Thursday, July 28, 2011

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.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

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 Reply


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 Reply



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

Friday, July 22, 2011

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
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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
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Phir Mohabbat



Source: Top 10 Bollywood

Thursday, July 21, 2011

"Can You Understand This?"

William ShakespeareImage 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"

Official presidential portrait of Barack Obama...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."