Frankly, I'm appalled at the number of people blaming (and simplifying) all the world's problem into consumerism. And then saying that capitalism is the root of all evil. And of the cognitive science graduates who retweet these articles. Get these facts straight. 1.) Consumerism is NOT a byproduct of Capitalism. It's an extension of a common phenomena known as addiction ...

His visit was clearely focused on campagin agenda. He sounded more patriotic than ever before and defensive about his decisions as commander-in-chief. This was clearly a man fallen from grace - removing himself from staunch idealogies of peace that he used to represent to the more pragamatic popularity seeking presidential candidate. He spoke about automation - how the american industry ...

I completed my PhD at Carnegie Mellon last month, and so my stay at the city of Pittsburgh came to an end. So it's kind of redundant to call this blog "Notes from the Iron city" anymore. Also reading back on my earlier posts, I feel like they were cramped up, written out from a stressed out grad student's point ...

Walked around the rose garden at Washington Park today. Being a sunny Sunday, parking was a nightmare. But eventually found a spot. The whole place had a lingering aroma of spring and happiness. I was drinking my first Kombacha tea as I walked around, and that may have also helped with the heightened senses, but it certainly was a pleasant ...

Seriously people, stop with this madness. Everywhere I look, people are making a big fuss out of the results from one of CERN's experiments. People are claiming that "Science is wrong", "Einstein was wrong", "It's time to rewrite the science books".Have you people forgotten how many times the theory of relativity has been proven right in real world applications? Global ...

When Louann Brizendine infamous book "The Female Brain" came out a couple of years ago, I was excited about knowing once-and-for-all what women think/want. And as I read page by page, amazed at all the scientific studies she's cited, as well as the empirical examples she cleverly incorporates into the narrative, I found myself falling into a sudden appreciation of ...

...and nothing has changed. Even the music on Yes FM and TNL are the same. And I'm not even kidding. For some reason I'd forgotten that Taunting was a requirement while driving in Colombo. But that doesn't need a lot of time to internalize.

The above is picture floating around the Internet as a reminder to how classy Americans can be. If you haven't figured it out already, it's a montage of facebook statuses posted at the defeat of the American Woman's soccer team to Japan.I mean, this is not a purely an American issue. In every country there's ...

"Chastity is a virtue in some, but almost a vice in many. They abstain, but the bitch, sensuality, leers enviously out of everything they do. Even to the heights of their virtue and to the cold regions of the spirit this beast follows them with her lack of peace. And how nicely the bitch, sensuality, knows how to beg for ...

1.) Present-moment living is not Present Hednoism. So let's start with the don'ts. If you think living in the present means trying to squeeze out happiness every moment in your life - then you're doing it wrong. Remember, happiness among other things cannot be pursued. Or at least, the more you pursue it, the less you find it. So don't ...

That is the whole idea behind democracy. If a government behaves badly, it's up to the people to investigate, criticize and collectively rise against such a regime. Thus providing a feedback loop, which will either rectify the governments actions or create a new government. If patriotism has a definition, it should be the execution of the above. Yet the idiotic-definition ...

In face value it's just two words that anyone can interpret to their own ends. But after reading all this literature I feel the need to define these words for the sake of clarity;Self-consciousness is being aware of the limitations of your present self, and worrying about what other people think of you.Self-awareness is being aware of limitations of your ...

It was a last moment thing. I really didn't want to go crowd-surfing just to see a ball drop from a building. But I was in New York with a long lost high-school friend, and it was New Year's Eve. So we went out and observed several things. The crowd, which mainly consisted of tourists and out-of-state visitors, were discplined ...

Wikileaks has been in the forefront of International news these days. The recent leaks of US diplomatic cables by private Bradly Manning has been mostly an embarrassment for top US diplomats, and not necessarily a threat to US national security as feared by many. Outside the US, these cables have exposed thousands of corrupt officials and brought information to the ...

I visited the Carnegie Science Center to watch the Dark Knight Rises in the giant fish-eye distorted OMNIMAX theater, and found myself going through the exhibits at the at the Science Center, which are typically meant for kids. But that's ok, no one was there to judge me and I felt rather safe and unburdened. So this is an image ...

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.At least that was what Edward Abbey thought. Whistleblowers, activists, liberal journalists, usually have this mindset. At the other extreme there are the people who don't understand the difference between a country and a government. Usually cardiologists and other conservatives fall into this category. Then there are the ...

Went hiking on Blue Knob state park last week. It's actually the second highest point in Pennsylvania but the view is so-so since the it's not exactly a point. The altitude stretches over a large distance giving the apparent feeling of being not so high.The weather was perfect and I hiked for most of the day. Covered the mountain-view trail ...