Hello Friend, we are David & Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois. Thanks for joining us for another lesson in beekeeping. I’ve been posting beekeeping lessons for over 3 years now. I hope you enjoy them. Today, I want to examine the importance of using a refractometer! A refractometer is used to measure the moisture level in honey. Beekeepers need to become more aware of what the moisture content is in the honey they are harvesting. Harvest it too soon, and the excess moisture content will cause the honey to go bad or ferment, and when it does, you’ll be seeing customers bringing your honey back wanting a refund and spreading around bad news about your honey to others. You don’t want that.
Before we start today’s lesson, let me share some fun we’ve been having here at the bee farm. We had our first ever 2 hour short course and we reached our maximum number of students. It was a great evening. We had Christmas decorations up, Christmas lights up outside and it was snowing…just beautiful. We had warm apple cider made with honey at the door to warm up the travelers as they arrived.

Sheri demonstrated how to cook with honey and took us through breakfast, lunch and supper. Of course, someone had to eat all that food she made so I helped myself. All her dishes included honey.

Many beekeepers might spread some honey on their toast in the morning, but few cook with honey in other meals. Sheri demonstrated just how fun and easy it really is. Also, for more on Sheri’s cooking she would love for you to visit her blog at:
http://sheriburns.blogspot.com/
After the cooking with honey demonstration, I had a table with 10 varieties of honey to taste sample. These were not flavored honey, but pure honey made from specific floral sources. Some of the different types of honey included were: Buckwheat, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Blueberry, Orange Blossom, Kentucky Mountain, and North Carolina Mountain Honey.
After the honey sampling, Angela Faulkner gave an excellent presentation on Candle Making. She demonstrated how to melt wax, select the proper wick, dipping candles and more.

Angela revealed some tips and tricks to make candles like using soda cans and placing tension on the wick by drilling a hole in the can and using plumbers putty. She also stressed how important it is to be safe and never overheat the wax or leave a candle burning unattended.
After her demonstration, students were invited to make their own candles. Candle making is such an enjoyable aspect of beekeeping and an excellent way to make some more profit from the hive and make good use of left over beeswax.
It is so rewarding to make your own candles. Many claim that pure beeswax candles burn cleaner and can even purify the air. No one can argue that beeswax candles have a delightful fragrance that is therapeutic!

LESSON 89: The Importance Of Using A Refractometer To Make Sure Your Honey Is Ready For Harvest
At our last short course, I demonstrated how to use the Refractometer. Most students had never used a refractometer and were amazed at how simple it is to use.

So in today’s lesson I want to discuss: 1) How using a refractometer can increase your honey production, 2) How a refractometer works, 3) How to use a refractometer, and 4) How to invest in the right model.
First, how can a refractometer increase your honey yields? I took this picture by holding my camera up to the view finder on the refractometer. It reads 18%. Typically, we always say that you should not harvest honey from the hive until all the frames are capped over, meaning all of the cells in the honey frames are sealed with the bee’s wax cappings. But, often the bees fill up the honey cells but do not seal them over. This means that the bees cannot store any additional nectar because there is no room. This is especially the case in certain types of climates where the bees may never completely seal the honey comb. Meanwhile, you could have been giving them more frames to fill. So, what you can do is remove the frames that may still not be completely sealed and give them drawn comb to continue to store incoming nectar. Then, place your filled, but unsealed frames in a room with a dehumidifier and a fan, and use your refractometer to measure and dry the honey to around 17.5% moisture. By removing your frames earlier than normal and drying them, you can place empty frames in the hive to be filled. This is how a refractometer can help increase your honey yields.
Secondly, just how does a refractometer work? Prisms bend light. A refractometer operates in much the same way, but instead light reacts differently depending on the amount of sugar as the light passes through the honey (sugar) and the daylight plate and the main prism assembly.
How to Use a Refractometer
First, open the light plate and expose the light blue area. Now take a couple drops of honey so that the honey will cover the blue area completely. If you use too much honey, it will just be messy. You just need enough to cover the blue plate.
Now, close the light gate firmly to spread the honey evenly over the blue plate.  Now, simply look into the view finder and take your reading.
To clean your refractometer after use, simply use a damp cloth and remove the honey from all areas.
How To Invest In The Right  Model



While refractometers are very easy to use, I would strongly urge all bee keepers not to purchase the inexpensive refractometers for under $100. These might be accurate, but as many beekeepers have found they are plagued with problems. In my opinion, save up your money and invest in the model we are showing in this lesson. It is not the most expensive model, but it is made by Atago, a superior and well established refractometer company and this model is designed especially for honey. It is perfect every time, durable, handheld and affordable. We sell these for $289. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOURS TODAY maybe in time for an outstanding Christmas gift for the one you love.
Many beekeepers have told me how frustrated they were with the cheaper models. So invest in a life long instrument that you’ll be very happy with.
Refractometers are designed for measuring moisture in various materials. This model we are showing and selling is specifically manufactured for measuring honey.
Before I close today, let me tell you about a new item we are offering. We are offering a unique 3-way queen rearing hive. It is specifically designed to hold 3 queens by keeping them separated by inserts in the deep hive body. These inserts slide into grooves that even travel down into the bottom board so queens cannot travel between sections. What is unique with our design is that when you are finished raising queens, you can pull out the panels, plug the two small openings in the side of the bottom board and all equipment then turns back into usable Langstroth sized equipment.

We encourage you to listen or call in and ask questions.  The easiest way for you to call in during the beekeeping show is to call: (724) 444-7444 and enter call ID 16456 when prompted. We’d love for you to call in with a comment or question. I know there are over 1,000 of you who receive this via your Email, so set your timer for Thursday night, 7pm central time.
Here’s another link showing what the podcast is all about and additional ways to join in.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/how-to-participate-in-a-wpn-beekeeping-podcast/
Your overwhelming support of Long Lane Honey Bee Farms would be greatly appreciated during these beekeeping podcasts that I am now hosting each third Thursday of the month.
As always we appreciate your business. So many of you have made us your home for all your beekeeping equipment, package bees, nucs and education. Your loyal business keeps us paying the bills so we can continue doing what we do.
Be sure to order all your packages, nucs, queens and beekeeping equipment from us. We appreciate your business.
Here’s our contact info:
MAIN WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
ORDER LINE: 217-427-2678
PODCAST: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
Until next time, BEE-HAVE yourself!
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

Technorati Tags: Beekeeping,Basic Beekeeping,Honey Bees,Refractometer,Moisture Content in honey,Mead Making Classes,Candle Making,Beekeeping Supplies,Cooking With Honey,Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

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Amateur astronomers from Karachi and Lahore gathered together at an observing session at Badro Jabal (in rural Sindh) in early December, 2010. Amateur astronomy is getting serious in Pakistan.

