At the Karnak Temple Complex.

Yup - these columns are tall and they used to be covered with brightly colored hieroglyphs

If you are at all curious about history of civilizations, please put Luxor at the top. The sole purpose of this post is to say that I did not expect to be completely blown away by ancient Egyptian civilization! Let me clarify what I'm trying to say here. I had heard a lot about ancient Egypt - but much of it was often focused on the pyramids. I was also a bit skeptical of the whole field of Egyptology. How much stuff is there to warrant such a large field of study? Movies didn't help either - as they would mostly focus on the pyramids of Giza - and the whole ancient Egypt schtick seemed over-exposed to me.

But - no. A visit to Luxor has completely changed my mind. I can totally see how (and why) so many people can spend their entire lifetimes studying ancient Egypt. The temples are enormous, and often their entire walls, columns and ceilings are covered with beautiful hieroglyphs. Originally, all of these (wall-to-wall) were carved with bright colors, and spoke of gods and kings, military campaigns and tales of successions, to the stories of the construction of the temples themselves. It gives me chills to imagine how it would have been to walk into one of these temples three to four thousand (yup 3000-4000) years ago!! But its not just the temples. The tombs of kings and queens are also completely covered with spectacularly beautiful hieroglyphs (again wall-to-wall) and, for the case of Pharaohs, also contained their mummified bodies. But wait. These tombs were in the mountains - and their entrances were deliberately hidden. So all of these hieroglyphs - so painstakingly done - were never to be seen by more than a handful of people. This really was about the afterlife. You have to see the artwork on the interior walls of the tombs to really appreciate this point.

At one of the walls of the Luxor Temple

But these hieroglyphs were also remained undeciphered up until the early 19th century. So now imagine walking into these temples and tombs, seeing the writing carved everywhere, but not understanding a word of they are saying. And then to be the first one to figure it out. Champollion. It is just hard to imagine the excitement of Champollion to have walked into these chambers, and for the first time in thousands of years, to have been able to understand the words of this ancient civilization.

But then, what a civilization! It lasted for roughly 3000 years! No wonder there is so much material available to keep researchers busy for generations to come. I have been fortunate enough to travel to several great historical cities, from Rome and Florence to Granada and Istanbul, and also to the ancient Greek cities of Ephesus, Didyma, and Miletus along the Aegean coast. But I have to say that, when it comes to awe, Luxor really stands on top of them all! By the way, the Teaching Company course, The History of Ancient Egypt by Professor Bob Brier, helped tremendously (there are 48 lectures, so you get a pretty good sense of ancient Egypt).

Bottom line: Do check out sites related to ancient Egypt. Oh - and I have yet to visit the great pyramids of Giza. That is for this coming Friday. In the mean time, I will be posting more pictures from Luxor in the next few days.

Also a quick note for Hollywood: There is a lot more to ancient Egypt than just the pyramids. Please make films that highlight the depth of this civilization.

At the Luxor Temple

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah

I have long been a fan of Paul Davies. I have read several of his books, starting with ‘The Cosmic Blueprint’, and many years ago I reviewed (in Arab magazines) ‘The Mind of God’ (the editor then objecting to the expression) and ‘About Time’. And I have met Paul Davies a number of times; in fact he and I sit (with many others) on an advisory board. Last June, when we both took part in a meeting, I got him to sign his latest book for me. So I am a bit biased in my assessment of Paul’s writings, which I regard as a model of popular science communication: very clear and enjoyable, rigorous and thorough in the coverage of the topic, and personal to some extent; indeed, although very balanced in his views, he often presents his own opinion on the given subject. (If you want to know whether Davies thinks there is any life and intelligence in the universe, turn to pages 207 and 208 of the book; I won’t spoil it!)

The book’s main theme is expressed in its subtitle, ‘Renewing our search for alien intelligence’. Davies has first-hand experience with the subject: 1) he heads the center ‘Beyond’ at Arizona State University, which addresses several important themes, including ‘The origin of life and the search for life beyond Earth’, ‘SETI - the search for extraterrestrial intelligence’, and ‘Alternative forms of life’; 2) he currently chairs the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, which discusses what we should do if/when a clear, bona fide SETI signal is received; 3) he has previously written “Are We Alone? Philosophical implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life’ (1995).

This year is a commemorative year for SETI, and that is one reason why Davies has decided to revisit the subject. Another important reason is that he has lately realized that the SETI program has been too anthropically limited in its vision (SETI projects are constructed unconsciously assuming the aliens are similar to us in various ways), hence the “renewing our search” in the subtitle. Indeed, it was 50 years ago that Frank Drake set out to detect SETI radio signals through the pioneering Project Ozma, only a few months after Cocconi and Morrison published their famous Nature paper presenting what should be (according to them then) the best strategies for searching for alien signals. And 2010 is the 60^th anniversary of the famous Fermi Paradox, “where are the aliens?” (if they exist, they should have reached here already). And last but not least, after 50 years of “eerie silence”, it’s surely time to take a step back and reconsider the whole project, from techniques to expectations and potential impacts.

