I agree with your point about reading classical texts, but AFAIK, I'ching is an oracle, a randomised card-game sort of thing that purportedly answers your question through sufficiently vague passages. Not in the same league as, say, Aristotle's works.
Food that is "good for you" tastes like shit, no one really wants to have a salad with no dressing or a bowl full of water for a meal. We enjoy fatty and sweet foods because they taste good. Now sit back and think, this type of technology being added to a dressing for a salad... if you can make my sensors think that I'm not eating a bowl full of plant leaves that taste god awful, I'll buy the whole lot of it.
Obviously, you've never had the gongura pickle with rice. An out of this world experience, I assure you.
in which the Romans send in a guy to buy all the bautas the Gauls can produce. Obelix makes bautas, and suddenly the village gets industrialized, the villagers get rich and things start going really wrong.....
That would be Obelix and Co becoming rich by selling menhirs in the British version.
Obviously, later this Attorney will get sued by another attorney representing AT&T, who will later get sued by another another attorney representing AT&T...
Wait, recursion wasn't, ah, invented, in AT&T Bell Labs, were they?
While it's possible that she holds an American passport, I think it's unfair to say if Dr Chawla was exclusively Indian or American. It must be said that she never quite forgot her Indian identity; as this article says, she did maintain contacts with her school and carried what was essentially an Indian momento along with her.
The point I'm trying to make, really, is that there are many of us who'd like to lay claim to a dual nationalist identity (as opposed to a political identity, which is what passports, in the end, give). We grew up in one land and live/work in another. In the end, we'd like to think we're part of both, our affection equally shared, our gratitude forever split.
Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian in space, although he was a cosmonaut, ie, he flew with the (then) Soviets. Dr Kalpana Chawla was the first, and so far only, astronaut of Indian descent.
But I agree with you about the point on news coverage given to Mr Ramon. My condolences to his family of course, but I see no reason why so much heavy weather should be made out of the dead astronauts' nationalities/ethnicities.
It is no coincidence that there was an Israeli astronaut aboard and the space shuttle blew up.... the space shuttle was hit with an EMP bomb!
I don't know if you're trying to be ironic, or if you have access to information inside NASA, but that's a grossly irresponsible statement to make. Let's hold off all conspiracy theories until things have settled, shall we?
While I understand the point you're making, you're missing one essential part in your example on MS Hindi Windows:- Indian software companies aren't into application development. If you want *real* application development, there's only one place where it's happening.
You make a very good point; that, all said and done, this concept of nationality (and national identity) is a very volatile thing. One of my favorite examples is on food; Indian food, arguably, is traditionally known to be spicy. Just one problem with that:- chillies aren't Indian in origin. They came from the Americas. Try telling (a full-bloodied, patriotic) Indian that spicy food isn't quite as Indian as he thinks!
You know, that's a very good point to make, except for one thing:- it will mean the extinction of geekdom. Now we have no excuses left to leave our parents' basement!
I like your optimistic note, but you're making a very common mistake. You assume that technological and economic change will lead to social and political change. As the Chinese, the Singaporeans, Arabs and countless other prosperous Asians living under authoritarian regimes will note, it may not always be true.
The best quote I have heard was a French prime minister visiting New Delhi in the 20's or 30's, and asked what he thought of it (the various cities of Delhi have been built/rebuilt about 6-9 times)
The seven cities of Delhi have seen continuous human inhabitation since early 2nd century BC.
At least there is one thing that never changes. Fast Company is as always willing to give blowjobs to large corporations. I wonder what the folks at fast company received for thisd article. And i wonder if they are under pressure from third world journalist with no ethical standards.
The article was written by a certain (first-world sounding) Keith H. Hammonds. But yes, I agree; the article is basically advertising for Wipro and yes, corporate-planted stories of this sort are increasing these days.
Considering the conflicts with Pakistan and the past fear of possible nuclear or conventional war in the region, do companies work that into their calculations? What of other kinds of issues in foreign countries that companies outsource to?
You know, one of the very interesting things about last year's brinkmanship was what it did to the value of the Indian rupee and to India's forex reserves. Usually, in times of political or economic uncertainity in a certain country, you'd expect a dip in the currency's value; the US dollar, for example, dipped (primarily in relation to the Euro and Swiss franc) after Enron and Worldcom broke out.
