Christopher Ryan on Test Cricket

After the recent nonsense from Peter Roebuck and others, a welcome change Why ugly can be beautiful.

Some science links

Evolution of the concept of gene, from abstract to concrete to diffuse and complex, by Carl Zimmer Now: The Rest of the Genome (via Shanti Gadde).

Related The Promise and Power of RNA (via 3quarksdaily).

Evolution's new wrinkle: Proteins with cruise control provide new perspective (via Evolutionary Psychology discussion group). Excerpt:
"The work also confirms an idea first floated in an 1858 essay by Alfred Wallace, who along with Charles Darwin co-discovered the theory of evolution. Wallace had suspected that certain systems undergoing natural selection can adjust their evolutionary course in a manner "exactly like that of the centrifugal governor of the steam engine, which checks and corrects any irregularities almost before they become evident." In Wallace's time, the steam engine operating with a centrifugal governor was one of the only examples of what is now referred to as feedback control. Examples abound, however, in modern technology, including cruise control in autos and thermostats in homes and offices.

The research, published in a recent edition of Physical Review Letters, provides corroborating data, Rabitz said, for Wallace's idea. "What we have found is that certain kinds of biological structures exist that are able to steer the process of evolution toward improved fitness," said Rabitz, the Charles Phelps Smyth '16 Professor of Chemistry. "The data just jumps off the page and implies we all have this wonderful piece of machinery inside that's responding optimally to evolutionary pressure.""

And a worrying development Neuroimaging Of Brain Shows Who Spoke To A Person And What Was Said(via Rajeev Ramachandran of 'Teeming Multitudes')

Museum of Telugu inscriptions in Kadapa soon

Museum of Telugu inscriptions in Kadapa soon from The Hindu"
"A museum of Telugu inscriptions will be set up in Kadapa, besides establishing C.P. Brown Memorial Centre on Yogi Vemana University campus, its Vice-Chancellor A. Ramachandra Reddy said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the eve of C.P. Brown’s 210th birth anniversary at the C.P. Brown Language Research Centre (formerly Brown Memorial Library) here, he said the Brown memorial centre would function as an ancient language research centre in the wake of Telugu being declared as classical language. The varsity would modernise and digitize all the works of Brown. The centre would be expanded by acquiring land adjoining it at Yerrmukkapalle, Prof. Ramachandra Reddy said. Brown, second assistant to the then British Collector of Cuddapah, spent Rs. 2,714 from his salary in 1826 to cleanse the palm leaves containing the epic Mahabharatham, he recalled. He learnt Telugu to interact with local people in order to ensure an effective administration, propagated Yogi Vemana’s poems and compiled an English-Telugu dictionary."
Link viaఅవీ-ఇవీ .

Minister arrested for intimidating officer in India

Minister arrested for intimidating officer :
"The case arose when Mr.Pawar along with Mr.Verma went to meet Ms. Jain to complain that the Congress nominee from the Sonkatch, Sajjan Singh Verma, had not filed his ‘A’ and ‘B’ poll form in time. The two BJP men later had a heated argument with her on the issue and were seen on camera throwing a paper and banging the official’s table.

The administration has a video recording of the meeting, following which action was taken against the minister and his party colleague.

The Election Commission meanwhile ordered the transfer of Dewas Collector following laxity on his part in sending a report on the incident.

Ms. Jain also came in for praise from the Commission for performing her poll duties without any fear or favour and would be getting a letter of appreciation, official sources said."

Links, November 11

Economist's view discussion on Paul Krugman: Franklin Delano Obama?:
"What saved the economy, and the New Deal, was the enormous public works project known as World War II, which finally provided a fiscal stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs." Interesting comments with Anne posting an open leyyer from J.M. Keynes to FDR.

Yves Smith :AIG: The Looting Continues (Banana Republic Watch).

Obama to ask for troops in 'war we need to win'.

Ahmadinejad's letter to Obama sparks storm in Iran:
"On Friday, Obama offered a public reaction to the letter in his first post-election news conference, saying that he would review it and respond appropriately. But he also said that Iranian "support for terrorist organizations has to ease" and that its suspected development of nuclear weapons was not acceptable."

Brad Setser discusses China's financial stimulus plan in Does a bigger boom imply a bigger bust?.

Can you resist financial globalization?:
"# Evidence from prices and quantities shows the most limited globalization in China, followed at a distance by India, followed in turn by Thailand and then Korea.
# The extent to which countries have been hit by the recent crisis follows this ranking (in reverse order) almost exactly. In particular, Korea has been the country hardest hit despite many other preventive policies (including large reserve build-up) before the onset of the turmoil."

Mandela mourns icon Miriam Makeba . I heard only one (video) song by her but it was mesmerizing.

Credit cruch may be a boost for science in some countries

From Credit crunch could boost science sector: analysts (via 'Naked Capitalism'):
"With thousands of job cuts at investment banks and hiring freezes at others, school-leavers and maths and science graduates could be increasingly attracted to the world of research and development.

"The glamour of the Wall Street jobs is gone, and that leaves more room for science and technology," said Georges Haour, a professor of technology and innovation management at the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"Although the salaries are not the same, the salaries (in finance) are zero because people are being fired," he told AFP.

