Balen Balen Balen

It’s only a loss if you sell. Spartans HODL!

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) May 11, 2022

The markets always get it right in the long run. Be patient and HODL.

— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) May 11, 2022

I would be excellent at spotting promising startups and giving culture to "established" ones. What do you have?

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 11, 2022

News: May 6

As someone who recently just took this exploration, Ethereum.

An issue I ran into, happy to hear feedback on, is most ideas are simply not viable due to TX fee costs.

If each operation I do is $2-15, a significant number of use cases go out the window.

— Cole Murray (@_ColeMurray) May 6, 2022

I would build a writing, podcasting and video community where Creators could monetize with NFT integration, with major partnerships from brands that will integrate NFTs into their business like Walmart, Starbucks and so forth. These creators would own at least 95% of the theirrev

— Michael Kevin Spencer (@MichaelKevinSp2) May 5, 2022

This is me and I chose to build first on Ethereum.

It seems like the best way to cut my teeth and learn how things should work. Plus, starting with Ethereum means I can, in principle, expand to other EVM compatible chains. Longer term, I'd like to launch on Solana too 🙏

— Eric Forgy (@EricForgy) May 6, 2022

If I had no idea, in #Ethereum, because it is popular.
If I did the right research, on #Cardano. It has PoS, low gas fees and the same security as BTC. And an amazing community of course 😉#Web3

— $jehrhardt (@derjan) May 5, 2022

#tezos is the easy answer. Low enough fees to actually deploy to main net, lowest programming learning curve with being able to use Python on @SmartPy_io. And the ability to get involved with governance and vote on proposals

— maxemitchell (@maxemitchell) May 5, 2022

Unpopular opinion: BSV

- Original fixed, Bitcoin protocol
- Actualy scales on-chain
- Largest mined blocks
- Most energy efficient PoW chain
- Highest PoW transaction throughput
- NFTs can actually be stored on-chain (e.g @rarecandyio)
- Been 51% attacked, yet survived all

— George Siosi Samuels (@GeorgeSiosi) May 5, 2022

Ethereum because no one just coming in will be able to first learn/hear about another ecosystem. Maybe solana but highly doubt it

— Eda 🎈 (@edatweets_) May 5, 2022

learning solana is like trying to tunnel out of a prison with a plastic spoon

— Pluto 🔺 (@homeslashpluto) May 5, 2022

Ethereum.

Security, liquidity, community.

— MORBID-19 (@JuhyukB) May 5, 2022

Great question. Made me scroll through the answers.

— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) May 6, 2022

Everyone post a pic of their CEO. I’m trying to see something.

— Shondra.eth (@shondradanielle) May 5, 2022

Our CEO at @pregamemag 😎 pic.twitter.com/ZbOHCeY092

— Ciara Pressler (@themayoress) May 5, 2022

reading pic.twitter.com/5mqFKzJtjI

— Andy Weissman (@aweissman) May 5, 2022

Vintage Nepal

How cars first arrived in Kathmandu valley.

Source: Vintage Nepal

Beautiful Nepal
Nepal
US Ambassador To Nepal On Facebook
Kiva Is In Nepal
Mafia Politics In Nepal
Black Buddhas: The Madhesis Of Nepal: Documentary
Namaste Nepal
Shakira Or Hydroelectricity?

Kathmandu Six Decades Ago

Shakira Or Hydroelectricity?

Cover of ShakiraSeveral months back I mentioned at this blog that I had been approached by a group in Kathmandu who wanted Shakira perform there. But they never really followed through. I think they considered her too big a ticket item and perhaps not affordable, or whatever.

Doubling Down On Tech Consulting
US Royalty: Staying Together

But recently I have been approached by another group that wants to build a six plus megawatt hydroelectric dam in Nepal north of Kathmandu pretty close to the Chinese border. This is a bigger, better deal than the Shakira deal might have been. And done right this could be the first of many deals. If you know investors who might be interested in hydroelectric dams in Nepal, let me know. This also allows me to be part of Nepal's economic revolution, its next challenge after the political revolution of a few years back.

Why do I mention this?

I blog profusely. But I don't want the label of a blogger, a writer. I am a consultant with a few different hats who happens to blog. Blogging is working out for the mind and I recommend it to everyone. I exercise regularly, but I don't want to be called a bodybuilder. I think everyone but everyone needs to exercise. The networking I have done so far in the NY tech ecosystem I could not have done if it were not for this blog.