This may appear unlikely, but it is certainly happening. Astronomy is taking off in Pakistan. Last year, I had several posts on the truly outstanding series of events that Khwarizmi Science Society (KSS) organized to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). They not only held public astronomy nights in Lahore, but also brought telescopes to schools in some of the rural areas of Punjab. And the turnout and the reaction was fantastic (for earlier posts on this, please see here, here, here, and here). 


This is not the efforts of an isolated group. Earlier this month, Karachi Astronomy Society (KAS) organized an observing session at Badro Jabal - a dark site, located several hours from Karachi. Nineteen astronomers from Karachi and Lahore participated in this event, and they brought with them five telescopes, including an 18-inch (diameter) Dobsonian. In addition, Umair Asim in Lahore has been taking some outstanding images from his observatory, hosting a computerized 14-inch Celestron, on the roof of his house. 


Back in the late 80s, a few of us also organized some astronomy events and observing sessions in Karachi. But the numbers were small and the efforts inconsistent. It looks like astronomy in Pakistan now has attained a critical mass and it seems that it will be growing in the coming years! Fantastic.

Nocturnal astronomers can't wait to see the Sun go down at Badro Jamal. Damn you light!

Khalid Marwat with his 18-inch Dobsonian telescope. 

Umair Asim with his 14-inch Celestron telescope. Please take a look at his wesbite and blog. In particular check out his efforts to image a planetary nebula in the globular cluster, M15.

And here is a fantastic image of Jupiter by Umair. You can see the Great Red Spot as well as the shadow of Jupiter's moon, Europa. And this image has gone through the lights of Lahore!

Related posts:
Pakistani Astronomers Shine During the International Year of Astronomy
Another Astrofest by Khwarizmi Science Society
More Astronomy News from Pakistan
International Year of Astronomy in Pakistan
Read More »

I had a post yesterday about the movie Agora. In one of the comments, author Faith L. Justice pointed to her three part blog posts on the historical accuracy of the movie. All three parts are fascinating and provide a nice background information about the events that are depicted in the film. She might know a thing about this history as her first historical novel, Selene of Alexandria, is set in the same time period and includes some of the same characters. Overall, she finds that Agora gets most of the big picture right, but some of the details wrong. Hey - we have to give these directors some slack also. At least Alexander Amenabar made an attempt to get things right, and even had a historical advisor (Justin Pollard - co-author of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria).

I will only post parts that dealt with Hypatia and the destruction of the library . For the rest you should read the posts directly - and you should (see Part I, Part II, and Part III). There are lot of SPOILERS in here - so be warned. Read this after you have seen the movie.

On Hypatia's science and her students (from Agora: the "Reel" vs. the "Real - Part I):

In the big picture, Amenábar got this right. We see Hypatia challenging her students to explain an astronomical anomaly, exhorting them to be “brothers” in spite of their religious differences, and rebuffing an amorous student by giving him a handkerchief stained with her menstrual blood. Although little of what Hypatia worked on survived, we do know she was an avid astronomer and built instruments like the astrolabe. I was delighted that the movie presented Aristarchus‘ (3rd Century BC) heliocentric model of the earth revolving around the sun (not to be revived in the West until Copernicus.) But using it as a theme for Hypatia to study and try to prove is most likely bogus.

There is no evidence that she agreed with or studied this model. Dr. S. James Killings, a Medieval scholar, wrote a piece called Was Hypatia of Alexandria a Scientist (as opposed to a mathematician) in which he argues that the empirical way of thinking and experimenting Hypatia displays in the movie didn’t exist until several centuries later.  Dr. Richard Carter, a classical scholar, in his piece called Killings Hypatia, says empirical thinking did exist, but Neo-platonism was antithetical to its use.  Both men agree that  Hypatia was unlikely to have thought about science in the way the movie  depicts. It’s  a lovely thought and served the dramatic arc, but probably inaccurate. (Note: since I first posted this, there have been a number of on line discussions about Hypatia’s science. A scientist in the UK who blogs at History Books Review posted an interesting piece “What did Hypatia really know? The science of Agora.” He agrees that it’s impossible to know what Hypatia knew or didn’t but does a good job of laying our what was generally known about astronomy, and Hypatia would have had access to, at the time.)

As to her students, they came from prominent families from all over the Empire to study with her. She had both Christian and non-Christian students and many went on to occupy high positions in both the Church and government. We know the names of some of her most intimate circle from the letters of Synesius of Cyrene who later became Bishop of Ptolemais.  Hypatia espoused the philosophy of Neo-Platonism that taught that in man’s search for god; he must live in harmony with himself and give up the distractions of the world—similar to the teachings of the aesthetic Christians. In order for her students to attain “union with the divine” they must study, meditate, and live ethical lives. Beauty is a result of inner perfection, not physical beauty. 

On the Destruction of the Temple of Serapis and the Great Library (from Agora: the "Reel" vs. the "Real - Part II)

Amenábar got the destruction of the Serapeum almost right. He shows us a beautiful temple complex with statues of gods and goddesses, classrooms, and the Great Library.  Rufinus described the Serapeum shortly before it was destroyed:

“The whole edifice is built of arches with enormous windows above each arch…Sitting courts and small chapels with images of the gods occupy the edge of the highest level…Behind these buildings, a freestanding portico raised on columns and facing inward runs around the periphery. In the middle stands the temple, built on a large and magnificent scale with an exterior of marble and precious columns. Inside there was a statue of Serapis so vast that the right hand touched one wall and the left the other.”

