Minimalism
I came across this mnmlist blog earlier but took a look at it in detail only recently, thanks to my friend Soma. I think this is one of the blogs out there that resonates with my view of life.
I like to think myself as a minimalist since I try to find out the ROI (return on investment) on everything which costs me time, energy, money, or even space. I think hard before buying anything, sometimes more due to the space it will take than the cost. I like to buy my tools and other utility gadgets used, and craigslist is a blessing for living in the bay area.
I realize that while we had much less stuff when we were young, we used to extract the full value from them. I still cherish that lesson and will be forever grateful to my parents for not providing me with too much stuff. Sadly, today’s young people seem to just skim through their possessions. It is just mind boggling how much daily waste is in the modern life. Everyone is busy working to make more money to buy more stuff and pay for their fancy manufactured lifestyle. I feel just goddamned lucky to understand this big picture.
I will see how much progress I can make towards minimalism. Minimalism for me is not having less number of things, but having less unused things. I want to make sure that over time, there won’t be much stuff in my home which gathers dust. Achieving this simple goal would be a major milestone in my life.
Writing a daemon in linux
Needed some online tutorial writing a daemon process. The links below helped.
VHEMT
One of the most comprehensive and meaningful websites I have read so far: The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT)
Another thoughtful article which talks about the taboo topic “Eugenics”: Future Generations
It is almost scary to have understood the nature and scale of the problem we are heading to, and despite the existence of workable solutions, it is almost too late. We are letting mother nature to adjust the balance, at great cost to humanity and our planet.
Humans have screwed up the earth, and committed unthinkable crimes against each other. All in the name of unsatisfiable greed and hunger for so-called “growth” and “civilization”. Other species are dying out because of our actions. The planet can do much better with less of us, maybe only those who live consciously and with minimal footprint.
A study shows that even if a government policy restricts one child per woman, it would take decades for the world population to come down to a more sustainable level. But that is never going to happen. Once the population grows beyond the tipping point (it might already have) when no amount of technology can sustain the system, the civilization will likely implode with great losses of life and resources. I just hope I won’t live long enough to see that day.
Going paperless at home
I have been sick and tired of the flood of junk mails at my home. I have already opted for paperless delivery of bills and statements, but the insurance and credit card offers keep coming. Finally found a blog post with solution to stop them as well. Here are a couple useful links:
1. How I Went 99.9% Paperless At Home
2. Evernote Is Decluttering My Life
New riding record – 212 miles in 2hr 50min
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on August 16, 2010
I am no ironbutt certified rider yet, and nor do I care. But it was definitely an achievement to be able to pull off a ride-till-empty-tank that I always dreamed about. I normally stop for a little drink or stretching out every 100 miles on a long ride, but this time having already done a 140-mile non stop record, I decided to push a bit further. This was a sheer test of mental stamina since I was physically fine with no drowsiness at all. I could feel the urge to be complacent and stop after 150 miles, but something in me kept me calm and going. It was a great meditation as well, riding in silence (thanks to earbuds) for 2 hours and 50 minutes at no less than 70 mph on I-5, from Gorman to Santa Nella, covering a record 212 miles for me.
Some long distance riders only stop for fuel but I think I won’t be doing this kind of thing all too often unless on sedate interstates.
San Diego ride
Posted by therider in Motorcycling on August 12, 2010
On a long trip after more than a year. This time to San Diego for the alumni conference of IISc where Priti is volunteering. An easy thousand miler and a welcome break from the crazy hectic life we are in now.
The wing got equipped with new front tire and front brake pads yesterday. Working on it in the garage was a bliss. So also loading it up today just before the start of the trip. I was badly stuck with some office work so packed up my work laptop as well, hoping to get some coding done during the trip.
We hit the road at 5pm. Destination Goleta, CA. GPS showed ETA 10:05pm. From all my previous experiences, that meant midnight. No question about it.
It was a blissful, “zoned in” ride. Except for the temperature games of California. 75F to 60F in no time. A jacket liner break at 60 miles, then a quick restroom break and one last stop for refuel at San Miguel around 160 miles. Then a non-stop 140 mile sprint to Goleta. Went through dense fog and then enjoyed a long stretch oceanside road with dark starry skies and three ships lit up like christmas trees. Had to stop for a minute and turn off the lights just to take in the view.
Reached Goleta at exactly 10:05pm. Now this is a first. A personal record of nailing the GPS ETA doing 300 miles in 5 hours flat. Feels just great. To top it off, our hosts (Priti’s junior) fed us wonderful home cooked Indian food. I stopped short of food coma so I could start this blog entry and try to get some work done.
