Duality vs Non-Duality: Is it an important distinction?

Last updated on: October 26, 2006 at 9:49 pm By Desh Kapoor

Many times the best way to understand a concept is through discussions and debates. In earlier days, such discussions often happened through face-to-face interaction or through paper mail when two people were long distance. These days there is internet. Here is one such discussion that turned interesting and intense but very helpful. This is one of those discussions that have helped me understand and analyze my own viewpoint. Here is how it unfolded... ========== I had stumbled on a discussion of duality vs non-duality with one of my closest friend (I believe in him more than I believe in myself - so he is not only my friend but also in many ways an anchor in my life) one night and with this quote - it followed on the email exchange: Read more

Joke of the Week!!

Last updated on: October 26, 2006 at 3:26 pm By Desh Kapoor

Just got this joke from Nandi! Rajiv and Mona are flying to Australia for a two-week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Suddenly, over the public address system, the Captain announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have Ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!" Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island. Read more

NASDAQ Commemorates Diwali this year

Last updated on: October 25, 2006 at 10:35 am By Desh Kapoor

Here is an interesting picture from SAJA of the Nasdaq building commemorating the Indian festival Diwali. Its about time I guess! Source: SAJA Forum Read more

Foot-in-the-Mouth Musharraf

Last updated on: October 25, 2006 at 9:33 am By Desh Kapoor

Despite his rambling and supposed commando upbringing, Musharraf never makes sense to me. Sorry but that is the truth! He talks nonsense half of the time and his faithful Lieutenants are there to nod with him all the while! Here is his latest salvo - rant really - against India: I respect Indian Prime Minister but it is regrettable that India wants to keep its domination in the region and wants Pakistan to be weaker force. Indian should come out of its phobia of being a greater nation and should talk to us at an equal level", Musharraf claimed."We would not allow anyone's interference in our internal matters and neither would be tolerate such things", he said. Read more

Breaking new: Jeff Skilling, Ex CEO Enron, gets jail!

Last updated on: October 23, 2006 at 10:24 pm By Desh Kapoor

Skilling has been sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison. While Skilling kept believing the opposite: Enron Corp.'s former Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling, who will be sentenced today for his role in the fraud that destroyed the company, says he shouldn't have to go to prison because his conviction was illegal. Skilling, 52, will ask a U.S. district judge in Houston to overturn his conviction or let him remain free while he appeals to a higher court. Skilling, who faces as many as 20 years in prison, will argue that an appeals court decision in a related case voided a May verdict that found him guilty of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading. Read more

Crime: The Highest Paying Career Option in India!

Last updated on: October 23, 2006 at 7:53 am By Desh Kapoor

If there ever was a country where being a criminal and a terrorist was a career option with least risk in the world, India would be it! You can be what you want as there are as many levels and areas of criminality you can engage in and no one can touch you. Law is only in name and can be played with if you have enough money and clout, which by the way is a derivative of your "standing" in the crime field. The more ruthless and brutal you are, the more valuable you are to a politician and so more money you have. Heck, if you are really a good criminal with some of the most feared crimes to your record, you could be a politician yourself! We recently had the scenario where a model, Jessica Lal was shot by a politician's son. Every witness and evidence worth its salt was tampered and tutored to make the case useless. Now, we have the case of this terrorist Mohammad Afzal, who was working behind the scenes with the team that attacked the Indian Parliament. He himself wasnt there because he was the mastermind. Well, the buzz that goes around is that there is no evidence that links him to the actual crime. Right! We had expected that he will take out an ad in the newspaper to declare that he is the mastermind. If he was with those guys and knew of the plot, and did not stop or report it, there are only so many conclusions that you can draw from it. Read more

Mohammad Afzal and the Animalistic Pain-to-Violence sequences!

Last updated on: October 22, 2006 at 8:35 am By Desh Kapoor

Who is Mohammad Afzal? He was to be hanged for being the mastermind of the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. This is what Wikipedia pitches in with: Mohammad Afzal is a Kashmiri accused and convicted of conspiracy to storm the Indian parliament in December 2001. In 2004, he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India. The sentence was to be carried out on 20 October, 2006. The sentance is now stayed, after his family filed a mercy petition to the the President. There is a lot of pressure to issue clemency to Afzal from poltical parties in Kashmir, who believe hanging Afzal would have negative effects on peace process in Kashmir. Others believe the trial process was flawed. Accusations of human rights violations have been made by Afzal's wife. Read more

3000 AD: Individuality Out, Conformism In

Last updated on: October 21, 2006 at 10:37 pm By Desh Kapoor

India has the caste system and the West has the class system that basically segregated human beings into different social strata where intermingling is difficult and discrimination rampant - sometimes overt and at other times, covert. Could such discriminatory practices actually find their way into our genes? Could the genetics of humans actually end up creating two "naturally selected" strata? Yes, if Evolultionary Theorist Oliver Curry of London School of Economics is to be believed! According to Dr. Curry human race will be split into two in the next 100,000 years. One: Tall, Slim, Intelligent, Attractive and Creative. Second: Short, Dull, Dim-witted, Ugly, "goblin-like" creatures. This may happen as a result of how people start choosing their spouses and vcations. Spoilt by technology and gadgets, people would become more like domesticated animals. Read more

High on Confidence but low on Scores – US Students in Mathematics!

Last updated on: October 20, 2006 at 3:56 am By Desh Kapoor

If you are having fun while studying, the chances are that you would be doing a good job of learning the subject as well. Right? WRONG! A Brookings report was based on the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study suggests this! Strangely the American fourth and eighth graders feel confident that they do well in Mathematics far more than their Asian counterparts. In fact the chasm is as huge as 40% US kids to 4% Japanese kids and 6% Korean kids. Yet the scores tell a completely different story. Singaporean kids - modesty personified - think they are downright terrible and yet they beat the Americans hands down! In the Eighth Grade section, the US kids stood 12th in the Advanced International Benchmark just above the International Average. The Fourth Graders, on the other hand, did worse against the International Average but got the same rating world-wide. Some people say that one of the reasons for this may be that the American schools like to "cloak" their math subjects in a more "interesting way so that kids don't feel the drudgery. Japanese and Koreans on the other hand don't care two hoots for making calculus look sexy! They just learn it! Read more

The Missing Question: Who created North Korea's Nukes?

Last updated on: October 19, 2006 at 4:11 pm By Desh Kapoor

Look at this utter nonsensical of a guy!! He is suddenly waking up to the dangers of proliferation from North Korea to Al Qaeda! I think he has completely forgotten the mess that Pakistan and the Khan network has already unleashed! Where was he and his cronies when all that was going on? These are some of the questions that Americans need to ask! North Korea did NOT become a Nuclear Power on its own.... someone must have helped them. Who was it? Was the AQ Khan - independently working as Pak Prez Musharraf and the US would have us believe - network so well endowed and so secret that they could single-handedly CREATE a nuclear power from scratch?? For being so well endowed and powerful, they would have to work under the radar screen of all the nations and their spies of the world and yet send the centrifuges and their technology without anyone noticing it. Anyone with a bit of common sense can easily fathom that this would have gone on while everyone in power would be winking at these indiscretions - if not directly (more plausible) supporting and backing them! The critical question is - WHO were these powers and spy networks?? Read more

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who saw a vision of four beasts coming out of the sea?

Select your answer to see how you score.