UPDATE 23 Oct 2018:
The post is clearly wrong. It was Mark Twain, not Jefferson, who wrote this about Christianity.
See this: TwainQuotes.com
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) had this to say about Christianity —
Continue reading “Thomas Jefferson on Christianity”
My friend, Dr Aniruddha Malpani, is an IVF specialist in Mumbai. When he is not busy getting women pregnant, he runs “HELP” — the world’s largest free patient education library. Now he needs help. He wrote to me, saying, Continue reading “How Does one Market Something Free”
Reports of gross misdeeds by people in power leave as much of an impression on the Indian mind as does yesterday’s weather forecast. And they appear to be as helpless in the face of institutionalized corruption and criminal behavior as in altering the weather. They take both as a given, a fact of nature that is outside their control.
Continue reading “The Endurance of Indians”
Cities are the engines of growth. Therefore, a policy that promotes urbanization of the population is an indispensible instrument for economic growth and development. In the following TED Talk, Paul Romer, a world-class growth economist at Stanford, makes the case.
Continue reading “Paul Romer: Charter Cities”
I have many avenues for wasting time but most of them involve the internets. Here’s a trick for you: go to wikipedia and click on “Random Article” in the navigation panel. Here are the lessons.
Continue reading “Wasting time on Wikipedia”
For decades I have been a fan or Garrison Keillor and his radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” on public radio.
Continue reading “A bit from Garrison Keillor”
The topic of education is an obsession with me for the simple reason that one cannot address any development related issues without reference to education, however broadly or narrowly one defines education or development. My interest in the use — and misuse — of technology in education is a natural extension of that basic interest in development and growth. The One Laptop Per Child comes in for special scrutiny because the implications of such a program are phenomenal for a poor country like India. I have long argued that there are simpler, more affordable and more urgently needed interventions that is needed than is provided by the OLPC program. Here’s one that I recently became aware of.
Continue reading “First Debug the Child . . .”
Don’t do sports on this blog but this is too good to not mention here.
On Sept 10th, Alan Turing received an apology from the British government 55 years after his death. Following a petition to 10 Downing St signed by 30,000 people, Gordon Brown formally apologized to the man who was so persecuted for being a homosexual that he committed suicide.
Continue reading “A Posthumous Apology to Alan Turing”
Sept 11th is this blog’s birthday. The blog was born this day six years ago. What I wrote last year, Five years of Opinions and Perspectives, still holds true. Continue reading “Sept 11th: Turning Six today”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 