One House Got Trashed

Image via WikipediaIn one of the greatest novels of all time - One Hundred Years Of Solitude - there is this village that is so new that not one person has died yet. And then one day that first person to die dies. That is what I am getting reminded of with the Airbnb scandal. It is not even a scandal. Have perspective, people. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The important thing is the right follow up takes place. The police get to do the follow up. Airbnb does the right follow up. And next.

USA Today: Plot thickens in Airbnb vacation rental horror story: a San Francisco blogger named "EJ" wrote a riveting account of how she returned from a week-long business trip last month to find that her home had been ransacked and trashed by a paying guest she'd connected with through the online rental agency Airbnb

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The Early Stage Idea

Sean Parker talks in this video of a time when "four people" believed in Facebook. That was early, but that was not so long ago. The guy spotted Facebook early, and became a billionaire in the process.



I guess you have to be in the right place at the right time and in the right mindset. To be able to grab the opportunity.

A Facebook size opportunity does not show up every month. But plenty of mid level opportunities do. Maybe not every month. But often enough.

Sean Parker, Billionaire, Was Really Poor Once

A Google Lunch, A Google Tour

All I asked for was a tour, but looks like I am also being given a Google lunch. Should happen the second half of August. I am so looking forward to it.

Android Has To Be Kept Free

Am I allowed to take pictures? My style would be to take many, many pictures.

Thanks to a Senior Software Engineer..

Google Bought The Building

Twin Sister

Race, Gender, Tech (2)

So I Did It
Little Flickers Of Racism
Race, Gender, Tech

Race is like health care policy, it is like foreign policy. It is primarily for the politicians to work on. Gender is the same way. And so in tech I try to talk about the two topics as little as possible. It is not the best arena.

My Web Diagram

On the other hand group dynamics is the number one thing I bring to the table for work. And there gender is just this outstanding, outstanding topic. And I don't even mean that in a political way. I most certainly don't mean that in a "women and children" way. If I were an astrophysicist, the stars might similarly fascinate me. But I am not one. Gender holds that kind of fascination to me. Race and culture are also grand topics, but gender is out there. Staying fascinated with gender keeps me sharp.

The Police: Every Breath You Take

Now playing on the cafe sound system.

NYC Tech Talks MeetUp: Google 20% Projects

I don't mean to be bragging about it, but I walked two hours to the venue. And I walked back.

1400 situps Friday, 1500 tummy muscle bicycles Saturday, 1500 pushups Sunday, 2000 situps Monday. #hellomichelleobama http://t.co/yGWK5ugless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Tuesday. Walk from Union Square to Woodside to Sunnyside to Jackson Heights to Forest Hills to Sunnyside #hellomichelleobamaless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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This was at Google. The Google building is the Empire State Building lying on its side. It is big. I think the last time I was at this particular venue was the second day of Social Media Week back in February. It is a nice venue. And they had food. I really like that part. Especially when it is healthy, as it was today.

Three Google engineers talked about their 20% projects. They were prominent examples. One guy had turned Google Spreadsheets upside down. Another had got Google to get into doing the Google Street View thing inside museums and art galleries.

Bhagat Singh Likes Paramendra Bhagat

Bhagat Singh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Subhash Chandra Bose
At The Buspark (2)

Parmendar is a Punjabi name as is Parmindar.

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"Ask Me Anything"

http://anyasq.com



Beginners

Hello There Fred

Image by Randy Stewart via FlickrHello there Fred, long time no see.

Disappearing Into The Fire - The Berlin Edition
Financings Options: Venture Debt
Voice Texting
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Beginners

Adele: We Could Have Had It All, Rolling In The Deep

Now playing on the cafe sound system.

So I Did It

I wrote the two blog posts that were so heavy on my chest for almost two weeks now. I feel relief now.

The posts don't read as angry as I thought they might read, and that's okay.

At The Buspark (2)
Kentucky Blues

Now my three blogs are all exhibiting the same piss on racism graphic. I think it is important. I think it is important to say fuck you to racism.

At The Buspark (2), Kentucky Blues
"Can You Understand This?"
"Bring Home An African Next Time"
Padgurum
Hawai Chappal
Deaths In The Family
Gonu Jha
Hum Jayega Burnt His Ears
"Thanks For Asking"
Prax
"It Was A Nigger!"
Little Flickers Of Racism
Australian Woes
Kathmandu Woes
"Do You Have An Email Address?"
Race, Gender, Tech
Doubling Down On Tech Consulting
Paradigm Shifts And Challenged Assumptions
Think Different
Alabama

At The Buspark (2), Kentucky Blues

I have been struggling to work on a few autobiographical blog posts. I have wondered if I should publish them at this blog, my most active blog, or maybe they belong at my other blogs. The buspark post belongs at my Nepal blog, and the Kentucky post belongs at my Barackface blog.

