The most interesting series that I've recently discovered on Youtube is Amrita TV's Taste of Kerala series. Unfortunately, you need to be able to understand spoken Malayalam to be able to enjoy the programming, but if you do, you are in for a treat.

The intent is to travel around Kerala (and amusingly enough parts of the US) getting local and regional special dishes cooked by families and individuals. The effect is spectacular, with this week's uploads providing a good glimpse into why this is addictive:

• Adamanaga Pulingarry : Dried green mango curry
• Vaazhappindy Perakku : Banana stem side dish
• Paavakka Achaar : Bitter gourd (or bitter melon) pickle

I check this weekly. The episodes where the host travels to the US are specifically amusing: salt dispensers, the relative size of onions and dried coconut flakes are amongst the things I take for granted, but are still unusual from an Indian perspective.

Here are three things:

Shah Rukh Khan is frisked at the airport.
Bob Dylan is detained for suspicious loitering.
Ravi Shankar, a Central Connecticut State University professor of English (Indian and 6 feet 2 inches, 200 pounds) is arrested on a warrant for a 5'10" 140 pound white male in New York.

Which of these did you hear about?

So with Bing being behind Yahoo's search, many pieces of the Panama project that I worked on will be put to rest.

When I first read that a full 1/3 of the software that gets built never gets used, I initially naively believed that it would not be true for me. I guess a system being used for a little while is still better than not at all.

Please do not do this when you are near a drink that can spill over you or have something important to go to do. This will make you waste considerable time, but nearly all of it laughing.

Someone at work mentioned an amazing prank that involved a porta-potty in a park being reconfigured so that it then eventually opened into into a meeting in progress. That lead to a whole series of pranks that this Japanese TV show carries out.

None of these I suspect would be possible anywhere in the US. Even then, someone suing for a considerable amount of money is a given.

Among the many things recently that I've found very surprising, some real estate agents refuse to work with you (aka show their listings) if you indicate that you found their listing on Redfin. How self defeating can you get? There's a 3% of profit out there if you take the trouble to show homes to people who are interested in them. If you don't, someone will eat your lunch for you.

I sometimes wish I could post up a list of agents who gave me a tirade on why the Internet Is Bad for their business and how I'm a horrible person for using Redfin. For a moment, consider this: you are the seller and your (friend/buddy/colleague) tells you that your agent just spoke to a prospective buyer in that manner. What do you think is likely to happen? Do you really want to do that?

I'm thrilled with Redfin, I couldn't find a smarter, better and well thought out site. I'm also thrilled about the announcement that Redfin is profitable. I liked their seminars, they were clever and pointed out why working with them is good; but didn't act all clingy and creepy and force you to work with them. I think this techcrunch is dead on here, if I was in the traditional real estate industry, I'd be shuddering as well.