Sajit Gandhi posted an electronic briefing book titled The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971 in the National Security Archives. There is some fascinating stuff in there for people from my part of the world. I hope to get down to posting my thoughts on the subject after I go through it.
It reminds me of a casual dinner conversation I had some months back with a senior Indian administration officer who was travelling through US. He had a meeting with the powers that be in the US defence ministry. They were pushing him to say that India will side with US in the event of a conflict with China. They were mostly kidding around. But this was right after China grounded the US spy aircraft. So there was also underlying tension. This guy refused to committ himself. He joked. "You guys would go away whenever the latest crisis is over. But we would have to continue to live with our giant neighbour". He was wise. 9/11 happened and now both China and Pakistan are close partners of US again.
Doug Marlette has a gift for pissing people off.
My favourite has always been Doonsbury. Trenchant, acerbic and an 'equal opportunity offender'.
Phoebe Gloeckner's website has some interesting stuff. (via Susannah Breslin's guestblog on Boingboing).
Update: Also see Best and worst of comics in Times (via LinkMachinego)
The 2002 Moby awards currently on the Mobilives homepage is a hilarious read.
There is a a provocative commentary on "the most overrated and underrated ideas" in NYT
LAT profiles the faces to watch for in 2003. LAT website has an annoying registration process that you have to go through to access this. But they post a lot of good stuff these days. So you may want to swallow your dislike and get it over with now. (via Modern Art Notes)
Yahoo's Year in review is quite good. (via Cyberjournalist)
There is an interesting looking best albums of 2002 list in Pitchfork (via Fimoculous). I am completely clued out out contemporary music and haven't even heard most of the names on that list :(.
Year in Pictures:
Washington Post
MSNBC
I have added a category archive to the right hand menu. I am still fiddling around with the category definitions and categorizations. It will probably keep evolving over the next few days. In case you find a post which is not properly categorised, please let me know.
Kiruba published an interview with Anil Dash last weekend. I have long admired Anil's quality of writing and worked with Kiruba on some of the questions. (I meant to post this earlier, but had been very preoccupied with trying to wrap up work etc. before the holidays).
Urbanlens: photographs of the abandoned places of New York. (via Thomas Locke Hobbs). There are lots of terrific photography links and some very good photography on Hobbs' weblog/site.
This whole Trent Lott episode has brought so many ugly things about American political life to the surface, that I have trouble believing in the basic fairness of the system. I used to think that people who percolate up to higher offices tend to have at least their belief systems right. Argh! Lott simply happened to be in the eye of the storm. He certainly isn't alone in his beliefs and neither is the triumph of politics over ethics as infrequent as we would like to believe.
I do think that the world continues to get better for the vast majority of people. Dartung has some cheerful news in his weblog. But Good eventually triumphing over evil is just so much crap that we are given as children.
Happy holidays.
PS: In case you saw the unedited version of this post earlier: Yes, I abridged the post. I'll take another stab at the financial regulation stuff later.
Marx's intellectual legacy is an appraisal of Carl Marx in the most unlikely of places. It is quite well argued.
I remember meeting Kaushik Basu once in his booklined study at his home in New Delhi. Basu then was an economist in Delhi School of Economics and was one of the most vocal supporters of Manmohan Singh's liberalization in nineties India. Two things you noticed immediately when you entered his room; stacks of Bertrand Russels in his shelves, probably all the books that Russel ever wrote and a water color of Carl Marx on his study table. I was a little intimidated, but could not stop myself from asking him how come such a passionate supporter of economic liberalization had a drawing of Marx on his table. He said. "There are actually two reasons. Firstly, it is the only drawing that I have made which looks even remotely like the person it is supposed to represent. Secondly, Marx was one of the most brilliant economists in the world. If he had access to the kind of empirical data that we have access to these days, I don't think he would have proposed communism." I suppose it also had the effect of disarming a lot of people!
I started this weblog one year back on this day. It started simply as a place to post my links. It has turned out to be a lot more rewarding and satisfying an experience than I expected it to be. When I look back, I realize that I am a lot better informed and write better because of RandomNotes. It has rekindled my interest in serious writing. It has also connected me to some very interesting people who I would not have known without RandomNotes.
To those of you, who check this page from time to time, thank you for hanging around.
