yazadjal.com

Just in case you want to know, this is how.

There are two ways we can produce cars. We can build them (in Gurgaon / Pune / Tamil Nadu, etc) or we can grow them. Everyone knows how we build cars. To grow cars, we must first grow the raw material from which they are made–wheat (or rice or onions, etc). We put the […]

We’re #3 in a google search for “tarot card readers bangalore” — I suppose MadMan is to be blamed!
Update (September 30): #2 now. And if I post again on the topic, maybe we’d rise to #1. Delicious irony!

Thanks to the insistence of a fellow blogger who’s far geekier than me, I’ve installed Mozilla Firefox as my default browser.
Arnab was gushing about the Spread Firefox campaign and from a first look, it does seem to be a successful case of viral marketing. But what I really like about Firefox is their policy […]

It’s not just cricket! You can also bet on who will win the next Nobel prize in Economics. (Or the other Nobels.)
Marginal Revolution has some market information on the contenders.
Last year I’d posted thrice on the topic:
Tilting at Nobel windmills
Nobel Prize in Social Sciences?
More Econ Nobel
I much prefer Madsen Pirie’s prediction:
The Nobel Prize […]

Some months back, at dinner with bloggers in Bangalore, I broached a topic on the limits of libertarianism. What activities would you consider illegal (not allowable) even if you were libertarian? Let’s leave aside the obvious stuff like murdrer and theft.
What would you consider undefendable? Ordinary folks consider things like selling heroin and prostitution […]

More from Boudreaux and Café Hayek.
consider the folk wisdom that insists that it’s better to make computer chips than to make potato chips.
This adage is nonsense. Herman Lay made millions producing potato chips. And in the process of producing his personal fortune, he made consumers and workers better off.
And not just Herman Lay. We have […]

Don Boudreaux makes a telling point while discusing the military draft.
The state, at its best, provides protection against violence. It is a service. It is a valuable service, perhaps even an especially valuable service. But it is a service. The supplier of this service is entitled to no greater claim on the rights or property […]

While a debate rages on privatisation of Public Sector Units (PSUs) in India, it’s interesting to note that there is very little being talked about the usefulness of certain ministries. Today’s lead edit in the Times of India suggests abolishing the ministry of heavy industry as it interferes too much into PSU functioning.
A quick […]

OK, here’s a good one for you wannabe Cartel members. Let’s hear your stand on this issue.
I’m sure most of you know that USA has numerous laws in place that make it illegal to discriminate against employees on the basis of race or color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth and national origin.
So quite simply, if you […]

As this is bad joke time on cartel blogs, I thought I would share my own original PJ.
Q. Who is an Indian beggar’s favourite Western pop star?
A. Madonna
Ask why…

Never heard a beggar come up and whimper
“Maaa do naa?”

Continuing on the issue of Oliver Stone’s film Alexander and whether or not Stone misused the Zoroastrian symbol farohar, here is something that Marazban Sarkari, my best friend, wrote in a couple of emails. I’m presenting it as a guest post. Marazban lives and works in the US. My comments are in italics. The rest […]

Ravikiran accuses me of double standards.
The Parsis too wanted some film about Alexander to be banned right? Why don’t you write about them? Your double standards are boggling the mind.
Here are two articles from the TOI on the Farohar symbol in Oliver Stone’s film “Alexander”.
Parsis protest use of holy symbol in film
Holy symbol […]

Banning a book just because someone might be offended by what’s written is a bad idea. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code is currently in a bit of hot water. It’s been banned in Lebanon and there are protests suggesting a ban in India.
It’s commendable to note that one of the main organisations mentioned (and […]

If you skip the party crap, Bombay Times sometimes comes up with a gem like this. Veena Singhal of the Pedder Road Residents’ Association is concerned about the impact a new 47 storey tower will have on civic amenities in the area. Her two major areas of concern are a) water and b) traffic congestion. […]

A sure sign of poor journalism is not following your own advice. Vinay Kamat & Harish Dugh present an argument in favour of Sachin retiring now. Regardless of the merit of their points, they spoil it all with this:
Why can’t we just let him be. Or not be.
At least have the courage of your […]

Two articles recently linked Nepals Maoist rebels to the Shining Path, Peru’s violent marxist guerillas of the 1980’s and 90’s.
The Shining Path was one of the most gruesome terrorist movements in a small, impoverished country. Most write-ups on the Shining Path seem to credit a military crackdown by then Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori. But […]

Surjit Bhalla looks closely at some poverty figures and finds a few discrepancies.
The World Bank believes that poverty in India is 35 per cent; official government of India data suggest it is 24 per cent; and if these official data are corrected for definition differences and accurate price data, then poverty in 2000 is only […]

I’ve just joined a new initiative CEO Bloggers, run by Guillaume du Gardier, a French PR professional (and CEO). Would be even more fun if I could go to their meetings in Paris!
Here’s their welcome notice:
If you are CEO, Owner, Founder, Partner or Associates of your company, AND author of a weblog, then we’ll be […]

It would be great to have a non-partisan fact check website in India. I came across two via an article in the CS Monitor.
FactCheck.org is punchier and directs itself towards the statements and “facts” bandied about by politicians. In their own words:
We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the […]