Loving parents can now take their children, especially young girls, to spas for manicures, pedicures and hairstyling. There are times, and they recur quite often, when I wonder about the wisdom of having brought a child into this world. This is one such. Our culture creates and sustains a toxic atmosphere for women from cradleContinue reading “Starting Them Early: Beauty Spas For Little Girls”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
Heisenberg On Minimal Theoretical Change In Scientific Revolutions
In ‘Abstraction in Modern Art and Science’ (from Across the Frontiers, Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1974) Werner Heisenberg wrote: How does a revolution in science come about? The answer: By trying to change as little as possible; by concentrating all efforts on the solution of a special and obviously still unsolved problem, and proceeding as conservativelyContinue reading “Heisenberg On Minimal Theoretical Change In Scientific Revolutions”
Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble: Weightlifting And Humility
Lifting weights requires humility. Two weeks ago, a couple of days before I began a week-long vacation with my family–a road-trip to Cincinnati to visit my in-laws, that is, my daughter’s grandparents–I squatted 255lbs for three sets of six repetitions. (The sixth rep in there aims to add a little volume to my training.) IContinue reading “Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble: Weightlifting And Humility”
Memo To NYPD: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out
Over the past few days the NYPD, offended by protests against their policing, and still in a huff at New York’s mayor, Bill De Blasio, for daring to suggest they might need reform, has gone on a work-stoppage of sorts, refusing to carry out arrests or hand out parking tickets or miscellaneous traffic summonses. Meanwhile,Continue reading “Memo To NYPD: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out”
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 73,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to seeContinue reading “2014 in review”
The NYPD And The Serial Abuser’s Oldest Trick
A dozen or so years ago, a friend told me his wife’s sister was on the run, seeking shelter and safety after her abusive, drunken husband had assaulted her–and threatened to assault her young child–again. She had spent a night at her mother’s place but was considering moving on to a ‘neutral venue.’ All tooContinue reading “The NYPD And The Serial Abuser’s Oldest Trick”
Memo to Blasio, Bratton, Lynch: Ixnay On The Suspension Of Protests
On Saturday, a lone gunman with a history of violence, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot dead two New York City policemen. Before he did so, he proclaimed on his Instagram page that the killings were revenge for the choking to death of Eric Garner by the NYPD. After he shot the policemen, Brinsley killed himself at a nearbyContinue reading “Memo to Blasio, Bratton, Lynch: Ixnay On The Suspension Of Protests”
The Pietà, The Hammer, And The Stain
In The Renaissance: A Short History, Paul Johnson writes: [Michelangelo’s] first important commission, a Pietà (Mary with the dead Christ) [was] intended for the tomb of a French cardinal in Rome…It is by any standards a mature and majestic work, combining strength (the Virgin) and pathos (the Christ), nobility and tenderness, a consciousness of human fragility andContinue reading “The Pietà, The Hammer, And The Stain”
That Guy, The One Who Picks Fights With Your Facebook Friends
Like many Facebook users, I have defriended ‘friends.’ Enough was enough, and the ‘Unfriend’ option got selected. Sometimes, it was because I was sick and tired of seeing their posts in my newsfeed–for whatever reason, perhaps they were politically or personally offensive, or just too silly to put up with anymore. (Pompous, self-inflated, pretentious, bonContinue reading “That Guy, The One Who Picks Fights With Your Facebook Friends”
The Dog Stars: The Apocalypse As Outdoorsman Fantasy
Peter Heller‘s The Dog Stars is one of those post-apocalyptic novels in which authorial fantasies are overwhelmingly transparent. The world is coming to an end; flu has stalked the land; millions have died. Violence is the currency of most human interaction; food is scarce; government is invisible. And so on. You’ve seen most of thisContinue reading “The Dog Stars: The Apocalypse As Outdoorsman Fantasy”
Samir Chopra 