Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

Oliver Sacks died today. A great loss for the humanity. I have come to known about his writings from his various articles, haven't got the chance reading any of his books yet though came very close to reading his book on music titled Musicophilia (now regretting not reading it). In February of this year I'd read his article in The New York Times, a meditative writing coming to terms with his terminal illness. Here is a memorable snippet from that article : "There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate - the genetic and neural fate - of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own, to die his own death." Tonight after learning of his passing away, I have read two of his more recent articles. The first one is titled, " My Periodic Table " and the second one is " Sa

Is it an alarmist article ? Like many other similar warnings from reputable scientists, this new warning about warming seas faster than predicted, having global catastrophic consequences for the humanity, may not receive the adequate attention from the world populace. Out attention spectrum is shifting like a nomadic wind, from one distraction to another, from entertainment to sports, mind boggling senseless violence and wars, gossiping about the celebrities and other shape shifting fiasco. All the while this world, our very home planet, the only one so far we know conclusively supporting organic lifeforms are rushing toward an environmental calamity from which reversing the devastating possibility of submerged and washed away populous cities and nations may become a frightening certainty. Here is a snippet from the post-gazette.com article: “ People need to be prepared ,” Josh Willis, an oceanographer at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said on a confer

I love Stephen King's writings. He is one of my favorite authors along with a few other exceptional writers. When I was a teenager, his novels and stories that I'd read, had profound effect on my love for contemporary English literature. Whenever time is available in these days of dwindling time in the middle of workday and family life, I still pick up his latest novels. To me Stephen King's prolific output is not shallow contribution to the world of literature. His latest article on New York Times points out some snobbish ideas that some holds in the upper echelon of literary world that writing too many novels and stories diminishes a writer's worthiness as a great writer. In some cases this claim is true but as Stephen King states, "No one in his or her right mind would argue that quantity guarantees quality, but to suggest that quantity never produces quality strikes me as snobbish, inane and demonstrably untrue." Here are some profound observations f

Oil price is in free fall. Close to $40 a barrel. A shocking downfall from its peak hovering way above $100 a barrel not too long ago. Fear has impact on market. A few factors seem to be behind the oil price fall. First the supply glut. This is possibly pushing the price down steadily. What is surprising to me is the path that OPEC has taken so far by not cutting the production level. Only plausible reason could be that OPEC is putting pressure on the "unconventional" oil producers, a calculated move to push the competitors away. Second is the lowering of demand. Because of low oil prices many businesses are affected, directly or indirectly, thus reducing the demand for oil. That's the conventional wisdom. However, some observers pointed out that this time around the "lowering" demand may not be the significant problem, it is the supply glut that has overwhelmed the demand. Here is a quote from the International Energy Agency : Global oil demand in 2