers might have found the Holy Grail in the war against cancer, a
 miracle drug that has killed every kind of cancer tumor it has come in
 contact with, the New York Post reported. The drug works by blocking a
 protein called CD47 that is essentially a do not eat signal to the body's
 immune...


 http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/03/27/scientists-find-treatment-to-kill-every-kind-cancer-tumor/?intcmp=trending

 --
 ((Udhay Shankar N))  ((via phone))

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 2:16 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Charles Haynes
 charles.hay...@gmail.com wrote:

  With respect to Fermi Problem two things. First MIT is offering
  Street-Fighting
  Math 
 http://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-sfmx-street-fighting-math-1501:



 Much of the content of the course is available in Creative
 Commons-licensed book form:


 https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262514293_Creative_Commons_Edition.pdf


Indeed, the course listing explicitly mentions that the book for the course
is available via Creative Commons. I think this is very cool (and yet
another reason to take the course!)

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 12:06 AM, Charles Haynes
charles.hay...@gmail.comwrote:


 the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
 100km, right? litres of petrol per 100km is length^3/length = length^2.
 What is the real world significance of this area?


It's the area of the column of fuel necessary and sufficient to keep the
car moving.

Imagine a car with a fuel scoop continuously sucking up fuel as it drove.
The area above is the diameter of the column of fuel it would have to suck
up in order to be just enough to keep moving.

Visualise it thus. Take the number of litres in the formula and stretch it
till it's a column 100km long. The vehicle will completely consume that
fuel while it traverses that distance. The area is the area of the cross
section of the column.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

Just recently I was having trouble recalling the word scalded with
respect to milk (I was making yoghurt.)

But I have a solution that works better for me than Evernote. I asked my
amanuensis.

What's the term for heating up milk just below boiling?
Scald?
Thanks!
You're welcome.

Hm. Maybe I should try asking Siri. Or Google Voice...

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Easily forgotten phrases

[Charles Haynes]

With respect to Fermi Problem two things. First MIT is offering
Street-Fighting
Math http://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-sfmx-street-fighting-math-1501:
Teaches, as the antidote to rigor mortis, the art of educated guessing and
opportunistic problem solving. as a MOOC (free!) starting in March.

Second, my favorite dimensional analysis problem: you presumably know that
the fuel efficiency of a car is often expressed as litres of petrol per
100km, right? Well, litres of petrol are a volume measure, and 100km is a
length measure. Volume is length^3, so litres of petrol per 100km is
length^3/length = length^2

What might the real world significance of this area be? (Answer later if
no one gets/spoils it.)

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The march of technology

[Charles Haynes]

Or you could hypothesize that farming became popular for some reason other
than the happiness of the farmers.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The march of technology

[Charles Haynes]

Actually there's quite a lot of information about the transition from
hunter-gatherer to pastoral/agrarian. Besides the Encyclopedia Brittanica
article Udhay cited, there are both scholarly and popular writings on the
subject. I find them fascinating, especially the parts where they explain
exactly the question about why people would make that transition when it
actually reduced how happy they were.

I recommend checking them out.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] The march of technology

[Charles Haynes]

Not handy, but for some reason Jared Diamond comes to mind, and maybe Bill
Bryson. This list
http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/History_of_agriculture_book_list/ mentions
both.

-- Charles


On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 1:34 PM, Venkat Mangudi - Silk 
s...@venkatmangudi.com wrote:

 On Feb 6, 2014 9:01 AM, Charles Haynes charles.hay...@gmail.com wrote:
 
  Actually there's quite a lot of information about the transition from
  hunter-gatherer to pastoral/agrarian. Besides the Encyclopedia Brittanica
  article Udhay cited, there are both scholarly and popular writings on the
  subject. I find them fascinating, especially the parts where they explain
  exactly the question about why people would make that transition when it
  actually reduced how happy they were.
 
  I recommend checking them out.
 
 Have any links handy?

 Venkat

Re: [silk] The march of technology

[Charles Haynes]

A look at population numbers would say yes. But then quality of life
indicators - and not just material quality, but indicators that take
into account mental illness, loneliness, depression and so on give a
very mixed reading.

By most metrics, hunter-gatherers are the happiest.

