Why? An Interview With The Director Of Sun Labs

An interesting interview with Glenn Edens has been published at sun.com. Some excerpts:

On the future of Sun and Java
...no matter what happens, whether Sun Labs existed or not, 10 years from now, the Java language will look different than it does today. Humans are really interesting, because we love to build tools, and we learn from that prior building experience to build better tools.
....
We also have a project code-named Squawk, in which we're working on a very compact, high performance Java environment written entirely in the Java language. We're also interested in offering developers in the device world a complete Java stack that doesn't require integration with numerous other system software vendors

On the distinction between product design and research labs
A research lab attracts a different personality than a pure product group. And pure academic research and big science attract an even different personality type. So, we're kind of in the middle. My joke about this -- and I get a lot of grief over it, but I still think it's a good metaphor -- is that product organizations are mostly staffed with engineers. And engineers are mostly nerds, who ask: "How are we going to get this done? How does this work? How can we make it better?" How, how, how

A research lab tends to consist of hippies, and hippies just ask why. Why, why, why. Why do I have to do it this way? Why should I do that? Why do I need to fill out this form? Why do I have to -- anything. Everything is a question. There is nothing that happens here without an argument. But that's part of our robust culture, and it's the "why" versus the "how". The reason I get in trouble with that analogy is, of course, there are very good engineers in the labs, and there are very good hippies in the product groups

On Project types
The vision projects are the core of what we do, and we do some interesting things in this area. Each researcher has a project that they pick by themselves and work on for some part of Fridays. They can work on anything they want. The only rule is they have to publish some results. But they get to pick how they spend Friday. Then we have our regular vision research projects, which are funded and evaluated, and we review them and nurture them through to hopefully get transferred to business units. That's probably more than 60% of what we do.

On Innovation
One thing that I find very amusing is that, from the perspective of Xerox, Xerox PARC was a complete success. There was no business model that required Xerox PARC to produce technology that shipped. Xerox PARC was funded because Xerox was afraid that IBM would invent the paperless office; then you wouldn't need Xerox. So, what's paradoxical is that everyone criticizes Xerox PARC, but from their perspective, it was a complete success

At Sun Labs, we work hard to make sure that our research staff is grounded in what's happening in the world. What's happening in pop culture? What are kids doing? What's this IM and learning to type with your thumbs about? Because kids, artists, and renegades are going to define how the technology gets used going forward.
....
But at the end of the day, the spark of innovation still comes from someone asking, "Why, why, why, why, why? Why do I have to do it that way? Why is this done this way?" And you cannot replace that spark with any automated or procedural mechanism

Waybackwhen, I had the honor to interview Bjarne Stroustrup (scanned interview will be posted here soon) - he was quite dismissive of Java, more so of the aggressive marketing efforts of Sun to push Java. The growth of the model for programming, and its influence on later models like Microsoft .NET, cannot be debated. The dynamic and vibrant Java community is another plus point in the fertile development of technology - a direct outcome of Sun Labs.

Marc Greilsamer's Favorite CDs Part 2

Continuing Marc Greilsamer's list of essential CDs, the Amazon music editor recommends: (Part 1 of the list here)

21. Live at the Old Quarter Houston Texas: Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt's recording from a gig at a small club in Houston features some marvelous, jaded tracks on a newly restored version

22. John Prine: The debut album from a talented songwriter provides much value 'as a songwriter's template', covering many aspects of life, love and the 'flashback blues'

23. Arkology: The legendary reggae producer of greats such as Bob Marley provides a virtual guide to his own rich talent as well as the power of reggae music as an art form.

24. Willie & Family Live: An early live show recording from Willie Nelson, with much music still ahead, yet some great tracks

25. Honky-Tonk Heroes: One of the best Waylon Jennings albums - combining country rock and blues into some of the best American songwriting around.

26. The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East: Marc sez, 'Best American band?'

27. Raising Hell: Raw intensity shines through in Run D.M.C's early rap record

28. Money Jungle: A deep collaboration between Charlie Mingus, Duke Ellington and Max Roach -multi-layered improvisations.

29. Black Star: One of my personal favorites, a collaboration between Talib Kweli, Black Star and Mos Def, it features creative wordplay, fast rhyming and urban poetry.

30. Juju Music: African beats from King Sunny Ade, hard to define - authentic jungle rock, reggae, melodies, harmonies and much more.

31. Quah: A solo album by Jorma Kaukonen, part of Hot Tuna, the album is an introspective, emotional album with acoustic guitar

32. London Calling - The Legacy Edition: The essential album by The Clash, this version has an additional CD titled 'The Vanilla Tapes', once a bootleg classic, and a DVD.

33. Check Your Head: This Beastie Boys' collection is 'finger-lickin' good', fusing, rap, rock, hip-hop, and in a few songs, jazz

34. Reckoning: This is the Grateful Dead album, not the REM one of the same name. A collection of uncommon tracks from their ouevre.

35. Exile On Main Street: The original bad boys of rock in a vital album, one of their best.

36. Mothership Connection: True funk from Parliament, P-Funk, really.

37. West Side Soul: Chicago Blues legend Magic Sam, reminscent of B B King defines 'Sweet Home Chicago'

38. Favourite Colours: Toronto's psychedelic rock band Sadies with a later album - genre-crossing music.

39. Sweetheart of the Rodeo: Gram Parsons' album with the Byrds - true country rock, though some fans might disagree.

40. Things Fall Apart: Considered one of the best rap bands ever, almost high art - originality and talent abound on this album.

Interestingly, visiting the Amazon Bio page for Marc, returns the message,

"We're sorry. We are currently out of these items. Please visit our Welcome page "

Many items on Amazon bear excellent reviews by Marc, and he will be sorely missed.

Marc Greilsamer's Favorite CDs Part 1

Marc Greilsamer, long-time music editor with Amazon has left them. As a parting gift, he has prepared a list of what he calls "A Few All-Time Favorites"

This is a rich, eclectic collection of music, spanning many genres and periods - a true music odyssey and essential listening.

The 40 entries, broken into two posts: (Part 2 of the list here)

1. Mingus Ah Um: Charlie Mingus briefly recorded with Columbia Records in 1959 - this set of tracks is from that period and has some real special rarities - one of the best jazz cuts around.

2. Never No Lament the Blanton-Webster Band: Marc calls this Duke Ellington album from his 1940 RCA recordings "Some of the best American music ever recorded".

3. A Love Supreme: Marc says "this Coltrane opus is about as passionate as music gets". A powerful prayer. set to rich, glorious music

4. Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet Featuring the young John Coltrane, this is a short introduction to the music of Miles, trumpets, bebop, drums and all.

5. Being There: Wilco's more comprehensible period album combines pop, acoustic and guitar-rich rock, with varied emotions layering the intense sound and lyrics.

6. Koola Lobitos 1964-1968/The '69 Los Angeles Sessions: This combination of Afro-beat, jazz and groove is from the band later named Nigeria 70

7. Motherlode: James Brown does his funky thing, with ants in his pants

8. Memories Blues from Doc Watson - ballads, steady vocals and bluegrass.

9. Brown's Ferry Blues: Marc calls the Delmore Brothers 'one of the great underappreciated duos in country', dealing with Depression-era dreams of trains, traveling and the future.

10. Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 2: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys combine swing, country, hillbilly, black, white and much more to define Western Swing. A couple of free downloads of their songs also on Amazon.

