tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-206898252010-01-04T13:24:05.431+05:30The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.comBlogger229125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-81964834633429489282010-01-04T13:13:00.009+05:302010-01-04T13:24:05.437+05:302010-01-04T13:24:05.437+05:30

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting ...So what if it hasn't been your day, your month, even your year? Tomorrow is another day.Seize it!

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2010/01/seize-day.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-29716851259676457842009-12-20T08:15:00.005+05:302009-12-20T08:29:42.473+05:302009-12-20T08:29:42.473+05:30

From the "So Full of it Department" ...Tarun Tejpal thinks India's rich do not fund education, but temples. One is tempted to agree, but then one would be wrong, or at least seeing only part of the issue.A few years ago, the great Murli Manohar Joshi, in his infinite wisdom, constituted a Bharat Siksha Kosh, to deny alumni the pleasure of donating money to their alma mater and actually having

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Europe: We created the problem, you fix it. We stay rich, you stay poor. What? You won't sign? You obstructionists, you!USA: We created the problem, now you fix it. Here's a nickel for your trouble. Want more? Ok, let's haggle.The Developing World: Ain't our problem. We're not listenin'! nyah na na na nyah.Tree Huggers: Let's all hold hands and sing songs till the problem goes away. No, we won't

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/12/copehagen-in-nutshell.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-13124417268070066822009-11-12T11:44:00.002+05:302009-11-12T11:47:06.644+05:302009-11-12T11:47:06.644+05:30

Joe Stockley was in an expensive sports car and deep trouble. This time, he had really let his mouth and his exotic foreign lover run away with him and it was getting beyond a joke and his immediate circle of friends in the form of rumours and speculation.As he ran a red light, the conversation back in his mind and away from his troubles, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of rising panic and the

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Are recessions a valuable tool for Evil Capitalists (TM) to scare the Working Classes (TM) into working harder using the threat of unemployment as a stick?Perhaps they were right, after all. At least some data seems to be on their side this time.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/11/did-marxists-get-this-one-right.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-9834450774727457452009-11-02T09:41:00.002+05:302009-11-02T09:44:38.642+05:302009-11-02T09:44:38.642+05:30

The lure of a Nobel prize makes Indian Prime Ministers let go of common sense, opines TVR Shenoy.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-country-for-nobel.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-10618717054556628972009-10-29T17:43:00.007+05:302009-11-02T09:22:15.403+05:302009-11-02T09:22:15.403+05:30

When the bearded man his way into the tavern it hadn't been fully lit up, though dusk had already fallen. Walking the manner of a traveller taking in the sights of an unfamiliar city, he meandered towards the tavern-keeper's table. Baghdad wasn't as busy this year as usual, and the tavern seemed like it followed the trend."Peace", he greeted the tavern-keeper, "a jug of your best wine for me if

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"When future generations ask the economics profession 'What were you doing while the great bubble built up ahead of the Second Great Depression?', and we have to reply 'Lots and lots of quirky little working papers about sumo wrestling and speed-dating', it is going to be really, really, f***ing embarrassing" - Daniel DaviesThe sequel to Freakonomics is out, and before it's read and reviewed,

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/10/super-freakonomics.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-64842138013270245792009-10-15T12:51:00.006+05:302009-10-15T12:55:50.242+05:302009-10-15T12:55:50.242+05:30

A takedown of Homeopathy in the FASEB journal. It's a testament to our times that Homeopathy, Intelligent Design and such other nonsense need to be repeatedly dealt with by serious scientists. Prince Charles is apparently a serious supporter of this superstition. If you need a reason to abolish the monarchy in England, look no further than Loopy Prince Charlie.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/10/dilusions-of-grandeur.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-79744967253433276862009-10-15T09:23:00.001+05:302009-10-15T09:24:23.731+05:302009-10-15T09:24:23.731+05:30

Why does it work, and how much stimulus is worth it?

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/10/simple-stimulus-logic.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-45096476331758818882009-09-29T21:46:00.004+05:302009-09-29T21:51:11.017+05:302009-09-29T21:51:11.017+05:30

... or so Capitalism's leading rag would have you believe. Because it's libraries doing the banning, not the guvmint.Taking that line of argument further, if libraries, or restaurants, or say buses, or schools for that matter, decided - acting on complaints from concerned parents of course - that Black people weren't allowed in their premises, that wouldn't be racism. Good to know, 'cos in my

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/banning-books-isnt-censorship.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-59147374863516871952009-09-24T19:32:00.005+05:302009-09-26T09:47:14.252+05:302009-09-26T09:47:14.252+05:30

There is, inbuilt into human beings, a sort of dangerous taste for unreality - Rowan Williams, Archbishop of CanterburyHonest? You think?

