Saturday, August 31, 2019

Supplementing farm income by using the fence

Nimble-witted Telangana farmer shows the way for others Growing luffa on the fence earns him about 2500 rupees in two days during the season and covers the expenses for growingcotton.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Mind controlling parasites


The macabre world of mind-controlling parasites
Discussion of another paper by Scott Anderson with los of comments MAYBE YOUR ZOLOFT STOPPED WORKING BECAUSE A LIVER FLUKE TRIED TO TURN YOUR NTH-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER INTO A ZOMBIE
There have been earlier posts about toxoplasma gondii and possible effects on humans

Secularism and liberalism In India

The monk who shaped India’s secularism’s out Swami Vivekananda
Liberalism in india by G.P.Manish, Shruti Rajagopalan and two others

Caste a british construct?

Caste Wasn't a British Construct – and Anyone Who Studies History Should Know That By Ananya Chakravarti, but
A menu of laws- The pursuit of a Proctustean Dharma by Ranjan Joshi
Transformed the Ancient and Esoteric Dharmashastras into a Homoeneous Hindu!aw, "y Inorin E#tant Heteroeneous and Diverse Customary !aws and Practices, !eadin to the $idely Prevalent %isconception that the Hindus have Always "een &overned "y Dharmashastrs

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

An interview with K.R. Parthasarathy

A different kind of mind I interacted with him off and on since 1970.

A readable article on Poincaré work

using AI to identify a banana disease

During the British rule of india

Some things became more prominent during the British times (See for example, ‘Castes of mind’ by Nicholas Dirks, though I do not completely agree this). One of them seems to be dharmasastras, as Bernard Cohn pointed out ( I seem to be more in agreement with this). Check for yourselves.
A Menu of Laws -The Pursuit of A Procrustean Dharma by Ranjan Joshi 

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

It seems that communism does not go away and


nor does capitalism Two Communist Lawmakers Are Suddenly Setting the Agenda in Chile May be because in one one thinks of the others and in the other one thinks of oneself. And there are both types of people sometimes in one person.

A Ghulam Mohammad song

Monday, August 19, 2019

A book about Indian science

A few years old Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World, By Angela Saini “Saini has produced an eye-opening survey of scientists in today's India. It shows in meticulous detail that, pockets of excellence notwithstanding, the overall state of Indian science and technology continues to be dispiriting.”

Marxism in brief

What it means to be a Marxist?  from Jacobin by Ramsin Canon

India’s move on Kashmir

More on itch

Following up on an old article of Atul Gawande on itch I notice this  Neuroscientists Hack Itching, Exposing a Mysterious Neural Circuit Also this earlier clarifications by him https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/dr-gawande-answers-questions-about-the-itch/?

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Comparisons between Rome and US

There have articles off and on about there are similarities between Rome and US. There seems to be one constant in many societies after ancient debt cancellation days: “A constant dynamic of history has been the drive by financial elites to centralize control in their own hands and manage the economy in predatory, extractive ways. Their ostensible freedom is at the expense of the governing authority and the economy at large. As such, it is the opposite of liberty as conceived in Sumerian times” This extends not only to other countries as in colonial times but also to their own people. From a review of  Michael Hudson book.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Health problems in the family

i have been occupied with some health problems in the family and it seems that they will continue for a while.

Sunday, August 04, 2019

On mosquitoes

How Mosquitoes Changed Everything “TThere’s a long tradition of history books that profess to explain the world through singular factors: salt or cod or the color blue. “The Mosquito” suffers from the necessary myopia of the genre (in addition to some florid writing, repetition, and digressions through blockbuster movies and the Western Civ highlight reel). Winegard notes that wealthy Romans built their houses on hilltops to escape mosquitoes, and says that the fad has continued to the present, with U.S. houses on hills selling at a notable markup. “Add the real estate market to the mosquito’s portfolio of influence,” he concludes, ignoring other possible reasons for this preference. His argument that mosquitoes are responsible for the Magna Carta and, therefore, modern democracy is a cascade of contingencies: the failure of Louis VII’s siege of Damascus during the malaria season of 1148 led to his separation from Eleanor of Aquitaine, which led her to marry Henry II of England, which led to the birth to King John, who sparred with his barons. Winegard doesn’t need these double-jointed reaches to persuade us of the hidden influence mosquitoes have had in shaping history and creating the world that we know today.”