Of a masterly headline

Telangana born, Hills in labour
- The Hindustan Times, Kolkata edition

I've not read such a masterly headline in a long time.

Beware of US cyber-surveillance system!

"...if you're thinking of outsourcing your troublesome IT operations to, say, Google or Microsoft, then think again."

Manmohan Singh Govt forces GM foods on Indians!

I would say that the PMO is bulldozing us, as a nation, into doing what’s not backed by evidence and what should never be done. The PMO is pushing the GMO agenda, especially GM foods, because it’s a commitment he made, under the Indo-US Agriculture Knowledge Initiative, to the US government. So, the PMO is talking the language of the GMO industry.
- Dr Vandana Shiva 

Bhagsex, not Sensex? Ha Ha

..it is a crying shame that the Sensex, that noble barometer of the country’s stock markets, should bear Sen’s name. I urge the Bombay Stock Exchange authorities to change it immediately. Bhagwatisex, or Bhagsex, would be so much better.

Online sex: US's best non-medical gift to the world

Online sex may be the best-accepted non-medical gift the United States has given the world, and it’s spreading rapidly.

What things should we offload?

I have not memorized a phone number that was not my wife’s or kids’ in 10 years. I don’t think that makes us less human. We have evolved to do this. What we do need to do, though, is to be more attuned and more sensible about what things we offload and what things we don’t. We are, in a real sense, the sum total of our memories. The human task of understanding yourself is one that requires being able to think back and construct sensible stories.

Edward Snowden: A hero of our times

I am moved by your choice of our future over yours, the world over yourself.  You know what few do nowadays: that the self is not the same as self-interest. You are someone who is smart enough, idealistic enough, bold enough to know that living with yourself in a system of utter corruption would destroy that self as an ideal, as something worth being.  Doing what you’ve done, on the other hand, would give you a self you could live with, even if it gave you nowhere to live or no life. Which is to say, you have become a hero.

What is journalism?

"Journalism is not content. It need not be a profession or an industry. It is not the province of a guild. It is not a scarcity to be controlled. It no longer happens just in newsrooms. It is no longer confined to narrative form. So, then, what the hell is journalism?

It is a service whose end is an informed public. For my entrepreneurial journalism students, I provide a broad umbrella of a definition: journalism helps communities organise their knowledge so they can better organise themselves. So, anything that reliably serves the end of an informed community is journalism. Anyone can help do that. The true journalist should want anyone to join the task."

Sarah Schulman on being a writer

To me, a writer is someone who writes. The best thing to me is to read eclectically, to go to readings, to have experiences, to live in the world, to mix with all different types of people, to take some chances, and to find some people and start a writing group. Or ask a writer you respect to teach a class. I charge $40 a class, it's not that much. Start your own thing. There used to be all these alternative schools, the University of the Streets, the Brecht. There were these left-wing places you could go and study outside of the structure of a university. As we know, universities are becoming more and more corporate, and universities themselves are gentrifiers. If you look at what NYU has done to New York City, for example, it's been one of the worst influences on the city. Now we are seeing universities that are selling their brands to Abu Dhabi and repressive regimes in China. Universities are becoming more and more globalized, corporate entities. To rely on these people to determine the artwork or the cultural output of your own time is pretty dangerous. If they're asking you for something -- money -- don't give it to them.