Feature: A catalyst for reform?

The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai have reinvigorated a spectre that was rapidly diminishing in the minds of most – the spectre of organised terror.  Even India, long attacked by fundamentalist terrorists for its secularism and democracy, was itself shocked by this brazen raid on progressive thought.  Mumbai’s symbol of power and wealth, the Taj Mahal Hotel (coincidentally also one of its easiest targets), along with a group of other buildings including hangouts for the affluent and a Jewish centre, were brutally raided by a group calling themselves the ‘Deccan Mujahideen’ (The Economist 2008).

 

Digest: Asia – Obama and South Asia [Part One]

The new president-elect of the United States is a ground breaking candidate in more ways than one.  The first African American president also seems to be the most popular president-elect outside of the United States.  As evidenced by The Economist’s Global Vote 2008 online feature, Mr. Obama is overwhelmingly more popular around the world than Mr. McCain (The Economist 2008).  Mr. Obama was clearly the supported candidate in both the New and Old Worlds, with overwhelming support stretching from Central America through Europe to East Asia.  An area where Mr. Obama himself has shown particular interest is South Asia.

 

Arts: November recommendations

Another installment!

Mahratta’s Picks

Cover art by Neil Fujita

While it may not be a new listen for me, one of my all-time favourite (and popular, to bat) jazz albums is the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s marvelous breakthrough Time Out. After their first few “Jazz”-name albums (Jazz Goes to College, Jazz at Oberlin, etc.), all excellent in their own right, the Quartet released their most well-known album.  The album entirely reflects the work of the Quartet.  The cool jazz airiness of Paul Desmond’s alto saxophone and Joe Morello’s immaculately timed drum lines contrasts brilliantly with Eugene Wright’s sometimes minimalist, sometimes walking, but never overpowering basslines and Dave Brubeck’s heavy-set, contrapuntal piano undertones. The album is almost entirely not written in common (4/4) time, another hallmark of the third-stream personifying Quartet.

 

Digest: Americas – The facts lie

How much has there really been?

It seems that what was once a distant dream – a youthful, liberal, African-American senator ascending through the ranks of the bureaucrats to become president – may be materializing into a reality.  The most recent poll puts Barack Obama some 9 percent ahead of John McCain (Washington Post 2008) less than two weeks before the election.  However, many have started questioning the validity of these polls and an old spectre has manifested itself in a different guise – racism in politics.  Could some white American voters have personal racial reservations with a black candidate and be masking it when they are questioned?  Could some black American voters be backing the candidate of their racial background publicly in order to conform with their societies?

 

Science Digest: The LHC’s problem – setback, or saving grace?

Higgs, oh Higgs boson, wherefore art thou?

Everyone had their eyes on the Large Hadron Collider on September 10th as they circulated the first particle beams under the Franco-Swiss border.

The LHC or Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator complex.  The particle accelerator has been utilized for hundreds of years, originally in the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) of Ferdinand Braun (CNET 2007).  In this basic particle accelerator, an ‘electron gun’ produces a stream of electrons (negatively charged fundamental particles of matter) (CNET 2007).  These electrons are directed towards a flourescent screen by either an electric or magnetic field (Physics Online, 2006).  When the electrons ‘collide’ with the flourescent screen, the electrons’ energy is released as light and, with repetition and multiplication of the aforementioned technique, images are produced upon the screen.

 

Arts & Recommendations

Mahratta’s Picks

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading into the various philosophies and movements in continental Europe (mainly the Germanosphere) that led to the racial theories of Nazi Germany in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s detailed and informative The Occult Roots of Nazism.  The book is slightly demanding when it comes to previous knowledge of 19th and 20th century German history and occult philosophy, however, this allows the author to delve into the topic and gives the book incredible depth.  The reader should have a basic knowledge of the religious / mystical movements of Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and their social counterparts like Social Darwinism, Ariosophy, Freemasonry, and the writings of Mme. Blatavsky, among others, since the summary of these above works is painfully brief and advanced for someone who has no basic knowledge of the subject.  However, if the reader ventures into the aforementioned territory and looks into it, then this book will prove to be a real gem to the history buff and the philosophy lover alike.

 

Musings: Divided they stand, part 2

The last feature (found here) on the Great Conservative Divide compared global conservatism to global liberalism and posed a question as to why conservatives just can’t seem to get along.  This feature will build on this comparison by examining the divide through an interesting concept that resurfaced in Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, graciously lent to me by a kind soul.   This principle will also indicate that it is not just the Thatcherites and Reaganites that have all the problems – although they share the same general ideology, liberals have problems with eachother as well.  In his work, Jared Diamond quoted and adjusted the first words in Leo Tolstoy’s famous Anna Karenina, lending its name to Mr. Diamond’s aptly named Anna Karenina Principle.

“Happy marriages are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

 

Compiling a Compiler (Part 2)

When building a computer there are many things that come into play when deciding on what parts to choose. You must think of how much you have to spend, what you will be using the computer for, if you need anything specific in the computer, if you’re planning to upgrade your computer in the near future and much more. First thing is first though, to build a computer you must know the different parts and what they actually do. Although many people think that high end computers must be over $2000, but in actuality a computer that runs fast, is prepared for the future and can be upgraded as much as you’d like can be very cheap.

 

Arts: July recommendations

Well, we’ve decided to continue with our monthly recommendations of various media:

Mahratta’s Picks

As I like to be up-to-date on events in both my home countries, I try to find reliable sources for both Indian and Canadian news.  I subscribe to a periodical on South Asian affairs called Pragati, undoubtedly the most thought-provoking periodical on Indian issues that is available on the web.  The periodical discusses affairs that affect not only the socioeconomic, military and other development of India, but also discusses issues that are global problems, like the continuation of Islamist terrorism in South Asia.  For anyone that is interesting on gaining new perspectives on global affairs and enjoys a style of writing that is similar to publications like the Economist, this periodical is ideal.

 

Feature: Home Computers, People, and DOING IT YOURSELF

Do it yourself. Are you sure you want to continue (Y/N)?

The words “do it yourself” do not necessarily strike fear into my heart. After reading Certeis’ post, I must say that I did buy a HP desktop PC about a year ago. It was a great buy and still performs excellently, but I must admit that I didn’t thoroughly consider creating a custom-built PC. I shrugged it off because I believed it’d be too expensive, and I don’t have much experience with motherboard and CPU installation. However, to most people, it’s simply not possible or inconsiderable. One point made was that it’s simply a matter of committing time to doing it, and it won’t be difficult. However, most users usually find the pre-made PC installation/setup process painful enough (hence the overpriced $120 installation service by Dell (Dell Canada, 2008)). People do not try because they simply do not like computers, or rather, their hardware. Users just simply want access to Facebook and games. The computer is the tool to get there. They don’t want to mess around and learn how to install parts on it. They avoid it as much as possible when not in need of it. The computer is a small insignificance to the pressures of modern daily life. That’s why viruses and etc. are a persisting problem. That’s why there must be dedicated people that take care of the computers when it has to do with business and critical applications. In fact, most of the time, once people are notified that they have a virus, they don’t care. Exhibit A…