11. Look What Thoughts Will Do: Lefty Frizell does more than honky-tonk, with a truly wonderful voice.

12. American Recordings: Some uncommon Johnny Cash tracks, covering many styles - a real surprise in a world of canned country

13. Workout: Hank Mobley's blues workout blows

14. Featuring Charlie Christian: 1939-41: Chamber Jazz with guitar solos - a Benny Goodman essential.

15. Sarah Vaughan W/ Clifford Brown: Romantic, soulful ballads from the 1950s - remastered.

16. Big Boi and Dre Present...Outkast:: Andre 3000 from Outkast was voted "The World's Sexiest Vegetarian" in 2004. This is a compilation album from a slightly earlier period in their career.

17. Bob Dylan - Limited Edition Catalog Box Set: This massive 16-disc, all-SACD collection is chosen by Marc because 'How can you choose just one Dylan album?'

18. Blues from The Gutter: Pianist Jack Dupree delivers the blues.

19. The Unseen: Creative hip-hop from the Madlib, featuring Melvin Van Peebles's vocals, odd rhyming, zany stuff

20. It Still Moves: REM-style road trip music from My Morning Jacket. The album title, of course, is a reference to the apocryphal last words of Galileo ("eppur si muove")

Valentine's Day Guide for Fetishists

"Stuff", the men's magazine that is more product placement rag than an opinion mag and less salacious than a men's mag should be, is occasionally interesting. The February issue(not yet online) had two interesting pieces. The first looked at unusual fetishes in a typical manner - the fetishes, almost a sonnet of wierdness, are:

1. Acrotomophiliac - these are people with a yen for amputees

2. Medolaliac - She loves your penis - so just whip it out, lean back and let her deliver a soliloquy

3. Botulinoniac - Meat lovers rejoice - you have nothing to lose but your, umm, bone

4. Dacryphiliac - Seeing you cry gets her all wet

5. Coulrophiliac - Santa Claus-types get this gal hot, so dress up in a multicolored jumpsuit, a red nose and shoes that are eight sizes too big

6. Geronotophiliac - She's only going to jump old bones. so you could be out of luck

7. Arachnephiliac - Spiders are her daddy longlegs - They do rent Shelob costumes, you know

8. Urophiliac - The produit de kidneys - no French delicacy - is what she craves

9. Albutophiliac - Water sports, a tub bath, whatever it takes to get this gal wet, literally

10. Pyrophiliac - Fire it up to see this baby burn

11. Gynemimetophiliac - Lingerie/cross-dresser lover - try renting Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert

12. Siderodromophiliac - Trains - choo-choo - are her fancy. You can play the caboose.

13. Nanophiliac - Size isn't everything, but you know what they say about small men

14. Flatuphiliac - Air on her g-string

15. Mentaphiliac - Women's black underwear are her special fancy.

The other item from Stuff is a mock-up of Bill O'Reilly's desktop. Some real gems here - look closely.

The Village - Lesser Than The Sum Of Its Parts

Manoj Shyamalan's film "The Village" was a film that I, contrary to popular opinion, found quite interesting and rich on first viewing. I cannot say the same about the DVD. The Buena Vista product is lame, worse than any other big-budget film's DVD I can recall, and weakens my original perceptions of the film as a 'post-9/11, post-urban, proto-fascist' film.

The extras on the DVD feature a few deleted scenes, that apart from one, deserved to find their way on the cutting room floor. In addition to these scenes, there is a promisingly-named vignette 'Desconstructing The Village". This turned out to be merely a behind-the-scenes look at the various departments who made the film - from editing to sound to casting. There is no commentary, apart from introductions to the deleted scenes and an early home movie by Manoj, which is weak, and hints at his later ego-centrism. A few production photo shoots, et c'est tout - that's all.

Turning to the film itself, one is more satisfied. The audio track is a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, as well as a French track, and vividly conveys the aural terrors of the jungle scenes. Visually, the colors are strong and effectively convey the moods intended by the director.

The film has a superlative cast, most from the theater, who enact their roles with realism and conviction. Bryce Howard is a promising talent. Adrian Brody's character, to me, bespeaks an innocent populace swept away by states of fear. The need for the leader to exert control through creating this state of fear is a key element of the film.

Semiotically, the film uses elements of color, sound and peripheral symbols to create an atmosphere of fear just outside our ken. Although the boogeyman is unmasked, and the village revealed a sham, the film is nevertheless able to say, watch out, the monster within our hearts is more scary than any outsider, and in the end, the outsider is we, ourselves, alone. The village-folk retreated from the terrors of the world outside, only to create their own, and be consumed by them.

In most horror films and ghost stories, the tension, like in "The Monkey's Paw" comes from the author/filmmaker never revealing all the terrors to us. The ones left unseen are the more scary - this may be Manoj's failing, or perhaps his genius, to let the viewer believe she's smarter than the filmmaker, that she has fathomed his art, and the alchemist is only a trickster.

The DVD could have been used to buttress this point, through an explanation of the layers and symbols used in the film. It fails at this, though, by not even trying to do so.

Dear Heather - This Is Leonard

Leonard Cohen's oeuvre is rich and deep, betokening a talent reaching beyond chart-toppers, as most anyone familiar with his music can attest to. The songwriting, the gentle melodies and the overall sense of good music emanating from his songs makes one feel, well, good.

His most recent album, "Dear Heather", is no exception.It is rich, treacly and sublime, yet breath-takingly sensual and direct. The selection of poems set to music range from his own compositions like "Undertow" and "Because Of" to Byron's "Go No More A-Roving", perhaps an old age lament. The album itself feels like a memory-book to friends loved and lost - the liner notes reference departed friends, colleagues and poets from Montreal.

1. "Go No More A-Roving": The Byron lyric is dedicated to Irving Layton, Nobel Literature Prize nominee and poet. Backing vocals are by Sharon Robinson, with an occasional saxophone melody. The song is light, gentle, and 'made for loving'. Irving Layton's poems were matter-of-fact, direct, and spoke to the heart, much like this song. One of his poems, "The Tamed Puma" goes,

"Women and poems are my sole chance here
to give expelled breath shape and contour
and fable it with meaning.
I place on the brow of every woman I love
a crown made from the choicest words;
I dress her like a woodland queen
in trope and metaphor."

2. "Because Of": A Cohen original, this song references his appreciation of women, topic of many of his songs.

"Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
to my old age."

This song features Anjani Thomas, who appears on many pieces in this album. She is no stranger to Leonard's music and life - being a close friend since the 1980s, having appeared on many of his albums, besides being an accomplished musician in her own right.

3. "The Letters": Sharon Robinson, another old friend, appears with Leonard in this love song of letters sent, meant, and lost. Sharon responds to his appeal with her own perspective on letters received, read, treasured and love spent. The song tapers off into a low, low tone with Leonard whispering his words of music and love.

"You never liked to get
The letters that I sent
But now you've got the gist
Of what my letters meant.
You're reading them again,
The ones you didn't burn.
You press them to your lips
My pages of concern."

4. "Undertow": The song begins with an extended, smouldering musical riff on the sax, then Anjani Thomas takes up this abstract piece about the ability of the heart to be carried away by forces greater than the self, turning the 'heart the shape of a begging bowl'.

"I set out one night
When the tide was low
There were signs in the sky
But I did not know
I'd be caught in the grip of the undertow."

5. "Morning Glory": A poem capturing the zeitgeist of censorship, the portents of a new age and a transcendental moment - leading to the garden, the backyard, the driveway and - morning glory.

