Accidental Blogger

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  • K.O. in Kabul!

    They are not your typical Million Dollar Babies. They are Afghan boxers – women boxers! All I can say for now is "YOU GO GIRL !" But as with everything else in that battered and rugged country, I will wait to see how long their round lasts.

    _44024077_fight_203The barked instructions and sounds of feet running round on a matted floor are like any team anywhere in the world warming up.

    But this training session is unique.

    The people running round to warm up before putting on their boxing gloves are women – and this is Afghanistan.  A new generation is challenging the usual stereotype of Afghan women as shadowy figures concealed from head to foot behind powder-blue burqas. …

    They call it "fighting for peace".

    The boxers are in their late teens and these unlikely ambassadors for peace challenge pre-conceptions both about boxing and about women, particularly Afghan women.

    Like most of them, Maleeha says she is there for recreation, but in halting English, she does understand the reason behind the project.

    She says they are "fighting to end war".

  • Namaste, Madam President (Sujatha)

    (Thanks to Ruchira for the idea and link)Pratibhapatil1_2

    Ammu Joseph comments on the international media extolling the election of Pratibha Patil as the 13th President of India, and the first female to occupy that illustrious post.

    Is her election “a victory for women in a country where gender discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread,” as the Associated Press report
    suggested? Does her elevation to the largely ceremonial post represent
    “a step forward for hundreds of millions of Indian women and girls who
    face bitter discrimination in everyday life,” as The Washington Post said?  Will her investiture tomorrow signify “a boost for the rights of millions of downtrodden women,” as Reuters  put it? 

                                                                                                               More at link

    I didn’t really have an opinion about Ms.Patil, but am now torn between a mixture of being appalled at the elevation of a two-bit politico to the highest (even if only ceremonial) post in India, and resignation at the political maneuvering as usual in the highest echelons.

     

    (more…)

  • Oscar, The Farewell Cat

    Two animal posts in a row – no it’s not going to be a pattern. Having written a harrowing and depressing story yesterday about cruelty to animals, I hope to cheer things up a bit with a heart warming and curious tale of peaceful animal-human co-existence.

    I have a favorite old Edward Gorey t-shirt. The caption reads: "Books. Cats. Life is sweet."  The following story may well inspire t-shirts and other parphernelia with the logo, "Family. Friends. Purring Cat. Death is peaceful." ……. In a nursing home for the elderly in Providence, Rhode Island, lives Oscar, a two year old cat adopted by the staff who literally "sniffs" out death. Oscar unerringly picks out patients who are about to die – very soon. He gets in the bed with them and waits until they are gone – purring all the while. His record is so impressive that doctors and the medical staff at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center have begun to depend on Oscar to alert them to the impending deaths of patients, so they can notify family and loved ones. When families cannot make it to the bedside in time, Oscar also provides companionship to those who would otherwise have died alone.

    Oscar’s amazing ability prompted Dr. David Dosa, geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital and an assistant professor of medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, to dedicate an essay to him in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. (the NEJM link is subscription only. I am copying most of the essay below).

    Oscar_the_cat Oscar the Cat awakens from his nap, opening a single eye to survey his kingdom. From atop the desk in the doctor’s charting area, the cat peers down the two wings of the nursing home’s advanced dementia unit. All quiet on the western and eastern fronts. Slowly, he rises and extravagantly stretches his 2-year-old frame, first backward and then forward. He sits up and considers his next move.

    He takes a few moments to drink from his water bowl and grab a quick bite. Satisfied, he enjoys another stretch and sets out on his rounds. Oscar decides to head down the west wing first, along the way sidestepping Mr. S., who is slumped over on a couch in the hallway. With lips slightly pursed, he snores peacefully — perhaps blissfully unaware of where he is now living. Oscar continues down the hallway until he reaches its end and Room 310. The door is closed, so Oscar sits and waits. He has important business here. Twenty-five minutes later, the door finally opens, and out walks a nurse’s aide carrying dirty linens. "Hello, Oscar," she says. "Are you going inside?" Oscar lets her pass, then makes his way into the room, where there are two people. Lying in a corner bed and facing the wall, Mrs. T. is asleep in a fetal position. Her body is thin and wasted from the breast cancer that has been eating away at her organs. She is mildly jaundiced and has not spoken in several days. Sitting next to her is her daughter, who glances up from her novel to warmly greet the visitor. "Hello, Oscar. How are you today?"