So I blame farmers for all the troubles of the world.

-- Charles


On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 1:33 AM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com wrote:

 I must clarify that the intent here is not to criticize.

 CEOs and politicians are intelligent people making difficult choices -
 they are speaking the minds of the people they represent. I think in
 the long run the morality of corporations or nations or any collective
 tends to represent the average morality of the people who make it up.

 Any examination of such matters needs to look at the larger morality,
 and understand why our leaders time and again get sucked into narrow
 views of self interest.

 On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 8:54 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Bayer CEO: We made medicine for people who can afford it, not Indians
 
  I don't think vilification serves any purpose.
 
  On the one hand, Bayer makes life saving drugs, very good; but on the
  other hand it intends to only sell it only to the rich; not so good.
 
  Historically speaking this has been something of a pattern, not just
  with Bayer but most corporations.
 
  Bayer as IG Farben made the gas Zyklon-B used in the gas chambers of
  Auschwitz. Then the world learned its lesson and Bayer instead used
  the same skills to make sprays that kill bugs. Crop protection in
  other words.
 
  So has Bayer saved more people than it has killed? Is Bayer any
  different from the world of profit and self interest it lives in?
 
  Does all the technology we have today save more lives than it kills?
  Interesting point of contemplation.
 
  A look at population numbers would say yes. But then quality of life
  indicators - and not just material quality, but indicators that take
  into account mental illness, loneliness, depression and so on give a
  very mixed reading.
 
  We are certainly successful at keeping human beings alive; but we are
  not yet successful at making them happy in my opinion.
 
  http://keionline.org/node/1910
 
 http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1vyyww/we_did_not_develop_this_medicine_for_indianswe/
 
 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-21/merck-to-bristol-myers-face-more-threats-on-india-drug-patents

Re: [silk] have your reading habits changed?

[Charles Haynes]

For DRM, remove it.

For bitrot, I have settled on ePub format which is basically just zipped
HTML. I'm hopeful it will be relatively slow to rot.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] have your reading habits changed?

[Charles Haynes]

BTW regardless of whether you prefer ebooks or paper books, I suggest
goodreads.com for keeping track of your I'd like to read this list and
crowdsourcing suggestions of new stuff to read.

-- Charles


On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 4:38 PM, Sharat Satyanarayana 
sharat.satyanaray...@gmail.com wrote:

 This article (shared by Ingrid) covers significant aspects about e- vs
 p-reading.

 Here's my thought:
 I have taken to e-reading to grab those moments of solitude, to
 parallel-read numerous books on my phone. My consumption of titles/stored
 articles has increased. But I am not really at peace while e-reading (maybe
 it has something yo do with that progress bar).
 However, the reason I would rather p-read is - I know the cliche- the cover
 of the books  the 'feel/smell' of p-reading. A devourer of
 science-fiction, I really enjoy taking reading breaks  digesting the
 story-so-far by gazing into the cover of the book.

 Sharat
 +91 9980 996628
 On 1 Jan 2014 12:17, Ingrid ingrid.srin...@gmail.com wrote:

 
   On 30-Dec-2013, at 10:39 am, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:
  
   So I got myself a Kindle. And whether it is the novelty or the
   device-specific aspects (doesn't need ambient light, sufficiently
   booklike that one can read sprawled in bed, etc) - I have consumed 3
   books in 3 days, more than in the preceding 3 months.
  
   So - have you folks noticed your reading habits change with the means
   of reading? Is this a special case of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis [1]?
  
   Udhay
  
   [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir_Whorf
  
   --
   ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
  
 
  Mohsin Hamid and Anna Holmes on e vs. p books:
 
 http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/books/review/how-do-e-books-change-the-reading-experience.html

Re: [silk] have your reading habits changed?

[Charles Haynes]

I convert all my books to ePub format and host them on a Linode instance so
that I have them all anywhere I have internet connectivity. Given our
peripatetic lifestyle it's a convenient way to access our library (though
honestly the whole library fits on on 16gb micro-sd card)

-- Charles


On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 7:41 AM, Mahesh Murthy mahesh.mur...@gmail.comwrote:

 I stated on the Kindle but then found much lower prices on Google Play
 Newsstand - and magazines too in full living color.

