DISQUS

See this - www.goodguide.com - it also has an iPhone app!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/technology/in...

This post reminds me of a quote of Edith Wharton's that is the best definition of resilience -

In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.

I am so glad Dr. Devy is tackling this tyranny of the majority. I particularly applaud the inclusivity of identity affiliations - no person is defined by just one identity - language, sex, race,religion, profession or even politics - the plurality paves the way for a more integrated society and more confident individuals.

Shripriya!
This is a simply super new look - and I think you picked a splendid day for the unveiling - hope springs eternal in the human breast! I think McCain's concession was very moving and finally the real McCain. And as for our man - I thought this quote from his 2004 DNC speech explains why I am unspeakably happy and hopeful today that Americans made the right choice!

"People don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice."

Wow - that evening sounds straight from Singin' in the Rain - minus the singing - was there singing?

Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane with a happy refrain
Just singin and singin in the rain!

I love rain paraphernalia - oversized umbrellas and rain-boots - when I was a kid I was crazy about paper boats and oil rainbows but now there are never any good puddles thanks to all the sophisticated drainage systems and smooth roads. The next time it rains I'm going to splash about as you suggest :-)

@Krishna
This is a time of global uncertainty and conflict - still it is worth exploring the role of Republican decision-making in inflaming if not orignating conflict. The move to bifurcate economic and social issues is at the root of the problem - neither is of any use without the other and conservatives like McCain who have terrible records on social issues within their own country cannot be expected to handle international social issues with any measure of diplomacy.

http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

One cannot expect anybody to be right about everything- even over-scrutinised politicians are people first - still it is reasonable to expect a leader to have correct convictions about critical issues - Obama was anti-Iraq from day one - pretty sharp for an ex-cocaine smoking regional politician. Okay I will stop - I don't want to sound like Obama girl :-)

I think this is absolutely on point - there is a book called The Warhol Economy by Elizabeth Currid. She posits that art and culture are the source of New York's "competitive advantage" even though finance pays 20% of all the wages in the city. It's a New York-specific rendition of Jane Jacobs' ideas in The Death and Life of Great American Cities though Currid's policy prescriptions are a bit zany - being welcoming to night clubs!

I think the proximity to history is thrilling as well-my freshman year in college I took a poetry class with Lisa New and we read Walt Whitman's poem while actually crossing Brooklyn ferry -

Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn!
Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers!
Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution!
Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house or street or public assembly!

The news and media space resembles a commons rather than a market - an unregulated public resource - where as Garrett Hardin pointed out in his essay the Tragedy of the Commons - the pursuit of individual self-interest just leads to a loss for the community as a whole.

The costs of acquiring all the "correct" information to cast a single vote that won't affect the overall outcome of a political process is irrational on so many levels. There's a cool book on this subject by Bryan Caplan called The Myth of the Rational Voter.

The alternative is clear - people should earn their votes - become supervoters - at the polling booth they should be given a basic test to test for economic competency and political awareness or perhaps this year we can just enfranchise the Economist subscribers :-)

I've seen this shelving at the Conran Shop and also DWR. I remember thinking that it would be interesting if they had some modularity in the spacing between the shelves. I also want to be able to swivel out a single book even if it might increase the footprint so that the functionality mimics a traditional bookshelf. I have always felt it was possible based on the Kuramata revolving cabinet design from the seventies. I've spent ages fantasising about bookshelves but then there are no space constraints in my daydreams :-)

@Shripriya
Excellent point about Hussein! I really feel terrible about how so many things devolve to vandalism and violence in our very volatile public space- they were breaking the homes of the beleagured Indian cricket team after the poor showing in the World Cup and now artists - if people would only take tangible travesties like hunger, poverty and illiteracy as personally as cricket and art I think India will achieve so much more...(oh yes freedom of expression is a critical right before anyone jumps on my gentle dreams for my great nation!)

@Hypocrite Hater

The prices Indian artists are paid are pittance compared with international artists who create some really questionable pieces - Damien Hirst gets millions and is represented by Larry Gagosian no less for immersing dead animals in formaldehyde!

However why should we grudge people their ability to make money if it is not illegal? If there are people willing to pay and are interested in the art then it seems much more objectionable to deny people their livelihood than live with different standards which is really the basis of subjectivity that is art's raison d'etre!

