January 2012 – Page 11 – Smriti "Simmi" D. Isaac

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

On This Day: January 14

Updated January 13, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Jan. 14, 1943, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.

Go to article »

On Jan. 14, 1875, Albert Schweitzer, the Alsatian-German doctor who received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize , was born. Following his death on Sept. 4, 1965, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

On This Date

By The Associated Press

1639 Connecticut’s first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, was adopted.

1784 The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.

1898 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” under the pen name Lewis Carroll, died in Guildford, England, at age 65.

1952 NBC’s “Today” show premiered.

1953 Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country’s Parliament.

1954 Baseball player Joe Dimaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe were married at San Francisco City Hall.

1963 George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of “segregation forever.”

1970 Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

1993 Late-night TV talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS.

1994 President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed accords in Moscow to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.

2004 Former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to conspiracy as he accepted a 10-year prison sentence.

2004 J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. struck a deal to buy Bank One Corp. for $58 billion.

2004 President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to send astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond.

2005 Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.)

2005 A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan.

2008 Republican Bobby Jindal, the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States, took office in Louisiana.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Director Steven Soderbergh turns 49 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Actress Holland Taylor turns 69 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

1938 Jack Jones, Singer, turns 74

1938 Allen Toussaint, R&B singer, songwriter, turns 74

1940 Julian Bond, Civil rights activist, turns 72

1941 Faye Dunaway, Actress, turns 71

1947 Bev Perdue, Governor of North Carolina, turns 65

1948 T-Bone Burnett, Rock singer, producer, turns 64

1948 Carl Weathers, Actor, turns 64

1949 Lawrence Kasdan, Screenwriter, director, turns 63

1952 Maureen Dowd, Columnist, turns 60

1964 Shepard Smith, Broadcast journalist (“The Fox Report”), turns 48

1967 Emily Watson, Actress, turns 45

1968 LL Cool J, Rapper, actor, turns 44

1969 Jason Bateman, Actor (“Arrested Development”), turns 43

1969 Dave Grohl, Rock singer, musician (Foo Fighters), turns 43

1982 Caleb Followill, Rock musician (Kings of Leon), turns 30

Historic Birthdays

Albert Schweitzer 1/14/1875 – 9/4/1965 Alsatian/German physician.Go to obituary »

60 Benedict Arnold 1/14/1741 – 6/14/1801
American patriot/traitor

64 Henry Baldwin 1/14/1780 – 4/21/1844
American Supreme Court justice

54 Berthe Morisot 1/14/1841 – 3/2/1895
French painter/printmaker

77 Art Young 1/14/1866 – 12/29/1943
American cartoonist

61 Hugh Lofting 1/14/1886 – 9/26/1947
English/American author

100 Hal Roach 1/14/1892 – 11/2/1992
American producer/director

74 John Dos Passos 1/14/1896 – 9/28/1970
American writer/journalist

86 Carlos Romulo 1/14/1899 – 12/15/1985
Philippine diplomat

76 Sir Cecil Beaton 1/14/1904 – 1/18/1980
American photographer

1639	Connecticut’s first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, was adopted.
1784	The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War.
1898	Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” under the pen name Lewis Carroll, died in Guildford, England, at age 65.
1952	NBC’s “Today” show premiered.
1953	Josip Broz Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia by the country’s Parliament.
1954	Baseball player Joe Dimaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe were married at San Francisco City Hall.
1963	George C. Wallace was sworn in as governor of Alabama with a pledge of “segregation forever.”
1970	Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their last concert together, at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
1993	Late-night TV talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving from NBC to CBS.
1994	President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed accords in Moscow to stop aiming missiles at any nation and to dismantle the nuclear arsenal of Ukraine.
2004	Former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty to conspiracy as he accepted a 10-year prison sentence.
2004	J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. struck a deal to buy Bank One Corp. for $58 billion.
2004	President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to send astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond.
2005	Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. (He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.)
2005	A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan.
2008	Republican Bobby Jindal, the first elected Indian-American governor in the United States, took office in Louisiana.

