Weekly Notes 09/2026

The work has been hectic. I actually don’t like hectic mode. I prefer being prepared and doing planned activities. But I do understand that not all real-world things can be planned, so one will feel stressed about time. I think it’s going to be like this till the end of March. So at least I know when it’s going to end.

• We have Management and Data Science. and Aeronautics and Space Technology, A new set of 3Y and 4Y BS degrees from IITM. I think we are probably the biggest online/remote university offering such a diverse set of courses and degrees that are accessible and affordable to almost everyone. If you are looking anywhere else for the biggest EdTech, you are looking in the wrong places. I am very happy to be part of this team and have been associated with it for almost a decade now, in one form or another.
• I have a Peertube account now. I found a decent host in the form of spectra.video. I plan to upload tutorials and how-tos.
• We have an additional supporter for NMG/2026 in the form of Abhinav Sarkar (25K). The total grant is now 5.45 lakhs. Thank you, Abhinav. Also, there is an official post from FOSSUnited about their support for NMG.
• I stopped using Instagram a while back. I have not deleted the account, mostly because I don’t want anyone else to take that name. I still like to share pictures. For a while, I shared directly on my Fedi account, but I wanted a way to host them on my blog and then share them with the world. So I set up a cross-post from my live blog (thej.in) to my Mastodon account. I use Share on Mastodon plugin for this. It works really well.
• Added two new blogs to my subscription, Virginia Eubanks and Joe Crawford. Yet to update my blogring. Also, if visa gods permit, we will be in Australia for a week or so in April. Going through Sathya’s blog posts and making a list of cafes that we can visit in Sydney.
• Why is it that from Nalanda to the current universities are attacked by fundamentalists? In any civilized society, schools, colleges, and universities should never be attacked. Maybe we are far from being a civilized society.
• In Vegas, Surveillance cameras were donated to the city, not purchased with public funds. That way, Metros don’t have to hold public meetingshttps://fossunited.org/blog/grants/supporting-nmg-2026 to gather public comment on the technology. In effect, it bypasses citizen participation and democracy. There is a report on how the IDF massacred aid workers in Gaza. You should read it even though it’s quite sickening. I have a really old Kindle (the one with a keyboard) with a dead battery. I need to do something with that.