Gravitational waves

5:51 a.m. EDT (9:51 a.m. GMT) on September 14, 2015

Blessed are those who believe in the unseen (Al-Quran, 2:3) by virtue of the omens given by the prophet (or scientist). The discovery of the gravitational wave is as significant an event as the discovery of thermal waves in deep space which produced a colorful map of the universe which could have been improved by adding a scale and the location of our earth on it. For a common man, gravitational wave is a kind of earthquake in vacuum. Poetically it can be called the vagary of nothingness or thingyness depending on how you see it.  Let us hope that the distortion in time and space caused around us by an event said to have taken place 1.3 billion years ago at a distance of about 7.63x10²¹ miles from us has not changed historical records or created intellectual mutants, and if so for the better. The best effect of the Gravitational wave encounter on earth that I can think of is that the prophecies of doom may be reversed.

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Extremism in Europe

Restrictions on freedoms of Muslims in so-called secular EU countries such as France and Switzerland are a matter of concern for all civilized people. Although fully uncovered women are free to walk on the streets, fully covered women can’t. According to latest information the Swiss have stopped giving work visas to all people from Muslim countries. It seems that the messages of religious extremism and hatred embedded in western art and literature are getting triggered and becoming active. I have previously pointed out the provocative nature of illustrations in books such as Dante’s Divine Comedy and various religious war paintings in Europe’s art galleries. Now I have come across a very disturbing explanation of a popular nursery rhyme which may have subconsciously prepared western citizens for religious discrimination and violence.

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/goosey_goosey_gander.htm

Goosey Goosey Gander poem

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

Zealous Protestants & Secret Priest Holes
Goosey, Goosey Gander is a Rhyme with Historical undertones - an attention grabber for a nursery rhyme which uses alliteration in the lyrics designed to intrigue any child. The 'lady's chamber' was a room that once upon a time a high born lady would have her own chamber, (also referred to as a solar). The origins of the nursery rhyme are believed to date back to the 16th century and refer to necessity for Catholic priests to hide in 'Priest Holes' (very small secret rooms once found in many great houses in England) to avoid persecution from zealous Protestants who were totally against the old Catholic religion. If caught both the priest and members of any family found harbouring them were executed. The moral in Goosey Goosey Gander's lyrics imply that something unpleasant would surely happen to anyone failing to say their prayers correctly - meaning the Protestant Prayers, said in English as opposed to Catholic prayers which were said in Latin!

Our grateful thanks go to Stan Evans for the following additional information:
"I read that it referred to the post Civil War period (middle 17th century) and Cromwell's soldiers who marched in "goose-step", which gives the title and first line. Also, the version of the rhyme I heard had the third line as, "There I met an old man a-saying of his prayers". This referred to (as you mention) a Catholic, possibly a Priest, praying and the line: "I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs" alluded to the nickname "left-footer", that a Catholic is sometimes called in Britain. The overall meaning was that the Roundhead soldiers were searching out Catholics, particularly Priests, hiding in the houses of friends, and when found they were ill-treated".

Now, if such bigoted, sadistic, parochial or racial prejudices are embedded in the minds of the population through childhood education, it would not be difficult for an aspiring Hitler to transform one of the finest nations into Nazis or for a future Bush/Blair nexus to create the situation through which the world is passing today.

Jealousy

Torah/Old Testament project 'Jealousy" as a divine virtue. Exodus 20.5 (5th Commandment): 
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them : for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

The Holy Qur'an depicts jealousy as an evil to be shunned. Chapter 113 (The Dawn):
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. 
[113.1] Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn,
[113.2] From the evil of what He has created,
[113.3] And from the evil of the utterly dark night when it comes,
[113.4] And from the evil of those who blow on knots,
[113.5] And from the evil of the envious when he envies. 

Paris Bleeds

Indiscriminate killing of people (and even animals) is a heinous crime no matter who does it or where it happens. One can only sympathize with the unsuspecting Parisian who were going about their usual routines and suddenly found themselves in the middle of a mayhem in which many innocent citizens got killed and injured. Even more saddening is the fact that more indignities and curtailment of civil liberties of the French in general and Parisians in particular will follow in the wake of this tragedy.

Yesterday I made it a point to watch BBC and CNN’s coverage of the event as much as possible. BBC had a constant ticker saying that French president Hollande had accused the Islamic State of the attack although the gentleman himself had used the Arabic acronym ‘Daesh’ and the commentators made it a point to put emphasis on the word Islamic in all their comments. At one time there was also a report that the Pope had called the Paris carnage a prelude to World War 3. There are people in the world who might interpret the Pope’s alleged statement as a divine signal to start a new crusade against the Muslims. One wonders how much influence Zionists and Hindu extremists have in BBC; both of whom would love to see a religious war between Christians and Muslims. CNN’s coverage was considerable sane and sober; perhaps they have learnt from 9/11.

The irony of fate is that not only the Paris carnage but also a lot of death and destruction in Syria could easily have been prevented. For months we have been seeing the pictures of long columns of brand new latest model Toyota trucks carrying ISIS troops. Toyota trucks are not made in the deserts of Syria. They must have been imported from Japan. If any of the many intelligence agencies involved had taken the trouble of obtaining the chassis or engine number of any one of these trucks, the supply route and the financial support of ISIS could have been traced within hours. Very strange that nobody thought of it.