1938	Jack Jones, Singer, turns 74
1938	Allen Toussaint, R&B singer, songwriter, turns 74
1940	Julian Bond, Civil rights activist, turns 72
1941	Faye Dunaway, Actress, turns 71
1947	Bev Perdue, Governor of North Carolina, turns 65
1948	T-Bone Burnett, Rock singer, producer, turns 64
1948	Carl Weathers, Actor, turns 64
1949	Lawrence Kasdan, Screenwriter, director, turns 63
1952	Maureen Dowd, Columnist, turns 60
1964	Shepard Smith, Broadcast journalist (“The Fox Report”), turns 48
1967	Emily Watson, Actress, turns 45
1968	LL Cool J, Rapper, actor, turns 44
1969	Jason Bateman, Actor (“Arrested Development”), turns 43
1969	Dave Grohl, Rock singer, musician (Foo Fighters), turns 43
1982	Caleb Followill, Rock musician (Kings of Leon), turns 30

60	Benedict Arnold 1/14/1741 – 6/14/1801 American patriot/traitor
64	Henry Baldwin 1/14/1780 – 4/21/1844 American Supreme Court justice
54	Berthe Morisot 1/14/1841 – 3/2/1895 French painter/printmaker
77	Art Young 1/14/1866 – 12/29/1943 American cartoonist
61	Hugh Lofting 1/14/1886 – 9/26/1947 English/American author
100	Hal Roach 1/14/1892 – 11/2/1992 American producer/director
74	John Dos Passos 1/14/1896 – 9/28/1970 American writer/journalist
86	Carlos Romulo 1/14/1899 – 12/15/1985 Philippine diplomat
76	Sir Cecil Beaton 1/14/1904 – 1/18/1980 American photographer

via learning.blogs.nytimes.com

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — 1 Comment

All the way from scratch, by the way! The dough rested overnight (kneaded with yogurt), and was perfect to the touch. Each one was stuffed with finely chopped red onion, kalonji (onion seed), and sunflower seeds. Yummmmm! I served it with Rajma and Chapli Kebabs! Yummmmmmmm!

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

277/365/01

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

Frankenmuth, Michigan: Kitschy, Quaint, and Cute

See the full gallery on Posterous

From a trip there last month.

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

America Isn’t a Corporation. Hear That, Mr. Romney?

America Isn’t a Corporation

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: January 12, 2012

“And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.” That’s how the fictional Gordon Gekko finished his famous “Greed is good” speech in the 1987 film “Wall Street.” In the movie, Gekko got his comeuppance. But in real life, Gekkoism triumphed, and policy based on the notion that greed is good is a major reason why income has grown so much more rapidly for the richest 1 percent than for the middle class.

Today, however, let’s focus on the rest of that sentence, which compares America to a corporation. This, too, is an idea that has been widely accepted. And it’s the main plank of Mitt Romney’s case that he should be president: In effect, he is asserting that what we need to fix our ailing economy is someone who has been successful in business.

In so doing, he has, of course, invited close scrutiny of his business career. And it turns out that there is at least a whiff of Gordon Gekko in his time at Bain Capital, a private equity firm; he was a buyer and seller of businesses, often to the detriment of their employees, rather than someone who ran companies for the long haul. (Also, when will he release his tax returns?) Nor has he helped his credibility by making untenable claims about his role as a “job creator.”

But there’s a deeper problem in the whole notion that what this nation needs is a successful businessman as president: America is not, in fact, a corporation. Making good economic policy isn’t at all like maximizing corporate profits. And businessmen — even great businessmen — do not, in general, have any special insights into what it takes to achieve economic recovery.

Why isn’t a national economy like a corporation? For one thing, there’s no simple bottom line. For another, the economy is vastly more complex than even the largest private company.

Most relevant for our current situation, however, is the point that even giant corporations sell the great bulk of what they produce to other people, not to their own employees — whereas even small countries sell most of what they produce to themselves, and big countries like America are overwhelmingly their own main customers.

Yes, there’s a global economy. But six out of seven American workers are employed in service industries, which are largely insulated from international competition, and even our manufacturers sell much of their production to the domestic market.

And the fact that we mostly sell to ourselves makes an enormous difference when you think about policy.

Consider what happens when a business engages in ruthless cost-cutting. From the point of view of the firm’s owners (though not its workers), the more costs that are cut, the better. Any dollars taken off the cost side of the balance sheet are added to the bottom line.