I honestly was expecting the rupee's value to dip in mid-2002; the Monsoons had failed, agricultural produce in a largely agarian economy had taken a plunge, manufacturing was in a largely self-inflicted slump and then there was that dickheaded brinkmanship with Pakistan (dickheaded because it acheived absolutely nothing; Islamist terrorists still attack Indian targets with impunity, people still die in Kashmir and what's more, there seems to be no end in sight to all this violence.)
But the fact of the matter is, the rupee is still going strong (bad for exports, good for people like me), and, while nowhere near China's, forex levels are at an all time high. Most believe that it's largely due to software exports and by bank remittances by Non Resident Indians.
Now, it's important to remember the political clout that the software industry has in India's corridors of power. A power that have, on earlier occassions, not shied from wielding; IT companies, for instance, get fabulous tax breaks, get allocated prime land and in general, have direct access to state chief ministers and central (ie federal) ministers. One of the bigger things that affected me a long time back was the IT industry's silence over most central ministers' biligerent statements, statements that would be populist within India but would definitely be seen as provocative in the international community (and hence detrimental to business interests).
I guess we now know the reason more or less; the IT industry hasn't really been affected by the stand-off. In fact, I'll extend it even further:- tech (whether Indian, American or Tristan-da-Cunha-ian) will flourish despite irresponsible politicians.
I'd figure foreign outsourcing would bring in a hell of a lot of variables one would have to work with.
While good food is a premium, most (in fact, all) the airlines I've travelled on offer free wine and movies. Incidentally, surfing the net on air as been attempted already; Singapore Airlines once invited a journalist to file his article while travelling from Singapore to San Francisco. And, the last time I flew Swiss, they had a blurb saying that they'll introduce internet in a few months (this was in May 2002). Guess it hasn't taken off (to use a bad pun) so far.
Who cares, when they found the Yeti somewhere in Jammu and Kashmir. But then, it being J&K, it's quite possible that the alleged Yeti is actually a terrorist trying to infilitrate into India...
(Context:- During rural India's earlier experiences with the muchnowa, a senior police officer actually said that he believed this thing was the handiwork of Pakistan's spook organisation, ISI.)
I can see the point your making, but it's important to remember that gum per se is not banned in Singapore. Only the sale of gum is and even that saw some last minute legal loopholes assigned to it during the recent US-Singapore trade talks. (Wasn't too bothered about the details; perhaps a Singaporean can fill in here)
But about the parent's point about Singaporeans wanting it that way. Actually in most multi-party democracies, the incumbent government is more likely to retain its power rather than lose it. (India is one notable exception of course, reason being its political diversity). So, I'd say it's more to do with, what I call as 'political inertia' and a lack of viable alternatives to the incumbent rather than Singaporeans "wanting it that way". The vast majority of any population, you'd have to remember, is usually politically neutral, preferring to get on with life rather than give in to ideology.
The rest of the parent's comment is spot-on of course. I've been to Iran (which presumably has the same, or more amount of authoritarianism as Saudi Arabia) and to Singapore, and yes, the two are not in the same league. Much of the Singaporean government's authority stems from a largely paternalistic attitude that both the government and the public at large seem to play along with. It's not quite written in stone although fear of the government is, arguably, perceptable.
Conformity in Saudi Arabia and Iran, OTOH, is largely through the Moral Police and its legal system.
Wrong approach to learning languages. You don't need no learning software to learn new languages, simply use this wonderful site! Get corresponding keywords, try different keyword combinations, plot the new language's BNF tree, use your knowledge to write new sentences and see if they translate properly, and finally, try to read an online newspaper in the language you're learning.
Piece of cake.;-)
Re:It may not be there...
on
Christmas in 2050
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Strangely enough, the Hindu far-right also talks of Hindu festivals such as Deepavali, Dussehra becoming extinct in the face of relentless evangelisation from the Christian far-right. And they, indeed, echo the Muslim far-right's concerns over young Muslim girls not wearing hijab, eating non-haleem meat, not celebrating Id-ul-Fitr with "proper" gaiety...
Face it; it's not just (underground real) Christians under "threat".
... as for me, I'll be searching for the (presumably lost) tomb of a 17th century French traveller, Monsieur Raymond. Deccani oral history has, of course, completely Indianised "Monsieur Raymond"'s French pronounciation; the general area of his tomb's location is called 'Moosarambagh', literally, 'Moosaram's Park'. Just that, a) no one in the area quite knows where the tomb is, b) they haven't even heard of M. Raymond, c) two earlier trips to Moosarambagh have yielded only about three unpainted houses.