Let us use hindsight to analyze this situation. Al-Qaida, its jihadist network and Taliban were financed and trained for the specific purpose of confronting the Communists in Afghanistan and preventing them from advancing towards the ‘free world’. The ill educated Muslim mercenaries who believed that the pre-Islamic Arabian culture (jahlia) was the true Islamic way of life did a great job and not only liberated Afghanistan but in the process also dismantled the Soviet Union.  Quite naturally the Taliban & Co felt that they had a right to rule the conquered land as per their whims and refused to hand over the booty to the financiers. The result is before us.

Syria is the last stronghold of Communism in the Middle East and it seems that Abubakr Baghdadi was chosen as the new Osama bin Laden for Syria who managed to raise an army of ill-educated rustic Muslims similar to the Taliban. But as the gang started achieving military successes, it also declared the formation of ISIS (a mockery of an Islamic state) which angered its sponsors.  The Russians would naturally do everything to protect their only remaining ally.

Since most of the lands conquered or liberated by them are still under the effective control of the US military, I would appeal to them to stop this game of death and destruction and invest in the education and uplift of backward people of all religions and races. With signs of extra-terrestrial life becoming more positive, they would still have a role and importance in a peaceful and harmonious world of tomorrow.

Red Moon

The Sun turns red twice every day at rising and setting times, but few people notice it. It is a routine phenomenon. However, people whose ancestors were convinced that certain remarkable events in their lives were related to the Sun still worship the rising and setting Sun irrespective of its color. To me the Sun and the Moon symbolize thermodynamics and Optics or heat and pure light in simple English.

The Moon does not emit any light, cold or hot. It just reflects some of the light that impinges on its surface. If it reflects direct sunlight, it looks white with patches of grey. When it is illuminated by light reflected from Earth’s surface (oceans) it looks bluish. When it is illuminated by light reflected from the Martian surface, it looks reddish. The changing colors of the moon have nothing to do with terrestrial economics or politics.

Astronomy is a subject of study as ancient as nutrition and herbal medicine. The first astrolabes are said to have been built in Greece and Egypt before the dawn of the Christian era and the Muslim Spaniards and Iranians of about a thousand years ago had developed fairly scientific astrolabes and Celestial globes. It was just a matter of how much time one spent fingering his astrolabe to predict the celestial events of the future. Even a thousand year ago it could be calculated as to when the Earth, Moon and Mars will be in the required positions relative to the Sun to produce the Blood Moon effect by reflection of light from moon which was originally sunlight reflected by Mars.

Religious and nonreligious people alike who benefit from the worry and panic of the common people would exploit any unusual occurrence to their advantage. And if they can pretend to predict it, then they can trap a few weak minded people in their net of superstition.

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Laws of Democracy

1.       No decision shall be taken except by majority vote.

2.       No voting shall take place until everyone has been heard.

3.       No one shall be made to vote against his conscience.

4.       No one shall refuse to hear what another has to say.

Prayer

Prayer is the humble expression of one's desires and aspirations carried out with utter humility. The action is recognized by the universal supervisory system and natural selection takes effect. It has nothing to do with religion.

No Comment

https://www.facebook.com/insider.pk/photos/a.212847215395779.64624.200661876614313/529569380390226/?type=1

Translation:
Innocent Liba affected by drone attack poses a question to the Pakistani public:
My countrymen, am I less lovable than Malala, or is my patriotism suspect?
Then why did nobody speak for me? Is it because America the brave is responsible for my condition?

PEC Elections

PEC elections are due to be held on 14th June, 2015.
In the past when postal balloting was held, I was often approached by engineers affiliated to political parties to hand over the unmarked ballot papers to them so that they might mark all the candidates affiliated with their parties and get credit from their leaders. I never obliged, although many others did.
Since last time, polling booths are being set up for direct balloting and various allegations of rigging have been made.
This year in Karachi with about 40,000 voters in a population of about 20 million 10 polling stations have been set up, of which two are located in the Sindh Assembly Building which is not accessible to general public. Apparently these polling stations are for the few privileged engineers who are also members of the provincial assembly, which seems to be a deplorable abuse of privilege.
There are also murmurs being heard that the polling stations in the Sindh assembly will be used to round up ballot papers from interior Sindh and have them marked and and cast under the direct supervision of ruling party bosses.
It will be interesting to see the detailed balloting results assuming that they will not be rigged.
Why can't the Engineering Council be left out of state politics. Does the Engineering profession have to be brought to the same level of corruption as mainstream politics?

Myanmar Massacre – 2

Nearly two years ago in April, 2013 I wrote a short blog on the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar. Unfortunately, nobody took notice of it. Recent reports indicate that the scale of atrocities has increased and the situation can be rightly termed as genocide and ethnic cleansing. The following are the latest images circulating on the social media:

One would have thought that not only compassionate Muslims but also conscientious Buddhists from  countries with substantial Buddhist populations would have come forward to mitigate the sufferings of the innocent human beings being subjected to abject baseness in Myanmar. Now there are tens of thousands of people meandering in the seas being turned away from every port of refuge.

However, there is another angle to the situation. How do you think the survivors of this genuine holocaust are going to feel towards humanity? With utter hatred and obsession to revenge? Aren’t we breeding a new creed of terrorists?