Hari's Corner

Here's the second edition of my "blast from the past" series.

In my second month of blogging, I was just beginning to start getting a feel of the whole thing. Of course, it was also a period when I was very active in the Linux community, LinuxQuestions.org and so you'll find that most of my posts during that time were Linux related.

So, here you go.

Championing a Cause at LinuxQuestions.org - Those were the days when I was getting incredibly frustrated with trolls and spammers. Too much respect was given to people who were blatantly trolling and obviously disrespectful of the Linux community and a lot of good members were spending more of their energy in responding to them than in helping out with genuine technical problems. In some ways, you can see where I am now and understand my present attitude to online forums - particularly tech forums. I reached a point when I decided that the best way to keep out trolls is to stay away from communities.

Hardware Compatibility and Linux - Another topic that I felt strongly about at that time - particularly with video card support and printers. Things have improved a lot even in two years, but attitudes about Linux and hardware support are harder to change.

A look at Slackware and Debian - Like a continuation of my comparison of Gentoo and Debian. I wasn't a big fan of Slackware at that time. But like all politically correct Linux users, I tactfully avoided flame wars, acknowledging that some people do prefer its completely manual configuration approach. Not that I was always successful though. I am still primarily a Debian user, although I use Slackware as a light-weight desktop (without KDE or Gnome) for web-browsing and e-mail. Distro wars suck anyway.

More on Slackware and Debian - A continuation of the same discussion. A user at LinuxQuestions.org contributed more points on the topic and I thought I should highlight them at that time. So I did. People who want to understand the underlying principles of these two distributions should look at this topic and decide for themselves which they like better. These days I'm a bit indifferent to these distro issues.

My brother recently experienced the "attitude" of recruiters for MNCs in India. He has written about it in his blog and I wanted to highlight the unethical practices adopted by these companies to lure candidates (inconveniencing them and making them waste time, effort and money) merely for updating their resume database. Note this point: my brother was called by an employee of that MNC for the interview (through the referral program) assuring him that he qualified on the basis of experience, so it was not a fake e-mail by any means. But thanks to the dumb-ass HR people at that company, he was rejected because he was not "experienced" enough. What makes it really pathetic is that he has not even received an apology, let alone a clarification from this contact person who misled him.

You can read the full story here: Link to the article

The gist of what happened:

1. My brother got referred by an employee of an MNC for an opening in that company.
2. The employee clarified the requirements and assured my brother that he does qualify as his resume is suitable.
3. My brother attended the first interview in Chennai, where he got rejected on the basis of experience required, but the HR staff told him that his CV will be "considered" by the business team as it looked impressive.
4. My brother asked for clarification and the employee once again assured him that the experience required is 2 years+ and not 3 years as mentioned by the HR staff.
5. My brother forgot all about it, but once again got an e-mail from the HR department of the same MNC calling him from an interview. My brother assumed that the business team had considered his resume as suitable and went to Bangalore on short notice to attend the interview in spite of a cold and fever.
6. HR staff at Bangalore once again rejected him on the same basis.
7. My brother wrote to the employee who had originally referred him but hasn't got any clarification or apology till date.

On neither occasion did he get a chance to prove his merit on the basis of skill and qualification because on both occasions the interview closed when they saw that he didn't have 3 years of experience. What truly annoys me is not that he got rejected, but the indifference and the arrogance of those HR staff who either have no idea how to scan a person's resume or are merely lazy to do so and then have the audacity to point out that my brother should have read the e-mail carefully when he was clearly misled by the assurance given on the earlier occasion.

I think it's a problem that needs to be highlighted because the practice is clearly unethical and yet a lot of HR "agencies" or middlemen do this by sending unsolicited e-mails to masses of unsuspecting people without any kind of screening process merely to collect a data bank of resumes/contact details. This is plain spamming and gives these people a bad name. But what is even worse is when a company directly indulges in this kind of practice. Thanks to their criminal carelessness in the "screening process", my brother spent a horrid weekend travelling up and down at his own cost at extremely short notice (with a running nose and fever) and returned empty-handed.

Too often companies get away with such kind of malpractices and the media doesn't really catch on to it because it's not a "sensational" story.

I'm going to experiment with a new concept. I got this idea from RT (who attributes it to Matthew). So starting from now, I'm going to dig into the archives and pick some of my older articles to highlight here periodically.

Here are some of my picks for May 2005 (the month I started blogging).

phpBB: to BB or not to BB - that was written at a time when I was getting frustrated with phpBB's inherent limitations. My first real article. Interestingly, after all that time, phpBB 3.0 is still in beta.

