Category: Uncategorized

So the last post was about the Swiss. It seems appropriate then to put out this “All Music Considered” post. I think yodeling is particularly Swiss.

For many Indians (which includes me), their introduction to yodeling was through a few Kishor Kumar songs in which he yodeled. We, of course, didn’t know at that time that it was not original to him but was a borrowed tradition. I learned soon enough that he was imitating the Swiss. I don’t say that imitation is bad but only that it is good to know that something is not original.

But whatever. Here are a couple of yodeling songs I like.  Let’s start with a Franzl Lang’s song, shall we? Continue reading “AMC – Swiss Music”

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”

If you love trains (I most definitely do), then you’ll love this video from the Not Just Bikes channel. It’s truly delightful that places like Switzerland exist on the planet. It demonstrates that it is possible for people to organize a society that is truly civilized. It is an outstanding illustration that humans are capable of arranging their societies to be materially prosperous and peaceful.

I have had the good fortune of visiting Switzerland several times in the early ’90s when I spent a few years traveling around the world. Just getting to Geneva was exciting — on a TGV from Paris. It takes a little of 3 hours to cover the distance of 409 kms, and if you book in advance, you can get a ticket for as little as $10. But enough of that. Here’s the video. I bet you dollars to donuts that you will like it. Continue reading “The Swiss and their Trains”

Does a person have a right to property that was not justly acquired even if the consequences of holding that property promote the general welfare?

Robert Nozick didn’t think so. He wrote, “The justice of a given individual’s possession of and discretionary control over certain economic goods cannot be a function of that possession and control contributing to the general welfare or to any other overall social end-state or pattern. All such consequentialist assessments of holdings are ruled out of court. So, if there is any acceptable account of the justice of individual holdings, it must be a backward-looking account. The justification must depend upon how the holdings in question have arisen.” Continue reading “Restitution of Stolen Property”

Once upon a time, a monk arrived at the outskirts of a village and settled down under a tree to rest for the night. Early the next morning he was woken up by a man. The man was from the village.

He said to the monk, “Give me the stone.” The man had been told by the village deity in a dream that he would find a monk outside the village who had a stone that would make him extremely wealthy.

“I want that stone,” said the man to the monk. The monk took out a stone from his little bundle of possessions. It was a diamond as big as a fist. “I found it in the forest yesterday. Here, take it. It’s yours,” said the monk. The man was overjoyed as he grabbed the diamond and ran back to his village. Continue reading “The First Step to Real Wealth”

My favorite American holiday is 4th of July, also known as Independence Day. It dates back to 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Aside from the fact that this date was symbolically the birth of the greatest nation on earth, and what it means for the philosophical and political ideas that provided its foundation, there’s the fun, food and drinks with friends and of course the public fireworks. Continue reading “Happy 4th of July”

Here’s a list of how many of something that the following countries have:

• • • India 154
    • China 95
    • Japan 129
    • Russia 188
    • United Kingdom 171
    • Germany 456
    • France 433
    • Greece 54
    • Mexico 81
    • Pakistan 33
    • Mystery country 20,242

1. What is that something which China has 95, and India has 154?
2. Which is the Mystery country which has 20,242 of that something?

Fabulous prizes for the right answers.

This is totally off-the-wall irrelevant since this has nothing to do with any contemporary event. But we do need a break from all the doom and gloom. What gloom, you ask!

Moments ago a Silicon Valley friend of mine sent me a picture which I couldn’t figure out. That’s the picture on the left. What’s that, I asked. He said that that was my neighbor (well, these days he lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC) falling off his bicycle.

Imagine if that guy dies or become incapacitated. God forbid but that would mean Ms Kamala Harris becomes the POTUS. So let’s all pray that to the Lord of the Universe and ask him to keep the senile old man alive till Jan 2025. Please. Continue reading “The Netherlands Welcomes DJT”

The world can get along fine without economics and economists.

Imagine being shipwrecked on an uninhabited island with a bunch of your companions. Unfortunately there’s no chance of being rescued but fortunately the island has lush vegetation and is nicely wooded. To flourish, or even just to survive, you need skills and technology.

To survive and thrive, you would need people in your group who could farm, build shelters, make cloth, mine and refine ores, make tools, provide medical services, and do a whole variety of things. One profession, however, you wouldn’t need are economists. A society can get along perfectly well without economics and economists.

Or can it? Continue reading “World without Economics”

If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. I am not a fan of bitcoin because it looks like a ponzi scheme, works like a ponzi scheme and sounds like a ponzi scheme.

Most people don’t see bitcoin as a ponzi scheme because most people don’t understand the basics of the underlying technologies and how they operate. Fortunately, there are good guides on the internet. Unfortunately, they don’t come cheap. The cost is in the time you invest.

So if you are really interested, pay the cost in terms of time. I think the return on investment is worth it. Here’s a video that is really excellent. Enjoy. Continue reading “Blockchain, NFTs, Bitcoin”

We are good. And only we, not the others, are good. The others are bad. Goodness is exclusively ours. That’s so evidently clear that it cannot but be perverse to deny that.

We are also uniquely qualified to point to our obvious goodness in contrast with the clear evilness of others. And when we do so, we use the inclusive “we” although we clearly want to exempt ourselves from the collective “we” we so eagerly employ to point to the faults of others. We say “we” but we don’t want to be associated with those we  accuse of being bad. The “we” we refer to when we point our finger at the collective we is directed away from us. Continue reading “We Are Good”