[silk] Chicago Now - 60 embarrassing ways to butcher the english language
Engrish as she is spooken .. a lot of it stateside, besides the old desi favorite child bear Don't miss the Eric Schmidt business card where he's the Chariman of google And the mathematically inclined guy who wrote a check to Verizon (though that shouldn't have come into this list at all) http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/so-not-an-expert/2010/07/isnt-spelling-important-anymore.html
Re: [silk] Chicago Now - 60 embarrassing ways to butcher the english language
Udhay Shankar N [07/07/10 14:55 +0530]: Isn't Randall Munroe the xkcd guy? Yes. http://xkcd.com/verizon/ Looking forward to a new xkcd about how that article thinks he's illiterate :)
Re: [silk] Hilton banned in India
Mahesh Murthy [18/06/10 10:30 +0530]: snip I rather like the thought of Paris Hilltone, actually. The sound of music - 'hill tone' Speaking of that .. Mr and Mrs Hill are on a hiking trip up in transylvania when they fall down a cliff and are severely injured. They're brought to the clinic of Dr.Victor Frankenstein, who tries all his jolts of electricity, strange chemicals or whatever but they still die. Saddened, he takes down his violin and starts playing beautiful, soulful music. Suddenly, his henchman Igor rushes in and yells ... Doctor! The Hills are alive with the sound of music
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Indrajit Gupta [16/06/10 21:49 +0530]: Obviously you like 'the Russians'; acid test: did you like the Inspector General? But this lot, well, War and Peace was as good or as bad as one of That gogol social commentary disguised as farce play? I love it. Anything at all by Gogol in fact (darker - 'the overcoat' for example)
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Aishwarya Subramanian [16/06/10 22:05 +0530]: I recently read my first Amanda Quick book and thought it was hugely enjoyable. I only ever seem to read Regency romances (the influence of Heyer, I suspect) but favourite authors are Loretta Chase (hilarious and vastly underrated) and Julia Quinn (who fluctuates between 'quite good' and 'wonderful'). Chances are - some of those names are going to be syndicated 'house brands' with a number of authors, a few of them famous in their own right. That's a long and time honored tradition with pulp fiction of any sort.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Venkatesh Hariharan [15/06/10 14:49 +0530]: I abandoned The God of Small Things halfway after reading about turds You mean there's more to the plot than turds? Even the name of that place read rather funny in tamil (sort of) ayemenem = aayi manam (feces aroma) How very apt
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Forsyth has all these painstaking steps on everything from faking a passport to making a nuke. The Fourth Protocol has all that as well as a complete org chart of MI5, MI6, the KGB etc etc. Not bad, for all that. If you want unreadable by those standards, there's always good old James A Michener, whose stories all start off with prehistory (dinosaurs if not stone age men) and end somewhere in the 50s. Trouble is, I like history. I absolutely detest science and maths which is why you won't catch me reading the feynman lectures, brief history of time etc. I find umberto ecos hard to digest but reasonably worth the effort (especially 'Name of a Rose'). Some of his newer ones, like Baudolino, are sad remnants of what was once a great talent (read it after foucaults pendulum and I hope you agree with me. and yes its much better than the mess any lesser author would have made of it). I wont touch ayn rand. And today my tastes run to classic pulp more than anything else (lou cameron's original 'Longarm' westerns under the tabor evans house name, mike shayne / shell scott cop thrillers etc) Sruthi Krishnan [15/06/10 15:16 +0530]: Usually I get screams of horror when I say this -- I couldn't get through this book The Day of the Jackal by Forsyth. There was this intense detailing on making a gun which was terribly boring, I thought. I remember it well because it was the first book I abandoned without reading fully.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
J. Alfred Prufrock [15/06/10 16:12 +0530]: Ayn Rand ... I no longer find her books difficult to read because I don't touch them in the first place. Faulkner, Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, War and Peace - all digestible in the tin-of-biscuits fashion i.e. one goes back to them once in a while, doesn't try to finish them at a sitting. I ran through war and peace at a breakneck pace .. till andrei bolkonski was killed. I dont know why I stopped after that and its been years.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Sean Doyle [15/06/10 19:27 -0400]: Another book I had trouble with (finished only about 1/4 of it - unusual for me) this last year was Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I took a strong dislike to all the characters - I suspect it was class Not pride and prejudice, for me. Wuthering Heights - for some reason, disgusted me, but kept attracting me so much that I finished it over days, two or three pages at a time in parts.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Raj Shekhar [15/06/10 13:46 -0700]: After I read Dune, I was very impressed. Then I picked up its sequel, Dune Messiah and plodded through it. I then picked up its sequel, Children of Dune and could not go beyond the first 10 or 15 pages and I gave up on that series. Today I learned that there were 6 novels in the Dune series. Similar to my feelings reading Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time'. Never did get past the first one and one or two pages of the second one that I flipped through at a bookstore.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Indrajit Gupta [16/06/10 07:50 +0530]: It's addictive. Also, unlike Tolkien, he keeps picking up an obscure part of the narrative and polishing it for a book at a time. The result is that they won't finish until 2012! ... if at all. Jordan is in full soap opera (or maybe what local tv calls 'mega serial') mode here. His books won't stop unless the sales drop - when they'll be yanked out of circulation with incomplete or hurriedly wrapped up story arcs, the way one of those soaps gets yanked when its TRPs falls.
Re: [silk] Ten toughest books to read
Sruthi Krishnan [16/06/10 10:36 +0530]: I never read MandB growing up. Recently while I was cooped up in B'bay recuperating unable to travel much, I had no recourse but to pick some. The local library in Goregaon boasts an inexhaustible collection of MandB and only that. So I did end up reading those. And for a while wanted to write one myself, using same plot lines but bizarre characters. And most importantly, the same language -- his sword found its rightful place in the sheath types. :) If you want kitschier romance and worse sex than MB, all you have to do is to read one or more regional magazines .. swathi in telugu for example, or mangayar malar etc in tamil.
Re: [silk] buying a laptop online in india ?
Yes. The final part of the payment process is done through their phone support agents. But it works smoothly. I'm typing this on an inspiron 15 inch i5 that I bought from dell - that looks to have the best price / performance mix I can find. Sumant Srivathsan [24/05/10 15:35 +0530]: On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Ashwin Kumar ashwi...@gmail.com wrote: On 24 May 2010 15:03, ashok _ listmans...@gmail.com wrote: Can anyone recommend a online store for buying laptops in India ? (of course, they need to also deliver the laptop to an address ...) http://www.dell.co.in does have an online store. Comes with a catch, though. You can't pay online. So you save your cart, and close over the phone. -- Sumant Srivathsan http://sumants.blogspot.com
Re: [silk] Fwd: [qfi] Chennai invite-book launch
divya manian [19/05/2010 6:59 PM]: I am leaving at 6am on 28th morning to BLR :'( Got to check from Samant where the bangalore, bombay etc launches are.
