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Editorial –Musafir

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

"What's wrong with this picture?" This can be construed as a mere statement implying that there is nothing wrong with this picture or am asking a tag question? It all depends on how you perceive me. I am not saying anything because I have not made up my mind yet. I am still waiting for consequences to be had and history to unfold.

In the picture above, Mr. Obama, the President of the United States of America is standing in the second row almost in the corner near to the Prime Minister of India (in turban). He is not in the first row, next to the host, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Never before have I seen a group photo of world dignitaries where the President of America happened to stand in the second row in a corner with the leaders of the developing countries. Does that signal a decline in America's status? Is America no longer superior to the rest of the world? I don't know nor am I making any statement.

While paying a visit to the queen, Mr. Obama made a two-handed handshake with her and Mrs. Obama put her arms around the queen. These gestures irritated the British as they considered those to be against the proper protocol. The queen of Great Britain is considered above everyone else by her loyal subordinates. Did the Obamas make a statement to the world that the British royalty was not superior to anyone else? I do not know nor am I making any statement.

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Humor - Musafir

My Friend Leany

Today, I got the news of my friend, Leany's sad demise. By the way, 'Leany' is an ethnic name. It has nothing to do with my friend's physical appearance. Ironically, Leany only ate to live, but instead of living, he died. My only sorrow is that Leany could not fulfill his lifelong dream of forming a 'Gastronomic Anonymous' group - a fellowship of men and women to help others relinquish good food in favor of fads and other crap. Life, perhaps, was too short for Leany to rid humanity of good eating and drinking." If good food were sex, Leany preached celibacy by forcing others to abstain. Whenever I think of Leany, I visualize a cucumber in thick glasses. This should come as nobody's surprise that Leany's favorite drink was homemade cucumber juice. The morning meal in Leany household was actually a mourning meal - seaweeds, soybeans and, of course, cucumber juice. Lunch consisted of crispy lettuce wraps. Dinner time at Leany's looked like a raw-food café` with disgusting servings of sea-vegetable harvested off the coast of Japan, loaded with vitamins and minerals and Yerba tea, high in antioxidants with carrot flax crackers for extra taste and nutrition. Leany was left to himself walking a righteous but lonely path for the rest of his life.

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From the Publisher's Desk - Bala Prasad

A History Of Food

On July 4, 1776, our founding fathers were not celebrating independence by eating hamburgers and hot dogs. These staples in the American diet only became popular around the turn of the last century. Instead, a soldier's daily ration during the American Revolution included a pint of beans, a pint of milk, a pound of beef (or fish), and a pound of bread. The average soldier also consumed six ounces of butter a day. This amounted to 3000 to 4000 daily calories - more than many obese people consume today. In spite of this enormous daily calorie intake, obesity was not nearly as rampant as it is today. This is because daily life in those days was enormously active - people walked, rode horses, and generally expended a lot of calories in their every day jobs and chores. Today, by contrast, we live in an era of leisure, saturated with TV, video games, and a lot of doing nothing.

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Perspective - Robert Bickmeyer

A Critique Of Atheism

"There are no atheists in foxholes" was widely spoken during World War II - and no one denied it. Recently, an atheist was writing negatively about Christianity and aligned himself with Jews. How wrong can you be? If there is a fence separating the believers from the Godless, Jews are on the same side of the fence as Christians and Muslims. Judaism, Christianity and Islam honor one God. But, it is my hope to tear down all fences.

I have no fear of death because of my deep faith in God and in the hereafter. Atheists, however, must dread death because, to them, it is the absolute end. I invite them, no, I implore them, to join me in this belief to ease their fears when they age or when a fatal illness falls upon them. If I am wrong and Heaven does not exist, they have lost nothing by believing; however, if there is Heaven, there is the possibility the Pearly Gates will be open to them because they believed. Believing is a no loss situation.

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Heritage - David Beagan

Food Fables

Stone Soup

In a time and place long ago, there were hard-times in which people hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering traveler came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night. "There's not a bite to eat in the whole town," he was told. "Better keep moving on."

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled a cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water. By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the traveler sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their skepticism.

