Chilligavva

http://www.couscouskid.co.uk/
Mathew Star Thomas’ site has some of the coolest illustrations that I have recently come across…

http://www.behindthename.com/random/
Bored? here is a fun site you could visit, and its really interesting to work the random name generator…

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
This site is a touching visual story about a photographer and his father.. A must visit for all you soft hearted types. Warning: The navigation is slightly tricky and forces you to explore the interaction..

http://www.boredstop.com/
Awesome awesome origami. The work is truly breathtaking…

All pictures belong to their respective site owners and linked from the original sites…

This weekend our family attended the locally famous Offut Air Show. We had a leisurely lunch at our friend Ramesh’s house and by the time we had lunch, chatted, had dessert and changed into comfy clothes, we ended up getting there exactly one hour before the show ended. The regular driveways and approaches were barricaded, and we ended up going through a convoluted approach to the base. We were so glad that we could make it..

So here are the photos from the wonderful one hour that we spent there.. After the show, my dad and I promptly wanted to join the air force to fly planes. What impressed us the most was the precision with which they flew the planes.!!!

• View the entire 2008 photo set over here
• View the entire 2005 photo set over here

Today is Independence Day for India. A pakistani flag is being flown in Kashmir, one day before our independence day and we exult in Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. One of my favorite blogger Krish Ashok- Doing Jalsa and showing Jilpa has rightly commented about the sportiveness of it all. He has rightfully focused on the marks obsessive education malaise that is at the root of most urban stagnance in India.

• Let’s face it. India is not into sports in any meaningful way. Our schools do not support sports. They also don’t sport support. School sports requires a healthy, competitive atmosphere to thrive like those in the US or Europe, where inter-school matches are cheered by large crowds of students from both schools, and the official school team for any sport is a brand name in itself.

The second firmly rooted malaise to have penetrated the entire nation is every desi politician’s biggest tool, namely religion and caste. Even an affluent Saif Ali khan is not above the religious divide.

• Our sources in the construction industry say that Saif did approach a few Hindu housing societies and was rejected - despite being a superstar. Saif, however, says that he went straight to a Muslim builder to buy his dream house. “I know there are localities and building societies that won’t sell real estate to anyone who’s a Muslim. I didn’t want to get involved in that problem. I went to a Muslim builder to avoid complications.

Living in Omaha, I have yet to see the expatriate Indian community band together and celebrate the day cohesively, keeping aside employers, state of origin, mother tongue issues. Heck what am I cribbing about? I’m one of those who jumped countries for a better life! Guilty as charged. No wonder, Bharat Maata is crying….. [refer pic..]

No no this is not a title for a new Schwarzenegger movie, but an interesting trend coming up in the software industry. Im talking about the Larabee project from Intel. The possibilities are endless, so to speak.

To keep up with the demands of the increasingly digital world, the
“multi-core” or “many core” approach is necessary because by 2015,
running chips at faster and faster frequencies could have yielded
products like laptop or desktop computers that create as much heat as a
nuclear reactor, engineers said.
- from the Washinton Post

With the current influx of dual core chips, I could see a windows parallel in action on our macbook (thanks to geeky hubby who installed all that).

The first thing that struck me about the multi core chips was that I could run 3 OSs atleast on the same system without having to reboot.. yeah.. Of course, Im fully relying on the dependable OSX and Linux guys to come up with the software for the same.

No No Im not a racist etc. but have you really used a windows system? Its awful.. And I had to LOL when I read this nugget

The drawback of the new approach is that it requires an equally dramatic shift in the software industry. Some experts, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, initially expressed reservations because of the disruptive nature of the transition.

Of course Gates would be worried. Microsoft has to actually do a lil more than copy paste old code. They have to think, and actually write efficient code.

My dad and my MIL [Massa’s mom] are visiting. Its been a pleasant one month, and intense for me. Handling jet lag, routines and special meals. Now the patterns are more or less set, and we are at a pleasant interlude. We even visited Chicago last weekend and managed to catch Devi Sri Prasad’s concert as well. More on that later, obviously..

