Caffeine Break

Today is Day Four of my caffeine break.
To convince myself that my soul can be redeemed and realizing that having close to a pot or more of coffee everyday isn't going to do me much good, I'm on a caffeine break this week. Taking its literal meaning, I won't (or will try not to) have coffee or any caffeinated drink all of this week. So far, the flesh has done the bidding of the spirit. Nothing like conducting an experiment on yourself.

One things about quitting is that there are always people handy to give you advice. One of the things suggested was to drink hot water from the mug instead of the usual joe. It worked, sort of. On Day Three I buckled in to drink hot tea (decaf, of course). That's keeping me going and I'm convincing myself that it doesn't count as cheating. (It's a lot better than the hot water for sure!)

All I have to worry about is Friday. Funnily enough, I don't drink coffee at home. It's a conditioned reflex of sorts that I need it when I am at work or going to work.
In the meantime, every coffee-shop looks enticing and I am tempted to snatch a cup from someone.

Drugs, man! they make you do these things.

2.3 Planets Needed!

On taking this Ecological Footprint Quiz I found that I am doing much better than the average American in keeping my environmental footprint small. I bike to work or take the bus; sparingly use my one fuel-efficient car; and try to walk to most places. Despite all that, we would still need 2.3 planets if every person on the planet lived like me. Shame!

American average: 24 acres
My Score: 10 acres
Actual biological acres available: 4.5 acres

*
Looking for a media bias? Check the coverage on Gore's victory. The Economist wasn't too pleased about Mr. Gore winning the prize. Well, the Economist will be the Economist, but I was surprised to read their background blurb on the article.

Global temperatures and sea levels seem to be rising, but whether this is mankind's or nature's fault is unclear.

Hah! The facts are unclear, then why feel so bad about the 2.3 planets? The New York Times in its infinite wisdom found this op-ed piece by Paul Krugman fit to print. From the Gore Derangement Syndrome:

So if science says that we have a big problem that can’t be solved with tax cuts or bombs — well, the science must be rejected, and the scientists must be slimed.

Coexist

Saw a variation of this sticker, which wasn't half as decent. At least on this one they have science (with science's poster child) on there.

From their website:
Every letter has a symbol that represents a system of thought: The crescent and star for Islam; the pentagram for Wicca; the relativity formula for science; the star of David for Judaism; the Karma Wheel dotting the i for Buddhism; the Tao symbol for Taoism; the cross for Chrisitianity.

Wondering if I should support the notion or not.

GO gREen!

Now that Gore has won the Peace prize for his fight against global warming (not, as I read in a couple of places, 'for global warming'), this project might gain more adherents.



I have signed up, but is this one more of a quiet and failed attempt, lacking in courage as Thomas Friedman alleges? Our generation, he writes, is too quiet and too online. More inside, deep inside virtual worlds, than outside.

When I grow up ...

Every small company or startup wants to be a Google when they grow up. From one startup's description,

[ ]'s mission is no less than to be the next Google. They want to be the next great software company right here in Ann Arbor ...

Looks like Microsoft is not cool anymore. Since 1997 a number of former role models have fallen from their pedestals, in the minds of new startups at least. The idea that the above description seems to suggest is that Google is synonymous with rapid growth, innovation, coolness, and high valuations. Which company does not want that? It was a rather pathetic way to lure undergraduates into thinking that they had a chance to work for the 'next Google'. I wish these companies all the best in trying to get there. While Google will be around ten years later, I still wonder if it will still be that company that every currently unemployed nerd has a wet dream just imagining he works there.

For now, a great business opportunity is to cash a la mode Levi Strauss is to make T-shirts and sell them to these startups. The tagline: "I work for The Next Google".

He hath spoken

Even tight-lipped gods have to come down from Olympus occasionally. After debating the idea for a number of years, Clapton finally wrote down 'his version of the memories' in his recently released autobiography - 'Clapton'. In a concert that I attended a few years ago, Clapton barely said more than a few words. He is one of those who lets the guitar do the talking.

The NYT Times Review (better read online than on paper) praised the book and notes Clapton's tone of detachment as he writes about his deepest and darkest times. For Clapton fans, the review hasn't much to offer as it focuses more on the personal themes, like the oft-repeated story of rock and roll's most famous love triangle - Clapton, Pattie Boyd, and George Harrison. The review hasn't much detail on his music or its creation, and I hope that the book itself has more to offer in that department. It will be a great disappointment if the book chronicles merely the people and events in his life. Sometimes, a well-written biography is better than an authentic autobiography, if there is such a thing.

Who's who on YouTube

The Nobel Prize is, in its own words, now a 'brand' on the YouTube bandwagon. A good move in anticipation of all the announcements next week.