6. 'On That Day': Leonard remembers 'that day', 9/11/01, when 'They wounded New York'. He cites the various reasons - 'Our women unveiled, Our slaves and our gold', all inadequate, for the tragedy, and describes his own response - 'holding the fort/Since that day/They wounded New York'. He then asks the vital question,

'Did you go crazy
Or did you report
On that day
On that day
They wounded New York?'

The background features, appositely, a single-note bass track.

7. "Villanelle For Our Time': F R Scott, Canadian poet defined modernist poetry in Canada, and established a space for subsequent poetic works. His essay "New Poems For Old" in 1931 described the position of poetry in the modern arts, noting, "... the modernist poet, like the socialist, has thought through present forms to a new and more suitable order. He is not concerned with destroying, but with creating, and being a creator he strikes terror into the hearts of the old and decrepit who cannot adjust themselves to that which is to be. The modernist poet frequently uses accepted forms, and only discards them when he discovers that they are unsuited to what he has to say. Then he creates a new form, groomed to his thought."

His poem is set to music, with the liner notes featuring a drawing of the poet(1899-1985) reading in bed, by his wife. Marian Scott. The song is done in a formal way, almost as if it were an actual poetry reading captured on tape. The poem might, indeed, be an anthem for our times.

"From bitter searching of the heart,
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part."

8. "There For You": A standard Leonard Cohen piece, reminscent of many of his earlier songs, it can be read as a prayer to 'G_d', as Leonard uses the term elsewhere in this album.

'...Eating food
And drinking wine
A body that
I thought was mine
Dressed as Arab
Dressed as Jew
O mask of iron
I was there for you'

9. 'Dear Heather': The title song is the most sparse verbally, yet quite emotive. A passing glance at an elegant woman becomes a treasured memory image, returned to often.

Dear Heather
Please walk by me again
With a drink in your hand
And your legs all white
From the winter

10. 'Nightingale': An elegy for Carl Anderson - Judas, artist and musicman, who passed away in 2004 - done as a duet with Anjani, who considered him a major influence on her career. She said of him. "Carl was a dear, loyal friend: principled, intense, dynamic, and filled with love. While he once called me “the Hawaiian sun at its soft edges,” Carl was the sun's blazing, impassioned core." Leonard captures the essence of the nightingale's song in this piece, with layered beauty, utilizing a couple of unusual instruments in the process.

"I built my house beside the wood
So I could hear you singing
And it was sweet and it was good
And love was all beginning
Fare thee well my nightingale
'Twas long ago I found you
Now all your songs of beauty fall
The forest closes 'round you."

11. "To A Teacher": Dedicated to the powerful Canadian poet, A M Klein, whose poetry illustrates the beauty of Montreal, the richness of the Judaic experience, and the human condition. Klein was called "the first contributor of authentic Jewish poetry to the English language." This song, written by Leonard, is complex verse, touching on 'a long pain ending without a song to prove it', 'confusing the Messiah in a mirror' and 'the turning mind, a radar signal'. The Jewish experience, too, is transubstantiated into it's essence, with a jazz beat.

"Let me cry Help beside you, Teacher.
I have entered under this dark roof
As fearlessly as an honoured son
Enters his father's house"

12. "The Faith": Based on a Quebec folk song, this piece is about 'the sea', 'the sun', 'the club, the wheel, the mind', asking fundamental questions about the indefatigability of the human spirit, and why there is 'A cross on every hill/A star, a minaret/So many graves to fill' and finally, 'O love, aren't you tired yet?'

13. "Tennessee Waltz": Leonard wraps up the set with a 1985 live recording of the classic tune, that has an additional verse by him - one that perhaps sums up the darkness in the soul when love has passed by, time spent.

"She comes dancing through the darkness
To the Tennessee Waltz
And I feel like I'm falling apart
And it's stronger than drin
And it's deeper than sorrow
This darkness she's left in my heart"

In all, an excellent album, comparable to his earlier works, further solidifying his stature as a leading songwriter, septugenarian and humanist.

Pride, Human Suffering And Hope

One of the authors/journalists whose writing I value, and who has been a guidepost in my own creative journey, is Jug Suraiya. While his name might not have much meaning on these shores, he is a talented hack, publishing since the 1960s, a key member of India's cognoscenti, and possessing a rare sense of humor. His weekly column, Jugular Vein, in the Times Of India, is avidly awaited. I've blogged before on his pieces, such as an excellent one on freedom called 'Pinch This Column. His most recent column, addresses the challenges of providing aid to those who might not want it.

What's wrong with these people; how can they be so ungrateful? people ask about the tsunami victims who refused old clothes and food packets. How can someone who has lost everything not accept whatever is offered? I have an inkling of an answer. No, I've never been a refugee in the grievous sense of disaster victims. But I have been stranded, penniless, hungry and desperate, far from home, and I have some idea of what it means to be a refugee, even for a brief while.

It happened in 1973. After working in Britain for 15 months, where we'd saved money for the trip, Bunny and I were travelling through Europe on a shoestring. In London, we'd booked our flight to India on a cut-price Syrian airline service from Munich. After six weeks in Europe - France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria - we got to Munich with the last of our money, ready to fly back to India. That's when we discovered that while we'd been travelling an Arab-Israeli war had taken place, knocking out of action the three aircraft that comprised the entire fleet of the Syrian airline. No other airline would accept our tickets, which we were told were non-refundable in Munich - we'd have to go back to London where we'd bought them to cash them in and buy fresh tickets on another airline.

We didn't have the money to get back to London, and RBI regulations wouldn't let our family in India buy our tickets and get us back home: Indians travelling to India from abroad had to pay in foreign exchange. I refused to accept a loan from my relatives in Britain; I'd got into this mess on my own and I'd get out on my own. We were stranded in Germany, then the most expensive country in the world, waiting for the Syrians to get airborne again. Funds running out, we'd scavenge through supermarkets for reject-quality chocolates, the cheapest food we could find. While Bunny slept, I'd open a packet to show I'd eaten, and when she woke give her both our shares. I fantasised about stealing food from the bursting supermarkets. Nothing fancy, a loaf of bread would do. It wasn't morality that stopped me, it was fear of being caught. I learnt that respect for the law is in direct proportion to how much - or little - we have in our pockets, or in our bellies.

On a Munich street a woman selling toffee apples, discarding those not perfectly coated with caramel into a refuse bin, saw Bunny's hungry eyes and offered her an apple she was about to throw away. Bunny shook her head, gestured she had no money. The woman sign-languaged back: Bitte, please, take it; it'll just go waste. Bunny looked at the woman, at the apple, back at the woman. Then she reached out and accepted the gift. Both had to know that the apple had not been begged for; it had been given freely, and as freely accepted. That was important, more important than the hunger.

Finally, we had officially to declare ourselves ‘destitute ... and throw ourselves upon the mercy of the President of India' in the Indian consulate. Our passports were defaced, as per law, in our presence, and we were repatriated to India at government expense. When we got home to Calcutta (where it took me six months of babu-badgering to locate the bureaucrat who'd accept my reimbursement to the government which would allow me to get new passports for us) I discovered that in three weeks of hunger I'd lost 6 kg, Bunny had lost 8.

People often ask why I didn't take money from my folks in the UK to get us back to India and spare us the ordeal. Stubbornness? Perhaps. It's like those piles of discarded old clothes and food packets. Ingratitude? Perhaps. Though I'd prefer another word for it. A word which sums up the only thing you have to lose after you've lost everything else, the last refuge of the refugee: Pride.

