Clipmarks | arifsali's Comments

In San Antonio, Muslims stand with the massacre victims

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:12:29 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

As Muslims met for weekly prayers in mosques here and nationwide, they underscored their solidarity for the victims of Thursday's rampage at Fort Hood, allegedly by a man whose very name manifests his Muslim heritage.

Muslims have condemned the attack blamed on Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as cowardly and antithetical to core Islamic beliefs and practices, while also issuing warnings to the public and their own communities about the potential for backlash.

Several hundred Muslims gathered in the city's largest mosque, the Islamic Center of San Antonio, where they denounced the shooter's violence and distanced themselves from his version of Islam.

“Most Muslims that do join the Army are Americans first,” he said, “and they're there to protect their country first.”

“I just want to show myself in a positive way for the religion I represent,” he said. “I just hope people don't stereotype.”

Tags: texas, muslim, islam, soldiers, religion, belief

"Muslim world"

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:37:23 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Makes a lot of sense, I would read the whole article at the source.

Clip Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com

If the American public very wrongly holds American Muslims responsible for the tragedy in Fort Hood, a major problem in my mind is the narrative that Muslims as a community and many well-meaning Americans, including President Obama, have promoted. That is, the concept of the "Muslim world." The idea reached its climax during the President's much vaunted speech to the Muslim world from Cairo earlier in the year. I argued then, that the appellation of a "Muslim world" is facile.

Muslims are as ethnically, socially, ideologically and politically as diverse as any religious group in the world. Of course they share a religious tradition, and will advocate for human rights abuses affecting co-religionists globally. And, of course, as a minority, Muslims in America must work to present a unified voice.

But when we give in to the conception of a monolithic Muslim world crossing national boundaries, then the equation changes quickly.

Tags: muslims, united states

A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:09:40 GMT

clipped by: perellicippo

Clip Source: abduzeedo.com

A World in HDR by Trey Ratcliff

Owner of the number #1 Travel Photography Blog on the internet, Trey Ratcliff also know as Stuck in Customs travels the world taking the most stunning hdr photos one has ever seen, and also shares all his photo travel experiences on his personal blog.

Fear and hatred of Islam

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:02:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: twitter.com

Heed this very Christian pastor when he says: fear and hatred of Islam b/c of what happened at Ft. Hood is against the God of love.

Tags: muslims, united states, religion

12 Google Wave Invitations

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:26:00 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: I can give out 12 to fellow clippers if you are still enthusiastic enough. First priority to those who are already following me on Clipmarks.

FYI, I don't use Wave, it is not useful for me at the moment.

Clip Source: wave.google.com

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation
and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

Tags: google, wave

Beginning of Time Discovered

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:59:30 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: Zooming in on the Universe's First Starlight: "Everything Else Came After This"

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Scientists have seen the first starlight ever recorded,

the first star to send light which reached Earth. This light is the earliest, the furthest away, the most red-shifted, and every other factor that could possibly say "Everything else ever came after this."

The bright light is also poignant as it results from a Gamma Ray Burst, GRB 090423, meaning that this first light comes from the death of a star imploding into a neutron star or even an early black hole. The light exhibited a record breaking redshift of 8.2

The event occurred when the universe was only half a billion years old and the light has literally spent all of time to get here.

The starburst was so early it was used to confirm that this kind of thing even happened back then. The signal outshone galaxies, and is now our earliest evidence of anything that happened back then.

Tags: astronomy, physics, time, space, big-bang-theory, first-light

Somali man aged 112 marries girl of 17

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:41:46 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: "I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love, and then we agreed to marry," the groom said. The bride's family said she was "happy with her new husband". Somali adolescent girls are often married off to older men.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

He is old enough to be her great-great-grandfather. But Ahmed Muhamed Dhore, a Somalian who claims he is 112 years old, said he had realised a "dream" by marrying a 17-year-old bride.

Dhore – who says he was born in 1897, the year that Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee – already has 13 children by five wives, but said he would like more with his newest, Safiya Abdulle.

Hundreds of people attended the extraordinary ceremony this week in Guriceel, in the region of Galguduud. "Today God helped me realise my dream," Dore said. He and his new wife, who is almost a century his junior, are from the same village in Somalia, he said, adding that he had waited for her to grow up to propose. He says his children and two other wives agreed to the marriage, as did Abdulle's parents.

The other side of Angelina Jolie

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:24:12 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: i48998.posterous.com

Tags: hollywood

Stop Using Toilet Paper: Get a Blue Bidet

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:16:46 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen
clipper's remarks: Even eliminating a few rolls of toilet paper in your household each month could have major implications worldwide when you consider that each roll of toilet paper produced uses:

*

1.5 pounds of wood
*

37 gallons of water
*

1.3 KWH of electricity
*

Harmful chlorine, sulfur and calcium carbonate

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

Stop Using Toilet Paper: Get a Blue Bidet

[Video]

You might find the idea of going without toilet paper a bit shocking, but lots of people around the world do it, and there are good technologies available now to replace your toilet or add on to it. It is cleaner and healthier, and saves a lot of water -- making a roll of toilet paper uses 1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water and 1.3 KWh of electricity.

