Mr. B Raman, in his South Asia Analysis Group paper of 20th August — “Counter-terrorism & Appeasement” — writes:
* There have been four acts of mass casualty terrorism since 1981. All the four were carried out when the Congress (I) was in power in New Delhi.
Continue reading “B Raman: “Counter-terrorism & Appeasement””
Garrett Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) proposed what he called the First Law of Ecology, which states “You cannot do only one thing”. He is also the author of the 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the Commons. I admire Hardin for his deep ecological thinking. Here’s a quote from his book ‘Living Within Limits:Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos‘ (1993, OUP).
Continue reading “Looking for Causes must precede the Finding of Remedies”
Furious re-arranging of the deck chairs going on as the ship sinks. “The Class X board exams will become optional in all CBSE schools from the coming academic year (2010-11).” (rediff.)
Continue reading “Making the 10th Board Exam Optional”
Richard Feynman wrote that he was mystified by the different ways — ways that bear no resemblance to each other — in which a fundamental law of physics can be described. He conjectured that perhaps it was because the fundamental laws are simple. “Perhaps a thing is simple if you can describe it fully in several different ways without immediately knowing that you are describing the same thing.” [1]
Continue reading “Time to Simplify”
Greetings on Ganesh Chatruthi.
May Vigneshwara (the remover of obstacles), Ekadanta (the One with the one Tusk), Mahakaya (One with the Huge Body), etc., remove the obstacles to your ventures. I am sure that he will remove the writer’s block that I have. I have made the appropriate invocations to him. Here’s a wonderful prayer to Nadapratithishta, the One who Appreciates and Loves Music.
Below the fold you will find another pretty good song to Ganapati and a list of his 108 names.
Continue reading “Happy Ganesh Chaturthi”
Rights appears to be all the rage these days. The right to this, that and the other. For example, in the US, the acrimonious debate about healthcare — a right to cheap medical services — is reaching unhealthy levels. Nationalized healthcare (and all other things as well) seems to be the preferred route in the US. It seems everyone has a right to a bail out from the government — sick automobile companies and banks included. In India, the newest right on the horizon is a right to “compulsory and free education.”
Continue reading “Can too many Rights be Wrong?”
The Pew Global Attitudes Project is curiously interesting: “a series of worldwide public opinion surveys that encompasses a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. More than 175,000 interviews in 55 countries have been conducted as part of the project’s work.” (Hat tip: Nitin.) Below is one of the opinion surveys found on the site.
Continue reading “How the US is Viewed around the World”
The August 2009 issue of Pragati is out. I have a contribution in there. My perspective is that the Indian government must stop subsidizing Muslims who go on haj, and the more general case that the government must stop meddling in private religious affairs of the citizens. The text of my article is below the fold, for the record.
Continue reading “Pragati Aug 2009: To be Free”
I am fortunate to be on a mailing list that Mr Keith Hudson of Bath, England posts on. He is a Renaissance man and a polymath. I am privileged to call him a friend. I want to share this piece of his with you.
Continue reading “A Bi-polar Population”
