Many amazing things were accomplished in the days before computers became ubiquitous and the world wide web became a distraction as well as a tool. Nazi Germany built the first jet fighter in the world, and was in the process of building a plane that bears a remarkable resemblance to the modern B2 bomber (although I think the stealth aspects of the “Hilter’s Stealth-Fighter” were an accidental...

Have you even wondered as I have about the people who make Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Persons” list who are not politicians or household names? I confess it is oftentimes my favorite segment on his nightly show on MSNBC. Tuesday night Olbermann singled out a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who he said maced and roughly threw to the ground and then handcuffed the hostess of an event at...

As in North America, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Oceania are united in at least one way: shock over the death of Michael Jackson. As part of our coverage of this cultural border-shattering event, we present this editorial by Sebastien Le Fol of France’s Le Figaro newspaper, which investigates why Michael Jackson’s demise has had the incredible impact reverberating around the world today. For...

1969 was the year I began my career as a journalist with a leading Indian daily. That was also the year when a memorable event called The Woodstock Festival took place in a far-away rural town of Bethel, New York, and caught my fancy. As The Independent recalls: “Performers flying in on helicopters – a portentous sight in the Vietnam era – food and drinks spiked with LSD, acts going on 14 hours or...

Tomorrow (that is Tuesday, June 30) would be a shameful day for Boston…. It is disbanding United States of America’s first mounted police unit. The AP report states: “(The Boston Mounted Unit’s) 12 horses would be given new homes — at least until the city can come up with funds to restore the unit.” What a shame that the budget cuts would hurt this 136-year-old historic police...

Is it conceivable that Iran and the United States have been working together in Iraq all along? At WORLDMEETS.US, we have documented over the years that there are a good number of people in Iraq that are fully convinced of this – often pointing to the fact that Iran is the country that has gotten the most out of the Iraq invasion. This op-ed from Iraq’s Al Iraq newspaper charges not only that...

If The Beatles managed to convey the increasing dominance of machine over man — with their voice and script struggling to rise over the clamour and force of musical instruments, Michael Jackson’s songs, accompanied with his unbeatable mechanical body movements, went a step further to deliver a similar message — the human beings gradually turning into robots. Thus, The Beatles and Michael Jackson...

University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson examines the “nanny corporation” and what he calls the “market for paternalism.” I’m going to be blogging all summer covering Chicago’s “works in progress” talks for the Faculty blog. There should be one going up each week — your chance to take a peek at what’s percolating at one of the world’s...

I never miss an opportunity to treat others, and myself, to mouth-watering ice creams and frozen custards. I was delighted that dad Barack Obama gave a yummy frozen custard treat to daughters Sasha and Malia on The Father’s Day. ABC News tells us that Sasha, his youngest daughter, went for the big chocolate brownie sundae with frozen yogurt, hot fudge, a cherry, sprinkles, and whipped cream. “But,...

It’s almost 15 minutes long, but it’s very funny. John Hodgman, the “PC” in the “Hi, I’m a Mac… And I’m a PC” commercials speaks at the Radio and Television Correspondent’s Dinner: President Obama flashes the Vulcan salute twice, so he really is our first nerd President. Cool… — Thanks to TrekMovie.com for the link to the video. — Cross-posted...

White-collar job opportunities are just drying up. A former scholar Matthew Crawford, a PhD. in political philosophy from University of Chicago who after his studies became a motorcycle mechanic, says “The trades suffer from low prestige. Because the work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid. This is not my experience.” Crawford writes in his book Shop Class as Soulcraft (and excerpted...

Happy Juneteenth! It’s nice that it falls on a Friday. Unfortunately, Chicago has been under a severe thunderstorm warning all day.

Orangette…Cannelle et Vanille…Chez Pim…Dorie Greenspan…Becks & Posh…Steamy Kitchen..Homesick Texan…The Bitten Word…Tartelette. Hey what are these funny names? If you ever get tired of reading the political blogs…you may turn your attention to the above mentioned “appetizing” blogs included in The Times “50 of the world’s best food...