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-unintentionally-self-referentially.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-88500804845975741052009-09-24T15:16:00.004+05:302009-09-24T15:20:54.437+05:302009-09-24T15:20:54.437+05:30

Also, why you are not jealous of the Queen of England, and why going to your school reunion is a bad idea.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/love-crazed-immigrant-murders-senators.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-20569467279809626822009-09-23T12:16:00.004+05:302009-09-23T13:37:30.861+05:302009-09-23T13:37:30.861+05:30

Are you struggling to resist the temptation to read the latest revolting regurgitation of bad prose from Dan Brown?Have you (shudder) already given in, and are you looking for a way to expunge your sins, a literary papal indulgence as it were?Look no further than the Vulture Reading Room.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/vulture-reading-room.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-75637871369660183762009-09-22T18:30:00.000+05:302009-09-23T13:33:31.553+05:302009-09-23T13:33:31.553+05:30

Hat tip to Bipin for his blog post on the cost of customer service.Indeed, when customers march in droves towards lower prices like so many dodos marching off a cliff, what's going to happen to quality? What indeed.I'll add that it's not (only) that customer service costs money. Sunil Mittal did not become one of the richest men on the planet by charging me marginal cost. I'd reckon he's got

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/value-of-invisible.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-45951807917393600702009-09-19T23:03:00.002+05:302009-09-19T23:12:12.102+05:302009-09-19T23:12:12.102+05:30

Warning: strong language.Russell's Teapot, and Oswalt's Sky-Cake - just the right thing for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/09/oh-sky-cake-why-are-you-so-delicious.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-79984181174139212232009-09-18T08:17:00.011+05:302009-09-20T12:25:34.874+05:302009-09-20T12:25:34.874+05:30

So asks EETimes.Here's an Indian perspective, the flip side of what you read on how bad things are in America:About 25 years ago, before globalization, most Indian engineers had a nice easy life - work for a public sector engineering firm like BEL or BEML or HAL or C-DOT or even ISRO, earn a steady if not spectacular salary with regular promotions, live in "quarters", and in general lead a

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On the anniversary of 9/11, our good ol' Home Minister PC has gone crying to America. Some would say he couldn't have picked a more ironic date to do his whine act on.Others may say he should do something about the problem, rather than go whiney-whiney. Still others may wonder what PC's boss Dr. MS was doing at Sharm-Al-Shaikh with his brotherly love bit if his government believed nothing was

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Do you hear me, America? This is just not done. Thus far and no farther. No siree, not this. We shall not be silent.You may do whatever with us, the aam aadmi, the common man. Frisking, secondary inspections, these don't really bother us. Our government has trained us to take minor humiliations in our stride. But how dare you do that to our VIPs? How dare you frisk Kalam or detain SRK for

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/08/not-done.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-3387425361627958242009-08-15T09:19:00.002+05:302009-08-15T09:23:11.304+05:302009-08-15T09:23:11.304+05:30

barbaad gulistaan karne ko ek hi ulluu kaafi thaahar daal pe ulluu baithaa hai, anjaam-e-gulistaan kyaa hogaa?Happy Independence Day to my fellow Indians.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/08/happy-independence-day.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-91469509981561017232009-08-14T11:52:00.003+05:302009-08-14T11:59:56.898+05:302009-08-14T11:59:56.898+05:30

Brad DeLong analyzes why interest rates in the US haven't gone up in spite of the flood of government borrowing for the Stimulus.

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/08/reader-if-you-require-monument-to-hicks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-91756431892078589922009-08-13T22:24:00.012+05:302009-08-14T21:41:33.923+05:302009-08-14T21:41:33.923+05:30

I'm not quite sure whether we bhalo bashi the FM or not. One wouldn't go so far as to call this a "daft" income tax code, but it's rather nasty. It starts off looking rather nice, but ends up decidedly less pleasant in some aspects. Salient pointsValid from FY-2010-11 onwards (AY 2011-12, but the AY term is not in the draft anymore)Tax rates, limits and exemptions are now in the law, not

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-draft-income-tax-code.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-10758940025628559772009-08-10T15:23:00.008+05:302009-08-12T18:55:23.120+05:302009-08-12T18:55:23.120+05:30

China, it would seem, calculates GDP differently from the other major economies of the world, measuring production rather than consumption, retail shipments rather than retail sales, and fund disbursal rather than actual spending. Just ask any business manager what delicious possibilities such an accounting method brings.(Update: I and the AEI got this wrong, counting inventory is the "normal"

The Mad Hatterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08343773205779641652noreply@blogger.com0http://hatters-take.blogspot.com/2009/08/lies-damn-lies-and-chinese-gdp-numbers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20689825.post-90408637295100686932009-08-08T21:28:00.008+05:302009-08-08T22:33:24.943+05:302009-08-08T22:33:24.943+05:30

And so, after several years, I was back on Sardar Patrappa Road.I have no idea who the venerable Sardar was, but I hope he liked electronics, because that's what he will always be associated with in Namma Bengaluru.The mission: build a simple low-cost PC that suffices for simple browsing and basic use for junior, and also doubles up as a home media server and file server.My shopping list was

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I've now settled into a mode of peaceful browser-co-existence. Chrome and Firefox take up one browser window each, and compete for the honour of having more tabs open than the other.Firefox 3.0.13 isn't all that bad, but once you go Chrome, it sure does feel like home. I have a handful of sites that I like to use with substantial scripting or extension support, which remain open in my Firefox

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