Kant & me

The fact that I just bought this book at the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore while back on campus at the University of Chicago summarizes a lot about who I am and where I'm going..




On one hand it shows that I do have an interest for academic things that are a bit outside of normal readings. On the other hand the manner I have to brush up on Kant is completely against everything I learned: depending on secondary sources.

Moreover how can a 100 page skinny little book do any justice to the topic?!

Sure I have Kant's Critique on Reason at home, but that will just take too long to sort through. Bite size fortune cookie summaries for me please.

- Posted while wandering about

Location:S Kimbark Ave,Chicago,United States

Reggie Benjamin: Part 2

Over the years I’ve written about a lot of random things from spotting Indian people in the wild to music thoughts – some years I’ve been more consistent in writings, and others well, let’s just say less so. But the one posting which has gotten the most hits bar none is my one I did a few years back on Indian superstar music sensation Reggie Benjamin. Now the posting highlighted the fact that he was really not the entirely robust on talent…. And moreover the he may be a borderline fraud. The comments however have taken a life of their own. Look I’m not exactly cnn.com that gets a bagillion comments to each asinine posting so I think 50 comments is a pretty good hit ratio. And what’s even better is that there is a regular trickle of a comment or two every month or so. Good times all around.
Now just for a moment stop being a selfish bastard and put yourself in my shoes . Everyday I putz about my regular life and my inbox gets a periodic interruption from a notice from blogspot that someone how commented to an posting I wrote 6 years ago. Now I don’t look at the ol’ blog every day but the random reminders that I have one is helpful. With the recent comments – all of which center on him being a fraud and/or terrible looking - I’ve gotten more blog reminders than normal. So it’s funny to think that perhaps Reggie Benjamin’s awfulness has both (1) brought together a hodge-podge of random readers who hath been wronged by him and (2) pushed me back into writing.

Who would’ve thunk?

So with that I think it was only apt that I do something proper with Reggie Benjamin that was more insightful than simply writing about what I think of him… no no no, I need to go big. I need to interview Reggie and I’m going to figure out a way.


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I-day, tatti, & Mamata didi

This is classic…. So there’s a long online article about a writer’s view that on this Independence Day India should do something about its distinct lack of toilets in the country
http://zeenews.india.com/blog/29/blog857.html

*The writer starts out rather innocently:
“Every morning Mamata didi (I call her didi), who washes dishes at my place, picks up a canister of water and heads to a nearby meadow to attend nature’s call. No, no, I am not reciting any story but, this is a stark truth that she told me a few days back. Out of oddity, I further asked her as to why does she defecate in the open? To which she giggled and humbly replied that she does not have a toilet at her house. It was eccentric for me as she has been dwelling and working in India’s capital for over fifteen years now, but still does not have a toilet in her house.”

*From this she goes on to speak of some startling facts:
“A report by the WHO and the UNICEF that showed India in a poor light says that India has a shocking number of 58% of all people who defecate in the open. China and Indonesia share the second place with just 5% of their population not having toilets. Pakistan and Ethiopia are third with 4.5% such people.”

*And then spends the balance of the next page talking about the social and health impacts:
“…when this waste flows down to rivers and lakes during the time of rains, the urban India receives the same contaminated water. Now, this contaminated water spreads various water borne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera”

*She tries to then end this piece on a positive note:
“Sikkim has become the first ‘Nirmal Rajya’, i.e.100 percent open defecation-free state in the country with Kerala and Himachal Pradesh following the same footsteps.”

*And concludes with the patriotic:
“So, this Independence Day, let us be free from the shackles of our ‘old and burdened’ habits and make India a heaven where every child and adult is ‘healthy’."

…after all this I cracked up when I read the first comment to this impassioned article. I was expecting someone to write about how the writer was correct in putting a spotlight on this important issue or better yet some well thought-out rant against the government, instead I got this from a reader named Jason in Punjab

“how about letting Mamata didi use your toilet?”

Olympics, bhangra, & sports

Oh snap, I'm actually writing in my blog again...

So if you were watching the Olympic closing ceremonies last night, you probably saw bhangra dancers prominently featured during the end of the Monty Python sketch… it was actually pretty funny (in my view anyways). But why was it included? There are two reasons I think… one is a simple answer, the other is pure speculation and perhaps more interesting

1. Sorta clear answer: England obviously has a big Indian community and the British Punjabi’s there helped make bhangra super popular starting in the early 90s. Heck most of the best bhangra music comes from desis who live in England (and they play bhangra on the radio there). So there is a cultural element to why a ceremony celebrating British culture would incorporate influences both to and from it. Plus people who look like Hugh Grant/ Mr. Bean are on one end of the spectrum of what is seen as "being British", and people with turbans certainly is at the other end. By including them in the show it implicitly encompasses everyone else between those two bookends.

 2. Not so clear (and potentially a huge stretch): This is one I pieced together from reading a few articles on The Guardian’s website. So England used to have a program called “The Schools Sports Partnerships” which funded physical activities and exercise for school children, so things like soccer, but not exclusively organized sports. In fact some of the activities include dance classes (similar to how some NY public schools offer ballroom dancing to elementary school kids). It had a budget of £162m and was apparently popular, but it was a victim of recent budget cuts. To help justify being cut the English PM mentioned that while money for kids playing sports is good, he noted some schools were using funds by “doing things like Indian dance or whatever.” 

