tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58441252008-01-28T17:45:34.265-08:00Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comBlogger1019125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1160085465880118132006-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:002006-10-05T14:57:45.926-07:00

Time to Move On Blogger has been good to us, but it's time to move on. The new blog is at www.sahelidatta.com . We've been blogging for a while there, and I think we got most of the kinks ironed out. I'll be transferring over the blog roll and updating the template here as appropriate, but in the meantime, please come and visit! Thank you! Cheers, Saheli

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1159295657288309782006-09-26T11:33:00.000-07:002006-09-27T15:04:40.940-07:00

Happy 108! Today is the fourth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Padmanabha. May true good fortune be had by all the inhabitants of the Universe. . ."Every soul is related to every other soul." If, in the course of your life, you come across true, essential goodness, my advice to you is that you snatch it up and try to slip it into your heart. It's often not easy---like bringing a

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1158702283679777662006-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:002006-09-19T21:15:41.030-07:00

Subversion Yarrrr. It's International Talk Like a Pyrate Day. Light be running out like grog on a barnacl'd ship, so set to it, me harties! Arrrr! I bin talking like a pyrate near three days now, and my pate be addled. With all the brethren of the coast yarrin an arrin', some landlubbers growl that we be a dark and evil tide, throwing good booty after that which be real and very, very bad. Ye

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1158608319876972512006-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:002006-09-18T12:38:39.953-07:00

Yarrrr! Harr Harr, Yaar! Tomorrow be talk like a pyrate day, and if ye be addlepated, scurvy dogs, I'll lend ye timbered visions to bring about the groggy voice. Avast and watch! Link from Michelle. Apologies to PowerPoint Bilge Rats.

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157961962489856442006-09-10T23:46:00.000-07:002006-09-11T11:12:52.456-07:00

Of Blogs and Bridges The blogosphere can, in fact, occasionally get stuff done, and the proof was on Saturday. My friend Steven met me because he read my blog. He's also a journalist, and when he came home to the Bay Area, he asked me if I wanted to meet up. We hit it off, not only with each other, but with each other's friends, and now we work mere blocks away from each other and meet up for

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157527631315364902006-09-06T00:21:00.000-07:002006-09-06T00:27:11.563-07:00

Building 253 after the rains Originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics. My colleague Telstar Logistics, editor and flickr maestro extrordinaire, has been documenting the abandoned military bases of the Bay Area. I thought this photo was really lovely, even without considerations of context and history---the plate glass, the shimmering reflection, the colors and contrasts, the composition.

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157419123245287932006-09-04T18:15:00.000-07:002006-09-04T18:38:45.080-07:00

Why have terrorists not struck the US since 9-11? by Colin In the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Prof. John Mueller of Ohio State poses the obvious yet apparently subversive question is there still a terrorist threat? He points out, quite reasonably, that despite how easy it would be to terrorize the US population with, say, a single sniper rifle, we have not seen a single domestic terror

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156833133575032372006-08-28T22:47:00.000-07:002006-08-30T22:38:24.400-07:00

The Right to Travel I don't normally reblog stuff from Sepia Mutiny, since they have a larger and more focused audience, but this is too important and too general to ignore. Siddhartha brings our attention to the news that the United States has denied re- entry to two American citizens--one naturalized and one-native born--unless they first agree to be interrogated by the FBI abroad without a

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156612213208177752006-08-26T10:01:00.000-07:002006-08-26T10:10:13.260-07:00

Squeaky Crooners by Colin Well, I knew it. It turns out that mice sing, probably to attract mates. Timothy Holy and Zhongsheng Guo of Wash U. in St. Louis put male mice in a teeny tiny sound booth along with cotton swabs soaked in (presumably hot) female mouse urine. The little hombres started crooning away, at ultrasonic frequencies, of course, and their songs show surprising structure. You can

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156193122863067862006-08-21T13:35:00.000-07:002006-08-21T23:18:38.376-07:00

What not to do with LN2 dewars by Colin In case you missed it, Birge LeConte Hall at Cal had some liquid nitrogen excitement a week ago, as reported by Arcane Gazebo. Remember, don't take large dewars down stairs, and don't leave undergrads unattended for too long at a time ...

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156000662534817672006-08-19T07:52:00.000-07:002006-08-19T08:23:37.883-07:00

Pachyderm polo by Colin This is great: as the Washington Post reports today, North America will be represented in the World Elephant Polo Association tournament next month in Thailand by a team from the DC area. Of course, the DC team's elephant stable numbers exactly zero, and they practice by standing on a playset in somebody's backyard that's roughly elephant-height. But they have two

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1155749708765076442006-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:002006-08-16T16:48:18.030-07:00

The Birth on the Eighth Day of the Moon It's still my favorite story. The sleepy guards of the jail, the sudden, fragrant rain, the lining up of constellations and half moon as the sun has swung completely away, leaving behind the cover of a darkness that's humming with anticipation. And then. . . Happy Sri Krishna Janmashtami everyone! "May there be good fortune throughout the universe,

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1155073406029940022006-08-08T14:29:00.000-07:002006-08-08T14:43:26.080-07:00

The Creatures Who Sit Around Watching While We Use Our Inner Eye So over the years I have spent hours and hours reading and writing in my living room, and glancing out at our wide view of the north bay every now and then. My attention is frequently grabbed by something quickly moving across the blue. It's usually a bird of prey or carrion or sometimes even a hummingbird. Now I have an office

