Category: Links

Let’s start this week with a topic that has been much discussed recently, and I really liked this contrast of how the discourse of rape is in India versus elsewhere in the world. How the west deals with rape?

The current government seems to be active on many fronts, and taking actions where the previous one was sleeping. An interesting piece on how India targets Maoist Jungle Stronghold to Win Mining Riches

Curiosity is as important as intelligence when it comes to your development as a person.

3-D printing has always been of interest to me so to see this really weird 3-D printed brick that can cool your house really made my day. The article has some information on how a similar device was used to cool houses in the olden days and it was quite a good read.

I was recently checking on air ticket prices, and found out that it is cheaper to fly to Bangkok from Hyderabad than it is to go to Assam. Visa hassles are the one thing that deter me from traveling abroad so it was good to get a list of these countries that have visa on arrival for Indians.

Saudi Arabia has become the world’s biggest arms importer, and guesss who they have edged out?

Great, great article on not only how there could be life but more than that on how they were able to detect such a thing in the first place. Why the warm ocean on the moon of this Saturn could be perfect for life?

Enjoy your weekend!

It seems such a long time ago since I’ve done one of these weekend links posts. I have not been reading enough to come up with seven good links, and I wish I could say I was busy, but it was actually a case of lethargy. Cricket and the Delhi elections were exciting enough for me to go through several articles this week, and although I wasn’t thinking of it at that time, it did make me read other things, and ultimately help write the weekend links post after a long while.

The first post this week is a nice editorial in Business Standard about the reasons behind the AAP victory.  

Along the same lines, the next article writes about how Arvind Keriwal’s cabinet is likely to be one of the youngest cabinets in India with an average age of 37.

That’s it for politics, now on to something completely different, which is how the brain physically looks like when you’re in love; very interesting.

Another opinion piece on the economic optimism and frustration of India.

Sachin Tendulkar writes about the world cup.

On Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Nice to see this appear in a Pakistan newspaper.

Finally, If symptoms of being sick (mucous, sore throat, fatigue) are immune system responses, what does the cold virus actually do?

Enjoy your weekend!

I have been the busiest I’ve ever been in the past four or five months, and as a result I haven’t been able to blog at all. Now that my schedule is a little less hectic, I will resume blogging. The weekend links post is the easiest to begin with so I’m starting with that.

The first link is on Uber, and while a lot of attention has been paid to the company, enough hasn’t been written about the drivers who use the company to make their living. This is a short piece which is worth a read.

The next link is a very interesting piece about how Facebook can know even when its ads influenced an offline purchase. I suppose it was only a matter of time before a company figured out a way to do this, and I feel this is the direction other online ad companies will take as well.

The Economist has a good piece on oil prices, although I feel one needs to look at China’s markets as well in order to get a more comprehensive picture on oil.

A very interesting article on how Google Maps data is refined.

The RBI governor provides some interesting commentary on the Make in India mantra. I think the headline doesn’t do justice to what the governor is saying so it will serve you well to ignore the headline and read his words.

I loved this post about a couple who write about what they learned from their rabbits.

Finally, I enjoyed reading this guide to India’s tiger reserves, and hope to visit one in the near future.

Enjoy your weekend!

Let’s start this week with an interesting article about rich Chinese citizens leaving the country for cleaner air and better lives. Next up, a very good article on when you should worry about the market getting too high.

NYT has a great article on a 7 minute workout.

An interesting explanation of why the world smells different after rain.

Very good blog post about how learning takes place and what can be done to sharpen yourself.

How Watson changed IBM.

And finally, how does the white blood cell know where the bacteria is?

Let’s star this week with an interesting article about IBM creating a brain like microchip has 1 million electronic neurons and more than 256 million artificial synapses connecting. The human brain has approximately 100 billion neurons, with roughly one quadrillion (one million billion) connections between them!

Equally interesting, an article about NASA’s impossible engine.

Slightly related, National Geographic has an interview which reveals some things about going to Mars.

When you have a car connected to the internet, you need to worry about hackers too.

A good article on when entertainment passes for investment advice.

Dough Roller asks if you are a millionaire in the making?

Finally, some very moving images from Gaza.

If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably asked yourself at least once why are so many children dying in Gaza? Here is the answer.

You might also be wondering why Israel with all its strength isn’t able to overcome Hamas? An answer.

I have read and heard about wealth gap several times, but never in the context of Indonesia.  A good article about the inequity in Indonesia. 

I was fascinated to read that scientists are able to track polar bears using images taken from satellites. If you look at the images in this article, they are just tiny dots, but apparently, that’s enough, at least in summer.

Flipkart amazed everyone this week by raising a staggering Rs. 6,013 crores.

An interesting article on how China’s growing audience is changing Hollywood’s movies.

The NYT with some powerful pictures.

Enjoy your weekend!

Weekend links is late by a day because the links post I started out with yesterday got rather depressing because of what has been going on around the world, and I decided people have probably had enough of that, and looked for some other links to share. In that sense, this is probably the first time where the links post contains articles that I haven’t necessarily read during the last week.

Anyway, first up, Japan’s floating trains sound like a fascinating concept.

A good article on Buffett’s Achilles’ heel. 

Next generation electric cars may not need a battery swap. 

Dr. Bibek Debroy on how correlation can sometimes be causation.

Who doesn’t like Maggi, right? 15 different ways to make Maggi.

NY Times has a great article that shows how much it matters when you started investing. I will have a full post on this later.

Finally, 35 great images this week. Some of these will stop you in your tracks. Have a good Sunday.

Let’s start this week with a very interesting story about a floating solar power plant that India is building. I haven’t seen much coverage of this but I would feel that this is the kind of news that people want to hear about.

Next up, India’s role in the nuclear race. 

Did you know that 30 million people live in caves in China?

It is disturbing, how much a could weighs.

A brief editorial on the recent budget. 

A bitter sweet story about an elephant who was recently rescued in Mathura. 

Finally, Bill Gates on his favorite business book. 

I was quite amazed to first learn that a footballer can run as much as 10 kms in the course of a game, and this new stat that they often show during the current world cup is fascinating. My first impression was that the players wear some kind of a GPS which tracks the distance, and while this is one way of doing it, it isn’t the only one. A simple and fascinating explanation of how this is measured. 

Even more fascinating was this news item about BMW 3-D printing augmented thumbs for their factory workers! 

Chinese invented a lot, fireworks amongst one of those – 14 fun facts about fireworks.

Hangovers, what to do about them?

Google’s interesting technique to keep meetings productive.

If you haven’t already read about Facebook’s experiments to manipulate user’s emotions, read it now.

Finally, a very good explanation on the goods and service tax.

Have a good weekend!

 

Let’s start this week with perhaps the most significant event of the week – a computer passes the Turing test.  The Turing test is a simple and elegant way of judging the extent of artificial intelligence, and a computer passes this test when in conversations with humans it deceives them into thinking that they are talking to another human being.

Perhaps equally significant, in a first for a company a meaningful size, Tesla Motors which is a producer of electric cars has put all its patents in the public domain and is encouraging others to use their technology.

The ET has a good profile on Vishal Sikka – Infosys’s new CEO. 

The Indian Express has a great profile on India’s superspy.

A hopeful news story in FE about secretaries being asked redundant acts and rules in their ministries.

WSJ on stock picking for the long – long haul. 

The NYT on what causes weight gain.