Saturday, December 09, 2006

Condoms “too big” for Indian men

Condoms “too big” for Indian men
(BBC)
The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimeter.

The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.

The conclusion of all this scientific endeavor is that about 60% of Indian men have penises which are between three and five centimeters shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.

So this may just be what the doctor ordered.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Afghans’ growing appetite for porn

Afghans’ growing appetite for porn
(Scotsman)
At least one satellite operator offers foreign channels such as eurotictv, allsex, 247Sex and transex, along with the God Channel and the Church, Miracle and Hope channels. In a country where converting to Christianity from Islam carries the death penalty, the Christian channels are just as offensive to some as the pornography, although not as popular.

“Pornography is a problem,” admits new provincial police chief General Asmatullah Alizai. “According to our Islamic rules and beliefs, people cannot accept this kind of thing. I don’t want people to see this kind of film.”

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dubai Swats Pests Ogling Beach Beauties

Dubai Swats Pests Ogling Beach Beauties
(The New York Times)
Indeed, for the estimated 500,000 foreign workers here, most from the Indian subcontinent, the chance to spot a woman in a bikini may be hard to pass up.

They typically live in a Dickensian world of squalor, working 12-hour shifts six days a week, often denied their wages of about $150 per month for months at a time. Most of them secure work by taking out loans from recruiting agencies at home to get here, forcing most to stay on for years without seeing their families and loved ones. The workmen have become prevalent in Dubai’s public parks and beaches as their numbers have swelled, and because of the lechery-on-the-beach factor, they are especially noticeable at this time of year.

Monday, November 06, 2006

A Dissent: The Case Against Faith

A Dissent: The Case Against Faith
Sam Harris (Newsweek)
It is, of course, taboo to criticize a person’s religious beliefs. The problem, however, is that much of what people believe in the name of religion is intrinsically divisive, unreasonable and incompatible with genuine morality. One of the worst things about religion is that it tends to separate questions of right and wrong from the living reality of human and animal suffering. Consequently, religious people will devote immense energy to so-called moral problems—such as gay marriage—where no real suffering is at issue, and they will happily contribute to the surplus of human misery if it serves their religious beliefs.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Cleric blames women’s attire for attacks

Cleric blames women’s attire for attacks
(Sydney Morning Herald)
“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?” the sheik asked.

“The uncovered meat is the problem.”

“If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab (islamic headdress), no problem would have occurred.”

Hear, hear!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Marketing and Mind Control

Marketing and Mind Control
(Newsweek)
Psychologists have demonstrated this in the laboratory, time and time again. It’s known as the Ultimatum Game, and its counterintuitive findings are part of a broad new understanding of how the human brain and mind work. As it turns out, we are not very reasonable creatures much of the time, nor are we very aware. Indeed, we are under constant sway of our emotions and intuitions, and most of the time we are not even aware of just how quirky and emotional our everyday decisions are.

You don’t say!

Subliminal Nude Pictures Focus Attention

Subliminal Nude Pictures Focus Attention
(Scientific American)
Nothing focuses the mind’s eye like an erotic picture, according to the results of a new study. Even when such pictures were actively canceled out, subliminal images of female nudes helped heterosexual men find the orientation of a briefly shown abstract shape. Such nudity-driven focusing worked almost as well for women, as long as the image accorded with their sexual preference.

In other news, liminal nude pictures are very distracting.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

From today’s Bizarro


Just to break the textual monotony on the page.

Viking landers may have missed Martian life

Viking landers may have missed Martian life
(New Scientist Space)
The results from Vikings’ onboard experiments are confusing because some tests suggested the presence of organisms capable of digesting organic molecules. But heating the soil with a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) to release these organic molecules found nothing, causing most scientists to rule out life. Instead they put the soil reactivity down to the presence of peroxides or other reactive substances.

