“The Opposite of Poverty ..

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In too many places the opposite of poverty is justice.
- Bryan Stevenson Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative

A thought provoking idea. I thought there is so much rationale behind this idea. Not for anything else but Justice. Then, I was thinking, so can this be applied to say “The opposite to impact of subjugation, harassment, inequality etc. is …”? Is the answer same? Yes, but not in same context. Why not?
I think answer lies in the very perception I have about poverty. Is poverty just an impact of being deprived of wealth? If so, then lack of wealth is not necessarily always the single influencing factor towards such ills faced by wealth-deprived-section-of-society. Lack of wealth doesn’t need to translate to things like constant subjugation, harassment or inequality. In short, poverty is not always an impact of these. So what am I missing? Aha, the lack of Justice. It is the lack of Justice to poor which has linked poverty directly to such things in many societies including US. If however in India, lack of justice could be towards even rich. If there is no lack of Justice, poverty as a state of being can carry along as it is. Nothing wrong with it.
Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with this. Not everyone in a society can be rich nor can everyone be poor. Society is made of both and multitude of other states of being. Many a times it is just a choice of a sub-section of society or, if objectively put, choice of an individual. Sometimes educational or religious institutions affect these choices. But I am not here talking about all that.
I believe, a poor is no different than a wealthy. Both know this - “I need to earn to bargain for food, love, and education”. Both work towards so. However, the problem for the society arises when they step on each other’s toes when striding towards so. Then if society has to decide who is at fault, it is the test of Justice. Whom then does our laws of society side with? Poor or Wealthy? Hindu or Muslim? Kashmiri or State? Man or Woman? Wealthy corporation or Income Tax babus? Oh, by the way, if for society decides to side at all, there is end to Justice.
Lack of Justice, or society’s incapability to deliver Justice to any sub-section of society, in case of Bryan Stevenson - the poor, is what I want to talk about here. In fact, it is not Justice at all even when delivered to everyone in a nation but one (whoever that one be!).
So after writing so much I dare to modify his quote like this -

If an impact of an action is such that its an hindrance in thing’s ability to learn, express, love, and earn. Then opposite of that impact is Justice.

See I got it. It isn’t poverty, I was looking for a wider encompassing term – though an impact is all I could manage. Poverty at some places could be one such impact, but as I said before it also is driven by many other social and economic factors. Signing off with this wonderful TED talk by Bryan Stevenson, which inspired me to write after really long time!

We have just started the fire ..

(during this 50 years) Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight..

so said JFK in a speech to Rice university 1962. A breathtaking thought as far as I am concerned. Entire speech and video can be found here http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm

Minimalist culture in USA

I recently bumped onto few hilarious "downsides" of being minimalist - a new american eye-rolled-upon pop culture - as put by author here - http://mnmlist.com/pshh/

• If you travel lightly for a few weeks with only a small carry-on, customs officers might get suspicious — who travels with almost nothing, besides maybe a terrorist?

• You don’t get as good a workout walking around with a light bag instead of one laden with lots of stuff. I put weight plates in my backpack if I want to compensate for this

• When you go to other people’s houses, you might start mentally fantasizing about getting rid of their stuff for them 

• People will ask you, almost non-stop, how you can be a minimalist with so many kids .. 

I thought the last one was really funny!!

And now when I read beyond some of the above, there I was thinking again. It is crazy how this is such an enduring task for an individual. Being minimalist is preparing against this extreme authority of consumerism. They are really trying hard!

However, they might not have to (struggle) if this society didn't have such an inherent pressure of being productive every hour in a day. I know it is a far fetched deduction, but it is not entirely disconnected. This culture is about subjugating oneself to producing and then pampering oneself for doing so. And as more and more work force gets into industry of producing services for others, more this idea is getting out of hand. The returns of ones' production ability is going down, however, methods of pampering oneself is only following additive nature. Thus increasing gap between production and consumption. Aided by idea of sourcing cheap services from other countries (like soft services from third world, oil from middle east and goods from Asia pacific).

Coming in fair terms with one's productivitability is what first world "minimalist" and wait ... millions around the world!! .. have probably achieved (or trying to). Only difference is, it is so much an habit in other countries vs. the struggle in american culture.

p.s. when i say "american culture" it is really the "culture" that i am referring to and not entire population of Americans. This culture could and is easily found in many other parts of world including metro cities in India. My deductions could be hampered by my prejudices and I do not disclaim them. I do have some, as everyone does, because my deductions are solely a thought process and no where reflects actual research in topic.

