Moved

http://www.samuelselvan.squarepace.com

Goodbye cruel world it's over

Not really, I have decided to no longer update this blog, just so it stays in sync with my squarespace blog. As much as I love blogger, I love Squarespace better, even though it has not seen fit to provide me with a three column layout or favicons.

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History

Each new fact in his private experience flashes a light on what great bodies of men have done, and the crises of his life refer to national crises. Every revolution was first a thought in one man's mind, and when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the key to that era.

and as crabs, goats, scorpions, the balance and the waterpot lose their meanness when hung as signs in the zodiac, so I can see my own vices without heat in the distant persons of Solomon, Alcibiades, and Catiline.

I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks that what was done in a remote age, by men whose names have resounded far, has any deeper sense than what he is doing to-day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rose Bowl

Wanted USC to win this real bad, but once USC gave up possession and gave up a penalty on a 3rd down, the result was never in doubt atleast to me. And yes, I knew Vince Young was going to run and I am guessing I am not the only one who knew.

This would never have been this close if Texas had not messed up two field goals. Makes Young's efforts all the more special.

Coming to the NFL, there I was cheering Carson Palmer's excellent first pass only to gasp in horror as he was felled by that nasty blow to his knees. Was hopeful till the first half that this would be a close fought match only to see my hopes shattered. Will the Colts repeat their thrashing of the Steelers this time too? I think that looks the most likely outcome. Sigh!

So true

But most Americans don’t seem to like names that they couldn’t imagine having been on the Mayflower’s manifest.

Shakespeare's Sister

Better to tell the world what your resolutions are, instead of keeping it deep inside and break it eventually.

That would at least push you further to follow 'em lest they should make fun of you if you fail.

BTW, Congratulations!!! You've made your "resolution" list for the year. First step!

Sinoindian

I don't quite care that anyone would make fun of me, but by making a list and making it public, I do expect to be held accountable by some kind soul.

My inner child

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

It IS a Happy New Year

She is back.

My cup runneth over.

New Year Resolutions

Which in typical fashion were decided upon today.

Lose weight.

No surprise there. It is time I started paying some attention to the non stop increase in my girth both for superficial and health reasons. Getting married in a year sure lends an urgency to these efforts to drop my weight.

Blog

Post something every day, no matter how inane, pointless or uninspired. It sure is hard when your fiancée lives two time zones away and you have to be on the phone as soon as you come home as it is 9 PM for her when you reach home and by the time you're done talking, you barely have the time to read blogs, let alone post something.

Books -

Return Library books on time. Finish all Carl Hiassen and Walter Mosley books available in the library. Read the Ralph Kimball book once more taking care not to try reading the whole thing in one sitting.

Read the books I wish I had read when I was in India namely War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov. Both my parents liked these books, though I never did open the books as their sheer size intimidated me.

Read Emerson again. Possibly make it a daily habit. Read Walter Wink, and find out more about non violence. Read Thoreau, Only Thoreau I've read so far is Civil Disobedience. Read Jared Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel.

Misc

Start working on Oracle Discoverer. Uninstall Oracle and go through the tiresome process of installing it again. Start preparing for the GMAT, possibly by the end of the year. Go to Roger Waters' concert, even if it means I have to do it alone.

Buy a satellite dish and DVR if that's the only way for me to watch the World Cup.

Stop responding in knee jerk fashion and try reining myself in. Not get angry if self important strangers think if evolution is fiction, gays are sinners and other stupid stuff.

Not let the injustices of the world get me down and angry.

More importantly, not get down if my favorite team loses something. The most irrational thing I could do.

Not let smarmy bastards and showboats bug me. Not let mean strangers get to me and conversely not be rude to anyone.

Justify my spending my money on Netflix by watching at least three movies a week.

Read the Bible every day.

Bishop Spong Q&A on Sacred Symbols

Dear Herbert,

You are correct at least in part that people cannot deal with the too rapid loss of their sacred symbols. They have invested too much of their emotional security in those symbols.

On the other hand, if a religious institution clings too long to concepts that no longer are believable, it will die of irrelevance. Once, human beings worshipped the sun. Then we learned that the sun is a ball of burning gas and matter and no longer would our minds allow us to worship that object. The heart will never worship what the mind rejects.

I discover that people feel good about hymns so long as the tunes remain familiar. They pay little attention to words. People are comfortable with liturgy when they know what is coming next. They are not upset with word changes so long as the changes do not make them feel lost or stupid for not knowing what comes next. The problem has been that churches fall in love with their own liturgies and preserve them beyond the point that they are preservable.

I am still drawn to Gothic space, stained glass, great organs and beautifully done liturgy. I am not drawn to pre-modern concepts, an invasive supernatural deity who lives above the sky. the concept of original sin, blood sacrifice as the means of salvation, etc. The last prayer book revision in my church (1979) was out of date before the ink on its pages was dry. Consciousness in regard to liturgy is a slow developing process. However, it does develop as one can clearly see if you go back and read the prayer books of my church in their 1549 and 1662 versions.

Most pastors have to balance the tension between emotional ties to the past and new learning. However, some pastors must articulate the new learning because that is the only way that people can grow. The church will always carry those pastors who are closed to any change. I hope you will continue both to grow and to be sensitive to the truth and the feelings of your people.

My best,

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong Q&A on Pat Robertson

Christina, a television producer at Fox News writes:

"How do you respond to the Rev. Pat Robertson when he warns the citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania, that God might strike them with a disaster since they voted out the School Board members who favored "Intelligent Design?" "

Dear Christina,

Pat Robertson has said so many silly and ridiculous things that I wonder why anyone would pay much attention to him on any subject. He warned Orlando, Florida, that God would send a hurricane to destroy them when Orlando's decision makers added "sexual orientation" to that city's civil rights ordinance making it illegal for an employer to discriminate against a person because of race, ethnicity, gender, creed or "sexual orientation." He suggested that Hollywood would be the victim of an earthquake because that is where Ellen Degeneres works. With Jerry Falwell he agreed that the 9/11 disaster was brought upon this nation as God's judgment for harboring "feminists, abortionists, homosexuals and the American Civil Liberties Union." He suggested that the CIA should assassinate the duly elected President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. He has said that the feminist movement is about those women who want to "leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians." The tirade of absurdities goes on and on.

This country treasures the precious gift of free speech and Pat Robertson can obviously say any foolish and ignorant thing he wishes. When he pretends to speak in the name of God, however, I think his fellow believers have a right, indeed a necessity, to speak a word of judgment on his behavior since his words slander the Christian definition of God as Love given to us first by the author of the First Epistle of John and even more important, lived out by Jesus, who called us even to love our enemies.

I want to make only two points about this issue. First, I wonder who, other than Pat himself, designated Pat Robertson to be God's spokesperson? How dare Pat assume that the God revealed in the Jesus I serve is filled with all of Pat's peculiar prejudices. Why does he not understand that God is God and Pat Robertson is not? Why does he not see that when he tells the world with an unashamed certainty what God thinks and what God will do, he is only revealing what he thinks and what he would do if he had God's power? Pat needs to understand that he is acting out the very meaning of idolatry. He has confused God with himself.