Britain's government has also marked the financial crisis as an opportunity to boost science and technology.

Science minister Lord Paul Drayson last month urged scientists who went to work in the City of London financial district to switch to teaching science subjects or science-related businesses."

Gender bias

Now that Lalita is in the hospital for delivering a baby, we have been taking care of Leila a lot of the time. Yesterday Jhansi gave her a bath and I helped a bit when Jhansi went to another bathroom to get soap. Later when her dad came Leila told him "Thatha gave me a bath".
Meanwhile I am browing through an arbitrary collection of books about Indian history. In the introduction 'Dravidian India' by T.R. Seaha Iyengar (1925, republished by Asia Educational Services, New Delhi, 1982), C.R Reddy said " The difficulty in distinguishing various factors of our composite civilization and giving them their due value. Such an analysis is bound to be largely speculative...'. A more recent book by Vinay Lal 'The History of History' seems to confirm this.

Views from Levittown

From The Transformation of Levittown :
"She thinks some of those who argued with her and insisted till the bitter end that they would vote for Mr. McCain just stubbornly did not want to acknowledge they had changed their minds. In the end, she believes they ended up voting out of a different kind of fear — fear for their own economic survival. Self-interest trumped racism. “They had to ask themselves if they wanted a really smart young black guy, or a stodgy old white guy from the same crowd who put us in this hole,” she said.

The people I met in Levittown were not on Mr. Obama’s e-mail list or among his donors, but they may be more likely than his younger supporters and more affluent ones to give him what he most desperately needs: time and patience. Like characters from the songs of one of Mr. Obama’s celebrity endorsers, Bruce Springsteen, many Levittowners have been weathered by life. They haven’t benefited from a lot of quick fixes. Others of his supporters say they’ll be patient, but I sensed these people really mean it. They were harder to sell, but they could end up being pretty loyal. "

Old Telugu songs back on YouTube

May be because of this protest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2pVHDz5i1Yy

Obama's victory speech

Video
and
transcript
Some reactions:Ezra Klein, Cosma Shalizi and Jesse Jackson (34 seconds after the start)
P.S. Suddenly, It May Be Cool to Be an American Again
P.P.S. A sobering article by Vinay Lal The Technician in the Establishment: Obama's America and the World

Stephen Kinsella recommends

Best Economics Book Evarr:
"In lectures today a student asked me by text message which economics book they should read to get acquainted with economics. I mentioned that this is, in my opinion, the best economics book ever written, by Robert Heilbroner. Buy it, read it, and get smarter."
The book:The Worldly Philosophers.
It is cerainly very readable. I bought it thrice and read it twice. I think that Partha Dasgupta's "Economics: A Very Short Introduction" is also very good but of a different flavour. Here is David Warsh's recommendation Economics for Adults. May be one should also look for books on alternative economics.

Interesting book

I started reading the recent book Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure, and Urban Culture in Nigeria by Brian Larkin, after seeing this 1997 article Bollywood Comes To Nigeria. The book turned out be very interesting and as this blurb says:
"Media technologies were introduced to Nigeria by colonial regimes as part of an attempt to shape political subjects and create modern, urban Africans. Larkin considers the introduction of media along with electric plants and railroads as part of the wider infrastructural project of colonial and postcolonial urbanism. Focusing on radio networks, mobile cinema units, and the building of cinema theaters, he argues that what media come to be in Kano is the outcome of technology’s encounter with the social formations of northern Nigeria and with norms shaped by colonialism, postcolonial nationalism, and Islam. Larkin examines how media technologies produce the modes of leisure and cultural forms of urban Africa by analyzing the circulation of Hindi films to Muslim Nigeria, the leisure practices of Hausa cinemagoers in Kano, and the dynamic emergence of Nigerian video films. His analysis highlights the diverse, unexpected media forms and practices that thrive in urban Africa. Signal and Noise brings anthropology and media together in an original analysis of media’s place in urban life."
Some of Brian Larkin's papers can be found at his Bernard College Faculty site and the book as well as the papers seem useful to those interested in development problems.

An exchange in 'Follow the money'

blog of Brad Setser:

"October 28th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Twofish Says:

Where’s the money now?

It was never there.

October 29th, 2008 at 12:05 am
bsetser Says:

2fish — i lack your training in detecting anti-matter, but i would second your thought that “it was never there” … of course, lots of the street got paid as if what wasn’t there was, but that is a different story."

Some effects of the financial crisis on me

My pension is down and expected to go down further. Luckily, Jhansi has a small home run electronics business which mostly caters schools. During labor governments, funds to public schools increse here and the business seems to be doing ok. The funding will be reduced next year due to the crisis. There are other benefits that I have not been using; one can get some money from the government for babysitting for grandchildren. It seems that we will be ok for a while. I have been contributing a bit to charities here and in India. The instinct is to get rid of the money while I still have it since the poorer may be suffering more. Growing vegetables is an option but there are water restrictions. May have to spend more money to save rain water.
P.S. May be Obama will win and things will improve. But one had such hopes before with Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and others. there were changes but not as much improvement as one hoped.
P.P.S. Felix Salmon has a post The Financial Crisis Hits the World's Hungry.