Now, a paper by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the University of Mexico and others demonstrates that the GCMS instrument was incapable of detecting organic compounds even in Mars-like soils from various locations on Earth. This includes Chile’s Atacama Desert, where other tests prove that living microbes are indeed present.

Monday, October 23, 2006

How Borat hoaxed America

How Borat hoaxed America
(BBC)
The British comedian has perfected his act as the apparently naive reporter whose enthusiastic offensiveness either leaves his interviewees in shock or persuades them to reveal a little too much of their own prejudices.

And the result is set to be one of the year’s most popular films.

Jagshemash! I’m an unabashed Borat fan.

Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Kids hang on to dad’s every word

Kids hang on to dad’s every word
(New Scientist)
Children whose father’s vocabulary was more varied when they were 2 years old had more advanced language skills at age 3. Surprisingly, the dads spoke less and asked fewer questions than the mothers, suggesting it was not how much they spoke but what they said and how they said it that resonated with their children.

Uh-oh!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Indian Web Sites Go With the Flow

Indian Web Sites Go With the Flow
(CNN)
Firms in India are now turning to the ancient philosophies of vaastu shastra and Chinese feng shui, used for centuries to bring balance and harmony between man and the environment, in a bid to boost their businesses through “balanced” Web pages.

Believers in vaastu shastra say the Indian science, which seeks to create harmony between nature’s five elements—earth, fire, water, air and space—man and objects, can be directly applied to the Web, just as it is to home design.

Welcome to Web −2.0.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

I’ll Have What She’s Having

I’ll Have What She’s Having
(Sydney Morning Herald)
Rather, her fortuitous discovery—that the high doses of fish oil she took in preparation for pregnancy and the Kegel exercises she practiced afterwards to restore lost vaginal muscle strength led her to easily achieve vaginal orgasm—was simply an unexpected boon.

“I noticed that something was different,” Lindberg says over the phone from her Boston home.

That’s an understatement. When the computer programmer had fine-tuned her recipe (see breakout), she claimed a whopping personal best of 52 vaginal orgasms in one session.

“It gives a certain confidence to a woman,” she says. “Now when I walk around, I get noticed.”

Guess I’d walk funny too, after a few dozen.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Company Sells “Islamic Jeans” Made For Praying Muslims

Company Sells “Islamic Jeans” Made For Praying Muslims
(Local 6)
The Italian company, based in the city of Udine, has been marketing the trousers as “the jeans of choice for Islam,” according to the Al Quds Web site.

Al Quds Jeans, manufactured in Pakistan, are baggy and have a high waist to allow freedom of movement during the repeated kneeling for Islamic worship.

Be sure to color-coordinate with these.

Chicken and Egg Question Answered

Chicken and Egg Question Answered
(Guardian)
It is a question that has vexed philosophers since the Greeks. But it seems we may now have the answer to the beguilingly simple question: “Which came first?” It’s the egg.

This reassuring conclusion was the work of an expert panel including a philosopher, geneticist and chicken farmer.

Huh? This was such a conundrum? Even Cecil answered this 22 years ago.

Feared Saudi Religious Police Reined In

Feared Saudi Religious Police Reined In
(Yahoo News)
The Interior Ministry said it is taking measures to restrict the powers of the agency that runs the religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in their personal lives.

[…]

The morality squad has long enjoyed wide and unchallenged powers. Its members roam public places, such as malls, markets and universities, looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling in public, men skipping the five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.

They’ve scolded salesmen for dressing elegantly, waiters for serving food with a smile and young women for carrying pictures of heartthrobs, such as actor Leonardo di Caprio.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Sex Theme Park to Open in London

Sex Theme Park to Open in London
(BBC)
The theme park will include life-sized silicone-made models which visitors can touch to discover erogenous zones.

People will also be able to build their ideal partner from a series of body parts and there will be instructions on how best to kiss and how to talk more sexily.