Second, some one needs to inform Pat Robertson that the idea of God sitting on a throne above the clouds manipulating the weather in order to punish sinners is so primitive and so naïve that it is staggering to the educated imagination. It is bad enough that his mind cannot embrace the thought of Charles Darwin from the 19th century, but Pat has yet to embrace the thought of Copernicus from the 16th century or Galileo from the 17th century. No educated person today believes that the earth is the center of the universe and that God lives above the sky, playing with low-pressure systems and planning revenge on those who are not believers in Intelligent Design. Indeed why would anyone be drawn to the demonic deity who emerges in Pat's thinking and teaching? It is surely not a God of Love who punishes New Orleans' poorest citizens with a hurricane that New Orleans' wealthiest citizens could and did manage to escape at least with their lives, because they had cars. Did God kill the poor in New Orleans in order to send a message to New Orleans's prostitutes and those who create its raucous nightlife? Is that a rational concept? Did God cause two tectonic plates to collide under the Indian Ocean because there were some 350,000 evil people, with fully one-third of them children, whom God desired to kill in a tsunami wave? Is that how God communicates divine displeasure? Is that a God worthy of worship? Were the 3000 who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11 or the 2100 members of our Armed Forces who have thus far died in Iraq during this war somehow worthy of this ultimate punishment either because of their own evil or because God sacrificed them to send a message to someone else? Those ideas are so ludicrous as to be laughable, except for the fact that for anyone to suggest such incredible things is still painfully hurtful to those who are the victims of both natural and human disasters to say nothing of their surviving loved ones. I, as a Christian, am embarrassed by the public face that Pat Robertson puts on the religious tradition to which my life is dedicated.

I have known the Robertson family for a long time. His father was the Democratic Senator in my state of Virginia from 1946, when he was first appointed to succeed Senator Carter Glass who had died in office. He was re-elected by the people of Virginia in 1948, 1954, and 1960. In the Democratic Primary in 1966 he was defeated in a very close vote by my first cousin William Belser Spong, Jr., who went on to fill that seat in the United States Senate. Pat is a 1955 graduate of the Law School at Yale University and received a Master in Divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary in1959. He cannot possibly be as dumb as he sounds in his wild and thoughtless utterances. If ignorance is not his excuse, then one has to wonder what motivates him. In academic theological circles he is treated as a buffoon. No one takes his thought seriously. It is a pity that some people do actually believe the things he says, but they are far fewer than he imagines. It is an even greater pity that the news media think that his continued utterances are worthy of any public attention at all.

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong Q&A on Raising Consciousness

Robert from the Internet writes:
"When the lights go out and doors are closing, where does one find the courage to look for the way? I know this will sound like a bizarre question but I just finished your autobiography HERE I STAND: MY STRUGGLE FOR A CHRISTIANITY OF INTEGRITY, LOVE AND EQUALITY, and am sincerely impressed by the apparent fact that you found a reason to continue despite an unrelenting opposition. To what do you attribute this courage, drive, resolve, or stubbornness? "

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your letter and your reason for asking.

I am not engaged in a task that can be defined as "winning" or "losing." My agenda is to raise consciousness. That can be done in many ways and being defeated is one of them.

In my autobiography, to which you refer, I mention the battle to raise consciousness in my church, nationally and world-wide on the issue of acceptance, justice and celebration of gay and lesbian people. What I describe in that book were indeed the dark days of that struggle. The darkest days of all came when the Anglican bishops of the world gathered in 1998 at the Lambeth Conference under the leadership of The Most Reverend and Right Honorable George Carey who, in my mind, is the least competent man ever appointed to be the Archbishop of Canterbury, and passed some of the cruelest, most ill-informed and most overtly prejudiced resolutions about homosexual people I have ever read. One of those resolutions defined homophobia in such a way as to exonerate these homophobic bishops from the charge of homophobia!!

It is never easy to be defeated politically but I met the press in Canterbury immediately after the voting on these dreadful resolutions had been tallied and declared it a great victory. Stunned by this remark, a reporter asked me to amplify. I did so by reminding the gathered press conference that in these negative resolutions the prejudice about homosexuality had been placed at the center of the life of the entire Anglican Communion. It was, therefore, on the agenda of every national branch of this church the world over. What they did not realize, I suggested, was that once a prejudice begins to be publicly debated, it is always revealed to be a dying prejudice. One does not debate a prejudice until the definition undergirding that prejudice has begun to be questioned.

As long as people are convinced that homosexuality is a choice made by homosexual persons because they are mentally ill and cannot help themselves or because they are morally depraved and want to live in this sick and distorted manner, then there is no debate. Only when this definition is challenged does debate ensue. So the debate about homosexuality in both church and state is a sure sign that the old definition is not holding, that a new consciousness is emerging. There has never been a time in human history when a new consciousness did not finally trump the old definition on which prejudice has been based. So there was no doubt in my mind at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, and there is no doubt now as to what the final outcome of this debate will be. It is easy to lose a battle when you know that the war is going to be won.

I grew up in a segregated church in Charlotte, N.C, and lived to see an African American man named Michael Curry be elected bishop in the Diocese of North Carolina by a majority of the clergy and lay people of the Episcopal Church meeting in a diocesan convention. I grew up in a church that treated women as second-class citizens, even calling them "The Auxiliary," and I lived to see 40% of our clergy become women and to see my church elect fifteen women to be among its bishops. I grew up in a church that castigated and oppressed homosexual people and lived to see a gay priest, Gene Robinson, who lived openly with his partner for 14 years, be elected and confirmed as Bishop of New Hampshire.

To know that history will affirm the minority position you hold today provides me with a great and empowering perspective with which to bear pain and defeat. If the purpose of Jesus was to give life more abundantly, I was always sure that I was walking in his company. It is reconciliation with God not unity among church members that is the purpose of Jesus. An ultimate victory always awaits those who serve the truth. Perhaps it also takes a bit of courage, drive, resolve and even stubbornness

Thanks for asking,

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong Q&A on The AIDS Epidemic

Beverly from the Internet writes:
"Much is in the news of late about the AIDS epidemic in Africa. In the past, the focus has been on condom distribution that has helped Uganda in particular to reduce AIDS infection. But now, with the influence of Pope Benedict, the Bush administration and ultra conservative religious groups, the BBC and MSNBC and other news agencies report that abstinence is now being promoted as the only workable solution. This had resulted in a shortage of condoms and an increase in HIV infection.

BBC reported that Stephen Lewis, U.N. Secretary General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa has said that fundamental Christian ideology is driving Washington's AIDS assistance program known as PEPFAR with disastrous results, including condom shortages in Uganda. Uganda has previously cut HIV infection rates to about 6% from 30% in the early 1990s. Now U.S. legislation requires 1/3 of AIDS prevention funding be spent to promote abstinence.

