Teaching Science Badly – and Well

#91 by Naqshbandi on March 3, 2007 3:13pm PT

You have to prove that it did happen..It`s not incumbent upon me to prove that it did not happen...

you can`t prove that this whole virgin birth-pbuh dude-god with 10 arms thing isn`t a creating of the flying spaghetti monster..

#95 by Shah2 on March 3, 2007 4:06pm PT

It`s a problem with muslims...I`ve read about dozens of muslim marches against Israel, the war on iraq etc etc...I`ve never heard of a muslim march for better education...

regardless, even with indian muslims dragging the overall numbers down, India is ahead of Pakiland...

Re: # 96

anil,

........ i do not have any delusions about the `altruistic` instincts of the bania, but i have faith in his instinct for making a buck .......... a number of paki institutions are willing to pay top dollar to qualified faculty (not masadi) and someone said there is a surplus of phd`s in india - so it thought it is a win/win situation ......... and regardless of the odd suicide bombing, lahore and islamabad are much better places to live than delhi and kolkata

#99 by hamidm2 on March 3, 2007 4:36pm PT


someone said there is a surplus of phd`s in india


IT was a deluded paki, pissed off at Pakiland`s failed attempts to manufacture instant PhDs, who said that...it`s a figment of paki imagination and delusion..

Re: # 93

Hamidm Sahib:

Science`s foundation to only proves and accept the presence and not the absence. The absence is always through deduction. So far presence of virgin birth has not proven. If this makes your life easier, and not be angry with the doctor sahib.

what makes anyone think pakis actually want to pursue knowledge instead of 72 vigins? Look at brit-pakis...they have access to a good education system, almost free health care etc etc..

And yet they`re way behind in the education game and way ahead in the jihad game..the simple fact is that pakis prefer jihad over java...

Internet Spreading Dangerous Ideology?

The terror raids in Birmingham Wednesday have prompted much anger among the area’s Asian community. But they have also made local mosque leaders question the source of the rise in Islamic fundamentalism among Britain’s young Muslims.

Shabir Hussain, the imam of a mosque near one of the homes stormed by anti-terror police, believes that the dangerous ideology of radical Islam is coming not from a small number of imams sowing anti-western sentiment at secret meetings, but from the Internet.

``The children are not learning from the mosques, not learning from the parents,” he said. “Young kids, they see the news and see the Internet. They think, ‘something`s happening in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Palestine, in Kashmir, and Muslims are oppressed everywhere and some injustice is happening in the world.’”

The personal — and some might say secretive — nature of Internet use could be creating a sense of paranoia that is being felt inside the homes of British Muslims.

``Something is happening in the house,” Mr Hussain said. “Father is looking at son, `What are you looking at on the Internet? What are you watching on the TV? Where are you going? Who are your friends?’ These kinds of things are already happening.``

A London based producer who monitors daily a range of jihadi Web sites for CBS News, believes there is a host of factors contributing to the groundswell of anger evident among many young Muslims in Britain.

``They`ve lost a sense of belonging. Integration doesn`t work. There`s the recent spate of arrests,” he said.

But it could be the easy access to militant Islamic websites that is increasing and channeling this anger.

CBS News` producer said that young British Muslims are “more politicized than others their age, simply because of their background” and that some seek the unsanitized view of the world offered by the Internet, a view that many feel is lacking in more mainstream news.

``There`s no barrier between the youngsters and what occurs in the world in terms of conflict,`` he said. “You go into a website at random and put in ‘beheading clips’ and you will find them, starting from Daniel Pearl in Pakistan to Ken Bigley in Iraq.”

The alleged plot by the nine terrorist suspects arrested yesterday to kidnap a serving British Muslim soldier, behead him and broadcast the footage on the web is chillingly similar to the media-savvy tactics employed by jihadist groups in Iraq.

The fighters who construct these Islamist websites have even taken to calling themselves ``electronic mujahideen.``

``Every operation they make, there`s a camera filming it and then it`s posted on the Internet,`` the producer said. ``There`s messages from al Qaeda, and now they`re going on Arab satellite channels and American security centers.”