They are going to be angry posts. I don't intend to mince words.

I have put out some posts at my blogs that people have described as "hilarious" and "hysterical." Well, these posts will not fall into those categories. They will fall into the angry category. They will fall in the nonviolent militancy category. I have been toying with the idea for about two weeks now. Longer perhaps. But for about two weeks in a more concrete way. It has been hard to get down to it.

If it is hard to talk about now, how much harder must have it been to go through them when they happened? Long time. Long time coming.

At The Buspark
Southern Hospitality
Third World Guy
Deaths In The Family
Enemy Of The State

Phir Mohabbat

Source: Top 10 Bollywood

"Can You Understand This?"

Image by tonynetone via FlickrRadio Nepal would serve the news in Nepali at seven, morning and evening, and the news in English an hour later at eight. This was during the days of the autocratic monarchy. And so there was much state propaganda. I much preferred listening to the BBC. In English, of course.

Of course no one in my village listened to the news in English. The smart ones listened to the BBC Hindi service.

But then there was always some smart alec who would turn the radio on for the eight o'clock news in English.

"Can you understand this?"

"Yes."

"Bring Home An African Next Time"

Image via WikipediaBy now people from my homevillage have gone to far away places like the Arab countries and Malaysia to do manual labor. A bunch of them are on Facebook. Like one guy said recently, brother, I can't talk to you right now, I am off to have dinner.

So going to Kathmandu, the capital city, is less big of a deal these days. But back when I was attending school in Kathmandu, it was a big deal. It was an even bigger deal when my father was doing high school in Kathmandu. At least I got to take the overnight bus, he had to fly. There was no other way to get there.

And so it was all known that I was attending school with the crown prince of the country, the future king, the same guy who in 2001 mowed down his family in a palace massacre, but then back then you could not have seen that coming, not by the furthest stretch of the imagination.

When I was home for one of my vacations a neighbor approached. He knew I had just come home from Kathmandu. Kathmandu was this mythical place far, far away.

"Next time you come home will you please bring an African?" he delivered. "I hear they are really black, I would really like to see one."

Padgurum

Hawai Chappal

Padgurum was the term in my homevillage for pants, you know, the kind you and I wear. People natively wore lungi or dhoti. When I was old enough and got out of my half pants, I was allowed to wear the lungi for casual outfit. I loved it. Basically you wrapped a piece of clothing around your waist. It was great for summers.

But padgurum was the local term for pants. What the term meant was that when you fart, the air never gets to escape. The people in the village supremely looked down upon pants that way. Pants made absolutely no sense to them.

Hawai Chappal

The term was Hawai Chappal. Hawai loosely translates to air, as in Air Jordan. Meaning, when you wore these, it felt like you were floating in the air. Hardly anyone in the village wore them. People walked barefoot. Chappal is the term for sandal. But sandals were leather. So there is no exact translation. You had to be well off to be able to wear these. Just like you had to be well off to be able to eat vegetables every day.

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But people still bought them. For when you had to go visit a relative. Or when there was a fair in a nearby village. When there was a fair people would carry the chappals in their hands and walk barefoot for those 40 minutes, and then when they neared the village where the fair was at they would find a nearby pond where to go wash their feet and put the chappals on. I mean, if you wore them all the time they might wear away, and then where were you?

Deaths In The Family
Amitabh Bachchan: 5th Decade In Bollywood
Gonu Jha
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"Thanks For Asking"
Prax
"Do You Have An Email Address?"

Deaths In The Family

Image via WikipediaMy grandmother, greatgrandmother and greatgrandfather all died within a span of two years, in that order. A few years later my grandfather one morning left home without telling anyone to become a sadhu in the holy places of India for the rest of his days.

The Mourning Period

My greatgrandfather had been the Founding Father of the family. His had been a rags to riches story. He was not born a landlord. But he worked hard and, ably helped by my greatgrandmother, saved well to end up with more land than anyone else in the village.

I was a few years from finishing high school far away - overnight bus ride - in the capital city when the deaths happened. They each happened when I was home for vacation. I would be home three times a year.

I did not realize at the time but over the years I realized as I do today that those deaths were like there was an umbrella over the family's head, and suddenly that umbrella vanished. My father acutely felt their absences for long years. He likely still does.