I see the promotion of abstinence as an unrealistic solution in countries where literacy and knowledge of modern science is often very limited. Do the Pope, President Bush and the ultra conservatives have their heads in the sand on this? I would be interested in your opinion on this. "

Dear Beverly,

I share with you a sense of horror about the misplaced priorities of both Benedict XVI and the Bush administration. They seem to place opposition to birth control methods above the issues of life and death. I find that narrow religious passions operating in the political arena are always destructive. I watch values being lived out by the President of the United States. They are almost beyond credibility. Here is our nation in a time of a war gone wrong in Iraq, with the safety of this nation badly compromised by hurricane Katrina, facing a scandal involving the crime of identifying a CIA operative that is eroding the confidence of the people in this government and yet the biggest issue of debate in Washington is over where Supreme Court nominee, Sam Alito, stands on abortion. I do not minimize the abortion issue, but this nation is not going to reverse Roe V. Wade. Politicians like to be re-elected and opposition to Roe V. Wade is not a pathway to national election for anyone. This means that Washington's politicians are engaged today in an act of political posturing that is quite irrelevant and grossly dishonest. This debate also gives them moral cover so that they do not have to face the fact that they have voted to go to war on trumped up and dishonest intelligence in order to make the oil industry happy, while at the same time voting to give tax breaks to the top ten percent of this nation's income group. Now they want to cut Medicare, the school lunch program and the job training programs in order to cover the deficit created by this ill-conceived war and their tax cuts for the rich. On top of that we now discover that the press in the persons of Judith Miller and Bob Woodward are working hand in glove with this administration to keep honesty from appearing in their reporting! When will the electorate of this nation reorder our national priorities? Too many of our young citizens have died already. Too many of our nation's poor have lost hope. Too many of the people of the world have stopped looking to America for any shred of moral leadership. I do not care whether the necessary re-ordering of our national priorities comes in a rebellion within the Republican Party or from the opposition Democrats but this nation cannot drift in this present quagmire for three more years.

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong Q&A on Growth of the Evangelical Community

SXL from the Internet writes:
"After watching a Tom Brokaw special on the growth of Evangelicals and their huge churches, I am rather appalled that their "love" for humanity does not include homosexuals, people that get abortions or gay and lesbian couples who want to marry! How can people believe in such a narrow minded, limited God? Are they really growing as powerful as they were pictured? "

Dear SXL,

I think that we have in recent years entered a "New Dark Age" in the Western world. It is marked by the rise of religious systems that seek to build security by encouraging prejudice against a designated victim. Both evangelical fundamentalism and the kind of ultra-conservative Roman Catholicism that is at present installed in the Vatican are publicly defined by their visceral and uninformed hostility toward homosexual persons. What the heretic was in the Middle Ages, the black in the days of slavery and segregation, and the Jew in Nazi Germany, the homosexual has become in the religious hysteria of our day. This kind of behavior is always a response to fear and to a rapidly changing world. Security-providing religion, which always requires a victim, is like a drug that carries us over the rough places of life. It is certainly not the wave of the Christian future.

Protestant 'mega churches' are usually built on the charisma of the founding or transforming pastor. These leaders are usually sincere people who, even if they are not well informed, have a flair for showmanship. Life, however whether they like it or not, is not made secure simply by identifying the enemy and claiming the certainty of an infallible Pope or an inerrent Bible. Pain and tragedy invade the lives of even the most self-assured people of faith. The cult of the individual leader also enters a crisis when time forces a change in leadership. Many religious institutions do not make this transition well. Beyond that I think we ought to recognize that truth and unity cannot ever be built on identifying a victim that creates the illusion of unity because there is a common enemy. When these institutions say that God hates the same things that the worshiper hates, everyone should be very suspicious.

Dark Ages do not last forever. Ten years from now this phase of our religious history will surely be over. The contemporary scientific and medical data that suggests that homosexuality is a perfectly normal but minority aspect of our humanity, that it is a given and not a chosen aspect of life, will have challenged these prejudices so deeply as to make them seem not only quaint but ignorant. Remember that less than one hundred years ago we were still persecuting left-handed people as evil, deviant and unnatural. In the meantime I share your enormous embarrassment that the Christian church is today the major voice in the Western World in the persecution of those members of our society whose only 'sin' is that they were born with a sexual orientation different from the majority. Someday we will be terribly ashamed of the Christian leaders in our generation.

Bishop Spong Q&A on life's struggles

D. (last name omitted for personal reasons) writes:
"I am a man without a face. All I see in this world is unfairness and I feel that my life has been filled with sadness, loneliness and depression. I've been driven to the point of suicide. I ask you: how can I accept that life is unfair and still find a reason to believe in God?"

Dear D,

The tone of your letter is so depressed that I was alarmed by it. I can speak via this medium to your content but I cannot speak to your personal situation. For that I hope you will contact a local clergyperson or trained counselor and let them help you walk through this valley.

As to your question, I do not assume that our world is ever fair. The God I meet in Jesus does not appear to do so either. Jesus is quoted as having said: "In this world you will have tribulation." The peace he promised was, in his words, "not as the world gives." When in the Fourth Gospel he is asked whether either the blind man or his parents were guilty of causing his blindness, he said that is not how the world operates. When in the synoptic gospels he talked about those who were killed when the Tower of Siloam fell, he pronounced them no guiltier than any others. The world we live in has what we call natural disasters. They range from hurricanes to tsunamis. They do not just harm the guilty, but whoever was in their path. Job was the book of the Bible that addressed these issues most specifically. He too had no answer but to keep living in a world that will never be fair. Jesus does not give us peace of mind. He gives us the courage to live in this evolving and transitory world without despair. Our job is to transform the world when we can and to accept reality when we cannot. God is not the source of our despair; reality is. God is the power that gives us the ability to address reality just as it is.

I hope this helps,

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong on Sunday School

Craig from the Internet writes:
"The subject is Children's Sunday school. The hypothesis is that Sunday school is counter productive and marginally threatens the collective/progressive understanding of the Christian faith. Sunday School teaching is necessarily taught at a level that is understandable by children. Even in the more liberal churches, Old Testament scripture lessons include stories about Abraham and Sarah, Noah, Moses, King David, etc. My son at age 6 or 7 asked where Noah put dinosaurs on his boat. Regardless the dimensions of the boat, whether the animals were in pairs or sevens, or whether or not dinosaurs existed before "creation" - the simple fact is that the metaphorical message, or truth is abandoned in favor of a good tale. The same is true of the New Testament scripture, particularly with regard to miracles and Jesus - absent the cultural and historical context. The concept that the Bible is a divinely inspired search for the human condition in relation to each other and to God is simply not a concept that is teachable to young children. Statistics and psychology tell us that teens abandon the Church as an act of independence and, if they return, it is typically with their own children. They return more often than not with a children's Sunday school understanding of their faith. Conservatives, fundamentalists, make them comfortable at this level. Christianity becomes stuck. Would you please comment?"

Dear Craig,

I think your analysis is essentially correct and I thank you for it. I too agree that to try to teach children that "the Bible is a divinely-inspired search for the human condition in relation to each other and to God" is to invite glassy eyed looks. Frankly, this phrase invites a glassy eyed look from me. However, that is not the way I would teach the Bible to children. Children know about myths and stories that have symbolic meaning. I at least was raised on Humpty Dumpty who understood that when some things are broken they cannot be repaired. We understand the magic mirror into which we gaze when we want to see the person we yearn to be. Young girls instinctively know that Little Red Riding Hood is about a young girl entering puberty who is told that in order to avoid the wolf, she must stay on the straight and narrow path.