My fascination for bus rides and backpacking/trekking has remained intact. I was delighted to learn that even among the car-loving Americans, bus travel is now becoming popular. Well, this may cause a social and economic revolution in the USA!!! People are more “loath to get into their cars.” The Federal Highway Administration says Americans drove 81 billion fewer miles in the year ended January...

I’ve seen so many stupid things in my life I’ve grown immune to outrageous, gratuitous comments but this one by PETA pushed my alarm button where I refuse to take it in silence. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is a buzz because President Obama during another one of his endless television interviews swatted and killed a pesky fly. If it was a gymnastic event, as judge I would have...

Every time I think they can’t get nuttier….. “We support compassion for the even the smallest animals,” says Bruce Friedrich, VP for Policy at PETA. “We support giving insects the benefit of the doubt.” Friedrich says PETA supports “brushing flies away rather than killing them” and was disappointed that the President had gone ahead and squashed the pesky fly.

Memo to anyone traveling to the White House: Watch Your Step! Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fell and injured her elbow this morning while walking to the White House. Her aids said she will undergo surgery soon. Several weeks ago Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor slipped and cracked an ankle at a Boston airport en route to visit the White House and Congress. Those on the injured list seeking appointments...

On long international flights, after I have exhausted my regular reading material, I sometimes resort to reading my U.S. passport. I have one of those “old” passports, the ones without the “sensitive electronics,” but also without much interesting reading material. Thus, I have by now pretty much memorized the gallant laissez-passer admonishment by our State Department: The Secretary of State of the...

The ex-Beatles pop music sensation Sir Paul McCartney and his two daughters are avidly campaigning for meatless Mondays to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock, among the most serious contributors to global warming.” The Independent reports: “The McCartneys have attracted support from across the worlds of showbusiness, science, business and the environment. The...

While the US media and the blogs are going hysterical about the health care issues of “Americans”, Mary Clare Jalonick (Associated Press Writer) provides us with a moving insight into the continued poverty, deprivation and neglect of the “other” Americans — the indigenous people who live within the borders of the United States of America. The story revolves round the death of...

I love American and Australian pies. They may be world apart in flavour and ingredients, but the pie lovers just can’t do without them. And here comes a fascinating biography… Pie is the latest in a series of small, engaging and beautifully illustrated books edited by food historian Ken Albala, who wrote last year’s entertaining Pancake, writes The Age. “Janet Clarkson, a GP and lecturer...

Graduate students spend a lot of time talking. One topic that we used to discuss, as music students, was various styles of music. Academic music of course, nothing more popular than Laurie Anderson. In retrospect, we came off as a bit pretentious. A quick look at the various periods of music history reveals that style periods got shorter as time marched on. While we don’t know as much as musicologists...

Charles de Gaulle (French general, writer and statesman, 1890-1970) once said “Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.” Australia’s High Commissioner to India John McCarthy has been a doyen among New Delhi’s diplomats for a record five years…that is until the dam burst a few weeks ago when the news of attacks on Indian students in Australia...

What a way to celebrate one’s 85th birthday!!! A jump from the plane…Up in the sky…And enjoying a wonderful bird’s eye view. That’s what former US President H.W. Bush did, and got an affectionate kiss from wife Barbara on safe landing. Also present on the scene was his son, former US president George W. Bush, who generally sought thrills of different kind!!! Bush famously skydived...

It is interesting how John Boynton Priestley (13 Sept 1894 – 14 Aug 1984) an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster, whose works I have admired/enjoyed, has become “a voice of our times”. Writes Benedict Nightingale in The Times: “Whether Priestley was writing tragedies, comedies or a mix of both, he was scathing about hypocrisy, pomposity, callousness, selfishness, cynicism, idleness...