Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

Abhi lives in Los Angeles and works to put things into space.

Math nerds needed. ASAP.

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The Washington Post reports on news that is music to my ears. Scientists AND “big business” are actually joining forces for a cause that they know to be important:

Business and science groups are reviving images of the Cold War space race in an effort to persuade lawmakers to spend millions to recruit and train high-caliber math teachers.

They argue that, just as a stronger focus on math helped the United States top the Soviet Sputnik launch by putting a man on the moon, the country needs to improve math education to win an economic race with China and India and a national security race against terrorism…

“The interesting sort of difference in the dynamic then and the dynamic now is that we were competing with a military threat, whereas now it’s much more an economic threat,” said Susan Traiman, an education and work force policy lobbyist for the Business Roundtable. [Link]

Many groups have been sounding this alarm bell for a while now, but nobody listens. From 2002:

The U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century warns, “The harsh fact is that the U.S. need for the highest quality human capital in science, mathematics, and engineering is not being met… We not only lack the homegrown science, technology, and engineering professionals necessary to ensure national prosperity and security, but also the next generation of teachers of science and math at the K-12 level… The nation is on the verge of a downward spiral in which current shortages will beget even more acute future shortages of high-quality professionals and competent teachers.”

According to the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), student science scores for grades 4 and 8 are flat and there has been a slight decline in scores for grade 12 since the assessment was last administered in 1996. Furthermore, 84 percent of science teachers and 86 percent of mathematics teachers in grades 5-8 did not major in science or mathematics. This report further underscores the need for reform and investment in math and science education, particularly at a time when our economy, national security and technological advances are heavily dependent on the quality of our future workforce. [Link]

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Woodruff’s other wingman

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Most news outlets have been covering the serious injuries sustained by ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff, and his camera-man Doug Vogt. Soldiers in Iraq get killed by IEDs every day, but it is much more “in your living room” when it happens to a guy who’s whose face is actually in your living room every night.

“While Mr. Woodruff, 44, faces months of recovery and the full extent of his injuries are not yet known, Colonel Tellez said he could imagine him going back to work someday as a broadcast journalist. ‘He has a very good chance,’ Colonel Tellez said.

The cameraman, Doug Vogt, who was not as severely injured by the explosion, was ‘awake a lot, and talking to family and friends,’ said Marie Shaw, a spokeswoman for Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. [Link]

Another person that was with both Woodruff and Vogt in Iraq, but who doesn’t get any camera time, is ABC News producer Vinnie Malhotra.

Just before the C-17 jet lifted off early Monday from Balad Air Base near Baghdad, an ABC Television News producer, Vinnie Malhotra, stood somberly to the side as doctors and nurses strapped his colleagues and friends Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt in for the five-hour flight.

“They’re hanging in there,” said a subdued Malhotra, who was working with Woodruff and Vogt when they were seriously wounded by a roadside bomb Sunday in Iraq. [Link]

In a poignant report on Monday’s “World News Tonight,” ABC News said that after the attack Woodruff asked his producer, Vinnie Malhotra: “Am I alive?”[Link]

A quick search reveals that Emmy nominated Malhotra has been right there in the thick of things, having spent months reporting from Afghanistan, in addition to Iraq. Much respect. If I hadn’t pursued the line of work that I am pursuing, than I can’t think of a job I’d rather have than reporting from a war zone.

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Are you a biased voter?

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Last January I posted a link to an online test that you can take, which supposedly reveals if you have even a subconscious racial bias. One of the researchers conducting the study was Harvard’s Mahzarin Banaji. Banaji and her colleagues have just revealed results from their latest set of experiments which, if true, corroborates what many of us have suspected about politics. I love a bit of controversy on a Monday. From the Washington Post:

The field of social psychology has long been focused on how social environments affect the way people behave. But social psychologists are people, too, and as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, they have grown increasingly interested in examining what drives these sharp divides: red states vs. blue states; pro-Iraq war vs. anti-Iraq war; pro-same-sex marriage vs. anti-same-sex marriage. And they have begun to study political behavior using such specialized tools as sophisticated psychological tests and brain scans…

Emory University psychologist Drew Westen put self-identified Democratic and Republican partisans in brain scanners and asked them to evaluate negative information about various candidates. Both groups were quick to spot inconsistency and hypocrisy — but only in candidates they opposed.

