10 Lessons I Learned from a Year of Productivity Experiments

Kannu

Some very interesting tips here. And makes sense son. Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise well. None of which I do particularly well but seems to be ok in total. Allows me  to do all that I want and need. Strangely enough, my life seems to have speeded up son, instead of slowing down! Strange eh? Maybe it's because I've started to learn about these productivity tips? 

THis year of yours will be crucial from the perspective of putting some serious corner stones in your life in terms of getting the internship and making the networking links that will help you get into a good job. It's a good thing you've enjoyed yourself this summer with 4 trips and holidays. Enjoy. It will be some time before you will again get to have so much fun. I'm kidding. You will of course have more fun and games. I'm starting to plan the Antarctica trip. More and more I read about it - it's becoming more and more challenging. But would be a good test of our abilities to survive some of the roughest seas in the world and cold so ferocious that you cannot believe. 

Still. These tips are good son. Worth noting although you are doing all these so I'm happy for you. 

Love you

Baba

10 Lessons I Learned from a Year of Productivity Experiments
http://lifehacker.com/10-lessons-i-learned-from-a-year-of-productivity-experi-1584800618/1733434839?utm_campaign=socialflow_lifehacker_facebook&utm_source=lifehacker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
(via Instapaper)

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Quite an interesting perspective

H-Net Review Publication: Woodall on Hill, 'Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities'

Well son. I'm sure you're throughly enjoying the snow and skiing and the camaraderie of the Oxbridge group at the moment. So perhaps this email isn't particularly pertinent at the moment or even later. 

This was an interesting perspective. That museum are nothing but biographies. Fascinating concept eh? I love museums. They offer a potted history of so many things. Having seen museums in so many countries this is right. Together they are biographies of humans and mankind. 

Somebody told me that I live in a museum. Yes. Quite possibly. Both mentally and physically. Lol. I collect books. Palm leaf books. Interesting bank notes. Cufflinks. Horological instruments. Interesting photographs. Collect experiences. Degrees and PhDs and certificates. And friends. It's nothing but a biography. 

As you know I'm a trustee at an animal home. We get legacies from people who have died and gifted things or money to us. And several times I've got to sign for the receipt of full house contents of people who died with a wish to donate everything to us. People collect the strangest things son. Buttons. Newspapers. Plastic bags. Matchbox covers. Condoms. Food items. Stamps. You name it. And sometimes I wonder what it says about you. 

Everybody collects son. I'm not making a judgement. But I'm just interested to know. So the small thought experiment would be for you son, ask your friends what do they collect? And why do they collect what they do? And what does it tell you about them? I'm sure it will help you understand them a bit more son. People love to talk about their hobbies and collections. And that will give you some amazing insights into people. 

Love

Baba

Begin forwarded message:

From: H-Net Staff <revhelp@mail.h-net.msu.edu>
Date: 8 December 2014 07:34:19 GMT
To: H-REVIEW@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: H-Net Review Publication:  Woodall on Hill, 'Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities'
Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revhelp@mail.h-net.msu.edu>

Kate Hill, ed.  Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects,
Identities.  Heritage Matters Series. Suffolk  Boydell and Brewer,
2012.  x + 338 pp.  $99.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84383-727-5; $34.95
(paper), ISBN 978-1-84383-961-3.

Reviewed by Alexandra Woodall (University of Leicester, School of
Museum Studies)
Published on H-Material-Culture (December, 2014)
Commissioned by Marieke Hendriksen

Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It's one of the big regrets in my life that I haven't really explored Goethe that much. Faust of course is required reading but This renaissance man is one of my hero's. What a man. Lawyer. Painter. Scientist. Warrior. Writer. Poet. You name it. And he travelled long and hard. Loved many wonderful women. Had loads of kids. Spawned entire genres. Is remembered posthumously. The man is a legend. In my travels in Germany I've come across his signs. But never managed to really get to grips with him like I've done with other Renaissance men like da Vinci or Michelangelo or Adam smith or Newton or Darwin and a host of others. Funny, I actually totted up the numbers of blog posts, papers and books and photo essays and and and that I've written so far. It's about 11000. Of course the quality sucks compared to Goethe but hey ho. I'm still a young man with much to blather on about eh? 

Love

Baba

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
(via Instapaper)

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"Goethe" redirects here. For other uses, see Goethe (disambiguation).

"Göte" redirects here. For other uses, see Gote.