Why can we not teach our children that the Bible is filled with that kind of story? The story of the Tower of Babel expresses our yearning to commune with God. The story of the Virgin Birth gives voice to a Christian experience that says human life could not produce the power we find in Jesus. The story of Easter proclaims that even death fades before the life and love that has been met in Jesus. Miracle stories expressed the yearning that the kingdom of God had been glimpsed in Jesus. Miracles were the signs of that kingdom. The Ascension is not about Jesus being propelled into heaven. It is about the conviction that God and Jesus cannot be separated. So if God is above the sky, Jesus must go to where God is. Our problem is that we tend to read the Bible as history when it is more like an interpretive portraits painted by Jewish artists.

My sense has always been that we must first educate the adults before we will do anything more than continue the destructive patterns of literalism into another generation. Religion yearns for certainty. However, if it ever suggests that it has found it then it begins to sow the seeds of its own destruction

Before the Church can think about living in the 21st century, the problem that you address so well in your letter must be confronted. Anyone who has been successfully doing this task might let us know. I will be happy to pass it on.

-- John Shelby Spong

Bishop Spong on circumcision

Lee from Goldleaf Technologies writes:
"Like you, I've long been skeptical of the supposed "benefits" of circumcision and feel it is nothing more than religion-endorsed genital mutilation performed on unconsenting infants. Because of this, I continue to have sharp pangs of remorse and regret over allowing my two sons to be circumcised at birth.

This week, much to my surprise, a landmark study, published in the journal Plos Medicine by the French national agency for AIDS research, confirms that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection dramatically, by as much as 60%. If similar studies now underway in Kenya and Uganda corroborate the results, circumcision could become a powerful weapon-with condom use and other measures-in the fight against AIDS. If valid, would such research change your position on circumcision? "

Dear Lee,

In a word, no!! Mutilating the baby instead of teaching each child the arts of good hygiene is bad practice, bad ethics, bad theology and a bad idea. I do not understand how any religious system could ever endorse that. Female circumcision - I prefer to call it "female genital mutilation" is still practiced in parts of Christian Africa. It too is said to have health benefits. I think not. Both of these practices represent control tactics and guilt laden castration rites born out of the superstition and ignorance of the past. I regard circumcision in both sexes as a barbaric act with no redeeming features. I find it almost laughable that the same religious voices that oppose the use of condoms would now support circumcision as a health practice.

Note to self

Do not bring work home, when said work involves a lot of typing, typing you've got to do on a notebook seated on your lap.

Sigh!

Self Important

Having or manifesting an exaggerated idea of one's own importance or merit.

It takes some skill to turn every question posed to you about some piece of work into a paen to yourself. Which makes me wonder? Are the self important people aware of the fact that this kind of behavior aggravates some kind of people who are tired of this shit?

Just wondering.

Paging Pat Robertson

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. - Romans 9:3

From what I have seen of your people , Saint Paul seems to be such a big hero, what with him claiming women couldn't preach and all that. So one would think you would take his lead and be this selfless. But what is this, I read about you going around asking for Hugo Chavez to be killed, and now cursing the town of Dover, PA.

“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there.”

The Link

Saint Paul would be proud of you. Or is that just Paul, Saint being a catholic thing and all, and I doubt you even consider Catholics to be Christians.

The Condom haters

No, it is not the American Christian extremists, it is the Indian Muslim extremists. Goes to show that there's more in common between these fine folks than either side would care to acknowledge or admit.

Gay hating - check, women hating - check, protecting 'values' - check. Do the likes of Pat Robertson even stop to think of this before they open their mouths. What would the inner monologue be like?

"We must fight AIDS, but these machines at public places will only promote sex outside marriage among the younger generation," said M.H. Jawahirullah, who heads Tamil Nadu's largest Muslim group, the Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (Muslim Progressive Party).

Over 200 Muslim women, many in veils, hit the streets of Chennai waving placards denouncing the plan and shouting: "Don't ruin our culture, Remove these machines."

"The government is spreading condom culture through these machines under the pretext of fighting AIDS," Fatheema Jalal, convenor of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a Muslim group, told the rally.

"By this, our society will get more permissive and our youth will be ruined," she added.

The Link

Behold the condom, that most evil of man's inventions which causes unmarried youngsters to go off on a fucking spree leading to a pristine culture being corrupted. I did not know condoms had such mystical powers. Again just like the Christian wackos here, they would rather see people die than use a condom.

I am all for a permissive society by the way. I am all for the repressive status quo to be abolished be it Christian, Hindu or Muslim. The saddest thing here is that a bunch of veiled women came out marching for the patriarchy. These guys must have some gall to parade women wearing veils and talk about culture. A culture that makes it women wear veils and cover up ought to be ashamed of itself and not be worried about it being ruined.

Has anyone watched a women's volleyball match where the women wore track suits? I was witness to this pathetic sight as the Pakistani women would not wear shorts as this was somehow against their culture. Biggest bunch of bull ever.

Near Disaster

So Firefox and Squarespace do their thing wherein they conspire to post one post of mine about 12 times making me delete all the redundant posts where I somehow manage to delete the wrong post making me angry and dejected the same time when I remember I can try looking up Google Desktop and sure enough, I get it from the application's cached view.

I post it again and go about deleting the redundant posts where I manage to delete all versions of the same post leading me to despair again whereby I use the browser's Back button and retrieve my post. Am I thankful that I retrieved my posts back? I am definite that I would not have written them again and I am pretty sure I would have not opened my Squarespace journal at all for a week or so.

So much for overcoming inertia

Read this post today and left this lament in the comments.

I guess I really have to read Hiaasen. I didn't go wrong watching the movies you like, so I guess I can't go wrong this time too.

Not having much of what one would call a disposable income, and being in a job where I have to move every four months or so is not very conducive to buying books. I did not expect it to be so, but books are really heavy and I already have a bunch of books scattered all over the country. :-( (Talk about buying the complete Farside collection and discovering it weighs about 18 pounds!)

This is when I miss school most. I would just have had to go look in the library or ask for this book through the Inter Library Lending program they had.

And I had this response by a Mike Schilling. Thanks Mike

Samuel, are there no public libraries where you live? I've found Hiaasen very well represented in the ones here. (And his older books tend to be available in reasonably prices paperback.)

So, I go look up Google's local search and find out there's a library less than a mile away and having decided that I was not going to let the inertia overcome me, I decided I would walk straight to the library from the bus stop rather than go home and then make the 0.8 miles walk. Well things went per plan as I walked off to the library to become a member.

I could not submit the form because I do not have the present address on my ID and I did not have any utility bills or a bank statement with my address too. As if this were not enough, I took the wrong way back and got lost where no one could have got lost. It is virtually a straight line from the library to my home where I just had to turn right from the library. I managed to not take the right and kept going straight till I figured out finally that I was way too lost. And yes walking about two miles while wearing a dress shoe is the worst kind of punishment you could inflict on your feet.

