tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61638302011-12-18T07:51:37.758-08:00Juggernaut of Love--mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comBlogger731100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-38311405928721735902011-03-01T20:13:00.000-08:002011-03-01T20:15:38.844-08:00IndustryInstrumental versionmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-71250138291681325652010-03-24T13:41:00.000-07:002010-03-24T19:55:35.572-07:00Crap (aka, Don't Turd On Me!)For all who support the noxious, obnoxious garbage known as Obamacare…for all who support the expansion of the insolent entitlement culture that it will bring…for those who find strength in weakness…for those who wish to denigrate my profession and livelihood with this juggernaut of slime: Should I do as I'm told? Should I go where I'm sold? Should I have to be mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-53113840689532117562010-02-14T18:39:00.000-08:002010-02-14T18:41:25.351-08:00Link of the...Month?Howard Roark in New Delhimananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-287383636873111642009-07-19T06:13:00.000-07:002009-07-19T06:16:55.530-07:00Don't be a fool, don't be a toolThis news article states that "one of the most contentious issues between India and the U.S. is the administration's push for India to accept limits on carbon emissions as part of an international climate change agreement. To emphasize the importance of the matter, Clinton traveled [to India] with the special U.S. envoy for climate change...Clinton urged India to mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-80283579760807457852009-06-18T16:24:00.000-07:002009-06-20T17:50:22.820-07:00Great Songs On My Mind RecentlyBisso Fri (Bisso na Bisso)Giant (The The)Seven Veils (Peter Murphy)Honesty Files (Urge Overkill)Scatta Head; Beng Beng Beng (Femi Kuti)Musical Box (Genesis)Soon (My Bloody Valentine)Cry in the Wind; A Day (Clan of Zymox)Come in Number 21 (Charlatans)Main Title Theme (UNKLE)Olsen Olsen (Sigur Ros)Cherry-Coloured Funk (Cocteau Twins)Why; Heaven Knows; Helen of Troy (mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-77837282792191164792009-06-17T12:49:00.000-07:002009-06-17T19:07:39.345-07:00In Denial: A Play in One ActThis is my caption for this photo caption contest where Zardari, Ahmadinejad, and Manmohan Singh are mingling at a recent summit meeting: Zardari to Ahmadinejad: "What Terrorism?"Ahmadinejad to Zardari: "What Holocaust?"Singh: "Morons."In Denial: A SequelZardari to Ahmadinejad: "What cash fraud?"Ahmadinejad to Zardari: "What vote fraud?"Singh: "Morons."In Denial: mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-18356738047016431772009-06-12T14:22:00.000-07:002009-06-12T20:10:59.065-07:00Congratulations, Stupor-manBill in Kill Bill 2 says "Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He’s weak...He’s unsure of himself...He’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race." Interesting thought, but I dunno...I just thought Superman acted like Clark Kent so that no one would even begin to think he's Superman, that's all. mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-14399727456494393732009-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:002009-06-07T09:18:59.066-07:00Mystics of DeathZimbabwean "traditional healers"...shouldn't they get a taste of their own medicine...well, ok, at least some type of legal action? Sadly, faith healing is big here too, where false cures (redistribution) spread to the populace result in the exploited (the productive).mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-87076649597526015132009-06-03T20:22:00.000-07:002009-06-03T20:24:30.142-07:00Link of the day:Our Parents Shrugged...enough said.mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-51699645736485017052009-05-31T13:44:00.001-07:002009-05-31T14:21:19.990-07:00Fierce!?The Obama (aka Bush 3) administration is supposed to be about "the fierce moral urgency of change". Lets see...big goverment expansion: no points for change there; the deliberate, systematic dismantling of capitalism: well, there goes moral urgency. That's left us all with...fierce!? The upcoming trojan horse attack on the US health care system (a crypto-socialist blueprint for mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-30737256507089566282009-05-31T13:20:00.001-07:002009-06-18T08:11:17.523-07:00The