atul jha – Page 212

My prejudice towards Buzzfeed

buzzfeed_mixup

BuzzFeed is known for pulling story from Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, imgur, Facebook, Whatsapp [YEP] and making it CLICKBAIT/LINKBAIT. Every entity has revenue model & this works best for BuzzFeed. One of my friend wrote a nice post Quantifying the Clickbait and Linkbait in BuzzFeed Article Titles

It was my prejudice that did me wrong at the time: https://twitter.com/ponnappa/status/611811575268163584

However, I decided to visit the site to find if they are now in fact producing original content. But I found otherwise [30 mins task, because I follow r/india & Quora]. Check out the stories along with original sources and how BuzzFeed made story out of it.

1. About scoring 33% in exam.

There was a discussion thread on /r/india about the a kid scoring 33% in all his papers, we all laughed commented after seeing the poster and BuzzFeed copied it happily from there making story out of it.

2. On flipkart fake discount.

A user on r/india posted a picture of how one of the seller on Flipkart inflated the price and made fool of buyers by giving discount. The complete discussion thread is here and there we have BuzzFeed again making story of the same.

3. Picking popular post from Facebook & making it Clickbait.

One of the most popular post on Facebook was how outsiders think about India, it was posted on https://www.facebook.com/thenonsensestate and this is how BuzzFeed made story out of it. They had no option but to give credit to original poster.

4. Destinations in India that look like Europe

There was this interesting thread on quora where users were discussing about good Indian destination that look like Europe and then you have post on BuzzFeed about same

5. Indian Army dogs are killed after retirement.

We all know it was all over social media and then Indiatimes folks wrote detailed story about it followed by super creative writer from BuzzFeed making story about same.

6. Artist in Bangalore drawing crocodile on road to bring attention about potholes.

This discussion was started on r/india with a user sharing story which was published on Indian Express It was all over social media and then our super journos from BuzzFeed wrote the same.

Incase you folks are wondering how am I so sure about this, well do check the date/time of original post & BuzzFeed one.

One more thing, If Andreessen Horowitz has funded them there must be some reason/value in it which certainly is not Journalism IMHO. They are definitely serving a specific set of people which is excellent and i have nothing against them.

Walking down memory lane

memory lane

This post is about me growing up, the part where my parents disciplined me to turn out better in life.

I hail from a very remote part of Bihar. When I was in school, electricity in our native was available on an average of about 10-20 hours per week! Most of time, I recall us burning the kerosene lamp around the house. Ironically, that did not do my eyesight any good as I’ve ended up with sore eyesight in my youth. Being part of an average middle class family back in the day,I consider myself lucky to have had the luxury of almost everything a child of my generation ever needed to live a decent life. So much so that most kids those days would have demanded from their struggling parents, for me it was all pretty satisfactory.

My parents never failed to discipline me. Their one and only strict rule was to do well in studies, never get into fights with anyone. It was odd being left out of normal boyish characteristics,but rules were rules and the mischievous me found ways to exploit them. This ended up with me getting beaten by dad for misbehaviour. It might sound cruel and harassing, but its funny how I look back to those dreaded times and value the control my parents had over me. Even if it meant getting beaten by them once in while, I think it was essential to my growing up so that at no point I was every going astray. Obviously, I used to hate it at that time. Today, I laugh about it. Infact, this morning I was reminding my dad of how mischievous I used to be and we laughed. My dad says it was part and parcel of his love towards me.

Growing up, we get to hear of children going astray. When I hear about the miserable stories of kids smoking weed, taking drugs, using abusive language and disrespecting their parents on account of social security, I simply feel disgusted. Somewhere discipline was lacking. Not that I want these kids to take a beating but I feel that some level of control and discipline is lacking which is very important to mould and groom them into becoming better individuals. Too bad that most of them grow up and never realize the importance of lacking self discipline.

For me, growing up was strict.I still remember how much I cried after class 10 when my parents decided to send me to a boarding school in Delhi. Looking at my current state and the success I have achieved it was their decision that led to my betterment today.