Imagine a Bathroom That Cleans Itself

Many bidet-style toilets or toilet seat add-ons are expensive, but the Blue Bidet is only $69. It can be installed in under half an hour.

Most people find they have no problem using a bidet. Occasionally, a few sheets of paper are needed for drying. To avoid this, you could get an air-drying bidet that would eliminate toilet paper entirely.

In one day Americans use 34 million rolls of toilet paper, which uses massive resources to produce, including:

221,000 trees

255 million gallons of water

88 million pounds of greenhouse gases

161 million KWH of electricity

Religious sensitivities on all sides

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:35:16 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: The reason I'm clipping this is because religious sensitivities are back in the news and Muslims are not the only one apparently offended all the time. The other reason I'm clipping this is because I've been watching Curb Your Enthusiasm (not this episode though) and I think Larry David should have folded his show last season. The episodes in the new season are utterly ridiculous and not funny. Like Seinfeld, his show has always been brilliant though but I think he has lost it by now.

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

HBO's hit series "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has pushed the comedic envelope for many years, but what happened in Sunday's episode was so disgraceful it's already received comment from the Catholic League's Bill Donohue.

The set-up is the show's star and producer Larry David is taking some medication that is making him urinate quite forcefully.

It's so powerful that while urinating in his assistant's bathroom, he accidentally splashed some of it on a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on a nearby wall.

Tags: comedy, entertainment, tv

Brigitte Gabriel:What you need to Know about Islam

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:11:48 GMT

clipped by: Antara

Clip Source: kitmantv.blogspot.com

[Video]

Tags: islam, jihad, muslim brotherhood, education

2012: Hoax and hype debunked by NASA scientist and Mayan elder

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:57:01 GMT

clipped by: Koheli

Clip Source: www.examiner.com

2012: Hoax and hype debunked by NASA scientist and Mayan elder

With the hype surrounding the upcoming movie release of 2012 and hundreds of books recently flooding the market about the December 12th or 21st, 2012 end-of-the-world as we know it predictions; it’s sobering to find articles by a NASA scientist and an interview with a Mayan elder in the news, clarifying each and every notion, hoax, prediction and tempering the hysteria around this particular date.

Tags: 2012, hoax, nasa, mayan

How do you know what you know about Islam?

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:56:15 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: ismailimail.wordpress.com

Professor Asani poses the question, “How do you know what you know about Islam?” He offers an insightful analysis of the modern-day “clash of ignorances” and briefly discusses the serious consequences of cultural and religious illiteracy for a world that is multicultural, multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious.

Professor Asani problematizes traditional textual and devotional approaches to studying religion as static and limited. Instead, he advocates a “contextual approach” to the study of religion that promotes an understanding of Islam and Muslim communities within their particular cultural, socio-political, and economic contexts. Through pointing out the co-existence of diverse conceptions and experiences of Islam worldwide, Professor Asani suggests the importance of asking questions such as, “Which Islam? Whose Islam? In which context?”

Introduction from Professor Ali Asani’s forthcoming book “Infidel of Love: Exploring Muslim understandings of Islam” (forthcoming 2009)

Tags: islam, muslims, book

US Pays $400 Per Gallon For Gas in Afghanistan

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:31:00 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Last year, the price of gasoline in the United States topped the $4 per gallon mark.

This year in Afghanistan, the price has topped $400.

The stunning revelation emerged Thursday in a report by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of Congress that conducts non-partisan evaluations of projects and programs. The report says that part of the reason it costs so much to keep US forces in Afghanistan, is because the government is paying $400 per gallon of fuel.

$400 per gallon.

Why so much? The cost includes shipping, which sometimes includes the pricetag of a helicopter flight. Sending fuel by helicopter is woefully inefficient, because it uses up almost as much fuel as it carries.

Afghanistan is also landlocked, meaning that fuel must be transported in ways that stretch the limits of economic reason.

Gen. James Conway, who runs the Marine Corps, told a Navy forum that perilous risky routes up gasoline that originally cost $1.04 gallon up to $400.

“These are fairly major problems for us,”

Tags: news, economy, war, costs, fuel, afghanistan

Mahatma Gandhi on Christianity (+ Other Quotes)

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:38:17 GMT

clipped by: sohil

Clip Source: en.wikiquote.org

It is my firm opinion that Europe does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan’s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.

I consider western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity.

Tags: gandhi, mahatma, india, quotes, quote, christianity, christian, west, satan