Not surprisingly, Google seems to have heard about it, even returned a picture, which can only mean one thing:- it's waiting for my visit.
If only I can (accurately) figure out where it is.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with your point about reading classical texts, but AFAIK, I'ching is an oracle, a randomised card-game sort of thing that purportedly answers your question through sufficiently vague passages. Not in the same league as, say, Aristotle's works.
Food that is "good for you" tastes like shit, no one really wants to have a salad with no dressing or a bowl full of water for a meal. We enjoy fatty and sweet foods because they taste good. Now sit back and think, this type of technology being added to a dressing for a salad ... if you can make my sensors think that I'm not eating a bowl full of plant leaves that taste god awful, I'll buy the whole lot of it.
Obviously, you've never had the gongura pickle with rice. An out of this world experience, I assure you.
in which the Romans send in a guy to buy all the bautas the Gauls can produce. Obelix makes bautas, and suddenly the village gets industrialized, the villagers get rich and things start going really wrong.....
That would be Obelix and Co becoming rich by selling menhirs in the British version.
Why get into a fix over a pun?
Obviously, later this Attorney will get sued by another attorney representing AT&T, who will later get sued by another another attorney representing AT&T...
Wait, recursion wasn't, ah, invented, in AT&T Bell Labs, were they?
While it's possible that she holds an American passport, I think it's unfair to say if Dr Chawla was exclusively Indian or American. It must be said that she never quite forgot her Indian identity; as this article says, she did maintain contacts with her school and carried what was essentially an Indian momento along with her.
The point I'm trying to make, really, is that there are many of us who'd like to lay claim to a dual nationalist identity (as opposed to a political identity, which is what passports, in the end, give). We grew up in one land and live/work in another. In the end, we'd like to think we're part of both, our affection equally shared, our gratitude forever split.
Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian in space, although he was a cosmonaut, ie, he flew with the (then) Soviets. Dr Kalpana Chawla was the first, and so far only, astronaut of Indian descent.
But I agree with you about the point on news coverage given to Mr Ramon. My condolences to his family of course, but I see no reason why so much heavy weather should be made out of the dead astronauts' nationalities/ethnicities.
I don't know if you're trying to be ironic, or if you have access to information inside NASA, but that's a grossly irresponsible statement to make. Let's hold off all conspiracy theories until things have settled, shall we?
While I understand the point you're making, you're missing one essential part in your example on MS Hindi Windows:- Indian software companies aren't into application development. If you want *real* application development, there's only one place where it's happening.
You make a very good point; that, all said and done, this concept of nationality (and national identity) is a very volatile thing. One of my favorite examples is on food; Indian food, arguably, is traditionally known to be spicy. Just one problem with that:- chillies aren't Indian in origin. They came from the Americas. Try telling (a full-bloodied, patriotic) Indian that spicy food isn't quite as Indian as he thinks!
You know, that's a very good point to make, except for one thing:- it will mean the extinction of geekdom. Now we have no excuses left to leave our parents' basement!
I like your optimistic note, but you're making a very common mistake. You assume that technological and economic change will lead to social and political change. As the Chinese, the Singaporeans, Arabs and countless other prosperous Asians living under authoritarian regimes will note, it may not always be true.
Wow, I could have sworn you were writing poetry or something. Are you sure you weren't invited for this cancelled event?
The seven cities of Delhi have seen continuous human inhabitation since early 2nd century BC.
The article was written by a certain (first-world sounding) Keith H. Hammonds. But yes, I agree; the article is basically advertising for Wipro and yes, corporate-planted stories of this sort are increasing these days.
I'm pretty sure you don't realise how ironical that statement is.
You know, one of the very interesting things about last year's brinkmanship was what it did to the value of the Indian rupee and to India's forex reserves. Usually, in times of political or economic uncertainity in a certain country, you'd expect a dip in the currency's value; the US dollar, for example, dipped (primarily in relation to the Euro and Swiss franc) after Enron and Worldcom broke out.
I honestly was expecting the rupee's value to dip in mid-2002; the Monsoons had failed, agricultural produce in a largely agarian economy had taken a plunge, manufacturing was in a largely self-inflicted slump and then there was that dickheaded brinkmanship with Pakistan (dickheaded because it acheived absolutely nothing; Islamist terrorists still attack Indian targets with impunity, people still die in Kashmir and what's more, there seems to be no end in sight to all this violence.)