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Lifestyle - Niru Prasad, MD

Staying Healthy During Financial Crisis

Despite growing attention in the world media and expanding aid efforts by global organizations, the world hunger crisis continues to worsen as many of our communities struggle with daily hunger and starvation. The basic staples that feed the world, wheat, rice, and corn are becoming more and more expensive. Even so, it is essential that we stay away from cheap foods - although tempting, this may cause your health to deteriorate.

To make matters harder for the consumer, the FDA does not check for non-organic contaminants such as heavy metals, that may be present in produce, fish and dietary supplements. In fact only 1 percent of imported food is even tested at a U.S. port. Moreover, savvy suppliers sometimes reroute products (especially seafood) to an inland port such as Las Vegas, where there are no FDA inspectors. This means that food may cross an ocean several times before it even gets to your dinner table. For example, the United States allows the importation of processed chicken from China - meaning that chickens are bred and killed in Mexico, shipped to China frozen, and then returned for sale in the United States. Yuck!

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Recipes From New Orleans

Creole Jambalaya originates from the French Quarter of New Orleans, in the original European sector. It was an attempt by the Spanish to make paella in the New World, where saffron was not readily available due to import costs. Tomatoes became the substitute for saffron. As time went on, French influence became strong in New Orleans, and spices from the Caribbean changed this New World paella into a unique dish. In modern Louisiana, the dish has evolved along a variety of different lines. Creole Jambalaya, or red Jambalaya as it is called by Cajuns, is found primarily in and around New Orleans, where it is simply known as "Jambalaya." Creole Jambalaya includes tomatoes, whereas Cajun Jambalaya does not.

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Point Counterpoint

Is Food Shortage Real?

YES!

The looming global food crisis has been anticipated by global experts for years. Food shortages and high prices can be blamed on many factors, including climate change, reduced availability of land for agriculture, growing populations in the poorest parts of the world, increased demand from a growing middle class in China and India, rising fuel costs, and the development of biofuels. Wheat, corn and rice prices have more than doubled in the past two years. Rice shortages of have been especially volatile, and some major exporting nations like Indian and Vietnam are putting exporting bans in place.

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No!

We will never willingly run out of food. Shortages are always man made (artificial). John Jeavons' book "How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine." A typical suburban backyard is large enough to feed at least 15 adults. We are not talking crops only, not poultry. 2006 data indicates there is 1.15 acres of arable land per person, worldwide (i.e. 7.68 billion acres / 6.68 billion people).

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American Scene

Our Obsession - David Beagan

Food is an integral element of any culture. Historically the production of food has preoccupied the American labor force. In 1790, nine out of ten workers were employed as farmers. People's primary job was getting enough to eat. Just 50 years later, in 1840, it had shifted to merely two out of three workers who were employed to grow food. Another 40 years saw this drop to less than half, and another 30 years after that, in 1910, it was less than a third. At the end of the last century we were witness to this figure dropping to less than three workers out of a hundred. This remarkable achievement of industrialization and ingenuity also coincided with the transformation of food as an occupation to food as a preoccupation. In extreme cases, this preoccupation has turned deadly. The mental condition anorexia nervosa compels its victims to control their food intake to the edge of starvation, sometimes resulting in death. At the other extreme are people who are super obese. Some of these people weigh in excess of hundreds of pounds over ideal body weight -- some even topping out at over a thousand pounds. The term "morbidly obese" is not just hyperbole, it describes a very real consequence of this lifestyle.

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Mental Exercise

Food Grammar
Match the adjective on the left to the food on the right that it is associated with.

One for All
What single word can complete all three?
fast ....
junk ....
comfort ....

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Book Review

Ian Ayres, a Professor at Yale Law School and a famous economist, enlightens the readers of Super Crunchers by presenting the concepts of data mining, regressions, randomized trials and other statistical theories in a practical way with very interesting case studies.

Though I should not categorize Super Crunchers as a text book of statistics, I am compelled to state that Ayres has clarified the statistical terms for me in the least mundane way that I have ever come across after having taken statistics in five semesters during my schooling.

Ayers makes his readers feel that statistics is a tool that anyone can use. He also makes us realize how inundated life has become with data and that "quantitative prediction is reshaping business and government."

