Accidental Bloggertag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-2351552009-11-21T15:58:40-06:00Cerebral Table TalkTypePadChasing the Paliban (Sujatha)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875c32e68970c2009-11-21T15:58:40-06:002009-11-21T15:57:41-06:00Sarah Palin made it to my corner of the woods, this Saturday afternoon. "Thousands" lined up to meet her, per the gushing report from the Washington PA Observer-Reporter (Note, the website page had been read 297 times by the time...SujathaTo Mammo or Not Mammo (Sujatha)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875bc6951970c2009-11-20T15:27:11-06:002009-11-20T21:42:48-06:00A few days ago, the headlines blared that a federally appointed Task Force of doctors and scientists recommended that the age for using mammography as a screening tool to detect breast cancer be increased from the current 40-49 years to...SujathaVisualizing Empires Declinetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6acde5b970b2009-11-18T00:06:00-06:002009-11-17T19:09:37-06:00An attractive visual time line of the disappearance of world empires. (via 3 Quarks Daily)RuchiraBow Wow! tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6acda87970b2009-11-18T00:01:00-06:002009-11-18T00:34:38-06:00For some people nothing President Obama does can pass leadership muster. To paraphrase Hillary Clinton, "If Barack Obama walks on water, some will criticize him for not knowing how to swim." Okay, okay, so Obama bowed a bit too deeply...RuchiraThe Recession As Racial Equalizer (Dean)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875ad59e5970c2009-11-17T11:26:07-06:002009-11-17T11:26:07-06:00What's going on here? It's a bittersweet human interest tale with some facts and figures mixed in, not too cloying. Blacks and whites have encountered one another in increasing numbers recently in the crowded waiting rooms of the welfare office...Dean RowanThe Fort Hood Massacretag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875a65a39970c2009-11-16T15:22:40-06:002009-11-16T15:31:18-06:00Two views on why it happened: Charles Krauthammer's "call it like it is" excoriation of political correctness. What a surprise -- that someone who shouts "Allahu Akbar" (the "God is great" jihadist battle cry) as he is shooting up a...RuchiraSunday Cyber-Sermon (Sujatha)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875a4ce4a970c2009-11-15T12:11:57-06:002009-11-15T12:11:57-06:00Here are the suggestions of Sujatha, the humble not-so-uber-geeky blogger, on C&Ping from webpages when composing blog posts: 1. Focus on Tested Websites, not obscurities. (Psalm 345:1-3) Notice how Sujatha extols Google first. Then, in comparison to Google, she has...SujathaOba Maotag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875a2db72970c2009-11-15T00:12:55-06:002009-11-15T00:14:28-06:00The Chinese enthusiastically await President Obama. He is by far the most popular foreign leader in China. To commemorate the visit artists have created the likeness of Obama in Chinese Red Guard uniform on t-shirts and other paraphernalia (not for...RuchiraA man, a bird and a million dollar automobiletag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0128759f1b3a970c2009-11-14T00:00:00-06:002009-11-14T09:05:58-06:00Actually, this is all about the automobile. Normally, given the same circumstances - on an interstate feeder road near a hurricane levee between Houston and Galveston, a car veers off into 3 feet of water and no one is hurt,...RuchiraHiroshima - Nagasaki: Places to Avoid tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef01287594d0c4970c2009-11-13T00:02:26-06:002009-11-13T00:07:10-06:00No sitting US president has ever visited the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only major urban centers on earth that bear testimony to the effects of nuclear warfare. President Jimmy Carter went to Hiroshima as an ex-president. Nancy Pelosi...RuchiraUneasy Alliancestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef012875794937970c2009-11-12T00:01:00-06:002009-11-11T23:20:54-06:00Since Ronald Reagan first began flirting with the religious right, the ultra conservative base of the Republican Party has become steadily more empowered. Although for both Reagan and Bush Sr. lip service to the far right wing was political expediency,...RuchiraThe AMA questions US government policies towards gaystag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0128758781a0970c2009-11-12T00:00:00-06:002009-11-11T23:18:45-06:00The American Medical Association (AMA) has just concluded its bi-annual policy conference in Houston during which the organization addressed public health policies including the cost and management of medical care in America. This year the AMA has come out in...RuchiraAll Sujatha wants for Christmas is a book by Malcom Gladwelltag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a676edf6970b2009-11-11T00:01:00-06:002009-11-10T22:16:48-06:00Here is why.RuchiraMaddy wants patient choice!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a676de6d970b2009-11-11T00:00:00-06:002009-11-11T01:05:31-06:00Babies and cute animals sell products. Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona set out to take that marketing ploy a bit too far, in fact nauseatingly so. During last Saturday's debate on health care reform, he used an infant like a...RuchiraWho Is a Jew in England? (Joe)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a66b4ce5970b2009-11-09T17:24:56-06:002009-11-09T17:24:56-06:00Potentially misleading subject adapted from the headline of this NYT article. An Orthodox Jewish high school in London is refusing to admit a Jewish student who is not, by Orthodox standards, Jewish, because he is not Jewish. Predictably, there's a...JoeHealth Care Reform -the Cliffs Notes Edition (Sujatha)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6625dd8970b2009-11-08T11:00:00-06:002009-11-08T07:53:53-06:00The bill passed yesterday that Pres.Obama was ecstatic enough to personally email me about it at 1:03 am. And here I thought that only Hillary Clinton got 3 am calls. Here is the section by section summary link of the...SujathaAnsel Adams in Colortag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a69ff16a970b2009-11-08T00:21:00-06:002009-11-14T19:21:37-06:00During our childhood, for many years and even more hours, my sister and I used to pore over a book of photography that our father had brought home when I was probably six or seven years old and my sister...RuchiraLabel? Diagnosis? Ill-Defined Something? (Joe)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6545ec6970b2009-11-04T17:22:48-06:002009-11-04T17:22:48-06:00Interesting NYT article about the movement for the 2012 DSM-V to get rid of "Asperger's syndrome," as well as "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified," and make everything fall within the autism spectrum. Link.JoeA puzzle on gay marriage (prasad)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6a86519970c2009-11-04T12:39:07-06:002009-11-04T12:38:58-06:00Roughly equal parts of the country want gay marriage, civil unions without marriage, and no legal recognition whatsoever. I'm assuming the second category is what 'swings' in marriage votes as in California or Maine. Ad campaigns that cleverly use the...prasad"I am them!" tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a64d6ce5970b2009-11-03T00:01:00-06:002009-11-03T00:38:09-06:00Sounds like something straight out of ancient Hindu philosophy. Well, you realize you are drunk, you are driving and not very well; naturally, it's time to lapse into metaphysics or at the very least, some commendable drunken clarity.RuchiraProving allegiance in hostile times - saving the Lost Battaliontag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a64af4f8970b2009-11-03T00:00:00-06:002009-11-03T00:43:30-06:00A poignant war story, more than six decades old, describes the desperation and anxiety of Japanese Americans during World War II. Citizens of the US, they had to prove their loyalty to their country in those uncertain times of suspicion...RuchiraThe real reason why Pakistan is fragiletag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a69eb9cf970c2009-11-02T00:00:00-06:002009-11-02T10:52:51-06:00Staying on the topic of Pakistan for one more day - this time I bring you a book review by Indian journalist Manoj Joshi. Written by Pakistani born author Farzana Shaikh, the book examines the underlying causes of Pakistan's political...RuchiraA Shifting of Battlefronts? (Sujatha)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a64494cd970b2009-10-31T16:15:00-05:002009-10-31T16:17:50-05:00Something rather strange was evident from the reports of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit last week to Pakistan. The articles suggest that her visit was not met with garlands and roses, but howls of protest and bitterness. What happened...SujathaGrave Concerns & Paw Prints (a Halloween Post)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a63c11ea970b2009-10-30T00:00:00-05:002009-10-30T00:00:00-05:00To the English, a grave is like their second home (or castle). Dead Londoners do not want to share graves with the previously dead, even though London is running out of space for the dead. (Why has cremation not caught...RuchiraMad Men in 60 Seconds (prasad)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a68ae431970c2009-10-29T12:31:17-05:002009-10-29T12:31:17-05:00prasadPutting the caste system on noticetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a689310e970c2009-10-29T00:04:47-05:002009-10-29T00:27:56-05:00The United Nations high commissioner on human rights has decided to target India's caste system. Navi Pillay, the South African judge who became the United Nations high commissioner for human rights last year, is moving to the forefront of a...Ruchira “Religious, superstitious, nonsense” and other harsh words. tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6890a29970c2009-10-29T00:00:00-05:002009-10-29T00:20:52-05:00As Dean pointed out in this post, "A lot of discussion concerning A.B. over the years has taken place "under the radar," via email between the authors, usually with Ruchira at the hub of the network. We get caught up...RuchiraPeople, Places and Thingstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a627664b970b2009-10-28T00:00:00-05:002009-10-28T00:00:00-05:00When culture influences grammar. (Link: Dean) Everybody knows that a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. It's one of those undeniable facts of daily life, a fact we seldom question until we meet up with a...Ruchira"Nobel" does not always equal "Noble" tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a6715d20970c2009-10-25T16:12:49-05:002009-10-25T23:04:13-05:00The Nobel Prize is awarded for extraordinary achievement, not for special wisdom or emotional maturity. One of this year's three Nobel laureates in chemistry is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. Ramakrishnan is the seventh Indian born person to win this honor. Although he...RuchiraReturn; Reinstate; Refundtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c575d53ef0120a61c7658970b2009-10-24T23:26:17-05:002009-10-24T23:27:39-05:00We have discussed this topic a couple of times here, the last time was not so long ago. What do modern nations owe each other regarding the return of or restitution for art and artifacts (some of them very ancient...Ruchira