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154719445569823692006-08-04T08:02:00.000-07:002006-08-04T14:45:34.550-07:00

Popularity Dialer ToastyKen sent me this amusing link: A web-service that places a prescheduled callt o your phone (most likely your cell phone) with a recording of one side of a conversation. Your options are a male friend, a female friend, an affirmation monologue or a boss demanding your immediate return to the office. The idea is that you either need to seem popular, get out of meeting, get

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154621521932956132006-08-03T08:29:00.000-07:002006-08-04T09:02:36.356-07:00

Josh Wolf In Jail Er, I just found out about this and am rather sketchy on the details. In late 2004 when I was thinking about learning more about video, I met a young guy named Josh Wolf whose enthusiasm and dedication to becoming a documentarian was almost overwhelming. I quickly decided that running around with a video camera was not something I felt like doing at the time, so I only hung out

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154045652832047132006-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:002006-08-02T11:25:20.866-07:00

Awesome! My Superhero Diagnosis! And Other News! Your results:You are Wonder Woman Wonder Woman 90% Spider-Man 80% Superman 80% Supergirl 70% Robin 60% Green Lantern 60% Batman 55% The Flash 50% Hulk 50% Catwoman 45% Iron Man 35% You are a beautiful princesswith great strength of character. Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz... Aw shucks. I was barely hoping

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154049843626861952006-07-27T18:09:00.000-07:002006-08-02T11:13:34.786-07:00

Das ist tubular by Colin I got back this week from a trip to Innsbruck and Munich, the former for work and the latter for fun. Probably the best thing in Munich is the English Gardens, and probably the best thing in the English gardens is the river surfing. At the south end of the gardens (near the U.S. consulate) the river Isar flows out of an underground culvert and washes very fast down

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154035042801751632006-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:002006-07-27T14:17:22.906-07:00

Awesome! Aloo Tikki in the Financial District I knew that one of my work-hood sandwich shops, EatCetera on Market, was either owned or operated by desis. There's an older uncle and his two kids who are super friendly (as are the Latina & Latino cashiers), and there's a chicken Biryani which I can't eat, of course. I usually go for the salad bar, the hefty avacado sandwich on Dutch crunch, and

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1153895654250323022006-07-25T22:11:00.000-07:002006-07-25T23:34:14.616-07:00

I read the news today, Oh boy. . . Sorry about the blog silence. I realize it sounds tacky, but I was actually somewhat demoralized by the sudden and rather unexpected outbreak of war in the Middle East. To put it mildly, I'm not a big fan of bombs or disproportionate violence. The realization that's stuck with me for the last few days is that by the time the bombs start falling, it's kind of

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152814194286586172006-07-13T11:02:00.000-07:002006-07-13T11:10:56.956-07:00

Tubes! by Colin That wily Senator Stevens (R-AK) is at it again! Not only is he chair of the Commerce, Science and Technology committee that is reworking US law on net neutrality, he's become a techno remix icon. Do listen to this at work. And here's a nice little 3-minute video explaining net neutrality. Tubes!

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152632399162403872006-07-11T08:18:00.000-07:002006-07-11T08:39:59.233-07:00

Take Care Bombay Blasts rock commuter trains of people going home, news courtesy of the Mutiny. It's a city I've only met as a layover, but know well as a character in my mother's funny tales and many, many movies and books. The gateway to India is at the top of my destination list, and the Maximum City shines on despite rain and chaos. My prayers and wishes for the Mumbaikers. Keep an eye on

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152618645750016562006-07-11T04:44:00.000-07:002006-07-11T04:50:45.783-07:00

Moo Power by ToastyKen If you're a resident of Vermont, you can for just 4 cents more per kWh, get some of your electricity from dairy farms that burn methane from cow manure. Found this item via this /. article, where one commenter proclaimed the idea to be a complete load of BS. ;)

ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11278353058151998466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152555719668713052006-07-10T11:09:00.000-07:002006-07-10T11:48:15.063-07:00

Adieu, Zizou by Colin Like a lot of Americans who even vaguely care about soccer, I first heard of Zinedine Zidane during the 1998 World Cup, when he scored two goals in the final to beat the ur-footballers Brazil for France's first (and still only) world championship. He is a spectacular athlete, labeled by Pele as the the best player of the decade. That's why his behavior at the end of

Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152393105847912152006-07-08T14:05:00.000-07:002006-07-08T14:11:45.850-07:00

Wind-assisted Freighters by ToastyKen A German company has developed a computer-assisted sail system for large ships that uses computers to figure out the optimal route. It's supposed to be able to cut fuel costs by a third. I don't really have anything clever to say about it. I just thought that picture was really cool. :) (Well, and this is related to all that cargo container post on

ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11278353058151998466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152293689312885432006-07-07T10:19:00.000-07:002006-07-07T10:34:49.350-07:00

Electric Cars Ruchira tells us to go see Who Killed The Electric Car, a movie I also want to catch. The other day I caught a couple minutes of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on the radio; he was talking about health care but someone asked him about transport. He conceded that now he's driven around in a City chauffered vehicle, but that before he was driving an EV1 that he liked very much and

Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00348456119846472876noreply@blogger.com