Aaryana, my eight year old daughter is yet to find her cycling balance. Yes, I am acutely aware of how late she is—especially when I see four-year old Dutch kids riding like pros. But then, I see myself in her.

The Halfords guy refused to sell me a carrier seat mount, because he thought her 25kilos weight was over the 22kg capacity of my bicycle carrier. So we had a problem. My wife’s bike is already mounted with another seat for my younger four year old daughter. Leaving kids home would rob all the fun. In any case, we wouldn’t do it.

On inspection, the carrier’s welded joints look strong. Plus, my bike has two 6mm solid steel rods as primary steel—going to the axle of my rear wheel, with about 6inches of unbraced length—for resisting axial compression. For a 25kg, that’s roughly about 9MPa—four times less than 36MPa (0.15Fy, assuming mild-steel). You needn’t do the math of course. In India, I have seen enough adult pillion riders on carriers slender than mine.

With weight restriction out of the way, Aaryana could now ride on the carrier. Still, there were two problems. One, it’s uncomfortable, and two, there’s no foot-rest. I solved the first problem with a fleece blanket securely laid over the carrier, whose surface now feels like a cushy pillow.

Problem number two remains unsolved. I am trying to get some kind of foot-rest for Aaryana. For now, she’s resting her tiny feet on the large closed axle bolts. While she doesn’t complain, I know it’s not a comfortable position, particularly on long rides. On bumpy roads, she slips her footing. But that is not stopping us enjoying country rides—at least not yet.

I didn’t find anything for the foot-rest in cycle stores in my area—probably because what we are doing here is unusual; I haven’t seen anyone older than 4 years riding pillion. If you have suggestions¹—something I could buy a pair off the shelf, then please do share.

1. The other (expensive) option, common around here, is to get a tandem attachment. [←]

In order to ease my cramps and concentration, I had just dropped to 80kph from my near 150kph sustained speed when we were physically jolted out of our seats.

It was a decent sized branch we had jumped over. I hadn’t seen it coming. I spotted a park lane in the distance and pulled over. We still had 350km to cover on our way back from Heidelberg. Our Civic is equipped with these funny tubeless tyres; spare wheel not included. We checked for signs of damage; there were none. Sneha and I sat with our heads down—until our heavy breathing subsided, our nerves no more hyper, and our heart rates back to normal.

Sneha and I remember yet another road incident from the past—our visit to Cherating. A couple of things didn’t go well on that trip. The stingray incident was one. This following is the other.

We were driving back home, and it started raining heavy. On one of the troughs on the highway, I was trying to overtake a truck—in poor visibility, in spite of wipers functioning at maxed-out speed. On one side was the concrete wall, the truck I was overtaking was on the other.

The truck began lurching towards us, and I was half way through its length. That was when we entered the trough, only to be hit by a ton of displaced water—completely blinding us. Because of the speed of both vehicles traversing through a mass of water, the water stayed in the air for a few moments in what seemed like an eternity, and knocking the living daylights out of us. That was a close call.

Now we know what it feels like—to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A gentle reminder to update this weblog’s feed address in your feed (rss or atom) reader, before it times out in June—if you haven’t had the time yet. The address is: http://ckunte.com/feed/atom .

My sincere apologies for springing this change upon you all. Please do resubscribe.

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Holland’s Deltaworks is perhaps mankind’s greatest attempt in keeping the forces of nature at bay. Following the 1953 North Sea flooding, the Dutch took it upon themselves never to experience the wrath of nature again.¹

Their response: protecting the entire coastline that was prone to flooding. Figures like 10250 miles of dykes, and 300 amazing structures are staggering indeed. One among them is the Oosterscheldekering. Constructed using custom built ships—Ostrea, this 9km long dam is the world’s largest movable storm surge barrier; and the one that has earned the title of being one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Modern World’ by The American Society of Civil Engineers.

We allowed ourselves to be mesmerized by its sheer magnitude, during our visit there last Saturday.

1. So horrendous, that it destroyed about 4500 buildings, drowned over 10000 animals, and killed over 1800 people. [←]

Following are my favorite offline blog editors.

I hate rich text editors, not because I don’t like them, but because of their crappy code insertion, such as break tags, incomplete and malformed tags.

Sixteen months after living in Holland, we’re now discovering the joy of cycling, and riding together—for both fun as well as for exercise.

In early January 2007, we bought our first bicycle here, basically to overcome hauling the weekly grocery from the not-too-near supermarket, on foot—especially during cold winter.

I am not new to cycling; every kid in India rides one—or at least did, when I was a kid. But throughout my younger years, cycling somehow was always about one or many of these activities: for transporting oneself from point A to point B; for getting my mother’s list of groceries home, or being a shuttle for my sister.

