the brook

From Corbin Simpsons essay in Wikipedia entitled “TINC“:

Wikipedia is socialist. Not Socialist, and certainly not Communist, but undeniably socialist. All of its content originates from the community. To deny this social aspect is to deny the entire philosophy of Wiki in its myriad forms. Our voices, no matter how small, quiet, and hopelessly opinionated they may be, nonetheless come together to form a single sound. Remember Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha? The river’s gentle roar comes from many quiet drops of water. In the same way, we can think of Wikipedia as being the Aum of the Internet.

Found it very interesting.

A major distinguishing feature of Buddhism compared to other religions is that the story of the worshiped one is that of a normal human. One not gifted in any particular way or blessed by any God - just of one who tried his hardest to attain the truth. Buddha is the retelling of this story.

And while the main themes of the story are extremely well-known, I haven’t come across as intimate or as beautiful an account of the Buddha’s life as this one. While I’m sure some of the events portrayed were invented by the author, the main story sticks very closely to the actual story as told by the Buddhists.

Deepak Chopra does an admirable job of keeping the story clear and simple. While I find his non-fiction books very well-written, the only other piece of fiction I’ve read by him (The Return of Merlin) was a bit too complex for my liking. For the most part, the book focuses on the struggles that the Buddha goes through while trying to attain enlightenment. Often the observations and anecdotes that are told are profound to the degree that they are nearly Zen Koans.

In short, it’s a wonderful book for anyone interested in spirituality or Buddhism, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Rating: 4 / 5

PS: I realize I’ve not been posting much lately. The blog’s way of saying that you aren’t blogging enough is requiring you to retype your password! Hopefully, I won’t away for too long again.

‘She hit me on the head with the rock again.’
‘I think I can confirm that that was my daughter.’
‘Sweet kid.’
‘You have to get to know her,’ said Arthur.
‘She eases up does she?’
‘No,’ said Arthur, `but you get a better sense of when to duck.’

– From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Sort of like life.

I recently read about the environmental artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who’s art mission seems to be to greatly change a landscape (usually through fabric) - for two weeks. After that, everything goes back to normal. Interesting projects include wrapping the German Parliament, the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, and installing over 7,500 saffron fabric gates in Central Park, NY (picture above). They’re currently working on obtaining permission to cover 40 miles of the Arkansas River in Colorado with fabric.

Probably the most unique part of their work is the extremely short duration - usually millions of dollars are spent on constructing the fabric - and it’s all dismantled after two weeks or so.. despite requests for extension in some cases. Why? The answer, given in a National Geographic Magazine interview in the November 2006 issue, is thought-provoking:

Artists of the past have created works in bronze, in marble, in fresco, in oil, even with televisions… But there is one quality they have never used, and that is the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for what does not last. We have love and tenderness for childhood and for our own lives because we know they will not last. And so we wish our work of art to be once in a lifetime and never again.

Although I don’t know much about art, one way that art probably serves us is to make us think about things differently. I can well imagine that with changes on such a massive scale for such a short period of time - anyone who’s seen these works will never look at the landscape in the same way again.

If you’re a small-time business operator and move into a seedy neighbourhood, you probably wouldn’t feel too surprised to see a ruffian walking up to you one day and demanding that you pay his gang some protection money, or “hafta”, as they call it in India. These days, however its not ruffians but chairmen and CEOs whom even the biggest companies find walking up to the door and demanding pretty much the same thing.

Exhibit A - Novell and Microsoft. I don’t particularly think the Novell deal with Microsoft violates the GPL (disclaimer - IANAL). What Novell did do however, is to sign a contract which said, among other things - SUSE Linux users will not get sued by Microsoft over patent violations. Since SUSE Linux is pretty much Linux most of the way. This is pretty much tantamount to saying: “we are afraid that we’ve done something wrong - please don’t hurt us.” Putting aside the fact that this is completely untrue, (even according to Novell, who say they are aware of no known infringement), they have stated this on behalf of a large number of open source and free software developers who have nothing to do with Novell and who certainly will oppose making any such implicit statement. The consequences became pretty clear a few days later when Steve Ballmer of Microsoft gave an interview:

“Novell pays us some money for the right to tell customers that anybody who uses SUSE Linux is appropriately covered,” Ballmer said. This “is important to us, because [otherwise] we believe every Linux customer basically has an undisclosed balance-sheet liability.”

