Posted in on certain arts, writings and performances, tagged chill factor, glen hansard, hansard, music, once, song, soundtrack on February 29, 2008 | No Comments »
One of the best terms ever invented in a musical context is chill factor — the spine-tingling sensation caused by the effect of a song. And I can think of no better term to describe this stirring ballad from the movie “Once”.
Posted in math, quote for the week, tagged a mathematicians apology, art, creation, criticism, hardy, mathematics, quote on February 26, 2008 | 2 Comments »
“It is a melancholy experience for a professional mathematician to find himself writing about mathematics. The function of a mathematician is to do something, to prove new theorems, to add to mathematics, and not to talk about what he or other mathematicians have done. Statesmen despise publicists, painters despise art-critics, and physiologists, physicists, or mathematicians [...]
Posted in miscellaneous, tagged cafe, capitalism, coffee, coffee-shop, corporate, drink, economics, experience, howard schultz, life, schultz, starbucks, workers on February 26, 2008 | No Comments »
Erm..don’t panic, it is not long-term! All Starbucks stores across the country will be closed for three hours this evening to conduct an in-store education and training program for their employees.
This is how Howard Schultz (founder, chairman and CEO of Starbucks) puts it.
We will close all of our U.S. company-operated stores to teach, educate and [...]
Posted in news and links, tagged americans, eat, fat, food, french, obesity, skinny on February 23, 2008 | No Comments »
Because, this study says, Americans stop eating only when the plate is empty (or the TV show is over) while the French stop when they feel full.
(Link via Boing Boing)
Posted in politics, tagged ad, advertisement, barack obama, campaign, clinton, democratic nomination, election 2008, hilary clinton, obama, politics on February 21, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Really, this Hillary ad is so bad, it makes you wonder if it was an Obama plant!
Posted in politics, tagged barack obama, campaigning, change, cindy mccain, controversy, election, election 2008, elections, mccain, obama, opinions, patriotism, politics, pride on February 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The war of gaffes gets more ridiculous each day. After the frankly irrelevant controversy over Obama using borrowed words in a speech, it is now Cindy McCain’s turn to make a not so subtle point about her patriotism vis-a-vis Michelle Obama’s.
For those who missed it, here is the article.
My first reaction to such news is that there are [...]
Posted in libertarianism, quote for the week, tagged c s lewis, freedom, liberty, nanny-state, paternalism, quote, tyranny on February 18, 2008 | No Comments »
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good [...]
Posted in India, libertarianism, news and links, tagged aamir khan, faisal, faisal khan, freedom, involuntary commitment, involuntary treatment, liberty, mental illness, paternalism, psychiatry, schizophrenia on February 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The local court adjucating on the Faisal Khan custody case passed its final judgement yesterday. The court held that Faisal need not be in anybody’s custody and can live anywhere he wants.
I have been following the Faisal case since the news broke- click here and here for my previous posts. This ruling is a cause of [...]
Posted in news and links, politics, tagged barack obama, craze, funny, humor, obama, obamamania, politics on February 16, 2008 | No Comments »
This is extremely funny.
Letter from a young, hip, cynical former Obamamaniac.
(link via Instapundit)
Posted in libertarianism, tagged best interests, bipolar, britney spears, civil liberty, civil rights, conservatorship, freedom, involuntary commitment, legal guardianship, liberty, mental health, mental illness, michael sands on February 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
No, she has not gone on a cruise. Not yet, anyway. Her father is keeping a tight leash.
Mr. Eardley, an attorney who claims to represent Brit, says that her civil rights are being violated.
As he argues in the papers, Britney Spears is not being allowed to visit her friends, to use phones, or to hire [...]
Posted in miscellaneous, news and links, tagged bajrang dal, britney spears, divorce, freedom, freedom of expression, hug record, life, tidbits, valentine, valentines day, violence on February 14, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Some feel there should be no divorce today, some give them away for free.
Some hug, others kill.
There are many who crave to be free, in different ways. A wayward pop-princess wants her liberty, an exiled writer searches for her freedom of expression, these two want to merely marry. The powers-that-be have decided that they should [...]
Posted in politics, tagged andrew sullivan, barack obama, clinton, democrats, election 2008, healthcare, obama, politics, polls, us presidential elections on February 12, 2008 | No Comments »
Andrew Sullivan writes,
A meme is developing is that support for Obama is all emotion, fantasy, hysteria, etc. There’s no question that the emotions behind Obama are powerful. And any fool can see why. His oratory does what oratory should. He is the greatest public speaker in American life since Reagan….But the strongest case for Obama [...]
Posted in India, libertarianism, news and links, politics, tagged India, laws, middle east, Milton Friedman, minimum wage, unskilled workers, workers on February 11, 2008 | No Comments »
India is introducing a new rule stipulating that unskilled workers planning to take up a job in the Middle East cannot do so unless they are going to be paid a minimum wage (the exact amount is being fixed by the Indian Government for each Gulf country).
DNA reports (emphasis mine):
In a move that will have [...]
Posted in news and links, sci, tech and gizmos, tagged balancing scooter, home made, invention, science, scooter, segway, technology, trevor blackwell on February 9, 2008 | No Comments »
Build your own!
Posted in libertarianism, tagged censorship, child abuse, civil liberties, civil liberty, explicit content, first amendment, freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, internet pornography, intolerance, karen fletcher, liberty, moral police, nanny-state, obscenity, obscenity case, offended feelings, pittsburgh, police state, policies, pornography on February 8, 2008 | 3 Comments »
A hundred years ago, you could be arrested if your drawing, writing or other form of creative expression was considered obscene by the authorities. Artistic freedom was not as important as preserving public morality. And the idea that a century on, pornography could be displayed and sold in perfectly legal shops was unthinkable.
For good or [...]
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