In the film, pagans, incensed by Christians mocking their gods, gather in the Serapeum and decide to punish the Christians by attacking them, but underestimate the size and ferocity of the Christian populace who fight back. They barricade themselves in the complex until the local governor brings a decree from the Emperor. The “insurgents” are pardoned their crimes of attacks on the Christians, but they must vacate the premises and turn it over to the Christians. The pagans flee the Serapeum and the Christians enter, topple the gods, and burn the library. The buildings left standing (including the library) are used to house livestock—a deliberate insult to the pagans.

All this happened except the Temple of Serapis was completely destroyed. Bishop Theophilus had a Christian church dedicated to John the Baptist and Elijah built on its ruins. As to the destruction of the Great Library, I’ve written a lot about this and you can read the post “Burning Books: What Really Happened to the Great Library of Alexandria.” Rufinus doesn’t mention a library in his description. Suffice it to say, if any books were destroyed at the Serapeum they were part of a “daughter” library.

The main piece Amenábar got wrong is Theon’s and Hypatia’s relationship to the Serapeum. In the movie, Theon is a “director” and makes the decision to attack the Christians. Hypatia teaches there, her students are among those who shelter there, and she valiantly organizes people to “save the library” by personally hauling out as many scrolls as possible. In reality, there is no evidence that either Theon or Hypatia were connected to the Serapeum in any way. They weren’t “pagan” in the traditional sense of worshiping multiple gods. In fact, Hypatia taught her students that there was one god, which they could know through meditation and study—particularly study of “divine mathematics.” There is some evidence that she and Theophilus held each other in mutual respect.

Read more here. Part III addresses the Hypatia's devotion to philosophy and it questions this premise in the film (from Agora: the "Reel" vs. the "Real" Hypatia - Part III)

Philosophy as studied in late antiquity was very different from the subject we take in college—it was a religion with logical and mystical elements. The sources mention that Hypatia taught Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus (all connected with Neo-Platonism) as well as the views of other philosophers and their schools. Synesius mentions they studied the Chaldean Oracles, as well as some Christian texts, and compares Hypatia’s lectures to a religious experience. He writes to a fellow student, “For my part I am and I advise you also to be, a more careful guard over the mysteries of philosophy.”

Neo-Platonists believed a person could know the transcendent One (God) from which the rest of the universe emanated, but not through logic or reason—only through deep meditation to achieve an ecstatic state. Before one could reach that state, she/he had to demonstrate levels of virtue. First, one lives an ethical life and exhibits civic virtues, but this does not elevate the soul. On the second level, one attains purifying virtues and frees oneself from sensuality and all things of the flesh. The last stage is reached through a total loss of self. Then a person may see God. In that moment a person enjoys the highest indescribable bliss, bathed in the light of eternity. Porphyry says Plotinus attained this ecstatic union with God four times during their six years together.

Hypatia led a small group of her most intimate students through the processes by which they could attain this ecstatic state. They seemed to study everything that enhanced their openness to all things divine. Her methods were never revealed by her students, but from their writings, she didn’t seem to engage in cultic experiences, but may have engaged in reciting prayers or hymns. One scholar believes Synesius’ Hymns V and IX were composed during his time studying with Hypatia.

So, Amenábar got it wrong. Hypatia believed in more that math and science. Although she was not Christian, she was not a “pagan” in the sense she did not worship multiple gods or engage cultic practices. Nor was she an atheist who believed only in science. Hypatia was a deeply spiritual woman. She was the beloved Lady Philosopher of Alexandria.

Enjoy! Please also visit the blog of Faith L. Justice to read all three parts.

Also see:
Movie Interlude: "Agora" - a prequel to "Contact"?
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Sometimes I feel so low

Like I would like to sleep forever

The tide surging like taking away all my breath

Like I would survive no more

Hardships and obstacles arrived without signs

Landing their botheration without any reluctant

Making me feel totally broken heart and despair

Throwing me far away from optimism and hope

But there's a thought came thru my mind

That I must rise up again no matter what

Because I know it will never be the end

Because I'm still here standing all alive

And I know that I will never fail

If I have tried my very best

Because Allah will always be there for us

Be always with those who have faith in Him

O Allah, please make me strong!

~End Of Post~

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Agora, the movie about the 4th century philosopher/mathematician/astronomer Hypatia and the burning of the Library of Alexandria, never came to any of the theaters around us. This is a shame, as the movie turned out to be quite good (and I had to watch it on the plane - so please consider the fact that my views about the movie have been shaped by looking a small square behind someone else's reclining seat. It is also now available on DVD - so a second viewing is necessary).

My first thought about the movie: It can play as a prequel to the movie Contact. While the setting of the two films is separated by roughly 2000 years, in both cases, the lead character is a scientist, a woman, and an atheist. Both characters are driven by seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge - and the two movies do a good job of translating their passion on to the screen. But in one film, the character ends up burnt at the stake - and I'm not saying which one. [On a side note, I think both Jodi Foster and Rachel Weisz (Hypatia in Agora) usually pick smart and intelligent films to appear in (and yes, even The Mummy - which basically introduced us to Rachel Weisz)]. But if Hypatia lived today, I can totally see her searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence.

Agora is set in Roman Egypt and depicts the story of the last days of the great library of Alexandria and the rise of Christianity there. Since I was just returning from Egypt, it was fascinating to see familiar hieroglyphics on the temple columns, and the mention of Egyptian gods in the movie (Alexander and his successors had integrated some of the Egyptian gods into their own mythologies. For example, most of the movie is set at the temple of Serapeum - a temple dedicated to Hellenistic-Egyptian god, Serapis).

It is quite clear that the movie is written with the Taliban and the contemporary fundamentalist movements in mind. It is hard not to think of the idiotic destruction of the Buddha statues at Bamiyan by the Taliban. So, yes, the movie does take a clear stance about this issue, but it does portray the appeal of religion in the desire to help others in the face of misery and misfortune. The pagan rulers, in this context, are portrayed as a bit clueless.

The movie is shot in an interesting way. There are some wonderful shots of the camera zooming out from individuals rioting to showing Alexandria from space. This is an interesting strategy for a historical and a non science-fiction film. This could have been gimmicky, but I think it worked quite well in extracting us out of the minutiae of human affairs, to the remind of the cosmic perspective. But it did other things as well. One the zoom-outs started from the scene of charging Christians on to the inner gates of Alexandria, and as the camera zoomed out, the charging Christians more and more looked like ants or insects attacking a prey.