 I've subscribed to several magazines on there of late - and have begun
 enjoying being notified if new issues being automatically downloaded.
 On 29-Dec-2013 9:37 pm, Ingrid ingrid.srin...@gmail.com wrote:

  On 30 December 2013 10:39, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:
 
   So I got myself a Kindle. And whether it is the novelty or the
   device-specific aspects (doesn't need ambient light, sufficiently
   booklike that one can read sprawled in bed, etc) - I have consumed 3
   books in 3 days, more than in the preceding 3 months.
  
   So - have you folks noticed your reading habits change with the means
   of reading? Is this a special case of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis [1]?
  
   Udhay
  
   [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir_Whorf
  
   --
   ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
  
 
  The only significant impact of e-books on my reading has been a lighter
  load while travelling. I still prefer dead-tree versions wherever
 possible.
 
  Ingrid Srinath
  @ingridsrinath
 

Re: [silk] Fwd: Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.

[Charles Haynes]

I used to think Rothko was pretentious bullshit. Then I went to the Tate
Modern and sat in their Rothko room. I didn't want to leave.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Fwd: Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.

[Charles Haynes]

I've always tried to aim a little higher than not actively painful when
choosing my tipples. I realize I may be privileged in this regard.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] Have music downloads hit their peak, with streaming taking over?

[Charles Haynes]

My experience has been that neither streaming nor downloading are all that
common in most of Africa. The most common distribution mechanism for
digital media are small shops that sell digital content to be loaded on a
BYO micro SD card (for phones.)

Bandwidth is too expensive and unreliable for streaming to be all that
popular.

That said, I am streaming music on Rdio while Debbie watches Netflix next
to me - in Johannesburg.

-- Charles


On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 6:48 PM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 What do 1980, 1989 and 2003 have in common? They were the peak sales years
 for LPs, cassettes and CDs respectively. After that, a very slight
 resurgence in vinyl aside, it was all downhill. Billboard magazine has an
 interesting piece in which they suggest that perhaps 2012 might join that
 list – ...


 http://9to5mac.com/2013/12/16/have-music-downloads-hit-their-peak-with-streaming-taking-over/

Re: [silk] Fwd: Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.

[Charles Haynes]

There is also the reverse snobbery effect, which the wine tastings I
describe actually encourage. It's the joy of finding a cheap wine that you
really enjoy that you think tastes better than the expensive wines that
other people are overpaying for. It requires a certain strength of will,
and it is subject to some of the same I need a new fix effects, but it's
really very satisfying. It is from double blind tastings that I discovered
that not only do I truly prefer Krug and Salon over lesser Champagnes,
but that I also really enjoy Spanish cavas that are an order magnitude
cheaper. So not only do I feel justified when paying for a vintage Krug, I
feel smug when buying an obscure cheap cava.

Win win.

-- Charles


On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 On 06-Dec-13 11:39 AM, Udhay Shankar N wrote:

  http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/09/12/tasting-wine-blind/

 Another viewpoint, partially inspired by the above piece:

 http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2013/12/10/placibo-philes

 Placebo-philes
 December 10, 2013

 Audiophiles have gotten a lot of bad press recently, what with the
 apparently silly Pono music player (which plays much higher quality
 audio files despite almost no one being able to hear the difference) and
 the news from Wired magazine that burning in your headphones has no
 discernible effect on sound quality. Reading about the truly insane
 things audiophiles will do in pursuit of the perfect sound, I can't help
 reflecting back on that unfortunate period in my life when I almost fell
 down the same rabbit hole.

 For me it started with a simple search for better headphones. I think I
 typed best headphones under $50 into Google, and what came back was a
 series of lists, like this one or this one, ranking the best headphones
 at a series of price ranges. I settled on a pair pretty quickly, and
 when they arrived I loved them, but those lists had planted their hooks
 in my brain. How much better would my music sound if I were willing to
 spend just a little bit more?