The Problem with Emails

"I read your emails"
- on a T-shirt

The written word,
especially the hastily written email,
Can always be misconstrued
(including the word 'read')

What follows are more keystrokes
And irate digital bits.
Try a phone call maybe?
EOM

Shelter from the Storm

I've heard newborn babies wailin' like a mournin' dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love.
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

- Bob Dylan

I was without internet access for most of the time that I have been in France. I am used being online constantly and have to urge this battle against the impulse to respond to every new email instantly. While rambling around Paris was rather exhausting, I must say that I was quite up to the task of spending a few more minutes online. For the first time, I had not left anything behind and yet I had this feeling that I had left something behind. I had, it was - free, constant and relentless access to the internet.

It wasn't that people would give me up for dead if I did not respond, but puzzling question of 'How would I find information that I needed and did not have?' Four, five days later and it strangely after a few days it does not matter as much. I had this idea that I would sit in some cafe in Paris and post my dispatch for the day.

Another One Will Bite the Dust

It was no wonder of wonders that as part of the conference schwag I was given a laptop bag. Not another laptop bag! Can organizers be so lacking in imagination that all they can think of is giving out another laptop case? Surely, they have enough of their own gathering dust on a shelf.

A Taste of a Feast

More importantly, personally of course, is the fact that I have been in Paris since last Saturday. As recuperation from the day's mad rambles I have been reading Hemingway's A Moveable Feast - his memoir of Paris in the 20s, or more correctly, of his account of 1920s Paris as a young and struggling writer.

Before getting to France, I felt I needed to 'prepare' for the trip. (It is France after all.) 'Prepare', in my book, is defined as - to read as much as possible on the subject. I was intrigued by the fact that a memoir about an age in Paris long gone is still referenced in almost every general book or guide on Paris.

The books begins with a quote from a letter that Hemingway wrote to a friend:

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.

That was arresting enough. Yet, I could not read it before I left since I had to do the stuff that pays the rent and which defrays the cost of getting to France. In retrospect it was infinitely better not to have read it before.

I am trying to figure out why this book appeals and enthralls me so much. Much of it appeal lies perhaps in the fact that the book is a sort of a mirror. Like Hemingway, I find myself in Paris, in my 20s, recently married, with wife, and with a rather thin wallet (done thinner by the weak greenback). When Hemingway writes that on a hungry stomach he appreciated the paintings in Luxembourg museum better, I not only understand it but also know it. Then there are times when the taste and sheer delight of my meal and the wine of the afternoon come alive as I read an account of his meal years ago.

The book is a wonderful dessert at the end of a marvelous feast that is Paris. It is one of the few books that one is lucky to have read at the right age, place and time.
What I have right now is simply a taste of Paris. On Paris, later. For now, I realise it's really important to first savor the taste.

Join the Have Nots

I see them on busstops, under trees on campus, at info-desks, on street-corner cafes. From Seattle to Singapore, people between six and sixty are doing 'it' at all times of the day. 'It' has achieved the impossible. People have even given up TV for 'it'! That's something.

'It' is a recent 700+page book which has managed to numb millions to any sort of sensation; many have taken a temporary leave of absence from their responsibilities as children, graduate students, parents, babysitters and citizens. While they are under the grip of a fantastic spell, I am gripped by self-doubt. A lot of self-doubt. For a person who fancies himself as reading omnivore I wonder - 'Have I managed to miss out on the greatest book cult of my generation?' For all her billions, J.K. Rowling has nothing to thank me for; I haven't read any of the books or seen any of the movies.

If you put half a dozen people together, somehow, somebody manages to steer the conversation to the sixth and last book. I try to hide behind the nearest flower-pot to avoid embarassment. "Man, you are STILL reading Faulkner? That's not even 60s dude, that's 40s."

Millions of people queuing up for the book at midnight like crack-addicts waiting for their next fix can't be wrong, can they? Am I simply a literary snob? or just out of touch with popular culture? What is a great book? One that seeks out universal truths? or one that has universal appeal?>

While Harry Potter could be the answer to world peace, the world is clearly divided into the haves and the have-nots. I clearly belong to the mass of people who have not read the hexology (Aside: I was disappointed it wasn't called a sexology!) The time is nigh to start a support group for the have-nots. Want to join? Don't be ashamed. Whether you are a self-doubter, a pop-culture hater, or just an unrepentant snob - help is at hand.

iPhone, My Way

If don't have the spare cash to buy the latest cool toy on the market at least you will be able to enjoy David Pogue showing off. He takes on the iPhone in his way.

Quote

Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.
- Kurt Vonnegut

e-Leash

Some people are under the impression that if you have a cell phone then you SHOULD always be available all the time, be it night or day. One of the unfortunate consequences of the electronic leash is having to explain yourself all the time.

Don't piss people off. Give them an excuse. Here are some of mine:

'Hey, are you busy?'
'Actually, no! I am talking to my parents in India.'


'Where were you? I called you a million times.'
Umm... I was thirty stories underground. I don't get any signal there.


'Why did you cut the phone?'
'I did not cut the phone... my phone ran out of charge.'


'Why do I always get your voice mail when I call?'
'Why do you ALWAYS call at the wrong times?'