My own father experienced the horrors of Partition in the time of Indian Independence. He related many a tale of the refugee camps, housing millions of dispossessed refugees, lives changed forever, economically, and in their hearts. He, as did most others, retained his sense of pride - coming up the hard way, and leading a full, healthy life in the new land - he never forgot the succor provided by those who cared.

I, myself, remember a terrible train accident that befell a train I was on with my parents. We survived, though many others did not. We followed a weary line of survivors to a small town in the middle of nowhere, Kagaznagar, where we were received by townspeople and given warm food and human support. The town's only industralist, a paper manufacturer housed many of us in his own residence for the night, until other travel arrangements could be made.

Every tragedy, small or large, brings out the best in humans, for the most part, and changes us. The Tsunami disaster has demonstrated this essence of humanity, with millions of people reaching out to help people half a world away.

More tsunami coverage

The iPod Shuffle

Apple, apart from the $500 Mac Mini, announced the iPod shuffle today. The iPod shuffle is a Flash-based iPod in 512MB and 1 GB models, slimmer than a pack of gum, looks cool and costs $99 for the 512MB version, and $149 for the 1GB version. Details at the Apple iPod Store, which is the first URL I've seen that has a telephone number in the URL string (1-800-MY-APPLE)



It uses a 12-hour rechargeable battery, has much the same controls as the regular iPod and per the name, has both in order, and shuffle playing. Nothing remarkably new, but Apple is adept at making the commonplace cool. Best of all, it comes with a USB connector, rather than the more arcane Firewire, for non-Mac-o-philes. Accesories include a USB Power Adapter, an AAA-powered battery pack and a dock for syncing/charging via the Mac/PC. Both models weigh .78 ounces and are .33 inches in thickness, or as Apple puts it, ".33 inch thin". There is a lanyard on the side, with a sport case optional extra for protection.

Best of all, like other Flash-based players, it promises skip-free playback, unlike the chance of skipping with a hard-drive based model. It has no display, which is unusual, and may be a pain to deal with. All playlist selection, filling, etc. is done via iTunes on your Mac/PC. A slider at the back of the iPod shuffle allows you to mix up the songs in a random order. iTunes 4.7.1 provides an Autofill mode to fill up your shuffle. Autofill your iPod shuffle for a random mix If all this shuffling around is not enough, you can roll your own playlists and sync them, and then do the shufflestep. (ouch!)


Rapid sales may see this model suffer the fate of backordering a la the iPod Mini, but Apple may have learnt from it's experiences and forecasted demand better. I don't think I'll wait too long for mine.

Side note: Apple is possibly making a branding mistake by not capitalizing the word 'shuffle' in it's marketing for the new product - 'iPod shuffle ' is a mouthful, and contracting it to 'shuffle', lowercase, seems poor copy, textwise. Thus, one could say "I shuffle my shuffle every day". Apple seems to have chosen/neglected to capitalize 'shuffle' - thus we are all messing around with their brand identity every time we write 'iPod Shuffle', as I see most people doing on the web - that's dumb of Apple,IMHO, who could have 'owned' the word if they had capitalized it - We talk of Windows, not windows, unless we mean windows and doors.

Technorati is shuffling the meme, as is Instapundit. Heated Slashdot discussion underway

Songs Of Innocence And Experience

William Bolcom(1938- ), American composer set the entire cycle of William Blake's "Songs Of Innocence And OF Experience" to music, in a choral form, in the 1970s. 2004 marked the twentieth anniversary of this opus, and a masterful edition was released last year, featuring the University Of Michigan orchestra and choirs, besides guest singers. Mr Bolsom has taught at the University since 1973, and the work saw it's United States premiere in 1984 at Ann Arbor.

The poems express the Blake world-vision of contraries - "Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence." This also describes the musical work by Mr Bolsom. In the liner notes, he says,

"The apparent disharmony of each clash and juxtaposition eventually produces a deeper and more unusual harmony, once the whole cycle is absorbed. All I did was to use the same stylistic point of departure as Blake in my musical settings.
...
My fascination with the synthesis of the most unlikely stylistic elements dates from my knowledge and application of Blake's principle of contraries, and I have spent most of my artistic life in pursuit of this higher synthesis. In this work, through my settings, I have tried my best to make everything clear; I have used music in the same way Blake used line and colour, in order to illuminate the poems."

William Blake's poetry might seem archaic, racist and highflown in today's world, but he depicted an era of rapid and violent social change, not unlike our own. The challenges of the industrial revolution, it's effects on society, spiritual understanding in the Age of Machines, and the beauty of human life are all expounded in elegant poems.

My personal favorite as a child, done often in school competitions was the classic "The Tyger", as it is spelled herein.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

With experience, not enough, one has come to appreciate pieces like "London", "The Human Abstract" and "A Divine Image", done excellently on this CD, in a modern note.

Cruelty has a Human Heart,
And Jealousy a Human Face;
Terror the Human Form Divine,
And Secrecy the Human Dress.

The Human Dress is forged Iron,
The Human Form a fiery Forge,
The Human Face a Furnance seal'd,
The Human Heart a Hungry Gorge

Musically, the compositions range from using sopranos like Christine Brewer and Measha Brueggergosman to baritones like Nmon Ford. Tommy Morgan appears with his lucid harmonica playing, and Leonard Slatkin conducts with delicacy at times, gusto and verve at others. The CD is on the Naxos label.

Why "24" does not work any more for me

I have been a fan of the television series "24" for some time now. I looked forward to the new season avidly. I feel disappointed in the predictability of the plot.

Some excellent commentary is underway at blogcritics.

A couple of comments I posted there:

Comment 5 posted by Aaman on January 10, 2005 09:57 AM:
Flaws in the opener:

1. Terrible, terrible security for the SecDef - no trackers on his person, no cordoning off of area

2. Jack Bauer fails to tell Andrew (the hacker) how he looks like, although he asks him what he looks like.

3. Given the bloodthirsty nature of the terrorists, it is surprising they would let the teenage girl who followed the kid to the compound, leave. At the very least, they would have taken her in, more typically, they would have killed her in a real-life situation.


Now, for what's really wrong with this whole deal - I understand that it is de rigeur to set a stereotypical Arab-looking gang as the villains, similar perhaps to the Dutch being depicted as pillaging marauders in England in 1670, and vice-versa, but is that the best they can do? If I want terror, I can just read the newspapers, or Spiderman, come to think of it.

And after last night's episode, every teen girl who's got a crush on that hot Middle Eastern dude in her class, and is ignored by him, is gonna be following him around, and running to the cops when he says he's got to do 'some work for his father'.

Comment 6 posted by mike hollihan on January 10, 2005 02:48 PM:

Remember, this is the show that detonated a nuclear bomb in the deserts east of LA. So, "realism" is a relative concept here.

I thought it some stunning daring on the part of "24" to have that webcast of the terrorists dressed and posed like so many of the execution videos we've seen in real life, with the flag backdrop and the SecDef tied up in front. I'm sure we'll be seeing that image with Rumsfeld's face photoshopped on popping up around the web real soon.

As for Aaman's third point, it gets addressed tonight. And how.

I agree "24" started slow in hour one, but by the end of that first hour, I was rivetted, thinking "And we're off."

Comment 7 posted by Aaman on January 10, 2005 04:28 PM:

Is kidnapping the most popular mode of protest? Every season has had at least one.