Great, the Good, and The Ugly(Caution: Involves highly subjective content) The Great:Harold and Kumar Go To White CastleWhere's the Party YaarLord of the Rings I, II, III HeatTotal RecallArmy of DarknessClerksSouth Park: Bigger, Longer, UncutIndiana Jones (the first three)Star Wars (parts 2,4,5,6)AliensTrafficContactMatrix (1,2)Raw (Eddie Murphy)Delirious (Eddie Murphy)Dumb and DumberAustin mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-37672534802516562462009-05-12T16:09:00.000-07:002009-05-12T16:13:46.364-07:00Small thoughts...To the Left, the State is Church.To the Right, the Church is State.mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-25495086475158774542009-05-05T16:27:00.000-07:002009-05-05T19:36:34.391-07:00Let the stars shineSwing Out Sister. What a bright sense of life. Some of my favorites: Love Won't Let You DownBreakoutAlwaysAm I the Same GirlSomewhere in the WorldHeart for HireFooled by a Smile Grand lizards vs. Grand wizardsLGF is an intriguing blog which exposes Islamofacism and their useful idiots, the LLL (liberal loony left). (I even named this blog after a ridiculous pink protest tank mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-19918576624650837952009-05-03T16:57:00.000-07:002009-05-03T17:04:46.856-07:00Quote of the day:"In the world of the blind, I don't really mind"--One-eyed Kingmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-91753400834878772422009-05-02T06:48:00.000-07:002009-05-02T07:11:27.269-07:00"Tea-poy" mutinyI went to a nearby tea party protest a couple weeks ago. Clever signs! It would have been nice to see other Americans of Indian descent there...can't we see that Obama is just another Nehru (young, charismatic, misguided economic nitwit?). Oh well...(My sign idea: "Separation of Obama and State"...after all, he is just another cultish institution hypnotizing the masses...didn't mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-49555684659745229122009-05-01T21:23:00.000-07:002009-05-02T06:48:33.695-07:00Five years later......Starting right where I left off! Here we go!mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1083297794726878772004-04-29T20:52:00.000-07:002004-07-06T16:25:40.316-07:00Time for an exit!...
One of my more recent sound creations, Space Exits, attempts an Indo/Western theme (hey, at least that's what I hand in mind!).
(Due to time considerations, I will have to make this the last entry on this blog; life seems to get busier with each passing day (it's a good kind of busy, though...) Well, it was fun while it lasted!) mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1081660209915616802004-04-10T22:09:00.000-07:002004-05-06T18:00:11.106-07:00The Original Fountain-head?
According to Chris Satullo of The Philadelphia Inquirer,
Shiva [when regarded as the Supreme Spirit mentioned in Hindu treatises] emodies a central paradox of life: To create the new, you must destroy the old. To create fire, you must destroy wood. To make oil, animals must die. For the automobile to prevail, blacksmiths must suffer. For Bill Gates to rise, the mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-108077814708309352004-03-31T15:58:00.000-08:002004-05-06T18:40:36.826-07:00"Music!"
I haven't had much time to "blog" these days; I have been working on my music lately, among other things (a few of my strange creations can be found here...please excuse my drum programming; I am primarily a guitarist, y'know!) mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1078683238241113192004-03-07T10:13:00.000-08:002004-05-27T14:04:06.093-07:00Profitophobia
What's holding back privatization? Fear clearly has a lot to do with it. Irrational fears have their negative impact, but among them, the fear of profit is the most underestimated. This fear, which seems to derive from an ignorance of capitalism, is a powerful currency, especially for non-profit groups.
It seems that the fear of profit has paralyzed the privatization of mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1078682955993239222004-03-07T10:07:00.000-08:002004-05-27T14:09:43.013-07:00Geometric fun
I have been so busy lately, but have always found time to play with triangles!
Compassion Abuse Watch: Populists
I am so glad that John Edwards dropped out of the race and will not be the next president of the United States. Why? Because he "cares" about me.
Love in an Elevator?