The main idea of the book is that anyone seriously interested in SETI should be fully cognizant of the fact that aliens, if they exist anywhere, will most probably be drastically different from us, in form, technology, philosophy (intentions), etc. To assume that just because radio communication is “advanced” and can travel thousands of light-years, that aliens will use it as their preferred technique, is very naïve. As Drake himself admits, and Davies echoes, today’s human technology is substantially different from that of 50 years ago, imagine then what the situation must be with a species that has had millions of years to change. Davies comes back to this essential point again and again, insisting that aliens could be using drastically different methods of exploration or even communication, assuming they decide to do that (which is uncertain), from biology (programmed or data-packed viruses) to miniature self-replicating machines or even galactic web-like networks. Davies takes seriously the possibility that aliens could have parked a machine somewhere in the solar system; he asks what astronomical observations could confirm or reject this and finds no evidence for such alien intrusions. Similarly, he asks whether any “missing comets” could be a signal of alien interference. And he asks whether any different type of life that might be found even here on Earth (or anywhere else) could be a telling sign.

Indeed, before we consider ETI (extra-terrestrial intelligence), one should first ask about any ETL (extra-terrestrial life). What is the probability that life exists elsewhere (not counting Mars, because it could have been contaminated by Earth or even be the original site of life that later developed on our planet)? No one knows: somewhere between zero (“life is a fluke; it appeared only once by an extraordinary lucky chain of events”) and one (“life is a cosmic imperative, it must have appeared a zillion times in the universe, wherever the conditions are appropriate”). To cut to the chase, the absence of any evidence for any life of any kind anywhere (though we have been limited in our search), coupled with the absence of any sign of bio-chemical law of systematic progress toward life and intelligence makes many people (including Davies) very skeptical of the “cosmic imperative” viewpoint. He also spends a whole chapter explaining how the search for a “shadow biosphere” here on earth, where life could have appeared independently and with different characteristics (e.g. inverse chirality) would provide support for the idea that life appears more easily than it seems (since it would have done so at least twice here on Earth, or perhaps one or both having come from elsewhere). He and other researchers have proposed some schemes for looking for “weird life”, so far with no success.

And what about intelligence? How common would it be, assuming life is not so impossible to produce? Again the evidence here on earth is not so encouraging: given many chances (including the dinosaurs) and lots of time, high intelligence (technologically capable of exploration and communication) has appeared only once! Davies also has several good pages on this topic, including a critical examination of Drake’s famous equation, which he shows to be all but useless. Indeed, since we have no idea about the probability of the emergence of life around a “good planet” or about the development of intelligence and technology, the equation tells us nothing at all.

Let me stop here and postpone to the next post the discussion of how an ETI could be like (“god-like”, as Davies says), and what an “encounter” (receiving a meaningful message) with ET’s would do for/to humans.

Let me just close this overview of the book by saying that I very much enjoyed reading it. As usual with Davies’ writings, I learned a great deal, most of the time without much effort at following the presentation, the facts, or the arguments, even though sometimes they were far from my area of knowledge. I highly recommend the book to anyone with an interest in SETI, whether the scientific aspects of it or the cultural ones. It is a treat to get such a nice and short (200 pages) state-of-the-art presentation by someone who is not only at the forefront of research in astrobiology but also sits at the helm of a taskgroup currently thinking and producing recommendations on what should be done in the event of a detection.

I recently encountered this video - and found it to be oddly charming and amusing.

This is Darwin Deez's Constellation - and yes, many of the images in the video are a reference to Sagan's Cosmos. Of course, a perfect wardrobe... :)

Enjoy.

I stayed very late at my mentor's friends' house on Thanksgiving 'cause I had a great time with them. We talked, we ate, and we played game. I also had a small tour around their beautiful house and threw snow balls from the back side of the house.  That was really really a great time.

The next day, which was Black Friday, I woke up late and found no one in the apartment. A good time to study

Sejauh mana keimanan kita

Kepada Allah Yang Maha Esa

Dalam memperjuangkan agama-Nya

Dengan penuh kesabaran dan cinta

Ramai sering mendambakan

Kehidupan tanpa cabaran

Namun itu bukan kemungkinan

Kerana bukan begitu jalan pesuruh tuhan

Lalu bersabarlah wahai diri

Kuatkan iman dalam hati

Hujamkan tekad matlamat didasari

Demi hanya redha Ilahi

Katakanlah Demi-Mu ya Tuhanku

Akan kubuangkan segala belenggu

Akan tidak lagi aku bisu

Selagi Engkau tidak di kalbu

Hayatilah lagu ini:

Keimananku

-shaffix-

Andai matahari di tangan kananku

Takkan mampu mengubah yakinku

Terpatri dan takkan terbeli dalam lubuk hati

Bilakah rembulan di tangan kiriku

Takkan sanggup mengganti imanku

Jiwa dan raga ini apapun adanya

Andaikan seribu siksaan

Terus melambai-lambaikan derita yang mendalam

Seujung rambut pun aku takkan bimbang

Jalan ini yang kutempuh

Bilakah ajal kan menjelang

Jemput rindu-rindu Syahid yang penuh kenikmatan

Cintaku hanya untuk-Mu

Tetapkan muslimku selalu

~End Of Post~

Sheri and I would like to extend a warm greeting to you and your family! And a very Happy Thanksgiving weekend! We hope you enjoyed family, friends, some good food, and some restful days from work.

I know our family enjoyed being together and sharing some great food and wonderful fellowship together.

Speaking of getting together, we still have some openings for those who are interested in attending our first 2-hour beekeeping short course. Register ASAP by clicking here. This course is December 3rd, this coming Friday night at our honey bee farm. Angela Faulkner will be presenting candle making and my wife Sheri will be demonstrating how to cook with honey. We’ll also have many different types of honey to taste sample. Join us for an enjoyable evening, this Friday night!

