Accidental Blogger
A general interest blog
Category: Educational, Cultural & Social Matters
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Apparently it's impossible to live on a $500,000 salary in New York. Or at least, it's impossible for a banking executive living in the ritziest parts of the city if "to live on" includes the banker being the sole bread-winner for his family, and no change whatsoever of lifestyle. “Some of them want their drivers…
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Professor Jonathan Wolff has some clarifying pointers. (via Brian Leiter)
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Sane and sober minds have reacted with alarm and scorn to the recent harebrained proposal put forward by the Texas legislature to permit hand guns on college and university campuses. In letters to the editor of the Houston Chronicle, a parent, a prospective student and a professor let their views known. Professor’s plan As a professor at the University of Houston, I…
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Archana Sridhar of the South Asian Philanthropy Project invites our readers to check out and participate in a discussion on charitable giving among south Asian Americans. The blog forum, hosted by Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia University, will take place throughout the coming week.
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After twenty long years, the Texas legislature's number one obsession, dismantling the teaching of evolution in science classes (see here and here), has recently run into problems. So members of the reactionary right in that august body have turned their attention to improving another tool of higher education - gun rights. Conservative lawmakers of my state, with the support of our moronic governor, Rick "Good Hair" Perry, are writing…
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The juxtaposition of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday today and Barack Obama's presidential inauguration tomorrow has not escaped the notice of Americans. Many see the two events as book ends of America's troubled and often violent racial history. Obama's election to the most powerful position in world politics is widely perceived as the successful culmination of…
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As a full time person of leisure, I have been trying for long to convince my diligent family that I am indeed supremely content with my idle life. But who wants to listen to a rat who's not in the race? Perhaps they will believe a philosopher. Mark Kingwell explains: Mark 1: So what makes that idling rather…
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Should this toddler be able to have a birthday cake with his name on it like all other kids? Did the bakery at Shop Rite grocery store act properly in denying the request of the family? The ADL thinks the bakery did the right thing by refusing to inscribe the cake with the child's name. But…
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With an interesting life story, at the end of his tenure Barack Obama will surely chalk up many firsts for American history books. We already know that Obama loves basketball and is a decent player himself. Known as Barry O’Bomber in high school, he told Barbara Walters that he had dreams of turning pro until he realized he wasn’t good enough. (So, the presidency…
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Today or tomorrow, depending on the sighting of the moon, is Eid al-Adha, a day of celebration for Muslims worldwide. This year, December is also the month of Muharram, a religious event of lament and mourning observed by the Shia Muslim sect. I recently finished reading The Girl From Foreign by American documentary film maker Sadia Shepard which I had previewed…
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Burglars were not the only culprits. A Sikh family was terrorized by Houston police officers after reporting a burglary in the home. It is more than seven years since 9/11/2001. One would have hoped that by now, American law enforcement had been educated and trained to learn the simple fact that "turban" does not necessarily equal "terrorist." The Harris County Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations…
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With the economy in shambles and jobs scarce, it may be time for some to learn a new skill. (The video was surely shot in India. I have seen workers, including frail women, do this at Indian construction sites – just not so high a stack and certainly not standing in a boat.)
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According to Malcom Gladwell, it is mostly the latter. In fact he believes that to be really good at "anything," ten years of practice are a minimum. Also, the inspiration and the perspiration must come not just from the prospective genius’ own brain and pores but from his/ her family, friends, school and community. In…
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For the past couple of months I have been following the developments in the Nebraska Safe Haven Law which went into effect last February making it possible for parents to give up their children to the state if they believed that they could not adequately care for them. A law of good intentions had unintended…
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In Hindi / Urdu, pardesi means foreign or foreigner – as opposed to desi which stands for native Indian or south Asian. Ever since I read Nathan Katz’s detailed and interesting account of Indian Jews, I have wanted, whenever the opportunity presents itself during my trips back to India, to seek out the markers that…
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