March 8, 2012: Next Immigration Court Date

I am going to be a tech entrepreneur once the immigration gestapo in this fucking country finally lets me, but until then I consult. And it has been interesting. Primarily I do tech consulting. But I stay open to business opportunities otherwise. An entrepreneur is a jack of all trades who assembles masters in their specific fields. I be Jack.
Image via Wikipedia
Cruise Ship Coding
Looking For Holiday Parties To Go To

Nepal is second only to Brazil in terms of hydropotential. And it is a country mired in massive power cuts. And neighboring India growing at China like rates has a massive thirst for electricity.

Cruise Ship Coding

I came across this article at Ars Technica. But I have been thinking along these lines on my own before that. But I have not been thinking a cruise ship. I have been thinking an island, a country in the Caribbean. If you have 250 people in India, 10 people on an island in the Caribbean, and two people in NYC, you can give your clients also face time. Some of them might want to fly four hours to meet your 10 person near local team.

I already have major teams in Bangalore, in Gujrat, and in Kathmandu. My lead techie is a former Cisco guy with a degree from Brown. I have smaller teams in Delhi, Calcutta and Kathmandu.

When you can't do the tech startup thing - thanks to the immigration gestapo - you do the tech consulting thing.

Ars Technica: Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator: Some of the Silicon Valley's most important companies, including Intel, Google, and Yahoo, were cofounded by immigrants. Yet America's creaky immigration system makes it difficult for talented young people born outside of the United States to come to the Bay Area. There have been various proposals to make it easier for immigrant entrepreneurs to come to the United States, but they've made no progress in Congress. ....... So a new company called Blueseed is seeking to bypass the political process and solve the problem directly. Blueseed plans to buy a ship and turn it into a floating incubator anchored in international waters off the coast of California. .......

My idea is better. An island nation is cheaper and more "real" than a cruise ship. I wouldn't want my coders to feel like I have shunted them into a submarine.

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

"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."

"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?"

Related articles

• Letters: British Council: Our climate change work will continue (guardian.co.uk)
• Go to Kathmandu and Enjoy Adventure Activities in The Cold Himalayas (socyberty.com)
• Artists condemn British Council's decision to axe climate programme (guardian.co.uk)
• Letters: The British Council must reconsider the axing of its climate projects (guardian.co.uk)
• Nepal Wrap-up (thethompsonstravels.wordpress.com)

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

Kathmandu Woes

A high school classmate in Kathmandu.

Doubling Down On Tech Consulting

Image via WikipediaThe immigration bureaucracy in this country is so fucked up, it's not even funny. It is like getting in line for a land line with the state ownned telco in Nepal before I left the country. It took years. Now they have mobile phones, easy to purchase, but the immigration bureaucracy in this country continues to stay fucked up. Bajeezus fucking Christ.

I once quoted Lincoln on immigration. "I will prepare and perhaps my time will come." I felt like I was about to get the paperwork sorted out. But no, they went ahead and postponed the court date.

I guess I get to double down on tech consulting and plot to become my own angel investor when the time finally arrives, if it ever does.

I also recently got approached by someone to help take Shakira to Nepal to perform for a hefty commission. I am tempted to branch out beyond tech consulting.

Bryan Adams In Kathmandu

As for tech consulting, I have three associates in NYC looking daily for projects - it is not easy - and I have three teams in India always ready to get the work done. I could so scale at both ends. This is not bootstrapping, this is flying by your pants.

I guess fate will have it that I end up my own angel investor.

Using Political Contacts To Beat The Immigration Beast
Ugh, Immigration (4)
Immigration Court Date: June 6, 2011: Prepared Statement

At The Buspark

I had been House Captain of one of the four senior houses. There were two junior houses, four senior houses, and then there was Gaurishankar, where people who stayed on to do O Levels and A Levels - Senior Cambridge stuff - stayed. Back then in Nepal school was 10 years. Then you sat for the nationwide School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exams. And if you passed, maybe you went to college. But high school was 12 years in places like America and Britain. And this British founded and run top school in Nepal had introduced O Levels, A Levels. Half of the students in Class 10 were selected to do O Levels. Half of those were selected to do A Levels. And this was already a school where you got into in Class 4 after sitting through nationwide entrance exams.

O Levels was two years in Britain, one year at this school. So you finished school in 13 years.

We had three vacations: summer, Dashain/Tihar, and winter. Dashain would be the Nepali Christmas. I was not from Kathmandu. Kathmandu is a valley, the capital. Half the students at school were from outside the valley. I was one of them. The valley students got to go home about once a month for a weekend. We went home for the three vacations.
Image via Wikipedia
I had given an excellent year as House Captain. We won pretty much every competition there was, academic, sports and otherwise. Morale was super high. The grades of the students went up across the board. I personally took charge of one student a year junior to me who was considered struggling. His marks were up by 20% across the board by the time I was through.