With a few exceptions, the ruling class of pagans is not presented in much of a flattering light either. In fact some of them are too eager to hold on to the power by pleasing the new religious order. But one thing I really liked about the film is that some of the characters actually change in ways that are complex and perhaps more natural. The movie still contains a number of cliches - but some of the added nuances, more or less, balance out those cliches. But I can almost imagining the balance of power shifting in Alexandria as the way it is depicted in Agora (I said "almost"). And I will also give the movie a pass in terms of some questionable history of science (A minor spoiler: I can totally buy heliocentrism at this time, but I think elliptical orbits and Kepler's second law is a bit of a stretch in the movie, and it bugged me a bit. But I need to think a bit more about the possibility of thinking about elliptical orbits in this context in the 4th century AD).

So should you see this movie? Yes, absolutely. This will not be the most amazing movie you have ever seen. However, it is rare that we get movies where the lead character is driven by curiosity and wonder. I would say the same about Contact. The similarities with Contact may not be incidental. Agora is directed by Alejandro Amenabar. After finishing his highly acclaimed film, The Sea Inside, he was taking a break in Malta. While there he got fascinated by the sight of the Milky Way and wanted to do his next movie related to astronomy. And guess what. While doing his research, he ran into Sagan's Cosmos, where Sagan really makes Hypatia as his heroin of the series. In fact, in the first and the last episode, Sagan wanders around the halls of the great Library of Alexandria (created as a model) wondering about the treasures it once held there. If you watch Cosmos, it is hard to ignore Hypatia. Therefore, it is no surprise that Amenabar's Agora also retains a sense of wonder about the universe.

Here is the trailer of Agora, followed by Sagan's discussion of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.

Agora:



And here is a bit of Cosmos on Hypatia and the Library of Alexandria. And fantastic that he links the decline to the failure to speak up against social injustices, such as slavery.


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"Tetap istiqomah Ukhti..Selamat Berjuang. Semoga Allah sentiasa bersamamu."
Sender : Akhi +6013xxxxxxx

Senyum timbul dari wajahnya. Seperti ada kehangatan menjalar di dada yang membuatkan degupan jantungnya bertambah cepat. Akal sihatnya bertanya-tanya, "Kenapa dengan aku ni?" Namun segera disangkalnya, "Tak ada apa-apalah! Aku cuma gembira sebab ada rakan seperjuangan yang mendoakan."

Dia segera mengunci pintu bilik dan berlalu ke arah motorsikalnya, ada dauroh. Dia berlari sambil membawa sekeping rasa bahagia membaca sms tadi yang sebahagian besarnya bukan kerana isinya, tetapi kerana nama pengirimnya.

"Ana tengah mengisi halaqoh ni. Doakan agar mad'u-mad'u ini semakin meningkat kefahamannya."
Sender : Akhi +6013xxxxxxx

"Kenapa dia cerita pada aku?" Nada protes bergema di benaknya. Tetapi di suatu tempat, entah di mana, terasa bagaikan ada hembusan lembut angin lalu. Tidak semena-mena dirinya merasa bangga kerana menjadi wanita terpilih menerima SMS tersebut.

Pagi itu telefon bimbit kesayangannya berbunyi,

 "Allah pasti membantu mereka yang memperjuangkan agama-Nya. Ukhti, jawab exam betul-betul! Ma'a At-Taufiq Wa An-Najah Fi Al-Imtihan!"

Hatinya melonjak-lonjak bahagia. "Mesti aku dapat jawab dengan mantap hari ni!" Dibacanya SMS dengan berbunga-bunga. Tetapi pengirimnya...

Sender : Ukhti +6013xxxxxxx

Senyumannya memudar. Tarikan nafas panjang. Kecewa. Bukan dari dia. Telefon bimbit berbunyi lagi.

"Semoga Allah membantu hamba-hambanya yang sentiasa memperjuangkan agama-Nya. Selamat Maju Jaya Dalam Peperiksaan."
Sender : Ikhwah +6013xxxxxxx

Dia! Sinaran mentari pagi itu kelihatan seperti warna spektrum yang indah memancar. Senyumannya mengambang lagi. Hatinya bagai bunga-bunga yang mengambang di musim semi. Mekar dan indah.

Biasa dengar?

Cerita di atas adalah corat-coret gerak hati seorang aktivis dakwah di negeri atas angin yang boleh jadi negeri yang sangat dekat dengan kita. Gerak hati yang mungkin pernah bersemayam di dada kebanyakan daripada kita juga. Mungkin ada yang sedang tertawa kecil atau tersenyum-senyum dan berbisik perlahan, "Macam cerita aku je ni," saat membacanya. (^_^)

Penggunaan kata akhi dan ukhti tadi bolehlah diubah kepada sahabat atau sahabiah, mana-mana kata yang biasa diguna dalam kehidupan seharian pembaca. Boleh juga pengirimnya adalah perempuan dan penerimanya adalah lelaki. Pokoknya ia SMS yang dihantar kepada lawan jenis.

Mari cermati bahagian akhir daripada cerita tadi. Kalimat SMS keduanya hampir sama, yang isinya mengucapkan dan mendoakan agar berjaya dalam peperiksaan. SMS yang sama tetapi menghasilkan perasaan yang amat jauh berbeza. Kerana baginya yang lebih utama itu siapa yang mengirimnya, bukan apa yang dikatanya.

Namun sebenarnya, apakah Allah itu membezakan doa antara lelaki dan perempuan? Mengapa menjadi bahagia saat dia yang berlawanan jantina yang mendoakan?

Perkara inilah yang perlu kita cermati dan lihat dari kaca mata yang benar. Terkadang kita tidak perasan dan membiarkan diri kita hanyut dalam alam luar sedar. Dengan berbekalkan alasan bahawa, "Itu hanya sebuah SMS,” atau “Alah, email je.”

Perangkap

Sedarlah, bahawa itulah perangkap syaitan. Ia menguji kita dengan menggunakan fitrah insani yang telah lama berada dalam jiwa. Fitrah ketertarikan terhadap lawan jenis.

