Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.

Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I thought I'd share this interesting letter I saved as a text file years ago when I lived in West Rogers Park. I may have enough tidbits of Illinois history and stories to develop a Knowledgebase. 

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A Digital Hoarder, defined by researchers as a sub-type of hoarding disorder, is characterized by individuals collecting excessive digital files, material, and photos.

Kamran's family immigrated from Pakistan to Michigan when he was 3 years old in 1974, and he writes about his first visit to Chicago's "Little India Neighborhood," Devon Avenue.

Chicago's "Little India" in the far North Neighborhood of West Rogers Park.

My name is Kamran. I know it's probably normal for everyone who lives there (Chicago's Little India), but I almost cried just walking Devon Avenue (DEE Von) with my friend. It was also his first visit to Chicago. I was excited to see such a large community of Pakistanis.

I'm traveling for the first time in my life from Michigan, where the South Asian/Indian (Desi) population is super spread out. You only see big groups of people, like myself, at organized events or funerals. 

I grew up in Dearborn, so even though there's a decent size Muslim and Arab community here, there arn't many Desi in our community. Weddings and events are fun but not very traditional in several ways. There are many reasons why my family has never returned to visit Pakistan since we came to America. 

I have never been to such a big city like Chicago before. It was surreal.

For the first time in my life, I walked on a busy street, and I blended in! I realized that I had never felt so 'normal' before. I didn't receive a strange look or bad vibes.

The people I was walking past looked like my brother, mom, or dad, and where the food in the stores was what I was used to buying at home. We had trouble deciding which restaurant to eat lunch at.

It's kind of sad that I've never seen people like myself living an organic life. It felt strange to me.

I'm sure this was no big deal for many people, but for me, it meant EVERYTHING.

I have always struggled with my identity being an "in-betweener," never white or a Desi. The feeling of being 'insecure' just disappeared after a 10-minute stroll on Devon Avenue.                                                                     ——  Kamran  

 THANK YOU, CHICAGO! I'll be back.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) vs. Abraham Lincoln: "How Can You Tell When a Thing Is Proved?"

The question was posed to Abraham Lincoln. "How Can You Tell When a Thing Is Proved?"

Artificial Intelligence

"Generally, a proposition or statement can be considered "proved" when sufficient evidence or logical reasoning supports it beyond a reasonable doubt.

The process of proving a statement involves presenting arguments or evidence that support the statement and ruling out any alternative explanations or counterarguments.

In mathematics and other formal disciplines, a statement is usually considered proven when it has been logically deduced from a set of axioms and accepted principles through rigorous and systematic proof.

In science, a theory or hypothesis is proven when tested and confirmed through repeated experiments and observations and withstood scrutiny and skepticism from the scientific community.

Ultimately, the standards for what constitutes "proof" may vary depending on the context and the field of inquiry. However, a key element of any proof is that it must be based on sound reasoning and evidence rather than mere speculation or unsupported assertions."

Abraham Lincoln

How Lincoln Learned to Tell When a Thing Is Proved.

"It was my terrible discouragement which did that for me. As a young man, I went Into an office to study law. I saw that a lawyer's business is largely to prove things. I said to myself, 'Lincoln, when is a thing proved?' That was a poser. What constitutes proof? Not evidence; that was not the point. There may be enough evidence, but wherein is the proof? I groaned over the question and finally said to myself, 'Ah, Lincoln, you can't tell.' Then I thought, what use is it for me to be In a law office if I can't tell when a thing Is proved?

So I gave it up and went back home. Soon after I returned to the old log cabin, I fell in with a copy of Euclid's Elements of Geometry. I had not the slightest notion of what [or who] Euclid was, and I thought I would find out. I, therefore, began at the beginning, and before spring, I had gone through the old Euclid's geometry and could demonstrate every proposition in the book. Then in the spring, when I had got through with it, I said to myself one day, 'Ah, do you know when a thing is proved?' and I answered, 'Yes, sir, I do. Then you may go back to the law shop,' and I went." 

 

Lincoln's Logic - How Lincoln Learned to Tell When a Thing Is Proved.

Compiled By Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.