George Bush is Funny

And Frank Caliendo is hilarious!



I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully - George W. Bush

Funky Kinky

I love this Austinite's rebellious nature and sense of humor. I had a glimpse of him at a book festival a couple of years ago. At that time, his stall was the busiest, a lot busier than Dr. Stiglitz's. Here are some excerpts/quotes from an article on Kinky in Reader's Digest.

No, he's not the governor of Texas. He just likes the way it sounds. What he is: a singer, author, businessman, troublemaker—everything but governor. But it's not for lack of trying.

The self-described compassionate redneck, who coined the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder" and penned the country-western ballad "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed" for his band, the Texas Jewboys, was clearly not in his element. Thus far, his campaign had taken him to Texas roadhouses, where his unique brand of antigovernment grousing had ignited audiences. He had proven to be a man of the people—but mostly inebriated people.

They cracked up when he declared, "As the first Jewish governor, I'll reduce the speed limit to 54.95!" They even laughed with approval at his liberal views on gay marriage: "They have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us." He slayed them with his campaign slogan, "I can't screw it up any worse than it already is!"

Beneath the humor beat the heart of a rebel. He insisted on opposing capital punishment, not exactly a popular position in Texas. "You can't leave decisions about someone's life to people who can't run the post office," he explained.

Of course, it all went for naught—he ended up with only 12 percent of the vote. "God himself wouldn't win as an independent in Texas," he says.

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, where he acquired his nickname (for his hair), it was off to the Peace Corps. "I served in Borneo, teaching agricultural techniques to people who have successfully farmed for thousands of years," he recalls.

Back in Texas, he and the Texas Jewboys attracted a following with songs like "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore," a humorous screed against bigotry, and toured with the likes of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

"You don't accomplish much by swimming with the mainstream," Friedman says. "Hell, a dead fish can do that."

Rat Race

The following is an old one, with some wisdom packed into it. Laziness will certainly bring gloom in the future. But the thing most of us fail to understand is, over work can also wreak havoc on our system.

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

"You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the beach!"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?"

"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer.

"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!"

"And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said.

"And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!" "Then, you don't have to worry about anything and just relax."

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

Disorganized Fun!

I think the music is bound to be good, when the artist absolutely enjoys his creation, and totally lives in the moment. I loved this music and tempo.

Barsana Sham?

Barsana Dham is the most beautiful among the temples I visited so far. It is located in a 200-acre complex, with trees, gardens, and a peach farm. Also, drive to this temple is very scenic; winding rural roads through small rolling hills. Though we don't frequent this temple, I enjoyed Sunday spiritual discourses (presented by folks other than the Swamiji!) the few times I visited.

I was surprised to watch on TV today that the founder was arrested for his indecency with children in the past. This is not the first allegation I heard on Barsana Dham. In the recent past, Kripalu Maharaj was charged with rape in Trinidad, and then I came across My Life in Cult. In spite of all the nice people at this temple, I am not too sure of what to think of it any more.

I guess we don't want to be outdone by Catholic Priests.

F'n Reading!

Missing Tim Russert

My Sunday morning's rituals include talking to Vizag around 7 AM, watching Joel Olsteen's sermon at 8 AM, and watching Meet the Press at 10 AM, religiously. I am deeply saddened by Tim Russert's absence on Meet the Press, and am not that enthusiastic about this show any more.

Here is one of my fond memories of Tim Russert, from the recent past. For a while, I watched 2008 Democrat primaries closely. I was particularly impressed by Tim Russert's analysis of the situation (and his articulation) shortly after North Carolina and Indiana primaries, and his prediction with certainty. At that time, I was flipping channels between NBC and CNN for news analysis, while the election results were pouring in.

