Back when I started blogging at Masala Skeptic (nearly a year ago now!), I mentioned one of India’s religious figures, Satya Sai Baba. (pronounced “Sigh BAH Bah,” as if he were a despondent sheep). His devotees consider him a living god. Everyone else considers him an idiot. He uses sleight of hand to materialize ‘holy’ ash and other items and has gotten good enough t... »
I am beset with crazy people, as usual. Either here in Georgia with their gods or over in India with their dogs. To crib from one of the corniest jokes around, this is a dyslexic’s nightmare. I bet she looked fetching… A dude in India married a dog. MY India. He did it to try to make up for the fact that 15 years ago, he attacked two dogs and stoned them to death. Ever since, he’s su... »
A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York for work. I found out before I went, that I was going to be there at the same time that The Wolves in the Walls was playing in New York. For those of you who don’t know, The Wolves in the Walls is a children’s book, written by the most excellent Neil Gaiman. It was adapted into a show by the National Theatre of Scotland, and moved to New York fo... »
A couple of interesting South-Asia-related stories in the news the past couple of weeks. First, an article about a convenience store owner who got duped with some pretty standard cold-reading techniques to hand over about $1,000 from his cash register. Two men (Sylvinder Brownyani and Jaswinder Van Praagni, no doubt) told the store owner they could read his mind. They had apparently specifically t... »
Thanks to Rebecca for letting me contribute to Skepchick! One of the Skepchick readers sent in this article about the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. In 2005, the Indian government launched a project to create a canal in the sea that separates India from Sri Lanka. The canal will create a navigable sea route close to the coast and reduce travel for freighters by more than 350 nautical miles.... »