Debian and Gentoo - similar, yet so different - I don't use Gentoo these days because the compiling time really ate into productive usage. It's nice having a Linux distribution that compiles everything - but it's just not for me. I still rate Gentoo highly though.

Spam filtering in Google and Yahoo mail - It was around that time when gmail was still new and its spam filters were really effective against spam. These days I find that more spam tends to slip through to the inbox and the occasional legitimate mail goes into the spam folder. Still google's spam filter is miles ahead of its competitors.

Conflict between style and utility - not surprisingly, this article reflects the web designer's constant dilemma: focus on utility or style in web design? The debate will keep going on and on for ages.

In the next edition of this, I'll highlight some of my posts from June 2005. In the meantime, please do comment on any of my older articles if you wish to and please let me know your thoughts about this idea.

(A loose parody of this famous Linux article )

In the following article I'll refer to all varieties of pens - fountain pens, ball-point pens, gel pens, micro-tip pens, felt-tip pens, expensive pens, cheap pens, high quality pens, low quality pens, good pens, bad pens and pens from Mars, Jupiter and Outer Space - as pens. And I'll call all the different brands and grades of pencils - F, H, HB, 2H, 2B, 3H, 3B, 4H, 4B, 5H, 5B etc. - as pencils. It all just scans better and makes this declaration necessary.

If you've been pointed to this page, it's apparent that you're a hopelessly clueless newbie to pencils. You're having trouble holding that pencil exactly the way you should hold a pencil. You ask all sorts of questions like "Why does my pencil tip keep breaking so much?", "Why is my pen so much smoother than my pencil?", "Why isn't my pencil dark/light/soft/hard?" and "Why do I have to use a sharpener to keep the tip sharp?" and so on. You've been pointed to the right place. Here I'll try to explain exactly why pencil != pen. By the time you have finished reading this, your mind should be freezing numb and you should be feeling thoroughly confused. Then I can rest easy with the thought that my job has been done.

Problem #1: Pencil is not exactly the same as pen

Let's admit it. An amazing number of people continue asserting that a pencil should function exactly like a pen - leaky, messy, free-flowing and non-erasable. They want to avoid the hassles of refilling a pen and want the advantage of being able to use an eraser cleanly. Now, first things first. You keep hoping that all the things they said about pencils were true - they were clean, cheap, easy to maintain and that you could easily correct mistakes with an eraser at no additional cost or trouble.

It is logically impossible for a pen to be a pencil. Quite frankly a pen cannot remain a pen without being a pen. A pencil cannot remain a pencil without being what it is: a pencil. So the two are distinct. There's no doubt about this point. So people who convert from pen to pencil and expect the same free-flowing smoothness of a pen while having the additional advantages of a pencil fail miserably. They mess up their hand-writing badly and then complain that it's all the pencil's fault.

Welcome to reality. You need to understand that a pencil is a new way of writing (and drawing) and you need to adapt to it. Solution #1: Learn to use a pencil properly. Understand that you need to keep sharpening it from time to time to keep the tip sharp. Learn the difference between HB, 2B, 3B, 2H, 3H and so on. It's not rocket-science, but it's not easy either. Pencils offer a new set of challenges which you need to look forward to - particularly when they progressively grow smaller and smaller and you find yourself holding a really blunt, tiny, chewed-off pencil to create an intricate plan and elevation during the engineering drawing examination.

Problem #2: Pencils are *too* different from pens

All right. So people, you've changed over to using a pencil and now expect it to be completely different. Reality check #2: both pen and pencils are writing devices and so you would expect both to have similarities. Both have a tip which needs to be applied on paper. Both need to be gripped with the same set of fingers and both need some amount of pressure on paper to be functional. If you understand these concepts, you would not be so confused. After all a pencil looks completely different from a pen in some ways and yet the wide array of choices offered by pencil manufacturers continue to leave former pen users bewildered.

The reason why so many varieties of pencils exist is because they are put to a huge variety of uses. Namely drawing and writing. You have B, HB, 2B, 3B, H, 2H, 3H and so on and you're confused as to which pencil is the right one for you.

The primary goal here is to decide what the purpose of the pencil is. And how dark you want the writing to be. It pays to do your research well before choosing the right kind of pencil. After all, once you've spent all this time in choosing a pencil, how can you give it up and choose another one without wasting more time and energy?