On one side, it was John King on CNN (nothing against him, he was trying) with his fancy wall-sized flat screen with iPhone kind of finger-operated scroll, zoom, and pan features. He was throwing all kinds of numbers, statistics, and what-if scenarios at the audience. It was not clear what to make of all that information. At that time, Tim Russert showed up on NBC with his signature white board, and emphatically said that it was over for Clinton*! What a class! Of course, Who can forget Florida, Florida, Florida in 2000!?



We can gain knowledge with effort. But to acquire wisdom, we need passion as an ingredient. Tim's wisdom in political analysis reminded me of an article on Enrico Fermi that I read in Reader's Digest a long time ago.

At twenty-nine minutes past five, on a Monday morning in July of 1945, the world's first atom bomb exploded in the desert sixty miles northwest of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Forty seconds later, the blast's shock wave reached the base camp, where scientists stood in stunned contemplation of the historic spectacle. The first person to stir was the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, who was on hand to witness the culmination of a project he had helped begin.

Before the bomb detonated, Fermi had torn a sheet of notebook paper into small bits. Then, as he felt the first quiver of the shock wave spreading outward through the still air, he released the shreds above his head. They fluttered down and away from the mushroom cloud growing on the horizon, landing about two and a half yards behind him. After a brief mental calculation, Fermi announced that the bomb's energy had been equivalent to that produced by ten thousand tons of TNT. Sophisticated instruments also were at the site, and analyses of their readings of the shock wave's velocity and pressure, an exercise that took several weeks to complete, confirmed Fermi's instant estimate.

As I read somewhere, "the one who knows How? will get the job. The one who knows Why? will be his boss!"

* probably with pleasure, as (in my opinion), his bias against Hillary Clinton (like mine!) was obvious from his earlier shows.

Battle at Kruger

The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime. - Babe Ruth

An Amazing and must see video! I wonder if India would have gained independence a little earlier, if INC had access to this video 100 years ago!

God is Love?

I see the statement God is Love* often, and wonder if we can make such statements. If we say that God is something, aren't we implying that God isn't everything else other than that something? Basically, by saying God is love, we are defining limits to God, implying that He (She/It) is x,y, and z (e.g., lover) and not a,b, and c (e.g., destroyer). How can an Infinite Being have limitations?

An Infinite Spirit can have many attributes - like Krishna, the lover, and Maha Kali, the destroyer. It makes sense to me if we say I choose to pray to the loving attributes of the God. This way, we are not ruling out the existence of Kali.

I believe that, logically speaking, the statements God is love and God is destroyer have the same weakness (we can't prove them) and the same strength (they are not falsifiable). We choose to believe that God is love with absolutely no basis, because it comforts us.

* One might argue that a statement I am going to movie on Monday doesn't mean that I am not going to movie on any other day than Monday. I say, this analogy wouldn't apply for the statement God is love. Because, many believe that God is love, and only love. In my opinion, all we can say about God is, we don't know, and then just pray for the wisdom. I don't think that we can even say that God is infinite. Wouldn't it be an arrogance on our part to say, if I can't comprehend it, it has to be infinite?

Ineptitude!

Funny (and true!)

Amazing Guitar Player

Where there is a will...

Meditation

Ajahn Chah on meditation.

Remember that we cannot avoid problems, but we can change our reaction to them. Be kind to yourself!

"So don't be in a hurry and try to push or rush your practice.
Do your meditation gently and gradually step by step.
In regard to peacefulness, if you become peaceful, then accept it;
if you don't become peaceful, then accept that also.
That's the nature of the mind.
We must find our our own practice and persistently keep at it."

Two men are talking on the street.
'And how's your son? Is he still unemployed?'
'Yes, he is. But he is meditating now.'
'Meditating? What's that?'
'I don't know, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing!'

Friday the 13th

The beauty of English language is, it probably has a word for every conceivable feeling that we would ever experience, like the fear of Friday the 13th - Paraskavedekatriaphobia!

Famous Last Words

I Think I Can Make It!

There Ain't No Gas Line Here

It'll Support My Weight

I've Done This a Million Times

Do you smell gas?