Riding for fun perhaps never did exist for me.

Or may be it was crushed by the state of Indian roads, known for the mixed mode traffic, and where the small users suffer the brunt inevitably—thanks to the gross disrespect, the motorists have towards cyclists. Or may be I wanted to avoid the un-cool tag, because in India, cycling is somehow perceived to ‘reduce your social status,’ once you are out of high school. Or may be I wasn’t so strong willed to desist the taunts of my school buddies.

My first (and only) regular bike was Speedking—a relatively unknown brand, which at the time, was sold only through Army canteens. I bought one through a friend of mine, whose grandfather was a retired Army official in the Indian Army. I bought it for Rs. 512—my parents gave me. It was a simple, bare-bones, no-gear bike. It came in the only color—red. I would tweak this bike endlessly, for that little change in riding experience; and it served me well for years. But I digress.

Holland’s cycling culture renewed our interests to pursue riding yet again years later. But riding alone isn’t fun of course. So, my wife and I went down to the local Halfords store, and got another bike—so we could both ride together over the weekends.

It helps that the cycle paths here in Holland are arguably the best in the world. They have their own traffic signals, direction sign boards, lanes, and tunnels—not to mention their own rules. But they are not the only reason riding is fun. Many, many of the tracks lead you to discover your private Holland—picturesque, virgin, lined with delightful wooden bridges over canals and waterways; helping you explore woods, forests, wild life, mysterious tracks, dunes, and other lovely getaways.

We almost regret starting this late.

Heidelberg University Library © Gabriel Ayuso, CC.

It was here at the University of Heidelberg that in 1860, two great scientists—Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen—developed Spectrum analysis, which later became a stepping stone for quantum mechanics.

When you arrive at a place armed with information like this, you tend to look at it in different light. The aura of such places make you feel as if you’re on a scientific pilgrimage. Yet, we managed to retain our tourist-y approach and did go out to venture into this lovely city.

Most notable are ruins of the beautiful 13th century Heidelberger Schloss high above, and overlooking the old town. It’s miserable to note that, it was destroyed by a mere bolt of lightning. (If only they had arresters then, we’d still be basking in its magnificence.) Among other things, the castle contains unusual treasures like the second largest beer keg in the world.

On the way back, we enjoyed a ride down to the Kornmarkt in the funicular railway, whose travel is almost like a vertical drop.

“The Future of the Internet And How to Stop It” might sound like a misleading topic, and towards disrupting the internet as we know it today, but this ebook by Jonathan L. Zittrain is unlike any such thing. If history is any guide on what to expect in the future, then this book points us towards where we are heading—with regard to the internet, and what needs to be done.

Our fortuitous starting point is a generative device in tens of millions of hands on a neutral Net. To maintain it, the users of those devices must experience the Net as something with which they identify and belong. We must use the generativity of the Net to engage a constituency that will protect and nurture it. That constituency may be drawn from the ranks of a new generation able to see that technology is not simply a video game designed by someone else, and that content is not simply what is provided through a TiVo or iPhone.

It’s interesting that the author considers Indian enterpreneur Rajesh Jain’s Novatium Nova as a non-generative machine—likened to a similar device like the iPhone, which spells “control.”

The Indian government announced in 2006 that it would not sign up to buy any XO machines, in part due to difficulties encountered with the Simputer, a for-profit project begun in 1998 to deliver handheld technology to India’s rural population, which is made up mostly of farmers and laborers—many of whom are illiterate and speak regional dialects. In 2001, Bruce Sterling lionized the Simputer as “computing as it would have looked if Gandhi had invented it, then used Steve Jobs for his ad campaign.” It never took off. Instead India appears to be placing its bets on the Novantium Nova or a similar device, non-generative machines fully tethered to a subscription server for both software and content.

This book paints a larger picture of “Freedom 0″ and its underlying philosophy—so applicable to every forward looking medium, device, or mechanism, and how Freedom 0 is slowly becoming a primary cause for concern for the overall health of the internet.

This book is a must read for every netizen.

Pristine blue waters, gushing at a soothing pace before the rapids, is a sight to behold. On our way back from Winterthur, we spent a few hours at this lovely place.

My FeedBurner¹ woes appear out of nowhere. The cause, I suspect, must be due to those screwed-up settings—both on FeedBurner, as well as on my own host—well beyond being able to fix.

If you read this blog via feed², then please update this blog’s feed address in your software or service as follows: http://ckunte.com/feed/atom

Thank you.

1. FeedBurner—a statistical service by Google, which serves feed to readers of this blog. [←]
2. Via feed reader software FeedDemon, NetNewsWire, or others, or via services such as Google Reader, Bloglines, or others. [←]