Just at work

I am strarting to feel like that blogging at least for me is having a journal. Except that this one is open for all to read including strangers. I find this both enlightening and scary. Anyways the next topic I hope can incite some people to respond.
I read a post recently on a friends blog and it got me thinking. It seems as though every religon at its core values peace, expects change and preaches tolerance. It baffles me then why the most fundamental believers the " true believers" tend to harbor so much violence. The Christian right has had its history of violence. We all know fundamental Islam is showing its flair all over the world with bouts of violence. Under the BJP even in Hinduism showed its violent tendencies. As a child who grew up in a Muslim household I was told stories of how the prophet(pbuh) was ridiculed and taunted by people and his response was to tell his followers to not respond with violence but with understanding. The prophet(pbuh) was personally persecuted and he remained peaceful but yet a cartoon artist draws a picture and the muslim population reacts with violence. There is a principle of Sunna in Islam which says that we should follow in the ways of the prophet. I don't how today any of the clerics that encouraged such behavior can argue that we are actually following in that example...

i am back

Its sunday and I have not kept to my word I haven't posted anything in a long time. So here goes some highlights and thoughts from the past few months.

Hmmm..... Kobe is a beast he scored 81 points today I had mentioned once that talking about sports on a blog seemed wrong but there are few things that needed to be mentioned. Seattle won and is going to the Superbowl and people are still not giving them the credit they deserve. At the onset of the playoffs there was a knock on the fact that they had a easy division and that they didn't play well in big games. Now they have beat the Redskins and today beat Carolina. A game that many thought would go Carolina's way. Give Seattle some credit they got the league MVP, and I think a very underrated quarterback, oh and lets not forget their defense Tatupu is an amazing player for a rookie. Anyways that was my sports bit.

A couple of new songs

Temperature by Sean Paul
Matis Yahu - King of the Crown

A couple of books

Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
The Spirit Catches you and You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman

Till next time...

Missed a few

It's been a while. Work has been driving me crazy so Sundays have been football days. Essentialy Sundays are now spent sitting in front of the TV while I track my fantasy football team. (Battling for first place right now in case you wanted to know) I am curious to know who actually reads my rants it would be great to have some of you drop a line or a comment so I can know who you are.

I have spent the last few days wondering about a lot of different questions, none of which seem to have any answers but here goes anyways. Perhaps you may be able to share your views. In the near future I hope to expound on at least some of these questions at length. For now here are the questions.

Why are religon and science presented as mutually exclusive philosophies?
Is it better to read a lot about the world or listen to it and its people?
Should I be concerned about trying to do too much or not doing enough?
Is it better to be unique or the same as everyone?
Am I a South Asian American or an American of South Asian decent?

Enough Questions so here are some discoveries of the last few weeks..

Midival Punditz - Crazy drum and bass indian stuff definitely worth a listen, Bhangra Fever is a great track although not indicative of what the rest of their music sounds like

Falling Leaves - a book that explores a personal world with a great touch.

A Praire Home Companion- A show that is broadcast on the weekends on NPR. The hosts voice just makes you want to stop and listen. Listen some time you might like it.

Nothing else to report for now... Have a good weekend everyone.

It's SUNDAY!

Its time for another list although I have to say this week was lacking in the inspirational category. Nothing stuck out but here goes anywasy

Blackalicious has a new album out it was a bit too funky for me but the first track World of Vibrations caught my attention perhaps some of you may enjoy it too.

Robin Thicke's song "I Wanna Love you Girl" is good too.

Read Jumpa Lahri's Interpreter of Malidies an insightful set of short stories although I felt some of the stories could have been novels in and of themselves.

Didn't really watch any TV so nothing to report there

Hmmm..... This week was jus a lot of work and very little in the way of Entertainment. Until next time....

Feelings of a loss

I read this article and thought everyone should read it. It just talks about the earthquake and the response or more appropriately the lack of response that has followed. Just a few Statistics to help remind us of what is going on.

Magnitude of Quake - 7.6
Area of Quake - Northern Pakistan and Kashmir all the way to parts of India.
Death Count - An article last week wednesday pinned in at about 80,000.
Number of Homeless - 3 million
Major Needs - Tents & Blankets
Estimated Damage - 5 billion Dollars

It almost seems to late to do something but one has to try...

Another List

I think I am going to make this a Sunday thing reflecting back on the interesting discoveries of the previous week assuming there are any.

Songs

So Sick - Ne-yo (I like it and I am sure you will too)

December 4th - Jay-Z Grey Album (Thanks for this one Terrence I love it, by the way the whole album is good)

Main Vari Vari - Mangel Pandey (A R Rehman does it again)

Books

When Broken Glass Floats (Truly Depressing but provided me glimpses of a history I knew nothing about)

Memoirs of a Geisha (colorfully depicts the history of an era in a fictional medium)

Another list completed...

Just a bunch of mumble jumble

Jus so you know I spend a lot of time on the road. Driving is like second nature and as of late constantly listening to hip hop seems more and more difficult. So been listening to a lot of NPR .... a whole lot of NPR, which means I have heard a little too much about Harriet Miers and the new tactics this week to get her nomination through. I am just wondering would a Corporation of any stature be able to change their course on a weekly basis for their newest product. Well maybe we will try this strategy this week. This administration inability to do anything correctly baffles me. Lets take a look at a few things that have happened during this administration. First of all another man wins the popular vote and Bush becomes President anyways. We went to Afghanistan to find Osama, still looking jus can't seem to find him. Oh and by the way the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan have resulted in the election of multiple war lords and also some of the members of the previous Taliban Regime. We go to Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, we don't find any, lucky for us we find good ol Sadaam hiding in a cave. Deadlines come and go for our withdrawal and nothing happens, every so called success is clouded by the information that the insurgency isn't getting weaker perhaps there resolve is getting stronger. As if our inability to do anything well abroad isn't bad enough. A major hurricane wipes out a whole city and our beloved president continues his vacation for a couple of days. Lets look at the aspects of vacation, our current president has taken more vacation then any other president in the history of our country in a time when the citizens are enjoying less vacations then ever before. I could keep ranting but I will quote what Churchill once said and then pose a question. "Any 20 year-old who isn't a liberal doesn't have a heart, and any 40 year-old who isn't a conservative doesn't have a brain." Although this may be true I am wondering why the conservative leadership doesn't seem to have a brain. I will just post a few quotes from a former Republican VP and our beloved current President.

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. " -- Dan Quayle

"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix" -- Dan Quayle

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure" -- Dan Quayle

"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican." -- George W. Bush

"We must have the attitude that every child in America—regardless of where they're raised or how they're born—can learn." -- George W. Bush

"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically." -- George W. Bush

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is." -- George W. Bush (This one takes the cake there were more death penalty sentences in Texas under George W. Bush as governor then ever under any other governor in any state of the country)