Not related: No Sex Please: We’re British

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Exercise a Challenge for Saudi Women

Exercise a Challenge for Saudi Women
(Yahoo News)
At a clinic that treats obesity-related diseases, a booklet left by a writer named Muhammad al-Habdan, warned that if girls' schools began P.E., Saudi girls would have to change into workout gear—and good girls should not disrobe outside their homes. Changing in a locker room might cause them to lose the shyness that is the hallmark of good morals, the booklet warned.

It went on to say that the girls might become attracted to each other after seeing their classmates in tight leotards and tops.

I have not the words.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Fetus’ Feet Show Fish, Reptile Vestiges

Fetus’ Feet Show Fish, Reptile Vestiges
(Discovery Channel)
Human feet may not look reptilian once babies emerge from the womb, but during development the appendages appear similar to prehistoric fish and reptiles. The finding supports the theory that mammalian feet evolved from ancient mammal-like reptiles that, in turn, evolved from fish.

It also suggests that evolution—whether that of a species over time or the developmental course of a single organism—follows distinct patterns.

Well, better than feet of clay.

The Simpsons as Philosophy

The Simpsons as Philosophy
(BBC)
We now know we’re just a bunch of naked apes trying to get on as best we can, usually messing things up, but somehow finding life can be sweet all the same. All delusions of a significance that we do not really have need to be stripped away, and nothing can do this better that the great deflator: comedy.

The Simpsons does this brilliantly, especially when it comes to religion. It’s not that the Simpsons is atheist propaganda; its main target is not belief in God or the supernatural, but the arrogance of particular organized religions that they, amazingly, know the will of the creator.

Evolution in the Light of Islam

Evolution in the Light of Islam
(Islam Online)
Chance describes; chance does not cause. Even in normal linguistic definitions, when we say that two persons meet by chance, we do not mean that they are acting haphazardly in life. Given this understanding of chance, it is possible to consider evolution as the divine way of creating life on Earth, as we already accept the known law of gravity as a model for the way the cosmic order is held together.

[…]

The Qur’an says in (38:75) about Prophet Adam, ﴾whom I created with My two hands?﴿ Though this verse is sometimes used as an argument against evolution, it does not categorically negate the possibility of the emergence of humans via some evolutionary process.

Let’s wait and see if there are more of these fancy Stanford-educated science-types who want to overturn everything we hold dear.
Earlier: Faith, Science and Nature’s Mysteries

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Neanderthal Yields Nuclear DNA

Neanderthal Yields Nuclear DNA
(BBC)
Preliminary analysis shows the bundle of DNA responsible for maleness in the Neanderthal—its Y chromosome—is very different from modern human and chimpanzee Y chromosomes; more so than for the other chromosomes in the genome.

This might suggest that little interbreeding occurred between our own species and the Neanderthals.

Chimpanzee and Human Ancestors May Have Interbred

Chimpanzee and Human Ancestors May Have Interbred
(Nature)
The evolutionary split between humans and our nearest evolutionary cousins, chimpanzees, may have occurred more recently than we thought, according to a new comparison of the respective genetic sequences. What’s more, it might have been a messy divorce rather than a clean break—leading to the controversial theory that our two sets of ancestors may have interbred many thousands of years after first parting company.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Saudis Nix Pictures of Women in Newspapers

Saudis Nix Pictures of Women in Newspapers

(Yahoo News)

The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman’s picture for the world to see was inappropriate.


“One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this,” the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.


“The youth are driven by emotion … and sometimes they can be led astray. So, please, try to cut down on this,” he said.







OMG, I need a cold shower.

Update:
‘Abdullah Did Not Ban Women’s Pictures’
(Arab News)
King Abdullah was referring to pictures which are used for the sake of sensationalism. At no point during his meeting with the editors did the king warn local media against publishing pictures of Saudi women, as reported by the news agencies. The wire agencies completely misinterpreted and misrepresented the king’s views.

Whew!