 I decided to research what headphones I would buy the next time I had
 saved up a decent amount of money, and my research led me to my first
 (and really only) foray into Internet forums: a website called Head-Fi,
 where enthusiasts gather to discuss, argue, and bond over their love of
 headphones and headphone-related accessories. It was a remarkably
 friendly place for people who enjoyed tuning out the world, but darkness
 lurked at the edges. People would post glowing reviews of the headphones
 they just bought, and others would weigh in about how much they loved
 those headphones too, but inevitably someone would say how those
 headphones would sound even better if connected to a decent headphone
 amplifier. Or a decent digital audio converter. Or how those headphones
 didn't even compare to these other headphones that just cost a little more.

 The perfect headphone set up always cost just a little bit more. Audio
 nirvana was always just out of reach.

 Over the course of three years, I wound up buying one pair of headphones
 that cost about $100, then another that cost about $150, then a
 headphone amplifier that cost about $100, then another headphone
 amplifier that cost several hundred, then a special iPod that had been
 rewired for better sound, then several more pairs of headphones, each
 more expensive than the last. It helped that the internet made it easy
 to resell my previous purchases in order to fund my new purchases. At
 the height of my sickness, my portable sound system looked like this:

 portable rig

 But that was nothing compared to the equipment (and prices paid) by
 many. The most money I ever paid for headphones was about $300. But the
 best headphones were going for more than $1000, and the best amplifiers
 and related devices were many times that. People would post pictures
 like this:

 high end rig

 and I'd wonder what in God's name that would sound like.

 I don't think it's an accident that this period in my life was the same
 period in which I had two children in diapers and an extremely stressful
 job. After putting the kids to bed, if I didn't have any more work to
 do, and if my wife wanted to watch TV, I would find a quiet spot in the
 house and get lost in the increasingly detailed soundstage my gear
 supplied.

 But the specter that loomed over everything was the idea that this was
 all some big placebo effect. I would occasionally spend an evening
 listening to a song on my new set of headphones and then on my old set,
 or with my new amplifier and then my old amplifier. I would make my wife
 listen to see if she heard a difference. Sometimes she did, sometimes
 she didn't. Sometimes I didn't. Every once in a while, I'd read a post
 on Head-fi about someone who was selling everything he'd bought because
 he realized he was listening to his equipment rather than music. I
 finally had the same realization and made the same decision. At 

Re: [silk] Fwd: Wine tasting is bullshit. Here's why.

[Charles Haynes]

Those issues arise if you are trying to compare different varietals. The
wine tastings I describe are all the same region and year, or all the same
producer across multiple years.

The article is completely right that it's absurd to try to compare
different varietals blind.


On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 8:09 AM, Udhay Shankar N ud...@pobox.com wrote:

 On 10/05/13 10-May-2013;4:05 pm, Charles Haynes wrote:

  The wine tasting I have consistently advocated is personal double-blind
  vertical or horizontal tastings with a ringer.

 Here's a counterpoint of sorts. I find it interesting, although I
 personally have no opinion; not being a wine fan.

 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/09/12/tasting-wine-blind/

 Not pasting the whole article here (see URL above for that) but some
 quotes, to give a flavour (heh) of the whole:

 It should be obvious to any thinking person that blind tastings
 necessarily favor–on a group vote basis–wines which offer immediate
 pleasure and gratification. Left to their undirected devices, the senses
 will almost always gravitate to the obvious and miss the subtle. I have
 fallen victim to the sweeter-is-better trap several times myself. At
 blind tastings that include left bank and right bank young Bordeaux, the
 right bank wines almost always garner higher scores from the crowd.
 Young Merlot simply tastes “better” than young Cabernet Sauvignon.
 Softer, sweeter, more flattering.

 ...

 The problem with blind tasting is that you’re working from a position
 of ignorance,” said Bob. If you know exactly what it is that you’re
 tasting — a young first-growth wine, for example — then you can taste it
 in that light. Similarly, if you know that you’re looking at an Ad
 Reinhardt painting, you’ll be willing to spend a few minutes with it so
 that you can appreciate its subtleties. If you didn’t know it was a
 Reinhardt, then you’d probably just read it as a black monochrome and
 move on. Or think about someone like Joseph Beuys: the whole point of
 the art is that it’s multi-layered, and responds slowly to the viewer,
 who has to think things through.

 ...

 Pepsi generally wins in blind tastings, ‘cos it’s sweeter. But most
 people still prefer Coke.



 --
 ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))