I Know It's Lightning Outside

The Train Never Comes Down This Track Any More

Sure, This Water Is Deep Enough For Dive

The Power's Off

This Fuse Is Plenty Long

I told you I was sick!

I knew this was going to happen to me!

I'm Just Gonna Take Me a Wizz Over Here By the Electric Fence

Hey y'all…watch this!

Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?

Here is an excellent essay by William D. Phillips, a Nobel Laureate in physics.

Now that we have scientific explanations for the natural phenomena that mystified our ancestors, many scientists and non-scientists believe that we no longer need to appeal to a supernatural God for explanations of anything, thereby making God obsolete. As for people of faith, many of them believe that science, by offering such explanations, opposes their understanding that the universe is the loving and purposeful creation of God. Because science denies this fundamental belief, they conclude that science is mistaken. These very different points of view share a common conviction: that science and religion are irreconcilable enemies. They are not.

I am a physicist. I do mainstream research; I publish in peer-reviewed journals; I present my research at professional meetings; I train students and postdoctoral researchers; I try to learn from nature how nature works. In other words, I am an ordinary scientist. I am also a person of religious faith. I attend church; I sing in the gospel choir; I go to Sunday school; I pray regularly; I try to "do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God." In other words, I am an ordinary person of faith. To many people, this makes me a contradiction—a serious scientist who seriously believes in God. But to many more people, I am someone just like them. While most of the media's attention goes to the strident atheists who claim that religion is foolish superstition, and to the equally clamorous religious creationists who deny the clear evidence for cosmic and biological evolution, a majority of the people I know have no difficulty accepting scientific knowledge and holding to religious faith.

As an experimental physicist, I require hard evidence, reproducible experiments, and rigorous logic to support any scientific hypothesis. How can such a person base belief on faith? In fact there are two questions: "How can I believe in God?" and "Why do I believe in God?"

On the first question: a scientist can believe in God because such belief is not a scientific matter. Scientific statements must be "falsifiable." That is, there must be some outcome that at least in principle could show that the statement is false. I might say, "Einstein's theory of relativity correctly describes the behavior of visible objects in our solar system." So far, extremely careful measurements have failed to prove that statement false, but they could (and some people have invested careers in trying to see if they will). By contrast, religious statements are not necessarily falsifiable. I might say, "God loves us and wants us to love one another." I cannot think of anything that could prove that statement false. Some might argue that if I were more explicit about what I mean by God and the other concepts in my statement, it would become falsifiable. But such an argument misses the point. It is an attempt to turn a religious statement into a scientific one. There is no requirement that every statement be a scientific statement. Nor are non-scientific statements worthless or irrational simply because they are not scientific. "She sings beautifully." "He is a good man." "I love you." These are all non-scientific statements that can be of great value. Science is not the only useful way of looking at life.

What about the second question: why do I believe in God? As a physicist, I look at nature from a particular perspective. I see an orderly, beautiful universe in which nearly all physical phenomena can be understood from a few simple mathematical equations. I see a universe that, had it been constructed slightly differently, would never have given birth to stars and planets, let alone bacteria and people. And there is no good scientific reason for why the universe should not have been different. Many good scientists have concluded from these observations that an intelligent God must have chosen to create the universe with such beautiful, simple, and life-giving properties. Many other equally good scientists are nevertheless atheists. Both conclusions are positions of faith. Recently, the philosopher and long-time atheist Anthony Flew changed his mind and decided that, based on such evidence, he should believe in God. I find these arguments suggestive and supportive of belief in God, but not conclusive. I believe in God because I can feel God's presence in my life, because I can see the evidence of God's goodness in the world, because I believe in Love and because I believe that God is Love.