When presented with negative information about the candidates they liked, partisans of all stripes found ways to discount it, Westen said. When the unpalatable information was rejected, furthermore, the brain scans showed that volunteers gave themselves feel-good pats — the scans showed that “reward centers” in volunteers’ brains were activated. The psychologist observed that the way these subjects dealt with unwelcome information had curious parallels with drug addiction as addicts also reward themselves for wrong-headed behavior.

Another study presented at the conference, which was in Palm Springs, Calif., explored relationships between racial bias and political affiliation by analyzing self-reported beliefs, voting patterns and the results of psychological tests that measure implicit attitudes — subtle stereotypes people hold about various groups.

That study found that supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against blacks than liberals did.

Not so fast, say a few expected critics.

Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said he disagreed with the study’s conclusions but that it was difficult to offer a detailed critique, as the research had not yet been published and he could not review the methodology. He also questioned whether the researchers themselves had implicit biases — against Republicans — noting that Nosek and Harvard psychologist Mahzarin Banaji had given campaign contributions to Democrats.

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Throw a dog a bone

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First of all, let me say Kung Hay Fat Choy to all of our readers. Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dog. The Washington Post has what I thought to be a very illustrative article on what holidays like the Chinese New Year mean to politicians who want the Asian American vote:

Most Maryland voters probably didn’t realize that Asian Americans were celebrating New Year’s yesterday, but Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan marks the date on his calendar every year.

Duncan, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, crisscrossed Montgomery yesterday, attending two Lunar New Year celebrations and a gathering to commemorate the anniversary of India becoming a republic, on Jan. 26, 1950.

For Duncan and other elected officials, showing up at these events is part of a strategy to reach out to immigrants whose political influence remains relatively untested statewide even though their numbers are growing rapidly…

Pollsters and political consultants say it will probably be a few years before foreign-born residents are major factors in statewide elections. But candidates this year aren’t taking any chances. [Link]

So the picture remains the same. If you want the vote of immigrants from Asia (including South Asia), and the support of even some of their American-raised children, you don’t have to answer for any of your general policies, many of which might actually affect them pretty significantly. All you have to do is make a show of the fact that you respect their former nation and some of their traditions. It is a total waste of political power in my opinion, given the increased importance of our votes.

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Oooh, me so horny

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Meet one of California’s most recent Indian American residents. Her name is Lali and she weighs about 180 lbs. MSNBC reports:

A “darling girl” named Lali stuck close to her mom but greeted other adults with curiosity during her first public outing this week.

The two-month-old rare Indian rhinoceros made her debut at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park Thursday after spending her first eight weeks in a private enclosure to allow bonding time with her first-time mother, Gari.

“She immediately was exploring meeting the other Indian rhinos, but most of the time she kept close to mom,” said park spokeswoman Yadira Galindo.

Zoo officials are keeping mum as to whether or not Lali’s mom has already arranged for a suitable alliance with the family of a young male rhino for when Lali comes of age. The San Diego Zoo community has long since cracked down on the practice of dowries so we thankfully won’t have to worry about Lali selling her horn to raise money.

Am I the only one that didn’t know that India even had rhinos? I mean, I always hear about tigers in India (like many I’ve been on a tiger safari there), and everyone knows about the elephants, but I just can’t remember a time when I have heard about an encounter between Indian villagers and a rhino.

The Indian rhino formerly occurred from the foothills of the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, across the sub-Himalayan region, to the India-Myanmar border on the eastern edge of the Brahmaputra watershed. By the late 19th century, the Indian rhino had been eliminated from everywhere except the Chitwan Valley (Nepal), lowland Bhutan, the Teesta Valley (west Bengal, India) and the Brahmaputra Valley (Assam, India). For most of the 20th century, known populations have been concentrated in southern Nepal and northeastern India. [Link]

Of course, as with most megafauna, the Indian rhino’s days appear to be numbered.

Lali, which means “darling girl” in Hindi, is one of about 2,550 Indian rhinos in the world, 150 of which are in parks and zoos. The species is considered critically endangered because of human encroachment on its native habitats in India and Nepal and because the rhinos have been poached for their horns, which some believe have medicinal value.
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Maybe the Grammys won’t suck this year??

