Mozilla drags IE into the future with Canvas element plugin: Pretty subversive on the part of Mozilla - they are engineering parts of Firefox as ActiveX plugins that can be dropped into IE, giing IE better standards support. IE's presence in the market is really holding back web standards - so anything that makes IE more standards compliant is definitely a good thing.
Dell's Eee-killer to ship with Ubuntu preinstalled: I'm a fan of the new "netbook/subnotebook" category, but all of the machines that I've seen so far make too many compromises. This Dell looks pretty darn good, however. I'll be interested to see the price, and read the initial reviews.
Cory Doctorow: Filesharing deal will drive swapping underground: What with the success of iTunes, you'd think that the music companies would focus their efforts on selling music, instead of the ultimately futile effort to catch thieves. But the fact that I'm still linking to articles about this, in 2008, is pretty depressing.
Analysis: why Apple won't drop Intel chipsets any time soon: Like I said - I sure don't see Apple making their own chipsets, and while doing something with Nvidia is an outside possibility, it's likely that Intel is where it's at.
Firefly DVD news: Release Date, Extras for Firefly - The Complete Series on Blu-ray: More details on the impending Firefly on Blu-Ray release. Do I have a Blu-Ray player? No. A TV capable of showing HD? No. Do I want to buy this? Oh hell yes.
I think that's a pretty decent list, don't you?
-Andy.
]]>Other than that, the trip home was fine. Emirates upgraded me to business class for the Dubai to London leg, which was pretty swanky. Large 20" TV, seat the folded down flat, good food, the works.
I took a ton of photos on my trip (nearly 1,000, I think), so while I fully intend to get some online, it is going to take me awhile to do so. Especially since it appears as if I am jetlagged - so my evenings are spent in a haze where I try to force myself to stay awake, so that I can try to get on a more regular schedule. So far, it has been nice that I have been waking up early - I have taken the 7:13 am baby bullet to SF the last two days, instead of my normal 8:13 am. But like I said, my afternoons/evenings have been wiped out by exhaustion.
All in all, other than getting to India, and getting sick, the trip was pretty good. I was glad to see Pratima get married. And I was really glad to be able to spend some time with Will, Mariko, and Sebastian (and Jack!).
But now that I'm back, I have to start paying attention to all of the things that I put off until after India. ;)
-Andy.
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I took some vitamins, and hoped that a good night's sleep would stave off serious infection. Unfortunately, I barely got any sleep all night, and by morning, I felt terrible - I had a fever, runny nose, cough, and lack of appetite. After getting some water (which I had become fairly desperate for) and some food, I still wasn't feeling better. So I called Pratima's father, who put me on with his brother, who is a MD. After describing my symptoms, he sent over some prescriptions for some antibiotics, which one of the employees at the hotel got filled for me.
I spent the whole day trying to get some sleep, and waiting for the A/C to get fixed. One impressive thing about India - the place doesn't really stop. Even on a Sunday, the pharmacy was open, and the A/C repair guy was working. I'm pretty thankful for that. By about 5:00 PM it was finally less than 30 degrees C in my room, and I was able to take a nap.
I pretty much spent the next two days alternating between napping and resting, as I tried to recover from this bout of what I think was bronchitis. And that was basically the end of the India trip - I wasn't up to going to Jaipur, nor seeing any other sights in Delhi.
Luckily, by the time I was scheduled to leave, I was feeling well enough to make my flight to Dubai.
-Andy
]]>First up is Agra fort:
The fort was pretty amazing - nearly 450 years old, it is predominantly constructed from red sandstone. Much of the interior that we were allowed to see is green space now, which made for a nice contrast with the scene outside of the fort. The parts that we weren't allowed to see are apparently still being used by the Indian military.
Seeing the fort reminded me of the movie "Jodhaa Ackbar". Even though though the guide spoke hinglish, when he talked about the Rajputs and Moghuls, I at least had some minor clue what he was talking about (Aishwaria and Hrithik, right?).
After the fort, we were bused to a gift shop that was in cohoots with the tour (our guide rang up my purchases). Being white, a foreigner, and male, I was singled out to go to the "special" part of the shop, where they tried to sell me the real expensive stuff, that they don't waste their time trying to sell to their fellow countrymen. Needless to say, once again I proved to be a disappointment - no big ticket items were purchased.
After the shopping experience, we were buses to town for lunch, and then it was off to the Taj:
I actually wasn't expecting too much from the Taj Mahal, but I must admit that I was impressed. There is another fort that surrounds the Taj - not as big as Agra fort, but still impressive. It was a beautiful day, and there were a lot of people there. But yet, walking around the grounds surrounding the Taj, I wasn't bothered by the crowds.
To approach the Taj, you have to be barefoot. Alternatively, because I paid the grossly inflated foreigner price, I was given some booties that I could slip over my shoes. Which really came in handy, because the mid-afternoon sun made the marble quite hot.
Inside, there actually wasn't that much to see. And of course it was crowded, but it is a much tighter space, which made that more of an issue. But still, there were some impressive marble carvings to be seen on the inside. And the central dome is pretty amazing.
We were given 75 minutes to see the Taj, which included travel time from the parking lot to the gate, and time spent buying the ticket and going through security. When all was said and done, I had less than an hour. I would have liked a bit more time, but I was able to cover almost everything in that time.