Amitabh Bachchan: 5th Decade In Bollywood

Gonu Jha

Gonu Jha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gonu jha's stories | Facebook



As Birbal was the most intelligent minister of Akbar's court,same way,Gonu Jha was the most intelligent minister of the king from Bihar.Many times he proved his intelligence.
A pahalwan went to a sahukar to ask some money.He was having a big golden "gada" with him,he said"This is my grand father's gada, It is of pure gold,I want to mortgage it and you give me eight thousand rupees,I will pay the interest regularly till the repay.The sahukar believed him and gave him money,but the pahalwan did not give him any interest for six months,the sahukar went to him and asked the interest amount,The Pahalwan said"I don't have money,you can sell the gada and get back your money.The sahukar showed the gada to the goldsmith he said"It is not golden gada,but it is of iron and only covered by thin layer of gold.The sahukar shocked he immediately ran to Gonu Jha,and asked him what should he do now.Gonu Jha said"Go and invite whole village for good lunch."Sahukar surprised"What are you saying?""yes!I am serious,I mean it"Sahukar agreed and went away.Next morning the whole village was running for lunch to Sahukar's House.The Pahalwan saw this and asked one of them"Hey!what is going on,why everybody is running to sahukar's house""I think he has got a Treasure"The Pahalwan thought"It is definitely my Gada,I must get it back"He went to another village,mortgaged his akhada,got the money,went to the Sahukar and said"I have arranged money,Please take it and give my Gada back"The sahukar immediately took the money and gave him back his Gada.The Pahlwan reached to the only goldsmith.He said"Why have you brought it here,it is not gold"The Pahlwan came to know that it is only because of Gonu Jha.He decided to sell the Gada to Gonu Jha.He went to him and said"This is my Grand father's golden Gada,Please buy it,I need money"Gonu Jha took the Gada in his hand and started swinging it,It fell down and a small part broke,Gonu Jha said"Yes Yes!I am going to buy it but we must get it repaired first"Both of them went to the Gold smith"Why have you come again with this Iron Gada,I have already told you that it is not gold.The Pahalwan was speechless now,and Gonu Jha was smiling.

Source

Hum Jayega Burnt His Ears

One day Hum Jayega went to the doctor with both of his ears burnt.
Doctor: So tell me how u burnt your both ears?'
Hum Jayega: I was ironing when the phone rang and I answered the iron by mistake
Doctor: But how did you burn both of them?
Hum Jayega: Well, as soon as I put the iron down, the phone rang again.

Source

Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap

"Thanks For Asking"

This was between high school and college. I was in Kathmandu living on my own. My friends and I would drop by the British Council Library once in a while. On one of those trips a British tourist approached my friend.
Image via Wikipedia
"Excuse me, would you have change for 1,000 rupees?" the tourist asked and briskly pulled a thousand rupee note. That was a lot of money.

"Sorry, no, but thanks for asking," my friend promptly replied, feeling flattered.

"Do You Have An Email Address?"

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The Cranberries: Dreams

Now playing on the cafe sound system.

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Prax

Eric Schmidt On The Case

Image via CrunchBaseAndroid Has To Be Kept Free
Microsoft And Oracle Misbehaving On Android

Perth Now: Google's Eric Schmidt Slams Apple iPhone Lawsuits: 'They're suing instead of innovating' ..... GOOGLE has launched a stinging attack on major mobile phone rival Apple, saying its smartphone lawsuits are inspired by jealousy and a lack of innovation in its own iPhone. ..... If upheld, the decision could see Apple force other Android phone makers to pay significant royalties to their main competitor. ...... Apple's case was inspired by jealousy and designed to shut down its fastest-growing rival. ......... Schmidt said Google would support HTC's fight against Apple and was confident of a win ....... More than 135 million Google phones have been activated since Android's launch in 2008, with 410 models available from makers including HTC, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson...... Apple could fire another blow to Android with a new iPhone later this year as well. ..... The company is strongly rumoured to be launching the iPhone 5 worldwide in September. It is expected to come with a dual core processor, 8-megapixel camera, new iOS 5 software and iCloud services.

Good to see Eric Schmidt on the case.

The Maine: Dont Give Up On Us

(Via Alex Kalausich)

Padmasree Warrior: Top Of The List

This Huffington Post article has been making the rounds today.

Readers Pick: 27 Women In Tech You Need To Follow On Twitter

It is no surprise Padmasree Warrior - what a last name - tops the list. I have an Indian friend whose last name is Engineer.

We Indians are the most successful ethnic group in America. No, it's not white people. An average Indian American family makes twice as much as your average white family. And no, it's not the Jewish people. It's not the Chinese, so no, it's not an Asian thing. It's us. It's Indians.

I once got a tweet from Padmasree.