@Rational Human

Chandramohan is an artist - his inspiration is sancrosanct and I really think reading religious slightings into his art is imposing political correctness into what is essential a profoundly personal form of self-expression... Chandramohan and it's ridiculous to even speculate but well I simply can't resist was painting with a Hindu inspiration and upbringing - we often take liberties with people and ideas that are our own than alien...

It is natural that Hindu images will figure more prominently in artistic images since it is a religion that encourages idol-worship and iconography more explicitly than Islam where the written word is venerated and idol-worship is explicitly prohibited. So there is a cultural and historical basis for the ease with which Hindu images are appropriated and I for one am proud of their potency!

You are right to be upset that the intelligentsia is blithely ignoring non-Hindu transgressions but no one is infallible and I really think it is an extreme position to expect freedoms to wither and die if they are not vigilantly guarded - they are inalienable rights and even an imperfect fight to protect them is at least tinged with nobility :)

@Rational Human

I empathise with your frustration at the double standards but the fact is people need to make a start in their defense of free expression.

It is really unfortunate that several "activists" are minted when their own backyards are imperiled but that is human nature and we all can't be Zolas accusing everybody all the time.

It is natural and sensible for people to throw their heft behind causes close to their heart and where they can make the most impact. I think you are right to expect people who truly care about free expression to be outraged at every travesty but then I really doubt if they can make as much of an impact if they marginalised the self-interested clowns :)

Moral absolutism can be as paralysing as apathy and I for one would prefer pseudo-activism than an all-or-nothing stance that may leave poor Chandramohan languishing in jail!

Oh fantastic post! I read a new expression in the Economist this week that discusses a cool word in cultural parlance "wingnuts" (fanatics on the far left or right)!

The only basis of protest against free expression has been the sedition - I despise this spurious notion that is bandied about so easily - why don't other incredibly disturbing statistics incite violence?

I for one would be more empathetic of people who are ready to riot for more valid causes - how about the fact that 47% of Indian women are illiterate?

I love how activist and decisive you are - ticket them all :) I would take it one step further - if you're making over x money you pay 0.05% of x as a traffic infraction - I mean $50-$250 tickets don't hurt everyone equally :)especially in a city like Manhattan and if the amount is too low they just feel like they've paid for the privilege to break traffic rules.

Oh the other way I think the Catholic religion has hit upon to stay relevant is by piggybacking on the modern deification of science. The evolution debate so cleverly discussed here in this week's Economist titled "In the Beginning" is a cool example! This controversial stance with respect to the dominant logic of evolution began in America and is now spreading through the world.

In my opinion creationism is one way of grabbing the centre stage and feel the ecclesiastical thinking still has a valid role to play in the intellectual realm. Look at the irrational persistence of arguments like irreducible complexity in favour of intelligent design - I smell ersatz science in all these convergence, natural philosophy, intelligent design arguments and to be perfectly frank some god's honest attention grubbing :)

A book that highlights these null hypotheses comprehensively though somewhat abrasively is Richard Dawkins' 'God Delusion' that you might enjoy reading.

My favourite quote from the Economist article is the closing since urging science to work on the glamour of its recruiting practices!

Father Coyne, the devoted star-gazer, is one of the relatively few boffins who have managed to expound with equal passion both their scientific views and their religious beliefs. He writes with breathless excitement about “the dance of the fertile universe, a ballet with three ballerinas: chance, necessity and fertility.” Whether they are atheists or theists, other supporters of Darwin's ideas on natural selection will have to inspire as well as inform if they are to compete with their growing army of foes.

http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm...

How quaint is this Coyne guy! It's such a pity that Stephen Jay Gould is no longer with us to take him on - scientists need some charm - Matt Ridley is one hopeful light!

Oh this is too tempting - I have been wondering about the single statistic you mentioned. Is your block representative of the rest of Manhattan or is it anomalous in terms of this statistic? What are your personal hypotheses regarding the semi-singleness of your block?

In Matt Ridley's book "Nature via nurture there is a quote germane to your post -

"It is perhaps no accident that many great scientists, leaders, and religious prophets seem to walk the crater rim of the volcano of psychosis, and to have relatives with schizophrenia. James Joyce, Albert Einstein, Carl Gustav Jung, and Bertrand Russell all had close relatives with schizophrenia. Isaac Newton and Immanual Kant might both be described as 'schizotypal.' One absurdly precise study estimates that 28% prominent scientists, 60% composers, 73% painters, 77% novelists, and an astonishing 87% poets have shown some degree of mental disturbance."