I get food stamps, and I’m not ashamed — I’m angry

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!! Kids I have talked to you about being poor before. Its soul destroying and removes all kinds of dignity from human-kind. I have seen your grandfather cry because we didnt have enough money for mangoes which Pia was asking for. He didnt think anybody saw but I did. I have seen my mother cry because she was asking for a loan. Or when we had to go hungry or didnt have what we wanted to eat. Believe you me son, it is not fun and it is not good at all. Hate it. It puts you in the mercy of others, who may or may not help you. That's why I am paranoid about you learning to earn well and save enough. Truly so. You both are smart and intelligent and dont waste money and save so that's a great thing. But then after that, you need to help others. That's why I am happy to pay my taxes and also help out on the charitable front. People are poor and they need help. We see this day in and day out in our Home Start Charity. At Mayhew we see pets being starved or fed rubbish food because they dont have any money for proper food. So dont despise people on benefits kids, they are there for a reason. Yes, some people do take advantage but not all. That's the mark of a civilised society where you help others live decently, specially the children. This article is an eye - opener, kids, read and think about not just yourself but others who are living in western rich countries but need help just to feed themselves. Love Baba. Vox - All I get food stamps, and I’m not ashamed — I’m angry Sep 16th 2015, 12:20, by Christine Gilbert My name is Christine, and I get food stamps. I've had to apply off and on over the past 16 years in order to make sure my family was fed. I don't feel the least bit ashamed of myself for this, but apparently some people think I should. http://www.vox.com/2015/6/26/8845881/food-stamps

Jot101: Dattatreya Rama Rao Parvatikar

The rudra veena is one of the most ferociously difficult instruments to play, kids. But one thing which you should know is how to approach God through music. 

It's a strange thing music. And even stranger when it's coming from me, the tone deaf noisy dad of yours. But if you get a chance, listen to bhajans and devotional music kids. Doesn't matter which devotion. Or religion. Could be gregorian chants. Could be Sufi chants. Could be Sufi drumming. Could be dhols of Durga pujo. Anything. The fact that it's faith makes these songs and music a cut different from normal songs. 

Quite amazing. I've seen people sitting and listening to recitals and have tears streaming down their eyes in bhopal. I'll take you to Bharat bhavan, a performing arts place which oversees the lake. Some of the evening concerts are magical with the sun setting over the lake. Totally mind blowing. 

How I wish I could describe it better kids. 

Love

Baba

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Blogtrottr" <busybee@blogtrottr.com>
Date: 14 September 2015 02:00:19 BST
To: gumtree.gumshoe@gmail.com
Subject: Jot101: Dattatreya Rama Rao Parvatikar

Jot101

Dattatreya Rama Rao Parvatikar Sep 13th 2015, 23:06, by Soren Wagner Found among the papers of Leslie Shepard this article on the Indian holy man and musician Dattatreya Rama Rao Parvatikar (1916 - 1990). Shepard refers to him as Sri Ramdatta Parvatikar. The article appears not to have been published. For more on Shepard follow this link to an earlier piece of his on Charles Fort.

What a Year of Job Rejections Taught Me About Pitching Myself

Son

I've talked to you about failure before. At this moment you're a young lion. You can and will conquer the world. But failures are part of life. Look at me, I'm a failure. I've failed in all things that I have done. When you measure yourself against the best, you know how far you have to go. I posted a clip of a drummer. He's brilliant. I used to be a drummer in the school band. Compared to him I'm a failure. But I'm a lifelong devotee of percussion instruments. You guys got me a cd last birthday about the drums of India. Failure teaches you son. I've been made redundant twice. It's not fun. It wasn't even my fault but the companies were downsizing. So I was let go. And those were hugely beneficial. I've failed exams. I've failed activities. I've failed to reach 200 miles per day on the bike. I've failed to climb mountains. I've failed to spend more time with you. I've failed to reduce weight. But they all provide education son. Makes me know my limits. And whenever I found one element that was limiting, I found other way to challenge me. 

Hope for the best but if you ever are in a situation where you're looking for a job, you don't look at yourself as an applicant. You look for how you can make your boss successful son. That's the key thing. How to make your customer successful. How to make your company successful. These elements will help you get your next job. 

Anyway it was fascinating to read this. But there's one thing which the author doesn't mention. And that's the element of luck. Son, people create their own luck. By jumping at opportunities. Constantly being on the lookout for opportunities. Checking what's happening and what might happen. And take risks. If you can't take risks then you decay. 

Anyway. Fun times. Keep applying for the internships son. You should have applied to at least 5-10 by end of the week. Let me know if you need any help. 

Love

Baba

What a Year of Job Rejections Taught Me About Pitching Myself
https://hbr.org/2015/09/what-i-learned-from-a-year-of-job-rejections
(via Instapaper)

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The Brain vs Deep Learning Part I: Computational Complexity — Or Why the Singularity Is Nowhere Near

Kannu

This was shared by a friend of mine. 

I read articles all the time but usually they don't blow my mind as this one did. I studied neuroscience in 1995 and 20 years hence the field has grown hugely. This may be too technical for you but if you can struggle through it, it will blow your mind. It talks about biology, mathematics, statistics, chemistry, logic, biology, computational science, nlp and and and. Brilliant article son. I loved it. I'm in awe of our own brains. So much to learn. 