Dijadikan indah pada (pandangan) manusia kecintaan kepada apa-apa yang diingini, yaitu: wanita-wanita, anak-anak, harta yang banyak dari jenis emas, perak, kuda pilihan, binatang-binatang ternak dan sawah ladang. Itulah kesenangan hidup di dunia, dan di sisi Allah-lah tempat kembali yang baik (syurga).

[Q.S. Ali ‘Imran, 3:14]

da5id2112 on deviantART

Apalah gunanya kita jadi bersemangat dan semakin kuat, lantaran sumber semangat dan kekuatan itu adalah sesuatu yang tidak jelas? Malah kemungkinan ia hanyalah jelas-jelas sebuah dosa. Kerana hati berbunga-bunga, menikmati sorotan nafsu di dalam jiwa. Jadilah zina hati yang membuahkan dosa.

“Nasib anak Adam mengenai zina telah ditetapkan. Tidak mustahil dia pernah melakukannya. Dua mata, zinanya memandang. Dua telinga, zinanya mendengar. Lidah, zinanya berkata. Tangan, zinanya memukul. Kaki, zinanya melangkah. Hati, zinanya ingin dan rindu, sedangkan faraj (kemaluan) hanya mengikuti atau tidak mengikuti.”

[Sahih Muslim, hadis ke 2282]

Nak SMS juga?

Wahai hati, apabila engkau menginginkan SMS-SMS seperti itu, maka tanyakanlah kepada hatimu. “Apa yang aku inginkan sebenarnya? Penghargaan daripada dia atau Dia?” Lalu beristighfarlah. Sungguh, kita semua mengetahui bahawa diri kita lemah. Maka kuatkanlah dengan zikrullah.

Wahai hati, apabila tanganmu gatal untuk menaip email-email yang berkemungkinan mengundang musim bunga dalam jiwa mereka, maka pertanyakan kepada dirimu, “Bukankah masih ramai ikhwah-ikhwahku yang memerlukan kata nasihat dan pemangkin semangat?”

Lalu hantarlah SMS tersebut kepada mereka. Layarkanlah email penguat semangat kepada teman-teman seperjuangan tercinta. Itu jauh lebih diredhai-Nya, insya-Allah.

Penutup : Saat Itu Pasti Tiba

Ada saatnya. Akan ada saatnya nanti telefon bimbit kita akan berdering dengan masuknya SMS-SMS romantis. SMS-SMS yang walaupun hurufnya hitam semua, tetapi tetap ber’aura’kan merah jambu. Untuk seseorang dan dari seseorang yang telah dihalalkan untuk berbagi hidup dan segala kata cinta yang ada di dalam kamus-kamus cinta. Cinta yang bermuara kepada pencipta-Nya. Cinta dalam Cinta.

Bersabarlah untuk saat indah itu.

“Salam. Abang nak mengisi dauroh ni. Kat depan ni ada lautan bidadari bertudung labuh. Tapi tak ada secantik bidadariku di istana Baiti Jannati. Tunggu abang balik ye.”

Tak percaya tanyalah Ustaz Hasrizal! (^_^)

“Salam. Jaga hati ye. Nanti saya masak sedap-sedap untuk abang.”

Ya, hanya untuk dia akan ditaip semua SMS itu. The Pinkest Short Message Services. SMS-SMS paling merah jambu!

~End Of Post~

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I didn't know about this. I just recently visited King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings and saw his mummy (no - not the replica - the actual mummy), but didn't know about any thing potentially missing. I must say that King Tut gets an unfair amount of information. He wasn't an important Pharaoh - and his tomb is actually not that great. He just gets all this attention because, unlike other tombs, treasure was still in his tomb. Yes, his treasure is quite amazing. But the real amazing thing is that this is the treasure of a not-so-great and not-so-long-lived Pharaoh. So we can only imagine what the treasures of someone like Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great) or his father, Seti I (don't get excited - this Seti does not stand for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, rather it is a name derived from the Egyptian god Seth).

I also had a chance to go to the Egyptian museum in Cairo. I was worried that most of the stuff would be at the King Tut exhibit now in New York. Fortunately, there is soooo much stuff from King Tut's tomb, that they can easily run two exhibitions without really sacrificing too much. So, if you get a chance, do go and see the exhibit. But remember to scale this to greater Pharaohs...

But then Stephen Colbert has the more important question: Where is King Tut's phallus? (Irtiqa is trying its best to stay classy here... :) ). Here is the two part series, Mysteries of the Ancient Unknown - The Pursuit of the Pharaoh's Phallus. Enjoy!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mysteries of the Ancient Unknown - The Pursuit of the Pharaoh's Phallus
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

and the second part:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mysteries of the Ancient Unknown - The Pursuit of the Pharaoh's Phallus Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

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"Assalamu'alaikum," pintu 'Engineering Room' dikuak. Seorang wanita berbadan gempal bercermin mata masuk. Rambut pendeknya tersembunyi di dalam 'hair net' yang dipakainya. Sekali imbas macam kepala perempuan yang baru buka tudung yang berserkup kepala.

"Kami datang ni nak minta derma untuk Allahyarham Syukri, dia meninggal pagi tadi." Dia kembali berbicara.

"Syukri? Meninggal?" Saya cuba mengingat-ingat wajahnya.

"Haah, Syukri, budak mixing. Meninggal sebab eksiden."

Saya terkejut yang amat. Baru kelmarin berbual-bual dengannya.

*****

"Bang, lama dah kerja kat sini?"

"Adalah dalam setahun."

"Oh, belajar mana dulu?"

"Aku SPM je."

"Oh, SPM tahun berapa tu?"

"Jap. Hm, rasanya tahun 2007."

"Owh, 2007. Eh, saya SPM 2006. Umur 20 tahun ke?"

"Haah."

"Lah, aku lagi tua dari kaulah! Buat malu je panggil kau abang!"

"Kaulah yang panggil. Aku layan je."

Dan kami terus bebual-bual ke mana-mana.

*****

Saya menatap wajah muda yang bersih itu. Sayang, muda lagi. Usianya masih produktif. Namun Allah lebih menyayanginya. Teringat perbualan dengan seorang operator pengeluaran yang baru pulang daripada pengebumiannya.