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A few weeks back several news sites reported that the Grammy Awards next month will feature a performance by an Indian American pop singer (who I had never heard of) named Reggie Benjamin:

Keep your eyes above the waist please.

Pop singer Reggie Benjamin, the first Indian American to win a Hollywood deal, is all set to perform at the Grammy awards next month.

Benjamin, who has also filmed a music video in Hugh Heffner’s fabulous Playboy Mansion, said his success was a lucky coincidence, coming as it did with an increasing American interest in Bollywood.

“Suddenly, it is cool to be Indian,” Benjamin, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, told IANS.

To become a Hollywood pop singer was an unusual career choice for Benjamin who was studying to be a chemical engineer. His persistence paid off when he was signed on by music industry mogul Kerry Gordy. [Link]

Here is the thing though. I can’t find any mention of an impending Grammy performance by Benjamin, either at the Grammys website, or his own. Diligent readers, am I missing something? Is this some kind of scam? You can check out some of Benjamin’s music here.

What I do know however is that an Indian Buddhist monk named Ngawang Tashi Bapu is nominated for a Grammy in the ‘Best Traditional Music Category,’ and that the Grammy website backs it up:

Devotion his sole purpose, he chants for the ideal he reveres. And now this Buddhist lama’s divine melodies have transcended the walls of his monastery in the remote Dahung township of Arunachal Pradesh to bring peace to audiences far away in the West.

Ngawang Tashi Bapu, who has been nominated for a Grammy in the ‘Best Traditional Music Category’, says he is surprised. “But when it is fate, you cannot avert it,” he told The Indian Express over the telephone from Dahung. ”I consider myself lucky.”…

Popularly known as Lama Tashi, the 38-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk is based at the Centre for Himalayan Culture and Studies at Dahung, about 350 km from here…

Finding an eager reception in the US, the Lama’s chants are collected in Tibetan Master Chants, a CD produced by US-based author Jonathan Goldman, who has written the book, Healing Sounds. [Link]

I can’t help but wonder what the video would look like if Lama Tashi and not Benjamin had filmed his music video at the Playboy mansion.

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Indian Maxim is out to save lives

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Several of you beginning with “Msichana” emailed us to let us know that the Indian version of Maxim has just issued its first edition with Priyanka Chopra on the cover. The BBC reports:

Don’t ever change girl…oh…you already did? Nevermind then.

Is primetime Priyanka too hot to handle? Forgive me for pondering the merits of Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood starlet and former winner of the Miss World beauty pageant.

But this is the burning question asked of us by the inaugural Indian edition of Maxim – the British “lad mag” which has just made its sub-continental debut with a pouting Priyanka plastered across its glossy front cover.

Readers are also promised information on “100 things you never knew about women”, a “how to” guide on professional begging, and a must-see article on the police inspector in Uttar Pradesh Panda, who fervently believes that he is the incarnation of the Hindu Goddess Radha.

Folks I have learned my lesson. I’m not about to make a comment about any of Ms. Chopra’s attributes, just in case I ever meet her. In fact, I had never even heard of her before I read this article. Bollywood film-watcher I am not. Also, it just so happens that guest-blogger Karthik answered a topical question at the very end of his first post. Getting back to the magazine’s contents:

Two bikini-clad models helpfully demonstrate how to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre (handy if you have a piece of food stuck in your throat).

Other parts of the magazine are a masala-like blend of men, motors and models.

Well sure. EVERYONE in India should know how to properly execute a Heimlich maneuver. I’m all for health education in developing countries. I hope however that they don’t let an article like this slip into the Indian edition. It might not go over so well.

See Related Posts: Indians love their newspapers, There is no place to hide it in India, Mortified

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Bend it like…Yngwie Malmsteen

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Earlier today I saw a commercial for Gibson Guitars on the television. I was speechless. Upon checking the tipline I saw that SM reader “Rafi” had already sent it in. It seems like Gurinder Chadha is pulling out all the stops on this one. Ever since Bend it like Beckham her star has been on the rise. I’ll bet nothing will make you fiend for the touch of a Les Paul…like seeing it stroked in a Mughal court. Watch.