Comment 8 posted by Temple Stark on January 10, 2005 05:26 PM:

Aaman - well, I'd say kidnapping is a good move for this program - it allows that split screen, different scene effect. Ad differnet scenes there as the victims get dragged aroud.

And those rescue / escapes are dramatic.

But, yeah, good point.

I had a sick feeling with the masked goon squad as well.

Comment 9 posted by Aaman on January 10, 2005 11:30 PM:

Tonight's(Monday) episode was further proof of why sequels never work when the plot device is exposed. It is so evident the writers are trying to set up enough plot devices to keep the action going.
-BEGIN RANT-
Utter predictability has ruined the show for me. The banality of the office politics makes one hope things are not really that bad in OpCenter or CTU or what have you. The need to keep the dramatic action focused, while at the same time sustained means continuous stretching and over-complication of minor events.

Kiefer Sutherland is the only reason this show is still worth watching. His immersive depiction of Jack Bauer is well depicted, which is more than one can say for the half-baked, stereotypical villains. The token Muslim moderate is thrown in for good measure, but it does not really make it any more realistic.

This is one of the first times my DVR has been used to speedshift through pieces of the actual show, besides the ads. Although there were a couple of nice ads - like the one for Pepsi.

If tense moments happened every hour on the hour, it would be real easy to snooze for the rest of the time, as one is likely to do if the plot does not rise above it's current level.
-END RANT-

Firefox workaround from MSDN

Browsing the web, one found an unusual recommendation over at MSDN, Microsoft's support site.

It recommends using Firefox, in a quite funny way:

FDBK10939#1: Install Firefox

Workaround Description:
Install Firefox

Workaround Steps:
* Install Firefox
* Install user agent spoofer from the updates site like SpoofX or similar.
* Set your useragent spoofer to fake that you are using IE when visiting MS websites.
* Poof, the problem magicly dispears and the menus work.

Hmmm - good I'm using Firefox, no problem - poof - 16 million plus downloads so far.

In short, the bug is about how a feature works correctly only in IE and not other browsers.

Update: The original bug details are here

Opened by Tommis on 2004-07-04 at 04:42:01

The asp:Menu control only seems to work in IE. I tested the menu with Opera 7.51 and Mozilla Firefox 0.71 both of which produced bad results.

With Opera, the submenu pops up above the menu itself and after that it stops working.
The menu now shows the pop-ups and have keyboard accessibility for Gecko browsers (Mozilla, Firefox, Firebird, etc.) and Opera.
....
Edited by Microsoft on 2004-09-03 at 11:10:15

Please stop modifying the repro. The repro field is here to give us a way to reproduce the bug, not a way to publicly express opinions, which can be more efficiently done through forums or blogging.
We got the message about the way some of you feel a menu control should be developed and will take that into account when fixing this bug.
....Resolved as Fixed by Microsoft on 2004-09-24 at 10:15:06

The menu now shows the pop-ups and have keyboard accessibility for Gecko browsers (Mozilla, Firefox, Firebird, etc.) and Opera.

Quite trenchant responses in the message board below the bug.

The Best Movies Ever

My all-time list of best films found it's missing member this weekend. I've been keeping a little list, not ranked internally, for the immortals see each other as equals, yet greater than the rest. There are fallen angels too in the list - films have deteriorated on reinterpretation with changing times - a couple of examples follow the list below.

Here goes:

> Hero (Ying xiong) - Zhang Yimou's talents, coupled with visual, ethical and conceptual richness make this film a lasting delight. The transformations experienced by the characters, the country and the viewer are all captured in a cinematic language that speaks volumes of the director's expertise. The essence of what makes China into the country it is, is captured in this film.

> Lagaan - This Indian film takes the game of cricket and couples it with the extortionist land taxes under the British to create an entertaining tale of teamwork, competition and human revolution. The redemption of Judas, the challenges of pusillanimous leadership and the sin of overweening arrogance are handled deftly in this timeless tale.

> The LOTR trilogy - The visual realization of the best books of the twentieth century into panoramic perfection is done with skill for the most part, a cast of thousands, and a potent mix of love, honor and betrayal. The consistency of the trilogy, unusual in films shot across a time span of seven years, enables one to treat the trilogy as a whole, and allows for multiple day-long viewing marathons, each revealing additional layers in the films.

> Interview With The Vampire - One almost does have sympathy for the devil by the time this film is through with the centuries-old tale, in a manner of speaking, of the Vampire Lestat. Modern decadence and moral ambiguity are brought to the fore, with peerless acting by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Kirsten Dunst's Claudia is terrifyingly innocent, yet corrupt at the core, portraying torment in a truly tortured manner.

> Casablanca - This gets better as time goes by, pun unintended. The elegance and simplicity of this film belies its depth and visual artistry. Every scene is carefully detailed and fits into the whole as an element without which all would be naught. Colonialism in Africa, the Nazi menace, love, truth and lies, and of course, Rick's.

> Christ In Concrete - Edward Dmytryk adapted this depression-era neorealist movie from the 1939 novel by Pietro Di Donato. The personal travails of the director, who was blacklisted in the McCarthy-era while making the film underscore it's gritty theme, of an Italian laborer, who strives to possess his own house, while making castles of concrete for others. The real-life betrayal of his colleagues by Dmytryk, who 'named names', perhaps affected the tragic beauty of 'Give Us This Day' as this film is also known.

> High Fidelity - The personal appeal of this film notwithstanding, it is particularly effective as a depiction of modern urban fickle relationships, good music and fear of commitment. The reverse transformation of the book from England to Chicago makes it an interesting example of the similarily of such themes the world over.

> Monkey Business - The Marxist jokes are funny, yet speak to deep insights into 'la condition humaine'. Although set on an ocean liner, the plot, if one can call it that, swings from the decks to a barn, along with non-stop zany humor in their first original comedy, in a timeless manner.

> The Battle Of Algiers - The documentary approach to creative film making sees it's peak in this tale of 1957 street battles in Algiers and their drive for independence. In the maelstrom of characters, tales and conflicts, agitprop is turned into drama, making one yearn for a more peaceful time, if ever there was one.

> The Apu Trilogy - Growing up, and rediscovering that tragedy is what makes you what you are - the films in the trilogy par excellence shift scenes from the village to the city with a sensitive, elegant flair. Satyajit Ray captures what it is to be human, to live, love and die with camerawork that is more adept than many luminaries of cinema, and character development to rival the best. The ability of humans to find happiness even in the depths of poverty and grief are just part of the perfection in these films.

Fallen Angel: A Passage To India

The best film industries: 1. China 2. France 3. USA 4. Japan

The best directors: Wim Wenders, Satyajit Ray, Quentin Tarrantino, Billy Wilder, Akira Kurosawa.

Why Books Need A DVD Version

I was watching the Extreme Unrated Version of "Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle" yesterday and was struck by how well the film, already good in the theatrical release, has improved in the DVD transfer. There are 3 commentaries, a cab-drive interview, deleted scenes and what's probably a first, Harold and Kumar voice-overs on the selection menu which get progressively more irritated if you do not choose an option.

Many a book could have been improved if authors were able to put out a 'DVD version' a few months after the original release of the book, incorporating plot elements that found their way on the editor's cutting room floor, hypotheses, an annotated commentary by the author, and so much more.