And a fight broke out on the soccer field. We won the match, there was a fight. I learned about it later. It apparently escalated. It erupted in the dining hall later, and one or two places on campus. I heard.

Our official color was blue. The red house were the sore losers.

But then things quietened down, or so I thought.

I had been the top student in my class every year to that point.

Southern Hospitality

Story 1

I showed up in Kentucky. For a few weeks I did not understand people. People did not understand me. I would ask questions in class. The professors would make me repeat a few times and give up. I spoke fast.

"Are you from New York?" someone asked me.

Never been was the correct answer.

Organic Growth

Image via WikipediaMy Cofounder Anuj is really something. He grew from one engineer to 50 engineers over five years completely organically. They don't do angel investing in Kathmandu. Venture capitalists live on Mars, not in Kathmandu. But so far the team has worked like hired guns for clients across the world. They have done some pretty sophisticated work on top of the regular web design and development they do on an ongoing basis.

Now that we have teamed up to do a tech startup, it is quite something to watch Anuj's thought processes. He is Mr. Organic Growth. Even for the tech startup what he has in mind is organic growth. His gameplan is sound. He is not opposed to me raising money on behalf of the company. It is just that he does not see raising money as do or die. We might as well not do it. The idea of raising money is not in his universe.

BusiCopy is a social network for businesses. No, we are not a Facebook imitator. If it is just about creating a simple page for your business, you can do that either place. But BusiCopy is more. If you are a business in NYC, and you want to list yourself on BusiCopy and also need web design, development work done, BusiCopy can help you, Facebook does not do that. If you are a business in Kathmandu, and you want to go global without getting on the plane, without getting a business visa, we will have the platform for you. We don't have it yet. But we are working towards it.

My BusiCopy Cofounder Anuj Bikram Thapa

Me In The New York Times

A few weeks back Anuj and I became Cofounders at 50% each to BusiCopy, a social network for businesses.

Before I came to America I was renting a place near the largest library in Nepal. Anuj was friends with the landlord's son. And we got to know each other. I came to America and kind of lost touch for the most part. He went to Japan. He was there for seven years doing hotel management. We might have exchanged an email or two along the way.

He returned to Nepal. The country was going through the final phases of a decade long civil war. And so going into tourism, his first choice, was not an option. To that point his only experience with computers was that he had used them for personal use.

In January 2006 he decided to go into IT. He, his brother in the US Amit Thapa, and that brother's friend Ujjyol Raj Singh teamed up. Amit was studying IT in Texas. He dropped out. Little knowledge is dangerous. You end up becoming an entrepreneur.

The UN, The US, The Internet

Image via WikipediaThe UN is not it, the US is not it, the Internet is it.

I have made that statement a few times at this blog.What do I mean?

I do not imagine a future where the UN as an organization has been dissolved, and the US federal government no longer exists. But I do imagine a future where the Internet has fundamentally altered the very fabric of what the UN is, how it functions, how far it reaches, how well it functions. I imagine a US federal government transformed by the forces unleashed by the Internet.

The Internet is transformative technology. But it does not operate in a vacuum. You take away people and you end up with computers. It is adding people to the equation that gave us the Internet. And so human institutions are very relevant to what the Internet is all about.

FoodSpotting Follows Me On Twitter

I just realized FoodSpotting follows me on Twitter. They must not mind seeing me in their stream all the time. I show up often. It is like when I was doing democracy work for Nepal a few years ago. One visiting politician said, "I know a whole bunch of people in Kathmandu, the only person who ever emails them is you."

The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal
FoodSpotting Third Thursday: Ai Fiori, 5-7 PM

Doing Two Tech Startups

What is better than doing one tech startup? Doing two tech startups.

So I am doing two tech startups. And the newer startup is actually moving faster. But there is symbiosis.

Apple Does Hardware In Asia

Image via WikipediaHardware is harder to work on remotely than software. And it is not even remote. With all the communication possibilities of today, I think people can overemphasize the importance of geography. I enjoy a party as much as the next person, but if you think about it, the whole premise behind social networking - hello Facebook, hello Twitter - is that it is the relationship, not the physical proximity.

And so my tech team is in Kathmandu. It is 50 strong. It has been a profitable software shop five years in a row. But it is only now venturing out on its first tech startup. There are other software things you can do to make money, you know? The team has had global clients this entire time.

I became friends with the team leader before I came to America. This is not outsourcing any more than Nepal and India are foreign countries. They are not, not to me. Why can't I tap into my social capital?

Is It About Women?
GroupOn's Legacy: Cute Email?
Kiva Is In Nepal
The Kiva Story