Disclaimer: I am not suggesting parenting has to be strict, it was just the way I grew up and the incidents that have contributed to for me write this post.

Beer Hopping In Vancouver

brassneck

There is no disputing my ultimate love for Beer and for evidence to prove that I profusely love my beer, I went around beer hopping with a couple of friends in Vancouver. Here is the post to express that one such event that led my friends Razique, Anna and I to indulge in a beer hopping spree in Canada. Our redeeming pit stop was Brassneck Brewery. The icing on the cake came when we visited BRASSNECK BREWERY that made us fall head over heels for it.

Naturally, I jotted down a small list of impressions that I really liked about the place. It is important to note that the place itself is quite small and packs a crowd in the evenings, so get there early to be seated.

Ambiance: Beginning with ambiance, the surrounding was totally cool with apt signs and visual paintings that comprised the inner decor and elevated the feel of the pub itself.
Beer: They have an incredible list of options to pick from for beer. If you are a new drinker you just let the bartender [lady, in my case] know about kind of beer you generally prefer. I went with something on the lines of hoppy, sweet, ale or cider.
BYB: Yes they had the option to take your beer home which is unlawful in our country. Imagine if I could take my beer home from a microbrewery back in the city.
Friendly service: With ambience so peppy, the staff needed to be welcoming and cordial they were. I loved the idea of filling beer into those home delivery bottles(of which I’ve made video of)
Snacks: The place serves a variety of snacks but considering my no beef or pork consumption I played it safe and stayed with some plain ol’ french fries.

For more on the events that unfolded in my beer hopping to Brassneck Brewery, please do refer to the following links. I would recommend you to view this video that I made depicting how the beer is packaged for sale. Special thanks to Ian for showing us around and letting me shoot this video.

Glorious days of #IndiPop

mehh

I grew up listening to IndiPop & our music channels like Mtv, B4u and Channel[V]. I was having conversation with friends on twitter, felt like revisiting to my memory lane. I have added some songs and singers below [not in any specific order], feel free and let me know if i missed anyone [Bonus: includes Pakistani band/singers as well]. The idea of this post is to list out all those veterans from 90’s with their #IndiPop. Please remember most of these videos are of 90’s so quality might not be great & appear as shock to newer gens. Also thanks to Priyanka for helping, I was able to add more to the list.

Aryans

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Aslam

Band Of Boys

Annamika

Others:

Roop Tera Mastana

Bonus: Playlist of entire track

PS: I am not sure about the License these videos are shared on Youtube, so it might be illegal to watch some of these videos.[just covering my ass with disclaimer.]

Notes from OpenStack summit, Vancouver

I was very ecstatic to attend the recently concluded OpenStack Summit in Vancouver. While the summit was the main focal point of my trip, I was elated to bump into my friends and colleagues. After almost five years I was reunited with my very old friend Razique & Heiko.During the initial days of the documentation project I was involved in working with these guys, it was a joy to be reunited again. At the summit I also met Alex & Sam from The New Stack team and we got to discuss about the future of Openstack.

During dinner at Vietnamese food joint, we made a small podcast about the event besides writing down a post on determining the health of the OpenStack project.

Below are some of my notes determined from the overall event itself:

The event venue was simply fabulous where WIFI worked most of the time and saw an attendance of over 6000+ attendees.
The format of the event was modified to include container day as well as OPNFV day, a good initiative to widen the ecosystem.
Seems like everyone is talking about OpenStack , even those who mocked it during inception.
Containers was the buzzword. Everyone was talking about it.
During the initial days, the champions for projects were acquired by traditional vendors.
A lot of developers and early advocates have moved on to newer things which brings about new faces and talent. I guess it is a part of the overall evolution process.
Neutron and OpenStack documentation is still an unsolved mystery and I am not sure if it can be solved.
OpenStack has a total of twelve integrated projects that will explode in a year and the foundation is working on better ways to manage them.
The marketplace where vendors were showcasing product was absolute fun, most of them had no projects specific to OpenStack.
Accepting one click upgrade option inside OpenStack was considered wishful thinking. Now vendors like Red Hat, Mirantis or Canonical will be able to do it for your enterprise.
It was good to see representatives from almost all major system integrators in India attending the summit and wanting to be part of it.