Muslims Join Da Vinci Criticism

Muslims Join Da Vinci Criticism
(BBC)
“The Holy Koran recognizes Jesus as a prophet. What the book says is an insult to both Christians and Muslims,” Maulana Mansoor Ali Khan, general secretary of the All-India Sunni Jamiyat-ul-Ulema, told the Reuters news agency.

“Muslims in India will help their Christian brothers protest this attack on our common religious belief,” he said.

Aww … the solidarity brings tears to my eyes.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

The Evolution of Clots

The Evolution of Clots
(Telegraph)
The ID crew, to use Darwin’s own phrase, “look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond [their] comprehension.” The first Hawaiians to cast eyes on Europeans were so astonished by their great vessels that they thought their builders to be gods. The ID argument is just the same. It is the logic of ignorance, idleness and incuriosity: I am very smart, even I do not understand this, so why bother to explain it except by bringing in God (if necessary under an alias)?

Scientists, unlike creationists, do not know everything, but as they learn more, every such claim has been rubbished. Evolution is not mocked but glorified by life’s intricacy. ID is a bad idea, but has generated lots of good research, all of which shows how inane it is.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Girls Gone Wild Released Back Into Civilization

Girls Gone Wild Released Back Into Civilization
(The Onion)


The 11 girls were captured nearly one month ago during their annual spring migration to the area and then put through an intensive rehabilitation program. “They have come a very long way,” Ottley said. “When we first brought them into our clinic, they could barely function beyond baring their breasts, and they communicated solely through loud, sustained hoots.”

Eatery Owner Faces Flogging for Hiring Women

Eatery Owner Faces Flogging for Hiring Women
(Arab News)
When Al-Ramadan arrived in the court, the judge informed him that he had been sentenced in absentia to 90 lashes to be administered in clusters of 30 apiece. The charge against him was violating dignity and decorum.

After further inquiries, Al-Ramadan found out that his crime was employing two young women at his restaurant “Ranoosh” to take orders by phone. That was a year and a half ago when locals reported this supposed infraction to authorities.

Clusters of 30. How considerate.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Beauty and the Fattened Wallet

Beauty and the Fattened Wallet
(The New York Times)
Armed with the data from these experiments and surveys, the economists found several interesting results. It turned out that beautiful people were no better than ordinary people in solving mazes. But despite having the same productivity as others in this task, beautiful people were a lot more confident about their own abilities. Being good looking seems to be strongly associated with self-confidence, a trait that is apparently attractive to employers.

When employers evaluated employees only on the basis of résumés, physical appearance had no impact on their estimates, as one would expect. But all of the other treatments showed higher productivity estimates for beautiful people, with the face-to-face interviews yielding the largest numbers.

It’s a curse, I tell you.

Friday, March 31, 2006

The Other Intelligent Design Theories

The Other Intelligent Design Theories
David Brin (Skeptic Magazine)
By basing their offensive on core notions of fair play and completeness, ID promoters have employed a clever short-term tactic, but have incurred a long-term strategic liability. Because, their grand conceptual error is in believing that their incantation of Intelligent Design is the only alternative to Darwinian evolution.

Study: Prayer Doesn’t Affect Heart Patients

Study: Prayer Doesn’t Affect Heart Patients
(CNN)
The study looked for any complications within 30 days of the surgery. Results showed no effect of prayer on complication-free recovery. But 59 percent of the patients who knew they were being prayed for developed a complication, versus 52 percent of those who were told it was just a possibility.

Ha, my earnest desires are more powerful than three whole Christian groups. It’s so much fun to mess with these silly Templeton studies from the comfort of your living room.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Muslims Flock to See “Miracle” Fish

Muslims Flock to See “Miracle” Fish
(icLiverpool)
He spotted a squiggle on the side of one fish that mirrored the Arabic word for God—Allah.

Then he noticed another fish, in a different tank, that seemed to bear the Arabic spelling of Mohammed, known by Muslims as Islam’s last Messenger.

