Accidental Blogger
A general interest blog
Category: Educational, Cultural & Social Matters
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Cheating spouses are nothing new and normally, they shouldn’t make news. But given the prevailing moral climate in the US and many other countries, politicians caught in lurid sexual peccadilloes make news and sometimes they even resign. Before the advent of TV and the Internet, most public figures were able to keep their personal lives…
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I associate Hindu festivities, especially those commemorating the beginning of seasons or the calendar year with feasting, singing, dancing etc. I was really surprised therefore to discover that at least in one part of the world, Hindus choose to welcome the new year with silence, quiet reflection and fasting. Meditation, silence and fasting are very…
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"Walk like an Egyptian." And talk like an Indian? Or a Chinese, Arab or Zulu? When does artistic license with foreign cultures add to the authenticity of a dramatic endeavor and when does it descend to the level of second rate mimicry? A good friend, an Indian American, has shared with me a somewhat disconcerting…
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Barack Obama’s name is an issue in the minds of some voters. Say Barack HUSSEIN Obama loudly and often, it is bound to conjure up some not altogether wholesome images in people’s minds. Hussein = Saddam, Obama = Osama and don’t forget that Barack rhymes with Iraq. No wonder his political adversaries are targeting Obama’s…
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In 2005 I came across a blogging event whose unfolding I followed with some interest. (see here and here). I was relatively new to the world of blogging then and Leiter Reports was one of the few sites I read regularly and carefully. I followed the controversy there and at other sites that Professor Leiter…
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Or at "Courageous" and "Fearless." If that won't work, how about "Okra" and "Turnip?" By now, you know of my fascination with interesting street names. I just discovered that there are many worthy instances within the city of Houston and its suburbs. I just haven't come across them. Author Marks Hinton has compiled a list in…
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So asks Carrie Menkel-Meadow at Concurring Opinions. Answer: Sorry, but no. I suspect that academia is full of failed writers. The occasional dual-careerist J.R.R. Tolkien or David Lodge aside, it’s clear that what professors do is not "creative writing." This is probably especially true for law professors. It’s good that they write what they do…
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In remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today’s Houston Chronicle has an interesting article on Houston’s MLK Blvd – its past and its present. MLK Blvd in Houston runs from the southeastern part of the city near Hobby Airport , north to the University of Houston. It is a long, mostly residential street with…
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Bobby Fischer, the genius and enfant terrible of the chess world died on Thursday at the age of 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland. An eccentric recluse during the last half of his life, Fischer’s victory over Soviet Grandmaster Boris Spassky in 1972 made him the first (and only) American to have managed this feat. Fischer’s unprecedented…
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An excellent article by Steven Pinker in the New York Times is doing the rounds of the blogosphere. Do read whether or not you agree with all his "scientific" claims. Which of the following people would you say is the most admirable: Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Norman Borlaug? And which do you think is the…
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Two stories have come to my attention in the last two days. One, in which Japan might play a leading role in the future and another, featuring a developing trend in Japan. The first one is sure to raise some eyebrows but it may be hopeful news for the bashful and the socially awkward. Author, chess…
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Ruchira has directed my attention to a piece in Slate by Ron Rosenbaum, about a visit to the newly reopened Second Avenue Deli in New York City. The title is, "Where Is the Schmaltz of Yesteryear?" with the subheading, "Christmas Eve in a Jewish Deli." Schmaltz, of course, is a Yiddish word for the rendered…
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In the last few hours, there’s been a recycled report in AP, discussing the implications of ‘outsourcing’ baby-bearing to surrogate mothers stationed at ready in India, and the lower costs of employing surrogate mothers to bear babies for infertile couples in countries like India, as opposed to the US or other developed countries where surrogacy…
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Good news for Korean girls. Hopefully India, China, Vietnam and other Asian countries will follow suit. SEOUL,South Korea — When Park He-ran was a young mother, other women would approach her to ask what her secret was. She had given birth to three boys in a row at a time when South Korean women considered…
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If you do a google search for Holiday gift giving etiquette, several advice columns pop up. Most refer to gift exchange between colleagues, boss – employee, janitorial and other service staff. None of them lays out the ground rules for gifts that students may give to their teachers. In India as far as I know,…
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