Re: [silk] Fwd: [qfi] Chennai invite-book launch
Ashwin Kumar [19/05/2010 7:27 PM]: Could you update me on the launch in Bangalore ? I'd like to attend it. The photo on the cover looks interesting. And, there is always an opportunity to take some photographs during the launch. @samanth says The Bangalore launch has been scheduled for the evening of May 27, at the Crossword bookstore on Residency Road. Mumbai launch sometime June 3rd week.
Re: [silk] no news is good news
J. Alfred Prufrock [18/05/2010 12:25 PM]: What, no bears? She probably has barbeques in her backyard with guest bears in attendance :)
Re: [silk] no news is good news
J. Alfred Prufrock [18/05/2010 12:46 PM]: She probably has barbeques in her backyard with guest bears in attendance :) If her sometime neighbour Palin, S, is to be believed (which takes some credulity) bears go ON the barbeque too. Insert joke about making bear pie .. first catch your bear srs
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
If people remember - I was doing a mass clearout of my books. Lots of random pulp available. Colin Forbes, Alexander Kent aka Douglas Reeman sea stories, Bernard Cornwell, James Clavell, Craig Thomas, Sidney Sheldon etc etc. Other books I haven't read accepted with thanks in exchange. Off limits authors - PG Wodehouse (and that means you venkat! g), Terry Pratchett, Patrick O'Brian, etc. Not giving away westerns, I think (will take, with thanks, any westerns you have on offer - including, if you can swing it, anything in the Longarm series by Tabor Evans). - now that's a minor classic of western pulp, especially several of them written by a guy called Lou Cameron. On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 7:21 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.net wrote: Sruthi Krishnan [14/05/10 18:58 +0530]: Divya Suresh Krish Ashok Lavanya Udhay Vijay (?) Sruthi Shivakumar [per Vijay] Udhay, is Lavanya (Mrs.Udhay) coming?
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Krish Ashok [14/05/10 12:04 +0530]: I also strongly recommend Cafe Ashvita, run by a good friend of mine. Nice ambience, great food (not sure about drinks though) and is located on Cathedral road Or Cornucopia on Cenotaph Road. I've heard about the service being quite patchy there though (Ashvita) Dont think Ashvita serves booze but there's a very large fruit drink / smoothie etc selection
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Udhay Shankar N [14/05/10 16:30 +0530]: Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote, [on 5/14/2010 4:27 PM]: time? Lunch, eh - so 1 ish. I'd prefer 12-ish, as that would give us some time to discuss weighty matters like what beer to have. time does hang heavy on our hands on a lazy sunday afternoon. oh what the hell, 12 it is. want to call and book a table once we get an approximate count - I dont think it'll be more than 5 or 6 people tops.
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Vijay Anand [14/05/10 17:05 +0530]: Confirming for 2 Silklist members, and I guest? eh? me, krish ashok I guess, lavanya, then udhay. who else - there should be two or three more in town (subash jeyan, sruthi and others)
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Sruthi Krishnan [14/05/10 18:58 +0530]: Divya Suresh Krish Ashok Lavanya Udhay Vijay (?) Sruthi Shivakumar [per Vijay] Udhay, is Lavanya (Mrs.Udhay) coming?
Re: [silk] Writing with the pack
I (and a few other silklisters) stopped subscribing to The Hindu Doesnt make me think that N Ram is going to care, any more than he cares about having run a decent paper into the ground with his favoritism, communism and a bunch of other isms, damn him Shoba Narayan [13/05/10 20:31 +0530]: On Thursday 13 May 2010 10:24 AM, sankarshan wrote: Currently, ToI is too tempting a piece of entertainment to resist Entertainment that makes you cry and pull your hair out? I'll resist despite myself, thank you. Sankarshan: how can I persuade you to stop your subscription to TOI? Perhaps all newspapers do what is described below but TOI is particularly egregious. Maybe I am being naive, but if enough of us stop subscribing to TOI, then perhaps, their editorial policies will change. I used to like TOI's Page 3 photos too-- but try DNA. It's entertainment photos are nice too. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/world/asia/08iht-letter.html
Re: [silk] Writing with the pack
Thaths [13/05/10 09:13 -0700]: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2010/05/13/stories/2010051350020100.htm City near Chennai to find out.. Would a left-leaning newspaper provide such unvarnished advertisement thinly dressed as an interview? Or take this other supposed food review: Every newspaper has kid reporters who are lazy enough to copy and paste from a brochure into an article. It is when your leanings bleed into the serious reporting that you start to have a problem.
Re: [silk] Writing with the pack
Pranesh Prakash [13/05/10 22:13 +0530]: For all its various faults (including some of those that Suresh accuses N. Ram of) the Hindu is still much better than most, and ought not even be compared to the Times. Never done that. I HAVE compared the ToI to the Deccan Chronicle though. I remember one epic occasion in the late 90s when two people from (I think, CMC or some other PSU IT company) forwarded one of those Fw:Fw: Virus Warning emails to the Deccan Chronicle editor's desk (back when that insufferable AT Jayanthi was editor, is she still there). DC went and printed that two local techies discover new virus - as their front page leader story, 48 point bold headline and all. P.S. Mint (with its very different political outlook) and (many times) the Indian Express + New Indian Express and (sometimes) Mail Today are also quite good. I haven't read Mail Today except for the articles that people have sent me, so there is very likely a strong selection bias. Mint gets its political viewpoint (distinctly right of center) from the Hindustan Times, right? Indian Express was very good indeed - decades back. The new - far better than most current ones but not a patch on its earlier history.
[silk] Nigerian scam from the Rev Rev Jeremiah David
Hmm. The Christian equivalent of Sri Sri XYZ Swamigal. Now all we need is Rev 108 Jeremiah David, I guess. Speaking of swamigals .. some guy called Nityanandan I heard of - promptly got himself nicknamed Scandal for obvious reasons. I believe he's considering getting his name changed legally.
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Lavanya Mohan [12/05/10 15:27 +0530]: Zara has a great weekday lunch menu. There's a new thai place called baan thai in khader nawaz khan road, but not sure about the alcohol condition. Sigree has good food, isn't too expensive, and meets the beer condition. Baan Thai sounds authentic from the reviews I've seen. Benjarong's been more than a little indianized. Baan Thai is even more expensive than Benjarong though.
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Aditya Kapil [12/05/10 15:41 +0530]: ... And no beer! Adit. I can live with that, having quit it a few years back. The food is truly good from all that I hear about it
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Krish Ashok [11/05/10 11:20 +0530]: How about Zara's? very unimaginative food.
Re: [silk] India Govt to develop own operating system
Pranesh Prakash [11/05/10 14:08 +0530]: On Tuesday 11 May 2010 11:05 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: sankarshan [11/05/10 11:02 +0530]: Does anyone keep a score of how many times the GoI and their ilk have traveled down this path ? CDAC's BOSS is the only one I can think of in recent times Well, more if you count things such as Indic fonts, etc. Someone did say OS CDAC has done some excellent work on indic fonts, yes. Microprocessors are what's going to be the killer.. even that 50 crore allocated to a chip fabrication lab doesnt mean much Remember semiconductor complex limited anyone?
