Dear friends, Hope you are all doing well. What a wildly exciting and exuberant weekend it was! There was the blizzard (pictures on http://flickr.com/sankarx and http://meetup.com/nature-lovers/photos ) that took its place in Washington history by burying us under almost two feet of snow, then there was the nail biting climax to the health care vote in the Senate, an exhilarating walk through the suddenly car-free streets of Capitol Hill with Nicole, a great hike in Rock Creek Park (western section) enjoying spectacular scenery, and then today the news that our good friend Niranjan just became a father. What a time to welcome a child to the world! Earlier this year another good friend Chris became a father as well. It has been truly a magical and blessed year. I hope it has been equally blessed for you. But regardless of what happens, each day of our life is a blessing. In that spirit, I WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, KWANZAA, NEW YEAR, PONGAL, … Yours, Sankar Random thoughts (81) 12/21/2009 1. (11/29/09) Today was a beautiful clear day, especially considering that this is almost December. I felt grateful to be alive and to be enjoying this day with loved ones. Nicole and I walked down 4th street along the reservoir and the elegant and quiet albeit rapidly gentrifying Ledroit Park residential area. After sending her off at the bus stop I was walking back home along Georgia Ave. All along the way there were indicators of usual inner city problems – trash, broken glass, crime, drugs…yet when I did not think about these and looked at everything with a detached eye it was as beautiful as the streets I walked on, on the other side of the campus of Howard University. Then I asked myself, how could I maintain the same equanimity and high spirits when the scene is not elegant and pleasing as when it is. It struck me that the basis for my reaction to the scene was my need for peace and happiness, and in turn my peace and happiness were founded, at least in part, on things being in a certain way. But if I accepted all things as part of life, without reacting to them based on how they make me feel, then they actually don’t have any effects on my feeling! For instance, if you accept all aspects of weather, be it rain or wind or cold or heat, as merely different aspects each with their own beauty and adding to the beauty of the whole of weather, then you actually start enjoying rain and wind and cold and heat, instead of wishing that it would always be like Hawaii, sunny with temperatures in the 70’s and a pleasant breeze. [It is nice to be in Hawaii, though :)]. 2. (11/29/09) from Malachi 3:5 (Old testament): “And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.” I found it interesting how the Bible says we need to take care of those who are powerless and exploited and marginalized. This is probably a passage that is oft quoted by progressives. Wonder how people who oppose legalization of undocumented workers, labor unions, welfare programs, etc., interpret this passage, especially if they also believe in every word of the Bible. 3. (12/3/09) Looks like every time Obama is doing something serious, something silly happens to distract everyone. The Salahis crashing the state dinner with India’s PM; Joe Wilson shouting “You lie” during the health care address to Congress; the beer summit; Obama himself mouthing off about Special Olympics during a key interview with Leno (or was it Letterman?). On the bright side, these things serve as comic relief during these extremely difficult times. 4. (12/4/09) I saw this post on Facebook by Edray Goins, a fellow Caltech alum and number theorist currently at Purdue, regarding a friend’s struggles with her neuroscience course: “your brain is probably tired from thinking about how brain works.” As scientists examine the structure and working of the brain more and more deeply, at some point they are going to run into some kind of limitation, similar to the uncertainty principle in Physics, as well as the Godel’s incompleteness theorems in mathematics. Perhaps then scientists will turn to Philosophers, both from East and West. Perhaps there is only so much we can understand about the working of our own thought processes. To explore the outer world we need a map. But we don't need a map to find where things are on our own body because we know exactly where each limb is. I think it is in the same way that logic and analytical thinking are limited in their scope when it comes to understanding our own consciousness. 5. (12/11/09) I really admired Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech. But this whole concept of just war makes me queasy deep inside, like a tiny grain of sand inside your shoe rubbing against your foot. 6. (12/12/09) We saw “Invictus” today. I was impressed by Mandela’s big heart and strong will as depicted by Morgan freeman. He has this ease about himself and generosity of spirit at all times. Nicole calls it Obama-zen. Speaking of Obama it was clear to me after the movie that he is not in the same class of leadership as Mandela, in spite of his amazing ability to remain calm amidst all the commotion. Of course it is too much to expect anyone to be in the same class as Mandela, who has such spiritual and moral authority as well as leadership skills. Nevertheless, I am optimistic that Obama will grow as years pass. Already he is showing signs. The Afghanistan and health care issues have made him step up and assert his leadership role. Unfortunately the US is not South Africa and so he cannot be as effective as Mandela. There are so many more obstacles for him here in the US. But I think he is doing the best possible under the circumstances. 7. (12/15/09) Keeping fingers crossed that health care “reform” of some kind passes. While I am disappointed that the public is being misled by all the fear-mongering propaganda, it is even more disappointing that some Democrats are being scared away by it as well. Otherwise we could have had a strong public option. In any case, I hope Obama and the democrats do a good job after they pass the healthcare bill of selling it to the public. I think whatever passes will be a good start and hope that once people understand that it is beneficial, there is support for stronger reform. We really need to protect people from the hard choice between medical care and bankruptcy. We also need to slow down the increase in health care costs. By stronger reform I mean one which addresses the core issue – the way healthcare providers are paid for the quantity of services than the quality. As it stands right now the bills being under consideration seem to be a patchwork of loose initiatives that would need significant monitoring later on, and a hope and prayer that they would make things better in the meantime. (Added on 12/18/09) I liked what Obama said about the bill—that it is as important to implement the health care bill as it is to pass it. I hope he will make sure that will happen. 8. Correction: In rt80 I described the St. Louis Today as an “otherwise conservative leaning” newspaper. But upon reading more, I find that it is in fact more liberal than the Washington Post. Good for St. Louis! But regret the hasty conclusion. Maybe USA Today will offer me a sensible viewpoint from the other (conservative or centrist) side? 9. Though I am disappointed with the difficulties at Copenhagen, I hope the foundations have been laid for a new beginning. In particular, I hope they try to bring a carbon tax instead of cap and trade. The revenue neutral Carbon Tax has the backing of James Hansen, has been proved to be successful and viable in British Columbia, and may even have the support of the fossil industries and some Republicans. To read more about carbon tax, go to http://www.carbontax.org/ where our friend James Handley is a frequent blogger. He even has a report from Copenhagen that is fun to read. 10. The long drawn out health care debate has been political theater of the most intense and dramatic kind. Starting with the incendiary town hall debates until the climactic last vote during a howling blizzard, the story of this historic effort is bound to make a gripping documentary feature. Looking at it this way I can feel a bit detached from it, and the noisy mindless debates, distortions and political calculations are a little less galling. After all as the poets say, all of life is just a stage...