"Muda lagi kan? Sayang betul." Saya memulakan bicara.

"Nak buat macam mana, dah sampai masa dia. Baru 20 tahun."

"Muda lagi dari saya."

"Kamu berapa?"

"Awok 21 je." Sengaja menggunakan loghat Perak. Lalu sepi sebentar.

"Mati awal pun bagus. Dosa tak banyak lagi."

"Sayang jugalah, pahala pun masih sikit. Dosa tu dah confirm ada."

"Betul juga kan? Dosa tu bila-bila pun boleh buat. Bekal pahala yang entah ada ke tidaknye."

Lalu suasana kembali sepi.

Itulah kematian namanya
Ia datang tiba-tiba
Penuh misteri dan tanda tanya
Tiada amaran atau prakata
Tidak mengenal peringkat usia

Namun kematian adalah realiti
Kematian itu sudah pasti
Masanya tidak perlu dicari
Bukan tugas hamba untuk mengenalpasti
Rahsianya mutlak milik ilahi

Jawablah wahai pembaca akan soalan ini:

Bersediakah kamu jika dijemput saat ini?

Al-Fatihah buat Allahyarham Mohammad Syukri bin Abdullah. Semoga rohnya dirahmati dan diredhai oleh Allah SWT.

~End Of Post~

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Back in 2007, I had posted a lecture by Ken Ham - the creationist behind the ridiculous Creation Museum. At the time, the Creation Museum was about to open and I thought that there is no way that people will fall for this crap, especially after listening to the stuff that he says in his lectures. To give you some perspective, even Harun Yahya looks smarter when compared to Ken Ham.

Alas - I was mistaken. This Creation Museum has been able to attract thousands of people in its first couple of years. Now, Kentucky is planning a Noah's Ark theme park - about 45 miles from the Creation museum:

The theme park was conceived by the same Christian ministry that built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., where dioramas designed to debunk evolution show humans and dinosaurs coexisting peacefully on an earth created by God in six days. The ministry, Answers in Genesis, believes that the earth is only 6,000 years old — a controversial assertion even among many Bible-believing Christians.

Although the Creation Museum has been a target of ridicule by some, it has drawn 1.2 million visitors in its first three years — proving that there is a sizable paying audience for entertainment rooted in a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Yes, there are first amendment issues (the separation of church and state), as the state government is offering tax incentives for the builders of this park. But the bigger issue is the promotion of such ridiculous ideas. I can imagine many people taking their kids to the Creation Museum because they think that it is a science museum. Now this pseudoscientific narrative will extend to another site, and is expected to work in tandem:

The developers of Ark Encounter, who have incorporated as a profit-making company, say they expect to spend $150 million, employ 900 people and attract 1.6 million visitors from around the world in the first year. With the Creation Museum only 45 miles away, they envision a Christian tourism corridor that would draw busloads from churches and Christian schools for two- and three-day visits.

Read the full story here. I'm actually unclear on how to counter such ideas. If people believe in a 6000 year old, then evidence is definitely not going to play a big role in convincing them otherwise. Depressing. But a thank you is in order. Thanks to Answers in Genesis - the group behind the Creation Museum, Muslim creationists cannot be considered the bottom of the barrel. So thank you Ken Ham for taking reason and logic to an all time low!
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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


In this second post on Paul Davies’ The Eerie Silence: Renewing our search for alien intelligence, I want to focus on his discussion of what ET’s could be like and what the impact of the reception of a clear, meaningful signal would be on us.

First, if ET’s contact us, whether deliberately or not, they most likely will be (much) more technologically advanced than us. At minimum, they will have developed radio communication and mastered radio astronomy, thoroughly knowing what the Galaxy is like (structure and contents: stars, nebulae, dust, halo, etc.). And since our civilization is very recent, more likely they will have appeared ages ago (the Milky Way is about 12 billion years old) and have had time to make unimaginable progress. (If we’ve progressed this much in the past few centuries or millennia, think how they would be after millions, if not billions of years.) One immediate conclusion stressed by Davies, is that the existence of such ETs would imply that civilizations are not doomed to disappear – through various risks, internal or external – after a short time, as it has been feared and argued for many years.

This leads him to a discussion of the Fermi Paradox, which the Italian physicist stated very simply 60 years ago, “where are the aliens (if they exist, they should have reached here already)?”, and which Davies and many other thinkers regard as a very strong argument, even though there have been many proposed explanations for it, some stronger than others (see the recent book by Stephen Webb). Indeed, with millions of years of scientific progress and technological development, the aliens would have known pretty much everything about the Galaxy and, most probably via self-replicating machines, colonized or networked through it. They probably would be able to extract energy from rotating black holes, which Davies explains very simply, steal planets (for useful materials), program viruses, and… reengineer themselves! Indeed, just think of what a combination of advanced nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and information technology can do just a century or two from now, then extrapolate hundreds of thousands or millions of years into the future.

Here’s what Davies concludes from a discussion of the above considerations:

I think it very likely – in fact inevitable – that biological intelligence is only a transitory phenomenon, a fleeting phase in the evolution of intelligence in the universe. If we ever encounter extraterrestrial intelligence, I believe it is overwhelmingly likely to be post-biological in nature, a conclusion that has obvious and far-reaching ramifications for SETI.

By “post-biological”, the author means “reengineered” creatures, with largely enhanced capabilities, particularly brain power, up to any fundamental limits imposed by physics. Long before that, ET’s will have “transitioned” to super-machines with “godlike mega-brains”. Davies then spends several pages further envisioning the nature of such machines (perhaps EQC’s, “extraterrestrial quantum computers”) and what that would do, for the species and w.r.t. the Galaxy. “Why would such an entity bother to contact us?” he asks. He concludes that such “entities” would not even have any interest in the physical universe, they may perhaps spend their time solving elaborate Math problems, proving new theorems, entirely living a life of the mind…

OK, let’s come back to issues that our minds can at least imagine and perhaps address, such as what would happen if we receive a message from a species which is, let’s hope, not so far ahead of us. Should we fear or should we welcome such a contact? Davies tells us: “An alien civilization that goes to the trouble and expense of actively trying to contact us would probably be highly altruistic.” I agree. In fact, Davies imagines that such a species would want to help us make faster progress, for example by telling us how to achieve (sustained) nuclear fusion and thus solve our energy problem. It might tell us where in the “Galactic Wide Web” we could simply download the blueprints/solutions/data for whatever we may want to know at this point in our technological and cultural stage.