Re: [silk] India Govt to develop own operating system
Vijay Anand [11/05/10 15:20 +0530]: Given how the 10$ - or was it 5$ laptop was essentially a thumb drive, wouldnt be surprised if this is another glitch by some reporter. The points behind this development seems to be security - which also sounds ridiculous that we want to develop simple OS to make things secure, when you can technically just unplug the computer from the network and it is as secure as it could be. For all you know, going with hint of antivirus there, this might actually be a firewall software which someone misheard or misrepresented. There was this very interesting article I saw about how china was requiring source code and encryption key disclosure from all suppliers to its govt of encryption enabled gear (chip OS / OS / firewalls / routers / antispam software etc). Think about that.
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
expensive - toscana, khader nawaz khan road, italian azulia, grt grand, t nagar, mediterranan medium cascade, besant nagar (round the corner from the food world / spencers daily) - sort of thai / malaysian / chinese etc. Not shiok quality, not bad either. cheap - samco - ttk road - fish biryani kalpaka - kerala food [forgot what its called] - street next to gangotri on ttk road - bong food (especially the kosa mangsho) divya manian [10/05/10 16:39 +0530]: Hi people, The Almighty Udhay is going to be in Chennai on May 23rd and I thought it would be a good time to renew my plea (request) for a meetup in Chennai. I am clueless on what constitutes good place for conversation + food, and am hoping Chennai residents will suggest a place and time. I would prefer lunch/coffee than dinner. - divya
Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd?
Cascade - not sure about booze. Or copper point at the grt --Original Message-- From: Udhay Shankar N Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net To: silklist@lists.hserus.net ReplyTo: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Chennai Silk Meet May 23rd? Sent: May 10, 2010 18:07 Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote, [on 5/10/2010 5:42 PM]: expensive - toscana, khader nawaz khan road, italian azulia, grt grand, t nagar, mediterranan medium cascade, besant nagar (round the corner from the food world / spencers daily) - sort of thai / malaysian / chinese etc. Not shiok quality, not bad either. Can we pick a place for Sunday lunch that is not too expensive, and also serves beer? Udhay -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) -- srs (blackberry)
Re: [silk] introduction
Ashwin Kumar [11/05/10 06:55 +0530]: So, anyone game for capsaicin extract sauce from Bhut Jolokia? We have enough amateur chemists (probably a professional chemist or three too) so - yes, sounds like a plan.
Re: [silk] introduction
Charles Haynes [11/05/10 13:25 +1000]: It's not that difficult. Capsaicin is readily soluble in ethanol. Which accounts for Udhay making chili flavored vodka from his bhut jolokia. I was talking about the idea of making hot sauce out of it - which might be a bit more involved than simply dunking chilis into vodka
Re: [silk] India Govt to develop own operating system
CDAC's BOSS is the only one I can think of in recent times sankarshan [11/05/10 11:02 +0530]: On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:50 AM, Valsa Williams valsa.willi...@gmail.com wrote: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Tech/Enterprise-IT/Infrastucture/Govt-to-develop-own-operating-system/articleshow/5913140.cms [snip] The government formed a high-level taskforce in February to devise a plan for building indigenous software, said a senior intelligence official who is a member. The panel will also suggest ways to conduct third-party audits on existing software in government offices to prevent online sabotage attempts until the software’s launch, he said. Does anyone keep a score of how many times the GoI and their ilk have traveled down this path ? -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay http://sankarshan.randomink.org/blog/
Re: [silk] text of supreme court (and other) judgements
Gautam John [07/05/10 14:01 +0530]: On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 1:56 PM, Badri Natarajan asi...@vsnl.com wrote: Well, I haven't practiced in India for some time but the JUDIS site has judgments by the Supreme Court and many High Courts (although the search engine is beyond atrocious and you occasionally won't find judgments that you know exist - either because the search is flawed or they haven't been uploaded). There is also this: http://www.indiankanoon.org/ http://courtnic.nic.in too
Re: [silk] For the carnatic music lovers on Silk
There are notebooks, somewhere around (with one of my uncles or aunts I guess). Lots of songs annotated by my grand-uncle Deepa Mohan [06/05/10 18:05 +0530]: Wowa very big thank you. I belong to the Dikshitar shishya parampara and this was a treasure for me. I recently documented my Guru singing Chandram bhaja...but have not got around to the rest. Deepa. On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:54 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.netwrote: http://rapidshare.com/files/384039475/kallidaikurichi_ramalinga_bhagavatar_dikshitar_kritis_-_old_rare_private_recording.mp3
Re: [silk] For the carnatic music lovers on Silk
Pranesh Prakash [07/05/10 00:31 +0530]: Thanks ever so much! Will be downloading and listening to it this weekend. I *must* grab lots more carnatic music from you when I'm down in Madras. Any time. There's like 3..4 GB worth of carnatic you're welcome to.
Re: [silk] PGP/MIME or inline PGP?
Pranesh Prakash [07/05/10 00:49 +0530]: Is there a general rule of thumb that you've set for yourself as to when you use one or the other? I'm currently experimenting with inline PGP with my Gmail account, instead of PGP/MIME. I dont use pgp for everything under the sun. Where I do use it (in some clear, well defined use cases, mostly work related) I send pgp encrypted mail, inline rather than pgp-mime. Far less breakage possible that way. I hardly ever sign my email .. what's not worth encrypting is almost always not worth signing either.
Re: [silk] PGP/MIME or inline PGP?
Udhay Shankar N [07/05/10 06:59 +0530]: Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote, [on 5/7/2010 6:49 AM]: I hardly ever sign my email .. what's not worth encrypting is almost always not worth signing either. More deniability too. :) Nah. More than enough tells .. hardly anybody at all sends from frodo.hserus.net eh I dumped my tinfoil hat in the trash ages ago. So dont use pgp to the extent that it becomes a nuisance for everybody else.
[silk] For the carnatic music lovers on Silk
http://rapidshare.com/files/384039475/kallidaikurichi_ramalinga_bhagavatar_dikshitar_kritis_-_old_rare_private_recording.mp3 Kallidaikurichi Ramalinga Bhagavatar was my father's uncle - my mama thatha. He was a disciple of Vedanta Bhagavatar, who was the president of the music academy in 1940. Vedanta Bhagavatar interacted extensively with Ambi Dikshitar (who was Muthuswamy Dikshitar's son) These are [1] Dikshitar's navagraha kritis - the first of which has been spoiled a bit by a relative recording something else (tamil songs) on top of it. The rest are fine except for a hiss from being transcribed from tape record to mp3, and [2] Other dikshitar kritis The recording was made in the early 1980s, when he was about 80 years old. Enjoy .. you will find that the songs are in the true dikshitar bani (down to the re re phrasing at the end of chandram bhaja manasa, as described in http://www.guruguha.org/kmb.php)
Re: [silk] Silk Meet?