To illustrate this, let me take the very simple example that everybody would be able to relate to: piloting aircrafts and piloting rockets. Now everybody knows that aircraft pilots and rocket scientists need completely different sets of skills. You can easily understand this because it's a familiar situation you've been in. How can you expect to translate the skills required for taking the rocket off the ground, attain escape velocity and reach the moon, to safely navigating a commercial aircraft from New York to Frankfurt? One motion is horizontal while the other is vertical and the dynamics are quite different. Yet both are essentially vehicles which fly. Now can you equate an aircraft with a rocket just because both fly?

So a switch from one pen to another is like the difference between piloting a Boeing 747 and an Airbus A380. It's a skill that can be interchanged without a problem. A switch from pen to pencil is like the difference between piloting an Airbus and taking off the Voyager. I'm sure this example would be well appreciated by everybody since everybody knows the difference from a practical standpoint.

Problem #3: Culture shock

Subproblem #3a: There is no culture

You came expecting a new culture. The problem is that pencil users generally do not share the same cultural tendencies that you come to expect of them. Contrary to what you might have been led to believe, pencil users do not pretend that they're superior to pen users and pencil users always keep their pencils away from prying eyes. And pencil users do not keep boasting at every street corner: "See I can use a pencil! Gee, I must be great!"

So if you were going to use a pencil merely to enhance your image in the eyes of the world and thought that owning a pencil and being able to use it would give you bragging rights and a college degree you came to the wrong place.

Subproblem #3b: New vs Old

A lot of new pencil users have a lot of trouble understanding the simple concept that a pencil is not meant to compete with a pen. There are some things that can only be done using pencils - for instance - drawing on rough surfaces and scratching one's back. Pencils have a long and hallowed history which began when carpenters first began holding them in the narrow gap between their temple and their ear. Since then pencils have become a huge fashion statement.

However, pencils are also used by artists. So new pencil users have difficulty comprehending who the mainstream users of pencils really are: artists or carpenters. They don't seem to realize that pencils are meant for both!

Carpenters: Pencils are just implements used to create markings on wood pieces to indicate where I need to start sawing. I care a damn whether pencils look pretty or not. They should get the job done - that's all I care about. Whether the pencil is short, long, bulky, beautiful or ugly I don't really care.

Artists: But remember a pencil is a thing of beauty - an implement of art and a thing to be loved and treasured. Pencils need to be treated with care and respect and not to be carelessly fixed between one's ear and temples.

New users: I'm thoroughly confused now! What exactly should pencils be used for?

Answer: It's really that simple: pencils should be used for drawing and writing.

Problem #4: But pens leak while pencils don't

First let's get one thing straight. It's not the problem of pencil makers that many kinds of pens leak, have really bad writing grips and have poor ink flow. It's choosing the *wrong* kind of pen which really led to that effect. If you want pens that really don't leak, you should really do your research before you buy a pen.

It's also not the pencil's fault that a three year old kid is having trouble constructing a complicated Lego aircraft. There is a growing tendency among people to place all the blame on pencils for the issues affecting the world. Contrary to popular belief, the Iraq War didn't start because Saddam Hussein was a pencil-user either. That Saddam used leaky pens is a well-known fact and the reason why his secretary's blotting paper showed traces of the plans of WMDs which led to the War.

Expecting pencils to be easy-to-use versions of pens is like thinking that pencils are easy-to-use versions of pens. It's just not correct and the logic really doesn't work here. Rather than expecting a pencil to act as a pen-substitute, think of a pencil as something that evolved from people's need of something completely different from a pen! That's so easy to think, isn't it?

Problem #5: The myth of "user friendly"

The thing about pencils is that they require care and attention. A blunt pencil is not a good pencil. It is a sadly neglected pencil and it's not the pencil's fault. It's the pencil owner's fault that it is so blunt. At the same time, the modern trend of gel pens and ball-point pens have really lulled writers into a sense of false complacency into thinking that writing is an easy skill to learn. Pens these days are just meant to be used and thrown. There is nothing artistic about today's easy-to-use pens. If people actually bothered to take care of their pens the same way that Rolls Royce owners take care of their vehicles, then they would have no trouble making the switch.

In reality, pens are "user-friendly" (supposedly). You just open the cap, put pen to paper and start writing, right? Right. However, you also have to put up with bad quality ink, horribly designed grips, and severe pain in the fingers if the pen's ink doesn't flow smoothly and forces you to try harder. You keep applying more and more pressure until the paper tears or the nib breaks and so you think "why not just change to pencils?"

Here lies the real trouble. Pencils are *not* meant to be used and thrown. They are devices that you really need to take good care of. They offer a lot of convenience, but also require care, attention and maintenance. Just like choosing pens, you need to choose your pencil really carefully.