This is the “Director’s cut” of the commercial

This appears to have been a huge production. A 93 person cast and a crew of nearly 70. See for yourself:

On The Set
  • 1 Elephant – walked five days to get to the studio and then didn’t make the final cut.
  • 1 Large Portrait – a local Indian artist painted it from a photo of the actor playing the Emperor.
  • 18 Dancers
  • 2 Fire Breathers
  • One restored old car
  • 2 Thrones
  • 1 Fountain
  • 2 Large treasure chests
  • 10 piece band
  • 3 Crystal Chandeliers

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Vinay Lal is "dirty"

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I am still debating whether or not to attend Dinesh D’Souza’s lecture at UCLA on Wednesday. It is titled Red States, Blue States, and War in Iraq: What Academia Is Missing. Normally I enjoy doing oppo research, but I teach all day on Wednesday and I don’t know if I will have the energy left to fight the hordes at the end of the day. The meeting is being sponsored by the Bruin Republicans. Speaking of Republican Bruins, I am sure by now everybody has heard about this:

Thirty U-C-L-A professors are being targeted by an alumni group that accuses them of expressing left-wing political views.

The year-old Bruin Alumni Association is offering students up to a hundred dollars per class to supply notes, and tapes exposing the professors.

The group says on its Web site (www.bruinalumni.com) it is concerned about professors who use lecture time to press positions against President Bush, the military and corporations. The effort is being led by Andrew Jones, a 2003 graduate and former chair of a student Republican club.

Education professor Peter McLaren, who’s on the so-called “Dirty Thirty” list, calls the tactic a witch-hunt. [Link]

Apparently, even members of the Bruin Alumni Association advisory board thought this was crazy.

The raised fists beneath his picture means that he is dirty

A former congressman is among three people who have quit the advisory board of a conservative alumni group at the University of California, Los Angeles, after students were offered money to police professors accused of pushing liberal views…

“I am uncomfortable to say the least with this tactic,” Rogan wrote. “It places students in jeopardy of violating myriad regulations and laws…” [Link]

Taz tells me that one of the “Dirty Thirty” is UCLA History Professor Vinay Lal:

Much like comic book superheroes, Vinay Lal leads a double life. During the day he is a mild-mannered Southeast Asian history professor, but in his office, safely behind his keyboard, Lal assumes his double identity as a radical ideological warrior of the broadest stripe. His personal webpage provides only the most indirect clue to this schizophrenic existence, mentioning in passing that he has written for the journals Patterns of Prejudice, Radical History Review, and Third Text.

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“Superstition must be utilized”

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This painting comes to us via SM tipster Omar Khan:

“An Execution in British India”- Painting by Vassili Verestchagin

As part of his article accompanying the wood engraving of the painting when it was published in Harper’s Weekly on November 17, 1888, [Harper’s Weekly art critic Clarence Cook] wrote:

“So with the other picture, the shooting of the Sepoys, Verestchagin does not say that this particular scene is an incident of the great mutiny. Shooting from guns is the only way, he says, that 60,000 soldiers in a strong country can keep in awe 250,000,000 natives. Superstition must be utilized. The natives do not fear to die, but they fear to die in any way that destroys the identity of the body. They cannot enter heaven blown limb from limb. Therefore this is the way to touch their souls with dreadful awe, and the English, says our artist, have always blown from guns, blow from guns today, and will blow from guns as long as India is held. [Link]

In the painting you presumably see Sepoy soliders in Delhi, captured during the 1857 Mutiny, fixed to the front ends of cannons, and about to be obliterated (although check the comments for a more likely explanation of what is being depicted here). I’m not sure that it is clear if this scene was actually witnessed by Verestchagin, but I like the description of the painting.

Verestchagin’s notoriety came from showing some of the most talked about events of the era. This scene was a standard British way to settle scores, and continued long after the war of independence in 1857. It was hotly debated in British and Indian papers between liberals and conservatives. To the former it was an excess of colonialism, to the latter an essential ingredient. As a Russian, Verestshagin was on opposite sides of the British as far as India was concerned. His American audience was also more critical of colonialism. [Link]
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