Author Archives: Candidasa dasa, UK

Vedicsoc: session #12
→ Home

This weeks Vedicsoc session brought three new guests from three different countries: one guy from India, one from Portugal and one from Spain. We did some slow-deep yoga (comment: ??oewow, I vibrated the mantra in the crown of my head and felt it reverberate all the way to my feet. Amazing!??). We also did some chanting. Then we discussed complications and how they lead to stress.

I asked everyone to write down five complications in their lives that lead to stress, either now or in the future. We then exchanged pieces of paper and tried to help each with our stress problems.

Most problems were along the lines of:

  • Job after graduation
  • Separation from friends and family
  • Relations with the opposite sex

It turned out to be very difficult for everyone to come up with solutions. The general mood was: ??oewell, I guess you??(TM)re just stuck, stress is inevitable.??

Everyone left with great eagerness for next week??(TM)s session: ??oewhat kinds of spiritual solutions are there???

Risk management
→ Home

In this podcast Leslie Lamb, the chief risk manager of Cisco Systems, talks about how risks management should be done. It??(TM)s not very difficult, but hardly anyone does it.

It does not take a genius to figure out what the main risks effecting an organization. Nations know who is likely to attack them. Scientists know where the next big natural disasters will strike. Companies know who their main competitors are. People know what goods and services they are dependent on.

Risk management just means making a list of all the risks and all the things that, in a perfect world, could be done to mitigate those risks. Then all one needs to do is pick those risk mitigating activities that are doable and do them. Easy!

(??¦ and potentially life-saving)

So, as part my own personal risk management strategy, I??(TM)ll be planning to move out of Europe because of, among other things, the risk of abrupt climate change in the near future.

MacBook Pro thoughts and opinion
→ Home

So, I’ve watched Steve Job’s presentation, studied the specifications, read the various opinions online and now offer my thoughts about the new Apple MacBook Pro (hate the name!) notebook computers:

Positives:

  • Fair price ($2000). A similarly configured laptop from other vendors costs:
    • Gateway NX560 = $1800 (good specs, but historically terrible quality)
    • Dell E1705 = $2300 (they only sell a 17″ system, which naturally costs more)
    • IBM T60 = $2049 (somewhat inferior specs in comparison to Apple)
    • Acer 8204 = $2000 (with better specs than the Apple, but ??¦ four letter word for computer disaster)
    • HP dv1000t = $1900 (significantly worse specs than the Apple)

    And yes, we can argue at great length over what it means to be similarly configured, but I’ve found, in general, that Apple’s pricing is within 10% of everyone else. So, all things considered, no luxury tax from Apple.

  • Lighter (5.6 pounds) and smaller (1 inch thick) than any equivalent notebook I know of. For example, the IBM Thinkpad T43 weights 6.0 pounds, has a 15″ (vs. 15.4″) screen and is 1.4 inches thick.
  • Built-in high quality video camera (for when Skype eventually get around to releasing video skype for Mac ??” which should be “real soon now”)
  • Has a dual core Pentium-M (or I guess Intel is calling them Core Duo now) processor in it. Two processors on one chip for double the speed. In reality, depending on the application, it will only be about 30% – 60% faster. It does however really shine when doing multiple things at once. For example: try, all at once, burning a CD, downloading something from the Internet, playing a video, browsing a photo library and creating a backup and watch a single core chip grind to a halt.
  • Battery life is currently unknown (but will be pretty good since it uses a new lithium-polymer battery technology instead of standard lithium-ion)
  • Very bright screen. Apple says it is as good as an external LCD monitor. Better than most other laptop screens on the market (those super-bright Sony screens may look nice, but the glair off the ultra-reflective surface makes them very difficult to read text on. What use is a screen that is difficult to read off of?!).
  • Much, much, much better graphics card (ATi Mobility Radeon X1600) than anything else on the market. This is important because Mac OS X takes full advantage of the graphics card, unlike Windows, which makes no use of it whatsoever (until Windows Vista is released next Christmas).