But the story is very different when a government slashes spending in the face of a depressed economy. Look at Greece, Spain, and Ireland, all of which have adopted harsh austerity policies. In each case, unemployment soared, because cuts in government spending mainly hit domestic producers. And, in each case, the reduction in budget deficits was much less than expected, because tax receipts fell as output and employment collapsed.

Now, to be fair, being a career politician isn’t necessarily a better preparation for managing economic policy than being a businessman. But Mr. Romney is the one claiming that his career makes him especially suited for the presidency. Did I mention that the last businessman to live in the White House was a guy named Herbert Hoover? (Unless you count former President George W. Bush.)

And there’s also the question of whether Mr. Romney understands the difference between running a business and managing an economy.

Like many observers, I was somewhat startled by his latest defense of his record at Bain — namely, that he did the same thing the Obama administration did when it bailed out the auto industry, laying off workers in the process. One might think that Mr. Romney would rather not talk about a highly successful policy that just about everyone in the Republican Party, including him, denounced at the time.

But what really struck me was how Mr. Romney characterized President Obama’s actions: “He did it to try to save the business.” No, he didn’t; he did it to save the industry, and thereby to save jobs that would otherwise have been lost, deepening America’s slump. Does Mr. Romney understand the distinction?

America certainly needs better economic policies than it has right now — and while most of the blame for poor policies belongs to Republicans and their scorched-earth opposition to anything constructive, the president has made some important mistakes. But we’re not going to get better policies if the man sitting in the Oval Office next year sees his job as being that of engineering a leveraged buyout of America Inc.

via nytimes.com

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

On This Day: January 13

Updated January 12, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Jan. 13, 1990, Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.
Go to article »

On Jan. 13, 1870, Ross Granville Harrison , the American zoologist and pioneer in embryonic transplantation , was born. Following his death on Sept. 30, 1959, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

On This Date By The Associated Press

1794 President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.

1808 Salmon P. Chase, U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Cornish, N.H.

1893 Britain’s Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the Labor Party, first met.

1898 Novelist Emile Zola’s “J’accuse” – a defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of treason – was published in a Paris newspaper.

1964 Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Paul VI.

1966 Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

1968 Country musician Johnny Cash recorded a live concert at Folsom Prison in California.

1982 An Air Florida 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.

1989 New York City subway gunman Bernhard H. Goetz was sentenced to one year in prison for possessing an unlicensed gun that he used to shoot four youths he said were about to rob him.

1990 L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation’s first elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond.

2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive.

2002 The off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks” ended a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances.

Current Birthdays By The Associated Press

Actor Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”) turns 46 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Country singer Trace Adkins turns 50 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

1930 Frances Sternhagen, Actress, turns 82

1934 Rip Taylor, Comedian, turns 78

1938 Billy Gray, Actor (“Father Knows Best”), turns 74

1943 Richard Moll, Actor (“Night Court”), turns 69

1954 Trevor Rabin, Rock musician (Yes), turns 58

1961 Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Actress (“Seinfeld,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine”), turns 51

1964 Penelope Ann Miller, Actress, turns 48

1972 Nicole Eggert, Actress, turns 40

1977 Orlando Bloom, Actor (“Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Lord of the Rings” movies), turns 35

Historic Birthdays

Ross Granville Harrison 1/13/1870 – 9/30/1959 American zoologist.Go to obituary »

60 Jan van Goyen 1/13/1596 – 4/27/1656
Dutch artist

77 Christoph Graupner 1/13/1683 – 5/10/1760
German composer

81 Sir Isaac Goldsmid 1/13/1778 – 4/27/1859
English financier

65 Salmon Chase 1/13/1808 – 5/7/1873
American politician/lawyer

67 Horatio Alger 1/13/1832 – 7/18/1899
American author

51 Felix Tisserand 1/13/1845 – 10/20/1896
French astronomer

82 Sophie Tucker 1/13/1884 – 2/9/1966
American entertainer

68 Elmer Davis 1/13/1890 – 5/18/1958
American broadcaster/writer

90 A.B. Jr. Guthrie 1/13/1901 – 4/26/1991
American novelist

1794	President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union.
1808	Salmon P. Chase, U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Cornish, N.H.
1893	Britain’s Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the Labor Party, first met.
1898	Novelist Emile Zola’s “J’accuse” – a defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of treason – was published in a Paris newspaper.
1964	Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Paul VI.
1966	Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
1968	Country musician Johnny Cash recorded a live concert at Folsom Prison in California.
1982	An Air Florida 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.
1989	New York City subway gunman Bernhard H. Goetz was sentenced to one year in prison for possessing an unlicensed gun that he used to shoot four youths he said were about to rob him.
1990	L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation’s first elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond.
2000	Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive.
2002	The off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks” ended a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances.