Of course, Microsoft has been saying that for years, except now they’ve got validation from a huge Linux company, which as Ballmer correctly points out, makes all the difference. Microsoft also indicated that they would be happy to accept payment from other Linux vendors in exchange for similar agreements. Surprise, surprise.

Exhibit B - Microsoft and Universal. By now everyone knows that every Zune sale will have a cut destined for Universal music, as a “piracy tax.” Universal believes that all MP3 players are used solely to pirate music, and therefore anyone who uses an MP3 player owes them money. Not that I’d ever want to buy a Zune, but the unequivocal stance that if I do, I’m assumed to be a thief would cure me of any such desire in short order. I didn’t know “Welcome to the social” actually meant “Join the criminal club”.

These companies - Novell on behalf of developers who have contributed to it’s operating system and Microsoft to consumers who buy the Zune - have a responsibility not to be bullied. As consumers though, we can do little but hope and vote with our money and our usage.

When you buy Windows Vista, you’ll be purchasing a product that is, to borrow a phrase from the anti-DRM guys, defective by design.

Microsoft announced enhanced anti-piracy measures for Windows Vista today. If Vista detects a pirated computer, it will lock down your system to a reduced functionality mode after a certain amount of time. And lock-down means the following: critical applications like Microsoft Office will refuse to start, and you’ll be limited to browsing the Web for one hour a day. This despite the fact that their current WGA program has been known to produce a high rate of false positives (detecting your software as pirated even when it’s not). And once your computer is locked down, your choices are either to go online and purchase a valid key; or, if you’re running genuine software, prove it to Microsoft support who will then hopefully activate it for you.

For the first time, your computer, all your data on it, and the computer’s very operation are at the mercy of Microsoft. If Microsoft feels that your OS is pirated, you will not be able to edit or view that presentation you were working on - even though that is unequivocally your own work. Whether you have an urgent assignment to submit tomorrow or you’re trying to save a patient’s life now - Vista will not care. And since the company has indicated an intent to deliberately break your system, you depend only on their good will to not interfere more drastically with it.

The dictionary should have a new definition of irony.

In our society, if you’re accused of killing another human being, you’re innocent until proven guilty. If you’re accused of having illegitimate software, you’re guilty until proven innocent.

…I can only show you the door. You’re the one who has to walk through it.

– Morpheus, The Matrix

Last Friday, after exactly 5 weeks, I finally got my new Powerbook battery. I guess Apple gets their estimates right - they’d said it would take 4 - 6 weeks!

An interesting observation - during the five weeks of torture, I so wanted to buy a new laptop. I was nearly at the edge of putting my Powerbook up for sale and buying either a new Thinkpad or even a Macbook, despite the glossy screen. An inner marketer’s voice seemed to exist in my head to sell all the new “features” which I previously did not particularly care about - like the built in webcams on new notebooks.

The moment I got my laptop battery back - the desires all stopped. Instantly. Reaction to a friend’s Macbook before the new battery - drool, drool, drool. After getting my battery - how could Apple have designed that thing?

Truly telling. Desire can be so totally irrational. All I wanted was to be totally unwired. Nothing as satisfying as typing a post from the comfort of your bed.

One blogger out there had the amazing idea of e-mailing a few great programmers and asking questions related to coding. He’s posted the answers, and they’re definitely worth a read, and probably a lot of thought as well.

“To me, vi is Zen.
To use vi is to practice zen.
Every command is a koan.
Profound to the user,
unintelligible to the uninitiated.
You discover truth every time you use it.”
–reddy@lion.austin.com

[via]

By the way, vim 7 is out. Mac version here.

What should life be? Who should you love? What should you eat? Should you study? Where should you work? How should you dress? What passion should drive you?

Living a good life is about having freedom. Freedom to make these choices, and more. And the absence of freedom is absence of these choices. Or any choices, for that matter. This is the message of Paradise Now.

It’s the story of two close friends, members of a cell of a militant Palestinian group, selected to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. At first blind believers in their organization and religion, their struggle for truth and right action is depicted as they are forced to abort their initial attempt and come into contact with a human rights activist.

They have contrasting personalities. One is extroverted and confident while the other is inward looking and thoughtful. One is full belief in himself while the other is constantly doubtful, haunted by rememberance of a father who betrayed his people and was executed for it. Ultimately, one chooses to renounce violence - no doubt to go back to his home and be humiliated as a coward and unbeliever. The other carries out his mission despite his misgivings, and faces a death which he doubts will gain him paradise.

We all know what happens next. Read the news. They become letters and numbers in the third column of the bottom half of the international news page. Nobody wins.

An excellent movie.