Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

Is Dalai Lama just an opportunistic human being who is striving for fanfare and constant attentions for sole reason of stoking his insatiable ego? His child like giggling and public embracing of non-violence even while his native captured land Tibet was burning were disturbing to many of his Tibetan expatriates, some of whom see him as weak leader, whose compromise with China in not pursuing full independence for Tibet is condemned by many. Looking at these graphic images and videos from Tibet's recent turmoils where unknown numbers of Tibetans were killed, maimed or simply disappeared can raise questions on Dalai Lama's apparent ineffectiveness. Despite this apparently minor discontents among his Tibetan expatriates, ""Virtually all Tibetans have the Dalai in their hearts.” And the more that their economic prospects and traditional culture are undermined by Han Chinese immigration, the more this long-distance reverence is likely to grow." Why is Dalai Lama mor

I find the vegetable soup recipe published in Yahoo today is easy to follow and cook. Here is the link: http://food.yahoo.com/blog/thegreentable/887/the-perfect-vegetable-soup

This exercise published in Los Angeles Times can be done at home, only two dumbbells are needed. Quoting from LA Times: "Step 1 Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your right leg in front of your left leg. Bend your right knee, maintaining a straight back. Starting with your arms down, lean forward with your upper body and bend your arms, bringing your hands near your ears. Extend your arms fully until they are overhead. Pause." "Step 2 Stay in this forward lean-lunge position as you slowly lower your straight arms toward the floor and then lift them up to the back as far as you can. Concentrate on pulling your navel toward the spine to support your back muscles throughout the exercise. Repeat three times, step together and repeat with your left leg in front." Image sources are the following links: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/37011515.jpg http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/37011509.jpg

"the episode was critical in reflecting the media's shifting attitudes toward matters of national security—from believing the government to believing it less." Comparing to only a few years before, media apparently is raising more unpalatable questions, some of these questions would have been considered perhaps treasonous in fear gripped nation. Slowly, but surely, craftily placed fog of fear has started to fading away, and through the clear daylight, truth that may be unpleasant, have only begun to stir from willful suppression and political fabrication. Here is an article taken from a recently published book discusses the pull and push from opposing forces of ideologies, one is for keeping the status quo of contemporary fear-mongering intact, and the other for preserving freedom of press that has been brutally thwarted in frenzied days of pre-fascism. The battle is far from over. Click here to read Slate's article.

Unlike many other immensely popular writers, James Carroll is not a household name. Perhaps his books are not on the echelon of best seller lists, nor he comes frequently in news media for scandalous wisdom. Each week his one column gets published in The Boston Globe, and each of them brings observations so deep and profound that for a careful reader his words, metaphors and painstaking presentations of reality in crisp but penetrating language are like a "golden compass" that may guide a "lost soul" from indirection to "destiny". This week James Carroll writes about imperfection that relates to human hope and universality. Here are a few memorable quotes from this must read article : "People who benefit from an imperfect power structure speak warmly of love, while those who suffer from it angrily demand justice. But the deeper question goes to the human condition itself: In our unending quest for a better world, how do we deal with the inevitably fla

“She gave us a very broad understanding of the world,” her daughter said. “She hated bigotry. She was very determined to be remembered for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure of a life.” Above quote is about Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, who "felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to represent who we are at the core,” said Maya Soetoro-Ng, Mr. Obama’s half-sister. “That was very much her philosophy of life — to not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places.” The more I read about this gracious woman who died in 1995 from cancer, the more aura of this kind hearted human being becomes clearer, who was a "free spirited wonderer", who "married an African student at age 18. Then she married an Indonesian, moved to Jakarta, became

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJ3Tjj40P8

We were huddled, as if for warmth, each with hands hidden in pockets, heads inclined, an accidental posture of prayer. Our awed silence was as striking to me as the object of our contemplation, and I realized that our long-gone humanoid ancestors had come into self-awareness precisely in such circles of meditation. "There are two kinds of skippers," an old Maine lobsterman said to me once. "Them that's run aground. And them that's gonna." Even a simple solitary walk on the winter beach by James Carroll provides a glimpse in humane universality , tied in one common destination of mortality. To behold a shipwreck is to stand before the common fate of every living thing, but to behold it in the company of fellow humans is to stand with the only other creatures who know what it means. Therefore - intimacy. Awe and trembling. Acceptance. Gratitude. It was not the walk on the beach I set out for, but it was the one I wanted.

Keith Olbermann doesn't endorse either Clinton or Obama, but he is clear in his condemnation on "bitter" comment by Ferraro, pointing to Hilary that she is acting like a "Republican" not like a "Democrat". Democrats are seem to be tearing themselves apart, while main beneficiaries are Republican McCain sharpening his tone and words for the Fall campaign against the potentially weak democrat. Video Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qXBXD2zizIY

MIT's 10 Emerging Technologies in 2008 delves into some really magnificent technologies, giving us peak to not so distant future. Click on the link below to check out the list: Technology Review: 10 Emerging Technologies 2008