1930	Frances Sternhagen, Actress, turns 82
1934	Rip Taylor, Comedian, turns 78
1938	Billy Gray, Actor (“Father Knows Best”), turns 74
1943	Richard Moll, Actor (“Night Court”), turns 69
1954	Trevor Rabin, Rock musician (Yes), turns 58
1961	Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Actress (“Seinfeld,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine”), turns 51
1964	Penelope Ann Miller, Actress, turns 48
1972	Nicole Eggert, Actress, turns 40
1977	Orlando Bloom, Actor (“Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Lord of the Rings” movies), turns 35

60	Jan van Goyen 1/13/1596 – 4/27/1656 Dutch artist
77	Christoph Graupner 1/13/1683 – 5/10/1760 German composer
81	Sir Isaac Goldsmid 1/13/1778 – 4/27/1859 English financier
65	Salmon Chase 1/13/1808 – 5/7/1873 American politician/lawyer
67	Horatio Alger 1/13/1832 – 7/18/1899 American author
51	Felix Tisserand 1/13/1845 – 10/20/1896 French astronomer
82	Sophie Tucker 1/13/1884 – 2/9/1966 American entertainer
68	Elmer Davis 1/13/1890 – 5/18/1958 American broadcaster/writer
90	A.B. Jr. Guthrie 1/13/1901 – 4/26/1991 American novelist

via learning.blogs.nytimes.com

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

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Posted on January 13, 2012January 19, 2013 by Simmi D. Isaac — Leave a comment

Vijay Iyer Trio: Live In Concert via @NPR

via npr.org

By Patrick Jarenwattananon

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer leads a trio that traffics in grooves, crackling and heavy. He has a distinctive way of exploiting dissonance and rhythmic space at the piano; he’s joined by a deeply resonant, gut-punching bassist (Stephan Crump) and a drummer with an advanced understanding of time (Marcus Gilmore). The results are beats that feel borrowed from a future age; alternately, they’re new lenses on jazz’s big-picture history.

The band led off its packed-house performance at Le Poisson Rouge with a number by the disco-funk band Heatwave (“The Star of a Story”), created a sort of acoustic Detroit techno (“Hood”), stretched out a Michael Jackson classic (“Human Nature”) and played Ronnie Foster’s “Mystic Brew” with full knowledge of its sampling by A Tribe Called Quest. A few more originals rounded out this slightly abbreviated set, a partial preview of the upcoming album Accelerando. Full of stutter steps and snare claps, power chords and low end, the concert proved a clear highlight of the 2012 NYC Winter Jazzfest.
Set List

“The Star Of A Story” (R. Temperton)
“Lude” (Iyer)
“Optimism” (Iyer)
“Hood” (Iyer)
“Human Nature” (Porcaro/Bettis)
“Actions Speak” (Iyer)
“Mystic Brew” (R. Foster)

Personnel

Vijay Iyer, piano
Stephan Crump, bass
Marcus Gilmore, drums

Credits

Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Patrick Jarenwattananon; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins. Recorded Jan. 7, 2012 at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, N.Y.

via npr.org

Month: January 2012

On This Day: January 14

On This Date

By The Associated Press

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

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Kulchas: Because I Can!

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277/365/01

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Frankenmuth, Michigan: Kitschy, Quaint, and Cute

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America Isn’t a Corporation. Hear That, Mr. Romney?

America Isn’t a Corporation

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: January 12, 2012

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On This Day: January 13

On This Date By The Associated Press

Current Birthdays By The Associated Press

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276/365/01

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Vijay Iyer Trio: Live In Concert via @NPR

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Simmi D. Isaac

On This Date

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America Isn’t a Corporation

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: January 12, 2012

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