Relocating to Mars, anyone?

NASA scientists have analyzed soil on the Martian surface using equipment on Phoenix Lander, and found it to have enough minerals to support earth plants.  It may even be possible for it to support microbes below the surface.  On the surface of Mars, they obviously don’t expect any microbes because it is fully exposure to UV radiation in the absence of sufficient atmosphere.

 

Go to http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=martian-soil-fit-for-earthly-life&sc=rss for more details.

 

I am not a lady

An open letter

Dear colleague,

I want to make it clear for the second time that I am a woman. I am a female member of the human species. I am NOT a “lady”.

Today was the umpteenth time I saw you use the word “ladies” to refer to your female colleagues. I felt like hitting you on the head but since that might disqualify me from actually being a lady in the 1920s sense of the word, I stopped myself.

Instead, I decided to be helpful. For your reference, here is a guide on the correct usage of the word lady. You may use the word when referring to:

1. Members of English aristocracy
2. Women over 70
3. Women who are doing something crazy, as in “Lady, are you nuts?”
4. As a reprimand, usually preceded by the word “young”: “Young lady, how many times have I told you not to hit your male colleagues?”

I assume you thought it would be more “respectful” in some old-fashioned way to refer to women as “ladies”. But by using this word in a clearly artificial manner, you actually made it quite clear that you don’t quite know how to deal with women colleagues as equals. Why else would you say things like:

• Each team should have 11 players with a minimum of 2 ladies and max of 9 gents
• Opening batting pair should have at least 1 lady
• First over must be bowled by a lady and faced by a lady
• And so on
  

Or perhaps I have misunderstood the whole thing. Maybe this is a costume party cum cricket match. I wonder whether any Bangalore theatre groups carry Victorian-era gowns.

Here’s a thought: If you think calling a woman a woman is too matter-of-fact, maybe you can call us the “XX chromosomed” humans. At least it will be accurate. Then your invitation for cricket would read something like this:

• Each team should have players with a total of 13 X and 9 Y chromosomes
• Opening batting pair must be exclusively X chromosomed
• No Y chromosomes allowed in first over bowling and batting
• Etc.

Yours sincerely,
A woman

Privacy matters

Today I need a “proof of employment” letter from my employer. Upon putting in the request, the first question I got asked was “what for?”. To put this in perspective, “proof of employment” letters in India are demanded for everything – whether it is filing for a visa, applying for a credit card, a phone-line, renting an apartment, anything. In essence, they act as proof of who you say you are, and they are demanded by everyone. The only person who hasn’t asked me for one yet is an auto-driver.

Now, my employer has a policy of asking why it is needed. Why is it my employer’s business? If I am doing something illegal, clearly I can fabricate a letter of employment without going to my employer. If I am doing something legal, why invade my privacy?

I don’t know if this is true of other companies but my company asks all kinds of intrusive questions and publishes this information to random people. For example, every time a direct report of mine wants to order an official taxi, s/he has to submit a form online (all our internal systems are automated). In that form, the person has to put in what kind of taxi, from where to where, etc. But the form also automatically (using employment records) adds several more pieces of information – e.g. the age. This information come to me every time. Why on earth do I need to be informed and continuously reminded of the age of my team members? Worse, this information + the person’s full title + employment band is sent to the Taxi company! So, if a taxi company wants to target someone for mischief, they can easily figure out which person probably has a higher net worth based on band and title. Wonderful! The taxi company knows your seniority, where you live, your home line, your mobile, etc.

What about safety, security, or even a bit of simple privacy?

Waste not... (or at least seggregate)

A detailed blog on waste...

Reading Time

I was at the Crossword bookstore yesterday, at Strands a couple days ago, at Blossom's a couple of weeks ago... None of the bookstores in Bangalore, it seems, cater to avid readers. Crossword was selling "A Thousand Shining Suns" and Alan Greenspans books as "new arrivals". Strands still had The World is Flat on display. Blossoms had nothing new worth reading. They seem to think that accounts of people graduating through IIMs make for literature. And why there is a sudden explosion of books on this topic is beyond me.
Cleary, I am not their target customer.
I go through at least one book a week, sometimes more. So I am stuck with re-reading old books I have. Also, these bookstores completely fail in exposing someone like me to new authors. You can't really go and browse in these stores in the hopes of finding something interesting to read.
Buying from Amazon costs a bundle -- not just the shipping to India, but also the price of the books themselves. The books that I buy cost 300-600 rupees, or $8-15. On Amazon, the same books are $17-$28. Plus if I want to save the shipping cost, I have to wait for continent-hopping friends to bring the books here.
The bookstores here don't stock the books I want to read, and nor do they offer any alternates that I find interesting. Some days I really miss Barnes and Noble. And Amazon.