Akram's Razor
A Happy Easter to my Christian readers/accidental visitors. Speaking of Easter, I’m really in the mood for chocolate… Read more
A Happy Easter to my Christian readers/accidental visitors. Speaking of Easter, I’m really in the mood for chocolate… Read more
Rather than summarize its latest reports myself, I’ll just share the latest newsletter (which you should be getting if you’re looking for sober, honest analysis of US foreign policy) from the Inter Press Service News Agency in Washington, DC. IPS has a fraction of a fraction of the resources of MSM outlets, but runs rings around them in terms of insight and topicalness. 5th Anniversary of the War in Iraq===================================Why Did the U.S. Invade Iraq? Analysis by Jim... Read more
Don’t do its debased contemporary forms, but every now and again, I really, really miss old school hip-hop. I have these LSD flashback-like musical urges. It gets quite distracting, and I usually end up spending hours on YouTube to get my fix. At the moment, I’m yearning to hear PE’s "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos", Rakim’s "Follow the Leader", Poor Righteous Teacher’s "Rock this Funky Joint", EPMD’s "You gots to chill", and a host of other oldies. And,... Read more
There’s a very interesting piece in the NYT on African-American Jews, who struggle for acceptance in the broader Jewish community. Black Rabbi Reaches Out to Mainstream of His Faith – New York Times The touching video report that accompanies it is worth watching, as well. Read more
The latest development in the cartoon wars. Bin Laden slams EU over prophet cartoons – Yahoo! News Osama bin Laden criticized the publication of drawings insulting to the Prophet Muhammad in a new audio message posted late Wednesday and warned Europeans of a strong reaction to come. The message, which appeared on a militant Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group’s media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of... Read more
Sad news to me as an admirer of Catholicism. (Not to mention someone born & bred in Boston. What would Boston be without kids going to CCD after school?)Religion News: Catholics Lose More Faithful Than Any Other Group In the marketplace of American faith, Catholicism is the big loser. Catholics have lost more members to other faiths, or to no faith at all, than any other U.S. religion, according to the new survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion... Read more
It’s rare that I see web page that so perfectly captures the power of HTML to make complex ideas accessible as this wonderful website exploring the Two Documents Hypothesis in New Testament studies. Take a look at the Synoptic Gospels Primer’s color-coded analysis the Synoptic Gospels’ various renderings of the Parable of the Mustard Seed in the Gospels to see what I mean. The power of strategic use of color and smart hyper links. Read more
Finally, I’ve discovered a contribution by Ali G to Western civilization. It’s to pave the way for John Oliver. Here he is pouncing on the unsuspecting and remarkably stoic Qatari ambassador to the U.N. The "Jewish boat" bit was brilliantly wicked. What’s the poor guy supposed to do? This is random, but every time I see Oliver I think of my friend Zahir Janmohamed. Something about his expression. My, the skyline in the vicinity of the Ritz has changed... Read more
No, not that "love". Or that one. Or that one. Check out the short film "Forbidden Love" about the struggles of a Muslim student to pray on campus. I, and I suspect most practicing Muslims, can completely relate to its heroine’s dilemmas and struggles to fulfill her religious obligations during her daily life in mainstream society. The funny thing is that I chuckled at the wish fulfillment and seeming improbability of its happy ending (which without spoiling it is worthy... Read more
A rather unexpected protest to the Danish cartoons in Afghanistan. Danish cartoons: one Afghan’s peaceful protest | csmonitor.com Yet even as angry protests sweep the country in response to the republication of cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad, in one park in Kabul, protesters are taking a different approach – one they say better reflects their religion of peace. Muhammad Sediq Afghan, a professor at the Kabul-based World Philosophical Mathematics Research Center, is sitting in a small tent near the... Read more
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