The next summit is to be held in Tokyo, I personally have no idea if I will be present, but given the opportunity I may just go.Last but not the least thanks to OpenStack Foundation for keeping the project intact for a successful period of five years. Here’s to hoping the momentum continues.

Screen Shot 2015-05-27 at 11.59.08 AM — Sajid, Kavit & Me [Our team of OpenStack India coordinators ]

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOSE KNIT FRIENDSHIPS

I am not sure what inspired me to post this but I’m writing about valuable friendships that I am happy to be affiliated with.

Last year was a tough one for me. I was not in great shape with too many things stressing me out. The only thing that kept me going were my dearest friends. Yep they have believed in me more than anybody ever did. I travelled to Delhi a few weeks back and we laughed about same.

Its good to have that cluster of close knit companions, the ones who are there for you in every situation be it good or bad. I consider myself very blessed to have such good friends in my life.

Here is my suggestion to everyone out there, make friends but keep those few chosen ones closer to you rather than inviting everybody into your life. Remember it is not your Facebook friends or Twitter followers who will stand by you in and out through thick or thin but those selective bunch of people whom you can count on. These are the friendships that will be cherished and appreciated. They are the group of people you hope to have around when you are old, meet up for drinks,and if lucky, spend retirement with.

Sadly,in my lifetime I have lost many friends along the way. Maybe because I blurted out a few things that did not go down well or at times they did not appreciate my honesty or they also might have said things which were not okay with. As selfish as I may sound, it’s good that they are no more part of my life. I feel blessed with the fact that by having only a selective few bunch of friends who are there for me, I value and cherish them equally.

So wrapping up the post highlighting my closeness and gratefulness towards my selected few friends that I am proud to call my close knit associates. Share with me on how many such friends do u have?

20 Lessons Life Has Taught Me in 2015.

photos

Kickstarting Tuesday with a perspective over my life, trying to analyze life’s lessons that I’ve learnt in 2015. Clearly, I’ve learnt atleast 20 valuable lessons that have moulded me to be where I am so far. The year is quarterly complete, I wonder what the number will be at the end of December. For now, here are 20 valuable lessons life has taught me in 2015 so far.

1.Be empathetic towards others: They say being empathetic requires you to stand in someone else shoes. While it comes more like an intuition,I strongly think it is a skill that one can develop and developing empathy has made me a totally different person.

2.Become Independent: I’ve come to understand that being independent makes you happy. After all you came into this world by yourself so you will have to learn to live survive alone. This is a fortunate lesson that I’ve comprehended to benefit from my independence. It keeps me motivated to do things by myself.

3. Family is my support system: Surely, one of the best gifts you receive is family. They will always be there for you no matter what and staying connected is vital especially when I am home away from home.

4.My friends are diamonds in the ruff: I value my close knit friends who are always omnipresent for me whenever I am in need of them.

5. Make exercising a habit: I suddenly feel like I am getting old and I have to join a gym or atleast start exercising regularly to lift up my age a bit!

6. Eat well, eat good food: Consumption of food rich in proteins and vitamins is essential for anybody.My diet now includes a whole lot of fresh veggies and fruits and off course chicken/mutton/eggs for that extra protein.

7. Traveling: I’ve come to discover my true love for traveling. It is influential in making me more independent with a better view on life.

8. Quit worrying about others: I’ve learnt to also stop sweating over what others think of me. You really cannot keep everyone around you happy all the time.

9.Conversing with my subconscious mind: It may sound stupid but the power of the subconscious mind is amazing. It will help you in shaping to be a better human being.

10. Limit Drinking: I am beer fanatic and I after dousing a lot of beer over the past, I’ve not learnt to reduce my intake. Drinking less beer increases my time to do other things.

