Signing off from the Inatech blog w.e.f 31st of March 2010

I'll be signing off this blog w.e.f from the end of the month. This does not mean I'll stop blogging, it just means that you'll find a different set of postings (with more personal opinions) under my own blog name ie.

http://ravindra-krishnappa.blogspot.com

Please re-register your following. I'll however post a parting shot in about a week and maybe you can switch allegiance once you read that :-) ?

Street Art : The Bangalore model is spreading !

I was in Chennai last week and was very pleased to note that some stretches of the roads are getting a set of street art (ala the paintings along roads in Bangalore). I saw some work on the Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai and it looked very nice :-)

I hope this is a model that gets replicated very quickly across all other Indian towns. It is certainly a welcome change to the numerous bills pasted on the walls. I'd rather look at the painting of a "pile" in a monument than an ad for "piles" !

My other fond hope is that these paintings do not get plastered with the various political posts / movie posters etc. Who knows - this may be the precursor to getting to a NO PAAN spitoon areas also ;-)

Moving Individuals to the cloud : Is this cirrus or nimbus ?

Just learnt that Google has announced public APIs for Google power meter.

What this does is allows individuals to setup on the cloud (google personal home) a ticker that will get a set of feeds from individual power meters. This feed allows individuals to track their power consumption. The question is - will this work ?

I guess it makes sense in those cases where the utility provides a feed directly to google / cloud. It also makes sense when devices start to get intelligent and transmit power info to the web - but, that IMHO is still a looong way off ?

So, why bother ?

I actually think that this is a neat way to get people to incorporate the "talk / transmit" capability into devices. Just like most telecom / IT equipment comes with a "call home" option, my guess is that the structure will allow for this to reach out on the web.

Will all these devices talking together make it a chatter ?
Hmmmm.......

_________Google Powermeter image from their website________

The fire @ Carlton Towers in Bangalore : A tragic tale of un-preparedness

I watched with a feeling of shock, horror and plain helplessness the tragic set of events unfolding on the television. For someone who has gone through a similar evacuation exercise a few years ago, it was painful to see that there has been NO improvement / NO LESSONS learned whatsoever !

It was pitiful to see people jumping out of the 7 floor structure with the fond hope of hitting a small square held by groups that was to act a safety net !

Where are the high rise fire tenders ?
Where are the jet pumps for targeted fire fighting ?
Where are smoke masks with torches that would allow people to enter and rescue ?
Where are the external breathing apparatus that is so crucial in providing oxygen ?
Where is the fire lane that would allow easy entry and access ?

Unfortunately, there probably will be no answers today, this week or next and in a month maybe this city will forget and move on ?

For once, can we, the citizens of the city please get together to correct this apathy ?

Am signing off - a very disturbed individual..........

NRI's to get the right to Vote : How much of an impact is this ?

I've seen several posts on this subject over the last few days. Some are aghast at the thought - simply because they've seen or have been subjected to "sermons" from their NRI friends and family that illustrates all the "ills" of their homeland. Some are thrilled as they think they can be a major influence. If you ask me for my opinion - the first reaction is that of confusion and the question "why" ?

Why do we think this is a good option ?
Is it because this gives a "feel good" factor for the NRI ? Do the small number of votes really matter when it comes to a decision ?
Is it because this will allow the government to raise a "tax" at some time in the future ? I mean, if you want to exercise your franchise - should you not pay a small bit to the country that gives you this franchise option ?

In all probability, there is a much simpler answer to the question "why ?" - maybe it just DOES NOT make a difference ?

My first reaction to the book - Connected : The surprising power of socal networks

Last week, I got a surprise pack from my friends over at Accel (a venture capital company). In the package was the book by Christakis & Fowler which as a best seller for 2009.

The book is titled Connected : The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. A long title, but, will probably be referred to as they do in their website connectedthebook.com

I think this is an extremely well researched book in the sense that there has been an attempt to cover linkages / social networks from both a behavioral aspect and a media / tool aspect. While some of the analysis result seems to be quite obvious (maybe my Asian - relationship oriented thought bias is showing), some are quite revealing.

There were 2 major "current news" items that kept flashing in my mind while reading the set. The first being the H1N1 scare that most of India saw a few months ago with the media feeding in a frenzy for the first few days. I guess saner minds prevailed over the news channels from day 3 of transmission.

The second news item was much more recent and "topical" - this was the scare in a textile unit where people were driven off to the hospital complaining of dysentery and stomach ailment.

Apparently, there was no problem with the water (infact, most people I know tend to carry water today), there was no food distributed and the air was "normal" ?. We are not talking about a couple of people here - the total was closer to about 70 individuals with only one being retained in the hospital for a "real" cause ?

Seemed like a touch a "socially" stimulated disease ?

Catching up in 2010 : More frequent posts ?

Last week was filled with some news that means I need to catch up with a single post with 3 sections.....
The first news-item that I wanted to comment and blog on was related to Justice Santhosh Hegde winning the Times, man of year for Bangalore. Well deserved indeed.

I think that the public is tiring of the political and other value loss and is looking for "role models". Justice Santosh Hegde aptly fills this void. While I'm sure there are a lot of people around who'd like to emulate him but will come up with tons of excuses as to why they cannot do so / or why their line of work will not allow them to do so, he'll continue to be an example of the axiom "Walk your talk". Kudos to him for highlighting what is possible and more strength to his cause.
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The next 2 posts are related by death :-( ie of Dr. Vishnuvardhan and C Ashwath.

IMHO, Ashwath's death was overshadowed by the the "noise" around the demise of Kannada theatre's "Sahasa Simha". I've been a fan of both, but, was hurt with the repeat madness that the cities showed. Am convinced that this is not a "fan" or "following" issue, but, larger motivation as a mechanism to hoodlum-hood.

It is aptly evident from the fact that most of these are an urban phenomenon. None of the millions of fans in the rural belt have gone out and created trouble. They've chosen to pay homage in a personal manner and have behaved in a much more dignified manner. I'd like to think that their silent tribute is more meaningful ?

RIP gentlemen : You can rest in peace with the knowledge that your volume or work will remain as a testimony to your talents. You've certainly left deep footprints in the sands of Kannada's time