To add insult to injury, I just realized that my pay-slip was in the bag I carried to the library and that it could have served as proof of address. All this had to happen on the very day I decided that I wouldn't procrastinate or let sloth overcome me. There's a lesson in this somewhere.

Self Loathing

People who go to the gym, eat healthy, are people who care about themselves or dare I say, like themselves. I am guessing you ought to like yourself to take the time and effort to cook healthy stuff, do some kind of physical activity and all that.

Of course this whole thing could get overblown and manifest itself as narcissism but liking oneself enough is a healthy thing.

And then there are people who do not hate themselves but are basically indifferent. That would be someone like me. I do not care enough to eat healthy, work out and no this is not beacause I already have someone I am going to marry contrary to what my friends think. I just can't seem to care enough. Combine this indifference with sloth and the results are ugly. I have finally become a fat slob from being just a slob.

There is a small voice in a small corner of my mind going, "this is not just about looking good, you dumbass, this is about your health too" but somehow the very real prospect of getting into trouble because of my lifestyle just does not seem too real to me. So does that make a self loathing person cos I do not seem to care enough or am I just indifferent.

I blame inertia, it just takes too much effort to overcome inertia that I just prefer to continue in the present state. I've lost count of the number of times I have decided that I was going to be more active, go walking every day, exercise a little. All that is forgotten as soon as I come home. Like I said, I just can't seem to leave this state of inertia.

Title from Lance Mannion's post of the same name which helped me finally write this post.

Why football rules

Or why American football will never measure upto the real football.

Imagine a football composed of just free kicks and corner kicks. That in essence is the game of American football, where almost every move is a carefully choreographed sequence never going as far as a minute. This is one game which is played in fits and starts, with as many breaks as possible and with essentially two teams in the same side.

You have a team for the offence and one for the defence which to someone who plays football sounds a lot wussy. And yes, I realize its a physical sport and all that but American football sucks for being so violent if that's the word I can use here.

Its a strange thing to hear grown up men gushing over a 'hard hit' where the normal reaction I suppose should be one of horror. Hard hits usually tend to be moves where a guy usually manages to lift an opponent of his foot by ramming into him or stun a player by running into him while he is trying to run past you. And such moves are usually accompanied by replays which keep playing it up. As sick as it is to watch the pros do it on TV, it is sicker to watch kids do that in high schools.

The one high school game I have watched so far was brutal with many a kid having to walk off the field, some bleeding and one throwing up after one of these hard hits. The truly sickening thing here was that the parents of the opposing side would exhale a momentary gasp and then go back to discussing what a great move it was. These were 13 something year old kids there and the parents were discussing what a great defensive move it was. Not to say football is not physical, (I once cracked my head playing football), but the violence in the game is not by design.

Coming back to football, it is more fluid (no timeouts, no breaks for TV) than the American game and you get to see a greater level of inventiveness and surely a greater level of fitness with the football players. Summing it up, football makes American football look ugly.

Speaking of fitness, the Nascar champion is fat!! I mean fat by the F1 standards. He could never finish an F1 race let alone get into an F1 car.

Henry for Barcelona

Am I the only one that thinks that Thierry Henry to Barcelona is a huge move likely to work out great for both team and player?

Imagine Eto and Henry playing up front, with Messi and Ronaldinho ruling the midfield. What makes this intriguing is that Henry is not your traditional striker like Owen or Nilsterooy, he goes back to bring the ball up the field which is why he has such a huge impact with Arsenal.

So if he does go to Barcelona, what does that mean to Arsenal and Wenger and more importantly can Barcelona still play the same or will the team suck because the present formation has to be tinkered with. I am guessing or rather hoping Henry partners Ronaldinho and that it works out. It surely would be a sight to behold.

You bet it is random

But under the new plan, more passengers will likely be subjected to secondary screening and pat-downs will include the arms and legs as well as the torso. Now screeners only check the back and abdomen.

Passengers also can expect more randomness at security gates so would-be terrorists won't know for sure what they might see. For example, an airport might require all passengers to remove their shoes one day but not the next. Some passengers may have to show their identification an extra time or have their carry-on bag hand-searched.

The Link

What are the odds that much of this randomness is going to involve a lot of brown skinned people getting extra attention. The talk is all about spotting suspicious behaviour and people appearing nervous. Does skin color get to be included under 'suspicious behavior'. This is funny, the news about these screeners being trained to spot people out. Does anyone think that this could work in an airport as busy as LAX during the holidays. I guess, no I am sure its not going to. I am sure the screeners are going to take the easy way out, which is stop more brown skinned people. Might as well give up the 'random' pretense. Idiots.

Back

I guess I could fill up a whole new blog with just the posts titled 'Back'. Well I am back from a self imposed exile.

Its good to be back though. I thought I would be back bubbling with things to write, but there's not much I seem to be able to muster.

Well Ronaldinho has proved to be such a great blessing to Barcelona. That makes it three Brazilians who played for Barcelona and are my sentimental favorites too. Romario, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. Well Ronaldo played for them too, but I cannot forgive him for screwing Brazil out of the 98 world cup. As good as Zidane was there was no way Brazil would have gone down 3-0 in a normal game. Worst sporting moment of my life.

Rivaldo, I still stand by my assertion that Rivaldo won the final for Brazil against Germany. He made Kahn miss and he created the second goal too. Given the fact that Ronaldo looked shaky starting the match, Rivaldo might well have been the boost he needed to pick up his game.

Ronaldinho - Free kick, Seaman - Enough said.

And, yes I had no idea Maradona was a star at Barcelona too.

Prayers

Today is World Aids Day. Prayers to all people affected directly or indirectly by it. Also prayers to those of a sadistic bent, who would rather see people dying of disease than let them use a condom. May their hearts soften!

And this I believe is Blog against racism day too. I don't have anything worthwhile to say there. But being someone who believes casteism and racism are both same, prayers again to those who have to bear the brunt of racism. And prayers again for the oppressors.

Originally posted on my Squarespace blog on Dec1.

Plugging Squarespace

Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this.

A look at the first three posts I made using Squarespace will reveal that I was mystified by the interface and did not quite appreciate going to all these lengths to set up the blog. But I did manage to like it enough to become a paid user.

Now I attribute this to to the excellent features offered here, which make blogging a better experience. As much as it contributes to the user experience, I should mention that I stuck with Squarespace for its excellent response to the queries I pose.

I have never had to wait for more than a day to get an answer and no, I have not been insulted by an auto reply asking me if I have already looked at the faq. I realize that I might not get this kind of prompt service when Squarespace's user base expands (as it ought to), but I am mighty pleased with the service I am getting now.

So anyone looking to move from Blogger would do well to consider Squarespace for the myriad features it offers and the level of service offered too.

Minor complaints : They still don't have a three column layout. Only those who pay more get to modify their templates significantly to add a three column layout. I would like for Squarespace to include the 3 column layout and help make the move to a 3 column layout as seamless as possible.

They could let the users add their own favicons. I know knot how they would do it, but it sure would be nice to have a favicon here too, like the one I have with my blogspot blog.

When I say Squarespace in this post, I am talking about A.Casalena the guy who wrote Squarespace.