Today’s lesson may not seem like a lesson, but actually I believe it is a powerful life lesson indeed. I want to speak about the importance beekeeping can have in helping to make our lives complete. Then I want to speak about the importance of beekeepers working together in unity and kindness to help support the beekeeping community.

Bees greatly enrich our lives. As a pastor, most of my life has been spent helping people through many challenges in life. People who have struggled with life’s most challenging blows, poor health, family issues, unemployment, marital issues, and the list goes on.

When life throws us a curve, we may fall into despair and hopelessness. Life is good, but life can be hard at times, sometimes more than we can bear. During these times of struggle we can become overly engrossed in our woes. During these moments of heartache and depression, beekeeping can be very therapeutic.

The current hive that is standard throughout the beekeeping community was designed by Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (1810-1895). His books and writings appear as if written by the lead entomologist of our day. Without the modern day University labs, Langstroth made life-changing discoveries about the bee and the construction of our current bee hive. Yet, Langstroth had bouts with depression, and when life drove him into some deep moments of despair and hopelessness, he poured himself into his bees. The entrances to his hives were the doorways into comfort and peace.

I’ve traveled to Israel 5 different times and remember listening on the news to Israel’s former Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, giving a speech to the UN General Assembly in September, 2005. Part of his speech really left an impression on me. “I was born in the Land of Israel, the son of pioneers - people who tilled the land and sought no fights - who did not come to Israel to dispossess its residents. If the circumstances had not demanded it, I would not have become a soldier, but rather a farmer and agriculturist. My first love was, and remains, manual labor; sowing and harvesting, the pastures, the flock and the cattle.”

For most of us, there is a desire to return to the land, to enjoy fresh air, feel the fertile soil between our fingers, to sow and harvest…manual labor. But life’s circumstances have demanded we do other things.

Still, there is something in us that is restored and healed by the wind blowing through our hair, the sun in our face and the pleasant sounds of nature. Our soul is replenished by the smell of fresh flowers, freshly cut grass or newly plowed soil. Beekeeping is an outlet. An escape from our demands, problems and troubles and a return to that which can truly enrich our lives, nature at its best.

I cannot imagine my life without my bees. Some people watch TV and some attend sporting events for entertainment. But for me, nothing is as entertaining as watching my bees navigate the skies with their payloads hour after hour. Nothing keeps my mind sharp and expanding like learning about the honey bee.

Whether you ever make a profit from your bees or not, beekeeping brings about a completeness; a satisfaction that few things can offer.

BEEKEEPERS WORKING TOGETHER

Ask ten beekeepers the same question and you’ll get eleven different answers. There has always been a distinct individuality about beekeepers. Perhaps it’s the long hours we spend in solitude working our bees. Maybe it’s because the general public can’t understand why anyone would mess with stinging insects. For whatever reason, we are unlike the social insects we keep.

It’s time we take a hint from the bees and learn to work together as a beekeeping community. We need each other. The old saying, “divide and conquer” is certainly true. But a united community of beekeepers is a powerful force.

Like all groups of people, there can be competition, a drive to be better or smarter, and personality clashes can divide. However, as beekeepers we must remember what is at stake…the honey bees. Could our bees be showing us that we must work together?

I want to give 5 important tips to help us work together as a beekeeping community.

1. Avoid being the “know-it-all” that has to show off in front of new beekeepers or less experienced beekeepers. There is a temptation once a beekeepers learns about bees, to show off, to try to appear like the big kid on the block. Instead, just be glad that you are learning and remember that you still have much more to learn. Be humble, not prideful.

2. Respect the recent, reliable studies. Pass up the opportunity to discredit  proven scientific studies. I regularly find beekeepers who have nothing good to say about University Entomologists and their findings. They accuse these bee specialists of being unable to relate to the real experiences of beekeepers; people who sit in ivory towers and never experience beekeeping like the rest of us. That’s not always true. And as a result of this poor view, some beekeepers will reject all studies and miss out on new discoveries. Be open minded and appreciate what our entomologists are doing.

3. Speak positively and have a positive outlook when speaking to the public or with beginner beekeepers. Those interested in beekeeping often will seek out an experienced beekeeper and ask many questions. Sometimes the experienced beekeeper will discourage the newbie and tell them it isn’t worth it. Instead, be positive and encouraging. Offer to help mentor and spur them on.

4. Be kind and gentle when other beekeepers do things differently than you. When someone is doing different things, don’t automatically assume their ways and techniques are dumb. Respect their exploration and new trials. Who knows, maybe something will be discovered serendipitously!

5. Become involved in local and state meetings. Fight the urge to be a lone beekeeper! Branch out and mill around with other beekeepers. You still have much to learn! So take opportunities to hear new ideas and opinions from others who love bees just as much as you.

After our last in depth lesson on Varroa mites, I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson…some food for thought.

Do not forget to put candy boards on your hives around December 22. Less than a month to go. If you need to order your candy boards, click here.

We also are offering a winter wrap kit that is essentially an upper vent/spacer, and a sheet of felt paper to wrap around your hive. Your candy board can be placed on top of the winter vent spacer which allows moisture to still be reduced while the candy board is on. Click here for more info on this winter wrap kit.

Thanks for joining us today and I hope to see some of you this Friday!

Meanwhile Bee-Have Yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N 1020 E Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841

217-427-2678

Website: www.honeybeesonline.com
Podcast: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/studio-bee-live/id400801201

EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com

ONLINE STORE: www.honeybeesonline.com

Wahai yang membolak-balikkan hati...

