Puke of the Day

People older than 12 discussing religion make me want to throw up.

About ethics and growth

In a country without a single national identification number to track individuals and their credit, why is a bank employing goons to recover loans, news? Physical intimidation is a much better deterrent against a bubble than bad credit history can ever be.

Puke of the Day

I told you so. Giving an award away has serious consequences.

This post makes one puke at so many different layers. Whether the intent was sarcasm or humor or straight faced reply or a combination of any or all of the above -- the result seems stunningly similar. And, we need to define our middle class person such that half-Bong mongrels don't claim to be one.

Why Paul Krugman is P Sainath's idol

The man whose fundamental argument for many years has been, 'I am a Professor at Princeton and you are not', writes,

Let’s start with the facts: Mr. Giuliani’s claim is wrong on multiple levels — bogus numbers wrapped in an invalid comparison embedded in a smear.

Mr. Giuliani got his numbers from a recent article in City Journal, a publication of the conservative Manhattan Institute. The author gave no source for his numbers on five-year survival rates — the probability that someone diagnosed with prostate cancer would still be alive five years after the diagnosis. And they’re just wrong.

You see, the actual survival rate in Britain is 74.4 percent. That still looks a bit lower than the U.S. rate, but the difference turns out to be mainly a statistical illusion. The details are technical, but the bottom line is that a man’s chance of dying from prostate cancer is about the same in Britain as it is in America.

So Mr. Giuliani’s supposed killer statistic about the defects of “socialized medicine” is entirely false. In fact, there’s very little evidence that Americans get better health care than the British, which is amazing given the fact that Britain spends only 41 percent as much on health care per person as we do.

So, yes, the point is, you can't cite statistics without source. Unless, you are Paul Krugman. If you are, you may even go on to argue,

But here’s what I don’t understand: Why isn’t Mr. Giuliani’s behavior here considered not just a case of bad policy analysis but a character issue?

Why Free Market Fundamentalists are Dumb

The movement's mouthpiece, The Economist, says,

How frightening (or inspiring) is this prospect? As our special report explains, the idea that religion has re-emerged in public life is to some extent an illusion. It never really went away—certainly not to the extent that French politicians and American college professors imagined. Its new power is mostly the consequence of two changes. The first is the failure of secular creeds: religion's political comeback started during the 1970s, when faith in government everywhere was crumbling. Second, although some theocracies survive in the Islamic world, religion has returned to the stage as a much more democratic, individualistic affair: a bottom-up marketing success, surprisingly in tune with globalisation. Secularism was not as modern as many intellectuals imagined, but pluralism is. Free up religion and ardent believers and ardent atheists both do well.

Unless there is deep thought and an unwavering belief in Him, we are doomed.

Dear Film Critic,

I understand you are not very bright. Actually, not even average. Or, just below. Had you been any of that, you would have become an Engineer, like the rest of us. And had a regular job type thing. So, by definition, you cannot write a brilliant review. But that's alright. The rest of us aren't very intelligent either and we don't mind mediocrity -- even by our standards.

However, when you take yourself and your silly job that exists because newspapers and TV channels need to fill space and time, seriously -- there is a simple rule: You stay relevant within the layer you just defined for yourself. Just like the movie is expected to stay logical within its structure. In other words, one does not compare Annamalai and some obscure Eastern European movie -- Annamalai is brilliant because it is Annamalai.

Or, stop saying 'No Smoking' is a bad movie because you have decided that the masses will not be entertained or that the director is self indulgent in your opinion. I have a feeling, you basically belong to the camp that says 'Lost Highway' is a great padam but 'No Smoking' is not, because the former was called a great padam by some clever crtic (who was also white). Not that you can't or shouldn't -- but don't.

Regards,
Nilu

How to win awards and prizes #21

Argue thus: I am jealous. Therefore, you should not.