Yeah, right

Apparently there is something called World Homoeopathy day.
A function was held in [Kanpur] to observe the World Homeopathy Day. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Anil Katiyar, a noted homeopath said, “The good aspect is that homeopathy is capable of curing a person completely and there are no side-effects from this mode of treatment.”
I posted on [...]

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Is it a car or a plane?

Check this out.

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The amazing new Apple laptop

Apple comes out with a laptop without a keyboard. Check out this video!

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Bjorn Lomborg on global warming

Set aside 30 minutes today to watch this wonderful presentation by Bjorn Lomborg on global warming.
Lomborg is no libertarian — he is a liberal who favours a welfare state and strong redistribution through taxation — and  indeed, there is no mention of any intrinsic value of freedom and property rights in his presentation. His arguments [...]

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The war against AIDS (we have almost won it)

There is still no cure for AIDS, but science has come a long way towards controlling it. Antiretroviral therapy has progressed so much in the last two decades that, according to current reports, a person who started taking the drugs at age 20 will on average live another 43 years.
And we can expect the science [...]

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Scott Aaronson on the singularity

The singularity is far, says Scott.
In this post, I wish to propose for the reader’s favorable consideration a doctrine that will strike many in the nerd community as strange, bizarre, and paradoxical, but that I hope will at least be given a hearing.  The doctrine in question is this: while it is possible that, a [...]

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The fear of knowledge

In inquisition-era Europe, you could be imprisoned, tortured or worse, burned to death for scientific enquiry.
These days, you merely receive death threats.

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Google Chrome — first impressions

• The total download and install time is less than a minute.
• Browsing is lightning fast.
• It is minimal, in a good way.
• It has no add-on compatibility, no RSS handling capability and limited configurability.
It is mainly on account of the last point that I will not be using it as my primary browser. I [...]

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The great idea

“Once upon a time, there was a man who was convinced that he possessed a Great Idea.  Indeed, as the man thought upon the Great Idea more and more, he realized that it was not just a great idea, but the most wonderful idea ever. The Great Idea would unravel the mysteries of the universe, [...]

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Vista advertisement

In this post on anti-Windows-Vista-bias, I wrote
Now, there’s nothing wrong with not liking a product- but the strange thing is that Vista loathing seems to be strongest among those who have never used the software (or barely used it).
It seems the Microsoft marketing team noticed this too, for there is now an entire website built around this concept! Or maybe they visited [...]

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Drilling for oil in protected areas

I confess that I am split on the issue of domestic US drilling for oil in areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife refuge. Currently there is a moratorium on drilling in such regions out of environmental and wildlife conservation concerns, which I strongly sympathize with. Nonetheless, as this article points out, the net effect on [...]

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A really cool visual illusion

Check this out!
(Link via Andrew Sullivan)

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How dare Indians think of privacy?

The Indian government wants to be able to read all emails and messages sent by citizens. (Privacy, you say? Don’t be silly. We live in an age of terrorism. Hehe, those naive libertarian notions.)
However it discovers it is unable to decrypt the ones sent by Blackberry devices.
Pissed, it asks the parent company, RIM, to help it snoop. Hard luck, says RIM, [...]

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God is relative

An excerpt from the 1954 Albert Einstein letter that was recently sold at auction for £170,000.
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) [...]

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Windows tips and tricks

(None of what follows is intended to be of any use to geeks, experts, macboys or linux fans. All I have attempted is to lump together some advice that might help a typical windows user. )
1. BACKUP, backup, backup! I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to do so. Not only do you get the insurance of never losing critical files, [...]

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