Negatives:

  • Costs an extra $200 – $300 for novelty of getting the latest and greatest Intel processor. But, when the processor prices come down, Apple will probably keep the MacBook price the same and just add more features, so no harm in buying one now.
  • Doesn’t have a modem. Steve Jobs has decided they are obsolete (an external USB-modem costs $50).
  • Cheaper consumer iBook laptops with smaller screens will probably be release in April or July.
  • Can’t yet run Windows applications inside of Mac OS X. However, many people (Microsoft included) are feverously working on this.
  • No two-button mouse on the touchpad. Mac OS X does not need a right mouse button, but it may be difficult to use Windows (once it is available on the MacBook) without plugging in an external mouse.
  • Some notable Mac application providers haven’t created so called “universal binaries” yet that are needed to achieve optimum performance on Intel processors. Key applications (for example Office and Photoshop) will run relatively slowly (at 50-80% of original speed) until new versions come out.
  • Seems ever so slightly rushed: same basic case as the previous model. No revolutionary new feature. (Apple is being smart by not changing too many things at once). Nothing that fundamentally distinguishes it from a standard PC (apart from the camera, weight, size, “front-row” remote control, software and operating system). Okay, there is actually plenty unique stuff about this computer. I eat my words.
  • The MacBook Pro is, for all intents and purposes, an iMac desktop computer in a portable case. However, the iMac is roughly half the price. This is realistic pricing for the added portability and miniaturization, but feels rather uncomfortable, since the two systems are otherwise so similar.

It is a really good laptop. I was however wishing it to be lighter than the previous model, have a bigger hard drive, have enhanced application startup performance using Intel’s Robson flash-memory caching technology and use faster Core Duo processors than 1.83 Ghz (they go up to 2.16 Ghz), all of which should have been possible, but would, of course, have driven up the cost.

Also, Apple engineers aren’t magicians. While the MacBook Pro’s hardware is, in my opinion, better than everything else on the market, it is only by a slight margin. The main reason for buying this computer is the Mac OS X operating system, not the hardware.

So, in review, on all accounts a great machine. Only a few unknowns still need to get resolves. I’ll wait at least until April before buying one for myself . I’d really like something smaller and lighter than the current offering to replace my prehistoric Dell Inspiron 4150 monster. For example: a 13-inch MacBook Pro would hit the spot …

Update: Apple has upgraded the MacBook Pro processor options to feature the fastest Intel processors currently available (2.16 Ghz) and boosted their default “low-end” model up to 1.83 Ghz. Large hard drives are also available as build-to-order options. Battery life also appears to be at least as good as the old Powerbooks’. However, the new MagSafe power supply brick (85W) is roughly 30% larger than the the old 15″ Powerbook power supply (65W).

So, all I’m left wishing for is Robson and slightly less weight (especially since the larger power supply makes this new Mac heavier than the previous model).

Acupuncture (part 5)
→ Home

I went to see Dr. Philip Weeks again last week. My health took a nosedive just before Christmas and I had to increase my intake of Asacol, the western drug I??(TM)m taking to stop my immune system from destroying my digestion system. The downside of Asacol is that in the long term it reduces the body??(TM)s immune system function.

According to Philip my type of ulcerative colitis is caused by my thinking too much: I tend to forever ponder, worry, deliberate, reflect and hypothesize. Moreover, my job at the moment (PhD student) is to come up with something that no one else has ever thought of. Needless to say, that involves a lot of thinking. Not good for my condition.

Luckily, although Ulcerative Colitis is quite a severe disease, my bodily constitution is quite strong. I therefore don’t suffer too much, provided I strictly watch what I eat (no dairy, no deep-fried, no gluten), get enough sleep and get regular exercise.

Solution: heal the internal inflammation, reduce the acid in the body and increase the fire of digestion.

Method: regular acupuncture, herbal tinctures and moxibustion (Philip filled my navel with salt and ignited various herbs on top of it)

Some medical practitioners are purists: ??oeAyurveda is the only way!?? Not so with Philip. He, among other things, subscribes to the pragmatic philosophy of Chinese medicine. The Chinese don??(TM)t worry about mixing different types of medicine: herbs, steroids, acupuncture, antibiotics, homeopathy, surgery ??¦ whatever works, mix it all together! The main thing is to help the patient. Unfortunately, the really good Chinese doctors stay in China. Most practitioners of Chinese medicine in the west are not very skilled (and also tend to use all kinds of abominable animal products in their medical preparations).

