Having your cake ... and eating it too! 3 Operating Systems in 1

It's very hard to have your cake and eat it too, so to speak - but not in the case of Operating Systems! A while back, I had blogged about Ubuntu and how it is as good, if not better than Windows for everyday use.

While Ubuntu (10.04) has served me well as a server, it still had its issues in terms of general user acceptability. After all, everyone is so used to the Windows look and feel that it is hard for them to see a slimmer version with better functionality. Mac as always has its fans for its cool docking bar at the bottom and the jumping icons, but the rest of the OS is not necessarily useful, save for the artistically inclined.

But what if there is something that has the best of all three worlds? Wouldn't it be cool? For years, Mac users on Windows have used different themes to make Windows look like a Mac. I don't think the reverse is true - for that matter, I am not even sure if there are themes for Mac. In any case, beauty is only skin deep and what counts is the stuff within. However, no one said no to a good looking skin on a good looking body, right?!

Enter a few additions to Ubuntu that makes it not only look like Mac but also like Windows, at the same time! And you can do this three simple steps.

1. Install the latest Ubuntu (10.04)
2. Install Awn (Avant Window Navigator) via Ubuntu Software Center. This will add the very nice Mac Dockbar with all its features
3. Install Win2-7 pack from Gnomelook.org. This will completely change the theme of Ubuntu to make it look exactly like Windows 7!

Normally with Windows, most themes hog memory like crazy and slow the system down, but thanks to Ubuntu's underlying sound architecture, there seems to be barely an effect on the system performance with this theme.

Who says I can't have my cake and eat it too?!

Independence from our actions

Today is India's day of independence from the British rule in 1947, paving way for India to become the largest democracy in the world. News sites and TV channels in India have been running 'specials' about the Independence a few days before things get back to status quo. While India has achieved independence from external influences, I don't think we can achieve full independence till we are free of our own actions and behaviors. Let me explain.

Yesterday, I attended a function in a temple here in USA. The preparation for the function was excellent complete with a very artistically done rangoli (an art made of colored powder, typically made of rice flour, turmeric, or other such ingredients). As with many other temples, photography and videography using any device is prohibited in the main area and numerous warning signs/requests are posted all around.

Even with all this, I still saw one person (at least) who was busy taking pictures of both the art as well as the rest of the temple (including the main deity). While she did stop taking the pictures when the signs (that were quite obvious) were pointed out to her, it made me wonder why she did it in the first place.

The argument I can imagine coming from her is - "The art is very beautiful. I may not be coming here any time soon. So I want to capture it for my personal reference" - the argument is not unlike one made when downloading a song from a file share site. "What is the harm if I do something just for my own sake?"

In the book Diffusion of Innovations, the author refers to this argument as the "Tragedy of Commons", attributed to Garrett Hardin. The core of the dilemma is "Each individual pursuing a rational course of behavior that ironically drives the entire system to disaster", which to me, is what is ailing India at this point - the notion that our small actions will not have an impact on the greater system. Such behavior is obvious in various strata of life - be it giving a small bribe to the traffic cop when making an illegal move, not adhering to the posted rules, or improperly disposing trash, and so on. While it is true that the tragedy of commons is a complex solution that involves both system-level corrective actions as well as individual, there are some steps that can be taken without resorting to a system blame.

To me, when someone violates simple rules that can otherwise be observed without significant ramnifications for purely selfish reasons, they lose all rights to complain about the larger system, since they are effectively contributing to the larger system's downfall in their own capacity. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Tipping Point, refers to the broken windows theory - if a window is broken in a house and not repaired, it slowly propagates a level of carelessness or apathy within the system that eventually makes the whole neighborhood look rundown. This is especially very visible in India in the form of street litter, to take one example.

What it seems is required is not just freedom from external influences, but really freedom from our own internal actions - be it adhering to a "No Photography" sign in a temple or doing what it takes to get our work done without succumbing to bribery. The "Tragedy of Commons" can also be turned around in its head to become "Wisdom of Crowds" - if each of us adhere to rules as much as we can (and as much as it makes sense), we can help make the system better - eventually.

As they say, "charity begins at home".

Independence is about hope - hope for a better life and a better world - let's hope that we achieve independence, not just from external actions, but also those of our own that are not desirable.

Will we ever be alone with our thoughts again?

For the last few weeks, I have been heads-down reading a book I had abandoned half way through a few years back. A classic in its field, the book is called Diffusion of Innovations, a book that I think I came across through a citation in the more popular Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I am glad I picked up the book and more importantly, was able to finally finish reading it! I gained some very interesting insights which I hope to share with you in the upcoming posts.