Does this belief make me a better person or a better physicist than others? Hardly. I know plenty of atheists who are both better people and better scientists than I. I do think that this belief makes me better than I would be if I did not believe. Am I free of doubts about God? Hardly. Questions about the presence of evil in the world, the suffering of innocent children, the variety of religious thought, and other imponderables often leave me wondering if I have it right, and always leave me conscious of my ignorance. Nevertheless, I do believe, more because of science than in spite of it, but ultimately just because I believe. As the author of Hebrews put it: "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Antinomical Hunger

I listened to this interesting puzzle on Car Talk on NPR.

The other day I was talking to my wife on the phone while we were both at work and we decided to go to our favorite restaurant to get some dinner. As usual at the end of my work day I drove to her office and waited in the parking lot for a few minutes for her to show up. When she did, we made the drive to the restaurant together. By the time that we got there, the parking lot was pretty full but we got lucky and found a spot almost immediately.

Once inside we chatted for a few minutes with the hostess who turned out to be a high-school friend of our daughter and since we were both pretty hungry we quickly looked at the menu and ordered our food. We waited for what seemed to be an eternity although it was probably about 20 minutes or a half an hour and finally our food arrived.

Well after we paid the bill and said, "Good night," to our daughter's friend, we drove home. On the way home I mentioned how hungry I was. We both agreed that we were actually hungrier now than when we first made the drive to the restaurant. Nonetheless we were both satisfied with our decision to get dinner at that restaurant.

How could that be?

Great Basketball Shot!

Anathuh great basketball shot!

Memorial Day Weekend - 2008

We (Rama and I) had a wonderful time with Siva's family and Lata's family during Memorial Day weekend in Connecticut. Also, we spent a few hours with my brother Ramayya (and his family), who visited Lata's briefly. Managed to meet Lalli (and her husband Anil) of No. 25 Sea Sands after about 25 years, and she hasn't aged a minute! Here are a few photos, videos, and their links (in approximate order of our visits).

Uncle and aunty (Siva's parents). Bad picture quality due to operator (i.e., me) error. I should have taken one more photo. Uncle loves cooking and is an excellent cook. We enjoyed eating his food as much as he enjoyed cooking it, to say the least.

My New Orleans buddy Siva, Neeta (his wife), Kali (their friendly Belgian Shepherd family member), and Mallika (their very cute daughter) have a beautiful trail in their neighborhood. We enjoyed a nice long walk on this trail and these photos were shot there.

Neeta and Siva took us around Harvard and MIT campuses. The top photo was at Harvard, and the bottom one was at MIT (view from Memorial Drive). It was good to be on elite campuses with elite folks (Siva did his post doc at Harvard, and Lata is a faculty member in Yale School of Medicine!)

On Friday Siva arranged for a nice tour of Boston that included the Big Dig, Bunker Hill, Boston Tea Party, Boston Harbor, and downtown. Neeta's choice/treat of Pizza at Regina was awesome - the best pizza I ever had.

On Saturday, we had a wonderful time with Lata, Sharma garu, Gautam (son), and Sanghamitra (daughter) at their place in picturesque Oxford, CT.

Lata treated us with a delicious lunch at a (photo above) Thai restaurant on Yale Campus, and took us to Yale University Art Gallery and Peabody Museum of Natural History. I went to the art gallery expecting to see some local amature works. While sauntering past the exhibits, I was shocked (in a good sense) to see works of Monet, Renoir, and Andy Warhol on the walls! Though I am not an art aficionado by any means, it was uplifting to see works of masters from a touching distance. The other exhibits that attracted me were a beautiful bowl made in China around 230 B.C.E. and Rodin's Thinker.

Exhibits that attracted me at Peabody Meseum were skeletons of dinosaurs, Rafflesia, and live Venus Fly Traps and a few other carnivorous plants (with so many plant-eating animals around, our earth needs some animal-eating plants too!). I was really impressed by Sangu's all-round knowledge - she was an excellent guide (a walking encyclopedia) to all of us.

