To us, here and now, it appears thus

Flickr, a mature online photo-sharing product from yahoo with clean looks, nice features and a decent enough free-version. Now comapre that to zooomr, something which has a prediliction for being in beta for a long time, has a more cluttered user interface and misses some important features of flickr.

Then why do I like zooomr better than flickr? Is it a geek thing or is it just me? (A more meaningful and useful comparision of the two later).

Shameless plug : Here is my flickr page and my zooomr page.  If thats not enough, I torture myself in coming up with small photo-essays here (link).
Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.

In this alarming article in MSNBC, Mike Ratiff answers the question in the affirmative. Even though this applies only to American institutions of higher education, I’m sure the situation is only slightly different here in India. I’ve blogged about my feelings regarding this issue before.

But one thing that sure did catch my eye was this about negative learning.

We were startled by the extent of what we call “negative learning.” When courses are not offered or required, the students forget what they knew when they entered as freshmen

I’ve seen this phenomena happen right before my eyes. Many of my friends in college who even though were genuinely smart, let their skills atrophy and were dumbfounded when tackling problems that inevitably required those skills. What was the most alarming part of all that was their sheer callousness in their attitude. Even when I pointed out that they were things that they had learnt in high school, they behaved as if it was entirely natural to forget the important skills and basic knowledge that was supposed to be the foundation on which higher education was built.

Though their attitude is partly culpable, I for one, put the blame squarely on the staff and faculty who have pretty much the same attitude. Its a sad state of affairs here and unless something drastic happens the future seems pretty bleak to me.

Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.

While I was at CAIR (Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics) I was amazed at the irreverance towards hardware. There were computers, mini-towers, powersupplies, office copiers almost everywhere and they were using it for all sorts of purposes. From quick paper-stands to the kitchen sink.

But when ever you see a nice spick and span datacenters, with airconditioned looks on prime realestate, You wonder what they are housing there - a utility or endangered animal species. Computers and primarily datacenters are utilities and they should be treated with the same kind of irreverance that you treat your diesel generator or air-conditioning condensor with. Put them in some hidden corner, devoid of human intervention. There were netware systems that could do this for years, to think modern systems couldn’t is foolishness.

And finally sun has realised this and is trying to create a market niche in precisely this segment with their blackbox servers. They are built out of a standardised shipping container. It already reeks of “Made In China“. This is a step in the right direction, lets see where this takes Sun.

(Link).

Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.

Sometimes, working with some really crazy and talented people like I do, intimidates you. But I’m not sure how a lowly intern would face this guy - Eric Billingsley, who used to design nuclear power plants and is now e-bay’s top developer.

Here is an interview of him with the scobelizer. (link)

Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.

Here are a few shots of my cichlids.

You can see all her stripes, bright and bold. She was scared off when I tried to take her picture with a flash and wouldn’t pose when I came near her with the camera. So all you can see is her not posing. Too bad I had to take it without the flash.

In this one she is a bit more calm. Uprooting the filter always seems to calm her.

Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.

This is the second in the series about aquariums, where I disseminate whatever knowledge I’ve gained from my aquarium hobby.

Anyway, for anyone getting started on aquariums is to keep two things in mind. How much work you are willing to put in (because it really takes some effort to keep up a good aquarium) and secondly how much money you are willing to spend on your aquarium. And, like in any other hobby the more money you put in, the less work you have to do. Unless you plan on hiring someone for aquarium maintenance, don’t expect zero work aquariums. No pain, no gain.

And to start with, the most important of all components of a successful aquarium is the fish tank. Its where you will be housing your fishes and there are so many sizes, types and shapes to chose from that it could drive most amateurs crazy. So, here are some tips and information about getting started with the most important component in this hobby.

In general there are two types of fish tanks. The ones made of glass and the ones made of acrylic. The acrylic ones are light weight and don’t break too easily but their major disadvantage is that they cost a lot. Really lot. A small acrylic aquarium (25L) could easily set you back by at least 7000 Rs. So unless you are doing interior decorations for a rich client or have lots of cash to burn acrylics are out of the question. The other type is the ubiquitous glass fish tanks. They are hard, cheap, easily available, don’t scratch easily and can be easily replaced. On their disadvantages, they are heavy, brittle and need some maintenance on part of the owner. But in terms of value for money, glass easily wins over acrylic. At Least till the prices of acrylic tank comes down.

The second most important thing is the size of the fish tank. The size depends on a lot of factors, like the number of fish you are planning to keep, whether you chose to have it planted or not and how much time you are willing to spend on maintenance of the aquarium. One common misconception regarding the size of the fish tank is that smaller ones are easier to maintain. But in practice, if you want to keep at least more than 2-3 fishes, the bigger the tank, the easier its to maintain. There are lots of reasons for this. Bigger tanks contain more water and hence don’t get polluted too easily and you can get away with doing ten percent water changes a week without affecting the fish in the tank. They also have lots of surface area for gaseous exchange. So they can be kept for longer when the power goes out and your filters and air pumps aren’t working without stressing out your fish too much. Another big advantage of a bigger tank is that you can make up lots of holes, small caves and other hiding space for you fish and still have lots of room to view them. Its a win-win deal. So, if you plan on having a reasonable number fishes, go big.

I will suggest a minimum of 50L aquarium for 15 small to medium sized fishes (guppies, tetras, small cichlids, mollies, etc..). For bigger fish, like bigger cichlids, catfish or other large fishes start with at least a 200L tank. The bigger tanks are especially important if you plan to keep aggressive fishes like some cichlids, red-tailed sharks etc.. It gives them lots of space to establish territories. Also many of the bigger fish are especially messy and when kept in small tanks tend to pollute the tanks very quickly. So, more the volume, the longer it takes to pollute it. So, lesser maintenance on your part.

And the last factor regarding tanks is their shape. Though many people think the shape matters only for aesthetic reasons, it is not the case. Shape of tanks can also depend on a lot of factors. One thing to realize is that the shapes bring the volume/surface area trade off. Square tanks have more surface area for the same volume, but since all dimensions are equal, unless you get a big enough tank, you are better off getting longer tanks. Also, rectangular tanks cost lesser. Other thing is the height of the tank. Tanks which have obtuse shapes can tend to be a lot taller because they can distribute the weight of the water over much of the glass surface, but rectangular ones can’t get too tall because water pressure increases with the height of the tank and puts a lot of stress on the glass walls. Hexagonal tanks seem to be around, but are usually costlier though they can have a lot more water in a smaller space and can get a lot taller for the same thickness of glass.

So the things you have to keep in mind when choosing the shape are the volume of the tank, the surface area and the cost. The cost is very important because, you can probably spend the money on much more important tank accessories rather than getting a fancy shape. So, for cost-benefit reasons, rectangular/square tanks are the best. So I guess that’s enough gyan about fish tanks for now. Keep these little tips in mind before you plan on getting a fish tank and you will end up with a good setup and a colorful aquarium.

Signing Off,
Vishnu Vyas.