In the meanwhile, as part of my daily browsing ritual, I came across this interesting article in Gizmodo. Needless to say, the picture was a huge incentive for me to click through the article although it had very little to do with the post itself (clever marketing ploy, I must admit!) What kept me reading through the article however, like any movie with a flashy promotion, the content itself, which resonated strongly with me.

Back in the days when technology was a luxury rather than part of life, I used to spend (and probably so did you) generally daydreaming or just plain lost in thoughts. Some of my fond memories of childhood involved creating stuff out of clay with my cousin, inventing new games, or just lying down under the shade of a tree for hours. However, of late, my every spare minute is mostly consumed with checking Facebook, Blackberry, or browsing aimlessly though I know that there is nothing to check and there is no new message that is life-threatening.

While I don't think I have degraded to the extremes mentioned in the article, I have been guilty of sneaking a glance at my Blackberry while at a signal, walking from the car to the store, or checking for messages that are not there when the person I am with is on another call or simply stepped out for a minute.

As much as the new age of connectivity is trying to bring people together, I think it is also prying us apart from our inner thoughts, which I don't think is a good thing. As Elizabeth Gilbert said in her TED talk, sometimes inspiration comes in waves and to me it's many times when you are lost in thought or even just alone. By letting the waves pass us by because we are already consumed with the Pavlovian pings of the Blackberry, I think we lose golden opportunities to get innovative and get in touch with ourselves and wonder if we, or our future generations will slowly start losing this process of thinking long term and instead get lost in the then and the now.

While I can hear my wife saying "I told you so" behind my back, I think it is important to take some time out and just be lost in our thoughts so that we can find ourselves once again.

In the end, I want to leave you with one image from my favorite artist, that sums up the feeling.

Tweaking thought-less designs

Bad design usually sticks like a sore thumb. By design, I am not talking about IT-centric designs such as user interfaces for Blackberry, iPhone, etc. I am talking about design that is a part of what we interact with in our everyday lives - beds, sofas, doors, streets, and so on. Every element that we interact was designed by someone, for good for bad. Bad designs are easy to find, such as narrow streets, buildings with only one exit, etc.

However, design that is not so bad but at the same time could be better is not easy to find. It is more like an irritant. We know that something is wrong, but we can't quite place it. It may gnaw our minds for the few minutes before and after we interact with it and goes away till we interact with the same piece again. Recently, I came across such a design that prompted me to write this post. Now, I am not really ranting about the design (although blogs are rants in most cases). Instead, I am posting this to see if any of you who come over here have experienced such nagging as well and hopefully knowing that the nag has a reason may help you be more at peach - a noble goal indeed!

The design in question is simple - a restroom. Rather, the sign to a restroom. The picture below is the corridor in my office building that I rarely visit. By looking at it (the viewpoint from when you get into the corridor), can you figure out where the restroom is?

I had the same issue. While thankfully I was not in a hurry to reach the said destination, it did take me a wrong turn and some careful looking on either side to find the right place (the different gender rooms are on either side of the entrance).  Of course, there is a nice little universal sign in front of the door that indicates my destination. However, I could not see it until I was right in front of the door.

While this design is in general adequate and acceptable, it could have been made a lot better with just a simple tweak - make the sign perpendicular to the door so that it sticks out in the corridor (probably near the ceiling so that it does not hit someone in the face). This way, it will be fairly easy for someone to know where the restroom is without having to look at each and every door! It does not really cost much to make this change, but can make a difference in simple comfort.

Another example I have seen is the way doors swing in a cafeteria. For example, it's probably more useful to set up the doors such that you push when getting out of the cafeteria and pull when you are going in. This way, if you have your hands full with food, you just push the door. However, I have seen this being done the other way.

I am sure if we look into the software we write or use everyday, such simple to fix issues can be found in many places that only required a little extra effort to make a difference. Some good books to read in this regard are The Universal Principles of Design and The Design of Everyday Things. Hopefully it helps in increasing your attention to detail. It definitely helped for me.

Can you think of such minor annoyances for which you could see some simple fixes that would make just the difference required? Please post a comment.

Eggless Date Cake Recipe

It's rare to have a fairly large family event for me, especially when away from my home country and when most of my relatives are spread far and wide here. So, I was quite enthusiastic when we (my wife and I) invited a few of our relatives along with their parents for a nice family time. Since all of us were reasonable food enthusiasts, we wanted to make some good food for all. The appetizers (veggie shish kebab, Bombay Chaats - Sev, Bhel, and Pani puris, Watermelon Juice), and entree (mixed veg pilaf, mint-coriander-cucumber raita, and lemon rasam, and yogurt with flattened rice) were all sorted out. The issue came when we tried to come up with a good dessert. Most in the group did not eat egg, and we were finding it difficult to come up with one that did not have any.

