kashyapc

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by kashyapc 7y ago
[Funny, in a nice way, to see Ghent, the city I live mentioned here.] Speaking of the Altar Piece by Van Eyck, soon (01-Feb to 30-Apr 2020) there's going to be "the largest Van Eyck exhibition ever"[1]: In 2020, the Museum o
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Personally, a lot of notes I write down everyday are inspiring thoughts and ideas from the books I'm reading. Something about the rotary motion of pen on paper, and the way it deliberately focuses my thoughts helps me recall them bett
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Ah, thank you for correcting (and also for quoting the relevant bit). That's one hell of an obscure reference. :-) To complete the digression (from the same Wiki): ... the wine often receives mixed opinions with wine experts ... descr
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by kashyapc 7y ago
What is "EST"? I know it's not the timezone. Given the frantic exclamation marks, probably it is "Everyone Stands Together" (had to look up: "EST + Urban Dictionary").
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by kashyapc 7y ago
A delightful book I've been savouring over several months: Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts [1]. Let's hear from the abstract: "[...] The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate c
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Not my own answer, but here's a fun story from the always-fascinating Robert Sapolsky (renowned neuroscientist, author, and a beloved teacher) telling us about how he got into writing[1]. (NB: it's a transcript of a verbal conver
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Be careful, it's only the priming -related chapter (called 'The Associative Machine' in the book) that put "too much faith in underpowered studies". Not the entire book! Take six months to slow-read it. The book is
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by kashyapc 7y ago
FWIW, a couple of books that have helped—and continue to help—me write better: • On Writing Well [1], by the inimitable William Zinsser • Clear and Simple as the Truth [2], by Thomas and Turner I've written some more about the above
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by kashyapc 7y ago
I've read the article in full. It raises an important point, but it's indeed a laborious read. As I read it, the haunting paragraph from The Elements of Style came to mind: " Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is conci
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by kashyapc 7y ago
On the importance of "play"— From one of the books I'm currently reading ( Blueprint, The evolutionary Origins of a Good Society , by Nicholas Christakis — itself a great read), I learnt of an interesting book reference: Hom
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Speaking of Comics Books ... this morning I began the excellent treatise on Comics as a medium (some of you surely would know this): Understanding Comics [1] by Scott McCloud. The book itself is written in a comic book form, with black and
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by kashyapc 7y ago
CentOS is a community project, with Red Hat's backing. You don't go willy-nilly trample on a community. And Red Hat definitely "knows better" on dealing with open source communities more than most. I feel a lot of it b
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by kashyapc 7y ago
As alecco says in this thread, it is indeed a hardcore scientist who studied sleep for twenty years trying to communicate to a wider audience. I'll cut him a lot of slack. Also, not sure if you've seen Walker speak (do check
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Two weeks ago I heard a very interesting EconTalk podcast[1] by Sabine Hossenfelder on Physics, Reality, and Lost in Math . Hossenfelder herself is a theoretical physicist, and researches quantum gravity. And a Research Fellow at the Frank
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by kashyapc 7y ago
By any stretch I'm not "blown over" by Pinker's work, but calling him "most uninformed" is uncharitable. Sure he has his blind spots, and sometimes gets carried away and says things that are not at all in his w
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by kashyapc 7y ago
While I don't agree with everything Pinker says, I must say, Pinker's point on "Drop the Nietsche" in his book, Enlightenment Now, did influence me: Keep some perspective. Not every problem is a Crisis, Plague, Epidemic
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Appreciate this; thanks! On the misuse of the word "literally", I wholeheartedly agree with the following reader comment from an excellent EconTalk podcast, "John McWhorter on the Evolution of Language and Words on the Move&q
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by kashyapc 7y ago
That's the only approach that strikes as a credible way forward, in the long run. Especially so, when the research is taxpayer-funded. (I'm obviously biased to that approach, as someone being professionally involved in the open s
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Ah, missed that detail. Nice work :-)
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by kashyapc 7y ago
There was a very interesting thread on this topic here some weeks ago [991 points; 287 comments]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20503194 — "How to assess the quality of garments (2014)"
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Also, related: https://www.opensourceecology.org/ From their About page: We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made for a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free. The go
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Some three years ago, I had the exact same experience—except that it was a high-end telescope at the observatory, with an equatorial mount and all other gear. I was mesmerized enough that I did a silly thing: pointed my Nexus 5's came
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by kashyapc 7y ago
The official URL from the ESA (European Space Agency) / Hubble Information Centre newsletter was: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1917/
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by kashyapc 7y ago
I don't know, still, most people's "psychological setup" isn't wired to handle this kind of manipulation on a frequent basis, even if "designed/implemented it faithfully". It would just make the web
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Yeah, I was listening to it (haven't finished it yet) where he did admit the title could've been more neutral.
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Speaking of reading and retention, there was a controversial article titled: "Why books don't work"[1]. It was also recently discussed here on HN[2]. As a serious reader, I took "offense" at first the sweeping title
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by kashyapc 7y ago
On "MS loves open source" ... I'm a long-time Red Hatter, and it's been nearly 12 years (or maybe more) since I installed a Windows Desktop. With that out of the way ... I see what you mean (some of it might well be orc
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by kashyapc 7y ago
I wouldn't recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude for a novice reader -- that's quite a heavy book to start with. You (I had to) have to also constantly refer to the large family tree at the beginning of the book, as people ar
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by kashyapc 7y ago
I originally come from India; now live in Western Europe. I used the term "calligraphy" (although, my scribbling doesn't deserve that term) because that's what the book I'm learning from (mentioned earlier) calls it
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by kashyapc 7y ago
Speaking of handwriting ... I recently took up Copperplate (also called "English Roundhand") calligraphy. It is one of the oldest European scripts, originated in 17th century England. Here are a couple of samples from my practice

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