With a blog with a name like mine, I think it's time I list my ten favorite instrumental "smooth" mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1078682806642382642004-03-07T10:06:00.000-08:002004-04-17T05:48:13.153-07:00Cobain Underworld, Corgan Overworld
Ten favorites:
Dive (Nirvana)
Subterranean Homesick Alien (Radiohead)
Evidence (Faith No More)
Achilles Last Stand (Led Zeppelin)
Yours Is No Disgrace (Yes)
Zoo Station (U2)
Peg (Steely Dan)
A Farewell to Kings (Rush)
Metropolis (Dream Theater)
Hummer (Smashing Pumpkins)
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1077463386896107292004-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:002004-02-22T07:36:47.390-08:00A Fallen Star
Kalpana Chawla was on the space shuttle Columbia during its fatal re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003.
An inspiration to millions of Indians, she is now the subject of her own biography, Dilip M Salwi's Kalpana Chawla: India's First Woman Astronaut.
(from the Ayn Rand Meta-Blog)mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076982276805556362004-02-16T17:44:00.000-08:002004-04-11T07:07:48.060-07:0021st Century Sexual Girl
There was a time I lost all my dimensions
I found no path in our stream of conscious lives
Self absorbed to the point of alienation
Out of touch and out of reach and out of style
If love was an answer then I had no questions
If you were an answer then why was I so blind
Abstraction to the height of self evasion
It was time to find a change of heart and mind
I have tomananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076943577126789372004-02-16T06:25:00.000-08:002004-02-28T10:11:51.890-08:00Tommy the swami
Vinod writes an interesting post on the mighty Thomas Sowell. This man is my guru!.
Sic semper tyrannis
The wicked rise as wicked fall
So light the way as curtains call
To the enemies within our halls
Liberty and justice for us all!
Never again
Some will hide within us
Some will burn away
Some will turn against us
Their confusion can prevail
But when we see a purpose
Ourmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076865556029734042004-02-15T09:10:00.000-08:002004-02-21T18:24:57.950-08:00Somaland
When Yama thinks you're yummy
And Bhima grows a tummy
And Jane keeps taking aloo out the pan
When Devas take the thunder
And Asuras take the plunder
Its time to find the way to Somaland
Lord Shiva has the boons
If we sit for thirty moons
And never think of mango pie again
Then we churn the ocean
To earn the lovely potion
And never have to die to start again
Kalki's comin' with a mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076784724109580522004-02-14T10:51:00.000-08:002004-02-14T11:26:19.700-08:00Wacky love
Happy Valentine's Day!mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076545940154417572004-02-11T16:30:00.000-08:002004-02-12T09:28:11.496-08:00An immigrant song
Dinesh D'Souza's Ten things to celebrate why I am an anti-anti-American is a worthy read. He makes a few wrong turns (he considers America's "kind and gentle" foreign policy to be a virtue rather than a vice, and blabs about "sacrifice"), but is generally on the right track with his observations.
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076422622126375172004-02-10T05:52:00.000-08:002004-02-12T09:29:29.796-08:00Thoughts on beauty
With all the talk on global standards of beauty lately, I am reminded of two sites that discuss the philosophy of beauty (very explicitly, I might add):
SuperBeauty.Org is a group of independent websites united in a modern movement to change the world and improve the human condition through the creation, admiration, understanding, moral defence and political protection of mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076380850961457192004-02-09T18:36:00.000-08:002004-02-10T10:26:39.640-08:00A beautiful contradiction
Poonam, a Miss India contestant in 2003, says:
"I believe that every creation in this world has a divine purpose. The purpose is to bring peace and happiness in the world...winning [Miss India] would give me chance to serve the nation as an ambassador of peace and harmony." When asked who inspired her the most, she says that "I admire the compassion and selfless mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1076132547657447362004-02-06T21:29:00.000-08:002004-02-10T16:31:02.560-08:00Vishakanya
She was everyone when anyone would do
She was of a dream when a dream came true
What more did she ever have to be
She was hard to trust never hard to love
Hers was a kiss that led a way above
What more did I ever have to fear
Untimely passings had come her way
They never gave one look away
What more did we ever have to see
So much for those other lives
So much more of the whisperedmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1075404796034747932004-01-29T11:22:00.000-08:002004-02-05T23:26:47.450-08:00Gimme a "G"!
