the brook

If I had known that what I’m doing would one day be labeled by one of the world’s biggest companies as “Tafiti”, I can assure you I would have reconsidered a foray into research.

So Microsoft has debuted a beta of Tafiti (which means “do research” in Swahili). I can’t run it yet - of course it doesn’t work on Linux - but from what I’ve read, it can be summed up as “Copy and Paste from the Web”. Couldn’t they find an African word for that? Oh, wait… they did.

I have a theory behind African naming. Quick question: What’s as rare as in the Internet in Africa, other than matter in the universe? Answer: Good domain names in normal languages, of course. In a world where even http://www.wednesdaynightcheese.com/ and http://www.ifoldspacewithmymind.com/ are taken up, it’s not too hard to understand why someone rushed out and bought http://www.thegoodnamesweretaken.com/. And of course, this is true for almost every language in the world which is spoken by Internet accessing folks. We now have no choice but to turn to Africa; our last remaining resource of domain names until someone starts giving them cheap Internet access.

This grows into a rather neat startup idea. Start up a firm and buy domain names and transferable trademarks of words in any and all African languages, even those spoken by now-extinct gorillas in the disappearing forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Then start charging exorbitant fees for “brand consulting in the next century”. Your contribution will be to analyze market trends and shifting paradigms to maximize perceived identification with customers for a more human-centric branding strategy.

For example, if MSN and Yahoo join hands in search, the resulting engine could be called “Jomaiglooeghatahata”, an Angolan word for “We tried to beat Google but couldn’t”. The newest iPhone accessory range could be branded “Yootodomiyooto”, a poetic Gabonese word which elegantly translates as “We fleece you some, then we fleece you some more”. The phrase “Inev Idiv Iciv Ucho”, hailing from Burkina Faso, would serve as the perfect momentum-giving tool to Operation Iraqi Freedom, conveying unequivocally “We came, we found nothing, we keep getting hit and now we’re stuck”. And… well, you get the picture.

The business, of course, could use a professional sounding catch phrase like “Roonimoondonakagutu”, which in an ancient Namibian dialect that means “We know it sounds ridiculous, but trust us it works.”

There. I was planning to do all this myself but I decided to give it away. I feel generous today. No not lazy, generous. Go and make your billions. Drop me a penny or two after.

This book is a novel about a doctor who delivers his wife’s twins himself, but decides to give away the girl because she has Down’s syndrome. The doctor’s nurse takes the girl away and raises her on her own.

The writing is excellent, I enjoyed that independently of the plot. My tastes have changed slightly in that regard - I can now enjoy writing for it’s own sake, which I just couldn’t in school or even a few years ago.

The plot revolves around the lives of the people affected by this one decision - the doctor, his wife and the healthy son in one thread; and the nurse and the retarded daughter in the other. While I wasn’t exactly holding my breath, there were a few things to think about. Personally, the book was a reminder that humans tend to spend much emotional energy without necessity. I’ll stop here before I give away the book :)

As usual, I trooped down to the Indian High Commission and had a good time. Here’s a nice article on how India has done in 60 years. As usual, clicked a few snaps at the High Comm.

The flag hoisting.

Mini Rang De Basanti being acted out :)

The President’s address delivered by the High Commissioner. I’d say the speech lacked a certain something that was always there in Dr. Kalam’s addresses on Independence Day. Can’t help wishing he was back for a second term.

More photos here. Happy Independence Day!

This just in:

Earlier in the day, Apple released a 32MB Keyboard Software Update v1.1.

In a brief set of release notes, the company said the software allows its new aluminum keyboard to take advantage of the special features.

I once had a computer with a 40 MB hard drive. And now keyboard firmware updates take up 32 MB. God help us all.

A very interesting book about people who tend to prefer their own company over others. When I first saw this book, I was surprised to see the subtitle - why do loners need a manifesto anyway? - but my doubts were answered soon after. Even before I’d read the first page. The first three people I knew who saw me carrying the book had roughly the same reaction - “Don’t worry! You’re not a loner!“.

So, it turns out that loners (distinct from lonely people) do have a negative reputation and some bad press. Somewhere in the middle of the book, the author describes how serial killers and the like are often labeled as “loner types”.

Most of the book though, is about a loner’s perspective (the author states that she is one), how they tend to be different from people around them. Also discussed are the lives and traits of many loners who were very well known - from Einstein to Emily Dickinson.

As someone who definitely needs some alone time and private space, I appreciated most of the book very much. The issues discussed are wide-ranging and the writing is wonderfully light and personal. This, however, is not a book for people who’re extremely social and unconditionally love human company - I’ve had many discussions with such people and they probably won’t be able to appreciate the thoughts very much. It is, after all, a loner’s manifesto.

Rating: 4 / 5

Yum just updated pidgin to version 2.1, but I got the following error.

$ pidgin
libnm_glib_nm_state_cb: dbus returned an error.
(org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown) The name org.freedesktop.NetworkManager was not provided by any .service files
pidgin: symbol lookup error: pidgin: undefined symbol: purple_core_ensure_single_instance

Turns out pidgin 2.1 has a dependency on libpurple 2.1 which somehow got past the package managers. Works fine after doing “yum update libpurple”.

(via)

In terms of chronology, this is the oldest authorized Star Wars fiction novel. Written by the writer of the KOTOR games, it describes a period even before the Old Republic when the Sith and the Jedi were numerous and warring against each other - and the story is about how the well known Sith principles of only two Sith Lords arose.

The main character starts from humble beginnings in a cortosis ore mine and ends up training on a Sith academy by accident - and later goes on to become the most powerful of them all.

The book deals mostly with dark side, of course. We’re shown the motivations and thought processes of the Sith, which is the really interesting part - most Star Wars books actually involve the Sith only as the enemies but this is a book written entirely from their perspective. So the “enemy” are the Jedi, and the “good” qualities are betrayal and treachery and the “weakness” is compassion.

The writing is decent, but it isn’t as good as say Matthew Stover or Timothy Zahn. But it’s definitely a page-turner for any Star Wars fan.

Rating: 4 / 5