What makes people in different countries and of different sexes laugh? According to this article on global humor by Macha Sery of France’s Le Monde newspaper, a recent study on the subject concluded: “All countries, or almost all, have made a specialty of mocking their leaders and their neighbors, territories or populations. … The best customers for jokes, whatever their nature, are the Germans,...

In my earlier post I wrote about Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrated on August 14. This post is about India’s Independence Day (August 15). Two people who spelt out powerfully the aspirations/vision of free modern India were Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Mahatma Gandhi motivated Indian masses during the freedom struggle. Tagore’s...

India and Pakistan won freedom from the British colonial rule in August 1947. Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day anniversary today (on August 14), while India marks it a day later. Let’s look at the media reports of celebrations in Pakistan. Pakistani leaders called for peaceful relations with India and announced new rights for tribesmen (in the militant-infested area) along the border with Afghanistan,...

Hello readers. Disqus (our 3rd party commenting system) has been having some difficulties with spam filters and their databases. As a result, a large number of legit comments have been flagged as spam. We are in the process of un-marking those legit comments (not too fast and not too slow but tedious enough). Disqus is actively working this issue and it’s getting better. So if your comment doesn’t...

Keeping in mind the horrors of the two world wars, a clutch of conventions were adopted six decades ago this month in Geneva, and these agreements still form a bedrock for the laws of war and the protection of non-combatants. The Economist raises important points about these in the present context. “Do the old rules really apply in such conflicts? And if they still do, how can they be enforced more effectively,...

While we might have grown somewhat used to stories of piracy on the open seas, those events usually take place in some isolated part of the Indian Ocean or off the coast of Africa. But a story is now emerging that we may be seeing the first example of piracy in European waters. According to the stories a Maltese flagged ship sailed through the English Channel but never made it to Gibraltar. The story also indicates...

Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, Burma’s popular leader under detention for years, once said that “it is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it…” Now, the Myanmar or Burmese military junta has further extended her house arrest by 18 months. Ms Suu Kyi’s 18-month sentence will prevent her from taking any direct part in the next year’s scheduled general...

Hello TMV readers. There will be some downtime on the site starting at 11pm EST/8pm PST today. The site needs some general housekeeping and behind-the-scenes updating. You may see a maintenance screen or an error message for about 90 minutes max (hopefully less than that). This work should improve overall site response time and eliminate some non-functioning, search-related ads that cause site slowdowns. Thank...

Is Michelle Obama the power behind the White House throne in Washington? Or is it the American Vice-President Joe Biden? Or, Chief of White House staff Rahm Emanuel? Could it be State Department chief Hillary Clinton? Or, Barack Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson? “You may not recognise her face, or her name. Yet Valerie Jarrett is arguably the most powerful person in the White House apart from...

The arrival of the “People’s Car” (equivalent US$2,421) — Nano – on Indian roads “is a symbol of the coming-of-age of mass consumerism in the developing world,” says Andrew Buncombe of The Independent. “India’s roads are broken and inadequate, the country is overcrowded and there is a middle class of anywhere up to 300 million people who might be tempted...

As a Vietnam War era veteran, I received most of my higher education using the (”old”) G.I. Bill—with extensions—and with the help of other military educational programs and assistance. So, on Monday, I was delighted to hear President Obama welcome the extension of GI Bill education benefits to our post-9/11 veterans with these words: While so many were reaching for the quick buck,...

In Chinese astrology 2009 is the “Year of the Ox”. Only that person or a nation, it is said, would remain unscathed if it works its backside off this year. US president Barack Obama was born in the “Year of the Ox”, and his nose is tied to the grindstone. But he might just work out some miracles…provided his countrymen share his burden instead of nitpicking. Among various alternatives...

Like people the world over, the Russians are puzzling over how much attention to pay to the utterances of our own vice president, Joe Biden. Days ago, Vice President Biden gave what was, from a Russian perspective, an insulting if not alarming interview with the Wall Street Journal, during which he said that Russia is so weak that it would ‘bend’ to America’s will. This article from Russia’s...

