Muslim Progression and Non-Muslim Regression in the News

Found these two great stories today. First, Islamic Artisans Constructed Exotic Nonrepeating Pattern 500 Years Before Mathematicians. Some highlights from the article:

“Here is evidence it [the pattern] was being used, if not understood, 500 years ahead of when we had any idea what was going on with [it] in the West,” says physics graduate student Peter J. Lu of Harvard University.

And,

O’Connor says that the heyday of Islamic mathematics occurred between the ninth and 13th centuries. “By the 15th century, the Renaissance was going on in Europe,” partly stimulated by the introduction of mathematical concepts from the Islamic world, including trigonometry and algebraic symbols, he says. “If they [quasicrystals] had been out there the whole time, it’s rather nice that everyone had overlooked them.”

In quite the opposite trend of sophistication, Psychics have been Hired to Search for Bin Laden.

Psychics were recruited by the Ministry of Defence to locate Osama Bin Laden’s secret lair, it was claimed yesterday.

Newly declassified documents revealed that the MoD conducted an experiment to see if volunteers could ’see’ objects hidden inside an envelope.

….

However, after running up a bill of £18,000 of taxpayers’ money, defence chiefs concluded there was ‘little value’ in using psychic powers in the defence of the nation and the research was taken no further.

….

And Mr Pope said: “I don’t think this was a waste of public money. Many people will say so, but I think it is marvellous that the Government is prepared to think outside the box.

“And this is as outside the box as it gets.”

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Has it really come to that? They couldn’t find anything better to do for 18,000 pounds? I wish someone would pay me money to “guess what’s in the envelope” .. Allahul Musta’aan….

No Appeal for Gitmo Detainees

Sad news,

Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a ruling upholding a key provision in President Bush’s anti-terrorism law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding foreigners.

Read the rest of the story here. This is kind of egregious use of powers, who is going to see if the military is doing something illegal or not? This reeks of fascism:

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. (source)

Related Posts:

• Locked up for real

Do Google / YouTube Censor Anti-Islam Content?

Over the past few weeks I have seen a couple of instances where some anti-Islam things were taken out of Google or YouTube. The latest example is of Nick Gisburne, a well noted atheist. There was also a similar incident last year with Michelle Malkin.

I have to admit I am a bit torn by this debate. On the one hand, according to the free speech principle here, they should be allowed to say what they want in a non-violent manner. On the other hand though, I can’t help but feel a little happy about this. After seeing how worked up the neo-cons and right-wingers have gotten over this issue, I feel like they are finally getting a small taste of their own medicine. Muslims are slowly being deprived of their rights, first and foremost free speech.

*Please note* I am not endorsing the hate speech some whackos spout off, but I am defending our right to peacefully speak about our religion and not be marginalized like the butcher job the UK Dispatches people did. For more on the Dispatches issue, please see the following:

• UK Dispatches Documentary on British Mosques
• Yasir Qadhi Response to Dispatches
• Bilal Philips Reply to Dispatches

What do You Call a Lonely Banana?

a-kayla.

What does YouTube think of Irshad Manji?

Please click the picture to see how even the data mining algorithms of YouTube could not be deceived by refusenik herself. I like Irshad Manji though, I have never seen one person single handedly unite all streams of Islam, practicing and non-practicing, with as much vigilence and energy as she has … though maybe not quite united upon what she had hoped anyway.

Anyway that video is sick. You can watch it if you like here.

Related posts:

• Blog on the Houston Chronicle
• Progress with Progressives

Water Bottles: Our Sacrifice for National Security Pays Off

Vick water bottle at airport may have had marijuana

Posted: Thursday January 18, 2007 1:46AM; Updated: Thursday January 18, 2007 1:46AM

ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Vick reluctantly surrendered a water bottle to security at Miami International Airport that contained a residue “closely associated with marijuana,” police said Wednesday.

The Atlanta Falcons‘ quarterback entered a concourse Wednesday morning at the airport with the 20-ounce bottle. He eventually handed it over and boarded his flight to Atlanta. But his initial reluctance to turn over the bottle aroused suspicion among airport security screeners, a police report said.

The bottle was found to have a hidden compartment that contained “a small amount of dark particulate and a pungent aroma closely associated with marijuana,” the report said. The compartment was hidden by the bottle’s label so that it appeared to be a full bottle of water when held upright, police said.

Little Mosque on the Prarie (Full Episode and Review)

After much hype about this show coming out, I was finally able to watch it and see what it was all about. You can read some of the articles and stuff about it here. You can also get more info on their official website. With that said, I was disappointed in the show. I’m really not sure what the purpose of the show is. The whole first episode is just the same old lame cliche jokes - backward imported imam, moonfighting, and racial stereotypes about Muslims being terrorists. From strictly those items, it had its (brief) moments. It actually reminded me a lot of Azhar Usman’s jokes, in that they’re kind of funny the first time around, but they get really tired really quick and run out of new things to say. I am sure that the creators of this show have noble intentions, and breaking into the sitcom market and being on national TV is truly groundbreaking, however, I feel like it is a waste if nothing comes of it. Nowhere in the show is there even an attempt at actually showing how Muslims really are, or what our religion really says. In fact, even the 10 seconds of Qur’an recitation was, sorry to say, terribly done, most 10 year olds in Sunday School can recite better. It’s almost like the show isn’t showing what Muslims are about or what Islam is about, but seems like serving more of an inferiority complex and trying to show everyone else how much we can be like them. Everything about Islam in the show is awkward, from its unrealistic representation of a masjid all the way to the imam and the members comprising this community. Anyway I don’t want to make this too critical or scathing or anything, I just didn’t really see the point, and even from a purely artistic or comedic standpoint I still thought it was just rather lame. Anyway..see for yourself..

The Best non-Desi Desi Food

Mango Tandoori Chicken from California Pizza Kitchen.

Grilled Tandori chicken, mango, mild onions, red peppers and Mozzarella cheese on a SPICY Golden Curry sauce. Topped with fresh cilantro and a sweet mango chili sauce

This was good enough that I felt like posting about it, especially after many an expirement run awry trying desi food restaurants in my area. I should mention though, that despite the “SPICY” in the description being in all capital letters, it’s spicy only by American (or maybe Arab) standards.

Vote For Me!

my racial profiling post has been nominated for a Brass Crescent Award.

Please GO HERE and vote for me. jazakallahu khayr.

Letterman rips Bill O’Reilly

Not too often someone gets the opportunity to make bill o’reilly look like the moron he is.