Sungguh jiwaku cukup tersiksa

Sungguh jasadku tidak upaya

Sungguh hatiku tidak bahagia

Tatkala diri-Mu tidak bersama

Maka dengan rahmat-Mu wahai pemilik hati...

Berikanku cinta-Mu yang sejati

Yang tidak mungkin ditukar ganti

Dengan sesuatu apapun di dunia ini

Agar jiwaku damai kembali

Aku ingin cinta-Mu wahai ilahi...

Satu Cinta

Album : Kepasrahan

Munsyid : Star5 Duo

http://liriknasyid.com

Ku memohon dalam sujudku padaMu
Ampunkanlah sgala dosa dalam diri
Ku percaya Engkau bisa meneguhkan

Pendirianku, keimananku

Engkau satu cinta yang slamanya aku cari
Tiada waktu kutinggalkan demi citaku kepadaMu
Walau seribu rintangan kan menghadang dalam diri
Ku teguhkan hati ini, hanya padaMu kupasrahkan


Oh Tuhan selamatkanlah hamba ini
Dari segala fatamorgana dunia
Oh Tuhan jauhkanlah hamba ini
Dari hidup yang sia-sia

~End Of Post~

It's the fourth Thursday of November when I started my day gracefully, ready to spend the long day. Yeah, it's Thanksgiving, "as big as Christmas," one of my mentors told me. 
I have two mentors. One has left for a week holiday in Pennsylvania and on Thanksgiving she would visit her son. Therefore, my first plan of the day was to cook with my other mentor (who is still here). My mentor picked me

A quick note from Luxor. Wow!!

Here is a view of the Nile from the hotel in Luxor (yes, note the sun and and minaret, and a flock of birds on the right):

And here is the first visit of the Luxor temple. I will be going there again in day time - so more pics coming up. It is sooo hard to convey the scale of things here.

Going to the Valley of the Kings today!

On April 1, 2009, I was as nervous as I have ever been in my life. It was just minutes before I was supposed to go on stage for the very first time and present The Lean Startup to a large audience, at a big conference. To that point, I’d been talking about Lean Startup concepts only on a seldom-read blog and with people in my immediate network. I had advised startups and VC’s, guest lectured a few time, and met with some small groups of extremely early adopters, like Sean Murphy’s Bootstrapper’s Breakfast. This was different.

I’d had plenty of public speaking experience in my life. This was not the largest audience I’d ever spoken in front of, and I’ve since stood before much larger. I had pitched startups and products, raised money, and lived through some tough negotiations. But this time, I was presenting an idea, not a product. And I was presenting on my own behalf, not on behalf of a company, risking ridicule and hoping for acceptance.

Don’t think I wasn’t prepared. This is a Lean Startup talk we’re speaking of, people. I had a Customer Advisory Board, made up of the type of people who attended this conference, to give me feedback on my talk and slides. I had beta tested the talk with a smaller audience of entrepreneurs at Stanford. And I had been testing variations on the underlying stories on just about anyone who would listen.

My anxiety stemmed from a question that kept occurring to me in the hours before I walked on stage: why am I doing this? For some people, getting up on stage is the most natural thing in the world. Not me. Some people love going to conferences, mixers, and summits. Not me. Some people thrive in the “startup scene.” Not me. When I was a real live practicing entrepreneur, I never had the time or the desire for that stuff. And yet, here I was, about to try and convince nearly a thousand people that I had something valuable to say about entrepreneurship. Why?

It was a defining moment for me. I sought a quiet spot, away from the stage and the crowd. I asked myself why over and over. Startups should be more successful, I answered. Why do I care? Because preventable failures waste time and money. Why do I care? Because entrepreneurs are following “best practices” that don’t work for them. Why do I care? Because I was once one of those failed entrepreneurs. But I'm past that failure now, why do I still care? Because it doesn’t have to be that way.

I remembered a specific moment from my very first startup. It was the moment I realized my company was going to fail. My cofounder and I were at our wits’ end. The dot-com bubble had crashed, and we had spent all of our money. We were trying desperately to raise more, and we could not. The scene was perfect: it was raining, we were arguing in the street. We literally couldn’t agree on where to walk next, and so we parted, in anger, heading in opposite directions. As a metaphor for our company's failure, this image of the two of us, lost in the rain and drifting apart, is perfect.

It remains a painful memory. We had begun as friends, and ended as enemies. The company limped along for months after, but our situation was hopeless. Looking back, I know our failure was inevitable, because we had no clue. It seemed we were doing everything right: we had a great product, a brilliant team, amazing technology, and the right idea at the right time. And, as I’ve mentioned previously, we really were on to something. We were building a way for college kids to create online profiles for the purpose of sharing… with employers. Oops. But despite a promising idea, we were nonetheless doomed from day one, because we did not know the process we would need to use to turn our product insights into a great company.

If you’ve never experienced a failure like this, it is hard to describe the feeling. It’s as if the world is falling out from under you. You realize you’ve been duped: the stories in the magazines are lies, hard work and perseverance don’t lead to success, and – worst of all – the many, many, many promises you’ve made to employees, friends, and family are not going to come true. Everyone who said you were an idiot to do this will be proved right.