"There's been much head scratching on the Hill as to why Democrats, un-led by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle's comments on the Lott controversy, took so long to react to Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott's keen historical reflections. Best answer we've heard is from one Democratic staffer who noted this is the time of year when office space is allocated for the new Senate next month. And who's in charge of those decisions? Of course -- Trent Lott."
(via In the loop)
Got quite a few personal and work deadlines over the next few days. Blogging will be sporadic for the next week or so.
Nice Advent calenders online:
Last thursday, Santa Claus climbed down from the 22nd floor of a building in landmark square with much fanfare and music. We stood out in freezing cold in front of the Ferguson library watching Santa come down. Then we all (actually, mostly a procession of kids) followed Santa in a processon to the Latham park where important looking people thanked the bank for sponsoring the Christmas tree, the bank manager thanked the crowd, singers sang Christmas carol and we had free hot chocolate. Then the christmas tree was lit. We again jumped over puddles formed by the melting ice to get back on the road.
Some days are productive. Some days are depressing. Some days are great. And some days you just surf after work.
I must figure out a place where I can use the word 'limn'. One of my ex-bosses was inordinately fond of the word 'segue' (which is nowhere near as obscure as limn!) and managed to work it into almost almost all our the research reports.
Chesa Boudin is an unlikely Rhodes scholar. There is already a backlash. Cecil Rhodes must be rolling in his grave!
Talking of backlashes, Franzen, Eggars et al seem to be at the receiving end of one from the mainstream press. There is a devastating critique of Franzen's new book by James Walcott. I have not read anything by these writers. So no comments.
The best thing I read today is an incredibly eloquent ode to Rothko by Jonathon Jones in today's Guardian. (via Greg.org)
Note to self: must dig up and read more stuff by Jonathon Jones.
There is an interesting article by Art Kleiner on Stephenson's Quantum Theory of Trust in the current issue of Strategy+Business. Stephenson is working with the 'Information Awareness Office' to help them understand and undermine the nodes, links and trust in Al Qaeda?s network.
It is now fairly well understood that that ideas, trends, technology can spread in nonlinear fashion with certain people acting as the network hubs / connectors / vectors.
Stephenson says that there are 6 kinds of networks. She holds the view that network health can be measured and improved. She "doesn?t suggest replacing hierarchies with networks. She sees organizations as a sort of double-helix system, with hierarchy and networks perpetually influencing each other, ideally co-evolving over time to become more effective."
Update: Wired has the best reading list on emerging networks that I have seen so far. (via Field notes) 'Emergence' is an exciting reading. I am hearing great things about Smart Mobs.
I was blown away by Nadav Kander's photographs.
Kander, originally from Israel, is one of the foremost advertising photographers in Europe. He is represented by Stockland martel (check out the site) and published by Arena Editions.
Other profiles: BJ Photo, Artscenecal
NYT's spiking of sports columns on Augusta golf club's admission policy has become quite the scandal. New York based papers are of course having a field day with it.
Seth Mnookin's commentary provides a background to understand what is going on.
I must say I am a little shocked by this episode. I agree with the following passage.
"...It's worth pausing for a second to appreciate the New York Times for what it is: a stunning cultural achievement. Almost anything of note from anywhere appears in the Times--it's the paper-of-record for Western civilization. From Circuits to Science Times to the Sunday Magazine, the New York Times is shockingly comprehensive and incredibly well-written. It's no exaggeration to say that the New York Times we pick up every morning is an accomplishment on par with the Great Library of Alexandria." (via Oxblog)
But I feel slightly cheated.
If you are interested in following the controversy, Romenesko's medianews is the best place to keep up with it.
I'll probably expand this post later in the evening.
Yes, it is snowing hard here. Tiny snowflakes appeared in the air in the morning. Now it is a almost a storm. And this is Stamford where it didn't snow at all last year.
I started for offfice, skidded very badly at the first two crossings and thought better of the idea of travelling in these conditions. My rear tiers should have been changed 2000 miles back.
The church courtyard right across the road is a favourite place for people to take their dogs to pee. The guy who lives next door is determinedly walking his dog over at least three inches of snow trying to get it to pee. The bloody dog is freezing and is not cooperating. This guy is getting increasingly agitated. I was trying to shoot a photograph of the man trying to get his dog to pee with the church in the backyard for posterity. He suddenly stopped and waved. I don't see such friendly subjects here. So I waved back with enthusiasm. My wife who was been watching the entire charade from the background could not contain herself any longer, "Oh, for God's sake! He is waving at his wife!".