Germany reflections (part 4): heating breakdown
→ Home

On Christmas day our central heating system broke down. The temperature was -10 C.

We borrowed several electric heaters from the neighbors, which barely managed to keep the house somewhat warm. If the electricity had also broken down, we would have been finished.

Two days later we called a plumber to fix the system. However, after trying various things and replacing some parts of the system the boiler still refused to work. He eventually gave up and suggested phoning the manufacturer.

Two days after that a specialist from Junkers Corporation came and replaced nearly every component of the heating system. It had not been serviced for 20 years and most parts were beyond repair. Lesson learnt: take good care of machines, service them regularly and fix things as soon as they break. Leaving a fault unrepaired will very soon result in many compounding problems and cause some major headaches (or worse).

I remember that way in the dark ages (i.e. 20 or so years ago) we, and practically everyone around us, used to have a wood/coal burning stove attached to chimney. To warm the house we would light the fire. Simple. With a sufficient stockpile of burnable fuel there was practically no danger of freezing.

Now however, with the advent of nice, convenient modern central heating systems, we are no longer independent. If the underground gas supply system breaks down, we freeze. If the boiler unit breaks, we freeze. If the electricity cuts out, the boiler unit no longer works and we freeze. If the underground water supply system breaks down, the boiler can no longer heat water to supply to the radiators and ??¦ we freeze.

A good, fault tolerant system has multiple backups and few dependencies. Modern society is just the opposite: too many dependencies and no contingency plan.

For example: 5 years ago protestors prevented the fuel/gas/petrol tanker trucks from carrying out their work. Within a couple of days the entire country ground to a halt. Keeping stock is expensive, so everything in shops is delivered just-in-time. With no fuel, deliveries can’t happen. The result: within a few days there was no more food in the country. The government had to step in and force the protesters to stop.

German keeps an emergency oil reserve that will last for 90 days. The USA maintains a 50 day stockpile. However, in the event of a breakdown of the distribution mechanism, those stockpiles will be pretty much useless.

Realization: if a small disaster knocks out one or two of the main utilities (water, gas, electricity, fuel) of one of our great, powerful western consumer democracies, then that nation will be reduced to total anarchy in a matter of months!

As Sitapati blogged recently: a post-apocalyptic world as portrayed in Mad Max and many other science fiction films is becoming more and more of a probability. Much more so now, than ever before.

Germany reflections (part 3): school
→ Home

School in Germany starts at 7:30am. At least it did when I was in school there. This simple, but ingenious fact contributes greatly to the overall good of German society. The children lean better in the morning hours, before the passionate mid-day sets in, they get trained to get up early and their parents are also forced to get up early. Both children and parents therefore have to go to bed earlier, reducing nightly sinful and criminal activities. Children (and adults) can’t get into trouble at night if they’re not awake. Brilliant!

At the same time, I wasn??(TM)t too happy about the German curriculum. Here are some things I disliked:

They choose to ignore the history of the world outside of Europe (and the American west). I really wanted to learn some Asian, African and South American history, but the teacher??(TM)s response was: ??oesorry??.

World War II was ignored. While World War I was covered in great detail, the painful memories of the second Great War were blocked out. History lessons covered the time up to 1939 and then made a jump to 1945. What happened in between, I asked. Teacher??(TM)s response: ??oenothing interesting??.

Lutheran religious education (evangelische Religion) primarily covered two themes: the role of the church in the 3rd Reich and various philosophies of religion. The latter lessons taught us na??ve kids that “religion and divinity are projections of human nature” (Ludwig Feuerbach) and that “Gott ist tot” (Friedrich Nietzsche). As a result I and practically all my friends became complete atheists.

Sports were limited to some basic team sports and track and field. Neither provided much in the way of good exercise. Team sports involved standing around most of the time waiting for the ball to come one’s way. Track and field involved waiting around most of the time waiting for one’s turn to run or jump. Physical education could have been orchestrated to be much more interesting and provide much more benefit for the students.