Looking back, the idea that this failure was preventable makes me ill. That is the memory I conjured up right before going on stage that April 1st. And I thought, nobody should ever, ever, ever have to go through that. If I can reach just one entrepreneur and help them find a different path, that will be a success. If I get laughed off stage, if I never give another talk, if nobody ever reads my blog, none of that will matter if, in the back of the room, there’s just one person who can use what I have to offer to save their dream, their vision, their startup.

That was the mission that carried me onstage. It helped me stay calm in the face of the unexpectedly large crowd and the incredible response that followed. That day, I had absolutely no idea what would come later – that Lean Startup would become a movement, that it would take over my life, that I'd be writing a book about it, that you would be reading my words today. (You can read my original post-conference report here, including a scratchy iPhone recording of the talk itself.)

All of this is by way of saying, thank you. You are the reason I took those first steps. You are the reason I find this work meaningful. And you keep me going whenever I despair of being able to figure out what to do next.

And there's been plenty of despair, lately. I've been mostly absent from the blog and keeping a much reduced public schedule, as all my energy is devoted to the book. Writing a book is a slog, in the same way that writing a large piece of software is. There are many parts, they all depend on each other, and none is at all valuable unless the whole comes together with high quality. Naturally, quality is exclusively in the eye of the beholder. So, while I'm writing, I can never be quite sure if I've hit the mark. It's been hard, but I am optimistic. This project has allowed me to meet so many entrepreneurs who are building extraordinary organizations. It is their efforts which form the backbone of the Lean Startup movement. The world is going to hear a lot about it next year. And the mission I discovered as a nervous wreck in 2009 continues to motivate me to keep going.

I am grateful to you entrepreneurs, who test ideas in the crucible of daily practice. You are making incredible things happen. You are changing the world. I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

On my recent visit to Pakistan, I was amazed at the number of conspiracy theories floating there. Everything was blamed on a shadow conspiracy. And I heard these statements from very very (yes, the second very is not a typo) educated people - and many of these people have close connections to policy makers. Some of the craziest things I heard was that the recent crash of a commercial plane, despite the fact that the weather was bad and the plane was flown by a pilot two years beyond his retirement age, was actually caused Blackwater agents trying to crash it into Pakistan's nuclear facility at Kahuta. That American President Harry Truman, soon after the end of World War II declared that we may think that Soviet Union is our (United States) enemy, but our true enemy is Islam. And that the catastrophic floods in Pakistan were actually caused by an American experiment in Alaska - that can control weather and earthquakes. Now all of these things are absolute nuts - not much different from many Americans believing that the astronauts never landed on the Moon, or the Kennedy conspiracy theories, or that the Pentagon was actually hit by a missile and not a plane on 9/11.

The difference in the case of Pakistan is that these conspiracy ideas are widely spread amongst the educated elite. Why should this be of any concern? If we start believing in a false reality, then it will be very hard to fix the real problem at hand. We won't even know what is there to fix. For example, if instead of understanding the changing weather patterns as part of a worldwide change in climate, we blame an intentional manipulation by a foreign power - then the answers we find, and the way we prepare for this change will be completely different.

Why am I talking about this? I was absolutely stunned to see a highly irresponsible article by prominent Pakistani chemist, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, insinuating that the recent flooding in Pakistan may indeed have been caused by an American atmospheric research program called HAARP based in Alaska. Now mind you that Atta-ur-Rahman has served as the federal minister for science and also the federal minister for education. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006. So his words carry a lot of weight.

Now there is a surprising amount of bunk in Atta-ur-Rahman's article (in fact, his bunk-level is almost as close to that of Harun Yahya!). Now it is true, that he is citing other people - and not saying it himself - so then he can use the excuse that, well, I was just quoting somebody else. No question: he is stoking the conspiracy fire (or in Urdu, "yeh jalti per tael chirak rahay hain").

Now Pervez Hoodbhoy promptly called Atta-ur-Rahman out on this in an article titled, Case of Bogus Science. He correctly points out that there is no connection between the ionosphere and earthquakes and that one of the people quoted in Rahman's article is a new age-y guy with a degree in traditional medicine. I just googled his name, Nick Begich, and found that he also believes in mind control and ESP! This doesn't necessarily disqualifies him - but we have to be a bit more careful about his claims.

Pervez dismantles several of the arguments presented in Rahman's article, and then ends his article like this:

Yet another quoted “authority” is the arch conspiracy theorist, Michel Chossudovsky, a retired professor of economics in Ottawa. In Dr Rahman’s pantheon of ‘experts’, none has published a scientific paper in a reputable science journal that demonstrates a connection between ionospheric physics and any weather or subterranean phenomenon. In short, Dr Rahman’s claims about HAARP are based on pseudo-science promoted by conspiracy theorists who blame America for all grief in the world.

Once science loses its objectivity and becomes enslaved to any kind of ideology or political opinion, it becomes useless.

Quack science does not just cost money. It also confuses people, engages them in bizarre conspiracy theories, and decreases society’s collective ability to make sensible decisions. One must therefore seriously question whether a pseudoscience organisation like Comstech deserves lavish funding from poor Pakistanis. We have better things to spend our money on. As for the world of science: it will not even notice Comstech’s demise.

Now, Pervez and Atta-ur-Rahman have a personal history as well, and I think it is safe to say that they don't like each other. Pervez has been a harsh critic of Rahman's education policies - and that spat continues to this day. I think Pervez's critique of the article is spot-on, but given their personal history, I think it comes out quite harsh (but then Atta-ur-Rahman did write a horrible piece). So expectedly, Atta-ur-Rahman wrote a letter to the editor titled HAARP: a US weapon of mass destruction?, digging his heals in some cases and on others he claims that he was only citing other people. Now this is a classic Fox News defense. They would run a ticker as: "Is Obama really unpatriotic?" - and then defend themselves by saying that they never questioned Obama's patriotism - they were simply asking a question.