    Oscar takes no notice of the woman and leaps up onto the bed. He surveys Mrs. T. She is clearly in the terminal phase of illness, and her breathing is labored. Oscar’s examination is interrupted by a nurse, who walks in to ask the daughter whether Mrs. T. is uncomfortable and needs more morphine. The daughter shakes her head, and the nurse retreats. Oscar returns to his work. He sniffs the air, gives Mrs. T. one final look, then jumps off the bed and quickly leaves the room. Not today.

    (more…)

  • One Sick And Vicious Beast

    Bulldog_2 No, it is not the one on the left.

    Taking into account a few rare exceptions, I don’t like, watch or follow the game of football. But from time to time I catch the news of some or the other high priced, high profile athlete indulging in foul or criminal behavior. Mostly I shrug.  Assault, battery, gambling, drug abuse, rape and even murder seem to have become par for the course for our arrogant modern day gladiators. The O.J. Simpson case had us glued to our TV sets a little over a decade ago. Accusations of slitting his ex-wife’s throat and the ridiculous spectacle of the bloody glove that "did not fit" gave rise to high drama. Sensational journalists called it the "trial of the century" (NOT!). Nothing, we were told could top that tragic and sordid event.  But O.J. (who I believe was guilty), if he did kill Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, did so out of rage filled jealousy – a crime of passion. At least we understand that even when we are revolted by it. But how does one explain what Michael Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons is accused of doing? 

      It’s time for Michael Vick to hang up his Atlanta Falcons jersey. He should be immediately suspended from the NFL and, if convicted of dogfighting, thrown in the slammer. People who abuse animals belong in prison, not on the playing field. Anyone who is capable of the heinous cruelty that is detailed in Vick’s damning 18-page indictment poses a danger not only to animals but also to fellow humans.
        Unlike football, dogfighting is no ”sport.” The ”winners” are kept on heavy chains, starved, beaten and forced to fight other dogs again and again; the ”losers” pay with their lives. According to the indictment, in March 2003, Purnell Peace, one of Vick’s co-defendants, allegedly killed a female pit bull who had lost a fight by soaking her with water and electrocuting her after consulting with Vick.
        Just this past April, Vick and his codefendants allegedly killed at least eight dogs who didn’t make the ”cut” in preliminary fighting sessions by hanging them, drowning them and ”slamming at least one dog’s body to the ground.” The indictment describes at least four other incidents in which Vick’s co-defendants allegedly killed dogs who weren’t aggressive enough by electrocuting them or shooting them with a .22-caliber pistol.
        Vick’s success as a quarterback brings him multimillion-dollar contracts, status and recognition, but the ”winners” who survived Vick and his cohorts’ alleged bloody fights apparently got the ”luxury” of being chained constantly to buried car axles, left with untreated injuries, forced to run on a treadmill and, in the case of females, strapped down with their heads immobilized in a ”rape stand” while male dogs mounted them.

    Yes, Michael Vick has been charged with "dog fighting" – the inhumane pastime (accompanied by brisk betting) of pathetic losers who use dumb animals to satiate their twisted, sadistic blood lust. Note the gruesome details in the quoted article to put things in perspective. Dogs (usually pit bulls) are bred and reared to kill. They are kept chained most of their short lives with little care or nurturing contact, to prevent them from becoming "soft."  Other animals – dogs and cats, are used as "bait animals" for the killer dogs to practice their skills on. The murderous enterprise is illegal in all 50 states. Therefore it is also secretive. But that doesn’t mean that the practitioners are not organized. They use special equipments to breed and train the dogs. And that dog fighting goes on despite its being a felony in 48 states and a misdemeanor in 2, means that it is profitable and that some people really enjoy the barbaric carnage. Dog fighting used to be mainly a rural phenomenon in the United States. But the vicious practice has in the past decade or so found enthusiasts in urban areas where its popularity has mostly followed the increasing coarseness, violence and macho display associated with rap culture.

    I have a hard time understanding the motivations of so called "manly" men for whom expressions of toughness and machismo include activities like bull fights, dog fights, cock fights, canned hunting and sending other people’s children to fight their fantasy wars. (Vice President Dick Cheney is guilty of at least two of the five.) It is also an established fact that brutal killers often begin as animal abusers. Cruelty to animals is not punished sufficiently in my opinion, despite efforts by animal welfare organizations and animal lovers. But now that Michael Vick has put a well known, popular and Nike endorsed face on the criminal enterprise of dog fighting, it can no longer be dismissed as the weekend pastime of gap toothed hillbillies in remote corners of the country. I hope people will wake up and demand severe punishment for the perpetrators.