From the comments

Derek Wall in the comments to an earlier post on 'Curbing Growth' links to this very readable post of his Growth is madness!. The post also has a link to a longer article of his broaching on possible solutions.

Normalization of US-Cuba relations

at least in science can benefit both countries say scientists in Science Magazine:
"Restrictions on U.S.-Cuba scientific cooperation deprive both research communities of opportunities that could benefit our societies, as well as others in the hemisphere, particularly in the Caribbean. Cuba is scientifically proficient in disaster management and mitigation, vaccine production, and epidemiology. Cuban scientists could benefit from access to research facilities that are beyond the capabilities of any developing country, and the U.S. scientific community could benefit from high-quality science being done in Cuba. For example, Cuba typically sits in the path of hurricanes bound for the U.S. mainland that create great destruction, as was the case with Hurricane Katrina and again last month with Hurricane Ike. Cuban scientists and engineers have learned how to protect threatened populations and minimize damage. Despite the category 3 rating of Hurricane Ike when it struck Cuba, there was less loss of life after a 3-day pounding than that which occurred when it later struck Texas as a category 2 hurricane. Sharing knowledge in this area would benefit everybody."

Why Oh Why Can't We Have Better Economics Blogs?

Echoes of Dean Baker's post from
David Warsh's What Just Happened:
"But you would never have a clue that any of this had happened from three of the most widely-read economists’ blogs, the Freakonomics site, J. Bradford Delong’s Semi-Daily Journal, or N. Gregory Mankiw’s blog. Why? Because they are economists, and not committed to “without fear or favor” news, though they deliver plenty of interesting tidbits over the course of a week. Besides, Shleifer is on the board of directors of the Becker Center on Price, where Freakonomics’ Steven Levitt teaches. DeLong, who worked under Summers at the Treasury Department, has been Shleifer’s friend since the two were college roommates. Mankiw regularly touts his colleague for a Nobel Prize.
But neither would you have known much about it from coverage in The New York Times, at least not until the bitter end; or from the Washington Post (except for a column by David Ignatius in 1999); and just barely from the Financial Times, where Summers now a star columnist; or, for that matter, would you have learned of it from Paul Krugman’s twice-weekly columns in the Times. Why the lack of interest in what was, after all, a pretty interesting story? Perhaps because newspapers are run at least partly for the benefit of their sources; editors are reluctant to bite the hand that feeds. (In contrast, The Wall Street Journal, which broke story, did an excellent job.)"

FT endorses Obama

Obama is the better choice:
"The challenges facing the next president will be extraordinary. We hesitate to wish it on anyone, but we hope that Mr Obama gets the job."

Curbing growth

at least in 'developed' countries. From Special report: Nothing to fear from curbing growth (via EconoSpeak):
"The absurdity of our situation is illustrated by the way our economy profits from selling back to us the pleasures that we have lost through overwork: the leisure and tourist companies that sell us "quality time"; the catering services that provide "home cooking"; the dating and care agencies that see to personal relations; the gyms where people pay to walk on treadmills because the car culture has made it unsafe or unpleasant to walk outside. As the economy continues to expand, consumer culture becomes ever more reliant on our willingness to accept this."
This article from New Scientist has links to several articles on sustainable growth one of which is Why politicians dare not limit economic growth:
"If we do not go out shopping, then factories stop producing, and if factories stop producing then people get laid off. If people get laid off, then they do not have any money. And if they don't have any money they cannot go shopping. A falling economy has no money in the public purse and no way to service public debt. It struggles to maintain competitiveness and it puts people's jobs at risk. A government that fails to respond appropriately will soon find itself out of office.

This is the logic of free-market capitalism: the economy must grow continuously or face an unpalatable collapse. With the environmental situation reaching crisis point, however, it is time to stop pretending that mindlessly chasing economic growth is compatible with sustainability. We need something more robust than a comfort blanket to protect us from the damage we are wreaking on the planet. Figuring out an alternative to this doomed model is now a priority before a global recession, an unstable climate, or a combination of the two forces itself upon us."
All this may be afterGathering Storm which is drawing a lot of comments in Naked Capitalism.
See also Is a Currency Crisis Next? in Economist's View.

Comments from two who predicted the crisis

Roubini says:
"... if - as likely - the capitulation panic continues today and in the next few days authorities may be forced - as I argued yesterday - to close down financial markets for a week or more in the next few days. We have reached the scary point where the dysfunctional behavior of financial markets has destructive effects on the financial system and - much worse - on the real economies. So it is time to think about more radical policy actions and government interventions of the type I discussed in my London talk yesterday."
Dean Baker says:
"In fact, the problem is not that "we" cannot see events that far in advance. The problem is that the Federal Reserve Board and the economics profession as a whole functions more like a fraternity than a real forum for debate and truth seeking. Those whose views are taken seriously mimic the views of those with status and power within the profession, they do not think independently.
The failure of the economics profession to recognize the bubble and the harm that it would cause was due to the sociology of the profession. For any competent economist, the bubble was easy to see and the damage that its collapse would cause was entirely predictable."