Of course, I took a ton of pictures with my non-iPhone camera, so expect more after I get a chance to do some sorting and uploading.
Andy
]]>I tried to get a shot of him in the air with the iPhone camera, and this was about the best that I could do:
Andy
So like I said, Pratima and Ravi covered all of their bases. It was interesting talking with people as it was going on - not everybody knew what every part was, because specific wedding customs vary by region and caste. And it's not like you can simply listen to the priest and discern what is going on, because he was chanting in Sanskrit.
Here is a rundown of the specific sub-ceremonies that were explained to me:
• Ravi was to pretend that he didn't want to get married, and that instead he wanted to further his studies in some other town. It was up to Niranjan (Pratima's older brother) to convince Ravi to stay and marry Pratima.
• A sheet was draped in front of Ravi, so that he couldn't see his bride as she took her place on the pedestal. Because of course, up until this point, Pratima and Ravi have never seen each other. It's kind of like a reality show - at the stroke of 9:34 (the auspicious time), the curtain is lifted and there is the big reveal -- your new spouse!
• A flame was setup, and Ravi's clothes were tied to Pratima's sari. They walked around he flame 6 times, Ravi first, representing the 6 times in the marriage when Pratima will obey Ravi. Then they walked around a seventh time, with Pratima in the lead. This represents that Ravi will obey for the rest of the time (the woman alwas gets the last word!). Actually, I thought that this was really supposed to represent the 7 lifetimes that Pratima and Ravi will spend together. I heard both explanations, but the first one is funnier.
• They played a game where the priest would throw a ring into a bucket of water and they competed to see who could get the ring first. Pratima was kicking butt, which Ravi didn't like, so it actually got pretty competitve at the end. ;) This was to symbolize the new couple getting to know each other.
That's about all that I can remember. If you're curious to know more, I suggest asking Pratima. :)
Andy
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Which provides as good of an opportunity as any to talk about he weather here in Delhi. So far, it hadn't rained nearly as much as I was anticipating - yesterday afternoon and today have been fine.
And it has been hot, but that's not the full story - the humidity is *amazing*. Growing up in Chicagoland, I have some experience with heat and humidity, but so far, I think that Delhi puts that to shame.
It doesn't really cool off much at night either, which stinks when the a/c is on the fritz. What's amazing is that almost everyone I see is wearing long pants and long sleeves. As if my whiteness didn't give me away as being a tourist, my shorts certainly seal the deal.
Andy
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Chair, desk, and window
Beds - just a thin mattress on the wooden frame. It was quite firm.
TV, desk
Bathroom
As an example, take the auto-rickshaw. I wanted to go to a tour group office several Km from the hotel. But process of hiring an auto-rickshaw, however, is totally foreign to me. The basic procedure appears to be: wander around an area that rickshaws frequent. If you see one without a passenger, wave or shout at the driver. The rickshaw drivers all have keen senses of detection - they can pick out attention focused on them as they whiz by. They will stop, and then you will haggle over the details of your proposed trip. If the driver accepts, hop in and off you go. If not, it's off to find the next rickshaw that you can.
Needless to say, If someone at the hotel hadn't done the hiring for me, I certainly wouldn't have tried it myself.
So, having friends in India is almost a necessity. I have gotten fortunate that Pratima's dad picked a trustworthy place for me, that can help me out. But if you can, I suggest travelling with a local, better known as a babysitter.
-Andy
]]>In the mean time, my impression of Delhi so far is - hot. The A/C unit in my hotel room isn't really bringing the noise, so I enjoyed some fitful rest in a free sauna. At least I got to lay down - haven't been in a proper bed for over 3 days. Hopefully things will get fixed for tonight, so that I'll be able to get my first good night's sleep in I don't know how long.
I've already been bitten by my first Indian mosquito. I stepped out of my room this morning for breakfast in the common area, and got clipped. So malaria, here I come. I'm going to need to be a lot more aggressive with the mosquito repellant - I thought I could get by with using it just when I went out, but basically outside of my room, I'm going to need it.
Because of all of my flight issues, I reached India nearly 20 hours later than I initially planned. I was supposed to wake up crazy early this morning to go to a day trip to Agra, but I scrapped that because I figured that I would be tired. So now I'm going to have to do a little bit of juggling, and figure out how I'm going to spend the rest of my time here in India.
-Andy
]]>The tv selection was even more impressive - tons of shows, each with multiple episodes to choose from. I watched at least 6 classic Simpsons episodes, and there were more available that I didn't watch. There is enough video content alone that you could fly emirates daily for months and not repeat yourself. Yet, the kid sitting in the row in front of me watched "Kung-Fu Panda" at least 4 times. Go figure.
Also pretty amazing was the navigation system. Not only did it show the location of the plane, speed, altitude, etc. but he system also allowed access to a real-time feed from two externally-mounted cameras - one facing front, the other facing straight down. It was extremely cool to watch takeoff an landing from the pilot's point of view.
Anyways, I mostly tried to sleep on the 12+ hour flight to Dubai (to mild success), but it as nice to watch "The Simpsons" during meal time.
Andy
]]>Andy
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