A couple of weeks earlier, I had a lovely installation of Ubuntu going.. The radio and sound system actually rocked. Plug and play went on like a dream. I was so happy. Then the unthinkable happened. My dad, who shares the system, accidentally opted for a “Windows recovery” option in the boot menu. Tadaa… Everything crashed, and windows got restored to x-y days. I now have to install everything one by one.. So am still working [and re-learning] along with my myriad daily chores.. So something had to give, and it was Chilligavva that took a brunt! Sorry dear readers. Like I said, I shall strive!!

I am frightfully busy with not even a moment to spare…So the updates shall happen soon, I promise…

Last week, I was excited to send a gazillion amount of invites to my email contacts asking them to join me on twitter.

“Did you develop a new product called twitter” was the question I encounter in a phone conversation in response to my “join me on twitter email”. I was shocked into silence. Especially since the person asking me this Q was a MCA and working in Oracle products in the USA, and not an average dude by any standards.

I immediately switch to Telugu. “Kaadu, adi social networking site.” [no its a …]
I get a “Ardham ayyindi, nuvvu edo chesavemo ani” [I figured it out (that it was a social…), but thought that you developed the site.]
I stop this disgusting conversation with “Antha scene ledamma naaku..” [I dont have that kind of scene.]

Naturally I was hopping mad, as I didnt expect this dumbness to emerge from a facebook generation. But I’m trying to come to grips with dealing with “people who dont get it..” After reading Matt Balara’s article on Stowe Boyd’s site “Why aren’t you talking to me”, I realize I am not alone.

Update as on 22 June 08: I accidentally thought the article on /message was Stowe’s as it was on his site. But i soon realized that it was Matt Balara’s article as a guest blogger. I visited Matt’s site, and liked the site and the articles he has been writing. So am giving him a honor mention here..

The article also made me reflect on a conversation I had with a local Indian at the Indian store. We both realized we were on orkut which is big amongst Indian circles, in the social networking scene. We promptly encountered “What is orkut” from another person at the store. I turned and said “Its a social networking site”.

But deep inside, I was flabbergasted. Why? If my dad asked this Q I would understand, or if a non IT person asked ditto. But a wife of a software(s/w) person and even a s/w person asking this. Too bad!

Out of sheer disgust combined with frustation I quipped to the person “If you are not on linkedin, twitter or on a social network such as facebook you are lower caste! Now you know what to do if you want to be identified as a forward caste”, hoping this would drive the point across.

I saw the face of the other person blanche a little. Believe me I am not this aggressive normally! The caste analogy was crude as well, but most Indians get caste faster than technology!.

But personal opinions aside, I think very soon, we shall face a big social divide. Of people who know technology and trends, and leverage the same, and people who claim to be s/w enggs. because they want technology based high paying jobs. A clear case of a new kind of social haves and have-nots!

And I do agree with Matt’s observation of being able to continue a conversation reference in in the web 2.0-meatspace continuum.

Most of my readers know that my site ChilliGavva has a currency reference. if you don’t, read the colophon in the about page!

My good friend Bharath Raganathan is a walking wikipedia on history and trivia on a number of subjects. Lately I have been spending time at another interesting blog TuLu Studies run by Ravi Mundkur from my native Mangalore.

Both of them expressed curiosity on shells as currency, and whether I knew anything about it. Today I spent some time on some internet research, and stumbled upon two references, which I have promptly added to my colophon. The read was very fascinating for me.

Long before our era the cowry shell was known as an instrument of payment and a symbol of wealth and power. This monetary usage continued until the 20th century. If we look a bit closer into these shells it is absolutely not astonishing that varieties as the cypraea moneta or cypraea annulus were beloved means of payments and eventually became in some cases huge competitors of metal currencies. All characteristics of money, i.e. durability, handiness or convenience, recognizability and divisibility are embodied in these small shells. In comparison with foodstuff or feathers which can fall prey to vermin, shells withstand easily frequent handling. They are small and very easy to transport and their alluring form and looks offer them a perfect protection against forgery. Besides, counting was not always absolutely necessary. As the shells almost all had the same shape and size weighing often sufficed to determine the value of a payment.
Courtesy:National Bank of Belgium

Other links on shells as currency:

• Courtesy:The Hindu
• Courtesy: Indian Mirror