If one reads Atta-ur-Rahman's original article, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than that HAARP is involved in developing a weapon that can control weather and that Pakistan's recent floods have been quite suspiciously mysterious. I think it is not too hard to connect the dots - especially at a time when Pakistan is obsessed with conspiracy theories.

This is not one of Atta-ur-Rahman's proudest moments.

But what about the science itself? Here is what baffles me. Just like the Moon landing conspiracy theories, the allegations about HAARP are actually quite easily dismissible. And just like the Apollo Moon-landing hoax, people are not genuinely interested in finding out alternative explanations (if you want to entertain yourself, you can find information about Apollo Moon Landing hoax here). This is a matter of beliefs. May be HAARP is involved in something sinister - but it is certainly not related to the claims that are made in Ata-ur-Rahman's article.

Just a very brief primer on our ionosphere: This is a thin layer of atmosphere containing charged particles (ions - and hence the name ionosphere) extending roughly from 80 kms to 300 kms above the surface (Rahman got this thing correct). Most of the weather is shaped by lower layers (the stratosphere and the troposphere). Indeed, ionosphere is important for communication systems - as our transmitters often bounce off radio waves in the ionosphere. Therefore, it is important to understand variations in this layer of the atmosphere. Can this have a military connection? Of course. Militaries all over the world are worried about maintaining communication links in all eventualities. For example, solar flares emit charged particles - and these particles can disrupt satellites as well as they can have an impact on the ionosphere. Therefore, while solar flares are of interest to astronomers, many militaries in the world are also monitoring the Sun for the same purpose. But, the fallacy comes in when we jump from a military application...to the assumption of a weapon of mass-destruction.

Wait a minute. So where does the HAARP and earthquake connection comes in. After all, Ata-ur-Rahman has quoted President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela of blaming the US for causing Haiti's earthquake (yes, all we need is a President of a country believing in quack science!). This is an interesting question. I know that radio waves are used to monitor movement of plates and any earthquakes (for example, here is the system in Auckland). And, since they are dealing with communications, radio waves are also important for projects like HAARP. I really don't know. But if this is the case, then blaming earthquakes on these radio detectors is like blaming your pressure gauge for causing thunderstorms.

Atta-ur-Rahman should have been able to pick these things up quite easily. The fact that he did not do so, is deeply disappointing and, in this particular case, quite irresponsible.

P.S. Ever wonder, if the US is so good at weather manipulation then why don't they recall all their troops, and simply flood-out the Taliban. May be they want to keep the weather system appear natural - so most of us think that they don't really control the weather. And now if you think about it, this is exactly what is happening. OMG! Their plan is working perfectly.

Kita sering dilanda musibah.

Sering sekali badai yang melanda terasa meranapkan seluruh upaya.

Sehingga terkadang hilang punca.

Tidak tahu untuk bersikap apa.

Sehingga kita memilih untuk menjadi lengai.

Umpama gas nadir dalam senarai unsur kumpulan 18.

Hakikatnya kita perlu bergerak.

Kerana duduk diam itu tidak menyelesaikan masalah.

Malah semakin lama diamnya kita, semakin banyak masalah akan timbul.

Seperti air yang bertakung, jatuh najis dan kotoran jadilah ia mutanajjis lagi berpenyakit.

Soalnya apa yang perlu dilakukan?

Menyedari

Sudah namanya manusia, pasti mmpunyai sifat-sifat kelemahan. Kerana kita tidak sempurna. Sesempurna baginda nabi juga pernah melakukan kesilapan, sehingga baginda ditegur dalam surah Abasa. Bahkan di akhir zaman ini pernah nabi riwayatkan bahawa, untuk mengenggam agama ini bagai menggenggam bara api, akan terjadi fitnah yang dahsyat:

Menjelang hari kiamat kelak akan terjadinya fitnah seperti potongan malam yang kelam. Pada saat itu, seorang yang beriman di pagi hari lalu menjadi kafir di petang hari, beriman di petang hari lalu menjadi kafir di pagi hari. Ia menjual agamanya dengan dunia.

[HR. Abu Daud dan Ibnu Majah]

Disebut beriman mungkin kerana dia juga solat, membaca Al-Quran, berpuasa, menunaikan zakat, bahkan menunaikan haji. Namun juga disebut kafir kerana di waktu yang berbeza, dia juga mencuri, berbohong, minum arak, berjudi, bahkan berzina. Na'uzubillah. Pakaian iman dan kufur dikenakan sekali dalam hidupnya. Allah dan setan ingin 'dikahwinkan' dalam satu peribadi. Astaghfirullah.

Kedahsyatan keterbalikan iman dan kufur yang bagaikan kepingan syiling. Sekejap kepala, sekejap ekor. Inilah fenomena akhir zaman. Makanya, sebagai salah satu daripada sekalian banyak manusia

kita perlu sedari bahawa ini semua perlu kita hadapi.

Menyikapi

Namun menyedari lalu tidak berbuat apa-apa tentu bukan penyelesaian. Dan tentu bukan sebagai alasan, yang kita perlu menerima hakikat bahawa umat akhir zaman ini boleh bermaksiat. Melainkan supaya kita berjaga-jaga dan tidak terus terjatuh.

