Posts

झारीतील शुक्राचार्य

-
आज पुण्यनगरी ४ येथे झारीतील शुक्राचार्य पंथाच्या पर्यावरणी देवीचा श्री क्षेत्र रिकामटेकडी येथे मोठा उत्सव आहे तरी देवीच्या अतिप्रिय भक्तांनी संगणकावरून आपापसात नरेंद्र मोदी व भाजपमधील इतर नेते आणि महानगरपालिकेचे सर्व अधिकारी हे कसे मूर्ख आहेत आणि ते सारखे कशा चुका करतात या पद्धतीचे संभाषण करून साजरा करावा अशी देवीच्या स्वयंघोषित पंड्यांची सूचना आहे. देवीच्या अतिप्रिय भक्तांची लक्षणे पुढीलप्रमाणे : १. एखाद्या विषयात तज्ञ् असल्यामुळे आपण सगळ्या विषयात तज्ञ्  हा पूर्वग्रह लागतो  २. सामाजिक कार्य या विषयात प्राविण्य, एखाद्या खाजगी धंद्याचे मालक किंवा हिंजवडीमधील एखाद्या हमाल पुरवणाऱ्या महाप्रचंड कंपनीमध्ये वरिष्ठ पद  लागते  ३. भयंकर प्रदूषण करणाऱ्या डिझेल या इंधनावर चालणारी भलीमोठी गाडी लागते ४. सोशल मीडिया वर झपाझप मोदी आणि सरकारविरोधी मते मांडण्याचे आणि ते पुढे ढकलण्याचे कसब अतिशय महत्वाचे आहे ५. वर्क फ्रॉम होम ही काम करण्याची एकमेव पद्धत असली पाहिजे  ६. टिम्बक्टू येथील सरकारने केलेली वाहतूक उपाययोजना ही जगात कशी सर्वोत्तम व पुण्यासाठी सर्वात योग्य हे कुठलाही अभ्यास न करता छातीठोकपणे सां
Post a Comment
Read more

The Killing Machine and Undaunted Courage

-
Image
I am standing on the Judenrampe at Auschwitz and I can smell the raw fear of those that alighted here, see the hopelessness in their eyes and sense their desperation - this was the end, their life flashing before their eyes. I am entirely overwhelmed, not prepared for the enormity of this place, spread over 6000 acres of Polish countryside, just about 1/5th the size of San Francisco.  The Judenrampe Who builds a prison to house and kill more than a million people? There's a pall of death that hangs all over. Built in the sleepy town of Oświęcim, 54 Kilometers from Krakow, the Auschwitz - Birkenau extermination camp remains the world's largest crime scene.  Unending Ruins of Prisoner Barracks Herded like cattle in railway wagons with no windows, just like this one, their fate was to suffer denigration, looting, dehumanization, assault and finally murder.  Railroad Wagon used to Deport Jews from Ghettos Wearing just striped pajamas, stripped of their humanity, how did the few tha
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Dall.E Mini or Craiyon depending on Google Image Search to Draw?

-
Image
Dall.E as it's famously known, has a waitlist of over a 1 million - I signed up today. I have been using Craiyon , previously known as Dall.E Mini, for some time now and have stumbled into an interesting finding. The images that Craiyon creates are very similar to a Google Image search for the same text. Both give me multiple options, but I am just taken aback by the fact that the AI is giving me an option that I can also see in Google. Don't trust me? Here are the results: First is a search for High Technology Marketing.  Second is a longer phrase, the value of search engine optimization. Is this by design  in the sense that the AI is just following the bias of what it finds on the internet? I found this on their website: Bias CONTENT WARNING: Readers should be aware this section contains content that is disturbing, offensive, and can propagate historical and current stereotypes. The model was trained on unfiltered data from the Internet, limited to pictures with English descr
Post a Comment
Read more

Stamped Paper - a Random Stroll Down Indian History

-
Image
A recent visit to an exhibition of stamped papers from various Indian Princely states led me down this rabbit hole. Colloquially known as Stamp Paper in India, in reality it should be called a  Stamped Paper  - a foolscap sheet that bears a pre-printed or embossed revenue stamp.  A British act of 1765 decreeing all colonies in the new world to use stamped papers printed in Great Britain seems to have caused the Americans to revolt against the empire. And yet, people oftentimes don't realize the power of a piece of blank paper. Adolph Koeppel's book on this topic sells for $150 now on Amazon, far far more expensive than what a stamped paper would have cost in those times, perhaps even more than the properties in question. The stamped paper is used to collect the stamp duty - a tax collected on purchase of property or on official documents. Obviously, you need a revenue stamp to complete the loop - a deliciously bureaucratic process with origins in the Ottoman empire. It's n
Post a Comment
Read more

Walking the Kasbah (Kasaba or कसबा)

-
Image
No, I am not in North Africa or Arabia, but in historic Pune, the seat of Maratha Power. The Kasaba in Pune predates its eminence maybe by a thousand years, perhaps less. The Arabic and Turkish meanings differ somewhat, but not by too much -  A  kasbah  ( / ˈ k æ z b ɑː / ,  also   US :  / ˈ k ɑː z -/ ;  Arabic :  قَـصَـبَـة ,  romanized :  qaṣaba ,  lit.   'fortress',  Arabic pronunciation:  [qasˤaba] ,  Maghrebi Arabic :  [qasˤba] ), also spelled  qasba ,  qasaba , or  casbah , is a  fortress , most commonly the  citadel  or fortified quarter of a city. [1] [2] [3] [4]  It is also equivalent to the term  alcazaba  in  Spanish  ( Spanish:  [alkaˈθaβa] ), which derives from the same Arabic word. [5] [6]  By extension, the term can also refer to a  medina quarter , particularly in  Algeria . In various languages, the Arabic word, or local words  borrowed  from the Arabic word, can also refer to a settlement, a fort, a  watchtower , or a  blockhouse . In Turkish and   Urdu   the
Post a Comment
Read more

The Moffett Field Museum

-
Image
The Moffett Field in Mountain View, California is a federal airfield that dates back to the 1930s. It's been turned into a museum now.  You can see what it looks like today in the photograph below: (Photo credit: Ikluft ) I lived in the San Francisco bay area for twelve years, but never visited this place despite driving on highway 101 umpteen number of times past a visibly huge hanger 1 (that you can see on the left of the runway in the image above) made for dirigibles (airships or blimps a la the infamous Hindenburg). We have seen a rather comical take on a Nazi blimp in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: On a trip to the bay area this time, I decided to drive up; couldn't have asked for a better day - a beautiful, bright typical summer's day with a cool, cool breeze from the bay and not a cloud in the sky. This is THE California weather that people pay higher taxes for. A little bit of history of the Moffett field - several good web sites  discuss it in depth so I won&#
Post a Comment
Read more