One for the cartel

From Slashdot:

"I am not a big fan of legislation, but..."

I've read this a few times on Slashdot now. It's usually followed by some comment about a special case (or special interest?) where legislation is a Good Thing. This bugs me, because it's hypocritical.

As an example, the entire concept of laissez-faire (free-market) economics (thank you, Adam Smith!) is based upon assumptions that do not hold in the real world. If we want an economy that even approximates a 'free-market', then we need legislation.

Look at Microsoft, or AT&T. Were it not for legislation, there's be no check to their anti-competitive practices. In my opinion (FWIW) the natural end-consequence of a totally free market (in the absence of any control) are cartels - massive companies bribing (what remains of) the government, and helping their cronies and friends.

Yet another email address

Thanks to Thennavan, I am now reachable at
shrikant@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com

Oh joy.

God to kids

Begone, you!

Oh ag

Oh Suri, Suri, Suri...what EVER will you think of your dad? Sheesh. Yuck.

Here we go again

First nerdiness, now this...Fortunately, this shows off my relative sanity.



Oh yeah, and just in case people didn't already know:

Ah Finally!!!

Gaurav's finally put up a post about the more important things in life.

Mmm...

Wise up, Slashdot

I have no idea why Slashdot news posts link to CoolTechZone so many times. CoolTechZone writers suck, and rarely have any clue about what they're talking.

How he makes me weep

WITH LAUGHTER! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA!!

Oh that Scott Adams. He doesn't need Dilbert to be funny. Or mindblowingly correct.

Mockery is an important social tool for squelching stupidity.

...I've never seen anyone change his mind because of the power of a superior argument or the acquisition of new facts. But I've seen plenty of people change behavior to avoid being mocked.

TOIlet paper

No wonder they're called that. Alowing monstrous dillholes to write such articles, just so they can show a contrary view.

Incidentally, when I think of laddus, I think Tirupati laddus. Not Agarwal Sweets (WTF are they?) or Haldiram (great savouries, but laddus?!).

Education minister my ass

I cannot argue as well as Gaurav, Amit or Falstaff, or even Dhoomketu, so I usually don't put forward very cogent presentations on why some things suck.

I go for the gist of the idea instead. Hence, I think I make my feelings perfectly clear when I call this proposal the MOST MORONIC IDEA IN TEH WORLD EVAR!!1eleven.

'Nuf said.

No wait, since Mumbai Mirror links vanish (WTF aren't they doing something this anyways?), here's the entire article:

Make Maths optional, says Minister

Education Minster Prof Vasant Purke has proposed this for students after Std VIII; will discuss it with experts and the public soon

If you're a student and hate the very mention of the word 'maths', the state education department has some good news. It is proposing to make maths optional after Std VIII, offering subjects like computer science, agriculture and handicrafts instead.

Education Minster Prof Vasant Purke has already started meeting academicians and
educationists to discuss the proposal. However, a final decision will be taken only after a huge public meeting to be held next month, where the common man's opinion will also be sought.

Prof Purke's proposal comes in the wake of numerous cases of students from the city as well as rural areas unable to complete their SSC because of maths. Presently, most students are forced to take expensive tuitions to pass the subject.

"We are looking at agriculture, computer sciences and handicrafts as optional subjects but will finalise a list only after feedback from all quarters," said Prof Purake. "We will also consider public opinion and after compiling suggestions will decide on subjects that can be offered in place of maths," he added.

According to education department sources, "Maths is the one subject that most students fail in the SSC exam. We are looking at those students who give up studies after failing the subject repeatedly. Day by day the exam burden has increased and students are under tremendous pressure because of maths. Prof Purke has put forward this decision after receiving numerous complaints from parents."

President of Jagrut Parents Association Suresh Lad said, "It's a good decision. Students who are weak in maths can now be encouraged to at least complete their basic education till Std X."

Two things:

1. You can't do "computer science" without at least 10 years of schooling in Maths. Solitaire, clicking on "Start", MS Office, heck even VB do NOT count as computer science. That's just "computer awareness", and not that even, really. That's just Microsoft Windows awareness.
2. At the end of the article is an anecdote of a guy who dropped out of school in the 10th std because of Maths. He had problems in Algebra and Geometry. And he's now an accounts excecutive. He says the government should remove the subject from the curriculum so that it would deter people from dropping out.

About #2, WOW, just WOW! Super logic. Hey, Bill Gates dropped out of college, and made a HUGE pile of money, runs a HUGE company, and is HUGELY charitable too. He didn't need college to do all this, so why would anyone else?

I love the solution being proposed here - too hard? No problems, drop out and blame the government. Guilt trip the government into making brain-dead moves.

Most of my argument can be summed up by what a professor had to say about this, in the article:

Maths is an important aspect of modern technology as the world is making big strides by introducing technology in all walks of life. That's why maths cannot be left out of a curriculum. Removing maths will only make the future generation of this country incompetent.