Cookies were an option, but we had a kid in the group who was not too keen on it. I thought of making some cupcakes that I had tried earlier, but finding a good eggless cupcake proved more complicated than I realized. There were quite a few vegan cupcake recipes, but somehow they were not appealing.

So, while looking around in the Internet in the last minute, I came across, Madhuram's Eggless Cooking website.The site had a Date Cake which looked quite interesting, especially since we had a bunch of Mejdool Dates my wife had brought from Dubai on her stopover from India a month back. Upon reading the recipe, I found that the cake was based on a recipe from Shilpa, the author of Aayi's Recipes. I have tried a few recipes from this site a while back, especially the fruit cake, for pretty much the same reason (eggless dessert) earlier. The fruit cake was a huge hit and I was wondering if I can repeat the success again.

The recipe is quite simple. I slightly increased the quantity of the recipe mentioned in order to fit a large French White pan as follows.

Ingredients
24 - 30 Mejdool Dates (any other dates, preferably soft)
1 cup 2% milk (any other milk would technically work, including Soy, as Madhuram had tried)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Wesson Canola Oil)
2 tbsp chopped cashews
2 tbsp chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Soak the dates in milk for an hour or two. If the dates or milk is cold or still hard, microwave it for a minute. The original recipe called for an overnight or at least 3-4 hours of soaking, but I did not have the time and the dates were quite soggy within an hour itself.
2. Blend the dates with sugar in a blender till the dates are thoroughly mixed within the milk. Although I reduced the sugar compared to the original recipe, I found the final cake to be a bit sweet for my taste. If your dates are quite sweet, you might want to reduce the sugar by a tablespoon or two. 
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl
4. Add the vegetable oil and mix thoroughly. In the original recipe, Shilpa mentions that the cake comes out fine without the vegetable oil. Since this was my first attempt, I didn't play around too much with the low-fat version, although I did reduce the quantity relative to the original recipe. You might want to reduce it further (probably in the second attempt!)
5. Mix the flour and baking soda separately and slowly add the combined ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixing bowl. Add slowly and stir constantly to ensure no lumps are formed during the process
6. Add the chopped nuts to the mix
7. Grease a baking dish with oil and pour in the mixture.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until a knife or toothpick inserted at the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in a cooling rack for an hour or so before attempting to take the cake out of the dish.

My relative gave a useful tip. Instead of greasing the dish, you can line the dish with aluminum foil and pour the mix on top. This way, you can simply remove the foil once the cake cools, enabling it to come off easily. I haven't tried this yet, but can see the logic in it.

For decorating the cake, I did a combination of both the recipes. I roasted some almonds in a skillet and placed it on top of each piece. In addition, I also prepared a frosting to go with the cake, especially for the kid. However, I chose an orange frosting instead of a butter cream frosting, since orange goes well with dates, as per my trusted Flavor Bible. 

Here's my recipe for the Orange frosting modified from this frosting recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed (might as well, since you need a fresh orange for the zest!)

Directions

1. Pour the whipping cream in a bowl. Keep the bowl along with the whisk (or the blades of an egg beater) in the fridge for 20 minutes or so (or 5 minutes in the freezer if you are short of time)
2. Whip the cream to form soft peak (the cream should form a semi-thick consistency). This will take about 5-10 minutes of vigorous whisking
3. Add in the orange juice, sugar, and zest, and whisk further for a few more minutes till the mixture forms hard peaks (or thickens)

Initially I misread the instructions and added the juice and sugar before keeping in the fridge. While this didn't ruin anything, the frosting was not too thick, either because of this or because I didn't whisk long enough. In addition, once the frosting is done, either use it immediately or keep in fridge until further use. This is especially crucial for this frosting since orange juice is acidic in nature and if left at room temperature, will curdle the milk (which happened for my first batch!).

Finally decorate the cake with the frosting any which way you like. You can see the final creation below (thanks to Shruthi for the design). Needless to say, the kid was quite happy to see his name on the cake and more importantly, the cake turned out to be delicious.

So, one big thanks to Shilpa and Madhuram for sharing and re-sharing this recipe. Even if you are an eggitarian, this is still a great recipe to try and I can assure you that it will be loved by kids, and they won't even know that it's healthy!