Walaupun kita terjatuh itu berkali-kali. Berulang-ulang dalam bermaksiat. Berpuluh-puluh kali terjebak ke dalam kehinaan yang sama. Sehingga kita rasakan yang kita tidak mampu berubah lagi. Berhenti sejenak. Tanyakan pada diri, "Apakah aku ingin masuk neraka? Tidak teringinkah mengecap nikmat syurga?"

Jangan pernah jemu untuk bangkit. Kerana itu kuncinya.

Kebangkitan

Bangkit itu suatu kewajiban. Kerana terus terlantar itu maknanya rela untuk masuk neraka. Ingat, kita masih hidup, dan selagi itu kita punya masa. Bila harus kita bangkit kembali? Sekarang juga. Sementara kita masih punya masa.

Jangan pernah kecewa. Ramai yang berdoa ketika membaca Al-Ma'thurat, agar Allah memberikannya iman yang sempurna, hati yang khusyuk dan segala ciri-ciri keimanan yang indah. Namun seharian kita masih lagi sukar berubah dan bergelumang dengan karat kejahiliyahan. Jangan pernah putus asa.

Kerana apabila manusia berdoa meminta sesuatu yang diinginkannya, Allah sebaliknya memberikan manusia apa yang diperlukannya di saat itu. Kerana Allah lebih tahu, dan Dia Maha Mengetahui apa yang diperlukan oleh hamba-hamba-Nya.

Boleh jadi kamu membenci sesuatu, padahal ia amat baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi (pula) kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal ia amat buruk bagimu; Allah mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui.

[Q.S. Al-Baqarah, 2:216]

Mungkin Allah inginkan kita berlatih. Allah ingin kita jadi kuat. Allah ingin kita mampu menyelesaikan masalah yang kita hadapi ini sendirian. Kerana kelak kita perlu membimbing seseorang yang mengalami masalah yang sama. Percaturan Allah siapa yang tahu?

Menyikapi Kepayahan Kebangkitan

Kita perlu proaktif. Nabi berpesan:

"Seorang mukmin tidak terjatuh ke dalam lubang yang sama dua kali."

Logiknya seseorang akan terjatuh ke dalam lubang yang sama kerana dia tidak pernah ambil kisah akan kejatuhannya. Dia tidak pernah ingin berjalan tanpa terjatuh lagi. Sebaliknya, jika kita tahu akan kewujudan lubang itu, maka kita perlu proaktif mencari jalan lain untuk menyelamatkan diri.

Aplikasinya perlu dari sekecil-kecil tertinggal solat subuh berjemaah sehingga sebesar-besar keterlanjuran berzina. Cari puncanya, selesaikan sampai habis.

Penutup

Suka atau tidak, pilihan yang ada untuk selamat hanyalah bangkit kembali. Tetap tersungkur pasti bukan pilihan. Sukar? Tiada apa yang mudah untuk mendapat syurga. Kerana itu adalah bayarannya.

Apakah kamu mengira bahwa kamu akan masuk syurga, padahal belum datang kepadamu (cobaan) sebagaimana halnya orang-orang terdahulu sebelum kamu? Mereka ditimpa oleh malapetaka dan kesengsaraan, serta digoncangkan (dengan bermacam-macam cobaan) sehingga berkatalah Rasul dan orang-orang yang beriman bersamanya: "Bilakah datangnya pertolongan Allah?" Ingatlah, sesungguhnya pertolongan Allah itu amat dekat.

[Q.S. Al-Baqarah, 2:214]

Bersabarlah, bersemangat, dan teruskan bangkit kembali. Sesungguhnya pertolongan Allah itu pasti tiba.

~End Of Post~

Legislative elections are scheduled in Egypt on November 28th. Not surprisingly then, the newspapers are filled with election stories. This is not the Presidential elections - which are scheduled for next year - but the legislative elections are considered to be fairer (however so slightly) than the general elections. One story that caught my was about the use of the internet in this election campaign (Sorry - I cannot find the electronic copy of the article that appeared in The Egyptian Gazette on Nov 21st).

The article talks about the increasing use of Facebook, Twitter, and other blogs and websites for these upcoming elections. Interestingly, since many candidates themselves are unfamiliar with some of the social networking tools, the web-design business (this includes making a Facebook page) is booming. Okay - so this is very interesting. But the article also raised an interesting question about the overall effectiveness of such internet campaign in a country where illiteracy hovers around 30%.

I looked into the numbers for Egyptian internet users - and they are low but not that bad. It looks like there are around 17 million internet users in Egypt, or about 21% of the total population of 80 million. For comparison, Pakistan has 18 million users - but that represents only 10% of the population (180 million), India has 81 million users, representing 7% of its 1.2 billion people. But the growth in internet usage is also quite stunning in the last decade (2000-2010): Egypt with 3700% increase, India with 1500% and Pakistan with almost 14000%!

Internet may not be playing a major role in Egyptian politics today, but it is clear that it will be a factor in the coming years - especially in a country where the population is dominated by those under 30.

Now, while I was thinking about this post, I ran into an NPR story this morning about the role of internet in bringing about political change in Malaysia. Listen to the story here (it is about 3min long). This is very interesting. While the ruling party of the 50 years retained strict control over the print media, it could not contain the usage of the web. And this is tied to economic policies:

And the government has pledged not to censor on the Internet. Ironically, it was former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who had a reputation as an authoritarian, who made the pledge as part of an effort to attract investment to a hi-tech "multimedia super corridor."