U2: With Or Without You

Now playing on the cafe sound system.

Plotting To Go To Many Events

I might be waking a little late to summer, but I think now I am getting in a mood to go to many, many events in the city. The primary focus is going to be on free music events. And I think I intend to go also to as many tech events as possible. If I can grab some consulting gigs at some of those events I might say, like James Bond said when asked, business or pleasure.

"Hopefully both."






What is the best way to locate the music events in town?

A trip or two to Coney Island is also due. I am city.

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Walking On Water

(Via Joshua Kushner)

Women's World Cup Final

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Prax

Prakash and I went to the same high school in Kathmandu, and later the same college in America. He hails from the mythical Dolpo region of Nepal: much of it is behind the Himalayas. Here he is seen with his wife Chas. They have a house in St. Louis, I've been.

Australian Woes
Kathmandu Woes

Cutting Crew: Just Died In Your Arms Tonight

Now playing on the sound system at the cafe.

"It Was A Nigger!"

Entertainment Weekly: Rosewood (1997)

In 1923, the residents of Rosewood, a tranquil all-black agrarian village in central Florida, bask in their hard-toiling prosperity. Several generations removed from slavery, they have farms, businesses, a community. They have freedom — or, at least, a hermetic approximation of it. For it's a freedom they can share only with one another. In the adjacent, comparatively poor all-white town of Sumner, the citizens look at Rosewood with suspicion and envy. The very power of American upward mobility has shaken the firmament of Dixie — its racial-social hierarchy. ...... When one of the whites gets beaten up by her extramarital lover, she's so flooded with rage and guilt that her hysteria explodes like shrapnel at the most convenient available target. ''It was a nigger!'' she wails. There are rumors of a recently escaped black convict, and with this mythical culprit in mind, the men of Sumner form a lynch mob. They never do locate the suspect, but in a sense they start to see him everywhere — in the face of any innocent black man who knows nothing of the crime. Out for ''justice,'' the mob consumes its own purpose, becoming an end in itself, a jamboree of lynching, shooting, burning, slaughter.

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Little Flickers Of Racism

Those little flickers of racism matter. To say they don't matter to a group dynamics guy like me is to suggest software bugs are just fine, and bad design is okay. No, it's not.

Race, Gender, Tech

I plot to go into the red circle in this diagram from the tech angle. And for someone of such ambitions the flickers of racism matter even more. They are bread and butter. That is extra true of flickers of sexism, the obvious kind and the internalized kind, both, especially the internalized kind. Women with advanced degrees of internalized sexism also tend to be the more racist kind.

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When I meet early stage entrepreneurs in town, one way I gauge how far they might go is by trying to figure out how much of a post-ISMs individual they are.

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The world of physics felt pretty much complete and all set and done when Einstein showed up. But then he noticed light rays bent near the Sun, and based on that one flicker he turned the world of physics upside down. Innovation happens at the edges. The abandoned petri dish is where the magic is at. Little flickers of racism are fascinating like that.

+1: Turning Search Results Into Status Updates

Image via CrunchBaseThat plus one button (+1) might be Google's ultimate master stroke in the social space, it might not be Google Plus. Search continues to be huge. People search. That is what the web is all about. Otherwise we already had the water cooler crowds. The web liberated us from the confines of geography. People want to go online and search far and wide.

Before the +1 button the search results belonged to Google. Searching was a spectator sport. Now Google has allowed us to participate. We have become part of the secret sauce Google algorithms. We change the search results just as we consume them.

But this is just a start. I want much more say in what happens to my +1 activity. I want some kind of an internal display. I want my +1 action to become the mother of all bookmarks. I want some kind of an internal dashboard.

Ultimately I want my own very personal Google. I want to be able to search though only sites I ever pressed that +1 button on.

Pressing that +1 button is the simplest of status updates for now. You are not having to write up anything. If you press that button enough times, you should have mapped out your personal interest and knowledge graphs. That is powerful.

Tech And Terrorism

Physical

Americans Are Fat

Sunday afternoon plan: free lunch at the Gurudwara near Jackson Heights. My childhood best friend's wife is Punjabi. Evening plan: Ace Hotelless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Just did 1000 situps. Tech consulting interrupted.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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30 minutes of crude yoga. Feeling good.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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1000 units of tummy muscle exercises.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Making yogurt. Nobody makes it better in NYC.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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500 pushups. Yoga next. Yoga: not easy. The mind wants to wander.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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120 minute walk. Hello Vig Bar. Happy birthday Soraya Hareez.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Headed to the Ace Hotel for some good music this evening. But first the free lunch at the Gurudwara near Jackson Heights.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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