Category: Blogging

. . . that the chief typewriter monkey has called in sick the last couple of days. Which also means that there will be no posts for the next few days. However, the management recommends the archives for your reading pleasure.

To minimize spam, comments are closed after 21 days of posting. That’s a pity as sometimes people like to comment on archived posts. The occasional open thread should help in this regard.

I have been pondering where I want to go with this blog. One idea is to increase the range by posting all sorts of things that I find interesting. One way is to post links with very very brief commentary, and every now and then post an original article. I have some requests that I should post very brief “basic principles of economics” sort of thing. Let me see what I can do to overcome my laziness.

So stop lurking. Introduce yourself to other readers, tell us where you are from, and be critical.

NOTE: If you wish to not bother with registering before commenting, here’s a generic username and password which you could use. Username: lurker Password: lurking

POSTSCRIPT: If you do use the generic “lurker” login, please do sign off with your actual name or even a persistent pseudonym so that the comment can be referred to. Thanks.

This is meta-writing: writing about writing.

Ankan wrote:

You write extremely well. You have very good ideas, but your posts are a joy to read even when I do not agree completely with the ideas.

They say good writing comes as a result of clarity of thought. Is it just that, or can one do something more to improve one’s written ability? Is there any advice you would like to give to someone who wishes to write well?

Thanks for the generous comment.

I am not qualified to give advice on how to write well. Attempting to do so would be presumptuous, as it would imply that I myself know how to write well. By definition, only a few of us can do something well. Much of the time it is a combination of innate talent and years of practice. Little can be done about talent except to accept what one is endowed with gracefully. What one can do is practice enough to become better at something – and perhaps do it well. So what follows is briefly what I believe it takes to become a better writer.
Continue reading “On Writing Well”

If you have been lurking, de-lurk for a bit. Feedback and questions welcome.

Go ahead. Speak your mind. Stop lurking if that is what you have been doing. Bouquets and brickbats. Whatever it is, just say it. This is an open thread but like all other posts, the comments close after 21 days.

By the by, I am in Mumbai tomorrow at at panel which is discussing “Inclusive Growth.”

Winter solstice (Northern hemisphere) this year occurs around 6:08 UTC on Dec 22nd. Wish you all a Happy Winter Solstice. Happy Christmas as well.

I think this post is close enough to be the 1,000th post on this blog (give or take a few.) It has been a good run and thanks for your support. Perhaps it will see the 2,000th post one day.

Traffic Rankings for Business and Economics Websites lists this blog number 33 with 1753 page views a day for November. For comparison, the site notes that if this blog were a newspaper, it would be the equivalent of the Mobile Register of Mobile Alabama. 🙂 But it drops to rank 37 with 981 average daily visitors, which puts it in the same class as the Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, MO). See this for what the newspaper comparison means.

In the past, I used to try and respond to all comments. Time constraints do not allow me that luxury any more. I sincerely appreciate the comments, however, and my thanks for those thoughtful comments. Some comments which call for a clarification or further elaboration of the subject, I will respond in subsequent posts.

I generally don’t censor comments and I don’t remove comments, however irrelevant to the post, unless it is pure spam. Some comments test my resolve about not removing comments. Those are the type which clearly indicate that the commenter has not bothered to read my post carefully, or has read it with sufficient prejudice that my point has been utterly misunderstood. Those comments are pure bullshit and against pure bullshit, even the gods struggle in vain, leave alone a mere mortal.

Usual rules of courtesy apply. Consider reading someone’s blog akin to visiting them at home. You are a guest and generally welcome. If one wishes to abuse the host, one should have the decency to leave the place, and do the abusing from a different place.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The problem with the typewriter monkeys has been solved. An entirely new crew has been hired because the older bunch were slackers and did not produce enough posts. I am back on the road, vagabonding in Paris today. Here are some pictures of my afternoon in Paris with my friend Courtenay. Tomorrow I leave for the San Francisco Bay area.

Needless to say the new crew of monkeys are going to be hard at work while I am away. Posts will be regular and well considered — none of the low quality stuff we had been seeing of late.