More tomorrow.
Updates:
Fri, 13th August: Busy day, met up with a friend before showing up for the conference mixer/gathering. After that, we went to see my buddy Venkatesh, whose 11 month old daughter just learned to walk on her own that very day. We then shacked up at my college batchmate’s nice house for the night.
Sat, 14th August: Very long day of conference from 7:30am to 10:30pm, but the food was great. I managed to get some office work done while covering the entire conference in between. Stayed with Ligeo and Divya after the conference.
Sun, 15th August: Long day of riding back home. Met up with roomie at Irvine where he came to meet his cousin. We had a mind blowing lunch at Chakra Indian cuisine restaurant inside the UC Irvine campus. After that Priti wanted to meet her junior so we stopped at Pasadena, also to avoid some nasty traffic. I am lucky I got to do a power nap which helped tremendously. I did a personal record in my riding that evening. From Gorman to Santa Nella, I rode non stop 212 miles on a full tank of gas, in 2 hr 50 minutes. It is a significant achievement considering the mental stamina it takes to sit for nearly 3 hours belting at 70mph or more. Back home at 11:30pm.
Summary: Roundtrip 1100 miles in 3 days, new personal record of 212 miles non stop in 2 hr 50 minutes.
Solution for Cisco VPN Error 51
The Cisco VPN client occasionally shows an error dialog on a mac (Error 51: Unable to communicate with the VPN subsystem) when I attempt to start it, when the internet is working just fine. I found the fix in the following link which worked like a charm.
Specifically, this one line command did the trick for me:
Tetra Society of North America
Posted by therider in Hobbies, Personal, Technology on July 29, 2010
As if it was destined to happen, a coworker today showed me the website of Tetra Society of North America. It is a nonprofit organization that recruits skilled volunteers to create customized assistive devices for the physically disabled.
Why did it get me so excited ? Not only do I understand the plight of the disabled, I am currently running out of ideas of what to build next in my home workshop. If I get to make some kind of assistive device, whether out of wood or metal, it will not only make practical use of whatever skills I have, it will also justify owning whatever tools I desire.
Thank you so much, Ted. I just applied for a technical volunteer position and will look forward to making some contributions in near future.
All Joy and No Fun
An extremely well-written overview of recent studies showing how and why the fun has gone out of parenthood:
Why is this important to the childfree by choice? Well, the next time someone says, “You’ll regret not having kid.” or, “Parenthood is such a joy, you’re missing out” you can send them a link to this article.
It is much much better to regret not having kids, than to regret for the rest of life after the fact. Too bad there is no 30-day return period. You can change everything else in life. Jobs can be changed, marriages can be ended in divorce, pets can be donated to shelters, yet you can’t dump or divorce your kids. Once you make that choice, there is absolutely no turning back.
A comment from a friend on facebook:
I know people who have raised their kids to the age of 26 & older, paid for their entire lives – drugs, vacations, college, rehab, wedding, given them jobs at the family business, cars – raise the next generation of grandchildren too. I blame it on the parents – not culture, not society. These folks get no respect from their offspring who wait for them to die, so they can inherit the house and properties. It’s pretty pathetic.
The fad of “living green”
“Green” is a major hype and propaganda these days. Hybrid cars, compostable cups, re-usable grocery bags, this and that. Makes us believe we care for the environment. Fancy TV advertisements regularly feature a smiling family of four “living green” in a huge mansion, driving a hybrid monster SUV.
What an epic hogwash in the light of overpopulation and global warming.
The biggest inconvenient truth is that we don’t need more humans for several decades before the world’s population comes down to a stable level. That means one thing – “thou shalt not reproduce unless you contribute to the society”. In other words, there should be incentives and rewards for people who choose to stay childfree, and high taxes for parents opting for more than two children.
Childfree by choice couples can even drive hummers and live opposite of a “green” lifestyle and still be consuming resources several orders of magnitude lower than a family with one or two kids. Living “green” is like saving up pennies, and when a child is born, the effective expense of the planet is of the order of several hundreds of dollars in comparison. Saving those hundreds of dollars and spending pennies in “guilty luxuries” is much much better in my opinion.
In a geek friend’s words: “Don’t have a kid unless he/she can invent cold fusion.”
About
Hi, I'm Joy, a Javascript engineer at Zoosk. While code pays my bills, I enjoy hang gliding, photography, motorcycling, woodworking and home renovation. Welcome to my blog.
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