So here's the deal. If you want a writing implement that's really easy to use, requires little maintenance and is comfortable to your hands, go ahead and buy the most expensive Mont Blanc or Sheaffer pen you can find. That's the way to go rather than choosing cheap, use-and-throw ball-point or gel pens. These instruments will serve you for a long time, will remain extremely comfortable in your hand and can be used for seemingly forever. To get the best results, make sure you buy the most expensive, high-quality ink that you can find because cheap ink can ruin them as well.

However, if you really want a writing implement that you can trust to do your bidding, can work well when you make mistakes and want to remove parts of your writing or drawing and can be sharpened to exact specification and make lovely shading effects on paper, go with pencils. Pencils are truly rewarding if you take the time to learn to use them in all their variety and glory. If you want a good pen without all the hassles, go spend a fortune and get a gold-nibbed Parker. It will serve you for a long, long time and your friends will really envy you.

Just remember: rather than asking "why do I want a pencil?" you should ask "why should the pencil want me?" You'll truly find answers to your questions if you ponder that philosophically ridiculous question.

I don't know how many people would have noticed this, but tomorrow will be the second anniversary of this blog. This is as good a time as any to get some feedback from my readers, because that's what encourages me to keep blogging. I know that a lot of bloggers like to say "I do it for myself - not for others" but I don't think I am one of those who could have written a personal journal without caring whether people acknowledged it or not. Luckily, I've got a lot of friends who read the stuff that I churn out regularly, so this is also a great opportunity to thank them for bothering to comment on what I write.

I've always tried to keep this blog light-hearted, reader-friendly and with original content. I've also avoided politics, religion and other major world issues because, quite simply, there are other places on the web where people can freely discuss them to their heart's content. To me, this was just a way to share ideas, information and connect with people and I'd like to keep it that way. I also think that's what has allowed me to make friends from people from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and cultures. I value goodwill a lot and I think I've been able to build it only by avoiding negativity. It's so easy, I think, to use a blog as a rant-machine. While controversy might be a great way to attract a large number of people in a short time, most of those people would hardly stick on to read other, useful content. You gain short-term popularity and a lot of hits from popular news and social-networking sites, but you also end up alienating readers and creating a heavy, gloomy atmosphere. I have learnt that it's better not to express one's opinions on certain subjects online, because, no matter how well-intentioned you might be, there will always be a group of people who will get offended and hurt. I do believe in Freedom of Expression, but I strongly think that the choice of withholding that expression sometimes has greater value.

Now a mention of my circle of friends online. I've tried to mention everybody I can think of at this moment, but if I've missed you, my apologies. Please do post a comment here and I'll rectify the omission as soon as I can.

First and foremost, a special mention goes to Drew (a.k.a. trickykid) who hosts me for free on his server. Without his support I don't know whether I could have kept my forum LiteraryForums.org online. He is a moderator and a long-time contributor at LinuxQuestions.org. I cannot thank him enough for his help and support!

Ray (a.k.a xavierp) has been a great friend for a couple of years now. He is another moderator at LinuxQuestions.org and that's how I got to meet him. He is also a long-time contributor at LiteraryForums.org and has a pretty unique blog too. He is always that unflustered guy who goes about his business without fuss and without getting hassled and has a refreshing sense of humour.

Floppywhopper doesn't have a blog (as far as I can tell), but is another good friend I met through LQ.org. He has been a contributor and moderator for LiteraryForums.org for seemingly forever now. His encouragement has kept me going with LiteraryForums.org for all these years now.

Alison (a.k.a titanium_geek) is another good friend. She is an independent thinking blogger and another good contributor at LinuxQuestions.org. She does write about a lot of issues (environment, coffee and food - you name it ) but is always concise and never bores you with long, rambling essays or rants.

Max (a.k.a J_K9) is yet another LinuxQuestions.org member. He is the project leader of Mira groupware and writes about the current events in the Linux and FOSS world. So if you're looking to contribute to a worthy FOSS project, head over there!

Dominic (a.k.a. OneAndOneIs2) is yet another LQ.org friend. He writes mostly technology articles (but also with some personal stuff thrown in) and always keeps me thinking about issues. He has a talent for writing, and is most famously recognized in the FOSS world as the author of that classic article, Linux is Not Windows.

Sudipta Chatterjee is another good friend of mine online. His articles are always an interesting read and his opinions on life's issues are deliciously different and insightful with a touch of philosophy. Also has a somewhat naughty sense of humour (which I can appreciate).