It's nice to see Western-style gated communities popping up all over India. People are actually living the way they want to live, fulfilling their hunger for prosperity, and bypassing the government for their needs (with private fire departments, water filtration plants, etc.). This is also a very understandable response to government corruption and the rise in urban riots, petty mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1075274473720759422004-01-27T23:21:00.000-08:002004-01-27T23:23:23.856-08:00Weird
Here's some of my "artwork"! (Inner Voids I and II).
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1075274418511924762004-01-27T23:15:00.000-08:002004-02-04T07:00:30.686-08:00Interpretations
Many thousands of years ago our forefathers brought forth a sacred thread, a thread with the potential to bind the disparate elements of the great nation of India, a thread to form the reins which control her destiny; a special thread, more potent than a lock of the Destroyer's hair, more auspicious than the threads of the Twice-born, and more symbolic than that which flowed frommananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1075257955868026872004-01-27T18:26:00.000-08:002004-01-27T19:01:57.310-08:00Quote of the Century
"In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1075256337772227452004-01-27T18:16:00.000-08:002004-03-10T13:36:23.000-08:00Marooned
A lone and lonely soul
In a corner of this world
Never asked for help
Never in control
No one to protect
No one to surprise
Nothing left to chance
Just a passerby
I find a pain in sound
A closure underground
The worst of what’s around
I find it getting loud
In the end a sign
Against the grain of mind
A fading out so kind
A mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074977476597984472004-01-24T12:51:00.000-08:002004-01-26T13:22:05.483-08:00Making Progress
Some tell me that my poems aren't all that great. Well, compare them to the one I wrote when I was twelve:
India: A Poem
This is a country one must see,
A country of beautiful complexity.
Home of cows, crowds, and the banyan tree,
It is a wonderful place to be.
This is a country one must go,
Home of lions, tigers, and buffalo.
Where tea, mangoes, and guavas grow,
Go mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074977440281613882004-01-24T12:42:00.000-08:002004-03-07T15:32:12.873-08:00Leaving Bombay
Victoria terminus
Attracted from the start
Distracted till the end
She was the last one on my mind
Attempts with half a heart
A love that's just too far
Never together only side by side
There's nothing more I have
And nothing more to hide
Her love was drilled inside
Her hands had pushed me out
When I was too confused to fight
And too subdued to mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074963213664849282004-01-24T08:53:00.000-08:002004-02-24T17:06:38.746-08:00Rock Adventures
Rock, to me, is a journey from Amorica to Zooropa. On the way I find myself exiting dragons, joining strange cults, and sailing topographic oceans. When the road glorifies decadence I search for the virtuous. When the road glorifies ineptitude I search for the ambitious. And when the path becomes beaten I explore other territories. This journey has inspired my own adventure mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074961163406090532004-01-24T07:57:00.000-08:002004-02-04T05:56:50.030-08:00Let's face it
Some cultures have their problems. Others are beyond hope. Why find that out the hard way?
Our Demise
Nothing's further from the Truth
When the Truth splits us in two
What remains is dissolving us in Lies
Another genesis
In another genocide
I reveal I lamented all this time
Irony in pity
Error in your greed
But that's all right you'll do mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074650081218307492004-01-20T17:37:00.000-08:002004-01-22T08:48:39.123-08:00Reminiscing
I recall reading a lot of fantasy books during my 'middle ages' (high school and middle school). The best of them was Tad William's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy (a very highly underrated series therefore no movie :( ). I also vividly remember reading Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series (the first seven books), Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy, and the writings of Lloyd mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074471737904795802004-01-18T14:44:00.000-08:002004-02-26T12:04:31.530-08:00Ow! They're stealing my brain!
As Niraj discusses the brain drain from Europe to America I can't help but think again of India's dire brain drain situation. I then think of the book Atlas Shrugged. Njoy discusses this situation and its chilly similarities to the book's plot in this review:
"This novel actually explains the concept of ’brain drain’ even before that term was coined. [Brain mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074454347345135292004-01-18T11:31:00.000-08:002004-01-18T11:36:04.186-08:00Know any hippies?
Valentines day is coming up soon, and it could be a good time for some to try this love experiment!mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074445393584972392004-01-18T09:01:00.000-08:002004-01-21T19:46:20.560-08:00Compassion Abuse Watch: Foreign policy doves
Some American foreign policy 'softies' see the recent humanitarian aid for the recent earthquake in Iran as the step toward better relations with the theocratic Iranian government. Yeah, right.