Since this is not the norm, we, the readers, are left to speculate on what might have been, and in the case of some ardent fans, create our own annotated versions, sometimes quite innovatively, such as this reader-annotated version of Neal Stephenson's short "In The Beginning Was The Command Line", ref boingboing.

Many books could be retrieved from their mutilated, flawed forms through this process. The finale to the Stephen King "Dark Tower" series was terribly unsatisfying for many readers. It is entertaining to speculate that the author intended a different approach, and then changed his mind. Perhaps his notes would shed light on the matter.

Critics would be able to peruse multiple readings and perspectives of the book, and not merely have to build sandcastles on the shores of the creative sea. At present, second- and third- and unexpurgated editions serve as modes of further communication between the creator and the consumer of the text, as well as critic-annotated editions and separate, additional releases of related texts. A 'DVD version' would obviate this process.

The publishing industry would welcome this approach, for similar to movies, it would represent a new revenue stream. Film-book tie-ins can also be envisaged. Thus, you could get a 30 pound box with deluxe, annotated, 'DVD versions' of the Lord Of the Rings' books, accompanied with the excellent Tolkien back stories of MiddleEarth, and for $70 more, the extended DVD versions of the films as well, with cross-references to the e-books on the DVDs for each scene.

'DVD versions' of books would also be in line with the similar convergence of media and technology in the consumer electronics, computing and entertainment space. Of course, a purist might object and prefer pure-text readings of the works, much like film aficionados yearn for original theatrical DVD releases of the Star Wars films. Authors of the world, unite - you have nothing to lose but your readers!

The Hungry Tide

"The Hungry Tide", the most recent book by Amitav Ghosh, author of excellent works like "The Calcutta Chromosome" and "In An Antique Land", is eerily well-timed.

‘The river was like a pavement, lying at its feet, while its crest reared high above, dwarfing the tallest trees. It was a tidal wave, sweeping in from the sea; everything in its path disappeared as it came thundering towards them... But now it was as if death had announced its arrival and there was nothing to do but to wait for its arrival...’

The book deals with the indestructibility of the human spirit in the face of adversity. It also takes up the ecological disasters that threaten the last wildernesses on our little jewel drifting through space.

The Sunderbans are a vast delta with forests, swamps, tigers and rich bio-diversity to the south of Calcutta at the mouth of the river Ganga emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The forest is under threat because of denudation and human progress. In the British Raj, Sir Daniel Hamilton attempted to set up a sort of Utopia in the Sunderbans, but failed. Today, it is a beehive of activity, trade, fishermen and villagers, amidst the scenic beauty.

In the book, Piya Roy, an American marine biologist visits the Sunderbans to study the Orcaella, riverine dolphins who frequent the region. She has grown up in Seattle and is unexposed to the challenges of life in the wild, among the under-globalized. Her researches bring her into contact with the book's other major character, Kanai Dutt, an urban, urbane professional, who is visiting his aunt in an island in the Sunderbans to discover the life he left behind.

His uncle, wonsuponatime a Socialist revolutionary, retreated to the villages and became headmaster of a village school. He has left his memoirs to his nephew, and the tale of a life lived through passion, strife and striving. Kanai, searching for his own true identity, is attracted to Piya, and accompanies her on a trip through the Sunderbans, along with their boatman, Fokir, a simple illiterate villager, who is more in tune with nature and life than his boatmates.

The trip is a journey of the mind, the heart and the spirit. The urban sensitivities of the protagonists, who come from a structured, black and white world are confronted with a fluid, everchanging environment, reshaped daily by the 'hungry tides', where tigers kill villagers by the hundreds, but if a tiger is killed by a villager, the government metes out punishment for killing a representative of an endangered species.

The confluence of Western trends and old values is brought out at every turn. Kanai runs a school in New Delhi for accent modification of call center employees. His aunt is rooted in the past, with all the contradictions of the past. Piya sees them all as alien - the people, the land and above all, the language. Like most of Amitav Ghosh's books, language and its mutability are a key theme. The language of science versus the language of the jungle, Bengali versus English. Kanai, himself, is more a 'textual scholar' than businessman. He is enraptured by the richness of the language in the Sunderbans, land of many waves of migrants. "Bengali, English, Arabic, Hindi, Arakanese and who knows what else?" occupy him, sifting through the dialects as if through a sieve, looking for meaning in the confusion.

The challenges arise when language is insufficient to convey meaning, when progress turns full circle, and when the self encounters the other, finding itself.

Amitav Ghosh, one of the best Indian writers writing in English today, just returned from the Andamans, where he was part of a relief team. He spoke of his experiences there.

“As I walk around the refugee camps in Port Blair, I see true tragedy. It’s a lost world out here. The people have nothing, their eyes are yearning, they only have water to drink. I talk to them. I’m shocked by the attitude of the civilians, they’re so confident. ‘We have everything. We don’t need help,’ they tell me. This attitude astonishes me. At relief camps, the water and food is being provided by private organisations. I ask the authorities: How can I help? What can we contribute? ‘Nothing, we have everything,’ is the reply. It only gets tougher as I reach Nicobar. There are areas we can’t even reach. We don’t know how many are trapped in the labyrinth of waterways. Here, even small things become the world in microcosm. I know Nicobar is very badly affected, yet we don’t know the extent of the damage. There are dozens of smaller islands, there’s no connectivity with them. But what is really worrying is the acceleration of seismic activity in the Andamans. I hear unconfirmed reports of eruptions in Diglipur in the north Andamans. The administration doesn’t have the machinery to warn people of a disaster, nor does it seem to be bothered. In all this sadness, the military is the only hope. I was impressed with the district collector of Nagapattinum; she is welcoming all the help she can get. That’s the attitude we need to adopt."

Webcams made easy

Via boingboing, a nifty technique to view various unsecured webcams from googling them, illustrating further the lack of distinction between the public and private spheres in the networked world:

The syntax to be used is:inurl:"ViewerFrame?Mode=" as the search string - the URL search string for easy use.

Various modifications are possible, as I shall post herein shortly.
Updates at boingboing - Some pretty cool stuff

For some reason, many seem to be in Japan, although I did find a few in Canada and the US. My current favorites:

A laundromat in Japan(?)


A house in southeast asia/china - cute pets.

Globalization and Marginalia

In response to a post in blogcritics on a couple of items that are sublime and ridiculous, a variety of comments were adduced. Somewhere along the way, I made the point that

Is globalization a crunching of global marginalization? What, then, of marginalia - that essential element of criticism?

Another blogcritic, Sandra, asked,

do you mean global marginalization is the same as marginalization and the term global needn't be there?. What about marginalia? Clearly, I am still confused:)

To clarify, I explained,

Global marginalization is not the same as marginalization, although the marginalized might disagree. Global marginalization, IMHO, refers to the overriding of local cultures with other dominant cultures. It would be facile to consider this as referring to Americanization, but Americanization is only the latest of the many waves of globalization. Possibly one of the most effective was the Muslim expansion of the medieaval ages - the effects are still evident in as far flung places as Spain, Indonesia and Africa. In fact, I recommend V S Naipaul's books "Among the Believers" and "Beyond Belief" as excellent demonstrations of global marginalization. Americanization does much the same with it's emphasis on a homogenous response to social situations.
Case in point: South Indian communities who practise Arab (desert) customs in conjuction with their own local customs, rituals and so on, are strong participants and identify with the Islamic movement, yet are marginalized within the movement itself, mostly because of poor education and lack of self-expression.

