Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

Richard Cohen's article titled "The Bigotry of Trump and Farrakhan" is well written, made good points on bigotry and why silence is complicity. Here is an excerpt from this Washington Post article :  "More troubling are the people who think they can parse their messages, accept what they like and discard the rest. This is possible with ordinary public figures or politicians. You can, say, endorse their foreign policy but not their position on ethanol. But when the salient piece is a call for intolerance — sometimes stated, sometimes not — then the culprit is not just the speaker but also the listener as well. Silence is complicity...... But I also believe that we all have an obligation to repudiate bigotry and not think we can use it to serve a political purpose. Many thousands failed to do that over the weekend on the Mall, and many more have done something similar by supporting Trump. For them, I have just one word:  Shame."  

One day, the world and its populace will be more matured. One day, the science and technology will leap to a new evolutionary height, so helpful to all humanity, uplifting the dispossessed and the poverty stricken from the depth of despair, solving all the human created and natural problems that have befuddled humanity from the time of antiquity. All the refugees who are desperately crossing the ocean, walking through the darkened woods and forests, sneaking through the barb wires, children, women, men, elderly and disable human beings, leaving all their possessions in the rubble of their ruined homeland to find a better place for a decent life, one day the collective core of goodness of humanity will be awaken, will not stay silent on the sideline seeing the humiliation and tears of their fellow beings. One day, all the hatred and dehumanization will be things of the past, and the world and its happy populace will march forward toward more maturity and respectful coexistence on thi...

"Fake meat" is on the rise. This possibly will have positive impact on the reduction of green house gas as the " livestock cause more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation industry". Also, this is an ethical issue. Humanity has progressed in achieving more compassion towards fellow humans. The logical progression of this compassion is to be more inclusive by abandoning the antiquated brutality that are being done on animals of all kinds for their meat.  I like the writings of Nickolas Kristof. In this NYT article, " The (Fake) meat revolution ",  Mr. Kristof shows how the pent up market demand and the advances in science and technology will eventually provides more viable options for the "weak willed" to get rid of this inhuman murderous appetite once for all. 

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...

Not writing anything, no blog post, no comment. This has become normal for me these days. In the old days, the words flew naturally from the tip of my fingers typing furiously on a desktop or laptop's keyboard to the monitor. So many ideas! So many things to write about! The relentless bad news from media, newspaper, magazines, forums, etc., and there gone I stooping in the corner of my quiet room, typing away the thoughts, opinions, pondering about the humanity, the terrible indifference towards the agonies of the distressed, the blood cuddling wars and the senseless violence, the silence of the vast majority in the face of injustice and shameful bias. The world has not changed much while the flow of my words has ebbed away. The ferocity of the tormentors over the tortured and the oppressed souls, mostly those who have little or no voice to protest, being uprooted or bombed away, incarcerated in the cleverly exploited political maneuvering.This everlasting story from the antiqu...

Powerful words from Lesley Hazleton on doubt and faith. Earlier today I've first seen this respectful writer's another excellent presentation from 2011 on the page of Samira Karim, that made me curious to read up on Lesley Hazleton and I found this TED presentation of her from 2013. Many misconceptions exist about Muslims, and also misconceptions exist among Muslims about people from other religions or non-religion. Having the privileges of living in several countries spread around multiple continents, I have learnt that the core essence of being human with full of hopes, joys, anxiety, fear, dreams and daily struggles are very much the same in every living being of our world regardless of origins, complexion and other shallow worthless and artificial dividers. My humble salute is for Lesley Hazleton, an agnostic Jew, and other fearless and bias-less writers and speakers who are not afraid speaking the truth, and who share many of humanity's common yearning for a peaceful ...

UN's François Crépeau on the refugee crisis: 'Instead of resisting migration, let's organise it' http://gu.com/p/47y4b/stw  "would we find acceptable that our sons and daughters be treated the same way if they were in the same circumstances? If we answer no, then we have the answer to our moral dilemma."

Dave Eggers' The Circle: Well paced and cleverly crafted novel with scary allegories portraying a time not too far in the future. A future that has lots of similarities with our time but that is progressing toward a "complete circle", though benevolent in its purported intention of getting absolute transparency and supposed honesty from every level of the society but as the predatory shark shows in so painstakingly detail metaphor that all the good intentions may get submerged by the base instinct of unchecked predation. Dave Eggers' "The Circle" is a thought provoking novel.

New science on cholesterol, eggs and vegetarian diets http://goo.gl/9LWTDg Politics in food! Who knew?

Social Media Is Helping Moms Win the War Over Public Breastfeeding: http://ti.me/1DdfOE8 breaking the ridiculous cultural fixation. Excerpt fron this good article: " The problem isn’t social media; it’s our cultural fixation on women as objects to titillate and entertain rather than women as human beings with lives and hardships. By using social media to mobilize our efforts to gain the right to breastfeed without being harassed, we are turning the tide, slowly — one picture, one instance, at a time. But until we can affect a deep change in the way society views women in general, and breastfeeding mothers in particular, we will not be able to win the war."

Federal report: Vegan diet best for planet  http://goo.gl/SVwXdC - most possibly is true but the meat industry is too powerful. Change it.

A real life hero: "Someone's got to protect the underdog." My utmost respect to John St. Jean. May he recover quick. A man like him is more needed in this world. Link:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/john-st-jean-on-life-support-after-beating-in-grande-prairie-parking -lot-1.3021416

I am flabbergasted seeing this first on Saima Jamal's page. How come a mother is prevented to nurse her seven months old infant? I thought intolerance resides in the faraway la-la-la lands only! Delusional naivete. From: https://www.facebook.com/jamie.l.davis.50 : "I brought my 3 children to "the fun dome" in Edmonton and will never do that again! My 7 month old was fussing and wanted to nurse so I started feeding him and was told by the staff that it was not appropriate to feed him there. I told them that the law states that a breastfeeding mom can nurse her child anywhere she is lawfully allowed to be and was attacked verbally by them and another mother and told that's not how it works here I should go back to my own country (I am a Canadian born and raised, so are my parents grandparents etc) and how could they explain to the other children what I was doing the manager came to talk to me and told me that if I wanted to feed my son I must do it elsewhere s...

We all killed Avijit and Oyasiqur http://t.co/VhYYC5bIIq Confronting our own ingrained intolerance is the first step for a better world.

Blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes http://wpo.st/2A_B0 human right is transcendental, unbounded by any so called "red line". Free Badawi! No compulsion in religion.

Opposing discrimination takes courage, it’s time for all of us to be courageous. A timely article: http://wpo.st/mHTA0

Instrumental music of a Bangla song that Mitali Mukherji sang many years ago. Music director of this melodic song was Alauddin Ali and lyricist was Amzad Hossain. This song was originally recorded for a Bangla movie called "Dui Paiser Alta". Bangla lyrics: এই দুনিয়া এখন তো আর সেই দুনিয়া নাই মানুষ নামের মানুষ আছে দুনিয়া বোঝাই এই মানুষের ভীড়ে আমার সেই মানুষ নাই।। এই মাটির দেহ খাইলো ঘুনে দেখলো না তো কেউ সারা জীবন দুই নয়নে রইলো জলের ঢেউ আমার দুঃখের কথা কইতে গেলে এ ই দুনিয়ার সবাই বলে শোনার সময় নাই।। হায় এখন বুঝি দারুণ সময় বদলে গেছে দিন কেউ আমারে চায় না দিতে একটু সময় ঋণ আমার মনের বাগান রইলো খালি সে বাগানের সুজন মালি বলো কোথায় পাই।