It sucks

To see your credit score being affected because you did not pay for something you felt was an unfair charge and then you have no idea that you still have to pay it, because the bloody representative says ok, when you say you won't pay cos this an unfair charge and you get a call from out of nowhere asking you to pay.

You pay up the same day only to realize it does you no good, cos you have been referred to a bloody collection agency by the dishonest hacks at the realty who claim they attempted to contact you, even though you received no letters or no calls, despite you having notified the post office and the realtor having your mobile number which incidentally has not changed.

Fuck you assholes for doing this to me! I know not how long I need to wait before my credit score jumps up. And to the wise men at FICO who seem to not have noticed that I have no other late payments, no significant debt, yet still refuse to raise my score. Thanks for nothing people !

An idiot

is someone who insists on leaving comments despite being told not to, countless number of times. A flaming idiot is one who claims he comes here when he wants to get irritated. What kind of a person wants to get irritated by the way and then comes here gets a migraine and keeps doing the same thing again and again.

You must be some masochist, asshat.

I will keep deleting your comments AJ. You came here searching for Amit Cerner Sathyabama. Next time round search for "Amit Manavalan". Saves you some effort.

I tried repeatedly to talk the US out of invading Iraq, says Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi, one of George Bush's closest allies, says he repeatedly tried to talk the US president out of invading Iraq, in comments to be broadcast today.

In the television interview, which goes out on the day the Italian prime minister flies to Washington to meet Mr Bush, Mr Berlusconi says he even enlisted the help of the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadafy, in behind-the-scenes efforts to stop America going to war.

"I have never been convinced war was the best way to succeed in making a country democratic and extract it from an albeit bloody dictatorship," he says. "I tried on several occasions to convince the American president not to wage war."

His version of events, recounted in an interview with the La7 private TV station, with excerpts reported by the Apcom and Ansa news agencies at the weekend, was backed by his deputy, Gianfranco Fini, leader of the former neo-fascist party, who said: "We tried right up to the end to persuade Bush and Blair not to launch a military attack."

Mr Berlusconi said one of the "other ways and other solutions" he had tried was a "joint action" with Colonel Gadafy, whose country is a former Italian colony.

Coming after Lewis Libby's indictment capped a crisis week for the Bush administration, Mr Berlusconi's remarks will be seen by many in Washington as treacherous. Italy's prime minister is standing for re-election in just over five months and polls indicate that his support for Mr Bush is a major handicap. He became closely identified with Mr Bush soon after coming to office in 2001 and avoided criticism of US policy in the run-up to the war. In March 2003 he told parliament the use of force against Iraq was legitimate and Italy could not abandon the Americans "in their fight against terrorism".

The Link

So he discovers he was against the war as elections approach. I guess the Italians have a choice of parties to vote for unlike England where the two leading parties fall over each other in bending over for this administration. I still don't know why Blair is such a fanboy.

With a little help from my friends

RLP google bombs for his friend and in the spirit of google bombing, here's my contribution.

I did half a brake job on my minivan last week. My friend Reggie, who is master of more skills than I can even think of, came over to show me how. He did the right side and I did the left.

I was so proud of myself. I'm not so good with things that require me to touch them. I'm definitely a word and idea man.

Say, did I mention that Reggie builds bat houses? Yes, you heard me. He designs, constructs, and sells houses for bats. He's a bathouseman, you might say. And boy oh boy does he make an awesome bat house. Some say they are the best bat houses in all of Texas. These are not bat cages. They are BAT HOUSES. And Reggie makes them.

The name of his new business is Lone Star Woodcraft, and he specializes in bat houses, of all things.

Why just the other day I was saying to my friend Reggie, the bat house builder, that if I were a bat and I was looking for a place to roost, I'd want to roost in my very own, Reggie-built bat house.

That's just what I said to him.

Hope this helps.

You bet

People are strange, when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
People seem wicked, when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven, when you're down

(Densmore-Krieger-Manzarek-Morrison)

For the ones who smile at you making you believe you belong and that you're liked and then turn mean at a moment's notice when they discover you are not a pliant submissive ant who does not have a life of his own.

Thanks for nothing !

This is America

"Oil and gas companies are enjoying record profits," said Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House. "That is fine. This is America."

via Dan Gross

Memo to Squarespace or rather Firefox

If I 'Save and close' one time, I expect it to appear on my website once, not so many times as to make me hurt by making me delete all the redundant posts. Sigh!

Update: Turns out this is an issue with the beta version of firefox. Apologies to Squarespace :)

Arranged marriage

People who know me well, know my intense anomisoty towards arranged marriage. Now this is partly due to my irreverence no doubt. Theres not many institutions or people I revere and any such institution that inspires such reverence immediately makes me susipicious.

Its not just the fact that I am letting my parents decide who I marry that makes me hate arranged marriage.

The major argument I have against arranged mariages is the fact that it maintains the status quo, its just another weapon to maintain the status quo and the fact that is it couched in terms of respect and honor makes it easier for the status quo to be maintained.

A look at the matrimonial web sites should make my point clear. Everyone's profile lists what their parents do and as if that weren't enough, some go on to list what their siblings do. Now this seems harmless enough, nevermind the fact that what my parents do for a living wouldn't affect my married life.

Listing out your parents occupation is an indirect way of letting the suitors know how wealthy your family is. Now when marriages are arranged the one question that gers asked apart from the inevitable caste question is , if the suitor is from a good family.

Now what makes a good family? Being of the same caste is not enough, it is essential that you family not have been in any trouble and it is most important that your family better not be poor. So the first things people look for in arranged marriages is caste and economic status.

As expected, not many look outside their caste or below their economic status. One dare not look for a girl not so rich cos ur not getting a lot of dowry then.

Talking about dowry, Indian matrimonial sites, atleast tamilmatrimony.com and its relatives have a field where you list how many brothers or sisters you have and if they are married? Now why would someone need this information? Does my sibling's marital state affect my married life in any way?

Again the reason one gets asked this question is purely economical. If you're a guy and you have an unmarried sister, tradition dictates that you take care of the wedding or atleast chip in with some part of the wedding costs. Of course if ur a girl and have sister/s to be married off, that only means a smaller slice of the dowry pie.

Brazil

Watched two football games today. (I use the word football here, always to mean Soccer, not the travesty that is American football)

Saw a Brazilian score in both games and both were super efforts. The first one was the much hyped Robinho, poached from Brazil by Real Madrid and I must say, his goal today justified all the hype. When fed a ball into the area, he did not weave in as most Brazilian strikers do, but beat his man with one shot.

In what's one of the best strikes I've seen in a while he managed to curl it away from the man straight ahead of him , the keeper and still managed to get the ball swerving in to the net. Given that this was not a deadball situation, the speed with which he envisioned and executed the shot was astounding.

I've seen people do this from free kicks but I've seen very few do it on the fly and that makes him a truly special talent.

The second Brazilian I saw was Kaka, who is more of a midfielder than a striker but who managed to score a striker's goal today. It was one of those waist high balls to your side, that are incredibly hard to hit let alone control. He was the first one to seize the opportunity and the speed with which he executed the kick left the defenders or the goal keeper no time to react.