Which brings one to marginalia as a form of self-expression. Marginalia, besides being an excellent book of poems by Billy Collins, is the form of annotations on documents, books, medieaval manuscripts and blog posts. Perhaps the marginalized will have to resort to marginalia as a form of self-expression, even in Putin's Russia.

I truly believe that modern globalization must be an inclusive effort, else it will fall the way of all such past efforts, and be relegated to a niche phenomenon that will linger, in various mutated forms, for a long time to come.

Very resilient societies can transform and localize the forces of globalization, and perhaps that is what is needed - a survival of the fittest of global societies, for not all societies are vibrant and capable of standing up global change.

       

Hope, Healing and Solidarity

From the wires,

President Bush enlisted two former presidents for an ambitious private fund-raising drive for victims of the deadly tsunami on Monday, asking Americans to open their wallets to help the millions left homeless, hungry and injured.

"The devastation in the region defies comprehension," Bush said as he announced the campaign to be led by his father and Bill Clinton. "I ask every American to contribute as they are able to do so."

Bush, his wife, Laura, and his two predecessors paid brief sympathy visits to the embassies of the four nations hit hardest Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. The first lady brought bouquets of white roses, and the president wrote messages in embassy condolence books, offering prayers as well as promises of U.S. aid.

....
Meanwhile, the president was getting daily reports from a delegation he dispatched to the region to assess whether the United States government can do more. Speaking en route to Bangkok, Thailand, Secretary of State Colin Powell, leading the team with the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, did not rule out more U.S. government money. But he said there was no immediate need to increase the $350 million commitment because the most urgent task was coordinating all the aid that was pouring in the vast majority still unspent.

World disasters in the past have meant significant political changes and economic changes, normally in the affected areas. Perhaps with the interconnectedness of the new millenium, the effects are even more far reaching now.

Feedback - Rush Pays Tribute

My very first rock album was "Presto" by Rush, purchased from a little store in Kathmandu, site of many memories (Kathmandu, not the store). I can still remember the powerful visual images the songs engendered in me, especially the title song, with the images of star dust and evening planes rising up over constellations of light. Much of my creative experience since then seems to have been defined by the early experiences with "Presto", "2112" and the live shows.


Rush returned to the studios in 2004 and gave us in "Feedback", not one of their trademark theme rock albums and not an electric funk-rock collection, but rather a brief, 28-minute, 8 song collection of cover versions of classic rock and blues songs from the 1960s and 1970s, when they were young and callow. Songs that they cut theit teeth on are now reframed through their own gifts of musical style and substance. The selection of pieces has been called a political statement by some, but it seems more like a collation of memories and formative experiences.

1. Summertime Blues - The Eddie Cochran classic, one of the 500 greatest songs of all time, as per the Rolling Stone list, is transformed into a breakneck very typical Rush speed scene, with fast bridges, vocals that rise above the wall of sound and hyperfast drums. Other versions of this classic have been by Joan Jett, T Rex, The Who, Van Halen and Olivia Newton-John. A social youth protest song, appealing to any rebel with a cause

2. Heart Full Of Soul - The Yardbirds hearbreaker is redone with a mellow, slow air, by Rush standards, that takes up the theme with strumming chords where the words leave off, communicating the essence of love, regret and need to be loved through a simple arrangement that repeats throughout the song. Very Beatles-like, and quite close to the original.

And if she says to you
She don't love me,
Please give her my message.
Tell her of my plea.
And I know
That if she had me back again,
I would never make her sad.
I've got a heart full of soul.

3. For What It's Worth - The Buffalo Springfield song from Woodstock dealt originally with the Vietnam war, then in the telling became a youthful resistance anthem against cops, the 'Heat' et al. The selection here by Rush might be a comment on the state of things today. Then again, it just might be a favorite song, reinterpreted for the zeitgeist. "Everybody, look what's going down"

4. The Seeker - This was a tribute song in its own right by The Who, invoking "Bobby Dylan, the Beatles, Timothy Leary" to help answer the fundamental questions of life. Surprising vocal range is displayed in this version, with a few brief, abrupt pauses that serve to set off the typical Rush slides into artistic, seamless fretwork.

I'm looking for me
You're looking for you
We're looking in at other
And we don't know what to do

5. Mr Soul - The Neil Young song is done in a voice eerily reminiscent of Neil himself. The theme is the price of fame, and the desire of the artist not to lose his 'soul' in the pursuit of success, a theme that Rush themselves are quite familiar with. Interesting analysis of the original song here. This version ends with a few taps on the steel drums (methinks) that linger for a long while.

In a while will the smile on my face turn to plaster?
Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster
For the race of my head and my face is moving much faster
Is it strange I should change? I don't know, why don't you ask her?

6. Seven And Seven Is - This relative unknown, originally by Love, is given the full Rush treatment. Hyperfast guitarwork and a deceptively simple beat by Geddy Lee mark this off as one the band is claiming for their own. The song itself seems to be about growing up and realizing that growing up isn't quite what one expects it to be when one is young.

When I was a boy I thought about the times I'd be a man
I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a jam
In my lonely room I'd sit my mind in an ice cream cone
You can throw me if you wanna 'cause I'm a bone and I go

7. Shapes Of Things - Jeff Beck's poem set to music with the Yardbirds, about what lies ahead in life is possibly the weakest song in this Rush album. Although the song itself sounds pretty good, it seems too derivative and strained, expect perhaps at the very end, where Alex Lifeson leaves a few personal touches.

Shapes of things before my eyes
Just teach me to despise
Will time make man more wise
Here within my lonely frame
My eyes just hurt my brain
But will it seem the same

(Come tomorrow), will I be older
(Come tomorrow), maybe a soldier
(Come tomorrow), may I be bolder than today

8. Crossroads - The Eric Clapton/Robert Johnson song is done in almost the same style as the original, with few Rush-specific touches. This revitalizes the classic song, which is still so bathetic in it's tale of asking for one last chance to retrieve the guitarist's soul from the Devil. It almost sends a frisson of fear down one's spine as if it were all for real.

In all, an excellent compilation, not perhaps what some aficionados of the band might have expected after the albums of the 1990s, but a good album to set off against the early blues rock albums, reinvigorating a genre not much heard from nowadays. The liner notes add some detail on the selection of the songs themselves, and the 'back to the roots' theme.

The Devil's Business

One of the best books C S Lewis wrote in his exposition of the war between Good and Evil was "The Screwtape Letters", detailing the correspondence between a senior demon, Screwtape, and his apprentice, Wormwood. The author creates a near-perfect simile of Hell as bureaucracy, temptation as career advancement and vices as virtues.

One was reminded strongly of this book on reading "Sympathy For The Devil" by Holly Lisle. This book is available as a free download from the excellent Baen Free Books Library, which is itself a devilishly wonderful source of good writing from great SF authors.

"Sympathy For The Devil" is a semi-serious story of the efforts of the denizens of Hell, the Christian sort, to exceed their numbers, in a manner of speaking. Hell is depicted as a large, faceless corporation, with department heads responsible for increasing the intake of souls. Corporate infighting is part of the game, such as Agonistis, the head of Lust and Fornication lamenting that fornication is falling ever since the Disease and Pestilence department introduced AIDS, and himself striving to increase condom usage to make up his numbers. In fact, most earthly innovations such as miniskirts, sexual harrassment suits and computer porn are indicated as being straight from Hell, literally. Hell is full of marketing professionals and lawyers. Unfortunately, a good computer tech is hard to come by, even in Hell.

