BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | ‘Maverick’ risk to science debate
Scientists have been urged to become more involved in public debates about their research or risk it being dominated by minority “maverick” views.The warning has been made by Royal Society president, Lord Martin Rees.
U.S. Will Pay $2 Million to Lawyer Wrongly Jailed - New York Times
The federal government agreed to pay $2 million Wednesday to an Oregon lawyer wrongly jailed in connection with the 2004 terrorist bombings in Madrid, and it issued a formal apology to him and his family.
Comment is free: The faithful have departed
The government and the media give the impression that nearly all Britons belong to a ‘faith community’, but the real figures are quite different.
International Visitors: Birds Come Flying In at All Things Pakistan
Pakistan gets a large number of guest birds from Europe, Central Asian States and India every year. The birds from North spend winters in different wetlands and deserts of Pakistan, which are distributed almost throughout the country, from the high Himalayas to coastal mangroves and mud flats in the Indus delta. And, after winters they go back to their native habitats.
fzami | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation
Adds Muslim prayer times for your area in the Firefox status ba
Howstuffworks “Could I Lose Weight Just by Eating Slower?”
For decades, dietitians, doctors and nutritionists have made the link between eating speed and weight. People who eat slower tend to eat less and weigh less. The slower you eat, the less food it takes to get you full.
Mufti Muhammad Ibn Adam - Imam Abu Hanifa & Hadith - Google Video
A talk delivered at the Hidaya book launch event at friend’s house, Euston, London
Language Log: Doublespeak and the War on Terror
A briefing paper entitled
Doublespeak and the War on Terrorism
by
Timothy LynchCato Institute seems to be getting
belated attention. It appeared in September, but this
AP reportby Calvin Woodward came out today. The briefing paper addresses the attempt of the
Bush Administration
to make more palatable its violations of civil liberties by using doublespeak,
e.g. dubbing “warrants” “national security letters” in the hope
that the courts will be fooled into thinking that judicial oversight is not required,
or describing the suicide attempts of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay
(referred to by the Bush Administration as “detainees”, as if they were witnesses to a
traffic accident asked by the police to remain until they could be interviewed)
as “self-injurious behavior incidents”.
of the
M-Dollar: Watch your language: tribe sues Microsoft over Mapuzugun Windows
Microsoft’s going to court over an intellectual property language dispute, but I’m not talking about problems in C# or Visual C++. The Mapuche Indians in Chile are taking Microsoft to court because the company created a version of Windows in Mapuzugun, a language that is the native tongue of about 400,000 Chileans.According to the AP report,
Microsoft was hoping to bring the Mapuche Indians into the digital age
with a Mapuzugun version of Windows. Apparently, the Mapuche people are
fine with becoming digitized, but tribal leader Aucan Huilcaman claims
that Microsoft should have consulted his people before the company
created the software.“We feel like Microsoft and the Chilean Education
Ministry have overlooked us by deciding to set up a committee [to study
the issue] without our consent, our participation and without the
slightest consultation.”The core issue in this case is whether or not someone can own a language….
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jordan’s king warns of civil wars
Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned that three civil wars could break out in the Middle East unless the international community takes urgent action.
RIS 5 returns this winter… Come “Revive” your
Islamic spirit
And benefit from highly respected scholars from across
the globe!
Date:
RIS5 Convention: December 22 to 24, 2006 inshallah.
RIS5 Knowledge Retreat: December 25 to 28, 2006
inshallah.
Convention Theme:
“The Neglected Sunnah: Patience in the Face of
Rejection”.
Fire on Devon Street; Sabri Nihari Gutted at All Things Pakistan
This may not mean much to our readers outside of the United States, but within the Paksitani-American community, Devon Street in Chicago is a landmark location and Sabri Nihari, within Devon Street, is an institution in itself.
These are icons of the Pakistani-American community and Devon Street is
the closest that we have in the US to a ‘Pakistani icon.’
The one other possibility may be Jackson Hieghts in New York, but in
all fairness Lahore, Lahore hai and Devon Street, Devon Street hai.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Short lifespan in Rio drug gangs
As many as one-fifth of youths in the drug gangs of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are killed within two years, usually by police, a new study has indicated.
Koonj: Shabana’s blog » Blog Archive » Testosterone for the sake of God
Here’s an interesting news article about my alma mater. Punjab University, Lahore - next to Anarkali Bazar. Across from the Museum, near Kim’s Gun and Government College.
(Check out the title photo. Isn’t it interesting how they dimmed the “normal” women in dupattas and chadars, and sharpened the image of the burqa-clad woman?)Sadly the details about IJT are true. Its excessively politicized character has profoundly damaged the structure and culture of higher education in Pakistan. The IJT is the student branch of the Jamaat-e-Islami (founded by Maulana Syed Abdul Ala Maudoodi), to which I owe my own early (EARLY, not later) ideological training.
