What does it mean to be human?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/20/2013 1:10:00 AM

'In the introductory class that I am teaching this term, I help students understand the dynamically changing geography of economic activities.  We discussed the economic rationale behind why anything that can be outsourced will be outsourced, and why activities that can be automated will be automated.I have noticed over the past couple of years that this topic gets students' attention far more than others do.  It is understandable--students immediately see the link between (...)'

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What else do you do after a 100-day hunger strike?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/19/2013 7:13:00 PM

'When we were kids, my brother and I once were upset with something--the details I have forgotten now, and I am sure it was something absolutely trivial--and we decided that we would go on a hunger strike. I couldn't have been even at a double-digit age, and my brother is two years younger, and there we were refusing to eat my mother's tasty cooking.What shocked me was this: my mother didn't get angry but was hurt.  It was almost like we had punched her awfully bad.  Yes, I(...)'

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Don't wish me sweet dreams, please!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/18/2013 7:59:00 PM

'Paging Dr. Freud.It is related to an important organ of mine for which he might have some answers.No, not that organ.  The brain.I want Dr. Freud to analyze why I had an awesome dream about a carrot halva.It was a wonderful dream.  Some fuzzy face brought me a bowl of the reddish carrot halva.  The halva made from the red carrots that are available during the winter months in northern India.  In the dream, the sweet was at just the right temperature.  I(...)'

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A toast to Pakistan: here is to hoping that democracy won't be toast!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/18/2013 3:08:00 AM

'As unfair as it might seem, one-term US presidents simply cannot ever return as presidential candidates to give the presidency another shot.  Thus, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush didn't need anyone telling them that their political days ended with their respective defeats.  Further, the constitution compels the re-elected President to pack up and leave the White House after eight years.  The presidency is the ultimate act in American politics.This is not the case i(...)'

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Aha! This is why pedagogy is paid so little. It is slave labor!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/17/2013 8:09:00 PM

'One student in an online class remarked something complimentary (I hope so, at least) about me bringing in readings and other materials from so many different places that are not necessarily academic in nature.  But then, that is what I have signed up for by opting for the teaching profession.  Teaching is not merely repeating  the same thing over and over to different batches of students, but to explore along with students the subjects that fascinate us.  Every (...)'

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All animals are created equal. Some are more equal than others!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/16/2013 6:18:00 AM

'A few months ago, one day I saw a couple of ants in the kitchen.  I went on a red alert after killing them--I was sure that the two meant that more were on their way.Sure enough, they came. In increasing numbers.  After a few more days of spot and kill, when I saw a long line of them marching, I called up the exterminator.  I wrote him a check, and he sprayed chemicals inside the home, and on the periphery outside.The ants are gone.  So long, suckers!A few years (...)'

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More on the Bangladesh factory catastrophe ... clothes cheaper than food!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/14/2013 4:35:00 AM

'In an earlier post, I noted the logic that if we as consumers want to pay nothing more than $14 a shirt, then it can happen only with the kind of conditions that led to the catastrophe in Bangladesh.  The New Yorker's James Surowiecki's point is the same: The problem isn’t so much evil factory owners as a system that’s great at getting Western consumers what they want but leaves developing-world workers toiling in misery.How much have American consumers benefited from textile m(...)'

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Students ignore their debts as long as their athletic teams win?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/13/2013 2:40:00 AM

'This blog post on the tax we are effectively imposing on the younger generation attracted quite a few visits, according the site traffic data.  I commented there, rather sarcastically, that:The youth are paying big time for all our irresponsible decisions. But, youth being youth, their focus might not be in the metaphorical screw but in the literal one, and it will be a while before they will realize how much we have messed them up!I should have noted there that jingoistic athl(...)'

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On Mothers ... wisdom from the old country

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/12/2013 2:09:00 PM

'A continuation of sorts of the posts over the years.Growing up in India, there was no concept of a special day for mothers.  Or fathers.In my initial years in the US, the concept of wishing mother or father seemed strange.  Very odd.  The idea of wishing on a designated day is the strange part that is, not the idea of recognizing the mother's importance in life.I would imagine that mothers were way up high in pretty much every culture's list of important people, and t(...)'

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We should rethink bump in salary for master's degrees

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/12/2013 3:46:00 AM

'Am re-posting here an op-ed of mine that was published in the Statesman Journal back in October 2011.  It is a follow-up to the comment that Mike Thissel posted in response to this post.************************One can easily imagine that many school districts in Oregon will be in situations similar to the Salem-Keizer School District, which is about $20 million short in its budget. We can expect education budgets to further tighten up because economic conditions (...)'

