an interesting series of two on india to be read on the op-ed pages of the new york times by thomas friedman.

this is an interesting take on islam and democracy
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/14/opinion/14FRIE.html

the other one that appeared earlier is equally interesting and had me kicking myself. couldn't for the life of me figure out why didn't i get this story in spite of reporting on technology out of india.

compelling reading
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/11/opinion/11FRIE.html

ideas are free. they could occur anywhere. in my head, your head, anybody's head. and the only way ideas will ever live is if they're allowed to cross pollinate. stuck in my head, or yours, they'll die eventually, when you or i die.

if you think that's rather naive, let me put it his way. karl marx had some fabulous ideas in his mind of how society ought to be. but he was so damn obnoxious that there was no way anyone would listen to him. it was only after he died that lenin picked up what marx had to say from an obscure book published in some equally obscure period, figured out what marx had to say, and let it loose on an unsuspecting world.

it gave the world communism.

i'm not insuniating here that i like communism or that i'm a commie. far from it. the point i'm trying to make is a simple one. there are ideas and then there are more ideas / thoughts, whatever. if it's ever got to evolve, it's got to be shared.

so here's my deal. whatever i post here, ideas/thoughts/stories/anything, can be used by anybody, anywhere in the world. whether you choose to use it ad verbatim or not, i don't care really.

more power to open source!!!!

the book's a little too old. but it makes for provocative reading. mandatory, i think.