Here's a Patriots analysis: "Superficially "better" relations with a nation that regards us as the Great Satan and ranks as the number one state sponsor of mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1074441717488981832004-01-18T07:55:00.000-08:002004-01-18T12:31:12.840-08:00Compassion Abuse Watch: Multiculturalists
Stephen Den Beste writes: "In the name of maintenance of diversity, the multiculturalists want to cripple the world and force it to continue to live with its worst cultural characteristics intact. And they claim to do this out of sympathy and concern for the people of the world."
Multiculturalists regard all cultures as equal, and measure an mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1073599964011620252004-01-08T14:07:00.000-08:002004-03-12T20:17:40.280-08:00A great article
I find Barry Kayton's article The Ten Commitments to be quite an interesting read, and admire its concise, sensible, and rational approach to self-improvement and self-fulfillment.
Compassion abuse watch: S"CWRU"ing us all
Yuck. C'mon, Case Western can do better. What's their source? What's their motive? Ignorance, hatred, unearned guilt, self-loathing, self-doubt, fear mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1073191698406965182004-01-03T20:48:00.000-08:002004-01-19T20:18:45.686-08:00The Red Apprentice (An Altruist Ideal)
I looked around and looked to you
Now you've got my best
It's you and only you
You deserve no less
You took me out and let me in
Under tragic weather
We found our way above
We gave a damn together
Dark red clouds gave rain
And followed me around
I was never washed away
Just smashed into the ground
Overpowered by your fog
Could've been more mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1073191507623018562004-01-03T20:24:00.000-08:002004-06-03T09:39:21.596-07:00Three of a perfect pair
1) Ron Pisaturo's essay and and Harry Roolaart's essay on the end of civilization (both have quite a broad scope and discuss this topic from a similar philosophic perspective)
2) Walter Williams's thoughts on our wussy nation and Kim du Toit's thoughts on the wussy men who inhabit it. (Warning: the second one's a wild ride!)
3) The killer collectivism of France and mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1073165527894247372004-01-03T13:12:00.000-08:002004-01-05T13:30:59.463-08:00Three tragic stories
Thomas Sowell discusses the two recent earthquakes (in California and in Iran) and their results under two different social systems. It seems that the California earthquake and the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat could be compared in much the same way. (All were 6.5-6.9 on the Richter scale)
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072995499888764002004-01-01T14:16:00.000-08:002004-02-07T21:37:03.966-08:00Scenarios
I found an interesting article by Ron Pisaturo on Mars exploration a while ago. The article provides an interesting scenario of the US Government making the following declaration: "The first person to land on Mars, and to live there some specified minimum duration (such as a year), and to return alive owns the entire Red Planet." It went on to examine the potential (and highly mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072974454515583332004-01-01T08:22:00.000-08:002004-01-02T03:35:19.960-08:00Psychophilosophy
"Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves. That judgment impacts every moment and every aspect of our existence. Our self-evaluation is the basic context in which we act and react, choose our values, set our goals, meet the challenges that confront us. Our responses to events are shaped in part by whom and what we mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072845799104147602003-12-30T20:39:00.000-08:002004-02-04T06:24:05.623-08:00India: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Some brief thoughts on the socio-cultural scene of India and how it relates to the political compass that I have displayed on my Dec 18th posting)
Taking a step back, one can see that an irrational mysticism and a tribal collectivist mentality has enslaved India for generations. This mentality manifests itself in the north and west (ethnocentricism and mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072811745251961422003-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:002004-01-06T22:58:06.393-08:00I feel complete!
My blog feels incomplete without some Arundhati Roy bashing, and that's why I have to link to this superb article by Victor Davis Hanson. Ahh, much better!mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072656480090047412003-12-28T15:38:00.000-08:002004-06-01T12:34:21.426-07:00Postmodern Nightmares
James L. Brooks writes that "The [postmodern] world is a victim-ridden place where the powerful impose their cultural values and even their thought patterns on the disenfranchised. It is a world of the reptilian brain, where jockeying for power, status, and domination serve as the premier social activities. The postmoderns view all human problems through the prism of this mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072644564099416832003-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:002004-02-21T07:45:55.186-08:00Compassion Abuse Watch: Drug subsidy advocates
Americans for Free Choice in Medicine (AFCM) denounces the largest expansion of government intervention in medicine since Medicare was passed 38 years ago as a huge step toward socialized medicine.
