A video, brought to you by Slate, titled “How smart are chimps?”Continue reading →
Of ballots and names…
Jon Krosnick, a professor at Stanford, argues that Hillary Clinton’s surprise victory in the New Hampshire primary (contrary to what was being predicted in the pre-election surveys) could be simply due to the design of the ballot! Continue reading →
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
An essay by Mohsin Hamid (titled My reluctant fundamentalist) about the process of writing his novel “The reluctant fundamentalist.” What stands out in this piece is an excellent description of the extended and often painful act of creation Continue reading →
A certain ambiguity
A Certain Ambiguity: A Mathematical Novel is a book written by two of my high school friends, Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal. Continue reading →
Election 2.0
An op-ed in today’s NYTimes by William Poundstone about how the web can be used during an election to prevent election fraud. As the article describes Continue reading →
Scrivener vs. Writer
A NYTimes article on word-processing versus writing (or scrivenering??): An interface of one’s own. What stood out was this description of writing being more than just the putting of words on a screen — but rather of seeing it this complex, often non-linear activity…
Scriveners, unlike Word-slaves, have florid psychologies, esoteric requirements and arcane desires. They’re artists. They’re historians. With needs.
A defining moment?
Is this a defining moment of our time? One can just hope…Continue reading →
Transplanted Man
I just finished reading Transplanted Man by Sanjay Nigam. A strange but entirely fascinating and satisfying novel with quirky and interesting characters. Nigam is quite willing to tackle difficult and “big” questions but does it with a light touch. Continue reading →
IQ & jobs…
Here is a webpage tabulating the IQ distribution of various jobs. Just from a selfish point of view Continue reading →
Welcome…
…to my new website. It has taken a while, but it is finally here. Of course, as in all things web, this is still a work in progress, but it is getting there. I will be phasing out my old site gradually.
The most significant change has been Continue reading →