URL: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/09/23.html#new_toys
Date: 2002-09-23T16:50:42-05:00
_Shelley Powers_: &#8220;I thought the stuff this weekend on FOAF was a joke[1]
&#8212;a bunch of people playing with new toys. ... How does FOAF aid
aggregation? The author is included with each bit. Why do we need extraneous
material such as college, and who the author knows?&#8221;
_Seth Russell_: &#8220;For example I wanted to know who _you_ were[2]. Only
thing I had was your posts to this list. So i found "burningbird.net" in your
email address ... then i did a lot of reading over there. Still don't really
know who your are and what you are into, what projects you are working on, who
you know, and why you came here to run your mouth. But if there were a foaf
button on the feed from this channel, well I just click on that and i'm totally
into your stuff.&#8221;
[1] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rss-dev/message/3981
[2] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rss-dev/message/3982

URL: http://boingboing.net/#85494359
Date: Not supplied
Amazing story about the "dabba wallahs" -- India's 112-year-old meal-delivery
system that outdoes FedEx using pictograms, bicycles, and largely illiterate
(but well-compensated) deliverypeople:
As part of the tiffin distribution process, every day the meals are picked
up from commuters' homes in Mumbai long after the commuters have left for
work, delivered to them on time, then picked up and delivered home before
the commuters return.
Each tiffin carrier has, painted on its top, a number of symbols that
identify where the carrier was picked up, the originating and destination
stations and the address to which it is to be delivered.
After the tiffin carriers are picked up, they are taken to the nearest
railway station, where they are sorted according to the destination
station.
At the destination station they are unloaded by other dabba wallahs and
re-sorted, this time according to street address and floor.
The 80 kg crates of carriers, carried on dabba wallahs' heads, hand-wagons
and cycles are delivered at 12.30 p.m., picked up at 1.30 p.m., and
returned when they came.
The system relies on multiple relays of dabba wallahs, and a single tiffin
box may change hands up to three times during its journey from home to
office.
Link[1] Discuss[2] (_Thanks, Tom!_)
[1] http://in.news.yahoo.com/020920/43/1vfdw.html
[2] http://www.quicktopic.com/boing/H/H96NaZc8PTyq