The U.S. military, by its very nature, is full of history and traditions. Recently, I learned about one of those great historical traditions. The U.S. Navy has the long and honorable tradition of naming war ships after its fallen heroes. This tradition dates back to well before World War I. One report has it that it goes back to 1819, even before the Civil War. The USS Farragut, a guided missile destroyer...

Rajmata (or Queen Mother) Gayatri Devi, of the erstwhile princely state of Jaipur in India, passed away at age 90. In her youth, when she was a Queen, the Vogue magazine described her as one of the 10 most beautiful women in the world. She was cremated with full state honors…See here… Gayatri Devi was one of the few people remaining who could vividly describe the life of fabulous wealth of the old...

Let me share my random thoughts…When lust takes center stage, the thinking and rational behaviour flies out of the window. We live in a promiscuous age/world where America provides, apart from huge arms and war material, 80 per cent of pornography world-wide. Now a question: Why is the USA pumping so much money in Afghanistan? It looks more like a case where a love-lorn or lust-stricken person puts at...

In seeking to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zalaya to office, is the United States doing the right thing? The Honduran Congress and military, who ousted Zalaya for violating that nation’s constitution by seeking another term, certainly have tremendous support. And according to columnist Gloria Leticia Pineda from La Prensa of Honduras, those who support the new government have a bone to pick...

Dahlia Lithwick, a contributing editor to Newsweek and senior editor at Slate, is a brilliant Constitutional lawyer and scholar who has written extensively on the United States Supreme Court and on the Court’s cases and opinions. No wonder she has been intensely focused on what impact the recent elections will have on the composition of our country’s highest court. In fact, Lithwick was pondering...

On The Tonight Show, William Shatner did a “reading” of the poetry inherent in Sarah Palin’s farewell address as governor of Alaska: I’m speechless… — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Del.icio.us : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Zooomr : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Flickr : Sarah Palin, William...

Update to “One More Fallen Hero to Receive the Medal of Honor” The Following is a White House statement on the award of the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Jared C. Monti, U.S. Army: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release July...

I do not eat kosher but I learned to cook kosher for friends and family when I was younger. I personally enjoy cooking and eating roast pork, barbequed baby-back ribs, pork sausages, pork chops and even bacon or prosciutto. (I’m not going to prepare a luncheon anytime soon for Temple Beth Israel.) About once a week I’ll eat some form of pig meat. I also eat a variety of other meats during the week but...

Azle,Texas is a small town, about 10 miles northwest of Fort Worth, with a population of about 12,000—about 93 percent white and 4 percent Hispanic. It is suddenly in the national news. The reason: one of its residents has posted a “Hispanics Keep Out” sign on the front of his or her home. Reportedly the sign has been up for months. According to khou.com, “Many residents said they would...

This week’s solar eclipse grabbed major headlines in Asia and the world (pics here). “Solar eclipses are indeed a marvel of Nature, and the media’s excitement was justified,” says Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene, our Guest Columnist. “For once, it was good to see them devoting a great deal of airtime and print/web space for something that was not violent, depressing or life-threatening. “How...

Who is the insect world’s greatest traveler? …And the prize goes to Pantala flavescens, a species of dragonfly. A British naturalist has claimed that this 5cm-long dragonfly may hold the record for the longest migration, from southern India to Africa and then back — a distance of 12,000 miles. Andrew Buncombe of The Independent reports: ” ‘It’s an amazing story,’ said...

“Secular” India and “Islamic” Pakistan try to suppress prostitution but ignore the plight of thousands of people involved in this highly risky but widely practised profession. Some NGOs have done commendable work, such as a recent drive in Karachi to promote health awareness among sex workers. Lahore, Karachi, Calcutta, Bombay and Lucknow were among the traditional urban centers in undivided...