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razib | October 31, 2006Vote early and vote often for Shelley Batts. Shelley makes her pitch here. Shelley is a hard working graduate student with moral fiber.
Q: Is it permissable for believers to aid a kuffar in amassing riches?
A: It is permissable if the kuffar adds to the body of knowledge so that the believers may benefit. The prophet Muhammad, P.B.U.H., said, "Seek knowledge even unto Michigan."
razib | October 30, 2006O believers!
If kuffar flesh is beauteous it is permissable for the faithful to partake of it without nikah....
Q: Is a beauteous kuffar female permissable or unclean?
A: Lo! A beauteous kuffar female is both permissable and unclean! If the kuffar women entreat the believers, let it be known that that the faithful are commanded to hit them hard and hit them often so long as the believers are sufficiently freaky! As the kuffar woman is unclean let it be stated that it is enjoined upon the believers that they wash themselves thoroughly and redouble their salat.
-Ibn Hanbal
razib | October 30, 2006My friend John Derbyshire chronicles his spiritual devolution over the past few years....
razib | October 27, 2006This week's Ask a ScienceBlogger:
What's the most underfunded scientific field that shouldn't be underfunded?...
I'll say old fashioned biological anthropology. There's a reason that a pall was cast over thsi field after World War II, but we need to start pushing an analysis of man the animal on all levels again, as the post-genomic era is starting with an explosion centered on the most important animal of all, and the moment is ripe for the re-emergence of complementary fields.
razib | October 24, 2006Four Stone Hearth, the Anthropology Carnival, starts at Anthropology.net today.
revere | October 22, 2006Back in September Janet at Adventures in Ethics and Science challenged Sciencebloggers to a nerd-off. I didn't take part because I have an inherent sense of fairness. Professionals shouldn't compete with amateurs. So I let it go. But now I want to claim my rightful crown from the usurper.
In that competition Orac at Respectful Insolence declared himself the übernerd on the basis of a long list of supposedly nerdish things, like the kind of tchotchkies in his home office (a 12" model of the Incredible Hulk, a replica two-handed sword, etc.) and that he learned to program in Fortran, not…
razib | October 22, 2006Just for the record, that's a pajama, not a dress. I don't appreciate people I know making fun of me (you know who you are). If you are curious about the fact that I am beardless and singing, well, that was before I became a good Muslim.
razib | October 20, 2006Ask a Science Blogger:
What's the best science TV show of all time?...
No contest, NOVA.
razib | October 16, 2006The cover of this month's SEED has a small blurb on the bottom front left (your left as you face the cover) which refers to "Intelligent Design on the Arab Street." My first thought was, "Interesting, the only Muslim Creationists I know are those weird Turkish groups." So I open up the article and it's about Turkish Creationists! Now, I know that the term "Arab Street" is common lingo, but there is the problem that Turks are not Arabs. Not a big deal, except that knowledge about the details of the Middle East seem to be a serious problem seeing as how our nation is pretty heavily…
revere | October 15, 2006Our Flu Wiki partner, DemFromCT, has an important post up at DailyKos today. In June of 2005, Dem (The Next Hurrah), Melanie Mattson (Just a Bump in the Beltway) and The Reveres joined forces in an experiment in community public health planning we called The Flu Wiki. We were joined by our tech guru, the blogger, pogge (Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?), and after a time by anon_22. Anon_22 was "just another" wiki participant who chose her name arbitrarily, not thinking she would become a central figure. Based in the UK, she is a physician and soon became deeply engaged in the…
razib | October 14, 2006This week's Ask a Science Blogger:
A reader asks: Is severely regulating your diet for a month each year, as Muslims do during Ramadan, good for you?...
I will not offer a very scientific response because I suspect others have more to say from that angle, rather, I will offer my own perspective as someone who was raised in a Muslim family and has endured and observed the boom & bust cycle of Ramadan.
First, it matters where you live and when it happens. Since it goes by the lunar calender Ramadan could pop up in the middle of the summer or the middle of the winter. As someone who has…
razib | October 11, 2006Sometimes I get into an online discussion with someone on another blog, and the person will assert a point, without any quantitative or qualitative supporting data. My normal tack is to demand that they offer some evidence to support their assertion, which usually results in irritation and annoyance (e.g., "I don't have an infinite amount of time to look stuff up, what do you think I am, a nerd?"). But sometimes I follow another tack, I just plainly contradict what the individual asserted without any evidence from my own end, and simply say "my impression is contrary to your impression."…
razib | October 11, 2006Charukola in the house baby! Shout out to all the homeboys & girls in the old hood! Charukola @ DU represent!
razib | October 11, 2006They might use an interview with me on Radio Open Source today during the last 10 minutes of the show. You can listen live here (starts 7 PM Eastern Standard Time, about 3.5 hours after this post).
Update: They might drop my interview elsewhere, so if you want to hear my crooning voice, listen to the whole show!
Update II: You can hear me around 7:52 (52 minutes into it) for about 2 minutes.
Addendum: Let me make it clear that though the sound bite gave comfort to the "pro-technology" side of the conversation I probably lean a bit toward the traditionalist sentiments expressed by Martha…