Accidental Blogger
A general interest blog
Category: Educational, Cultural & Social Matters
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Some weeks ago, this report highlighted the Vatican’s giving the green light to a new Indianized Bible which depicts Mary and Joseph as poor Indian villagers (Click on the photo for a larger view): Barefoot and wearing a sari, with a bindi on her forehead and a naked baby on her shoulder, the woman in…
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A recent article on MSNBC discussed games that ‘push our buttons’: Danny Ledonne has been called a “disgusting and sick individual,” a “monster” and the “Antichrist.” The press has grilled him for three years running. His life has been threatened multiple times. Ledonne’s offense? He made a video game. Granted, the 26-year-old from Colorado created…
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Not two months ago, A.B. carried on a discussion about Prof. Ethan Leib’s ongoing work on the legal recognition of friendship. Prof. Leib himself generously participated in the comments. Now the discussion continues among Prof. Leib and his legal academic colleagues at The Conglomerate, a blog devoted to "business, law, economics, society." His work is…
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My reading skills are declining. For instance, I’m not sure what this recent, “most popular” NYT article is about. At first it appears to pit reading books against reading online digital text, as if one were compelled to choose exclusively between the two, or as if the two behaviors were distinct approaches to a single…
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Except of the bland "Obama / McCain / Ron Paul / Hillary / Huckabee in 2008," I haven’t spotted any good political bumper stickers this campaign season. All same, a few days ago a kerfuffle broke out in a neighborhood not far from my home when one woman took exception to a bumper sticker on…
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A couple of days ago, a group discussion among the A.B. authors about blogging matters degenerated quickly into a somewhat lengthy exchange of jokes and a brief analysis of what makes us laugh. I was reminded of that late day e-mail thread with my co-bloggers when I came upon a book review (not a favorable one)…
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Last Wednesday, the front page story in the Houston Chronicle was about the high levels of pollution in the waters off the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay. This is not entirely a new story. Alarms and warnings are sounded every summer regarding the quality of fish, oysters and other edible sea creatures harvested from…
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Speaking of why we need the humanities, I accidentally stumbled across this post a couple weeks back. Now, granted, I probably should have been a medievalist instead of a litigator or a law professor or whatever I’m going to be–in which case I would have a sturdier foundation of knowledge for making this claim, but…
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The video itself is quite amazing. But what really got my attention was not so much the charming dance moves which would make any seventh grader proud, the heart warming locales or the article in the New York Times about Matt Harding, the man who has danced across some seventy or so locations across the…
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Recently a lively discussion ensued at 3 Quarks Daily in response to the above question. Long time readers will remember an older post of mine where I had speculated that in this day and age of ultra specializations a student of science may actually benefit from some exposure to the humanities.
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American life has been devalued. I didn’t know that the government routinely puts a price tag on us. WASHINGTON – It’s not just the American dollar that’s losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life isn’t worth what it used to be. The "value of a statistical life" is $6.9 million in…
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Knowingly or unknowingly, historically Americans have preferred certain physical traits over others in their presidential candidates. Those biases may be even more relevant in the current atmosphere of oversaturation of the media with televised debates and You Tube clips where every facial tic, blink of the eye, sweaty underarms and other physical features of the…
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I don’t know how many A.B. readers are sari wearers. Sujatha and I are two among the authors here. (Anna, do you own a sari?) I saw this very unusual sari on another blog. Printed text on Indian textiles is not wholly uncommon. I used to own some pieces of clothing in my college days…
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The headmaster asked the parents, who had come with their ward, to sit in the chairs before him, and began to fill the application form. "What’s your name, son?" "Jeevan" "Good. Nice name. Father’s name?" "Anvar Rashid." "Mother’s name?" "Lakshmi Devi." The headmaster raised his head, looked at the parents and asked: "Which religion should…
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In one of my previous posts on Japan, I had mentioned the Japanese zeal for cleanliness, conservation and recycling. In the same post I also made a passing reference to Japanese toilets. Yes, bathrooms in Japan are well appointed. In most hotels where I have stayed the toilets featured warmed seats and water jets designed…
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