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What if I am outed for who I am: an intellectual empty shell?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/8/2013 3:01:00 AM

'I started reading Cass Sunstein's essay in the New York Review of Books because it was about one of my all time favorites--Albert Hirschman.In that essay, Sunstein writes:Hirschman sought, in his early twenties and long before becoming a writer, to “prove Hamlet wrong.” In Shakespeare’s account, Hamlet is immobilized and defeated by doubt. Hirschman was a great believer in doubt—he never doubted it—and he certainly doubted his own convictions. At a conference designed to celebrate t(...)'

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Making nuclear power double-D sexy!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/7/2013 4:50:00 AM

'In what seems like eons ago, when I had started teaching in California, we were discussing nuclear energy in the economic geography class.  One student, whose name I have forgotten all these years later, with a track record of wisecracks, raised his hand.  I should have known better than to recognize his hand, but I did anyway.  He had a question, which went something like this:"That is a nuclear power plant, right, by I-5 on the way to San Diego?"  I said yes, n(...)'

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Why strange European music sounds right on warm days?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/7/2013 1:24:00 AM

'It feels like hotter than hell, and the high was only 82 degrees.  Yesterday it was even hotter--89 degrees, and about 20 degrees higher than normal.  Damn this global warming!Eleven years in the mild conditions of Oregon have spoilt me. Completely.When the temperature goes more than 72, maybe 75, I feel like I might as well quit doing anything and take a long siesta.  My brain doesn't want to work, and my body feels uncomfortable.  I hate the thought of cooking (...)'

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Halfway through the term, the verdict is in!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/6/2013 12:40:00 AM

'Yes, we have completed only five weeks of the ten-week quarter.  But, I am ready to call it a success. I don't have to wait for any longer. It is not that I don't have to classes anymore; I do.  I have tests to assign and papers to grade.  But, yes, the term is a success already.Last week, I entered the hallway and proceeded towards my office when I saw "B," waiting outside my office door.  Notice that I didn't write "my student" and I merely mentioned "B."  (...)'

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The Bangladesh clothing factory disaster and us. Not the US, but us

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/5/2013 3:45:00 AM

'We consumers want to pay the lowest price possible for whatever we want to buy.  The market works, and works furiously, to get us products at those low prices. This drive for low prices has led to China's rise as the world's factory.  In an earlier post, I wondered whether China's "cheap" manufacturing is worth all that.  I noted there:We consumers all over the world are not willing to pay anything towards maintaining the environment, leave alone improving its quality(...)'

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Where have all the young men gone ...?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/4/2013 3:05:00 PM

'To be out and about on a pleasant evening is a pleasure all by itself.  There was no way I was going to waste an unusually awesome spring evening.I picked up the copy of the New Yorker, which I planned to read while sitting in the car overlooking the cityscape.  Water bottle, cellphone, and wallet. The garage door was opening as I realized that I hadn't had dinner yet.I drove up to the Taco Bell and waited behind a Pontiac Trans Am with its distinctive growl.  After I(...)'

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If I were a rich man ...

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/3/2013 10:54:00 PM

'As a starving graduate student--ok, "starving" is an exaggeration--every once in a while I played the lottery.  I typically bought a quickpick lotto ticket for a dollar--this was back in California.  It was always a disappointment that I never had even two numbers that matched with the winning ones.  I comforted myself with "unlucky with money, but lucky in love."And then I won. Five dollars!And those five dollars is all I have won all my life in playing the lottery. (...)'

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Bombs and missiles are ok in Syria, but gas is not ok? WTF!

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 5/2/2013 5:25:00 AM

'Last night, even as my eyes were half-closing, and with my right arm tiring quickly holding the New Yorker thanks to the tennis-elbow issue that I am dealing with, I simply had to, had to, finish reading the absolutely depressing narrative on the people in Aleppo burying their dead.If it was depressing to read, I cannot imagine how awful it was for the reporter to be there.  And even more awful for the Syrians who live in Aleppo.  And way more awful for those whose fr(...)'

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Is higher education hurting working class students, instead of helping them?

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 4/30/2013 8:30:00 PM

'A few days ago, a student, "K," who was in one of my classes last fall, knocked on the office door to say hi, and we ended up having a wonderful conversation for more than half-an-hour.  I told her it felt like I was talking with my daughter and not with a student. "That's a good thing, right?" she asked with a smile.It is a good thing, indeed.  Taking such an interest can also mean that I end up worrying about things I don't really have any business worrying about.  (...)'

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Macho men also can hear the sound of violins ...

Author : Sriram Khé      Blog : Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity      Date : 4/29/2013 2:30:00 PM

'My version of macho is all about standing up for ideas. It is never macho in the sense of muscles. Which is also why I have often commented that Hillary Clinton has a lot more cojones than many American males combined!When people see me, and hear me talk, there is a high probability that they think I am an easy pushover.  Poof you blow and Sriram falls flat, they assume. Except, that is not a correct estimate.  They then find me, and annoyingly so, a hard rock to even nudg(...)'

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