The Arguments within

An interesting read on how Avg IQ of India was put at 81, by Dr richard lynn. http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/06/indias-average-iq-in-2100.html?commentPage=1 The post is a VERY VERY interesting read, and the debate that follows is even more interesting. Steve's original post , here , ( http://www.vdare.com/sailer/india.htm ), makes an interesting comparison between India and China in his attempt to deciphere the low IQ reported by Dr Richard Lynn and Vanhanen's IQ and the Wealth of Nations . Steve, further, tries to interpret the avg IQ score of Indian, and surely for the benefit of potential investors in Indian markets, by dividing India into North and South-- a geographical divide, and the Caste groups with Brahmins on top of the pyramid-- the social divide. One of his critic further very zealously adds the vast followers of Islam in India also a very very influencing causes for the Avg IQ score of Indians. Apart from what has been said and debated i...

Diagnosis of our Joke culture Some boys show a good sense of humor to girls only to have some more fun. ! Humor, then, is mark of their cunningness, not intelligence. A joke is a playful and entertainment activity done by human. In most cases, it is a narration done with intentions to invoke laughter. A Wikipedia search shows the antiquity and kinds of joke. But apart from what ever is documented by the Wikipedia, Jokes , in my observations, serve other purposes as well. Humor , in human beings , is a unique gift to the species, and in a sense depicts our intelligence. Jokes are a sub classification of the larger emotion, the Humor. In the classic socio-anthropology, intelligence is the pre-requisition for being a good at 'Providing' work by males. Thus, Jokes can also be taken as an approximate indicators for a good Intelligence, and thereby a good Provider. Females of human species very often succumb to the charms of a good humourist, -- read -- a good joke-crac...

Once I dreamt of a fairy tale country where Corruption was free and unchecked. I discovered the problem was how to save its corrupt citizen the day one of them falls sick! There was no way to buy a genuine medicine , neither by bribing away the pharmacist, or the maker, who had   all licences. Same with food, thieves..etc.   Moral: Anti-corruption is a social need, like corruption- an individual need.

Here it is. Much like how the UN sub-org team made legislations like MARPOL , and SOLAS, etc..here is another gem from them.. UN Convention against Corruption .(which , obviously, India has NOT retified yet).http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/Publications/Convention/08-50026_E.pdf It is based on four pillars: Prevention , Criminalization , International cooperation ,Asset recovery And here is the gem, the compendium to UNCAC..the Technical guide the UNCAC . http://www.unodc.org/documents/corruption/Technical_Guide_UNCAC.pdf Here are some commentaries and excerpts from the Technical Guide: 1. It evisages creation or re-structuring an already existent Anti-Corruption body, which should be completely **Independent**. The Guide provides as "Practical Challenges and the Solutions" on how to achieve the standards of "independance' for such bodies on Page 8,9 and 11. 2. It calls for 'specialised staff and training' for such a corruption-pr...

So, It's happening in the same manner in which it should be envisaged by a low IQ nation as India. The crusade of India Against Corruption   has turned into a personal war between Five-off-Five!  The one batch of five being that from the government and the another five from another organisation calling themselves 'India against corruption' working under the umbrella of an organisation called Civil Society group. I dislike this and I dislike it more when i see Indians time and again falling into the trap of proving "who is honest"! U see, first they put the blame on Sharad Pawar, and now the blame is on Shashi Bhushan, who is trying to prove that he is not dishonest. And slowly the crusade is hijacked away into a personal battle to prove whether person X is honest or not.!!? Isn't it funny that we the nation of 1.2 billion people have failed to figure out where exactly does this dishonest and it's hypocrisy lies!! We think it is in those 543, the parliame...

Point of Inflection, in mathematics, I recall, is the point at which a graph changes its tendency, although it continues to proceed along. For example, in a graph of y=Sin(x), the inflection occurs at Sin(180 deg) and Sin(90 deg), when the upward rising graph takes a dip, alternately. The characteristics of this point is that it reflects the maximum valve that the curve can attain in it's that leg of motion. Here, I was thinking about what are some Inflections of our society which seem not-conforming to what our original , i.e, the starting motion was. 1. We called ourselves the leaders of spirituality in the world. Our philosophy was well developed. Our universities of Nalanda and Tuxshila are supposedly the first of the Universities founded. Our knowledge was once supreme. That makes me question as to how did we become one of the leading corrupt nations in the world. The abundant source of our knowledge was primarily researched and owned by people, whom we would call the ...

Dear All @: India against corruption I was just thinking-- why not make a compulsory certificate course in 'Moral Philosophy (ethics) ' for all governement employees above Grade 3. This will be more humane, less punitive, more professional treatment of a practical problem of corruption in Govt Offices, and longer standing solution, gradual and not revolutionary thus less disturbing to the prevailing systems. For the purpose of achieving "need for training in Democracy" ,as envisaged by Anna himself, this case-stuady based course can br introduced, courseware prepared by some real high class institute such as IGNOU/JNU, and will aim to achieve a uniform knowledge/interpretations for some basic issues such as : what is a nation, what is democracy, what is a government and its role in democracy, what is corruption , etc. So far, in my opinion, many eposides of corruption are happening because of non-linear, self-styled interpretations. this course should be a of ...

Anna Hazare, recently during his fasting as a protest against the Lokpal Bill, and to bring about acceptance of Jan Lokpal Bill , made one statement. He said that he would want public servants to be 'trained in democracy'. The news reports by Times of India, where I read this commenat from the legendary activist, put this with quotation marks to, maybe , remain un-manipulative on his words. This septagenarian social activist had for one give me a shock with his discerning view on what's wrong with the public administration system in India, which is also one of the contributing reasons for rampant corruption. It is often that the public servants have short views on how to handle a case when there are no clear reasons to help them decide about their stands. well, many times this situation arises from the point that the piblic that they are dealing with is too un-educated to give them a clear reason or a decisive opinion so as to help the public servant decide on his stand, t...

Moral dualism simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be "moral" and - unlike ditheism/bitheism - independent of how these may be represented -- Wikipedia source on 'Dualism'. Hypocrisy is an unconscious self-contradiction: a state of incongruence between one's professed beliefs and feelings and one's actual beliefs and feelings, or an application of a criticism to others that one does not apply to oneself. Hypocrisy is not simply a lie, saying something which one knows to be false. Neither is it simply failing to practice those virtues that one preaches -- Wikipedia source on 'Hypocrisy'. Let's see how many of us can get these :- It is possible for two statements to be correct at one time It is possible for two mutually conflicting statements to be correct at the same time. It is possible for two mutually conflicting statements to be correct at the same time and yet be d...

                                                                                                                                 05th April, 2011 Today was national maritime day. It was celebrated (with much fan fare??) in the IGNOU convention centre. It left me with lots of questions inside. there were many things which were just not matching with how thin...

The Arguments within: Skit: Dream Chasing This Skit was finally put down, for want of brevity, humor, and purpose. That led me to find out more about what is a skit so that some modifications caould be done , so that deep in future it may be used up elsewhere. Here a few ideas on skit I have thought of, : 1) A skit to show that a young school student joins Merchant navy to escape from education, thinking that life as seafarer is all about seeing the world, sightseeing, having fun, good money etc, but the facts slowly turn out that It was even more heavier learning process, because the modern seafaring is very sophisticated, heavily regulated with lots of rules (e.g D & A policy, quick turn arounds) -- so no 'having fun', no time to go sightseeing, and lots of exams and courses, so no money left.! 2) A skit to show that even after a class room introduction of rules, people are able to derive fun from ignorance of young cadets for having experienced with is taught thro...