So, science-wise and technology-wise, we most likely stand to gain from such an encounter. What about culturally, especially our religious systems of belief, which are so widespread and engrained in most human societies? Davies has several good pages on the topic, although he focuses almost entirely on the impact that would have on Christianity.

He writes: “Undoubtedly, the most immediate impact of an alien message would be to shake up the world’s faiths.” A paragraph later, he gets more specific: “Christianity is the religion most challenged by the concept of extraterrestrial beings, because Christians believe that God became a human being (specifically, a Jewish political dissident).” He then explains that because Jesus’s goal was to save humans, not dolphins or gorillas, and not even the Neanderthals, the question poses itself: should aliens be the subject of salvation? If yes, how and by whom; if not, why not? Davies then goes on to briefly review the few Christian thinkers who have over the past few centuries tried to address this problem, coming up with two possible standpoints: multiple incarnations (“one savior for each deserving species”) or only one savior (Jesus), and Christians called upon to spread the word throughout the Galaxy and the Universe.

Then Davies draws more general conclusions: “What is clear, however, is that any theology with an insistence on human uniqueness would be doomed.” (And here I should point out that this largely applies to Islam, at least in its standard views, even though many Muslims not only accept ET’s but even claim that the Qur’an alludes to them.) Davies adds: “Although slow to change, religion is very adaptable.” He compares this new challenge to that posed by Darwin’s Evolution, which also questioned Man’s special status within most religions; he concludes: “The discovery of advanced extraterrestrial beings would represent a far more explicit threat of the same nature, and prove that much harder to assimilate.”

What remains then is to assess the probability of such an encounter. That’s anyone’s guess. Davies presents his views, which are a mixture of hopes and of realistic appraisals of the field. No doubt, this is a fascinating subject.

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This is a fantastic display of how life expectancy and income levels for countries have changed over the past 200 years. Global health levels have noticeably improved for all nations - thanks to scientific developments - and the, in fact, ends on quite a positive mode. For reference, Pakistan is mentioned couple of times in the segment. This clip (about 5 minutes long) is taken from “The Joy of Stats” (tip from Open Culture). Enjoy!


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Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.  ~John Ruskin


It was Monday morning when I saw some friends' status: snow!
I went outside to find nothing but wet road after the rain. I went inside and continued working on my assignment.
However, my apartment-mate went
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I simply don't get it. Traffic in Cairo is insanely chaotic. And yet, a number of cars at night don't have their headlights on. This is madness! There are pedestrians everywhere, and cars/trucks/buses zoom by without lights at night. It is not that these are old cars. You can find nice, new cars with no lights. Over the past two weeks, every time I went out, I saw at least one accident (mostly fender-benders) on the streets of Cairo. While the crowded areas were genuinely problematic for pedestrians (a woman was scrapped by a bus as she was squished between the taxi that I was in and a bus. The bus went by and the woman was relatively fine - only grabbing her hand in pain), highways are scary for cars. On highways you combine high speeds with sharp swerving cars. The problem is that the drivers leave no margin of error - even though the behavior of other drivers is mostly unpredictable and the concept of driving in lanes is non-existent. You combine all this and you can understand my complete bafflement over not using headlights on streets at night.

Just to give you a taste, here is a 1-minute video of pedestrians crossing a street in Cairo (I actually think that this is right at the hotel I was staying at). At night, just think of the same scene with many of the cars and buses without headlights:

Hmmph!!

Okay, now to science. In one of my conversations here in Cairo, I was told that high school students here are increasingly moving from science and to the humanities (science here means the path to becoming a doctor or an engineer). Well, on the one hand this may be an interesting development and will lead to a large number of poets, novelists, and artists. But it was suggested that one of the reason is that many students find sciences hard and boring (a killer combination), and want to get into advertising or a similar industry. This was just one conversation - nevertheless I found that intriguing. I was wondering, why advertising? After all, medicine and engineering have traditionally been the safer paths for a career. I don't know. It is possible that the new television and mobile phone market is not yet saturated, and there is still plenty of room for advertising. We are seeing a similar market in Pakistan as well. So if this trend of science to humanities is correct, then perhaps it is a consequence of globalization and the opening up of markets in places like Egypt, and the fact that such jobs are lucrative and perhaps more glamorous. But of course, this is just a guess. 

But then I ran into an article just last week that voiced a similar about the shift from science to humanities in Egypt:

A growing trend among Egyptian students to shun science in favour of the humanities is placing the scientific future of the country of 80 million people in peril, according to a recent study. Research and development specialist numbers and journal publication outputs are dropping.

"Increasing numbers of secondary school students major in literary subjects and avoid scientific subjects for fear that they might not obtain high scores to attend prestigious faculties if they majored in science," said the study titled The Future of Science and Mathemtics Education in Egypt.

Conducted by Sahar Abdel Gayed, a researcher at the Future Studies Centre of the Egyptian government, the study cited an "exodus" of students to humanities faculties in Egypt since 2000. "This trend has produced a set of negative results, which augur ill for the future of scientific research in Egypt," Abdel Gayed warned.

According to her, the number of research and development specialists has dropped to 493 per million in Egypt, compared to 7,992 per million in Finland, 2,434 per million in South Korea and 1,012 per million in Tunisia, another North African Arab country.

I tried to find an online copy of the study, The Future of Science and Mathematics Education in Egypt, but couldn't find it. If anyone has access to it, let me know. The blame is again on the way sciences are taught in schools, and the other is on job competition:

Ali Habeesh, chair of the Scientific Professions Association, a non-governmental union, put the blame on science curricula and teachers.

"I have aPhD degree in science. But I do not like physics and maths, though they are the basis of science, and that is because of the physics and maths teachers at my secondary school," he told the semi-official newspaper Al Akhbar recently. 

Another reason in his opinion was the tight job market in Egypt. "Vacancies available in the local job market are those based on having a good command of foreign languages and computer literacy. This situation discourages students from attending science faculties where studies need a lot of effort," he said.

