Anonymity Online

The first question that comes to mind is "Is Anonymity Online important ?" And until today, I wasn't sure of the answer, but would tend to veer towards the opposite. The rationale being that we are not anonymous in real life, such as at work, or on the road, or when we fly, or at home, or ...

Until earlier this week I came across the Tor Project. And I was converted. While we need not always be anonymous, there is great value to be able to be anonymous on-demand.

The TOR website does a great job of explaining the issues and the use cases.
https://www.torproject.org/



Or better still, you can watch Jacob Applebaum's TedX talk.

The Tor Project, protecting online anonymity:
Jacob Appelbaum at TEDxFlanders

And here's a quick visual depiction of how the TOR network works.

The Lobo

This Tuesday the 12th marked the 1st anniversary of my Dad's passing away. It feels hard to get around that its been a year since Dad passed. We had a memorial service and get-together yesterday.

On this occasion, my brother Don spoke a few words. And here is what he said.

"
Thank you for coming and joining us at the one year anniversary celebration for my Dad. I use the word celebration purposely since we are here to celebrate the life he lived, a life that he lived with conviction, passion and energy.                              

When I look back, I look at the qualities and values that Dad wanted for all of us. Being different individuals, i think we picked up on the things differently. As a parent he was a strict disciplinarian, and he pushed us to work hard and give everything in life our best shot. As a grandparent, he was so very different with his grand-kids. He was super indulgent and had such a great and loving relationship with each of them. He would sing to them on their birthday and was the perfect definition of the grandfather who indulged his grandchildren, who in turn loved and adored him.

Personally to me, Dad left me with two core values. The ability to keep pushing, learning and improving every single day of our life. He was an inspiration in how he would always be working on getting more educated while he was working. The second value was generosity. He was always so generous and helpful to his extended family, his community and the world around him. I hope to come close to his standards in these values.

Thank you Dad for making us who we are today. We miss you and will remember you always.
"

And listening to Don speak was a reminder that Don himself was an unbelievable and amazing philanthropist. He's generous and giving and has put his heart and soul into supporting organizations, mainly in India not only with funding but more important with time spent by his family and him. Every time he visits, he spends time with what is probably his favorite cause, the Sharanam Center.

While all of this is commendable, what I find amazing is how he gets people around him to participate. He starts by appealing to their good side and when that doesn't work, which is most of the time, he uses every option available. Whether its making them feel guilty or cajoling them and finally his most lethal weapon, bullying them. In a nice, difficult to say "No" way.

I just wish there were more Don's. This world would be a far better place. And also to quote him, "I hope to come close to his standards in these values." Which is why I do think he has earned the title the world knows him by, The "Lobo".

The Ultmate in Flight Tracking : FlightRadar24

Until recently, I used websites such as FlightStats  and FlightAware to track incoming flights when I had to pick someone up or to see if my flights were likely to be on time, by checking on the incoming aircraft.

They were pretty good though in some cases, I would need to refer to the relevant airport site for the most updated information. And then it all changed.

My colleague Claudian mentioned a site called Flight Radar 24. He said it was pretty good and that it tracked flights in real time. I decided to check it out. And I was blown away.

This site was tracking flights all over the world in real time. I tested it with flights that I could see landing and taking off. And the data was on the dot. I became a fan. And in addition to using it for tracking flights, I sometimes even used it to see airport traffic and delays and ... It was fascinating. It even had real time 3-D simulated scenes.

Learning that it was started by 2  Swedish aviation geeks as a hobby project in 2006 to become one of the most accurate provider of real time data that even airlines use, as well as companies like Boeing and Airbus defies imagination.

A Wall Street Journal review of FlightRadar24 is an eye opener.

Wall Street Journal
Published on Aug 26, 2015
The story of Flightradar24: how two guys in Stockholm can track flights around the world but big air traffic organizations and airlines still can’t. WSJ's "Middle Seat" columnist Scott McCartney joins Lunch Break.

For aviation enthusiasts curious to know how it works, check this out.
How it works
https://www.flightradar24.com/how-it-works

And ABC News has an excellent article featuring the founders Robertsson and Lindahl.
An Inside Look at Flightradar24, the Team Watching Every Airplane in the Sky

DuoLingo

Learn a language for free. Forever.

A few months ago Freia mentioned that she was learning Spanish using a website called DuoLingo. What I recollect from that conversation was that it was free. And she found it pretty good.

Recently I was listening to an Audible Original Series called "Genius Dialogues" The Genius Dialogues is the podcast with MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Winners. This podcast featured Luis von Ahn the creator of DuoLingo. He had also built ReCaptcha, which he sold to Google, and then moved on to build DuoLingo.

https://en.duolingo.com/

Here's a quick intro from their website.

What I found fascinating was how they manage to keep the application free and yet sustainable. And the idea is rather simple. The site gets its students as part of its learning to translate content from the language they are learning to their native language. And these translation services are paid for by clients, such as CNN who have their content written in English and have it then translated into other languages, such as Spanish. This funds the project and allows them to continue to offer language learning for Free.


Here's how they do it in their words.

To learn more, you can listen to Luis von Ahn at a TedX presentation.
Duolingo -- the next chapter in human computation | Luis von Ahn | TEDxCMU 2011