Experience the canoeing...

sitting on the back seat of our canoe I was sure I will be carried to places where I wouldn't intend to be. Moreover, places where I DO NOT INTEND TO BE. But it happened. My steering didn't help and we kept crashing from one bank to another. So as we approached one end I start crying push away push away but no S has absolutely no idea what were those paddles for. first Bump! second Bump! then bushes! and then another where I find myself laying flat on my back. That is how we saved ourselves from hitting those tree branches hanging just about 2 feet over the Hocking river.. Pleasing to ears were those stranger claps later. It was definitely amazing for me that we made it through.

then... Soon we thought we had control over it but we hit a submerged log in the river.My partner thought he was pushing away but he ended by dragging the canoe more on top of it. Stuck we both, dared ourselves out of the canoe for first time - there was something scary getting of a boat right at the middle of a river. Good we realized we had to get on to it soon enough. But wait - did I miss this. I had the feeling when getting back on. I knew I could crash on my back anytime. And of course I did. That was painful! I do not really understand why people find someone's ass crashing so very funny.. It was painful!

then... We set off again. This time we really had everything in control. Minor instances when my partner tried to hit those hanging branches with those paddles. No reason. I thought he just felt like doing it. But hell no! he wanted them to hit me after he ducks under..

then... we wanted to jump off the hanging tree branch on to the river. But we weren't sure if it was not shallow enough. So I (i do not know why) set off on foot towards the hanging tree branch against the river stream. It wasn't that difficult until I thought I had hold on my feet. Further however, with the slippery basin and deeper water (chest high), my one step forward = most of the steps were backward. Funny was when guy kayaking thought of helping me out. He asked me to hold on to his kayak and he will get me there. I thought he was a fool to pull me and I was right. Then we had better idea. I know some swimming - I should kick those legs like a toad in water.. i crock once i crock twice .. the kayak dude exhales out "not working" I feel so stupid right now. We set back towards our canoe and groan at the stupid idea.. 

then... We had seen groups hanging out on river banks. But none were like this one. These had the Tarzan swing ready to jump on to water. We banked again. We muddled through again.. three of us S, S and I took turns swing diving into the water - by far the best part of that long weekend!

then... we were tired! hell and waiting for our journey to end! each paddle was an exhaustive drag. one by one. few moments rest . then few more paddles. few moments rest again. Finally we were there and then, with few yards to spare, S all of sudden jumped of the canoe and with that a spirit called 'i will be ever be amazed at this guy' left my body.. i silently paddled few final strokes

However at the end of all this .. Canoeing was WORTH every Paddle! Thanks S for making this plan man!!

Skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

1kg boots up the fibula, another kg Skis slid in to those shoes! the first thing person learns when learning to ski is to learn to fall down cauz there is no way to learn otherwise :P

The number of times S took that dive just to avoid hitting the person in front him (cauz he still hadn't figured out how to stop - a technique called pizza) was innumerable. It took him all super human efforts to walk- start slid - see an obstacle - determine best position to fall - make a dive - roll down- regain senses - bend your ankles - regain foot (err ski) hold ! and the multiply that with innumerable times = beaten body next day.

And A had mastered his pizza quite well. He went through steepest the slowest. Man that was caution of the saint. This guy didn't fell down until the very last of his rides (hands down to him).

I gave up figuring out how to get up with those skis on. I too fell down innumerable times but my process was little more longer but less painful. Take my advice always take off your skis and then get your foothold.

Lets get to the fun part. The glide down the hill, skis on the foot, chill on your face, and inevitable fall. All bring part of excitement!! I kept falling down and all 'in deep shit' sense by end of the hill. But when I looked up again, that steep simply pulled me back to it's cliff. Kept doing it every time saying 'one very last time' :P

I hate snow.. i love skiing .. skiing entails snow.. so I cannot hate snow anymore!! but fact remains I LOVE SKIING!!

... date and venue - Feb 28th, Perfect North Slopes, Lawrenceburg, IN

USA will turn into FUSA ("F" is for "Former")...

so is this dream state really gonna last -
"http://energybulletin.net/node/48082"

points stated are fair and simple. The repercussions are baneful. Simile picked is very recent. But i still feel there is a difference... a democracy will survive the ill effects of its leaders' hubris which soviet union succumbed to...

Democrats vs. Republicans

looking at the electoral map of the USA showing reds against blues... wondered if the red i predominant rather than blue... well there is another way to look at that and that is found below... 

As Professor Newman points out,

“The areas of red and blue on the cartogram are now proportional to the actual numbers of electoral votes won by each candidate. Thus this map shows at a glance both which states went to which candidate and which candidate won more electoral college votes – something that you cannot tell easily from the normal election-night red and blue map.”

source : http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/11/2008-election-map-standard/

further reading : http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

U.S. astronauts cast votes from space

this is something i hadn't expected ...

..Mission Control at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas shipped digital ballots to the space voters, and local election officials sent passwords directly to them. The ballots were returned, encrypted, via Mission Control...

source ... "http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2284/us-astronauts-cast-votes-space"