BERKELEY, CA, USA, April 4, 2010 (The New York Times) Over the past 540 million years, life on Earth has passed through five great mass extinctions. In each of those catastrophes, an estimated 75 percent or more of all species disappeared in a few million years or less. For decades, scientists have warned that humans may be ushering in a…
March 4, 2011 (by Anuradha Dutt for the Daily Pioneer): After being carved out of the Indian sub-continent, Pakistan is just 63-years old. Its raison d’etre is to act as an Islamic counter-force to a predominantly Hindu India, which encompasses all variations of religious beliefs, including the Islamic, within a secular framework. Religious freedom is the fulcrum of our secular…
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, April 4, 2010 (The New York Times): The Supreme Court on Monday effectively upheld an Arizona program that aids religious schools, saying in a 5-to-4 decision that the plaintiffs had no standing to challenge it. Justice Elena Kagan, in her first dissent, said the majority had laid waste to the doctrine of “taxpayer standing,” which allows suits…
BOSTON, USA, April 1, 2011: Few find much to laugh about in the field of genetic science, but while humor seldom reflects on science, geneticists are thinking a lot about humor these days. In an esoteric paper entitled ‘Genomic DNA Sequences for the Study of Gelotology’ published today by the Reich Laboratory, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, the understanding…
CHENNAI, INDIA, April 1, 2011: With the rise of regulations protecting elephants in temples, some people are going for unorthodox solutions. The laws do not mention mammoths or mastodons. A new company in Chennai is working to resurrect these species from preserved DNA samples, with an eye on the temple market. ‘They have several advantages,’ said Mr. Subhafool Aprilmurthy, CEO…
TEXAS, April 1, 2011: Texan legislation is following the footsteps of a much older rulebook. After changing pi to 3 last year, the Texan legislature has now made it illegal for insects to have six legs. State Senator John Smith explained, ‘According to Leviticus 11, which admonishes us on what we should or should not eat, it is made explicit…
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA, April 1, 2011: Last year the world was startled by Julia Roberts’ public announcement of her Hinduness, made all the more dramatic coming in the wake of her movie, ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ Today, Steve Jobs held a press conference at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino to discuss the rumors he has been quietly following a Hindu path for…
NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 1, 2011: India, it seems, had found the final solution to red tape. The Indian government is about to release a permit required to allow citizens to get permits. ‘The main problem that causes so much delay in our government’s services is that anyone can get a permit now. We have, to this end, instituted the…
MUMBAI, INDIA, April 1, 2011: Modeled after the laws that allow for the takeover of Hindu temples in some states of India, bringing in crores of rupees, the government now plans a tax based on the chakras. The fees would be calculated according to their spinning speed, bureaucrats said. The question of how to gauge the chakras’ development and tax…
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, April 1, 2011: Glenn K. Murphy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gap Inc., with Mayor Francis Slay at his side, announced Gap’s successful sponsorship of the 2014 Kumbha Mela in St. Louis at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The huge clothing retailer, with 3,200 stores worldwide, has been working to incorporate Indian fashion design…