Okay I understand times are tough for budgets everywhere, but PM Cameron could’ve been a bit more tactful with his wording. With the success of the London games some folks have started to ask for the program to be re-instated.  Now the chairman for the London Organizing Committee for the Olympics Games is a chap named Lord Coe, a former British athlete (and former member of Parliament!) who is basically looked upon now as the person in charge if the legacy of the games…or in other words increasing physical activity amongst kids in Britain. Maybe this includes having kids playing soccer, maybe it just means to encourage kids to get off their bums… who knows. Well, as it turns out Lord Coe’s mother is half-Indian. Having the PM make mock both Indian culture and dance as a form of exercise had to annoy Lord Coe just a wee bit... So fast forward to the closing ceremonies and you see bhangra literally at center stage. So much for “Indian dance” not having a place

So there. Big ups to The Guardian which had the main reading material for this...

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BBQ Mix

something to eat hot dogs to

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PODCAST: DJ Shakes_2012-02-28 (the Return)

Download by right-clicking HERE or...

...PODCAST ME: Simply drag the orange podcast icon on the left column of this page (under "Podcast Me!") into your iTunes. Or:
1. goto iTunes
2. click on Advanced
3. click on Subscribe to Podcast
4. paste this URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/EngineEngine9

T R A C K L IS T I N G (approx 50 min)
http://hbshakes.blogspot.com
theme: The Return
[0:00] Intro
[2:25] Chemical Brothers - Private Psychedelic Reel
[5:36] CJ Bolland - Sugar Is Sweeter (Armand's Drum 'n' Bass Mix)
[9:34] Synergy - Hello Strings
[12:30] Rainbow Arabia - Mechanical
[16:14] Black Moon - Crooklyn Dodgers
[19:19] Common - Invocation
[20:55] Ready for the World - Oh Sheila
[24:01] George McCrae - Rock You Baby
[27:08] Kavinsky - Nightcall (feat Lovefoxxx)
[30:17] Rick Ross - B.M.F.
[32:33] Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
[34:00] Silent Dust - 1959 (Calibre Remix)
[36:48] Debbie Gibson - Only In My Dreams
[39:11] Adrian Lux - Teenage Crime
[43:01] Phil Collins - Easy Lover
[46:32] Dan Black - Symphonies

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web comment of the day

One of the greatest things ever isn't the fact that news can be shared instantaneously via the internet, it's the fact that websites think its a good idea to add a comments section under all their new articles. In the hopes of getting people to interact and further discuss a topic, comment sections usually spiral horribly downward and become a virtual public restroom bathroom door wall. It's awesome.


Here's my favorite for the day on ESPN, a seemingly sweet article about the rejuvenated Buffalo Sabres having players and the owner hand deliver tickets to season ticket holders. Instead in this excerpt you can see poor A.J. Burnett gets slandered for no good reason:

Ricardo Roman: "how about the Steinbrener family come to my home and deliver me some Yankee tickets"
TML954: "Maybe AJ Burnett can deliver them for you"
Sabrefan6248: "Burnett would deliver the first 4 just fine and then blow up and deliver the rest to the wrong houses"
MattSiF: "That's just messed up, and I don't even like the guy"

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PODCAST: DJ Shakes_2011-09-12 (Japan)

Download by right-clicking HERE or...

PODCAST ME:
Simply drag the orange podcast icon on the left column of this page (under "Podcast Me!") into your iTunes. Or:

1. goto iTunes
2. click on Advanced
3. click on Subscribe to Podcast:
4. paste this URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/EngineEngine9

T R A C K L IS T I N G (approx 57 min)
http://hbshakes.blogspot.com
theme: songs I listened to in Japan (for whatever reason)

[0:00] 地球の歩き方 - The Collectors

[2:17] Jail La La - Dum Dum Girls

[4:33] Always Forever Now - U2

[8:00] Billie Holiday - Warpaint

[11:08] Subterranean Homesick Alien - Radiohead

[15:16] Shelter (John Talabot Feel It Too Remix) - The XX

[21:20] I Want Freedom - Chris Joss

[23:16] Yoshio & the Guitar - DJ Yoshio

[24:26] Eye Know - De La Soul

[28:14] The World (Interlude) - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

[28:53] Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine

[32:45] Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

[36:36] Beautiful - Yura Yura Teikoku

[40:17] Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood

[44:05] Act Like We Do - National Skyline

[46:50] Halcyon (Tom Middleton Re-model) - Orbital

[53:33] Symphonies - Dan Black

[57:01] Ok - Talvin Singh

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Desis Overheard

Location: Kyoto, Japan. On a tour of Nijo Castle, the Golden Temple, and the Imperial Palace
This family of three was on my tour, when I heard this gem of a conversation:

Auntie: This is a lovely garden
Uncle: Yes, it really is. You know Sonia used to be a gardener
Auntie: She was not. She was a landscaper. That is very different
Little boy: [silent]
Uncle: But what she did was still quite good, right?
Auntie: You would know.

Late on the little boy claimed he had tried beer once ("as a little kid") because the dad gave it to him. The dad then told him not to tell lies as the boy proceeded to describe a very plausible scenario of being able to have a sip while the dad had been watching TV. The dad then told him to lower his voice even though it was already low and that it was actually root beer and the boy was very wrong. Given the earlier "Sonia Incident" the dad seemed leery of his wife.

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