We were able to meet Lalli and Anil only for a few minutes on the way back to the airport (photo below). Thanks to Siva's driving skills and calm nature, we managed to reach the airport 15 minutes before the departure, and made it into the plane as the last passengers just before they closed the doors (many apologies to Siva for placing him in the tough position).

I posted photos of this trip on Picasa and short video clips on You Tube. Unfortunately, didn't get to shoot photo of Anil, and didn't get a good shot of Sharma garu (again, operator error!). Finally, I saved the best thing for the last (see Mallika's video below) - it took me a while to realize that she can't understand Telugu language:-)

Pollution in China

According to this Wharton's article, China has passed the U.S. as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Sure, China should be concerned about pollution, as some other developing countries.

This information should raise an alarm in the US too. The US has about 1/4 th the population of China. So, when making comparisons, the US is expected not to have more than ~ 25% of the carbon emissions of China - both countries are about the same size. So, the time for reflection/introspection for the US was when its carbon emissions exceeded 25% of that of China. Also, a significant part of Chinese pollution is caused by producing goods (plastics) for consumption in the US - technically, they are emissions of the US, merely produced at a different location.

Amazing Basketball Shot

Believe in miracles. But don't depend on them:-)

Alexander = AlokaSunder?!

While blogging about Manthara, I remembered that my dad once said that according to some historians, Kaikeyi was a Chechnyan (formerly, Russian). Here is some interesting (and amusing) information about this, and similar subjects.

It would be really perplexing for every Indian to know that Lord Krishna, the son of Devaki, became Apollo in Greece. Radhakant is the other name of Lord Krishna, and since Radha is a woman and abala, he is also known as Abalakant, and this abala became Apollo in Greece. Similarly, Lord Shiva of Kailash became the Greek god, Zeus. The place in Greece where people from Magadh (today’s Bihar) were settled was called Magadhan. After passage of time, Magadhan became Makedan or Macedan and finally Macedonia, the birthplace of the great warrior, Alexander. Where-from had the name Alexander been derived? A man of incomparable beauty is called Alokasunder in Sanskrit and after passage of time, this Alokasunder became Alexander in Greece.

Many believe that the word Europe was derived from Sanskrit surupa and the name of the Caucasus mountain was derived from Kaikeyi, the mother of Prince Bharat, the younger brother of Lord Ram. Most scholars believe that the epics Illiad and Odyssey are nothing but imitations of Ramayana. The prime story of Ramayana is abduction of Sita and liberating her from captivity; even the epics of Homer narrate a similar story, where Sita has been replaced by Helen, the queen of Troy.

Manthara, in the Grand Scheme of Things

In Ramayana, Manthara was instrumental in sending Lord Rama into wilderness for 14 years, by advising Kaikeyi to make it happen through Dasaratha. SaiAustin's newsletter has nicely elaborated the net effect of Mathara's apparently evil advise.

What most people do not know is that in her previous life, the "evil" Manthara was Dundubhi, a Gandharvi (celestial being). She was instructed by none other than Lord Brahma Himself to take birth as the hunchback Manthara, and speak the "evil" words into Queen Kaikeyi's ears. If she had not spoken this way, Rama would not have been exiled into the forest. If he was not exiled, the demon Ravana, who was causing a lot of grief to the gods and holy men, would never have been killed. So this evil, hunchbacked woman, popularly reviled by those who read the Ramayana, was actually the linchpin in God's grand design to rid the universe of evil!

This knowledge about Manthara is meaningful because it tells us that unless we are omniscient, it is better not to make judgments about who is good and who is evil. Of course, we want to keep our distance from those that harbor bad thoughts, but ultimately, the best attitude is to realize that everyone is playing their own part in the grand design. Rama Himself never for one second harbored a bad thought about Manthara or Queen Kaikeyi and his exile to the forest.

I see the point, but I am not sure if we are justified in not being judgmental about folks like Hitler. I will blog my thoughts on this later.