I’ve been working on the SPAM filters on a few domains I manage. I should of blocked the bad bounce messages, unfortunately in the process I accidentally disabled a few of my mail filters for a short period of time. Now though it should be blocking most spam again.
By the way would any of the people with ahill.com emails be interested in using their email addresses through gmail?
There is a new law in India called The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act which enables women in India to have recourse against most kinds of domestic violence. Physical violence was already covered somewhat but this new law covers physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse, not just for wives but all women living in the house with the man. It is quite broad but in a country where there are many many “stove explosions” and other similar accidents causing serious injury and death to women I think it’s a great idea. You can read more about it here and here
Already someone has logged a caseusing the new law.
Last night Wes and I went out to a Korean restaurant with a guy from church. It was a hidden unmarked place that you would never find if you didn’t know it existed. Once inside I could no longer tell I was India. It was totally Korean, they even had waiter call bells. They served us a feast, almost a dozen side dishes shared between the three of us in addition to our mains. My main was a Korean beef dish served in a box with rice and seaweed. It was very nice. We also had some good conversation and it was a really fun night out.
Just read an interesting news piece on abstinence sex education and pledges in the US. It noted that 88 percent of pledge takers had sex before marriage and that were less likely to seek STI testing and less likely to use contraception when they did have sex. You can read more about it here.
Should I stop my dealings with my thin client vendor if he does his 3rd consecutive no show today?
Today’s special dosa at Sagar South Indian was the Mangalore Dosa, and it was very very good.
Last night was Diwalli, and it went off! Last night walking around Delhi with Wes, Kate, and Sara(two people from Wes’ organisation) it felt like we were in a war zone. There were explosions every few seconds, such fun. Looking into the sky one could see fireworks in every direction. We went for a walk around our neighbourhood and we made some friends at a little neighbourhood park. We were given sweets by them and watched the families children let off fireworks for a while. After that we headed back home, dodging some of the more violent fireworks. It was a bit insane as there were cars still driving down when projectile fireworks were being sent across the road. On the way we passed a fireworks stand on the way back and I decided to buy some fireworks. When we got back home we lit them with some of the kids in our alleyway. It was good fun, and it was the most we have interacted with our neighbours. They also sent us some sweets when we went back to our apartment. The explosions continued into the wee hours of the morning here and there has been a small amount more today.
I’ll post some photos in my gallery some time this week.
Today is Diwalli, the festival of light in Delhi. It’s kind of like the Hindu version of Christmas, but with lots and lots of fireworks. The past few days there have been lots of little explosions from fireworks which people have been playing with. Tonight we are going to go out for a walk and watch some of the fireworks.
Bob Dylan is so good. Such a poet. Though I know why I avoided him, in less then a year I have brought 8 Bob Dylan albums not including the best of I brought. He is a dangerous artist for a collector I tell you.
I think I need a t-shirt from India that says the following:
I come from Australia
I am not married
I cook my own meals
I think that covers many of the questions I get out.
Tiffany tagged me on her blog and so because I love a good quiz I am doing it.
1. ONE BOOK THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
M Scott Peck’s Road Less Travelled.
Reading this book in cafes and auto-rickshaws in Delhi taught me so much. The ideas this book presents on love mental health and grace are really powerful.
2. SOME BOOKS YOU HAVE READ MORE THAN ONCE?
Harry Potter Series
There is nothing quite like immersing oneself in a world of fantasy. These books are so easy to read too, a nice big security blanket.
and
Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho
I love the main relationship in this book. The only let down was the ending, so i just wrote my own instead. (Note to self do that more often)
3. ONE BOOK YOU WOULD WANT ON A DESERT ISLAND?
The Lord Of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
It is masterpiece of fiction and I’d finally have enough time to fully understand it and read the appendices.
4. ONE BOOK THAT MADE YOU LAUGH?
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
A book with real soul, filled with the great insights of a boy with autism. Read it!
5. ONE BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?
These Hills Called Home by Temsula Ao
A tragic collection of short stories from the insurgency in Nagaland.
and
If I were rain by Nanni Sing
A great collection of pictures of India’s urban poor children.
6. ONE BOOK YOU WISH YOU HAD WRITTEN?
God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
It’s a real classic filled with insights and imagery.
7. ONE BOOK YOU WISH HAD NEVER BEEN WRITTEN?
Hmm.. The book my lecturer for circuit analysis made me buy. It was a poorly written book by him I guess it was cheap but I never managed to understand that subject.
8. BOOK(S) YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING?
Wise & Otherwise by Sudha Murty
This is a collection of short true stories collected by an Indian author.
The Different Drum by M. Scott Peck
This book looks at what true community is and how to build it.
9. ONE BOOK YOU HAVE BEEN MEANING TO READ?
Observing the user experience by Kuniasky
I am rather interested in usability and think that it’s a good first step to appropriate technology. Alas I haven’t been programming much lately and so I haven’t bothered reading it. I wonder if I’ll ever program regularly again. There are so many text book style things I mean to read, but I find fiction so much more interesting… I so should of been an Arts student.
10. ONE BOOK YOU’RE GLAD YOU OWN?
Bible
It’s good to turn back to the good old fashioned Word. However difficult it may be to work out sometimes what it all means I reckon it still has things to say.
11. ONE BOOK THAT MUST BE READ ALOUD?
I can’t think of any of hand, but children’s picture books really should be. Preferably by them, so cute.
I was chatting to Wes today and we are starting to get that feeling that things might just come together with the IT Systems for the Hospital. It’s interesting because we have gotten to the point where we can visualise what the complete system is going to look like. I tell you what it’s going to be pretty funky.
We are going to have so many layers of redundancy, thin clients, a huge 42RU rack, 4 1RU Servers, patch bays, a MySql Cluster and our own custom hospital database application that Wes has been slaving away on day and night. His application really shows the power of the modern web application, using barcode scanners, and printers all from within the webpage. We even have one person employed as an IT guy.
Unfortunately all this is about where we both would of liked to of been about 6-12 months ago.
There is still so much work to do.. *SIGH*
Watching Rap on Indian TV is quite amusing, as they bleep out every swear word so often most of the song is just a series of beeps. It really is quite funny.
I was just looking at something I got from a bank in India, and it has a stamp of the “Intimate Service Station”. I am interested as to what intimate banking service entails. I love Indian English!