Sharom argues that the credit for this goes to foreign investors, not the former prime minister.

"He wanted to create a cyber hub, another one of his grandiose plans which I don't think has taken off," Sharom says. "But thankfully for the rest of us, as part of his plans, he had to give in to international demands that there be no Internet censorship."

But what fraction of Malaysian population actually uses the internet? After all, this is what we were talking about in the Egyptian case. Well...it turns out that roughly 65% of Malaysians, or 17 million out of the total population of 26 million have access to the internet! This is quite spectacular - and then it is no wonder that politics has been affected by it so much.

Viva internet!
Except for the spread of conspiracy theories that also fuel mass paranoia and may lead to a divorce from reality. Stay tuned for the next post.

Update (Nov 23): I just saw this piece on the rampant use of Twitter and Facebook in Indonesia (it is the 4th largest user of Facebook!). As far as internet usage is concerned, Indonesia has 30 million users - that make up 12% of its population of 240 million.

Yesterday

I saw you

Again, in the heavy rain

You are all soaking wet

I offer you my umbrella

But you refused

"No thanks, I'm fine."

You uttered, again.

Today

I saw you, again.

Walking in the heavy monsoon rain.

Again, my umbrella is offered.

And again, you refused.

"Don't bother. I'm already wet"

A little bit different from before.

And now I can't stop myself from asking.

Curiosity level increased tremendously

"Why?"

But you kept on walking.

Leaving me behind.

I ran in front of you

Raised my hand on your shoulder

"Why do you always wet yourself in the rain?"

Suddenly the lightning strikes.

I can saw your face clearly.

Your eyes are red, of tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't meant to."

You stood still for a while.

"I chose to walk in the rain."

Your eyes were still red with tears.

"For nobody will notice I was crying."

"But why? Why you need to cry?"

Silent still, again.

"Because, I'm a sinful person.

I hope that Allah will wash away my sins while I'm repenting here."

Then again, silence.

"Why? What are your sins?"

You stared at my face, a dull stare.

"I always forgets Him. For me, that is a sin."

Then you walk away.

Leaving me wondering.

But his final word kept me thinking.

Allah, where do I put You in my life?

He can cry just by feeling away from you.

But me?

Then tears rolling over my cheek.

Heavily, as heavy the rain.

And I removed my umbrella.

Letting myself all wet.

Walking in the rain.

Leading back home with all resurrected heart.

A heart with a new hope.

That I will not let it live without Allah anymore.

Allah, please forgive me for forgetting you.

Walking In The Rain

-umairzulkefli-

-0715Hrs-

-211110-

-V2A-002-

~End Of Post~

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah 

The question of whether IQ (Intelligence Quotient) scores vary (significantly) from country to country may sound terribly racist and unapproachable. But first, no question, if honestly asked and investigated, should be taboo; and second, the question sounds racist only if one believes that any such differences (if found) will be attributed to racial characteristics, rather than developmental factors.

Now, one of the main scientific problems that pose themselves whenever this issue is studied (seriously, objectively) is the fact that IQ tests are quite invariably fraught with cultural effects. In a previous post, I had reported on how easily we can mistake some common traits that we are used to around us for “human universals”. So one can imagine that measuring intelligence “universally” is a very complicated matter. (I remember once I took a French IQ test – for fun – and many of the verbal questions had some “well-known” cultural assumptions that were alien to me, and I’m totally fluent in French…)

Many countries, however, do have huge databases of IQ test results for their people, by age, education level, economic status, year, etc. Now, again, comparing results from different countries is a very risky exercise, but looking at scores within each country, and studying their variations through time can be recommended. And that’s what James Robert Flynn (born 1934), Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, did some years ago, at which point he noticed what has become known as the Flynn Effect: IQ scores have been steadily increasing every decade now for over sixty years, in all countries that keep such data. Why is that? There are various hypotheses for this, ranging from cognitive abilities improving with more stimuli coming to our minds from more sophisticated educational, social, and economic environments to improved nutrition allowing the brain to perform its tasks better and faster…

Controversially, some researchers have postulated a reverse correlation between IQ and development level; that is, countries with higher average IQ’s will reach greater economic levels, not the other way around. Indeed, in two very controversial books (“IQ and the Wealth of Nations”, 2002, and “IQ and Global Inequality”, 2006), Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and Tatu Vanhanen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, argue that current differences in economic development are due at least in part to differences in average national IQ scores…

But a recent study found an interesting correlation between average IQ scores and rates of infectious diseases in various countries. More clearly, the more widespread is malaria, for instance, the lower the average IQ will be in that country… That’s what Christopher Eppig (a Ph.D. candidate in biology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque) and his colleagues reported in a paper they published in July in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (see the diagram below, from New Scientist).

How could those two factors (IQ and infectious diseases) be correlated? The interpretation that has been offered holds that parasitic infections rob the body – and thus the brain – of infants of much energy and divert body resources to fighting the disease and pumping up the immune system, hence reducing the capacity of the brain to perform at higher rates and levels.

The researchers insist that they did control for other factors that could affect IQ scores, including education opportunities, income levels, and even climate (as colder lands have been theorized to help improve IQ scores… from an evolutionary perspective…).

If such an effect and its proposed explanation are confirmed (by other studies), this could constitute an important phenomenon for national and international institutions (e.g. the World Bank) to address, in an attempt to hit several birds with one stone…