Re: # 100

arjun,

..... if it is any consolation, inspite of the fact that i would like to see the liberation of kashmir, i support your jihad against the obscurantist forces that are ruining the pakistan that i hope to retire to in 2020 .......... keep up the good work :)

#98

``I`ve read about dozens of muslim marches against Israel, the war on iraq etc etc...``

That also endorsed and decided either directly or indirectly by hindu majority of WEst Bengal.....

Re: # 93

you miss the point: even if science wanted to it cannot disprove any of these spiritual things because its entire gambit is only to do with the world of matter. what cannot be measured cannot be tested by science. science and religion occupy two very different spheres of human existence.

Hamidm,

What further evidence do you need of virgin birth? Believe me, the maggots that will eat you will all be born out of this process in their millions ...

.....and now he`ll say I`m being crude ... but honestly ... maggots do not have a father ..

Re: # 105

naqsh,

......... the burden of proof lies with people who believe in virgin births and the tooth fairy ..... even though i believe in using the common sense approach and do not like to quote god or man, i agree with dawkins in that the concept of noma (non-overlapping magesteria ) is poppycock ...... all this stuff about `` science and religion occupy two very different spheres of human existence`` is utter nonsense and at best a cop out by people who are afraid of maggots to take on the relgious lunatics ...... you don`t have step into horseshit, much less eat it, to realize that is is horseshit - you can smell it a mile off ..........

#108 by hamidm2

Thanks for clarifying your stance. It is now clear your entire purpose of existence is to fatten yourself like a pig to the slaughter for the maggots ...

Good enough. At-least you will do SOMEONE some good ..

Re: # 109

zeemax,

... i hate to disappoint you and your maggots, but i plan on being cremated - not because i want to honor grandpa goipinath but simply because i have a morbid fear of being buried alive ......... you mullah types really need to give up on your maggots, hell fire and brimstone stories - they are old and don`t scare people any more .......

#110 by hamidm2 ,

Well actually, being buried, or burnt to a cinder with that awful smell, or thrown into a dirty river to become fish meal, it`s all the same isn`t it?

If death ends all, then why should you care? If you`re scared of being buried alive, you could be burnt alive too .. so the reasoning does not stand. Or do you mean to say some part of you will remain alive while being buried? I don`t really get what you mean.

The best would however be what O`Leary did. Scattered in space. Have you considered that :~)

Or there are the cryogenic chambers .. perhaps someday we`ll be able to wake you up and bring you back to Chowk ... :)

#75 by hamidm2

Oye Khabees!

Stick to the subject and don’t go wild on me. I was restricting myself to Muslims so when I say a disproportionate representation of them are in science classes that is precisely what I mean Indians and Chinese don’t seem to have our problem.

“out of the hundred, ten commit suicide because they realize they are not as smart as their parents led them to believe and another forty take up sociology, history, greek mythology and philosophy so that they can make easy a`s and drink more beer”

By this logic 40 percent of Muslims who are sent to America for higher education should be humanities graduates. You are crazy if you think any of them go back with such degrees.

But you miss the point – why is it that all these great science graduates like you who went back to their respective Muslim countries, did not bring about a scientific revolution in their societies. They could have fostered a sense of wonder, a realization of all the possibilities that such a path to discovery offers. It wouldn’t have been unique in history if this had happened.

We have a very vivid and clear example of U.S Commodore Perry who sailed into Japanese harbor in 1854. Isolationist Japan was helpless in preventing such a bold maneuver. They ended up being so impressed with the science, gadgetry and the mini railroad coach that he brought with him, that they went all out to learn science and to advance like the West. From no infrastructure to building their own planes they accomplished in a few decades and by the second world war they had their own aircraft carriers their own planes and their own weapon plants.

What is it in our genes, or in our water, or in our culture or lest I say religion that has prevented us from taking up this course which even the Indians and Chinese have adopted. That is my question.