What I liked best about Ridley's discussion is the focus on the positive - he describes schizotypal people as brilliant, self-assured and focussed. See these people are not just scientists but paradigm makers and breakers and that is no light burden. Look at this Omnibrain post - http://scienceblogs.com/omnibrain/2007/04/the_d...

I find well adjusted scientists and contributors to be even more fascinating - Richard Feynman and Benjamin Franklin spring to mind - they were dilletantes (when this was an honorific term) and engaged with people while transforming their worlds. Feynman's letters and Franklin's Autobiography are both riveting books. They are very silent about the very real challenges they experienced and I think Einstein another shockingly balanced was very right when he said -

If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Excellent observation. Maybe there is an entrepreneurial opportunity in the current situation since a lot of these products really benefit from trial to help purchase. There could a store called Off-season clothing so people can get gloves in the summer for their Ski-trips and espadrilles for their beach holidays... :)

I realise this has been a pathetic display - Maybe this defeat is what the team needs to get them in a victory-focussed zen state and we will all laugh about it when they have won the World cup? That was me being hopeful. This is my mother's analysis - the team needs youngsters rather than fuddy-duddies who have the confidence of being in a few more World Cups and will take more risks since she thinks it was the cautious reining in of talents and efforts that lost this match and is back to helping them the old-fashioned way - praying!

I read this article last year since I am interested in other types of baby businesses and was absolutely riveted by it! In my worldview every person deserves what they truly want and are capable of cherishing and for a lot of people for evolutionary reasons and otherwise babies are and likely to remain the Holy Grail among personal desires. I think it is unfortunate that commerce has reared its ugly side of denying this opportunity to everyone who wants a baby but I think sometimes I am grateful that in our time we are at least able to pursue by any means possible what in prior generations might have been impossible dreams and who knows this technology could become the airplanes of the future - I am hopeful :) Modernity and its many miracles!

@Krishna
I like that expression - literate apathetics - They are really much more to blame for more than just media vehicles - don't you think what people seem to demand from news has really degenerated? In England they have a non-profit group called the Hansard society to rouse interest in politics among youth and promote democracy - perhaps we need something like this for a more engaged populace.
I haven't read Jefferson on the subject but I think there are excellent essays on the subject by Tocqueville, Hume and even Paine. I still like Sheridan's dramatic rousing speech the best.
"Give me but the liberty of the press, and I will give the Minister a venal House of Peers, I will give him a corrupt and servile House of Commons, I will give him the full swing of the patronage of office, I will give him the whole host of ministerial office, I will give him all the power that place can confer upon him to purchase submission and overawe resistance.And yet armed with the liberty of the press, I will go forth to meet him undismayed, I will attack the mighty fabric he has reared with that mightier engine, I will shake down from its height corruption, and lay it beneath the ruins of the abuses it was meant to shelter."

@Krishna - what is the activism you propose to combat the government's intellectual cowardice? Do you think we should merely vote them out of office? Or a Sheridan-esque free press to protect liberties? I personally think a free press is the best way since the tough questions are answered when the issue is still piping rather than the simmered response of elections but I wonder about the media's focus on sordid celebrity and the fact that lots of channels that reach the majority are just mouthpieces for political parties rather than neutral, critical reporters.
Also I feel sure that most of these bans just fuel the sale of pirated versions of these books and movies so I really doubt if they are effective they are in suppressing the spread of ideas in a nation of at least some resourceful people :) but I think you are right about how repugnant the very idea of censorship is in principle.

As right as I think you are on the subject of censorship, I wonder sometimes if artists savour the censorship since it's a backhanded sort of attention that the arts really crave and also provides them with the mystique of being forbidden which falls in quite nicely with the notion of an artist as lonely Prometheus and bequeathes them with an outsider status... I remember how obsessed everybody became with blogging in Madras and Hyderabad during the blogspot ban in a healthy display of indignance! The GOI often achieves quite the opposite effect with these bans since books and videos appear instantaneously on the black market. I think they really need to rejig their understanding of incentives!