Kaka is an extremely talented mid fielder and if the Brazilian defence does not fuck up, I don't see why Brazil cannot repeat this time too. What kind of a depth does the team that can bench Robinho possess by the way? This is not just going to be a dominating team but this is going to be as entertaining as the one that won it the last time.

Go Brazil.

Being cute

Was watching a football match the other day when Samuel Etoo of Barcelona missed an easy chance at goal. This was a chance I would have converted and this is no exaggeration. It was that bloody easy.

Now the reason Etoo missed the goal, he took an extra touch, taking an extra few seconds, lost his concentration and hit it straight away. What does being cute have to do with this you say?

If Etoo had not cared about looking good while scoring the goal, he would never have taken that extra touch, wasting that great chance to get his team a victory. As it turned out, the game petered out to a dull draw. This turned out to be the only real chance Barcelona had at goal. Which brings me to Eric Cantona.

Eric Cantona is a revered figure around Manchester United, but all I remember of Eric Cantona is that he was a showboat who cost his team a Champions League trophy. The only time I ever saw Eric Cantona was the sight oh him missing what was an easy goal by trying to look good while trying to score what was an easy goal. If only he had just kicked the bloody thing in. I was a ManU supporter than and it hurtl like hell.

But it hurt more when I had turned a Munich supporter and had to endure the sight of them collapsing in the last two minutes. How improbable is that and how fitting that it occur when I watched it. Just like Patrick Viera and Thierry Henry deciding to phone it in each time I watch a bloody Arsenal game.

India's turn

A series of near simultaneous explosions rocked India's capital city yesterday, tearing through a bus and two markets jammed with people shopping for gifts ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali.

At least 58 people were killed. Scores more people were injured in the three blasts that sent shards of glass, wood and masonry flying. Police declared a state of emergency last night and ordered all the markets in the city closed.

The Link

This seems to be annual phenomenon with these fuckers targeting crowded places. As again, no easy answers as to what drives them and their callous disregard for human life. And if this turns out to be some other Muslim group, its more trouble for the India Muslims as they have to 'prove' they are patriotic and this in turn creates resentment, resentment, likely to be taken advantage of.

Jaded, listless rambling

No posting last weekend on account of driving and Oracle being such a deviously tough piece of software to install. Not the database, but the http server, needless to say Oracle warehouse Builder which has managed to literally suck the life out of me.

And yes, got the Nebraska license despite predictions that I would fail :). A big thanks to Ganesh and Vetri, Ganesh especially for taking out time in the middle of the day and being such an encouragement.

As to the title of the post, not the first time I've posted it, I am too young to be jaded or tired, but I am tired as hell. I was drifting in and out of sleep 5 minutes ago before a phone call woke me up. Am looking for some good news and I would much rather prefer it be from the East.

Please go read Lance Mannion ASAP.

Field trips or excursions as they called it in School were the highlight of the school year for the very fact that you could get to talk, sing, shout and do things you could never do in class.I sure had a lot of fun in school even though we were taken to the same place each year. It was either St. Thomas mount or mahabalipuram. It was always the getting there part that was super fun, rather than the place. And the highlight of all trips is the two week trip we made to North India when I was in eleventh grade.

No self hating teachers to deal with, no snobbish classmates to talk to, just a bunch of guys who had decided that a two week holiday was too valuable to waste on stupid classes outside school. Have nothing but great memories from the trip as opposed to the hell I went through in class.

Ofcourse the one in Madurai, where we discovered a small stream and took skinny dips there and the teachers had no idea what we were upto and that we managed to keep it a secret taking all those lovely baths without them having the slightest idea of where we were and the inevitable meltdown they had when we were caught.

Perhaps I am not jaded, this is just time for my periodical nostalgia or it is the sheer ennui that makes me nostalgic.

Are the liberals in for a huge disappointment what with all the excitement being built up over fitzgerlad and any possible indictments that may happen. I for one am not sure if all their hopes are gonna come true. No, that's not based on some cold analysis, its just that I took it a little hard on Nov 3. and well I am thoroughly disillusioned with politics here. Its the Republican establishment against Republican lite. And may the WhiteSox win the world series. Couldn't care less as to who wins Superbowl this time. No sentimental favorites there what with the Chiefs promising to deceive this time too.

I have not synched the blogspot thingy with the Squarespace thingy, and it looks like I might not be doing it regularly. Maybe its time I started posting just here. So much for my plans to start posting anonymously. Having to maintain two separate blogs would kill me, I guess. Not ruling it out for the moment though.

"I am worse at what I do best, and for this gift I feel blessed. " I did not say that and a thousand points to someone who can tell me what that line is. I need to start being physically active. Do not walk anymore, being cooped up in your room when you're home or in your cubicle in the office is not just physically harmful, but seems to be taking a huge toll on your sense of well being and zest. Can't run or walk in this cold, so I guess I should start doing some indoor stuff. Ofcourse the fact that I have shot up by 10 pounds in three months, makes it a little urgent too.

And there ends what must be one of the most self indulgent, incoherent posts ever written.

Question

Why does conservative morality begin and end with the genitals? To belabor the point, why is it obessed with controlling a woman's genitals?

Places I would rather not work in

Any place in the Persian gulf.

Singapore.

Gujarat or for that matter any place in India not called Chennai.

Any theocracy.

Any place under a dictator.

Matrimonials

Quite like the Singles websites the Americans have, we Indians have matrimonial sites. People are not looking to date here, they are rather looking to marry.

This being the case, things like your religion and caste tend to get played up more than what you are looking for in a partner. People familiar with me know I think caste is an odious thing and I find it sickening that it still is a major factor in deciding marriages and what I find more sickening is Christians doing the caste thing.

Shame on all you Christians who list their caste on these sites and those who look to marry of their children only within their caste. Some form of Christianity you preach. Given that I also believe that casteism is racism, I believe you are not better than white supremacist Christians or those bastards who oppose inter racial marriage.

Here is a sample.

http://bmser.tamilmatrimony.com/cgi-bin/viewmatrimony.cgi?ID=M617493

This is what she has in her About Me section.

I hail from a decent protestant Christian Nadar family of Thiruneveli, settled in Chennai.

This is how she sees herself or atleast how she wants to be seen. I don't know what makes a family decent, but the very fact she describes herself in terms of caste tells one volumes.

Family Values Moderate. Yeah, there's a section called Family values. I have no idea of what that means, though it does bring images of Dr. Dobson smacking his dog around.

I have no fucking clue as to what that means.Any Indians out there familiar with the code language being spoken in this site, please let me know what the term family values means and what moderate means. This is crazy.

Her preference:

A God-fearing boy with clean habits from a decent protestant Christian Nadar family; must be a professional, preferably employed in Chennai

Being a Christian myself, I guess a God fearing boy is one who does not smoke, drink and is totally okay with marrying someone his racist (read casteist) parents choose for him. For God demands that your partner be someone from your own caste, picked by your equally God fearing parents.

To quote Eric Cartman : Fuck-fuckety-fuck-fuck-fuck. Btw, what does Manglik mean? Someone please enlighten me.

I remember the Sunday afternoons when my parents would have much fun going over the matrimonial section. I am only now getting to see why they found it funny.