11. Reading is my new skill: I love this new skill. I’ve just started reading a lot of worth read material. I find it gives me better insight into the world and life in general.

12. Avoid TV/Media/News: I consciously avoid media and news. I find it to stress me out. So I prefer staying away from the idiot box. I mean anything from commercials to soap operas to even news debates triggers a sense of negativity.

13. Writing: From writing in this blog , I’ve developed the skill to write posts regularly. I am not sure how many views I get ,but the satisfaction that I get from sharing my point of view with the world motivates me to write more.

14. Don’t underestimate anyone: Everyone you encounter will have amazing talents which we may not be aware off. Judging someone by his looks or his nature of job is pure stupidity.

15. Don’t burn bridges: over the year I was involved in a few exchange of opinions with many people, it cost me my relationships with them. I have realized that I should have made amends.

16. I love myself: I’ve finally stopped scrutinizing myself and finding faults. I am now living in a world where my happiness matters the most to me. The only motive for my survival is this one mantra :I have to be happy everyday. I know its not easy but am going to try.

17. Smile more: A smile is free, and smiling costs nothing, it makes my environment around much more pleasant also it’s a good exercise.

18. Learnt to lesson more and talk less : It came quite natural to me to speak more and listen less. After I realized that this was a folly and needed to be turned around, I have worked hard to change it to listening more and speaking less.

19. Help unconditionality: You quickly learn that once you start helping others without a return favor, you will find immense happiness with yourself. I am sure it is one thing that karma will bring to you.

20. Move on and live in the present: Accepting everyday is going to be different is my last lesson. Now I really don’t dwell in the past.

Pray4Nepal

nepal

Rescue efforts are in full swing as the depredation caused by the earthquake in Nepal and surrounding nations has brought life to a sad still. Images flashing across social media and news networks are only an infinitesimal proportion of the havoc nature has caused over the weekend.

The quake registered at a magnitude of 7.8 on the richter scale that also triggered deadly avalanches on Mount Everest.Then there were the aftershocks that hit the valley and caused more devastation.The death toll from Nepal’s earthquake is rapidly climbing with several injured and many more displaced without food and water.

Nepal is devastated and with news coming in over the profound loss of life and damages, one can only hope and pray for Nepal.

Last year I visited Nepal for about twenty days and stayed in Kathmandu for the start-up ecosystem coverage. I fell in love with the country and its people, liked everything about its culture and heritage. I made some really good friends as well. Luckily, most of them have informed me that they are safe. In the wake of such a natural calamity, we who are seated far from the epicenter of this tragic event can in some small way make an impact to save a life.

Here is what we should do:

Spread the word of organizations that are performing ground work to rescue and let the world know on ways to contribute. With access to internet and social media, we can connect to people across the world requesting for aid, help and relief for those affected.

Help connect locals with their relatives who are stuck or reported missing via social media [It is already happening via Sushma Swaraj who is reverting back directly)

Donations big and small are welcome. You can contribute financially to NGO’s or even make small attempts of donating blankets, clothes, food items to serve those displaced from their homes.

Reduced call tariffs to Nepal. Viber, Airtel and BSNL telecom companies have reduced call tariffs to Nepal so that people can connect with their loved ones.

With the Facebook Safety Check feature you can tag your loved ones and check for their safety.

Google has opened its Person Finder tool to aid earthquake relief efforts in Nepal.Person Finder 2015 Nepal Earthquake by google.

If you are in Nepal, use Kathmandu Living Labs to report situation in your area.

You can follow the following people on Twitter if you think you can help or in need of some help @nirajanme @lok123 @DeepakAdk @bimalmaharjan handling the crisis.

Also note the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu Helplines numbers : +977 9851107021, 9851135141

If you still cannot make any significant contribution from your end, a simple prayer for hope and relief is a great way to contribute as well. A pray for all those who are involved in rescue efforts, those suffering with loss of loved ones and for those missing and trapped. Let us join together and #Pray4Nepal.