    I am not a fan of Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.VA) and his long winded histrionics on the senate floor. But after the Michael Vick story became public, the octogenarian spoke at length about the brutal "sport" of dog fighting. When he protested, his body shaking and voice quivering, "Barbaric!," "Dastardly!" "Sadistic!" "Shame!" "Inhumane!", I cheered. I hope other law makers took note and were similarly moved. I do not know what the punishments for dog fighting or other animal abuse usually amount to. Probably a fine and a short jail term for illegal actions but more likely a slap on the wrist for less "egregious" abuse cases. What will be the fitting punishment for Michael Vick? Seizing his multi-million dollar assets?  Neutering him? Throwing him into a pit with hungry wild dogs? 20 years in prison without parole?  What is a dog’s life worth? I don’t know. But it is probably worth more than that of the likes of Michael Vick.    

  • ….. and Chelsea’s Moma!

    It was only a matter of time as I had predicted. The interesting question was which of the leading Republican presidential candidates would take the juicy bait first. Looks like it was Mitt Romney – the clean cut, can do, Mr. U-Turn on issues. Well, after the predictable uproar, Romney shrugged it off with another smart excuse – he claims he didn’t "look at" the sign before he held it up gleefully.

    Obama Do "look" before you leap into political controversies, Governor.  At this rate your campaign is sure to bomb(a)!

  • Do You Speak Indish?

    Even if you don’t know it, you speak Indish if:

    • you wear pajamas (pai = leg, jama = garment. origin: Persian, common to most Indian languages)
    • you shampoo your hair (champi = press or knead the head or any part of the body; origin: Hindi)
    • your wardrobe contains khaki clothing (khak = dust; origin: Persian / Urdu)
    • you have ever witnessed the unstoppable juggernaut of a social or political movement (refers to the chariot of the god Jagannath which is rolled out with great force and momentum through the streets of the eastern Indian city of Puri once a year; origin: Sanskrit)
    • you don’t want to be a pariah within your social circle ( pariah = the name of an untouchable caste; origin: Tamil)
    • on the other hand, you do want to be perceived as a pundit ( pundit = learned, expert; from the original Sanskrit)
    • the Swastika makes you nervous (Swasti: well being; origin: Sanskrit . Incidentally, the Swastika which is a symbol associated with unspeakable horror in the west, is a common auspicious marking in Hindu households and invokes peace, harmony and general contentment.)
    • you are natty dresser who ties a colorful bandana around your head or neck (bandhan = to tie; origin: Sanskrit  )
    • you relax with an occasional after-dinner cheroot (churuttoo = a roll of tobacco; origin:Tamil)
    • you wear a toupée (topee = cap or hat; origin: Hindi)

    English, German, Persian and north Indian languages originating in Sanskrit are said to belong to the Indo-European group of languages. Many words in these tongues have common roots. Examples of some common words in English closely related to their cousins in the other three : father, mother, brother, widow, deity and many more. In these cases, the bifurcation occurred in ancient times. The bulleted words listed above however, are relatively recent arrivals and were absorbed during colonial times when Europeans occupied India. Colonial English borrowed from both north and south Indian languages, the latter group falling outside the Indo-European classification. Some of them went directly from the Indian to English. Others took a more circuitous path via Portuguese, French and even Latin. For more of the same, see here. Some of the words will naturally be more familiar to the British than to American English speakers. The list is by no means exhaustive. But as you will see, you also speak Indish if you’ve ever visited a bazaar to buy a mango, occupied a bungalow with a veranda, acquired a guru to enrich your body and soul or lusted after a pricey cashmere sweater.

    Bollywoodunplugged Note: This quick post was inspired by the discovery that the new Merriam-Webster collegiate dictionary to be published next fall will contain the word Bollywood among nearly 100 other new words in English.

  • Finding Jazz Inspiration In Dylan, Joni, and Neil Young (Andrew)

    The problem of what songs to play remains  acute in jazz.  For example, do we really need to hear another brilliant version of "These Foolish Things," given the many wonderful versions that have been done over the years?  And playing  contemporary pop songs usually doesn’t work because there isn’t enough harmonic "meat" to really make for interesting jazz improvisation.   "My Humps" is just too idiotic to do much with, no matter how good you are.