Just one small point son. Sleep! Sleep well. That will help you learn! And eat well. You need to feed that brain hugely. 

Love

Baba

The Brain vs Deep Learning Part I: Computational Complexity — Or Why the Singularity Is Nowhere Near
https://timdettmers.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/brain-vs-deep-learning-singularity/
(via Instapaper)

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In this blog post I will delve into the brain and explain its basic information processing machinery and compare it to deep learning. I do this by moving step-by-step along with the brains electrochemical and biological information processing pipeline and relating it directly to the architecture of convolutional nets. Thereby we will see that a neuron and a convolutional net are very similar information processing machines. While performing this comparison, I will also discuss the computational complexity of these processes and thus derive an estimate for the brains overall computational power. I will use these estimates, along with knowledge from high performance computing, to show that it is unlikely that there will be a technological singularity in this century.

 

Birangonas

So I went to this quiz yesterday. The team came second. I was invited by Salil my friend who has just written a book on Bangladesh and in particular the killing of sheikh mujibur in 1974. So the quiz was for raising money so that this team can help make a documentary on the birangonas. An estimated 200000-400000 women were raped by the razakars and Pakistani army during the operation searchlight and then the war of independence in 1971.
These poor women were damaged twice. First by the Pakistani soldiers and razakars first. And then second by their Bangladeshi men and society who shunned them, abandoned them, murdered them. About 50000 women were forcibly impregnated. I met with an old Australian doctor who carried out late term abortions on these women. If they had given birth to children of their rapists, then the child would have been killed along with the mother or would've gone through pain.
The women suffer silently. They don't have a channel to express their grief. Nor does the society care. For them they are a reminder of their fragility and weakness and honour. And now, 44 years later, they are dying off. Without their stories being told.
So what these 4 women are doing is to make a documentary on them to show off their stories and try to change society. An extraordinary mission
Just 4 women. Came together and decided to do something. That's what I like. People who DO. Not just talk about it. Or press the like button on Facebook. Oh and sheikh mujibur named them birangonas. War women. Aptly named.
So I've offered my help with fundraising or photography or historical research but looks like they are well covered in that area. So let's see how I can help. But it was an amazing evening son. Seriously affected me.
There was one photograph in particular about a birangona. She was holding a rifle in one hand, a baby in her arms and a small child was holding on to her Aanchal. She was silhouetted against the sky. A black and white photo. Looking off into the direction of where the soldiers had gone. And that was a punch in the gut. She was woman. Who fought to protect her kids. And got raped. And would be abandoned by her husband. But if you want to think of raw courage that's it son. For her to keep loving her kids, living in abject poverty, but in silence. Now there is courage for you.
Anyway. I came out and went for a walk along the 10pm night time next to the Thames. The tide was in and the lights of the O2 and other areas were glimmering on the wind swept surface of the river. Curious son curious. Events of nearly 50 years back and echoing across all those years and so many kilometres.
Made many new friends and a new avenue to explore and learn.
Love
Baba

Book review. Ibn Khaldun Muqaddimah

I can't believe I haven't read this book before. And that too so late in my life. Reading this was quite interesting. It's a book written by a very opinionated Islamic scholar in 1400ad. This is few centuries after Islam was born and had two of the empires born and died already. It had expanded to close to its maximum. But before the ottomans expanded much more and a bit more before the Mughals would expand in South Asia and South east Asia will fall under the sway.
What I read was an abridged one volume version of a three volume translation of the original. So much water has flowed under the bridge and all these translations and abridgements have obviously caused much loss of clarity.
But that said it's an amazing book. You can see how he influenced people like Toynbee and Huntingdon and Carr and Robert Kennedy who were the stalwarts in the 20th century history and trying to draw broad sweeps in history.
IK doesn't talk about history as a dry enumeration of facts. Or a sequential series of dates and events like say a Thucydides or Herotodus.
Hey writes about themes. Like how dynasties rise and fall. Or about natural resources. Or economies. Or sciences. He is a great believer in cycles. That things happen in cycles. Things start in the desert like with the Arabs and bedu. And then they capture urban lands. And third generation becomes sedentary and too wide and big to control. And fourth generation is decay.
He is a believer. Don't make the mistake of thinking he's a dispassionate secular reporter. Nope. He believes in Allah Quran and Mohammad. But he's very clear headed and tells off crap like alchemy or magic. Or the shia. Or older historians.
It's not something you'll want to read if you wanted to read about the history of the Abbasids or the Spanish moorish kingdoms . More recent books will give a better picture. But you want to read this just because you want to read Josephus or Thucydides or Herodotus. How history developed. And you will be amazed at the sheer audacity intelligence and passion of this man. His thinking is missing even now. What an amazing man. Read up his biography as well.