Grunge

I've been doing quite a bit of coding these past weeks and this work being of the nature that makes me think hard, I've started listening to music to help me work. In whats been a habit from India, I need to listen to music to be able to study something or to solve problems.

I am listening to grunge mainly now, namely Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. As with all music I listen to, I could care less about the lyrics. (that applies to Tamil songs too). So the appeal with grunge is just the music, not the attitudes the lyrics express or the general mood of that time.

I kept playing Outshined quite a few times yesterday and though I guess Cornell is not a very talented vocalist in the traditional sense, he is just awesome in this song. At the risk of sounding pretentious, his voice is primal in this song especially when he growls with such intensity. Listen to the song from 3:35 to 4:16 and you will know why I love this song so. Makes me wanna scream along with him.

Show me the power child ...

And yeah the way I dress is what they call grunge. And no, it was not inspired by anyone.

The "fashion" did not evolve out of a conscious attempt to create an appealing fashion, but due to the inexpensiveness of such clothes and the warmth that they provided for the cold climate of the region.

Wikipedia Link

Bishop Spong Q & A

"As a recovering Roman Catholic, Jesuit educated, who still reveres much of the theology and the theologians in that church, I have been on a long journey of discovery. I did, in fact, discover you as an important part of that journey, in an issue of the Science of Mind Magazine. I still believe in the concept of tithing; that you should contribute a percentage of your income to the source(s) of your spiritual enlightenment and well-being. Since you fulfill a significant part of that role in my life, I would like to send a portion of my tithes to you for the work that you do. How and where would I do that? Advise."

Dear Ed,

Thank you for your unusual letter and offer. I honestly do not know how to answer you. I do not believe it is proper for money to be sent to an individual with no accountability required. Tithes should go to tax exempt situations or to things that the donor values. Therefore, let me make these suggestions:

1. The organizations most in touch with the things I seek to do are: The Center for Progressive Christianity in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Jesus Seminar in Santa Rosa, California. Both are proper tax-exempt organizations and both do very good work. The address of the Center for Progressive Christianity is 99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass 02138 (att. The Rev. James Adams) and the Jesus Seminar is Westar Institute, 2120 Bluebell Drive, Santa Rosa, California, 94503.

2. Christine and I, who also believe in tithing, have set up a charitable trust fund with Fidelity, called 'The Christine and John Spong Charitable Trust' to which we contribute annually and from which funds are donated each year to things we recommend. The recipient of these gifts can only be a tax-exempt entity as defined under the Federal tax code. We use that fund to support many of the conference centers and churches that we are privileged to visit each year. These are the places that are thinking outside the box of traditional religious systems. A check made out to the 'Christine and John Spong Charitable Trust at Fidelity Investments' would be appropriate, for the money would then be institutionally managed, it would never be in control of an individual, and it would support those places that are doing the things that this column supports.

3. The final alternative would be for you to contribute directly to those things that appeal to you. I regard giving as one of life's privileges. Thank you for forcing me to think about this.

- John Shelby Spong

Signs of the Times

Signs of the times

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Fasting, almsgiving, and prayer have a long foundation in the Christian tradition stemming from our Jewish matrix. This triple counsel calls us to share signs of tangible grace with one another, reminding each of us to live in such a way that our very lives declare “God is gracious and bountiful, generous and merciful.”

Our holiness is found in loving our neighbor as ourselves. Many saints past knew this. Fasting was not simply a matter of individual piety, but a matter of personal responsibility to sisters and brothers with whom we are intertwined. And so we find St. Catherine of Sienna fasting and giving her meals away to the hungry. We find Desert Elders selling their woven wares to purchase food not for themselves, but for those without sustenance.

In the last few weeks, a series of natural disasters have ravaged the earth, striking brothers and sisters far and near. Some leaders within the Christian community have taken this as a sign of God’s wrath, singling out one or another sort and condition of human being for blame. Others are speaking up about taking care of our own first.

Rather than seeking to lay blame, to raise dividing walls for deciding who is our neighbor, or to get caught up in speculation about the end of days, we choose to discern in the signs of the times, that now is always the time for solidarity with those who are suffering. The signs of the times call us to live graciously as our Heavenly Father is gracious toward us.

To this end, we pledge to be signs of God’s generosity through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in solidarity in a particular way with our brothers and sisters: To begin each day with the Lord’s Prayer, remembering that the Bread of Heaven at Holy Eucharist is intricately tied to striving so that all shall have daily bread; to abstain from a meal or simplify our eating habits each day; and to give the cost of this meal or savings from simplified eating to Episcopal Relief and Development or equivalent relief organizations for the work of disaster relief amongst our sisters and brothers both far and near.

At a time when our Communion is impaired by conflict and many search far and wide for signs of God’s tangible grace, we invite you to join us in the work of Christ, living into our Baptismal Covenant as we seek to serve Christ in all peoples, loving our neighbor as ourselves.


lux Christi vobis,
*Christopher and Annie

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Copied verbatim from *Christopher

Note: I am not suggesting that charity is something that only Christians do or that is it a uniquely Christian thing to do. I don't see why this cannot be done in the secular realm too.

Blame the poor - II

My friend Sinoindian in his comment :

What's wrong in congratulating oneself for succeeding? We need to feel good about ourselves and sometimes, we also need self appreciation in order to improve further. How can we call it as "Vanity"?

That was not what I was getting at. This precisely is what I was getting at.

You know when you go about believing you owe your success to no one and that you made it on your own, it follows that you think that those who aren't as successful as you are, deserve the blame for being so.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

John Donne

Lets take the very simple act of me posting something in English sitting in the USA. This would not have been possible without a whole lot of people, who wouldn't have got to where they could have helped me if not for others. So though I do owe my 'success' or precisely my present position in life to my individual efforts, I realize I have been entirely fortunate in getting here.

Where do I start? The missionaries who ensured my village is made up of landowners who aren't daily laborers for rich landlords, the same missionaries, who stressed the importance of education or my grandfather who made sure all his children would go to school or more importantly ensured that his family realized the importance of a good education. (My grandfather was in the first batch that graduated from his district, and dare I say one of the few from his caste to even go to college.)

My parents would not have got where they are without their parents rising out of their circumstances and as inspiring as it is, they could not have done it all alone. My parents had to walk five miles to reach school and the only time they were allowed to take a bus was when it rained, and if it rained really hard.(Something my parents never tired of telling me, makes me wonder what kind of a story of hardship, I would tell my kids :) ) For every family that could send its children to school, there were undoubtedly countless who could not, as they could send their children to work, to make much needed money. So is the child to blame for not going to school or not making more of its life and on becoming an adult is he/she to blame if he/she has not managed to come out of poverty? I do not think so.

Now this is not to say that I should think of how I got here each time I achieve something or that I played no part at all in getting here. My grandfather made it cos he studied hard as did my parents. I am justifiably proud of and thankful to them. But if my mother or Father said they owe their success to no one else, that would not ring true to me and I have not heard them saying so either.

Vanity - Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; Vanity is not the same as congratulating oneself, is it?

One can congratulate oneself on his success while at the same time realizing that he owes at least a part of his success to society. And such a realization , I am sure would help one in not reflexively blaming the disadvantaged.