Talking of art books, I recently picked up the Ozenfant for 50 cents (yes, I am that cheap!) at a sale at the Farguson library ( More about him here). It looks like a difficult read and the writing seems a little stilted. I don't know whether it is because of the quality of translation. or if it is written like that. French is a more ornamental language and the people more prone to hyperbole than the Anglo saxons. It is possible that their prose (like Urdu) can not be appreciated as much in English translation.
However, I am having a fabuous time browsing through The story of art. It is ..well, a large book. But it is easy to read and sustains my interest. But I don't want to start it before I finish 'Masters of Light' which I am still reading. and which I would recommend unhesitatingly to any fellow film nut.
I also want to read 'Anil's Ghost' by Micheal Ontdatje. I have been interested in Michael Ontdatje ever since I saw 'English Patient', but haven't gotten down to reading any of his books yet. One of the good things about moving to east coast has been that I am reading more. Also it is so fucking cold, you are really not too motivating to go out!
It started snowing again this morning. It looks very nice and enjoyable from the windows i.e. until you try to drive through it ...
Kiruba has posted an interview with Mark Frauenfelder in his weblog. Frauenfelder was one of the original Wired employees who went on to become the editor of Wired.com. And of course he is the founder of BointBoing.net.
Like most other guys who were working on the internet sector in the nineties, I was a huge fan of Wired. I used to buy three month old issues of Wired magazine in Fountainhead (one of my favourite bookstores in Bangalore) at obscene prices and read them cover to cover. I was obsessed enough to dig up and buy the first issue of Wired when I reached California. Wired caught the hopes and the aspirations of a generation that was dreaming of changing the technology landscape and people like Fraudenfelder, Steven Johnson, Carl Steadman et al were the standard bearers.
Kiruba also has interviews with Erik Bensen of Amazon and Paul Bausch in his site. I hope these interviews become a regular feature of his weblog.
Understanding web typography is an excellent resource for gaining an understanding on the subject. (via Anil)
The complete Aspen Magazine: The multimedia magazine in a box is now available online. It seems incredibly rich in content. I am almost salivating ....
(via Greg.org)
My new article 'Fighting AIDS in India' is now up in Satya Circle.
In that article, I argued that we need to make an all out effort at prevention since treatment is so prohibitively expensive for most Indians that it is almost unattainable. Since I sent in that article, NYT published a Bill Clinton op-ed that eloquently argued for investment in treatment of AIDS in developing countries.
The Dec. 1 posts in Metafilter have all sorts of links & discussions on AIDS. Link and think has a directory of weblogs participating in observance of world AIDS day.
Keith Bradsher wrote a front page story in Nov 29, NYT (print edition) called 'India slips far behind China: Once its close economic rival'.
I found the title misleading, the story underresearched and sensationalistic. The story deals mostly with the huge gap in shoe exports between China and India. If you simply read the headline, you would go away with a very different impression about what it is about. I tend to agree that China is very far ahead of India in its economic and military power. However. Bradsher's story in no way demonstrates that.
Also, the story's underlying assumption that it is the state of the art infrastructure in Chinese factories that is defeating Indian export is misleading.
China today is an exporting juggernaut and its cheap exports are way way ahead of the rest of the world. e.g. 16% of all imports in Japan come from China (see "How long can prices go? China's cheap exports worry the west' in Dec. 2nd issue of BusinessWeek). However, its strength in exports are built on incredibly cheap labour (in some instances slave labour) and not on automation as Bradsher will have us believe. Also, extrapolating that stregth in export and the health of Guangdong economy into the overall health of China's economy without first demonstrating how that extrapolation is valid is disappointing, to put it mildly.
I also found the way the article ended ( i.e. the Guptas would rather build hospitals than expand their manufacturing operation) forced and simplistic. I wouldn't have been so agitated if it were not the front page of NYT!
keith Bradsher made his name as the Detroit bureau chief of NYT taking broadsides against SUVs. He seems to write well and interestingly (from the little that I have read on the web), but tends to be sensationalistic and partisan. He acquired a reputation in Detroit for presenting only those facts that support his theories and choosing not to present the whole story. I have not read his book. But he seems to be doing a fair amount of reporting on India. So I guess we'll get to read more of him.