yazadjal.com

Can you defame somebody who’s dead? Well, some organisation called Yuvak Biradari is deeply upset with remarks made by Vijay Tendulkar on Gandhiji. The merits / demerits of the remarks are not relevant. What is, is the fact that Yuvak Biradari intends to sue Tendulkar for defamation. Without obviously caring to look up the law. […]

Don’t you hate it when you go over to a site and it pops a “free registration required” — I would then go through the motions of registering even if it was just to read one article. Then I came across the wonderful BugMeNot site. I love it. Here’s an excerpt from their FAQ:
What’s […]

A simple explanation best demolishes common myths. Don Boudreaux does it time and again. Here he takes on the myth of social security being a safety net.
A safety net is something that one never wants to use; everyone wishes to avoid contact with it. It’s there in the event of an accident, an unplanned mishap.
Whether […]

Last month, Amit Varma wrote about liberal / libertarian and their shifting meanings. For me, the best point on these labels is made by David Boaz in his book Libertarianism: A Primer. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s website:
The right term for the advocates of civil society and free markets is arguably socialist. Thomas […]

Kiruba Shankar is throwing a vodka cocktail party at his home in Chennai on February 13. I would have gladly flown down but it’s Valentine’s eve and I’ve been booked.

Ever wonder at the incongruity of state awards? And see how similar it is to monarchs of yore handing out the goodies to loyal servants?
I agree with Romila Thapar’s decision to return the Padma Bhushan. She makes her reasons clear in this interview.
In 1992, I was given precisely this award. I decided I would stay […]

Today is the 100th birthday of Ayn Rand. I enjoyed all her books, fiction and non-fiction; was a founding member of the New Delhi Ayn Rand club; and well, owe a lot of my learnings in libertarianism to her. I grew up with browsing through her books in my parents library. When my father […]

As we’ve already had reams of stuff written on last Sunday’s blogger meet, I will refrain from contributing more hot air (prefer to use that to warm myself)
However, I shall promise to write up on helmets, seat belts and steering-wheel-spikes. Yes, I know I’ve promised articles post the last bloggers meet. Which means, dear […]

Bryan Caplan on EconLog, picks up an old interview from Capitalism Magazine on Legalizing Insider Trading. I agree, but it’s déjà vu (twice in once day!)
Seven odd years back, Ajay Shah convinced me against a ban on insider trading. Here’s what Ajay (then a professor at IGIDR) wrote in the Business Standard (25 March […]

While reading this in today’s TOI, I had a strong feeling of déjà vu. I was right. The Times cooly picks up stuff from Steven Lynch’s Cricinfo column and all the attribution it will deign to give is “according to a website.”
Why am I picking on the Times when it wasn’t the only newspaper […]

The fates have finally decreed that Ravikiran should post the blog mela. He’s also decamped to Ohio to escape the brickbats. (All bouquets to be diverted to my blog).
The next mela will be hosted by Chien(ne)s Sans Frontiers. There’s a small twist this time. Not only do you have to leave your nomination, […]

The Bombay Bloggers Meet is on today.
4 pm
Café Coffee Day
Chowpatty
(nearest railway station: Charni Road)
See you there!

I’ve always found it nice to see people I know start blogs. And when they are editors of a youth magazine (with a sharp eye for observation), I know I’m in for a treat. Rashmi Bansal of Jam Magazine has started a blog called Youth Curry where she’d like to
go beyond the superficial level and […]

The results of the 2004 Indibloggies are out. AnarCapLib came 2nd in the only category we were nominated in (Best Topical IndiBlog). The winner was Shiok Chef’s Notes, the food blog run by Madhu Menon, webmaster of this blog, guest blogger here and of course web guru extraordinaire. Madhu also wins Best Designed […]

The latest Bharateeya Blog Mela is up at Selective Amnesia. A nice eclectic set of posts garnished with some chirpy commentary by Ravages. Go read.
Next mela will be at the Examined Life and Ravikiran has a PJ ready for you!

Around an hour back, I was chatting briefly with MadMan and Kingsley in a yahoo conference. I had to leave to attend an internal office meeting. Here’s a snippet of the chat at that time.
Yazad: and i’m about to go for my bi-weekly office meeting
MadMan: bi-weekly? Is that a weekly meeting of bisexual people?
Kingsley: is […]

We need to meet more bloggers and meet more often. While writing up on the last blog meet, I’d proposed January 30th. How does the Chowpatty Cafe Coffee Day at 4 pm sound? It’s large and 4 pm is a time when I assume it’ll be empty. Plus if more bloggers come out of the […]

The great tradition of bad jokes from the cartel’s blogs continues. New member Amit Varma pitches in.

Ok. This is a rant. I can be nice when I want to, but this time I want to vent some steam about last Sunday’s piece on blogging in the Indian Express.
The very first thing that hit me about Murali Menon is that he didn’t know anything whatsoever about blogs and worse he hadn’t […]

It’s ok to be chatty and anecdotal when you have just a basic understanding of a topic under discussion. But not when you’re a scientist who specialises in the area. In this front page TOI article, Sanjay Limaye claims to observe the monsoon in Mumbai, but all he does is make general statements like
I have […]