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Book Review: The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys

post from India Travel Blog on 06 October 2008 08:47:00 PM. © India Travel Blog

Compiled by Dom Moraes
Publishers: Penguin Books
Pages: 369

The Penguin Book of Indian Journeys, according to the description in the inside cover, is an anthology of travel writing on India. The image on the cover also gives similar impression. But once you start reading through the stories, it turns out that there isn't much of travel element in some of the selected stories. Dom Moraes seems confused about what travel is, and tries to push his own perspective of travel to people who are looking to read romance of travel in the inner pages.

Some of these are weird if you try to put them as travel stories. There is one story about a journalist trying to understand infamous Bandit Veerappan, there is another journalist who follows Indira Gandhi and talks politics, and one more story is about rampant crime in Bihar. It is hard to understand what these stories are doing in a travel book. Moraes has tried to justify such stories in his introduction, but nothing convincing enough.

But to give some credit to the book, there are indeed some good write-ups that have gone into making the it. The well known names of Indian Travel Writing are all there - like Bill Aitken, Paul Theroux, Ruskin Bond and Stephen Alter. A story by Moraes himself, of exploring the tribes of Madhya Pradesh is an excellent read.

The good and unreadable are probably in equal numbers through the book. A what would have been a good book is spoiled by some unsuitable selections.

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ook-of-indian.html

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Stationmaster cat adds 1.1 billion Yen to railway

post from Going Underground's Blog on 06 October 2008 08:36:00 PM. © Going Underground's Blog

Regular readers might remember hearing about a fab fat cat named Tama which was officially named Station Master at an unmanned station in the Wakayama Electric Railway in Japan.

It was really popular and attracted shedloads of tourists to the station. At the time I said it was "generating a nice little earner for the Railway." That nice little earner is now estimated by experts to be 1.1 billion Yen or around 6 million quid!

Japan Probe reports that on Friday, "Professor Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University Graduate School released an estimate showing that, in the one-year period since January 2007, when Tama first began "working" for the station, the number of passengers on the Kishigawa Line rose by 55,000 and that corresponding freight revenue climbed ¥15 million.

Photo collections and related merchandise featuring Tama grossed ¥27 million, and he is also credited with boosting tourism in nearby Wakayama City."

video details and more

In the video above Tama is shown sleeping in his new office, where he is joined by two helper cats - Miko and Chibi.

"Professor Miyamoto believes one of the most impressive things about Tama's economic impact was its low cost. For the price of a cat-sized stationmaster hat and some cat food, the Wakayama Electric Railway has raked in a huge amount of money."

Many thanks to Jon Justice for the heads up here.

But this is yet another occasion where the London Underground could learn from Japan. Forget cross platform Tube ads. Forget sponsors for the Tube map. Get some cats in from some animal shelter or Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (yes, they house cats now too), get a few hats, get Purina behind it with some pet food, get them all kitted out in time for the 2012 Olympics and Bob's your uncle, instant revenue.

Although this time Bob Crow and other fat cats from the transport unions would definitely get involved. The cats would have to have lessons in advanced tea drinking and be ready to stop sleeping, sorry, stop working at the drop of a hat. They're already good at ignoring humans & doing things in their own time, so no extra training would be required there.

In fact we could even fly a load of cats out to Japan so they could learn the art of sleeping on the job from Tama and his mates. I'd be happy to volunteer Bolli for the job, as he's partial to poring over any London Underground stuff I leave lying around.

For six million pounds in potential revenue it would be worth every penny!

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http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/10/stationmaster-cat-adds-11-billion-
yen.html

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Oyster card hack can be published - Part Two

post from Going Underground's Blog on 06 October 2008 08:01:00 PM. © Going Underground's Blog

Another follow up story as details of how to hack a smartcard used in Oyster cards have now been published online. Thanks to Pete from the Londoneer for reminding me about this. In July a Dutch court ruled that details of how to hack the card could be released in the interests of "freedom of expression laws."

Earlier in the year members of Professor Bart Jacobs' team came to London to test their findings, and travelled on the London Underground using a modified Oyster card.

Shashi Verma, director of fares and ticketing at Transport For London, told the BBC its system spotted the security breach.

"We knew about it before we were informed by the students," said Mr Verma

He stressed that the Mifare Classic chip in the Oyster card is only part of a larger system. "A number of forensic controls run within the back office systems which is something that customers and these students have no ability to touch."

