Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A religion rant

One of the blogs I read frequently is written by a Christian young woman. She writes from a fundamentalist point of view. I used to read all her posts including the ones on her view of religion, but after a couple of months, I started skipping over them because I couldn't digest what i thought was mutilation of my religion. As a Christian, I believe in the words of Jesus Christ. I love Him & His teachings. I do not believe that women are secondary beings whose only calling is to marry & serve their husbands. God made me an intelligent woman, I am smart & can keep my head in a crisis. Sometimes, I am more rational & level-headed than my husband. Its absurd to expect one person to lead all the time in a family.

I do NOT believe that the Bible is inerrant & can be used to decide every single thing I do on this earth. If it were so, it would be OK to have slaves. It would be OK for a man to have concubines & many wives. And it would be shameful for a woman to cut her hair!!

IMHO, the Gospel according to Jesus Christ is one of the most radical teachings of all time. He was born as the son of a humble carpenter & ordinary housewife but become THE most influential person in the history of the world. Fundamentalists who demand a return to the olden days would do to remember that our saviour was considered a dangerous radical in his time.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Atheists on TV - Updated

PZ Myers on Pharyngula has an interesting post http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/01/the_limited_representation_of.php on how atheists are portrayed negatively on TV shows.

I agree with him some degree. The good & happy guy characters are usually not atheists. However, there are good atheists on TV. The best example is Hugh Laurie as Dr Gregory House. Sure, he is portrayed as brilliant, surly & manipulative but he's definitely lovable. I know I love him!

But I think the real question is; would Dr James Wilson be played as an atheist? I think not. He's not 'complicated' enough and is so non-threatening; not atheist material.

I recall one particular episode in which the Dr House challenges God to a contest. I wanted to see how they would end the episode but I guess the producers chickened out & the score at the end was a tie. Everybody wins :-)

Dr Temperance Brennan on the show Bones is another outspoken atheist. She is shown to be a maladjusted genius. She is portrayed as cold, distant & willingly childless. But again, she is the good guy, working for the FBI to hunt down murderers. So we can call her a good atheist after all.

Update: I just remembered that Dr Cameron on House is also an atheist & she is as non threatening & nice as possible. Hmm... must remember to think my thoughts through before clicking Publish.

The Simpsons

I love The Simpsons. My favourite character in this sitcom is Lisa Simpson. She's intelligent, sassy & a die-hard liberal. So what's not to love? :-)

The episode in which Homer job gets outsourced to Bangalore is especially hilarious. And the last bit which had them breaking out into a song a la Bollywood, simply inspired.

Image Copyright: 20th Century Fox

Friday, March 07, 2008

Sometimes, life is just so hard. I never expected it to be this way.
Of course, my problems are probably frivolous compared to the really unfortunate people in this world. I mean, I'm young, healthy, educated & living in one of the most developed countries in the world. All members of my family are fairly healthy and we all can afford houses, cars, laptops... But my problems are my problems & they affect me nonetheless.

Monday, March 03, 2008

My first food post

This is a tried & tested recipe dreamed up by yours truly.

You will need

  1. 1 packet rice noodles
  2. yellow onion chopped - 1 cup
  3. garlic - 4 cloves
  4. chicken broth - 1 cup
  5. white wine - 1 tbsp (optional)
  6. chopped mushrooms - 1 cup
  7. Prawns, thoroughly cleaned & deveined - 10
  8. chopped chicken - 1 cup
  9. scrambled egg - 2
  10. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
  11. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
  12. Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  13. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
  14. Salt - to taste
  15. chopped spring onions - 1/2 cup
  16. Olive oil - 3 tbsp
  • Cook the noodles in boiling water. Make sure that it does not overcook. My recommendation is to cook it to about 80%. Drain the water. Pour 1 tsp olive oil into the noodles & mix well. This is so that the noodles don’t stick together.
  • Cook the chopped chicken in a saucepan adding the turmeric, coriander & pepper powders. After it is cooked well, keep aside.
  • Pour the olive oil into a saucepan. Sauté the chopped onions and garlic for 5 mins.
  • Add the chopped spring onions and sauté for 1 mins.
  • Now add the mushrooms & cook it thoroughly (about 15mins). Now add the chicken broth & reduce for 5 mins. Then add the prawns. Cook for about 3 mins, if you're using white prawns, it will have turned pink in color (be sure NOT to overcook, prawns will taste like rubber if it’s overcooked :-)).
  • Add the cooked chicken & mix well. Pour the white wine & cook for 1 min so that the alcohol can evaporate. (Yeah, we don’t need the alcohol only the flavor)
  • Now mix it with the noodles, add some soysauce & top it with the scrambled eggs. Cook till the noodles are done, & your dish is ready.

    You can add vegetables also; capsicum, carrots, peas, I think they would go well with this dish.