"The new Medicare law [regarding the new prescription drug subsidy for the elderly] is a fundamental violation of individual rights," contended Richardmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072488259237975062003-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:002004-01-24T14:25:40.153-08:00Dichotomy
I cannot put my heart
Where I cannot put my mind
Between the lies of dream
I cannot reconcile
Hard and soft
Left and right
Space and earth
Dark and light
Neither world I find
When I take two at a time
The best of both worlds never
Seem to coincide
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072312237406986642003-12-24T15:52:00.000-08:002004-03-07T10:16:00.966-08:00Thank you troops
On this Christmas eve I wanted to thank my friend Eric and the rest of the members of the United States Armed Forces. I know that many of them will not be able to spend this day at home with their friends and family. They instead are in distant, hostile lands, doing what is necessary to secure our way of life. For this I owe them my deepest gratitude.
A holiday thought
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072300918937665692003-12-24T13:18:00.000-08:002004-01-06T23:01:33.343-08:00If you only knew
Collectivize
Dehumanize
With unearned love
And unearned pride
Nullify
Mystify
All demands
Meet no supply
We can be much more than this
We can be much more than you
Don't blank out as I tell you now
It's the Prime that make the Move
With no concern outside our lives
With no concern outside this world
We will focus till it burns
I will mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072215046867097432003-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:002004-03-03T18:12:53.106-08:00December 2003: What a Month!
It's been a pretty eventful month so far: The huge recent anti-terrorism and anti-Saddam demonstrations in Bagdad (covered by weblogs, ignored by the Big Media), Saddam's capture, and Col. Gadhafi being scared out of his WMD's (let's give him a big hug...not).
Teenager of the Year
In late 2003, 17-year-old Nimesh Patel helped to disarm and subdue his teacher's mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1072082682743833352003-12-22T00:35:00.000-08:002003-12-26T17:56:25.260-08:00To the Ragnarian spirit
Ari Armstrong gives an interesting perspective on the spirit of Ragnar, the character in Atlas Shrugged. It mentions libertarians but includes everyone. I hope the spirit never dies:
"Every libertarian -- every human being with a conscience -- needs a touch of the Ragnarian spirit. Ragnar Danneskjöld hid Jews in the attic to protect them from the Nazis. He spent the mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071977389222763452003-12-20T18:48:00.000-08:002004-01-19T20:51:41.496-08:00To a great man
Swadhyay, now a 'global Indic phenomenon' and a 'family of millions,' began with the guidance of Rev. Dadaji - Pandurangshastri Athavale over fifty years ago in western India. On October 25th 2003, the Swadhyay family was deeply immersed in sorrow as the beloved Rev. Dadaji - Pandurangshastri Athavale passed away.
Dada was a very rare man indeed. Not many come alongmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071969286999166032003-12-20T17:07:00.000-08:002004-02-21T13:39:23.186-08:00Ro Khanna: Idiot for Congress
I can see my Indian uncle saying to Ro, "You ijiot! What are you doing!" I'm talking about Ro Khanna, who is currently running for Congress and hails from the Bay Area. His claim of having visionary ideas for the 21st century falls quite short since almost every one of the issues he stands for, like social security, affirmative action, and healthcare, is "typical mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071961315067672002003-12-20T15:00:00.000-08:002004-04-02T09:08:22.263-08:00At 'Lame Statist' University School of Medicine:
1) Official Michael Moore "Bowling for Columbine" conferences give a "sobering account of the American condition"
2) Such conferences are followed by our Dean, who enlightens us yet again with his stale and overused universal health care slogans
3) Our Dean sponsors affirmative action seminar trips to Washington D.C. for the students (yes, our mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071771600903677092003-12-18T10:18:00.000-08:002003-12-28T15:36:25.530-08:00Compassion Abuse Watch: The Vatican
Yup, the Vatican does it again.