"We will carry on making improvements to the security of the Oyster system."

Commenting on their research, Prof Jacobs told BBC Click the information being disclosed was: "not a guidebook for attacks". I also bet it's not as much fun as creating an Oyster Card watch or a magic wand for Tube barriers.

The full report will be broadcast on BBC Click on Saturday 11 October at 1130 BST on the BBC News Channel. You can also find it on BBC World - check here for the times it'll be going out.

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http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/10/oyster-card-hack-can-be-published-
part.html

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ksljfas

post from Ferroever on 06 October 2008 06:45:00 PM. © Ferroever

I was just listening to a really good play on the radio and the fucking actors started pretending to eat and it was disgusting.
So I sent a complaint to the BBC.
Here it is:

Please. No chomping into the mike. It is so gross to have to listen to people pretend to eat on the radio. Please, uh, it sickens me. Does it not you? Surely it must. I am sure that 99.9% of radio listeners are non-chompers. Please, I turn off programmes immediately somebody starts chomping. Also, should a programme advertise, 'Blah blah cooks this or that' I don't listen to it because I know it will result in the participants chewing into the microphone. Please, let's keep manners alive.
Love, Maria xxx

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http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com/2008/10/ksljfas.html

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Planning a Trip is Half the Fun

post from BootBlog on 06 October 2008 06:42:03 PM. © BootBlog

Christine at Almost Fearless posted a wonderful article last week about travel planning. In Planning Travel, Almost as Good as the Real Thing, she writesThe expectation of travel can be a rewarding pursuit in itself. The side benefit is that well-researched trips not only go off smoother, but seem richer. A course in Art History, [...]

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http://www.bootblog.org/08-10/planning-a-trip-is-half-the-fun.html

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Utsunomiya gyoza statue destroyed

post from Japan Probe on 06 October 2008 06:24:43 PM. © Japan Probe

Workers accidentally destroyed Utsunomiya station’s famous “Venus wrapped in a gyoza” statue yesterday while attempting to move it to make way for construction work:The unique statue, which is a popular meeting spot for locals and tourists, was to be moved to a location outside the station’s west exit.The project was contracted out to a company [...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JapanProbe/~3/413204882/

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fake shit not real world

post from Ferroever on 06 October 2008 06:23:00 PM. © Ferroever

Fuck. 102. Wow. I am going to bed now. I think it is amazing that $6 of wine got me through from 17:18 till 22.19. It entertained me. It helped me write blog posts. It made me drunk to get through this adskljfasklsdfa
Nite campers.

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http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com/2008/10/fake-shit-not-real-world.html

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A Japanese-style corporate apology

When US Senator Chuck Grassley told the press he wanted to see failed American CEO’s making Japanese-style public apologies for their mistakes, he probably wasn’t thinking about this kind of apology:The man delivering the dogeza apology in the video is President Tomomasa Fukui, the president who led study abroad company Gateway 21 into bankruptcy. [...]

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I Will Always Be A Loser

In real life I am not hot. Only in staged photos. This is also why nobody ever really wants me.
I get heaps of emails from guys who think I am hot. But all you who know me, know the truth. I am not hot. I have wrinkles on my forehead. I have nothing attractive going for me. I suck. My only good thing is, I don't know, I guess I care, I love animals, but that never counts with men. Men only want hot shit. I wish I was a man who felt like a woman. Being a woman like me sucks.

Read The Full Article:
http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-will-always-be-loser.html

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Faeries and Goblins

I've drunk 3/4 of a bottle of wine tonight, and a 1/4 of a bottle of another. I am drunk. I don't care. Cos I am bored. Bored. Bored. This year is boring. Paid to be bored. I have been so silly so I can be silly now. Telling the blogging world I am drunk. Hello. I am pissed. Yes. At least I will fall asleep until at least 4am. This is why I drink now. To knock myself out. Imagine my life. Every day. Work. Laugh with students. Come home. Be alone. I don't want to go out so being alone is okay but it's not the real me.
Uh. This year sucks but at least I am getting paid. If I die before 50, I will really regret this year. It will be the thought on my deathbed. 2008 fuck up. So I keep my fingers crossed I make it to 51.
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http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com/2008/10/faeries-and-goblins.html