    Amilne
    That’s why I wanted to draw your attention to the 38-year-old Canadian pianist Andy Milne, who has made the savvy
    observation that the popular singer-songwriters of the 1970s offer plenty of
    material ripe for jazz improvisation. In doing so, he bucks the conventional wisdom that rock songs generally
    lack the harmonic richness on which jazz thrives. But on Milne’s new album of solo piano performances, entitled Dreams and False Alarms, the
    introspective character and thoughtful lyrics of songs like Joni Mitchell’s
    "Amelia" and Neil Young’s "After the Gold Rush" provide a
    sturdy platform for Milne’s imagination.  He moves playfully between the familiar melodies and his complex
    postbop vocabulary. Most
    of his
    audience knows these songs by heart, much as an earlier generation
    memorized
    the standards of Gershwin, Porter, and Kern.  The currency of the songs
    gives his music a vitality absent from the many jazz concerts today
    that are technically accomplished but dull. 

    If you want to give his music a listen, I recommend his version of "The Times They Are A Changin,’" which he fully reimagines at http://www.andymilne.com/Audio.htm

  • The Genocide Olympics (Joe)

    Question for readers of this blog: Does anybody know if there are any planned boycotts or public demonstrations against sponsors of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?

    As you likely know, China continues to support Khartoum and its ongoing genocide against the ‘Africans’ in Darfur, largely through ties to Sudan’s oil.  Unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t aware of this.  And China isn’t going to use its (perhaps considerable) influence to worry about atrocities.  It wants that oil; it wants money to fuel its economy.

    But presumably it also wants not to be humiliated and for its Olympic Games to be a success.  Meanwhile, corporations such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola don’t want bad press — people will switch to Burger King and Pepsi if they are sufficiently outraged.  And a mass exodus of corporate sponsorship, along with strong public condemnation by those non-sponsors (ex-sponsors?) of China’s record and failure to take steps to reduce the violence in Sudan (which could itself be a strong marketing ploy: free airtime on CNN and FOX!) — well, that’s not really what China wants for Beijing.

    This makes too much sense not to be a topic of conversation (disclaimer: not my idea, at least someone is talking about it: Ronan and Mia Farrow in the 3/28/07 WSJ).  So public pressure on the high-profile supporters of the Olympics — who’s talking about it, what’s the plan?

    Note: Sponsors of the Genocide Olympics include (you’ve probably heard of them): Johnson & Johnson; Adidas; Volkswagen; UPS; General Electric; Kodak; Coke; Omega; Panasonic; Visa.

    Update: I haven’t had the time to look through it yet as thoroughly as I’d like, but Olympic Dream for Darfur appears to be more or less what I had in mind: an informative website/organization attempting to disseminate information and pressure both the IOC (it’s far too late for that now, of course) and Olympic sponsors.

  • The 7 Most Wondrous Moments In Science

    Archimedes Which scientific discoveries had the best eureka moments in terms of serendipity, putting two and two together where others saw a brickwall or occasionally even in the dreamlike mystical nature of the revelations ? Who’s to say?  Personal scientific biases play a role in compiling lists of seminal moments in scientific progress. In any case, grading scientific discoveries like a beauty contest is somewhat of a futile exercise. To endorse seven, ten or even a hundred scientific discoveries as the most exciting or influential, is in my opinion good only to start a debate among dissenting voices. But it is fun nonetheless. Discover Magazine has published a list of the seven most exciting moments in science. It doesn’t tell us who the arbiters of this tally are. Two scientists associated with the most famous (and apocryphal) pair of eureka moments, Newton and Archimedes, didn’t make it into the top 7 momentous moments of sudden scientific insight.

    One of science’s most well loved stories is that of Archimedes, fresh from discovering the principle of buoyancy during a bath, running naked through the streets of Syracuse yelling “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”) Unfortunately, the story, told for the first time two centuries after Archimedes’ death, is hogwash. Myths like this one sometimes make it seem that science moves along in a series of epiphanies, hopping from one transcendent moment to another.

    In reality, science generally pushes forward with all the alacrity of tectonic plates, painstakingly testing and disproving theories until new laws emerge. But sometimes, very rarely, science really does take a great leap forward. …

    As with any top-whatever list, picking the best eureka moments is a judgment call; from where we’re sitting it seems that Fleming’s discovery was truly a momentous event, that Newton probably didn’t get pelted in the head with an apple, and that Descartes most likely did lie in bed and watch flies (it was, after all, the 17th century). Think we erred egregiously? Left someone out? Let us know..