Can do one on a sunday, madras --Original Message-- From: divya manian Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net To: silklist@lists.hserus.net ReplyTo: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: [silk] Silk Meet? Sent: Apr 30, 2010 07:58 Hi peoples I am on my annual pilgrimage to the sub-continent and as usual would love to meet you all and have interesting conversation! So, here is when I will be where: Bangalore: 6th - 8th May 2010 Chennai: 14th May - 30th May 2010 Do let me know if we can have a silk-meet at (preferably) both/one location! - divya -- srs (blackberry)
Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?
Krish Ashok [20/04/10 12:21 +0530]: In which case, I wonder if dogs living in a Hindu household automatically become Hindu dogs Tambram household dogs even become vegetarian, and I've seen at least one pomarenian that had a dot of kungumam on its forehead.
Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?
Kiran Jonnalagadda [20/04/10 12:52 +0530]: On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.net wrote: Tambram household dogs even become vegetarian, and I've seen at least one pomarenian that had a dot of kungumam on its forehead. Ah, yes. Dal rice and milk it was for every day of his fifteen years, except the occasional treat of toasted bread, chapatis, mangoes (he loved mangoes!), and once a year, birthday cake. There was this pom that lived opposite my parents' house before they relocated to madras, with an extreme fondness for dosas. She (the dog) would even come and knock on the door with her paw if it were shut, and she smelt dosas being (fried? what do you call it when you pour batter on a griddle and make pancakes?)
Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?
Sriram Karra [20/04/10 13:07 +0530]: (fried? what do you call it when you pour batter on a griddle and make pancakes?) A literal translation from Tamil would suggest a dosa is 'shot'? to heat a dosa would be more literal / appropriate for chudarathu being tirunelveli / deep south tambrams we'd say vaakarathu
Re: [silk] How does one unregister from Hinduism?
Kiran Jonnalagadda [20/04/10 19:51 +0530]: On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 6:59 PM, Deepa Mohan mohande...@gmail.com wrote: Why, in our country, is the word vegetarian invariably preceded by the word pure? Because those foul egg and mushroom eaters also claim to be vegetarian? and bongs are wont to exclaim you are a bhejetarian and you dont eat phish!
Re: [silk] online banking security analysis
Show your mother this. And take ICICI down the same path - approach the banking ombudsman as well. http://www.moneylife.in/article/8/4751.html ICICI Bank directed to pay Rs12.85 lakh to NRI customer Abhijit Menon-Sen [13/04/10 23:21 +0530]: BTW, after a month-long investigation, this is what ICICI bank has to say about what happened: Kindly note that in any internet banking case, transaction can take place only with the authentication of user id and password by the system when entered. User ID and password is known only to the customer. Hence we would be unable to reverse the mobile recharge transaction. However you can take police assistance for further investigation for recovery and resolution. I wonder what they were investigating for a month then. -- ams
Re: [silk] Uphill, both ways...
Pranesh Prakash [05/04/10 19:00 +0530]: On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 08:11, Andre Uratsuka Manoel an...@insite.com.br wrote: Also, the richest part of Brazil is the south. On the poor northeast, to go south is to go to a richer place, not go down. In a sense, the posher parts of Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore are South Delhi, South Bombay, and South Bangalore. South India is also, I south madras too, adyar, mylapore etc
Re: [silk] How linguistic variations affect where Germans choose to live
Thaths [01/04/10 08:57 -0700]: I thought Ramesh Sippy's Ramayan or Kapil's Devils or Rahman's Jai Ho all created a single India, no? ramanand sagar you mean? the one with the constipated looking actors and actresses who look like they need to find a toilet just as soon as the current scene is shot, cheezy firework tipped arrows and discordant background music, sometime in the early 1990s?
Re: [silk] Uphill, both ways...
Andre Uratsuka Manoel [01/04/10 23:41 -0300]: It's just that there are many expressions, like going south, that don't exist here. I think there simply isn't such a strong association civil society cliched jargon like north south etc dont really need to have basis in any known language except perhaps the unique variant of english that is found only on powerpoint slides.
Re: [silk] Uphill, both ways...
Well .. some states the stereotype fits. But mostly the south and the southwest. Some of the central USA too. Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia etc are the target of jokes about poverty and illiteracy all the way to incest. Texas is mostly size jokes. Iowa, Idaho etc are routine in the middle of nowhere type jokes. And right next to new york you get new jersey jokes about chemical waste dumps and corrupt politicians (these are too real for comfort though, to be true jokes) Deepa Mohan [02/04/10 10:15 +0530]: Andre Uratsuka Manoel [01/04/10 23:41 -0300]: It's just that there are many expressions, like going south, that don't exist here. I think there simply isn't such a strong association Perhaps there is also the association with graphs, where anything going south or down would mean a decrease in (at least numerical) value. I find the north-south divide still runs in the minds of the Americans, with (this is a generalization) the north thinking the southerners are hicks and the southerners thinking the northerners are hoity-toity.(actual quotes from two people I talked to recently, one from Massachusetts and one from Louisiana.) We have a similar north-south divide in India...shows often when the veneer of urbanity is lifted. Deepa.
Re: [silk] Generalized mailing list thread
Pranesh Prakash [31/03/10 19:57 +0530]: On Wednesday 31 March 2010 07:49 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan wrote: On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 4:00 PM, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan chandrachoo...@gmail.com wrote: Implied thread drift. Why you Nazi you, you are no better than Hitler. Since that is ironic, Mike G's wise observation doesn't apply. Thus, wondering: Can a Nazi be better than Hitler? There's what's called Quirk's Exception to Godwin's Law (by Gym Z Quirk aka Taki Kogoma, a character I kept running across a decade back on nanae) Deliberate invocation of Godwin's law doesn't count as an invocation of Godwin.
Re: [silk] When will I see such sysadmins?
That must have been one helluva SLA Venkat Mangudi [01/04/10 08:29 +0530]: http://xkcd.com/705/ --V
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Salil Tripathi [23/03/10 09:55 +]: Many years ago, as I faced the keyboard, I remembered that distant afternoon when a journalist near Ayemenem carefully destroyed Arundhati Roy's plagiarism Congratulations, an excellent article http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/31210209/Maostan-of-Arundhati-Roy.html?h=D
Re: [silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books
Drop in at my place or somewhere in madras. Too big to email -- srs (blackberry) -Original Message- From: J. Alfred Prufrock another.prufr...@gmail.com Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:10:06 To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books Mail 'em!
Re: [silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books
Venkat Mangudi - Silk [26/03/10 09:00 +0530]: I will be in Chennai on Apr 16. Leaving by the bangalore mail. Dinner sounds like a plan. What says? Somewhere other than Azulia. There's this italian place called Tuscana on Khader Nawaz Khan Road that I've heard great things about. Oh .. and about the books? Anyone?
Re: [silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books
Venkat Mangudi [26/03/10 14:34 +0530]: Oh .. and about the books? Anyone? Is there a list somewhere? I own quite a lot of the stuff I mentioned upthread. There's a ton of colin forbes / sidney sheldon / jack higgins type stuff. Ditto michener, carl hiaasen, lots of westerns .. a cupboard full of assorted.
[silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books
I'm consolidating a large collection that's kind of heavy on pulp fiction and novels Thin to nonexistent on non fiction Lots of westerns, thrillers and such. Most of the usual suspect authors. People in madras ping me and drop in. Offers of other books in exchange that I havent read before (and the next madras silk meetup for dinner or whatever) are welcome.
Re: [silk] Free to a good home - a lot of old books
Venkat Mangudi - Silk [26/03/10 09:00 +0530]: I will be in Chennai on Apr 16. Leaving by the bangalore mail. Dinner sounds like a plan. What says? sure.
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Mahesh Murthy [24/03/10 11:34 +0530]: What's common to the lot that despise her is that they're all intellectuals (or literary critics) - and to me it seems they think she hasn't paid her dues in the Kanu Sanyal or Potti Sreeramulu sort of way to claim the intellectual high ground that she does so well. There's a very valid school of thought about people needing to have a meaningful stake in something before they go claiming to be stakeholders, to use some very misused civil society jargon. But that's not it here. As I said - intellectual dishonesty besides not being able to write worth shit.
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Charles Haynes [24/03/10 19:49 +1100]: I'm bemused by how much ill will is directed towards someone who, from my point of view, is nothing more than an outspoken writer pandering to popular prejudices. Is her brand of demagoguery appealing to a demographic that is uncomfortably close to home in contrast to, say Modi who's power base is a safe psychic distance away? How safe a distance would that be, Charles? I have at least two close relatives who are card carrying BJP members and who idolize Modi. Aside from a minority of people who are actually engaged / involved in the civil society crowd there's nobody who is *that* close to home. It is just that thugs and demagogues affiliated to various right and left wing political parties are kind of declared, and expected. She doesnt want to bill herself as a demagogue - but as a historian and a reporter. Its like fox news, confusing themselves between news and opinion pieces.
Re: [silk] Mockingbird, Brooklyn and other favourites
For quite a few of them, certainly. Devreux's Venus in India was accompanied by John Cleland's Fanny Hill for instance. Wodehouse on Wodehouse certainly. Ditto Spike Milligan, Zen and the Art .., lots of Kipling. Terry Pratchetts of course. Then, Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin novels .. all 21 of them (including the unfinished 21 that has his unfinished manuscript in his delightfully neat copperplate yet surprisingly hard to read handwriting). That man was the last of the truly literate brits, almost. Felt like I was reading Dickens and Sir Walter Scott, at times. Sir Richard Burton's The Arabian Nights. Complete and unexpurgated. Let's not forget the pulp fiction. Westerns by Louis L'Amour, Elmore Leonard .. all his western stories, and Tabor Evans's Longarm Series, written by spur award winners like Lou Cameron and James Reasoner. Reasoner's become quite a good friend after I emailed him a few months back and struck up a conversation. He's even written a bunch of other pulp that I like, such as some of the Michael Shayne detective novels. Lots of old boyhood favorites - like about a couple of dozen biggles books. Not too many amar chitra kathas thanks to various younger cousins descending on my collection about a decade or more back. J. Alfred Prufrock [23/03/10 12:28 +0530]: My apologies if this is *infra dig*, but I would dearly love to know how many Silklisters share my enthusiasm for the books mentioned here. http://sadoldbong.blogspot.com/2006/02/so-owd-gaffer-he-sits-heself-down-with.html (Ummm ... Banville, Barnes, Murakami and *The Hungry Tide **have* been sampled since 2006) J.A.P.
Re: [silk] Mockingbird, Brooklyn and other favourites
J. Alfred Prufrock [23/03/10 13:22 +0530]: Sir Richard Burton's The Arabian Nights. Complete and unexpurgated. Where can I get it?! Jaico publishes it, pick it up at any landmark or odyssey. Westerns by Louis L'Amour The only Western writer I really liked, even though he does recycle essentially the same plot over and over again. But then, its a trope. * which is why you need to expand your horizons a bit beyond jt edson / zane gray / l'amour :) Try the longarms for example if you can find them. Some of them are really very good. Or the Elmore Leonards (including the classic 3:10 from Yuma).
Re: [silk] Mockingbird, Brooklyn and other favourites
Nick carter to a far lesser extent. Too many authors running that franchise James Hadley Chase forever -- srs (blackberry) -Original Message- From: Deepa Mohan mohande...@gmail.com Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:31:22 To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Mockingbird, Brooklyn and other favourites On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 1:33 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.netwrote: which is why you need to expand your horizons a bit beyond jt edson / zane gray / l'amour :) Try the longarms for example if you can find them. Some of them are really very good. Or the Elmore Leonards (including the classic 3:10 from Yuma). What are the books that one has read at least 6 times? Austen for me. If I could have only a dozen English books on my bookshelf, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility would be there, I think. Pulp fiction...what about all the Nick Carter books, that my brother would riffle through to find the bits? When I was in Chennai, I realized that there was a huge market for people to write Tamizh pulp novels; I was friends for a while with a young woman who churned them out regularly; I was amazed at how low her payment was! Not as bad, though, as the payment to the artists who drew the lurid cover illustrations... Deepa
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Madonna and Aamir don't pretend to be full time members of the chatterati civil society activist set. My contempt for various of those isn't restricted to arundhati roy, or to various left leaning types. It cuts across the political spectrum. -- srs (blackberry) -Original Message- From: Shoba Narayan narayan.sh...@gmail.com Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:02:20 To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there Erm. I'm a Gujju, not a TamBram. more seriously, there are several problems with her writing. Why don't I love thee? Let me count the ways... Salil, you are clearly very well-read and I don't mean that in a snarky way-- my Dad's an English prof. so I have a great deal of respect for literature even if I shirk it. And I happen to love Barrett Browning. And as you know, she said, How do I love thee? so the quotes are wrong. Sorry, couldn't resist. But I had to look that up unlike you who probably said it from memory. The TamBrahm analogy was because I know so many men who hate Roy and they always describe their dislike of her with this dispassionate, rational, logical, arguing-equations-in-IIT tone that bugs the shit out of me. As if it was self-evident that Roy is an inferior writer and a hypocrite activist... when in fact this dislike goes deeper and more visceral than that...and I am curious why. Her causes aren't original So now we are back at the causes...not the writing. - she gatecrashes as a latecomer, and moves on when the next crisis beckons her (does anyone remember her struggle against Narmada anymore? I think all of us do remember Narmada. But Salil, again, I would argue the counter. If you are a celebrity-- like Roy or Angelina or even apna Aamir, you ought to lend your name and move from cause to cause. Roy never claimed monogamy for her causes. So why aren't you outraged by Madonna changing religions or Aamir forgetting dyslexia once he moved films. Why hold Roy to a different standard? Medha Patkar doesn't fly from one cause to another like a butterfly). Two, she connects the farthest dots to create a scary Rorschach image, when Occam's Razor would've provided a simpler explanation (OK, too many metaphors, but you get the drift). I've heard this one many times. And funnily enough I agree that he connects the farthest dots. There are two ways to look at this. Roy uses revolutionary-tactics. Extremism is her forte and her choice. You can say that she does this because it is self serving or (if you want to be charitable) because it draws attention to her cause in a more-bang-for-the-buck way. If I were Roy, I would do exactly what she does. If my forte was this kind of polemic writing and I find that it works-- draws attention to the things I want to highlight -- that's what I would do. I would stick to extremist polemics. There are enough dispassionate, logical, objective, on-the-one-hand type writers. There are very few Roys. So she's terrific for conspiracy theorists, but not of much value besides. And three, there's nihilism in her writing, valorizing of certain folks over others, and a congenital failure to see nuances - witness her churlish, childish responses to BG Verghese on dams, her shrill outburst against Ram Guha (who called her Arun Shourie of the Left), and her ignoring the more serious criticism from Gail Omvedt. What about Ram Guha's shrill outburst against Roy? He has done it before to Vir Sanghvi and that was called excoriation. When Roy retaliates, it is an outburst? That, and her hypocrisy: she has a home in a forest land in violation of the Forest Act, This to me is terrible. And Salil, you should know that I am not so much in love with Roy. Part of this is the pleasure of a good argument!! and she did a huge song and dance about the judiciary vis-a-vis Narmada, though she was warned she'd be jailed under contempt of court laws (I don't like those laws, but that's a different matter). She went to jail for one night, probably didn't like the dal, and next day paid the fine and got out. She ain't no Gandhi (the real one, not the pretenders). I think Abhijit Menon-Sen has addressed this. Menon-Sen-- what a name! I can only imagine the inherited genetic capital. I could go on. So could I. But my feminist colors are showing.
[silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Absolutely classic, thanks to Atanu Dey for pointing me (and the rest of india-gii) to it. http://exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=6487IBLOCK_ID=35 Great Literary Frauds of Our Time By John Dolan Too bad it compares the dog of small minded mallus to to kill a mockingbird - which was much better written than this one. And was actually sincere.
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Indrajit Gupta [23/03/10 09:43 +0530]: End of quote, end of breathless rush to immortalise essay. Suresh, you really like this? Honestly? I need to hear you say that once again. i would say that a lot of it - such as the copy of to kill a mockingbird - is true enough yes it is more vicious than I care for - but that's more or less in the fight fire with fire realm
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Deepa Mohan [23/03/10 10:07 +0530]: To Kill A Mockingbird is permeated throughout by two rare characteristics: good writing, and goodness. Apparently Gregory Peck was, in real life, a person like Atticus Finch; it's the goodness of his character, and the innocence of the narrator, and the skill with which it's brought out by the author, that lifts this book to the level of good literature. Which is why to kill a mockingbird is still a genuine hit - even today. And i have a much thumbed copy with me. Taking all the ingredients of a successful recipe doesnt always guarantee a dish of the same quality
Re: [silk] For the Arundhati Roy haters out there
Deepa Mohan [23/03/10 10:47 +0530]: It's also wonderful to see children depicted as children and not as mini-adults. R K Narayan and Bill Watterson have this gift, too. my favorite in that genre is not even to kill a mockingbird its betty smith's a tree grows in brooklyn if any of you can find the book + has a spare copy. mine disappeared 8 years ago when i was moving house and i had that for years, read it multiple times
[silk] Tim Bray the new face of the google apple rivalry
Well well .. way to go. suresh http://www.pcworld.com/article/191633/meet_tim_bray_new_face_of_the_googleapple_rivalry.html http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2010/03/15/Joining-Google starts off with a bang .. As of this morning I work for Google. The title is “Developer Advocate”. The focus is Android. Fun is expected.
Re: [silk] online banking security analysis
The aba recommendation is to use a dedicated non windows device - such as a linux live cd - for companies transacting in high volumes (payroll etc) online --Original Message-- From: Abhijit Menon-Sen Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net To: silklist@lists.hserus.net ReplyTo: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: [silk] online banking security analysis Sent: Mar 12, 2010 18:52 Has anyone done a security analysis of net banking sites in India? Have any actual attacks been dissected and documented? Does anyone know what measures are taken to safeguard authentication information? Someone used my mother's net banking account without authorisation, and the bank (ICICI) says, in effect, it happens, what can anyone do?. So I'm just wondering if there's any sensible/safe way to use net banking. I did notice that Standard Chartered rejected the twenty-four character password (including non-alphanumerics) I tried to create. I had to set a much shorter alphanumeric password instead. Unfortunate. -- ams -- srs (blackberry)
[silk] mallus drink heavily .. news at 11, on the bbc
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8557215.stm Amazing.
Re: [silk] China’s Cyberposse
A “human flesh search engine” certainly called up some 4chan / goatse (or maybe hp lovecraft) imagery, to be honest. From: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net [mailto:silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net] On Behalf Of Chew Lin Kay Sent: Wednesday, 10 March 2010 1:55 PM To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] China’s Cyberposse Thanks for posting! Am a bit surprised--how come there were no comparisons made to 4Chan adn some of the campaigns against Scientology arising from there, especially since that was referenced in an earlier article on trolling (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=1sq=trolling%204chanst=csescp=1pagewanted=all sq=trolling%204chanst=csescp=1pagewanted=all) ? On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 6:52 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan che...@gmail.com wrote: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html?hp= http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html?hp=pagewanted=all pagewanted=all
Re: [silk] China’s Cyberposse
Srini RamaKrishnan [Monday, 8 March 2010 4:22 PM]: China’s Cyberposse A cyberposse in search of the killing of a cyberpussy
Re: [silk] How did it get this title?
