Age of the Earth and Its Measures Good article. I don`t think including your own views is necessary. A clear synthesis of the current state of knowledge in a particular domain can be an enriching read in and of itself. Plus, always better not to make informed opinions about something in which on is not an expert isn`t a safe thing to do anyway.

At least we know that God did not create heaven and earth in 6 days (unless the planet he`s on turns REALLY slowly).

20 Worst Pakistani Pop Songs … ever! Re: # 34

Thanks aquaris, didn`t know it was a film song.

20 Worst Pakistani Pop Songs … ever! There is one song I don`t see on this list that truly deserves it. It was a song released by an anaemic, hijra-looking younger brother of some singer or the other (I don`t remember the name). The song is called ``Kapray tang`` and the video starred Nirma in, you guessed it, a rather tight local version of a tank-top.

It was the most aweful aural assault I have ever suffered. It came out about 5 years ago and was all the rage in the hostels of my university (the video was of course). For a week or so you would go down a corridor and would hear two or three different instances of it from different rooms where the guys were playing the video on their PCs and watching Nirma gyrate in ``tang kapray``.

Twenty Years After @Cayenne,

Most of what is cutting edge science today will hopefully become part of the engineering domain in a few decades time. I`m sure that when Einstein was writing his Noble-prize winning paper on the photoelectric effect even he didn`t have any idea that in less than a century it would give birth to photodiodes and light activated sensors. All of that is now in the purview of electrical engineering and gives benefit to mankind. Maxwell`s work on electromagnetism was at the edge of science in his day. Yet is now taught to first year engineering students who go on to make power generation plants so some schmuk can turn on his/her PC and rant against the Maxwells of this day and age.

I am no physicist, I`m not even a scientist in the true sense of the word. But I have enough sense to see that money spent on pure science is a nessecity, not a waste. Even if string theory (or any scientific endeavor) fails to achieve its objective, it is not a total loss, as it reduces the possible set of solutions.

It is blatantly obvious that you are part of the disagree-for-the-sake-of-it brigade (obvious from your compeers fiasco). News flash; the angry young man routine went out of fashion with the 80s. Find a new persona, hopefully one that is more laid back :)

Twenty Years After Don`t worry Amrita. Very few truly intelligent people are condescending, so if someone is, it`s more than likely he/she is making up for some real/imagined inadequacy ;-)

Twenty Years After @amrita,
I don`t think there are any layman`s books for string theory. It usually takes a while for experts to absorb a sophisticated subject like string theory to produce works accessible to laymen. On the other hand there are numerous layman books on quantum mechanics and general relativity. You might want to try some of Carl Sagan`s books. But you might try http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375708111/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/002-9591281-9431241?v=glance
Or you might try http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553342533/002-9591281-9431241?v=glance
this does not deal with string theory but is very interesting.

@Gill Saheb,
Maybe you should try and explain more of what (super)string theory is than to present the tug of war between the various parties. Just my two cents.

Irfan.

The SAT Scam 4 or 5 years ago there was a GRE racket in Islamabad. 20,000 rupees with a 2200 score, money back guarantee in case the score was below 2200.

Uproar over a Cartoon? Well said Nauman. I think our government, under duress from the opposition and pressure groups, had to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Obviously, demanding that the Whitehouse apologize for something like this was mal-targeted as the Whitehouse had nothing to do with this cartoon. A proper response would have been a cold and snide remark to the Washington Times accusing them of being politically inept and childish. An insult goes much farther than raising a hue and cry.

On a side note, US conservatives are crying foul over a billboard advertisement of a spanish radio station on a California highway leading to LA which reads Welcome to Los Angeles, after which the CA is crossed out and in place of it is written Mexico. So, we are not the only ones prones to prima donna histrionics.

Musharraf does deserve credit for showing some backbone and resisting American requests to send troops to Iraq. Plus the Pakistani government has never approved of the Iraq war. We are allies, but fortunately we have defined our limits.

Going Home to Lahore, and a World Left Behind Glad that you had an overall positive experience.

UNhappy times? Good points Uma, I specially agree with what you said about the allied agencies falling under the UN umbrella. Without ITU we`d be in a mess for all telecom systems. But even more scary would be a world without WHO. Just imagine what the SARS epidemic would have been like if WHO hadn`t waded into China to more or less take charge.

Maybe what needs to be done is that the Security Council and General Assembly needs to be abolished. One is a rich boys` club that`s always hampered by a veto, the other is an old fogeys` club which is hampered by their inability to reach a decision and have even a semblance of enforcement.

On the Importance of Reclaiming Chowk Looks like I missed out on a nice debate around here. Just hate it when real life gets in the way of important stuff :)

Irfan.

Pakistan Travelogue I Gujju/Veeresh/Prashant/Satyamvada/Bharatvaasi,

I invite all you guys to visit MY hometown in the north of Pakistan. It`s a little place called Peshawar, surrounded by barren mountains. The Madrassah Haqqania (Mullah Omar`s alma mater) is just 40 kms away on the GT Road. We`ll take a couple of 4x4s, go out to the mountains, slit open a few cows, gut their insides and bar-b-Q them over a flame of neem wood. Nothing more delicious than meat fresh off the bone. We`ll sleep out in the open, after having eaten many onions of course (you know who you are).

At least this way Pakistan won`t disappoint you by presenting decent infrastructure, gracious hosts and a pleasant trip.

Brou’ha ha on “The Da Vinci Code” Nice treatment of a popular book. Just a couple of observations:

1. Maybe you should have inserted a spoiler warning at the beginning for those who haven`t read the book yet (luckily I had read it before). For someone who hadn`t read the book your article pretty much lays it bare (specially with the reference that the chalice is a woman).

2. You didn`t treat the issue of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon (or the Knights Templar as they are known). It was this Papal order of knights that protected christian pilgrims during the time of the Crusades when they travelled to Jerusalem from Europe. It is they who are supposed to have discovered the holy grail in King Solomon`s lost tomb when they turned it into their secret headquarters. They were later prosecuted and killed by European kings because of their wealth. According to some legends the few surviving Templars changed their name to Freemasons and renounced christianity because the Pope at the time had conspired with the French and British emperors to trap the Templars.

Regards,
Irfan.

PS: Most of the information in point (2) is from a lengthy program on the Knights Templar that was aired on Discovery which I saw about 6 years ago so some of the details may be rusty (or just plain wrong).

Not Your Mother’s Holiday Good point HP, now that I look at the interacts it`s been just me and Samina for a couple of days. And although I (and perhaps her) may find our exchange interesting, I`m sure no one else does. So, I bow out.

Sorry for hogging the board :)

Peace,
Irfan.

Not Your Mother’s Holiday Re: # 59 (Saminasha),

Here`s a third meaning: I don`t like taking orders from people :)

You`re not angry? What`s with all the patronizing then? Anyway, I may be tone-deaf, but you certainly are evasive. You want answers to everything you ask, yet you don`t want to extend the same courtesy to others.

Peace,
Irfan.

Not Your Mother’s Holiday Re: # 57 (Saminasha),

Now you`re getting angry, that always kills a good exchange.

Anyways, it takes all the fun out of a joke if one has to explain it. But tell you what, I`ll tell you what`s funny about what I said if you tell me what`s funny about middle aged pedophiles exploiting children :)