General

My brother sent me this quote from Richard Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion”. The quote is by then Senator Barry Goldwater, made in 1981. Goldwater was considered, in his day, the archetype conservative Republican.

“There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and tired o the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A, B, C, and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism”.

Wow, how they’ve changed!

Confused’s post on motives behind charity giving, reminded me about one of the most analytical ways to think about charitable giving that I�ve ever heard of.

Bjorn Lomborg, a Scandinavian economist, became famous for his controversial book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, that challenged the notion that our ecology was at risk. He proposed that our environment was actually improving and that if there was real risk, people would adapt how they did things in order to continue to live on earth. He also proposed that giving money to climate change was like burning it.

As someone who believes that our climate has changed and that people need to sit up, take notice and do something about it, this was hard to hear.

But in 2005, I attended the TED conference. And I heard Bjorn speak. He was extraordinarily compelling. He has started a project called the Copenhagen Consensus. What the Copenhagen Consensus does is get top thinkers to figure out the charitable causes that can be best addressed with funding. That is, if you gave one dollar to climate control or one dollar to fighting communicable diseases, where would your money be more efficiently used and actually help solve the problem. The first year, he had economists participate and rank the problems. You can see the results here. In 2005, he had 24 UN ambassadors do the ranking. It is quite interesting.

If you are someone who cares about your money actually helping to solve a problem, check out the website to learn about where it would be most compellingly used. It is not the only way to think about charitable contributions, but it is the most analytical way to do so.

I went shopping yesterday with a pregnant friend to help her figure out all the things she needed to get. Now, you’ve all heard of breast pumps, but we were blown away by this contraption.

It raised some critical questions in our minds, including but not limited to –

• How often does one read and pump at the same time? How often does one read, talk on the phone *and* pump at the same time?
• Is it truly more efficient to pump both breasts at the same time? Isn’t the motor capacity fixed, which means pumping both breasts together takes longer (or the same as each breast sequentially)?
• Can they truly hang off there defying gravity like that?

If there’s anyone out there who’s used this device, we need to hear from you so that my friend can figure out if this should be on the “must have” list!

Do you think the average American voter knows the difference between Obama and Osama?

HECK NO! should be your resounding answer.

Don’t believe me? Check out this clip from Daily Kos.

Hilarious, hilarious, hilarious!

The NY Times had a hilarious article on how politicians use hand sanitizers, especially Purell, during a campaign where pressing the flesh is the order of the day.

I am a HUGE fan of Purell and carry a little bottle around with me in every handbag/backpack/travel bag. I am convinced that my use of the product has protected me from various infections over the years. So, for the second time, I am in full agreement with our President (the first was the nuclear deal with India – even though he can’t pronounce nuclear!)

“Good stuff, keeps you from getting colds,” Mr. Bush raved about hand sanitizer to Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, at a White House encounter early last year.

There are lots of Dems who are also Purell users – Bill Clinton, Obama, Gore etc. But the one Dem I completely disagree with is Bill Richardson.

“It’s condescending to the voters,” said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a Democrat.

Come on! No way is it condescending — it is not personal. It is that once you shake hands with a thousand, a hundred, even ten people, there are chances that your hands are all germy. You are doing your constituents a huge favor if you stay healthy through the campaign.

Purell did not play such a big part of my life in California. I drove to work in my own car and did not have to deal with public transportation ever. But once I started commuting to NY regularly, I started using it while I traveled. Planes can be hugely unhygienic. I won’t go into the gory details, but those tiny toilets are the main problem (if this is the situation when on the ground, the air has to much, much worse!). And despite using a paper towel to open the door handle (yes, you read right!), I always felt safer after Purelling! Especially if I had to eat or use my computer.

Okay, okay, I am not a freak. I am a slight germophobe, but with damned good reason.

Once I moved to NYC, Purell has become my constant companion. I love using the subway and use it to get around town all the time. However, I hate touching the subway bars — I mean can you blame me? At the very least over a thousand people have touched the same bar just that day. Of that thousand, I bet you that a good chunk of them are sick and a whole bunch of them haven’t washed their hands in a while! So, on occasion, if I can, I hook my arm around the bar instead so only my clothes are touching the bar. But in rush hour sometimes you absolutely have to hang onto a top bar. In those situations, Purell to the rescue. G, a friend from California who visited, is just as careful and we had hilarious subway episodes, clinging onto the bars with the crooks of our arms!

I even have Purell at home. There are times that I need to put on my shoes and leave quickly, with no time to run back to wash my hands. So, I’ve placed a Purell dispenser near the exit for easy use.

An invention that has changed the world – at least my world and that of Bill Clinton, George Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, Al Gore…

Very close friends of mine just welcomed their twin babies into the world a few hours ago. A and L 🙂 Welcome!

A and L are testaments to lots of love, determination and the marvels of medical technology. They were first conceived as a longing in their parents’ minds and hearts. But there was a small technical problem. Both their parents were men.

So, what to do? Well, they found an egg donor. After searching and reading and figuring out what was important to them, that was accomplished. Next, they fertilized the eggs with both fathers’ sperm. Check. Then they needed a carrier, someone who would be a surrogate to the babies. That took a while. But they found a wonderful person. Insert said embryos into said carrier. Wait and wait and wait.

Finally, lift-off or rather, safe landings. A and L — welcome to our world. Your fathers have been waiting for you!

I remember the first time I heard of cow tipping, I was aghast. Growing up in India, being so rude to a cow was quite unthinkable.

The thought of cow tipping stayed with me, though. I wondered whether it hurt the cow and how the poor cow would get up once it was tipped over.

I was ecstatic when I saw this article that basically refuted the theory that cows could be easily tipped. Further research on Wikipedia confirmed the same.

Happy happy Joy joy.

After blogging just for family and very close friends, I decided to make the leap and open the kimono (so to speak).

So, to my imaginary readers – Welcome! Enjoy. And please let me know what you think. (er, right, uh huh, great!, applause)

Note: blog title inspired by Hugh MacLeod cartoon.