Human Intelligence Then and Now

I followed a link posted by a friend on facebook, to this interesting article which cites a study that claims that Human intellect peaked a few thousand years ago and has been declining since. The gist of the argument is that “Since the invention of agriculture and cities, however, natural selection on our intellect has effective […]

An Idiotic Legality

I saw something today, that is rare to see in this age of political correctness. On an income-tax related site, the instruction for a set of fields was rather surprising (almost shocking) Full name, address of the Representative Assessee, who is assessable under the Income Tax Act in respect of the person, whose particulars have […]

Disproportionate Press Coverage

I can’t help thinking that there may be some vested interests in all the press coverage and attention given to the Pakistani girl who got shot for speaking up against Taliban. While it’s definitely unfortunate for anybody to get shot, and much more when the victim is a child, this is not the only incident […]

Fear of the Dark

It seems a vast majority of humans are afraid of the dark, or have been afraid as kids. It’s so common, that there’s even a wikipedia page on this topic. There are also several theories trying to explain why children (and adults to some extent) have this fear. From the wiki page, it appears that […]

A Political Tsunami

The large scale of casualties in a Tsunami is a result of not just the level of its power, but also the cunning tactics by which it lures its targets into the area of attack. It all starts with a drawback, which causes the water along the coast to recede as the trough of  wave […]

What google thinks of our Prime Minister

Recently, there was quite a furore over a Washington Post article terming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “a tragic failure”. Google seems to have strikingly different key words associated with our Prime Minister, though:  google search suggestions for “manmohan sing” Wonder which is better – to be a tragedy or to be a joke!

Avatar – The Legend of Korra

Note: This post contains SPOILERS from the first book (Air) of Avatar: The Legend of Korra Last week, I watched the first book of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, which is a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Like all sequels to a good original, this one had high expectations to meet. The Last Airbender was […]

Apple vs Samsung

The recent verdict by a US jury directing Samsung to pay damages to Apple, in my opinion, reveals the fear and insecurity among Americans when faced with competition from growing economies. For a jury consisting of ordinary citizens who feel threatened by the decline of the US’ economic power, and at the prospect of their […]

In Pursuit of Happiness?

This may be termed a sequel to an earlier post I made about what I learnt from my daughter. However, now I want to talk about an aspect in which we are like children, and watching them makes it easier for us to understand our own behavior more clearly, in a more objective manner. It’s […]