culture
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Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
There is no way other parts of the world can be opened up for you; there is no way that you can release new things out of you, if you do not allow yourself to expand beyond where it is you are right now.
Because as you continue to do the same old things over and over again, you go through the same patterns, you have the same thinking process that you come up with the same old ideas.
– Stephen Pierce, successful entrepreneur and internet marketer
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Freedom and Responsibility
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007
Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth … That is why I recommend that the Statute of Liberty on the East Coast be supplanted by a Statute of Responsibility on the West Coast.
– Viktor E. Frankl in “Man’s Search for Meaning”
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Photolurking, blog streaking and cheesepodding: The new Internet addictions
Saturday, December 30th, 2006
The Internet has given birth to a quirky range of modern addictions and maladies, the British weekly New Scientist says in its Christmas issue published this Saturday.They include these:
- EGO-SURFING: When you frequently check your name and reputation on the Internet.
- BLOG STREAKING: “Revealing secrets or personal information online which for everybody’s sake would be best kept private.” - CRACKBERRY: “The curse of the modern executive: not being able to stop checking your BlackBerry, even at your grandmother’s funeral.”
- GOOGLE-STALKING: Defined as “snooping online on old friends, colleagues or first dates.”
- CYBERCHONDRIA: “A headache and a particular rash at the same time? Extensive online research tells you it must be cancer.”
- PHOTOLURKING: Flicking through a photo album of someone you’ve never met.
- WIKIPEDIHOLISM: Excess devotion to contributing to the online collaborative encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. (Wikipedia even has a page where you can test whether you’re an addict: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Are-You-a-Wikipediholic-Test)).
- CHEESEPODDING: Downloading of a song “so cheesy that you could cover it in plastic wrap and sell it at the deli counter.” Cheesepodders are especially vulnerable to soft-rock favourites from the 1970s. - AFP/sh
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Mukhtar Mai - Against all odds
Friday, December 29th, 2006
Check out the blog of Pakistani gang-rape victim Mukhtar Mai on BBC.
It’s quite sad - the state that many women find themselves in some parts of the world. Even in our amidst, we often hear of women who are battered by their husbands or suffer in some way.
A male chavinistic culture is like a physical chain which ties her down, and women living in this kind of society do have much greater limitations to deal with.
What can we do ? Chipping away at the roots of a culture is a massive task. Is it possible or not ? Well I suppose only time can tell - but thousands of years have passed and the problem still exists. On a practical level, I think education and financial ability are probably two areas which can have the most direct impact.
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Bullshit
Friday, December 29th, 2006
Can you believe this… Someone has actually done an academic research on the topic of ‘bullshit’ and published a book on it.
I was at a bookshop the other day and chanced upon such a book. I did not believe my eyes and had to blink a few times to confirm. Yeah there it was.. B.S. staring squarely into my face.
The subject is given serious treatment, though, not some book written in jest. It contained the basics of an academic writing - definition, terminology, different types, schools of thought, etc… the author is a Professor of Philosophy in the University of Princeton.
Some of the discussion which I found rather amusing :
* bullshit is likened to hot air embodying empty talk
* talking bullshit is different fm lying. a person who lies does so with intent to deceive, while he who bullshits may not begin with such an intent.
To read more about B.S., visit your local bookstore, say ”philosophy” section and look for a small palm-sized black-covered book with the topic boldly printed.
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