RSS Parrot

A song on my mind

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/04/19/a-song-on-my-mind/

Published: April 19, 2026 05:08

I’ve got an earworm this morning and it’s been unbudged. It’s the song ‘Neeye unakku endrum’ from the 1962 Tamil film Bale Pandiya. The film is highly okay, at best, notwithstanding many of the social norms of that time no … Continue reading →

Memoirs, Substack, and psychology

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/04/10/memoirs-substack-and-psychology/

Published: April 10, 2026 03:37

The English poet Blake Morrison had a thought-provoking essay in The Guardian titled ‘‘Enough of this me me me’: Blake Morrison on memoir in the age of oversharing’ on April 4. He traced the evolution of memoir from a self-congratulatory … Continue reading…

On the BBC, talking about Gaganyaan and inspiration

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/31/on-the-bbc-talking-about-gaganyaan-and-inspiration/

Published: March 31, 2026 07:45

The BBC has produced a documentary podcast titled ‘Hope and fear: India’s space revolution’. Its host, Alok Jha of The Economist, interviewed me late last year as part of it, to provide a media perspective of the Indian space programme, … Continue reading…

Lord of the Rings Day

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/25/lord-of-the-rings-day-6/

Published: March 25, 2026 16:41

A happy Lord of the Rings Day to you. This year I almost didn’t write this post because I don’t have anything to say about The Lord of the Rings itself. Or maybe I do: I have tired of the … Continue reading →

Climate change and the coastline paradox

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/19/climate-change-and-the-coastline-paradox/

Published: March 19, 2026 10:04

A friend recently told me about a tool called climate.you that shows “temperature change, over land and sea”, at all points on the earth’s surface in a bid “to show how warming is already affecting people everywhere”. You can enter … Continue reading →

I, Head-bumper

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/19/i-head-bumper/

Published: March 19, 2026 01:21

Tall. I’m tall for India, around 6’3”. My height has recently been on my mind. India is not a good place for tall people. The public infrastructure is geared towards shorter people — the average Indian adult male and female … Continue reading →

Spotting fakes by looking at them

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/18/spotting-fakes-by-looking-at-them/

Published: March 18, 2026 04:29

On March 10, the Supreme Court said a balance has to be struck between warding against misinformation online and protecting citizens’ right to free speech. The context was the Centre’s attempts to defend the 2023 IT Rules: when the comedian … Continue…

The little things

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/14/the-little-things-2/

Published: March 14, 2026 04:23

Tungsten diboride (WB2) is extraordinarily stiff and resistant to deformation and scientists have long suspected it could be a superhard material, meaning it scores at least 40 gigapascal (GPa) on a hardness test. This is important because diamond, the…

The pleasures of rewatching

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/13/the-pleasures-of-rewatching/

Published: March 13, 2026 04:19

I’m afraid the answer is F.R.I.E.N.D.S. My sister and I watched it growing up, then rewatched it, the re-rewatched it, and now then have it playing in the background as I work. I have some problems with it but I’ve realised that memories of watching the…

On mathematics and reputation

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/11/on-mathematics-and-reputation/

Published: March 11, 2026 04:19

From ‘Formalizing the stability of the two Higgs doublet model potential into Lean: identifying an error in the literature’, uploaded to arXiv on March 9, 2026: Firstly, we believe this to be the first time a non-trivial error in a research level physics…

Measuring science stories

https://rootprivileges.net/2026/03/10/measuring-science-stories/

Published: March 10, 2026 04:14

Google News picks up on science stories that many outlets are covering. Its reasoning is that the more outlets publish a particular story, the more reader interest the story has. However, the flaw here is that news outlets don’t evaluate all kinds of…