Locana -- The Eye: II

My parents started subscribing to The Hindu around the time I was born. We entered their lives together! 'The Hindu' is the newspaper that I'm most comfortable with. I feel happy when 'The Hindu' moves up the ladder of success, and I get angry when it's somewhat insensitive (rarely though, according to me). Thus the first pointer: Kaps reporting this good piece of news.

A couple of weeks back Uma gave an excellent talk in my campus. The talk was about fiction and war. Among other points, she spent some time on McEwan's Saturday and Roth's The Plot Against America as well. Her talk started with a quote from Arnold's Dover Beach, which plays a crucial role in McEwan's novel. Well, I was reminded of Uma's talk when I saw this excellent review of Saturday by Falstaff. [Link via Veena.]

Not exactly a book review, but this does the job of one. Saheli has a nice post on Chris Mooney and his new book The Republican War Against Science. Talking about the view of science and the war on science, Saheli says:

Reporters and debaters too often fall into the cognitive trap created by years of compare and contrast essays, giving equal time to both sides of the coin. Sometimes the coin just isn't fair, and it's a sign of intelligence to recognize that and acknowledge it.

Well said.

Science and science wars! How about some neat, easy-to-read, posts on science? Sunil plans to do exactly that. Every fortnight.

Pablo's post on trickle-down economics makes very interesting reading. Reading Joseph Stiglitz prompts him to think about this stuff again. As Pablo points out "in some circles, trickle-down is taken as an article of faith that should not be discussed". Indeed!

Abi's post on employment guarantee bill talks about a related question. Here's a striking paragraph:

I don't want to hear 'growth is the best way, particularly in the long run'. Just as the critics of REGS have pointed to past failures about corruption in government schemes, others may -- rightly -- point to how the higher growth rates in the last 15 years haven't led to significant job creation; apparently, there indeed is such an animal called 'jobless growth'. Moreover, a 'long run' may not exist for many of the rural poor if their poverty is not addressed.

Here's something very interesting. Antara has a funny story about "the fetishization of clarity".

And check out the random dreams of a confused mind's dad!

Harini has an excellent blog mela here. A lot of interesting posts. Great stuff.

Finally: How does one write so evocatively?

P.S: Here's Locana -- The Eye: I