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Anatomy Of Chicken Nuggets

(Excerpts from Michael Pollan's book 'The Omnivore's Dilemma) The meal at the end of the industrial food chain that begins in an Iowa cornfield is prepared by McDonald's and eaten in a moving car. The myriad streams of commodity corn, after being variously processed and turned into meat, converge in all sorts of different meals people eat at KFC, or Pizza Hut or Applebee's or bought at the supermarket. Industrial meals are all around us, after all; they make up the food chain from which most of us eat most of the time. Chicken nuggets constitute its own genre of food for American children, many of whom eat nuggets every day. A lot of thought goes into a nugget, that and a lot of corn. Of the thirty-eight ingredients it takes to make a McNugget, thirteen are derived from corn: the corn-fed chicken itself; modified cornstarch; mono-. Tri-, and diglycerides; dextrose; lecithin; chicken broth; yellow corn flour; filler; vegetable shortening; hydrogenated corn oil; and citric acid as a preservative

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Editorial –Musafir

A Brief History of Incompetence

This is my firm belief, based on my life's experience, that with the exception of saints, artists and athletes, any educated person with average intelligence is capable of performing any average job such as running a country, running a company or running a financial institution. So, what makes an average Joe or Jane different from powerful people like Hank Paulson, Senator Shelby, Dick Flud, Martin Sullivan, James Cayne, Angelo Mozilo, Stan O'Neal, Chuck Prince, Allen Greenspan, Franklin Raines, Arthur Laffer, and Phil Gramm? The answer is networking and being at the right place at the right time

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Think Club Announces 2008 Book of the Year

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles R. Morris

The Think Club Publications has chosen The Trillion Dollar Meltdown - Easy Money, High Rollers and the Great Credit Crash by Charles R. Morris, published by Public Affairs, New York for the Book of the Year Award for 2008. Think Club Publication is a forum to encourage independent thinking among fellow human beings. This annual award is given to the author whose idea or ideas can contribute to the resolution of contemporary human problems based on his or her original and independent thinking.

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From the Publisher's Desk - Bala Prasad

The Promise of Obama

Barack Obama's resounding victory has brought even the most cynical observers of party politics to dare to hope, believing that they will soon be witnessing the most progressive presidential administration of their lifetime. This hope rests largely upon Obama's personal history as a community organizer. There are several aspects of Obama's personal history which would seem to indicate empathy for those less fortunate. One, of course, is the fact that he is a black man in a racist society. Another is that he grew up in Indonesia (a poor Asian country) and Hawaii (the most racially diverse and economically stratified state.) More significant, however, is Obama's political history. Obama is the product of a progressive grassroots tradition. At Occidental College in the early 1980s, he became immersed in the anti-apartheid movement. Though there have certainly been student activists from the late 1960s who later moved well to the right, left-wing campus activism was not nearly as trendy during Obama's college years, which were during the heyday of the Reagan Era, when College Republicans were often the largest and most visible political group on many campuses

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Commentary -Musafir

Poor, Nasty and Brutish

We are human animals. We are inherently bad. Therefore, we have rules, laws and codes of conduct to abide by. Our thoughts, feelings and behavior, if good, are shaped by our individual experiences and environment. Good behaviors are learned behaviors. They are not innate. Human nature tends to be evil in a 'state of nature.' It can be virtuous and moral only in a controlled environment. Basically, all humans are evil. If left alone, evil is inescapable and will turn everyone evil. This is evident in mob tendencies where law and order fail. This is evident among powerful people because 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' This is evident among people who can get away unpunished.

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Perspective - Musafir

Every Dog Has His Day

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool."

-William Shakespeare, "As You Like It", Act 5 scene 1

I truly believe that brilliance or mediocrity can be a matter of perception and it can vary widely under different circumstances. It is also possible for mediocrity to be thrust upon someone who has achieved greatness on his own merit. Ironically both condemnation and commendation can be projected onto anyone even by the most incompetent, insincere and insipid of people.