    The scientists credited with the top seven eureka moments, in an ascending order of excitement (with the discovery of penicillin the winner) are:

    Not bad. I tend to agree that Fleming finding penicillin amidst experimental debris (I would have tossed the whole mess into the nearest trash can) and its profound effect on our longevity and well being was a rather impressive bit of scientific astuteness.  But if one dream (Lowei’s) qualifies as a magic moment, why not another?  Kekulé’s claim of a dream, involving the "serpentine" structure of benzene which revolutionized the study of organic chemistry, certainly deserves a place here. (Were German scientists more prone to dreaming about their scientific work?) Or Galileo’s idea of measuring time by the oscillation of a pendulum after observing (probably during a tedious sermon) the church chandelier swing rhythmically. Not a momentous discovery perhaps but certainly a eureka moment. Moreover, Galileo’s entire scientific life was spent in turning Aristotelian science on its head and laying the groundwork for modern mechanics and astronomy. Instances of his leaps of faith and courage of conviction were numerous. Who knows how much of that was serendipity, epiphany or dogged method. Surely there were eureka moments that we don’t know about.   

    Dean in his post, characteristically seems to dismiss scientists as creatures lacking (or not needing?) passion – a common misconception. Although to the layman a scientist plodding away in a cluttered laboratory or over a jumble of numbers doesn’t evoke the "sexy" image of a passionate maestro as embodied by the more dramatic counterparts in literature and the arts, a scientific mind certainly does not comprise only dry, workmanlike  organization. In fact, I would argue that an inspired scientist is leaps and leagues ahead in the richness of his/her imagination, abstraction of ideas and the ability to bend the rules than the more flamboyant purveyors of passion in the arts. Scientific passion too encompasses love, frisson, suffering and yes, beauty – just not what we associate with run of the mill interpretation of the same emotions. Breakthroughs in scientific knowledge and the scientific method have always required prodigiously imaginative minds and the fruit of that imagination must stand up to truth and verification. Science is not the realm of fast and loose creativity where anything goes and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Unlike the arts, where creativity can be a stand alone venture, science is a body of knowledge that follows a path on a continuum. New knowledge usually builds on the existing one. Revolutionary findings and paradigm shifts must reinforce or supplant older ones.  Moreover, scientific research is goal oriented and the researcher starts with a hypothesis in place. As such, scientific flights of fancy, although replete with passion and beauty, do not lend themselves frequently to fortuitous or "Eureka!" moments. More often than not, a momentous discovery is likely to be greeted with a sigh of relief and a laconic "No, duh!"      

  • Science, Beauty, Pedagogy (Dean)

    Raised_mandelbrot

    During any given week, at least one science article appearing in the New York Times is bound to provoke my contempt. This week it’s an interview with a Harvard physicist, Eric Mazur, who seems rather taken with his own remarkable ambitions and accomplishments. The headline reads, Using the ‘Beauties of Physics’ to Conquer Science Illiteracy, but there’s not really much about beauty in the discussion, which has to do with Mazur’s revision of the pedagogy of undergraduate physics. In short, he notes, “We’re way too focused on facts and rote memorization and not on learning the process of doing science.”

    I wouldn’t know, never having taken introductory physics in college—although I did have a high school counterpart, in which the teacher took great delight demonstrating to his students how he would construct a fallout shelter out of six-packs of beer. He calculated the time it would take him to drink his way out of the shelter to assure the ambient radiation level in the post-nuclear blast world would decline to levels in which his family might survive. This, I think, may have been an early instance of what Mazur means when he urges, “It’s important to mentally engage students in what you’re teaching." Maybe he is correct that there’s too much fact gleaning going on in the typical college science classroom, not enough attention to "process," and that students accordingly strive merely to retain and "regurgitate" the facts, but fail to see the conceptual big picture.

    The shift in attention to process—which, I am assuming, is the vehicle of beauty implied in the headline—promises not only a richer understanding, but "serendipitous" discovery and a "knowledge of physics forces in daily life." By this point in the interview, I’m catching an unpleasant whiff. So the path to an understanding of the fundamentals of physics courses through happenstance and the ordinary? How Newtonian! This is silly mythologizing. Confirming my growing skepticism, Mazur makes a ridiculous analogy:

    I used to get in front of my students and do all the science for them. I should have been showing them how to do it themselves. If they were studying the piano, I wouldn’t have gone, “sit down, I’ll play the piano for you.”

    Of course, he’s not teaching them how to play the piano.

    I suppose it’s a good thing that high-horsepower physicists are not just willing but eager to explore alternative avenues to instruction. Mazur, as the article notes, "is driven by a passion"—an attribution, by the way, that is just way too frequently dished out these days. But "passion" carries connotations of suffering, love, sexual frisson, and beauty, and a story merely describing a professor of science who dutifully and excellently performs his work simply because "it’s part of my job description" (that’s Mazur, too) would more suitably have appeared in The Onion.