Viber Offers Earthquake Victims Free International Calls From Nepal

Nepal earthquake: BSNL, MTNL, Airtel allow cheaper calls for three days

How to help victims of Nepal quake

PS: On a personal front this tragedy has affected my hometown that is situated in the northern part of the state of Bihar. Fortunately, the impact and devastation is not as bad as Nepal. The sad news is that almost 50 people have been reported dead in Bihar.

On Substandard Marketing

failed

Lately, I’ve been receiving a lot of mails related to PMP training & other skill development for freshers. So I found a reason to write a post considering my inbox is spamming with this content. I wonder, if I am the only one getting these kind of mails/promotional campaigns via the email medium or targeted ads on social media? If so, why and how effective are these kind of campaigns for someone like me?

Here is my take on how this can be done but in a much better way:

Age Group : First of all know your audience. These campaigns/mails should be targeted on the basis of age groups and background checks if you will. For ex, I am unmarried and have no blasted interest of buying baby diapers with a 30% discount!!! What a waste of my time and theirs!

Demography: If your product suits a particular demographic or area then plainly focus on that rather than mass advertising, Pushing irrelevant ads/campaigns of a product available/to be purchased in the United States is not going to capture my interest, leave alone market it.

Punchline: Why can’t emails have smarter subject lines? If I open an email or click on my timeline to navigate to the product page, I am expecting instant answers to advertising. I mean, it should clearly tell me what the offer is in less than 5 seconds of navigation..

Wrong Channels: Not that I’m complaining knowing fully well how much money circulates in advertising, but the logic is simple. Placing ad campaigns on wrong mediums is a waste of money. For instance, not everyone in India is on twitter so who cares what is available there?

Overdoing: I am least interested in receiving or viewing the same ad’s on every site I visit in a day either as a popup or as a banner, ridiculous! It will only make me dislike the product ever more. Its like being on twitter and 5 times a day promoting the same book every time, I simply cannot take it and chose to mute you.

I know some marketing agency or brands are taking care of their marketing and advertising on social media but the road ahead is a long one and the efforts are not good enough. We go to do better.

Notes from Chris Sacca/Jason This week in startup conversation.

Chris Sacca is considered as one of the best Unicorn hunters[In my observation 🙂 ]. In Investors term “Unicorn” means companies which are disruptive and have redefined the way we are using technology besides billion $$ evaluation. He has invested in over 40 companies almost every other top companies that you know or are aware of! He is currently perched on multi billion $$ funds and is busy identifying his next unicon. Some of his notable investments include Twitter, Photobucket, Instagram, Kickstarter among several others that you can aptly find on Angel List Thanks to @jason for inviting him to his weekly show where we the audience got to learn more about Chris and his ideologies.

You can watch the series here( note: grab a cup of coffee or beer as it is a long clip and yes Chris and Jason interactively chatted for over 2 hours)

I on the other hand, have made small notes of Chris conversation with Jason.Take a look!

Firstly he says, “Respect everyone” and we all agree.
Chris accurately mentions that money comes & goes, it is limited.
He believes in building relationships that lasts long.
Don`t be afraid to put your opinion out there, loud and clear for all to hear!
You don`t have to be afraid of losing your job as you will always find a better one if you are willing to try harder.
Whenever you have an idea, find someone to implement it for you
He says there is too much money circulation in the market. As a result, the quality of startups emerging has increasingly deteriorated.
Believe in entrepreneurs who have the zeal and passion to accomplish.
He jokes that beer is good and acts as an idea propeller drawing people to open up and discuss freely. I could not have agreed better, as even in my case I have made some good friends over a pint of beer.
You don’t need big college degrees or diplomas to be successful in life. I think he is referring to being just smart in the mind.
To garner experiences, you may have to work at smaller companies/places to learn and get some valuable experience.
Take risks calculatively but don’t ever be scared of failure.
He quips that we often take ourselves too seriously and that is a result of our depreciations.

A valuable talk and interaction that has thrown some light on how to advance with startups. I agree a hundred percent with his thoughts and hope you agree!