Sibling Rivalry
If you have siblings you know what it is, those fierce fights for supremacy in all shared interests. Brotherhood is like a primordial food chain–you want to be on top. Basketball, soccer, wrestling, best-paying summer jobs, prettiest girl friend–you name it, if there’s a shared interest there’s usually a competition. Of course it doesn’t HAVE to be like that, and in all likelyhood such a paradigm isn’t very healthy. I think in many respects I’ve grown out of such competition–I’m too good for it… Of course, I can’t say that a satisfied smile failed to cross my face when I heard that what I had guessed at all along has actually been established as objective scientific truth, that...
Use your Blinkers
My wife has a female coworker that is quite possibly one of the worst drivers of all time; she drives everywhere at high rates of speed and has been in close to 10 accidents–and she’s never suffered a debilitating injury! She must also have incredible luck. This may be due to the fact that she goes through a ritualistic “blessing” process with a Buddhist monk whenever she gets a new car. “I think they tie a bunch of strings to it (the car) and say some sort of blessing,” explained my wife. “They use strings a lot.” I don’t know much about the power of Buddhist Blessing Strings, but I do know that the road is often a place of warfare–spiritual or otherwise. Perhaps that is why an obscure religious office...
Satanic Verses Continue to Influence
This sort of thing is getting boring; is it even possible to take fundamentalist Muslim Leaders seriously? Esteemed author, Salman Rushdie, was just awarded a well-deserved knighthood. Now, unfortunately, Sir Rushdie will be watching his back again with a renewed vigor. Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister of Pakistan, told the Pakistani Parliament and the world that addition of the word “Sir” to Rushdie’s name is clear justification for suicide attacks in general. “This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision,” Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, told the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad. “The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If...
Digital Talus
I haven’t blogged forever; maybe there’s something about the summer that puts a cap on blogging—I for one would rather spend my free time outside, perhaps you would as well. I’ve been spending even more time than normal out of doors lately—and I count that as a very good thing. I’ve explored the gorges and vistas of Red River Gorge, KY; I’ve wandered along new-forest growth at Wildcat Hollow in southern Ohio and I’ve explored trickling waterfalls in Mohican State Park just north of Columbus. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on outfitting us with lighter, more technical gear, and I’ve spent hours scouring topographical maps and route descriptions. The big vacation of the year for Britt and I is approaching quickly, and we want to be ready. In...
African Economics and AIDS
I just read an excellent interview of James Shikwati, an African Economics expert. He argues convincingly that Western Aid is destroying Africa, and if the West would completely stop sending food and money and worrying so much about an ‘overstated’ AIDS problem Africa would gradually be able to stand on its own feet. Even though the interview is about two years old, I think its relevance is undiminished. Go read the interview here. Excerpts follow (emphasis added): SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty. Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The...