But the fact of the matter is, the rupee is still going strong (bad for exports, good for people like me), and, while nowhere near China's, forex levels are at an all time high. Most believe that it's largely due to software exports and by bank remittances by Non Resident Indians.
Now, it's important to remember the political clout that the software industry has in India's corridors of power. A power that have, on earlier occassions, not shied from wielding; IT companies, for instance, get fabulous tax breaks, get allocated prime land and in general, have direct access to state chief ministers and central (ie federal) ministers. One of the bigger things that affected me a long time back was the IT industry's silence over most central ministers' biligerent statements, statements that would be populist within India but would definitely be seen as provocative in the international community (and hence detrimental to business interests).
I guess we now know the reason more or less; the IT industry hasn't really been affected by the stand-off. In fact, I'll extend it even further:- tech (whether Indian, American or Tristan-da-Cunha-ian) will flourish despite irresponsible politicians.
I'd figure foreign outsourcing would bring in a hell of a lot of variables one would have to work with.
Hope I answered your question.
While good food is a premium, most (in fact, all) the airlines I've travelled on offer free wine and movies. Incidentally, surfing the net on air as been attempted already; Singapore Airlines once invited a journalist to file his article while travelling from Singapore to San Francisco. And, the last time I flew Swiss, they had a blurb saying that they'll introduce internet in a few months (this was in May 2002). Guess it hasn't taken off (to use a bad pun) so far.
Try All The Web. Doesn't have a groups section though, which is convinient if you are asking a question rather than searching for something.
Who cares, when they found the Yeti somewhere in Jammu and Kashmir. But then, it being J&K, it's quite possible that the alleged Yeti is actually a terrorist trying to infilitrate into India...
(Context:- During rural India's earlier experiences with the muchnowa, a senior police officer actually said that he believed this thing was the handiwork of Pakistan's spook organisation, ISI.)
Want some gum?
I can see the point your making, but it's important to remember that gum per se is not banned in Singapore. Only the sale of gum is and even that saw some last minute legal loopholes assigned to it during the recent US-Singapore trade talks. (Wasn't too bothered about the details; perhaps a Singaporean can fill in here)
But about the parent's point about Singaporeans wanting it that way. Actually in most multi-party democracies, the incumbent government is more likely to retain its power rather than lose it. (India is one notable exception of course, reason being its political diversity). So, I'd say it's more to do with, what I call as 'political inertia' and a lack of viable alternatives to the incumbent rather than Singaporeans "wanting it that way". The vast majority of any population, you'd have to remember, is usually politically neutral, preferring to get on with life rather than give in to ideology.
The rest of the parent's comment is spot-on of course. I've been to Iran (which presumably has the same, or more amount of authoritarianism as Saudi Arabia) and to Singapore, and yes, the two are not in the same league. Much of the Singaporean government's authority stems from a largely paternalistic attitude that both the government and the public at large seem to play along with. It's not quite written in stone although fear of the government is, arguably, perceptable.
Conformity in Saudi Arabia and Iran, OTOH, is largely through the Moral Police and its legal system.
Wrong approach to learning languages. You don't need no learning software to learn new languages, simply use this wonderful site! Get corresponding keywords, try different keyword combinations, plot the new language's BNF tree, use your knowledge to write new sentences and see if they translate properly, and finally, try to read an online newspaper in the language you're learning.
Piece of cake. ;-)
Strangely enough, the Hindu far-right also talks of Hindu festivals such as Deepavali, Dussehra becoming extinct in the face of relentless evangelisation from the Christian far-right. And they, indeed, echo the Muslim far-right's concerns over young Muslim girls not wearing hijab, eating non-haleem meat, not celebrating Id-ul-Fitr with "proper" gaiety...
Face it; it's not just (underground real) Christians under "threat".
... as for me, I'll be searching for the (presumably lost) tomb of a 17th century French traveller, Monsieur Raymond. Deccani oral history has, of course, completely Indianised "Monsieur Raymond"'s French pronounciation; the general area of his tomb's location is called 'Moosarambagh', literally, 'Moosaram's Park'. Just that, a) no one in the area quite knows where the tomb is, b) they haven't even heard of M. Raymond, c) two earlier trips to Moosarambagh have yielded only about three unpainted houses.
Not surprisingly, Google seems to have heard about it, even returned a picture, which can only mean one thing:- it's waiting for my visit.
If only I can (accurately) figure out where it is.
(... in the immortal words of Woody Allen's character in Annie Hall: ) it's all mental masturbation.