A related article is here, which basically states that emotions divorced from reason leads to the abuse of compassion (which, of course, can be a pretty nasty and dangerous affair).
I agree with Nicholas Provenzo: "I feel neither sympathy nor compassion for Saddam Hussein. Compassion for Saddam is moral treason to all mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071763028395892542003-12-18T07:49:00.000-08:002004-03-03T18:22:16.076-08:00The Real Compass Of Political Philosophy
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Objectivists et al. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071758679119110962003-12-18T06:41:00.000-08:002004-01-20T07:39:25.293-08:00Foreign policy: Levels of criticism
Pro-war blogger Daniel Drezner provides a stronger and smarter critique of Bush's foreign policy (when compared to most Democrats and leftists), but I think that this critique takes it to a higher level.
(By the way, I find that this essay gives a decent stragetic overview and rationale for the Iraq war)mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071697556815423962003-12-17T13:45:00.000-08:002004-01-19T20:24:51.466-08:00Capital I
I assess and I express
I gain and I maintain
I trade and I appraise
I move an empty train
Nothing left to show
Nothing left to prove
A change in definitions
Is a change in attitude
Confident and freed
Radiant in greed
You owe me the right
To not owe you a thing
An end unto myself
Synthetic energy
A continuous reminder
Of the way that it mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1071024007277674412003-12-09T18:33:00.000-08:002003-12-22T10:45:24.326-08:00Compassion Abuse Watch: A U2 Sing-Along
How far are you gonna go
Before you lose your way back home?
You've been tryin' to throw your arms around the world
Nothin' much to say I guess
Just the same as all the rest
Been tryin' to throw your arms around the world
mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1070931718706175082003-12-08T16:58:00.000-08:002004-06-01T12:26:33.106-07:00Clinical Correlation: Feelings
I Feel Therefore I Am by James Harrigan
A Feeling is not an Argument by Alex Epstein
Random Thoughts
-Sometimes emphasis is everything. If one had to describe Adolf Hitler in two words, some would say "genocidal dictator", others would say "troubled soul," and yet others would say "strong leader." All may claim similar life philosophies, but two mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1070835967091833272003-12-07T14:17:00.000-08:002003-12-29T18:23:31.123-08:00A trip to the gallery
Some of my favorite art from the Quent Cordair Fine Art Gallery (the finest in Contemporary Romantic Realism):
Travelers (Cordair)
Lunch Break (Cordair)
Les Filles D’Avignon (Anjou)
Tomorrow Today (Bokor)
Born with Wings (Larsen)
"Romantic Realism, the movement which renews the high esthetic standards and mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1070764086351397892003-12-06T18:25:00.000-08:002003-12-07T14:35:03.176-08:00Conversations with 'liberals' (Pt 2):
On the highly popular blog "The Truth Laid Bear" (manager of the Blogosphere Ecosystem) I had a nice civil discussion about capitalism, baseball, and the source of material wealth. I am 'PCM' on the comment thread and changed my name to 'Quotebot' after someone called me that due to the fact that I used a lot of quotes (Hey, if someone can say it better mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1070763859343559772003-12-06T18:15:00.000-08:002003-12-16T21:49:04.356-08:00Conversations with 'liberals' (Pt 1):
A discussion concerning Iraq on the highly popular left-leaning blog Calpundit (one of the better left of center blogs) between 'PCM' (me)and 'Jesurgislac'. Jesurgislac is of the garden-variety "There was no reason to commit the criminal invasion of Iraq" type. I started with a quote halfway through the comment thread and it was predominantly our mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6163830.post-1070762300370798692003-12-06T17:49:00.000-08:002004-02-16T16:54:30.280-08:00Art that Rocks
Pink Floyd's Animals (1977) is one of the best and most underrated albums in rock history. It may require several listens to uncover its subtlety and brilliance but the rewards are great. The album includes three sprawling masterpieces (Pigs, Dogs, and Sheep) sandwiched between two short acoustic pieces (Pigs on the Wing, pts 1 and 2). One of the songs, 'Dogs', burns intensely mananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07284417027929309241noreply@blogger.com