Shrinidhi Hande got to my blog through my real-world friend, Logesh's blog. I liked his take on issues and his unique style of writing. He doesn't blog about the usual things most bloggers write about and that's what attracted me to him in the first place. His straight-faced humour is really something distinct and quite delightful.

R.T. Cunningham (or RT) is a recent acquaintance, but he has now become a very good friend, because he really reaches out to other bloggers and does a great job of it. His writes at a frenetic pace and there's always something new on his blog every day. A retired US marine now living in the Philippines, he has a broad world vision and is always willing to help out fellow bloggers. In fact, the idea for this post is partly inspired by his idea of blog drive-bys. Thanks RT!

Corey Thompson is a blogger I found through RT. He seems to have an interesting blog and I've only recently blogrolled him. From what he writes, he looks like another kindred soul.

Logesh is my real-world friend who has now connected with me online. I must thank him for commenting on my blog because real-world friends always promise to read my blog and never do so. He writes two blogs, one in English and one in Tamil, but I must ask him to write more, because he hardly ever updates them!

There are other bloggers on my blogroll who I've either lost touch with or who haven't updated their blogs in ages. But regardless of whether I've mentioned people individually or not, I have to thank all of them for linking back to me and acknowledging me as a part of their circle.

And finally, if you have been a reader of my blog and I don't know about it, please take this opportunity to introduce yourself.

It's that time of the year - summer - and that of frequent power cuts in warm, humid, oppressive weather when the sea breeze decides to take a little break.

The Papa Hari Institute for Research (PHIR) has been studying power cuts for several years now and our panel of scientists have finally submitted their final report. They have reached the following conclusions. Note that most of the research was conducted in India, although many of the points might apply to other parts of the world as well.

1. All power cuts happen when you least expect it. There is no exception to this rule.
2. The duration of any power cut is inversely proportional to the strength of the instinctive initial hope you had of it being restored within 5 minutes. What you think after 5 minutes is immaterial.
3. You always suspected it and it's now official. Power cuts have no soul, no heart and no remorse. They are also incredibly evil and the work of a higher power (no pun intended).
4. Of a group of 1000 people who took part in our survey, the first reaction of 990 of them to power cuts were swear words of unprintable nature. The remaining 10 survey participants were dumb (literally).
5. The #1 reason for power cuts attributed by the people involved in our survey was "transformer problem." Of these nearly 98% of them had only a vague idea of what a transformer actually is. Corrupt politicians and the neighbour's power-sucking air-conditioner also figured significantly as indirect reasons for power cuts.
6. Nobody ever knows the real reason for power cuts.
7. If you are watching television during a power cut, there is a 80% chance that you were watching the most interesting part of your favourite movie/programme/sport. Power is usually restored only when the closing credits are running or the game is over.
8. If you're among a group of people when there's a power shutdown, there is a 70% chance that the general talk will gravitate towards the energy crisis in the world.
9. You almost never get a power cut when you need a good excuse for not doing the homework you have to submit the next day. After unsuccessfully waiting all day long for that elusive power cut, when you finally decide to get the job done you'll get a power cut. And it'll usually last long enough to prevent you from doing it. (we already said power cuts have no heart or soul)
10. If you are experiencing a series of power cuts, one after the other in quick succession, the last power cut in the series will usually be of the longest duration. You also finally figure out what they really mean by the term "Alternating Current."
11. Power cuts which happen at night usually feel twice as long and ten times as bad as power cuts during daytime.
12. Kids in the neighbourhood usually love playing screwy and irritating games like hide-and-seek during power cuts after dark.
13. The cool, balmy breeze blowing the terrace or balcony of your house usually stops during a power cut at night in summer time. Just when you begin to get a little bit of breeze and you start enjoying the stars above in the peace and quiet of the neighbourhood, power is restored and the neighbourhood kids shriek with delight and disturb the peace.
14. Just like the first rule of power cuts, power supply is restored at the exact point in time when you stop expecting it to be restored.
15. A 20-minute power shutdown will usually last for an hour or more.
16. You almost never think of a power cut until it happens.
17. Contrary to what most people think, concentrating really hard on the electric light or the fan above your head will not somehow magically restore power supply.
18. If a room has been cooled by air-conditioning before a power cut occurs, it will return to its normal temperature ten times faster than it took to cool down to that level.
19. During a power cut, there will be at least one elderly person in a large group of people who will start lecturing about the time when people lived in comfort without fans, air-conditioners, electric lights and other such luxuries of modern times.
20. And last but not least, the idea behind these kinds of research topics originate only during power cuts.