Ali said: “This is a message from Allah to me, a reminder, and now my faith is stronger. Everyone is so excited by the discovery.”

Yet another in a long series of such reminders. Hallahlujah!

Take that, Underpass Mary!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Prime Numbers Get Hitched

Prime Numbers Get Hitched
(Seed Magazine)
There is an important sequence of numbers called “the moments of the Riemann zeta function.” Although we know abstractly how to define it, mathematicians have had great difficulty explicitly calculating the numbers in the sequence. We have known since the 1920s that the first two numbers are 1 and 2, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that mathematicians conjectured that the third number in the sequence may be 42—a figure greatly significant to those well-versed in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Hospital Asks Jesus to Change Name

Hospital Asks Jesus to Change Name
(The Local, Sweden)
According to Jesus, an auxiliary nurse at Huddinge hospital, his superiors were worried that patients told “Jesus will be coming soon,” might get the wrong idea.

”If they thought that Jesus was coming they might believe that they were already dead,” the nurse told The Local.

Fear the Reaper.

Secret To A Long Life—Get Even More Often

Secret To A Long Life—Get Even More Often
(Sydney Morning Herald)
The study tested students working in an imaginary call centre who were subject to abuse from clients.

Some of the participants were allowed to answer back, while others had to be polite and friendly all the time.

Those who stood up to clients had a rapid heartbeat for a brief period, but for those who had to remain friendly their heart was still racing long after the client had hung up.

The conclusion reached by the psychologists was that “being friendly against one’s will causes nothing but stress.”

My sole bet at longevity.

via ELI.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Afghan Man Faces Execution after Converting to Christianity

Afghan Man Faces Execution after Converting to Christianity
(Voice of America)
He says he still believes in the almighty Allah, but cannot say for sure who God really is. “I am,” he says, “a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ.”

Rahman reportedly converted more than 16 years ago after spending time working in Germany.

Officials say his family, who remain observant Muslims, turned him over to the authorities.

Earlier instance of familial love.

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” –George Burns.

Friday, March 17, 2006

The God Fossil

The God Fossil
(New Times)
To Bjorklund and Bering, the findings were clear: children come into the world with a strong tendency to believe in a soul that survives death. The children responded, in other words, exactly the way they would if there were systems already in their brains that prevented them from thinking that intentions, thoughts, and feelings ceased after death.

“This is precisely the opposite of the pattern that one would expect to find if the origins of such beliefs could be traced exclusively to cultural indoctrination,” Bering wrote recently.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

How Islamic Inventors Changed the World

How Islamic Inventors Changed the World
(The Independent)
From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential, and identifies the men of genius behind them.

1. The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee.

Let’s also celebrate the Christian theory of evolution, the Jewish theory of relativity, and the Hindu theory of stellar mass limits.

The article has gone behind a subscription wall (damn you tarrying Blogger bots), but mail me for a PDF.

On eBay, Atheist Puts Own Soul on Auction Block

On eBay, Atheist Puts Own Soul on Auction Block
(AOL News)
The DePaul University graduate student promised the winner that for each $10 of the final bid, he would attend an hour of church services. The 23-year-old Mr. Mehta is an atheist, but he says he suspected he had been missing out on something.

“Perhaps being around a group of people who will show me ‘the way’ could do what no one else has done before,” Mr. Mehta wrote in his eBay sales pitch. “This is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me.”

[…]

Mr. Henderson wasn’t looking for a convert. He wanted Mr. Mehta to embark with him on an eccentric experiment in spiritual bridge-building.

They’re all such good sports, it feels like watching a wholesome family serial. But, $504? Is that the going rate for eternal souls these days? Tch tch. That Dr. Faustus sure got a killer bargain.

(via Amy’s LinksAlertWire)

A Minor Hiccup (a.k.a. A Run-In with the Blogger Bot)

One fine morning, as I was about to post something:
WARNING

This blog has been locked by Blogger’s spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.

Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what’s going on and how to get your blog unlocked.

I sent a support request and waited four days, muttering to myself, “Of all the spam blogs in all the world, they walk into mine … and it’s not even a spam blog.”

I got this in the mail today:
Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and whitelisted so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
Blogger Support

Whew. So it’s not the government, it’s just artificial stupidity. Back to our regularly scheduled intermittence, then.

Update: Blogger Buzz: On Spam Removals

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Sudan man forced to ‘marry’ goat

Sudan man forced to ‘marry’ goat
(BBC)
The goat’s owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

“We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together,” Mr Alifi said.

Charming. Maybe they’ll honeymoon in Capri.

Of course, and I repeat myself, this is all old hat for the Indians.

Girl weds dog to break ‘evil spell’
“Members of the village jury asked us to get her married to a dog or to face the bad omen,” the girl’s father was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The tribe elders said the marriage would not affect the girl’s life, and that she would be free to marry again later and did not need to divorce the dog.

Bow wow! And then there are those who hate humans marrying each other. Sheesh! Get some sensible elders, yo!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Stick Michelangelo’s “David” on Your Blog

Stick Michelangelo’s “David” on Your Blog to Protest Censorware
(BoingBoing.net)

What happens when the blogosphere uses so much tasteful nudity that the web is unusable for SmartFilter users? What happens when SmartFilter blocks so much content that the web is crippled for its users?

Behold the power of the Alpha Blockers.

Boing Boing blocked
Flickr Photos blocked
LiveJournal Users blocked
Blogger Photos blocked

It’s all redundant, but still.
Verbose image titles for the benefit of search bots.

Update: Look Ma, I’m on Boing Boing.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

The Divine Irony of ‘Intelligent Design’

The Divine Irony of ‘Intelligent Design’
(Los Angeles Times)
For the advocates of intelligent design, the loveliness of nature is a second-class road to truth. It is “merely” aesthetic. In that regard, one notices that there is no campaign afoot to teach “divine inspiration” as the basis for the sacred works of Fra Angelico and Bach. “That’s next,” you say, and maybe it is next. The point here is that it wasn’t first, and it wasn’t first for a very good reason.

Once you have made intelligence supreme, you have elevated science to the highest form of knowing. And with that move, the self-appointed champions of religious tradition paint themselves into the same corner that they would like to lead us out of. Using intelligent design as a buttress against scientific hegemony is, to borrow from a Yiddish proverb, as outrageously self-defeating as murdering your parents and then pleading for leniency on the grounds that you’re an orphan.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Hindu Group Offers Rs 51 Crore For Hussain’s Head

Hindu Group Offers Rs 51 Crore For Hussain’s Head
(Express India)
“Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of Goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash by the board,” its president Ashok Pandey said in a statement in Lucknow.

Yeah, and about time too. That’s $11.4 million, not something to pass up.
Am off to find Hussain’s nude paintings of the Danish cartoonist. Hey, wait a minute …

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design

Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design
(Islam Online)
Muslims should also note the great similarity between the arguments of the Intelligent Design Movement and Islamic sources. Hundreds of verses in the Qur’an call people to examine the natural world and see in it the evidence of God. Great Islamic scholars like Ghazali wrote large volumes about design in animals, plants, and the human body. What Intelligent Design theorists like Behe or Dembski do today is to refine the same argument with the findings of modern science.

In short, Intelligent Design is not alien to Islam. It is very much our cause, and we should do everything we can to support it.

A bit old, but still funny.

Well, if it ain’t the “God of the Bible or Yoda or Yahweh,” what are you left with? It’s obvious. No, not Him.

Besides, the flagella(tion) has always been a common theme.

Psychics Join Search for Missing Show Dog

Psychics Join Search for Missing Show Dog
(Yahoo! News)
“They are telling us that she is alive and they are telling us she is warm,” said Honi Reisman, a friend of the dog’s owners. “They are saying she’s in a building—but there are hundreds of buildings.”