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Vis-a-Vis - Musafir

I Want To Be Your Economist

The last time I talked to you, I wanted to work on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I have since changed my mind just like the economists do with their forecasts. You guessed right, now I have decided to become an economist and spare this great nation a few dimes. I know I'm not qualified, but if you let me, I promise that I will perform as well as any economist has in recent memory - at a fraction of the cost. That's called comparative advantage. Let the billion-dollar economists worry about winning another Nobel Prize or turning the obvious into incomprehensible

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Humor -Musafir

Surviving Retirement

The news of my retirement has spread in the shape of my imminent demise all over the globe. My aunt called me from a remote Himalayan village in India and demanded an answer to her question, "Now that you have retired, what are you doing in America?" It is true that most of us didn't come here because we loved America. Initially the idea was to earn 'mucho dinero' and then return to our villages in the old country, anyway. For my aunt, America is a big town where money grows on trees, Now that I have retired and might have raked enough leaves, it was time for me to return to my old village and prepare for death like many of my uncles and their cousins did.

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Point Counterpoint

Do Automakers Deserve A Bridge Loan?

YES!
Let's be clear, a bridge loan is not the same thing as a bailout. Industries get into trouble from time to time, especially during lean economic times. Today, the financial markets are in a precarious position due to the mortgage meltdown. People are not buying cars and the money supply has dried up for those who would be willing to buy a car. The global car industry is in recession. France, Sweden, India and other countries are helping their auto industries with cash infusions. In the U.S. not only the U.S. car manufacturers but all other manufacturers are experiencing a 30 to 40 percent downturn in sales.

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NO!
The Big Three are in big trouble, and they have themselves to thank for it. November 19th, the CEO's of the major auto makers flew to Washington in three separate private jets to ask for a $25 billion handout. Without it they claimed they could fail by the middle of 2009 - costing millions of jobs and triggering a depression like no other.

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New Century

Government Transparency - David Beagan

I remember when caller id was first being offered as an option on home telephones. There was a bit of an uproar over the perception that this would violate the privacy rights of people placing calls. I never quite understood why calling someone anonymously was a privacy right. Nevertheless, the ability to block the caller id from displaying on the phone of the person you are calling was implemented, dial *67 before making a call. Right or wrong, this does illustrate that fact that there is a deep seated desire in all of us to keep a part of ourselves hidden from the outside world, and to have control over what is revealed about us.

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Mental Excercise

Family Reunion
There is a family reunion in which the following are in attendance: a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, an uncle, an aunt, a brother, a sister, a cousin, a nephew, and a niece. But just four people are there. How could this be so?

What Is It?
I went into the forest and I got it. When I got it I looked for it, but couldn't find it, so I brought it home in my hand. What is it?

Mystery Word
What is it that when you take away the whole you still have some left? (Hint, think of a single word) .

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Why Will I Not Vote? - Musafir

Leaving General Motors - Musafir

We Must Vote - Bala Prasad

Hot Flat and Crowded - Thomas L. Friedman

Wait 'til I Win the Nobel Peace Prize - Musafir

Should the Electoral College be Abolished?

Substance Over Symbalism - Musafir

Forgotten Mathematics - Musafir

Baden Baden Bollywood - Musafir

Pay It Now - Jean Chatzky

A Nation of Wimps - Hara Estroff Marano

Obama's Nomination And The World Press - The Times

Should Athletes Be Role Models?

Truth And Perception - Musafir

There Is No Stopping India Now - Musafir

The Marriage Guru - Musafir

Giving: How Each Of Us Can Change The World - Bill Clinton

Creating A World Without Poverty - Muhammad Yunus

Angel Inside - Chris Widener

What Is The Fuss About Tibet?

Is Globalization Good For The US?

Missed Opportunity - Rishi Shrivastava

Jugaad - An Introduction - Musafir

A Detroiter In France - Musafir

Laughter In Real Life - Walter Isaacson

The United States Of North America - Musafir

Universal Health Care

Women Are Angels - Musafir

Who Is Afraid Of Hispanic Majority? - Musafir

The Next World War? - Musafir

Women's Accomplishments - Bala Prasad

Is It Time For A Woman President?

Einstein - Walter Isaacson

How To Become A Guru Without Really Trying - Musafir