Deepa Mohan [09/03/10 21:42 +0530]: Whenever I click on my address book to get to silklist, I get this Intelligent Conversation appellation...that makes me cringe. How does Gmail assign this kind of title to an email id? Its in your address book as Intelligent Conversation
Re: [silk] The silliness and corruptness of Indian media
Blame N Ram for that, damn him And didn't we discuss just this a few months back after I got tired of comrade ram and dumped my hindu subscription? -- srs (blackberry) -Original Message- From: Abhishek Hazra abhishek.ha...@gmail.com Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:53:06 To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] The silliness and corruptness of Indian media but well, in recent years, there are many of us, who feel that the left of centre Hindu, with its history of critical journalism, has become more and more partisan in its reporting: to the point of sounding like a CPI(M) Politburo press release. and while Nandigram might have made this aspect of Hindu glaringly clear, the absence of any critical voice when it came to reporting on CPI(M) has actually been around for a while. One has to just compare Hindu with EPW to realize the difference. abhishek On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 4:38 PM, Sruthi Krishnan srukr...@gmail.com wrote: BTW, can this thread gently drift back to the topic I originally started? It's easy to beat up on individuals and their reporting style, but I was hoping there'd be some debate on the larger issue at hand. My 2-paise worth on the 'larger issue', that of media today being a slave of the corporates. First, the definition of media here is the English media in India. This media, which includes newspapers and television channels, serves a particular class of English-speaking people. In turn, these media houses are run by advertisement revenues and not by their subscription fees (if you take the example of newspapers). Hence, they are bound to serve the interests of the masters who pay them, to be quite dramatic :). This issue of media in a democracy being a propaganda tool for the ruling elite, which comprises alternatively either the corporates or the Government, is argued nicely in Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. In the Indian context, the scenario is quite interesting. Consider the 80s where the Bofors scam was broken. It was the watchdog media doing what it should be doing -- exposing Government inadequacies and informing people. Now consider Tehelka's Operation West End. There are some parallels. (Yes, yes, there's a lot of debate on whether a sting operation has the same moral legitimacy as a piece of investigative journalism. If that is set aside, then there are parallels :)) The difference in the reaction of the 'People Like Us' (middle/upper middle class, English speaking population in India) to both these events demonstrates the effectiveness of the Indian media then and now. There are some explanations proposed for this. In a nutshell, this is what some theories which consider liberalisation as a turning point say: After liberalisation, the Indian Government lost a lot of money in trying to woo international investments. Less money meant less social spending. The amount of investment in agriculture and the corresponding growth of agriculture is an eloquent indicator. So, the idea of the Government being the 'mai-baap' who provides started eroding in the minds of people. When the Bofors scam was exposed, people felt betrayed. The 'people like us' thought Rajiv Gandhi could do no wrong, and he did. As the Government had legitimacy in the minds of the people, such a Government doing wrong was condemned. Now, the Government has lost that legitimacy because it is no more seen as an instrument capable of change. Who is then capable of this change? People aren't very sure. This fuzziness leads to confusion, and hence, there's no easy way of saying who is right and who is wrong. So, what happens when a case of corruption is exposed? Worse, what is the reaction after Operation Kalank ( the Tehelka expose on the Gujrat pogrom). People don't care. If the Government does not have this legitimacy, who does? Simply put these theories say, it is capital.Whoever has capital has the acquiescence of media. Who has capital? Monsanto, maybe? Prabhat Patnaik's lecture elaborates this theory nicely : http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fline/fl1915/19151280.htm
Re: [silk] Meet-up in Bangalore?
Udhay Shankar N [08/03/10 13:08 +0530]: On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 12:59 PM, Aditya Kapil blue...@gmail.com wrote: I'm definitely there on the 14th and 15th (leaving in the evening). But could come a day earlier is there is serious interest. Oh good. Come by, and we can party. I'll come in on the 13th morning Shatabdi
[silk] Soul destroying experience of the day
Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Made into a japanese anime cartoon that's much stronger on the shoot up the bugs part of it than on the philosophizing. And then translated into tamil. I dont need that sort of experience so damned early in the morning, its hardly 7 AM here.
Re: [silk] a big step for linux?
Eugen Leitl [05/03/10 14:06 +0100]: [1] Too rushed for time to dig up the link that claims some two-thirds of all Windows PCs are not under their owners' control, but I'm sure Suresh will have it handy. :) The numbers are somewhat between one quarter and one half, IIRC. Of course it depends, your local environment could be much better, or much worse. The number varies, per network. Just for bots that send spam - By domain (ISP) - http://cbl.abuseat.org/domain.html [bsnl and airtel 1st and 3rd] By country - http://cbl.abuseat.org/country.html India shining Total flow statistics - awesomely high. And 7 to 8 million botted IPs at any time in the CBL http://cbl.abuseat.org/totalflow.html
Re: [silk] a big step for linux?
sankarshan [03/03/10 20:10 +0530]: There has been a significant improvement upstream in terms of Linux plumbing viz. Hal, udev, Xorg, PulseAudio, Cairo/Harfbuzz, NetworkManager being a few examples which has ensured that the desktop experience keeps getting better. If you start looking at distributions As the one who got into that mammoth linux on the desktop fight with atul chitnis a decade back .. linux is getting there and I am glad to see it. It is still not there as much as I would like in some critical business productivity areas - office suites and such. That is of course linux on the desktop, its still in a class of its own as a server OS
Re: [silk] The silliness and corruptness of Indian media
Yup. Methods, policy too sometimes --Original Message-- From: Srini RamaKrishnan Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net To: silklist@lists.hserus.net ReplyTo: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] The silliness and corruptness of Indian media Sent: Mar 2, 2010 16:07 On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 3:14 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian sur...@hserus.net wrote: you nailed it. they call it activist journalism and i hate activism - on either side of the political spectrum (I detest the EFF and moveon as much as I do the teabaggers) Perhaps what you meant to say is that you hate the EFF's methods as much as the tea bagger's methods? -- srs (blackberry)
Re: [silk] Anybody know where to get Mysore Concerns coffee in madras?
Thaths [01/03/10 09:31 -0800]: The epitome of Arabica and Robusta blend *alarm bells going off* I wouldn't feed Robusta to my pigs. But its a favorite blend of indian coffee drinkers, especially when adulterated with chicory.
Re: [silk] The silliness and corruptness of Indian media
Udhay Shankar N [02/03/10 07:04 +0530]: Sainath speaks loudly, but too little, IMO, this merits more. I have an allergic reaction to Sainath. He practices what one might term 'argument by vigorous assertion' (along with most people in politics, but I digress). This is even if one ignores the inconsistencies and obvious omissions in his argument. you nailed it. they call it activist journalism and i hate activism - on either side of the political spectrum (I detest the EFF and moveon as much as I do the teabaggers)
Re: [silk] Anybody know where to get Mysore Concerns coffee in madras?
Charles Haynes [02/03/10 12:33 +1100]: I'm a single origin arabica snob, but will admit that when making espresso blends that a small amount of robusta often improves the blend. On the other hand, the glut of cheap vietnamese robusta is pretty much single handedly responsible for the collapse of the boutique arabica market. hard beans and a dark roast will certainly improve espresso. peets has a french roast blend they say is 100% arabica - and that makes some excellent espresso at market prices rather than gourmet coffee prices. Something like $12.75 a bag.
Re: [silk] Anybody know where to get Mysore Concerns coffee in madras?