I escaped much of the Jamaat’s political influence because my family was bewildered by my religious fervour.
It reminds me of Roald Dahl’s observation about some priests who came to visit his high school… “If these are God’s salesmen on earth, then there must be something seriously wrong with the whole business…” [ya`ni, with their understanding of religion and its purpose]
Tariq Ramadan in TIME; BBC at HAhmed.com
Tariq Ramadan was recently interviewed by John Humphrys, an atheist who hosts a BBC Radio 4 program where he talks to various religious leaders to supposedly try to restore his faith in God.
Akram writes: Just had a traumatic experience in a public bathroom. To use Seinfeldian euphemisms, I was in the place and I dropped my wallet in. In it. After.
Interview with the Editor/Publisher of Islamica Magazine 9-03-06 - Google Video
Ray Hanania interviews Salahuddin Khan, publisher, and Firas Ahmad senior editor of Islamica Magazine. A retaping of an earlier edition … all » that had sound problems. Ahmad and Khan discuss the history of Islamica Magazine, its future plans for expansion from a quarterly magazine to eventually a monthly publication, content, focus, niche and purpose.
Congrats Keith Ellison at HAhmed.com [click to see video on “not working with our enemies” video]
Congratulations to Keith Ellison on becoming the first Muslim to be elected congressman in the United States. This past Tuesday, he won Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the House of Representatives!Subhanallah, what a landmark for Muslims not only across the US but across the world.
Inshallah he will be the first of many Muslims to gain such positions in our country. He has said that when he takes his oath of office in January, he will do so with his hand on the Quran! (Another first!)
However, the first Muslim in congress… I’m sure many Islamophobes are probably very upset by this. For example, earlier this week, Keith Ellison was a guest on Glenn Beck’s program and was asked to “prove… that [he is] not working with our enemies”.
NPR : Syrian Village Hobbled by Years of Inbreeding
Deep in the northern Syrian countryside lies a tiny village with a very big problem. For more than 100 years, it has been common practice for the village of Kesten’s 5,000 inhabitants to intermarry. The tradition of marriage between first cousins in the Arab world is a way to keep property and businesses in the family. But it also keeps family in the family, and now up to 800 children in this impoverished village are living with extreme genetic defects. One schoolteacher in Kesten is taking the unprecedented step of asking the outside world for help.
Related NPR Story
Padilla Case Raises Questions About Anti-Terror Tactics - washingtonpost.com
After he was arrested in 2002, Jose Padilla was considered so dangerous that he was held without charges in a military prison for more than three years — accused first of plotting a radiological “dirty bomb” attack and later of conspiring with al-Qaeda to blow up apartment buildings with natural gas.But now, nearly a year after his abrupt transfer into a regular criminal court, the Justice Department’s prosecution of the former Chicago gang member is running into trouble….
Legendary Swords’ Sharpness, Strength From Nanotubes, Study Says
New studies of Damascus swords are revealing that the legendary blades contain nanowires, carbon nanotubes, and other extremely small, intricate structures that might explain their unique features.Damascus swords, first made in the eighth century A.D., are renowned for their complex surface patterns and sharpness. According to legend, the blades can cut a piece of silk in half as it falls to the ground and maintain their edge after cleaving through stone, metal, or even other swords.
BBC NEWS | South Asia | India Muslims ‘have lowest rank’
Muslims in India are even more disadvantaged than low-caste Hindus, a report commissioned by the government in Delhi suggests.The report says India’s 138m Muslims are poorer and less educated and suffer from higher unemployment and greater mortality than other religious groups.
Download of the Day: Multi-Monitor taskbar (Windows) - Lifehacker
Freeware program Multi-Monitor taskbar adds a Windows taskbar to your second monitor so that each monitor’s taskbar contains only the programs that are open on that monitor.
Student Tazed in Library for failing to show ID
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23 year old UCLA Student, was repeatedly
tazed with a gun after he was unable to produce a university ID at his
library.What happend to him is pathetic to say the least. There is no
justification for the UCPD to exert that much aggression towards a
student, despite his resistance. The university claims that the UCPD
was conducting a random search of ID’s however, it is not a far fetched
idea that Tabatabainejad was targeted because of his race and religion.We’ve seen this happen far too many times to just sit here and
ignore the reality that Muslims face. The Police claim that the student
refused to comply with their orders and showed restraint when being
asked to leave. Be that as it may, that by no means gives them the
right to taze the student multiple times. Unbelieveable!!!
SunniPath Answers (http://qa.sunnipath.com):
One’s neighbors’ mangoes: to eat or not to eat
