Word to CSS [en]

OK, I know it’s not new, but I’ve just tried it. Well I’ll be begaddled! The code is clean and usable. The output page looks just like the original document. There will only be minimal work to do to adapt the document to my site’s stylesheet…

If you haven’t already done so, please go and check out W2CSS straight away!

// review

Fun! [en]

We knew fusion had editors. Now grimm has too!
Introducing yours truly, grimm editor.

This is how it works. I write the beginning of a story, send it to somebody, who writes the next bit and sends it back. Then I take the last snippet of the story, and send it to somebody else. Ten people total.

Then we stick the story together, and publish at waferbaby.

Important! If you register at waferbaby, you go into daniel’s pool of people, not mine. Daniel is like my “boss” for this thing, and I have to find my own “players”.
So if you like writing, just come on and join the fun by sending me an email!

Compte-rendu de séminaire [en]

Pour ceux que ça intéresse (on peut toujours rêver!), voici le compte-rendu de mon séminaire sur le cosmos chez Maeterlinck.

Bonne lecture…

Tangerine [en]

[no comment on number of posts today]
I’m pleased to tell you that Tangerine Girl is writing again. Her long absence had actually managed to get me worrying…

A Rape in Cyberspace [en]

I’ve just finished reading My Tiny Life: A Rape in Cyberspace. It is long (it’s actually the first chapter of a print-book), well-written, and it is very interesting.

Julian recounts a case of “virtual rape” involving characters in an online community. It shows how much impact “online events” have on the real people behind the keyboards. It also shows an anarchic community struggling to get organized for dealing with the rapist.

In my online life, I have been faced by people who look upon online interaction as an “experiment” – who don’t care about their fellow chatters because they are “not real”. I think this text shows just how wrong these people are.

As an aside, I’m developing another pet peeve: haikus. Don’t get me wrong, I love japanese haikus. But this trend of sticking haikus everywhere on websites is so… “web”. I mean, short attention span and all that.
It’s a bit “easy”.

Critical Mass [en]

I often notice what I have come to call the “critical mass” syndrome. When a service or community becomes too popular, its quality comes down.
I may be pessimistic, but I see no way out of this.

Acronyms [en]

I don’t often laugh out loud reading stuff on the Internet. But every now and then I do.
So here are some slightly more elegant versions for GGP, from the bwg.

First Web Peeves [en]

OK, so I’m developping a new set of pet peeves.

  • coloured scroll-bars
  • “rate me” boxes
  • chunk after chunk of IM (or IRC, or ICQ) conversations
  • “see this” or “go here” links
  • all-centered body text

Phew! enough for now.

Grandma and Bagha [en]

Each time I sit down to write one of these Life entries, I think of my Grandma. She lives in England – not that far off but still quite far.
My Grandma is over 70 now, and she logs onto the Internet regularly to visit my website. I know that what she looks for are these little (rare) Life entries.

So today I had two rather long phone calls with England. One with my Grandma – who will hopefully soon be fit to fly over and meet my animals – and one with Somak.

Speaking of animals, Somak told me he received an email from IUCAA with a rather intriguing signature:

When you find life is coming down on you, think of Bagha.

Well, Bagha was quite well known in IUCAA – particularly for breaking into people’s fridges and hanging around the canteen. And obviously, the word has spread that he emigrated from India and is now a lucky Swiss citizen. I’m sure he’ll be glad to learn that his fate helps members of the IUCAA staff lift their spirits during the hard times.

I should be going back to India beginning of August. I’m actually starting to miss India. I have cravings for dreadfully hot Marathi food (the kind of stuff I found simply dreadful when I first tasted it).
I will have a Hindi course in Rishikesh again, and I hope to be able to spend a couple of weeks in Pune before that. That means I’m going to have to work hard to get my October exams ready before I leave ; )

Fame [en]

Maybe being famous just means that people get a chance to see what you do. I’m not sure it means that what you do is better than average.