Into this potent mix comes Dayne Kuttner, a naive nurse from North Carolina, brought to tears by the travails of her patients. She prays to God in heaven, and in her anger, makes an earnest appeal for salvation for the denizens of Hell.

"You said ask and believe. So now I'm asking. Let them have the chance to repent, God. All of them. Every single soul in Hell. Let them have the chance to learn from the mistakes they made, let them into Heaven if they repent."

"Until you do this, you can consider me a conscientious objector, protesting the policies of Heaven. When I die, you can send me to Hell, because I won't go Heaven until every soul can find a way there. Every soul. No matter who they were, no matter what they did"

God, who happens to be in the Christian Sector of Heaven at the time, and is the prime practical joker, decides to grant her prayer in his own special way. He dictates that one percent of the population of North Carolina, about 58000 in all, demons and denizens of Hell be loosed on Earth to live and work their Hellish mischief within North Carolina, where "the roads of Charlotte were designed by Hell's minions", under specific earthbound rules. They will also have the chance to repent, should they choose to do so.

The Devil, decides to settle a few personal scores and sends Agonistis, his threatened second in command to lead the Hellspawn hordes. He sets a few conditions of his own, the most important being that Agonistis must earn a profit for Hell in the business and that he must acquire Dayne, the nurse's soul for Hell within 30 days.

The rest of the book is an amusing and exciting set of events that unravel in rapid succession. Deep philosophical questions are handled with verve and light humor. The effects of 58000 demons in the state of North Carolina are brought out effectively and with deathless humor. God appears a few more times, not always as the bearded dude, and it would not be giving too much away to say that for once, deus ex machina is the operative device in the climax.

In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one who forgoes his or her own personal salvation to strive for the salvation of all others. Since everything in the universe is interconnected, and every cause has an effect, making a minute revolution within oneself, as Dayne Kuttner does, can change the destiny of the entire cosmos. The author herself, transmuted her own personal strivings into the essence of the book and maintains a blog with a Work In Progress meter for her books.

This book is the first in a trilogy, each as good as the other.

The End Of Quotas

January 1, 2005 marked the end of textile quotas in the amount of textiles that North American countries and Europe can purchase from a single country, as per World Trade Organization agreements. This frees trade worth about $300 billion and throws open the lucrative Western markets. The complex 40 year old Multifibre Agreement (MFA) capped the textile exports of developing countries to resource rich nations. These were self defeating in their purpose and limited textile growth and competition. The challenges introduced, however, have far reaching implications.

Large textile producers like India and China have the most to gain, while smaller, yet significant producers such as Bangladesh and the Phillipines could see a big hit in their revenues from textile sales. A number of textile workers in these smaller countries have already lost their jobs,

Officially, India is aiming at a target of $50 billion in annual textile exports by 2010, about four times the current figure of $14 billion a year. Commerce minister Kamal Nath expects a 50 per cent growth in exports to the freed US and the European Union markets in the very first year. Textile minister Shankarsinh Vaghela projects India’s apparel exports to double in the next two years.

China has even larger aspirations, thanks to greater economies of scale. While most economic numbers out of the official Chinese apparatus are somewhat questionable, as proved by the Economist in 2003, there is no doubt that for much of the world's retailers, China has become the back end of the global supply chain. Chinese textile sales to the US alone rose 30% in 2004

As far as labor costs go, as a proportion of the total cost, the labor cost in India is only 6%, compared to 10% in China, 19% in Mexico, 22% in Thailand, 29% in Turkey, 51% in South Korea and 69% in Germany. Only Indonesia has a lower labour cost of 5%. India has a capital cost advantage as well. The proportion of capital costs to gross output is 6.7% in India in the textile industry and 7.8% in garment making, while those in China are 12.2% and 12%, respectively.

China excels in the manufactured, mass-produced sector. Design is however, a strong element in India's appeal to Western apparel manufacturers. The Indian National Institutes of Fashion Technology churn out nearly 1000 graduates a year. The US International Trade Commision sees India as a significant alternative to China as a source for textile goods. Large integrated mills have been set up across textile parks in India in preparation for this change over.

India has also, significantly, adopted the product patent regime as of Jan 1, 2005 for food, drugs, chemicals and embedded software, keeping safeguards for the common weal. A 'mailbox' application process has been established for patent recognition.

The US textile industry, fearing a flood of cheap Chinese imports when the quotas expire at the end of this year, has been leading an international effort to persuade the WTO to approve a three-year extension of the quota system.

However, WTO members recognise that extending the quotas would unravel a key portion of the 1994 Uruguay Round world trade agreement, which required countries to make difficult trade concessions in a number of sectors. Many of the agreements are perceived by developing countries to be in favor of developed nations, and the developed nations are loath to give up some of their competitive advantages.

Textile makers also expect to improve on their buying power by having to place orders with fewer countries and manufacturers as opposed to the current covert arrangements split across dozens of manufacturers to avoid the quota restrictions.

The significant shifts in the textile industry will take a few years to play out, although the negative effects will likely have their impact very soon, as is usual in economic dislocations.

Update: The WTO has a paper on the global textile industry post the end of quotas (pdf). An overview of textiles under the WTO is also available.

The agreement itself is part of the Uruguay round agreements.

Glenn Reynolds has some thoughts (and a ref to me - Thanks, Glenn) on the implications.

Spear Shaker has a brief from the frontlines of global outsourcing, via Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Thirteen Mean Girls

I still cannot believe that I just watched "Mean Girls" and enjoyed it. It was perhaps elitist to have had low expectations before viewing the film, but one is too wary of packaged presentations from Hollywood touting the wares of the fickle god of consumerism.

"Mean Girls" was no such film. It conveys a number of positive messages without being trite, is funny and endearing, and most of all, entertaining. The essence of the film reminds one of the recent Amazon Theater short film "Portrait", where a frumpy woman discovers that her inner beauty is brought to the forefront by a photoshoot. While "Portrait" was consumerism-heavy and product-placement thick, "Mean Girls" provides the message that you need to value your friends, study hard and be yourself to be happy. In the end, everyone, even the Queen Bee is happy and fulfilled, in their own, individualistic way.

This is another theme of the film - that fulfilment of the American dream is possible in which way we interpret the dream. A truly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic film, it can also be the posterchild for globalization as a positive force. To arrive is to learn, and the jungle is not very different from public school Americanus. The agglomeration of cultures in the school also illustrates that America is contrary to any perceptions not monocultural at all,and it takes more than just red, white and blue to fill the social spectrum.

Some good digs are taken at various topical themes such as homeschooling, abstinence education and school fashionistas. The math club scenes serve to show there is more to school than make up and making out. The finale of the film is satisfying, in more ways than one.

A film every teen should watch.

A film that every parent with a teen, or prospective teen should watch is "Thirteen". This tale of how easy it is for bad choices to take one off the strait and narrow path is dark, troubled and uncool. Yet, it too, is an important and well made film, dealing with important social issues such as the pressures on single mothers, temptation and self destructive urges in teenagers.

Easy access to drugs is not necessarily a guarantee of doom for an intelligent young person. Many people, when tempted, turn away. The most recent episode of Huff, the Showtime series demonstrated this when Huff's son tastes and then turns away from temptations offered him by his friends, choosing not to steal his father's drug samples. Not every child is so well informed and smart. Often, as "Thirteen" shows, it can be because of inadequate attention by a pressured or distracted parent, although attention may not be enough.

Two films, both different, both important.

Happy New Year