Creative commons

An interesting article at WSJ by Brian Caplan of Econlog that weighs the various aspects of having children.
Is he really that accurate?
TheScian Science Fiction Anthology - a collectible very first paperback edition is now available for purchase. For eye-candy, preview and to buy visit the book page. Shipping to US is 2-3 days (one day with Amazon Prime), to Europe and UK takes about 5 days. Kindle eBook edition and an Indian paperback edition will be available in a few weeks if you don't want to spend more on shipping. That said, I think you'll enjoy this 150 page volume more on real paper. Follow us on Twitter where we talk about books, publishing and more. (How do you handle spam on twitter? I just created the account…
Over the weekend dug and tilled a patch of land in the garden to plant some herbs. It took an hour and the effort was rewarded with a rich harvest of pebbles, worms and roots of various sizes that ran underground like highways carrying nutrients to far away places (one can imagine trees as cities here, the analogy seems to fit quite well). Just beneath one's feet lurks a world that we are oblivious to most of the time. Sometimes, to feel human, we must plant our feet an inch into the ground and let our head and shoulders soak in the air and sun. I planted sage, peppermint (top) and basil,…
A fabulous article on potato fries at Serious Eats. For the sheer depth and mad commitment, this is surely one of the best food hacking I have come across so far this year.
A little poem I wrote for the little ones (5 year old niece Nethra and 2 1/2 year old daughter Nidhi). Small Finger of a Lady SingerI am the small finger Of a lovely lady singer. When her voice goes south She puts me in her mouth Or strikes up a pose And puts me in her nose.
Behold this book title: Traveller's Manual for French Persons in Germany and German Persons in France. Such clarity of purpose! This was a French-German phrase book Published in 1799 in France by one Caroline-Stephanie-Felicite Du Crest de Saint-Aubin. Learnt about this remarkable manual from another more contemporary book I have been reading, The Discovery of France by Graham Robb, a brilliant and engaging exploration of France and Frenchness.
I hear this phrase often from people and immediately start wondering if their normal mode of speech is dishonesty and in this instance they are favoring me with honesty. The phrase itself is usually just a verbal tick--a watered down conspirational tone--to draw others to one's side. To be honest, it is best avoided.
Bare bones to grind food inside our head.
Trying to place science and literature in their proper places in my head. The story so far... If Science is an undertaking to find Absolute Truths, then what is Literature with a dominant scientific theme (like Ian McEwan's Solar or E. O. Wilson's Anthill)? Literature can't take the place of science in leading us to absolute truths. So what is it for? To me, it appears to be an undertaking to talk about the path, the exploration itself. Measured discourse (good literature), as it does always, can illuminate the way--ahead of us and behind us. More than the illumination, it is--for those who…
Still alive. Still listening to music. Here's a few from my playlist this morning. Sophia by Nerina Pallot Les Etoiles (The Stars) by Melody Gargot (check out her lickable website and who she is). A Sunday Smile by Zach Condon (wish he made more music) Pourquoi me réveiller (Why do you wake me?) from Werther by Josha Bell ("Pearls Before Breakfast", a Pulitzer prize winning essay about Bell)
Self portrait The american poet E. E. Cummings' poems usually have mashed-up capitalization, punctuation and are constructed on the page with words as visual art. Consider the below poems where he presents his (typical early 20th century) views on science and technology as having a rather callous effect on earth. His expression of that sentiment is a delicious mix of metaphors wonderfully painted. Very enjoyable. O sweet spontaneous by: E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) sweet spontaneous earth how often have the doting fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked thee , has the…
From The Four Quartets: The whole earth is our hospital Endowed by the ruined millionaire, Wherein, if we do well, we shall Die of the absolute paternal care That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere. The chill ascends from feet to knees, The fever sings in mental wires. If to be warmed, then I must freeze And quake in frigid purgatorial fires Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars. The dripping blood our only drink, The bloody flesh our only food: In spite of which we like to think That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood- Again, in spite of that, we call this…
Jesus survived the crucifixion and spent his remaining years in Kashmir. Yes, he did. I don't doubt it for a moment.
Perelman quit the world of mathematics in disgust four years ago. His decision to spurn the Fields Medal may have been driven by a sense that his fellow mathematicians were not worthy to award it. -Reported in Guardian "his fellow mathematicians were not worthy to award it" Ah. If so, you go, Perelman, I say. An excellent 2006 article on Perelman at New Yorker here that may offer a scant scent of this remarkable man's convictions and motivations. What Perelman solved - Poincare Conjecture. It's a conjecture no more.
In The Hindu. NL: But in a society like India, how can we ignore the divisiveness, the poverty? Pamuk: You don't ignore it. It is part of the picture, but it's not the only thing. That's how I see it. My kind of novel is about balancing of the whole picture. I think... I always argue that living in a country with political and economic problems doesn't mean that you have to write cheap and journalistic fiction. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky wrote their fiction in a country where there were such problems but they wrote their fiction well. It's not the job of fiction to solve political problems. That…
Fished from the internets for printing and framing. Larger size at TheScian Photos Larger size at TheScian Photos
I had been a apple computer user for the past 5 years and immensely enjoyed the hardware and the software. But, all good things come at a price. Apple's price for a polished user experience has lately turned out to be user freedom. The inability to take out and use the content stored in apple's walled garden is stultifying. I understand that those who are not too keen to learn the innards of computer hardware and software may find apple's products liberating (that is why, Ramya still uses the mac for all her needs and I am fine with it). However, apple has broken faith with those who promoted…
A poo bag that can make a difference to a lot of people in need, especially women and children. The PeePoo site. [via NDTV, thanks Ramya.]
Is there a difference between thinking and thinking hard? I mean, thinking is thinking. How can you say if someone is thinking hard or not? Well, I am going to first call on Newton to tell you what that difference is. Newton said, `If others would think as hard as I did, then they would get similar results.' What does Newton mean? Let that question throw sparks in your mind, meanwhile let me call Einstein, or more accurately Abraham Pais who wrote a great deal about Einstein with much insight. In his book Suble is the Lord, Pais often insists that Einstein thought long and hard about certain…