There’s a whole dozen of them involved. Any moment now.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Muslim Fury at Sex Toy

Muslim Fury at Sex Toy
(The Sun)
Furious Muslims have blasted adult shop Ann Summers for selling a blow-up male doll called Mustafa Shag.



[…]

In a letter to the store, the Association said: “You have no idea how much hurt, anguish and disgust this obnoxious phrase has caused to Muslims. We are asking you to have our Most Revered Prophet’s name ‘Mustafa’ and the afflicted word ‘shag’ removed.”

Don’t worry, there’s plenty to pick and choose from.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Saintly Sinner

The Saintly Sinner
Joan Acocella (The New Yorker)
One wonders, at first, how it would help the Church’s new chastity campaign for the first witness of the Resurrection to be a prostitute. But, as noted, the Church was pretty much stuck with the Magdalene. Furthermore, the keynote of Jesus’ ministry was humility. A god who chose to be born in a stable might also decide to announce his Resurrection to a prostitute. And Luke’s sinner was not just a prostitute; she was a repentant prostitute, shedding tears so copious that they sufficed to clean the feet of a man who had just walked the dusty road to the Pharisee’s house. But the crucial gain of grafting this woman onto the Magdalene was that it gave the Magdalene some fullness as a character while also lowering her standing. The conflation was already being made by the third or fourth century, and in the sixth century it was ratified in a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great. Mary Magdalene, one of the few independent women in the New Testament, became a whore.

All Placebos Not Created Alike

All Placebos Not Created Alike
(Harvard Medical School)
In the second phase of the study, patients receiving sham acupuncture reported a more significant decrease in pain and symptom severity than those receiving placebo pills for the duration of the trials. The results of this study show that the placebo effect varies by type of placebo used.

“These findings suggest that the medical ritual of a device can deliver an enhanced placebo effect beyond that of a placebo pill. There are many conditions in which ritual is irrelevant when compared with drugs, such as in treatment of a bacterial infection,” said Kaptchuk, “but the other extreme may also be true. In some cases, the ritual may be the critical component.”

In other news, people using shampoo reported significant decrease in hair odor than ones using the real thing. *groan*

Depression May Be Lifelong Parent Trap

Depression May Be Lifelong Parent Trap
(Florida State University)
A study by Florida State University professor Robin Simon and Vanderbilt University’s Ranae Evenson found that parents have significantly higher levels of depression than adults who do not have children. Even more surprising, the symptoms of depression do not go away when the kids grow up and move out of the house.

The price you pay for warding off extinction.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Lost World Found In New Guinea

Lost World Found In New Guinea
(Science a Go Go)
New Guinea’s Foja Mountains were “as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth,” said the co-leader of the expedition, CI’s Bruce Beehler. “The first bird we saw at our camp was a new species. Large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction elsewhere were here in abundance. We were able to simply pick up two Long-Beaked Echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal that is little known,” he added.

Awesomeness.

Iranian Paper Runs Holocaust Contest

Iranian Paper Runs Holocaust Contest
(The Jerusalem Post)
Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Tehran’s Hamshahri newspaper, said that the deliberately inflammatory contest would test out how committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.

“The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let’s see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons,” he said.

Gee, what fun!

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Intelligent Design belittles God, Vatican director says

Intelligent Design belittles God, Vatican director says
(Catholic Online)
In his remarks, he also criticizes the cardinal archbishop of Vienna’s support for Intelligent Design and notes that Pope John Paul’s declaration that “evolution is no longer a mere hypothesis” is “a fundamental church teaching” which advances the evolutionary debate.

[…]

He stresses that the theory of Intelligent Design diminishes God into “an engineer who designs systems rather than a lover.”

A systems engineer can’t be a lover? Gosh darn! No wonder Hedy Lamarr was married six times.