Some thoughts on why things are the way they are and what to do about them
https://mbbshacker.blogspot.com/2022/02/scraping-bottom-of-pyramid-in-indian.html

I have an obsession.
When I find a new interesting blog post or an interesting person's blog, I have to stop and read *all* the posts in that blog. From the very first, till the very last.

But it's so difficult to do that in the browser. So I did what every programmer does...

I searched the internet for a tool that does this. There were some, but none worked for me. So I did what every programmer does next...

I built a tool.

github.com/asdofindia/blogspot-to-ebook/

It starts from a post and keeps going to the "Older post" till it runs out of older posts.
Then, it takes all these posts and makes an epub book out of them.

Funnily enough, I used an epub generating library first which I didn't like. So I did what every programmer does...

I read the EPUB 30 specs and built an epub generating library. Right now it is embedded within the book generating code. I'll probably extract this into an npm module after some polishing.

The tool works only for blogspot as of now. Should add wordpress next.

Reading blogs; brb

I embraced pragmatism a while ago because I was tired of ideologically purist non-sense that achieved no real change.

But then I struggled a lot to find direction. How does one make decisions in pragmatism? What principles can guide us?

Also, how do we avoid turning evil?

That latter thing was my bigger concern. What if I become something that I set out to replace?

I think in some sense both these dilemmas are connected. They both question the fundamental idea of the approach. Will pragmatism really bring change? Or is it counter-productive?

I think I've found out a way to reconcile all these.

Am I being a profound bullshitter? I don't know.

But the answer I found is deceptively simple and I've written it down here: https://blog.learnlearn.in/2022/03/finding-direction-when-being-pragmatic.html

Have you heard people saying "better use of technology" will solve "problem X" without specifying what technology or how exactly it will solve the problem?

I call those people "tech-bhakts".

What they (probably) understand is how technology works.
What they do not understand?

How humans work.

They fail to see what the problems of human beings are.

They fail to account for the human factor in their techno-centered solution.

In their theories of change, the human comes last - as a beneficiary of impact.

They start with technology no matter what.

I write about why we need to decommission such theories of change in https://mbbshacker.blogspot.com/2022/03/decommissioning-technology-centered.html

Tiny personal programs are the most fun. It is so difficult to talk about each individually. But who doesn't read a listicle?

https://asd.learnlearn.in/tiny-personal-programs/

"Prav is a social project to get a lot of people to invest small amounts to run an interoperable messaging service that will respect users’ freedom and privacy."

Sounds pretty stupid, right?

https://asd.learnlearn.in/prav-project/

Sunday morning read on intangible software in health system

https://youtu.be/mjjQ4bWIImw

The First Feminist in My Life

https://blog.learnlearn.in/2022/05/the-first-feminist-in-my-life.html

iHEAR TransCare team released a draft competencies for trans-affirmative health provision. I'm reading it in this video: https://youtu.be/a-UeKdfGlQw

This is a commons handbook in the commons

https://feminist-software.gitlab.io/commons-handbook/

Just some random FizzBuzz approaches

https://asd.learnlearn.in/fizzbuzz/

Frappe is a popular, open-source, low-code web framework from India. It works like magic. But I don't like magic. So I looked at the source code.

https://asd.learnlearn.in/exploring-frappe/

I've been thinking forever to do an online, interactive, recorded for public, learning oriented discussion series on programming - starting from quite the basics of how a computer works, going through spreadsheet formulae and ending in python or js.

Would you join as learner?

https://twitter.com/asdofindia/status/1548659422460669952?t=9z5IeluUaso8kVliWbu3uQ&s=19

Can we remake capitalism for a better world?

https://asd.learnlearn.in/remaking-capitalism/

I have spent countless hours thinking about and arguing in this debate between free software and open source. I've finally reached at an answer.

https://asd.learnlearn.in/give-up-free-software-open-source-debate/

Exploring a framework of love (instead of power) to lead a useful life.

https://blog.learnlearn.in/2022/08/love-is-enough.html

Long boring video of me reading this article titled "(Re)imagining research, activism, and rights at the intersections of sexuality, health, and social justice" and then thinking loud about certain thoughts.

https://youtu.be/X4ylpwFeqOo

What's the relationship between #intersectionality and #science? How does intersectionality validate lived experience? And what's the role of #rationality in an intersectional world?

https://blog.learnlearn.in/2022/09/intersectionality-queering-science.html

In which I argue that the law, if it cares about rural health, should encourage risk-taking in MBBS doctors

https://mbbshacker.blogspot.com/2022/10/what-can-mbbs-doctor-do.html

No answers here

https://mbbshacker.blogspot.com/2022/11/by-doing-governments-work-are-we-making.html