Charles Haynes [02/03/10 13:00 +1100]: For the record, it is possible to like animals (pigs in particular can be quite endearing) and still eat them. :) Sentimentality isnt something you note when you breed animals for meat. Even when you take good care of them. I personally can grow up reading about the three little pigs, and read all about the Empress of Blandings, while eating bacon with my breakfast (in hotels at least, my family is vegetarian so that's what I am at home)
Re: [silk] Losing the Apple habit
Kiran Jonnalagadda [26/02/10 18:40 +0530]: I want a machine that weighs no more than 1.3 kg. I'm not rich. I like Ubuntu. What do I get? If you were rich I'd have suggested one of the lighter thinkpads - x series. Underpowered but feather light. Sony vaios too but they're way too flimsy for rough use. In fact pick whatever thinkpad works for you - the damn things are built like tanks, have usable keyboards and excellent linux support
Re: [silk] Fire in Carlton Towers
To mangle a sgt colon quote, The Jace tweeted can never be ignited Damn, that's about the best news I've had in a while. Glad he's safe --Original Message-- From: Srini RamaKrishnan Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus@lists.hserus.net To: silklist@lists.hserus.net ReplyTo: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Fire in Carlton Towers Sent: Feb 23, 2010 18:49 On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 2:13 PM, Biju Chacko biju.cha...@gmail.com wrote: Silklister Jace is tweeting from inside: http://twitter.com/jackerhack Hope he gets out ok ... He's out safely and on his way home - he's currently on the phone with a TV reporter http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_live.php?id=LIVE_BG24x7live=tv -- srs (blackberry)
Re: [silk] update from Simon Singh
anish.moham...@gmail.com wrote: Given we have quite a few lawyers on the list, especially the ones which practice in UK. I was wondering if they would share their insights :) I kind of admire the guy's activism - but the best advice a lawyer could give him, and I am not a lawyer, is to shut up, stop blogging and let his lawyers do the talking.
[silk] One for shiv
Lots of articles about india's new missile that has a range sufficient to hit beijing. So here's one that has an interesting comment. At least because the man's channeled one of my (and most other people's) favorite movies. http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/23-2418.aspx (One could quickly sum this up for those who have read and/or seen the classic movie The Godfather. My metaphor is that India is Corleone, Pakistan is Tattaglia and China is Barzini.)
Re: [silk] Heard outside the Basavanagudi NRI association
ss [03/02/10 21:59 +0530]: On Wednesday 03 Feb 2010 9:44:38 pm Deepa Mohan wrote: On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 8:57 PM, ss cybers...@gmail.com wrote: Bengalooru Blahnteru (Secretly taped snappy snippets of day to day Benglur talku) Sorry - try this http://bengaloorubanter.blogspot.com/search/label/Audio%20Blog clip 1 - warast for worst etc .. that's a coastal andhra pronunciation is what I thought. And I heard enough of those guys speak telugu accented (and translated on the fly from telugu) english, overlaid with a noo joisey accent, or a bay area / socal accent. Mostly noo joisey funnily enough - throw a brick into a place like edison nj and you're likely to hit a telugu software guy, a lot but far fewer tamilians, rather fewer kannadigas. clip 2 - sounds a bit more mumbai kitty party type (gujju ben of the sort that you see in ekta kapoor serials when they're not scheming against their daughter in law, always dressed to go to a dandia the very next minute) - than anything else. Not a very bengalur specific accent right? clip 3 - pure andhravadu. see comments about clip 1. even has telugu words in it. nothing much bangalore related (that is, kannada) except some vague comment in clips 1 and 2 if you want - try this one: russell peters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=setLfUYi8cc similar - see his takes on the chinese etc.
Re: [silk] Any Mozilla Addons
Alok G. Singh [02/02/10 00:37 +0530]: This is particularly a problem with silk-list as it uses mail-followup-to in a non-standard way. I mitigate it setting broken-reply-to in the group parameters in Gnus. YMMV. silklist is a standard mailman install. what is this non standard way you refer to? please keep it offlist to just me and udhay.
Re: [silk] Books to be given away
Deepak Misra [01/02/10 08:47 +0530]: With a heavy heart I have started compressing my library with a ruthless purging of books. In madras - I have a bunch (but too many to catalog and scan covers) Mostly picked up from 2nd hand bookstores like the abids sunday market in hyderabad. so has all the pages is the most I can say for quite a lot of them. assorted novels - well known authors (james michener, elizabeth george, james clavell, etc). some classics. several hundred books. Someone wants stuff like these, email me. Willing to give away books (or maybe swap for them). Typically will swap fiction for fiction, I dont have too much of a taste (or the time and inclination) for non fiction at all
Re: [silk] Books to be given away
Udhay Shankar N [01/02/10 10:19 +0530]: Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote, [on 2/1/2010 10:08 AM]: Someone wants stuff like these, email me. Willing to give away books (or maybe swap for them). Typically will swap fiction for fiction, I dont have too much of a taste (or the time and inclination) for non fiction at all Come by to Bangalore on 13th with a bag full of books. :) Given I'm flying out to san fran on the 13th night, no can do
Re: [silk] Help needed with Thunderbird 3
Udhay Shankar N [28/01/10 07:10 +0530]: I downloaded Thunderbird 3 [1] (and the update to 3.0.1) a couple of weeks ago. A much-needed update to Thunderbird, especially in the area of search. imap flags / cache getting reset for some reason or the other file a bug report with tbird. the imap server on frodo is dovecot sur...@frodo 17:59:02 :~$ dpkg -l|grep dovecot ii dovecot-common1:1.2.9-1 secure mail server that supports mbox and maildir mailboxes ii dovecot-imapd 1:1.2.9-1 secure IMAP server that supports mbox and maildir mailboxes ii dovecot-pop3d 1:1.2.9-1 secure POP3 server that supports mbox and maildir mailboxes
[silk] testing. please ignore.
Re: [silk] testing. please ignore.
Srini RamaKrishnan [24/01/10 09:57 +0100]: ack testing out dkim. works for hserus.net one to one email i send now checking its interaction with mailing lists on hserus
Re: [silk] Interesing Nonsense
Charles Haynes [22/01/10 20:39 +1100]: On the other hand, it sounds like appropriation of the term jugaad by rich multinational corporations to describe some supposedly unique Indian corporate mindset enabling white collar solutions to foreign problems is a more than a little smug. More than smug, its just plain stupid. Jugaads never do have to live up to SLAs, or pass safety inspections, require certification etc. Having a corporation cut corners like that doesn't make as much sense as a consultant's ppt sounds. But maybe these are the same consultants that promiscuously borrow terms and concepts from sun tzu's 'the art of war' .. that is, just enough to write a bestseller 100 page paperback management book about it.
Re: [silk] Interesing Nonsense
Siddhartha Bala [20/01/10 07:06 -0500]: Agree with the title of the email. Have to confess that I have never heard the term 'jugaad' before. Although maybe its cousins 'chalta hai' and 'adjust maadi, swamy' are more familiar. This is the brand of innovation that will fit three riders on a scooter. A jugaad is rather more interesting. Take a water pump's engine, fix it to a horse cart, rig up some crude gears, drive shaft and steering and you got yourself a very cheap truck. Something like the way 1930s american farmers used to use their model T fords double up as water pumps and lawn mowers.
Re: [silk] Interesing Nonsense
Udhay Shankar N [21/01/10 11:51 +0530]: One one sense, you're right. The way I heard it, the very cheap truck/vehicle Suresh is referring to above was actually called a jugaad and the generic usage of the word for any hack of this nature came later. Any modern-day Hobsons or Jobsons care to confirm this? That (cheap truck) is the most common usage - but trying to find etymology for this is very chicken and egg indeed. As the management prof said in businessweek, it gets called good old yankee ingenuity when farmers turn their model T into a tractor or hay baler.