"A medical professional, for example, earns very little compared to an employee at a multinational company."

Again, if this trend is a real trend then I will be surprised if Egypt is the only country experiencing it. I would be curious to know if this perception also exists in other places, in particular in other developing countries. Read the full article here.

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Can Pakistan and India collaborate on scientific projects? Saleem H. Ali and Bharath Gopalaswamy have written an excellent piece, Science Diplomacy in South Asia, urging to use science for thawing the relations between the two countries. They quite rightly point out that artists and musicians have several projects across the border, but scientific cooperation has been missing. Okay - so we are not talking about nuclear science collaboration, but there are plenty of other areas where cooperation should not have much problem. Just as one example, I was thinking of astronomy. Amateur astronomers can share some excellent programs across the border and can hold joint observing sessions. Ali and Gopalaswamy bring up environmental studies cooperation, especially related to the study of glaciers. In order for the two parties to overcome mutual suspicions, they also urge the US to play a more active role in facilitating such cooperations:

Collaboration on climate change science in the glaciated headwaters of the Indus basin river system, especially following the devastating floods of 2010, makes practical and political sense. It is understandable that India will once again be reluctant to accept any "outside interference" on this but the threat of climate change is a global concern and the Karakoram glaciers are a pivotal natural laboratory for understanding these dynamics. Scientists from Pakistan and India have a clear and present interest in collaborating on this matter as part of their obligations to international environmental agreements.

As delegates assemble for climate change negotiations this coming week in Cancun, Mexico, the instrumental use of science for diplomacy presents an opportunity for unexpected gain amid otherwise sluggish talks. Such deliberations could also encompass a dialogue between scientists on how Earth observation and remote sensing can be effectively used to address environmental security challenges in the future. Currently, there are around ten Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites, which are some of the best in the world for generating information on natural resources. Data from the IRS satellites are used for a variety of applications such as drought monitoring, flood risk zone mapping, urban planning, forestry surveys, environmental impact analysis, and coastal studies.

Of course, security concerns accompany any data-sharing agreement. A working group on sharing these resources could very well serve as a starting point for engagement. However, in order to address shared concerns and future challenges in South Asia, meaningful facilitation from a major interlocutor such as the United States would be essential. Sixty years of bilateral conversations between India and Pakistan have shown the utter failure of leaving such matters to the adversaries themselves.

All major territorial dispute settlements in the twentieth century such as the East Timor conflict or the Northern Ireland conflict have involved some external facilitation. Science diplomacy offers the gentlest form of such facilitation. Political capital, beyond state dinners and economic delegations, needs to be expended to move India and Pakistan to accept such assistance.

It is high time that the United States and all interested international players consider novel strategies for securing peace in South Asia. Science and ecology hold great promise as a tool of diplomacy in this region and should be given priority in sustainable conflict resolution.

Hey - after over six decades of deadlock, why not try science diplomacy a chance as well. Read the full article here.

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After surviving traffic in Cairo, I'm headed back to the US. More on Egypt in the coming days. In the mean time, here is the newish Symphony of Science to fill in the travel blogging lull:


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Sementara masih ada masa

Carilah Dia sesungguh-sungguhnya

Sebelum tinggal sedetik cuma

Untuk terfikir betapa ruginya kita

Kerana akhirat itu cuma dua

Natijah pemilihan kehidupan dunia

Sama ada berbahagia di syurga

Atau mengharungi kesengsaraan neraka

Oleh itu apabila saatnya tiba

Pernahkah terfikir dimanakah kita

Sedarlah kembali wahai hamba yang hina

Sementara kita masih di dunia

-umairzulkefli-

Pantaskah Aku Di Surga

-Chinta Band-

Bila malaikat mencabut nyawa

Pantaskah aku ada di surga

Di dunia aku berlumur dosa

Aku yang takut neraka

Bersimpuh aku berserah diri

Memohon ampunan Mu ya Rabbi

Sebelum kau memanggil diriku

Ya Allah terima taubatku

Andai ku tahu kapan waktuku

Kau panggil aku untuk kembali

Pastikan aku akan meminta

Mensucikan hidupku di dunia

Aku manusia yang penuh dosa

Yang pernah melalaikan perintahMu

Ku tahu Engkau maha pemurah

Kubersujud pada Mu ya Allah

~End Of Post~

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Okay - so the issue is serious. But the fact that it is related to Hobbits, makes it amusing as well. Can there be brown-skinned Hobbits? May be not. From Dawn:

Peter Jackson’s troubled “The Hobbit” project was embroiled in a race row Monday over a casting agent sacked for telling a would-be extra she was too dark to play one of the pint-sized creatures.

The independent contractor who made the comments and placed an advertisement in a local newspaper specifying female hobbit extras “should have light skin tones” had been dismissed, a spokesman for Jackson’s Wingnut Films said.

“No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it’s not something we instructed or condoned,” he told AFP.

The row erupted after Briton Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting session in the New Zealand city of Hamilton last week, queuing for three hours only to be told her skin tone was not suitable.

“It’s 2010 and I still can’t believe I’m being discriminated against because I have brown skin,” Humphreys told the Waikato Times newspaper.

And now Naz has started a Facebook group called, "Hire hobbits of all colours! Say no to hobbit racism!” Okay this may be a smart move.

And here are some other details of the incident:

The Waikato Times said video footage showed the casting agent telling people at the audition: “We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be — whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a hobbit.” The agent also placed a classified advertisement in the Bay of Plenty Times listing essential requirements for potential hobbits, including age, 16-80, and height — below 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches) for men and 158cm (5ft 2in) for women. The additional demand for light skin tones applied only to women.

The casting agent has now been fired. Read the full story here.

And while we are on the topic of movies, here is the way Star Trek should have really ended:


I actually did have a problem with the new Star Trek movie - it had no sense of exploration or wonder in it, along with an awful ending - and so I actually prefer this alternate end to the film. Enjoy!
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This post is just a re-post from a post that I found today. I do believe that actions speak louder than words. Do you think so? Anyway this is what the post says:

Today, i saw a picture from Facebook...

and for i

totally disagree with it !!!!

How could we judged someone based on their conversation ?it's not the content that we should judged......

it's their ACTION that we should judged !!!
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