'It's Not the People Who Vote that Count; It's the People Who Count the Votes'
(Though, it is actually never proven that he said this). So, it doesn't matter if your vote was hand counted, Diebolded or Linuxed. If the powers that be who are managing the vote counting are biased or corrupt, it is all moot anyway.
O.k. I'm a Malaysian (Malay) and I consider myself to be quite progressive in my views. Yet, what the rest of the world does not realise is that Malaysia is sitting on a highly unstable racial powder keg. It's like a bad Tolkien-knockoff fantasy kingdom. We have the Malays who are something like the Hobbits in temperament, the Chinese who are like Dwarfs and the Indians who are just unpredictable. The Malays rule the country, the Chinese controls the economy and the Indians corner the legal and medical professions. It has been like this since the British dramatically changed the demographic from almost all Malay to something like 65% Malay, 26% Chinese, Indian 8% in less than 100 years. It didn't help that the British used divide and conquer to keep everyone in check, by assigning roles to each race. The end result is that each race wants to keep their identity, religion and language intact. Keep this in mind when you read anything about Malaysia.
Malays by history and by law, are Muslims and it is firmly tied to our identity. This is why there is such a big hue and cry over the case that the AC mentioned as it is perceived more as a slap to the racial identity, than just to the religion. To Malaysian's credit, we managed to live together for 50 years, barring several flare ups. We did this by very carefully tip-toeing around controversial issues and making deals and compromises between the major races. Undeniably, this means that many issues have been swept under the rug but progress has been made. Unfortunately, many people, like the blogger mentioned (who is a Malay) are impatient and want change NOW, without realising the inherent instability of the country. My view is that change, towards a more liberal political and social environment is inevitable as the country matures but we must do it slowly and with deliberation.
Bomb the US. Clearly the US is harbouring Cyber-Terrorists (CTs)within its borders and is not doing anything to stop them from Cyber-Terrorising other countries. If the US won't do anything about this, then the rest of the world have the right to send in attack helicopters and marines into the US or at least lob some cruise missiles at some Cyber-Terroristic Servers.
Hmm... I never thought of it that way before. So what you're saying is that different nations owns different parts of the space station. Now, lets say Russia is "forced" to protect its "citizens" in Ukraine and decides to invade, triggering Cold War II. This of course will sour their relations with the US. Will they then draw a line demarcating their "territories" on the space station and require passports to cross? What happens if a fight breaks out there and one party takes over the space station. Will this be equivalent to invading another country's soil?
I'm not worried, and my country is a lot closer to China than the US or Europe. In fact, I think many Asians welcome a strong China which will allow us to play China against the US to curry favours, just like we did during the Cold War. See here, the way I see it, there is no difference in principle between so-called democratic capitalist governments and communist governments. The only difference is the method of choice that they use to screw you. Unlike China, the US has developed far enough to no longer needing to use a bullet to the back of the head (Guantanamo aside) to keep the populace in line but instead uses an arguably far more devastating method: litigation and obtuse laws. To a citizen of a capitalistic society, there is nothing more deadly than being sued to bankruptcy. Also, I wonder who was the first person to come up with this theory of capitalism = democracy? This is utter crock. Throughout history, capitalistic societies are sometimes the worst there is. The Roman Empire is probably the ultimate example of this, fueling its economy by invading, pillaging and enslaving everyone. It is no surprise then that China is turning out not as a clone of the US.
I almost puked after reading this biased Slashdot article. The US and the Western world have been raping your own environment, and your colonies since the Industrial Revolution and you are now still reaping the benefits of this, channelled into political and military bullying. Who are you to tell "Asians" how to take care of the planet? I smell a political agenda to this so-called finding. The US is scared of an industrialised China and is not above playing dirty to stop it.
I work with hyperthermophiles (>90C)and I couldn't help think that we humans have a very mesophilic bias to living organisms. Just think, to these extremophiles, humans live in an inhospitable environment. My cultures of hyperthermophilic archaea won't even grow at temperatures less than 80C and in oxygenated atmosphere. Some even die off. I firmly believe that given even a small chance, life will independently evolve in other extraterrestrial bodies.
First off, thank you for your curiosity. You're the first person in this thread who is not going OMG IranKillJewsWTFBBQ!!! I think there was a Muslim Scholar Congress couple of months ago where they debated this very question. I can't remember the verdict but from my own knowledge here is my own interpretation.
All Muslism are required to pray 5 times daily, even when they are sick. The only time you're allowed not to pray is when you're unconscious or dead (even then, people will actually pray for you when you're dead). You pray even in battle. Therefore, a Muslims must pray even in space
Having said, that, how you pray is determined by your circumstances. For example, a sick person can pray while lying down while a paraplegic may pray with head gestures. An astronaut will be wearing bulky spacesuits and thus would probably use gestures
More related to your question, a traveller who leaves the boundaries of his home town, may shorten and merge his prayers for convenience. Since the astronaut actually leaves the Earth, he qualifies for this. I am not sure about the timing though, due to the fast orbit. Though taking the verdict for praying in Antarctica during summer, you just follow the same prayer time table as the nearest "normal" country or in this case for the astronaut, his own country
I have prayed on planes before, and what we do is try our best to find the direction of Mecca and begin your prayer facing it. After that, if the plane changes direction, it doesn't matter. Since the Astronaut is high above the Earth, instead of to the East, West, North, or South, all he has to do is face the Earth in the general direction of Mecca and start praying.
Finally a note to fellow Slashdotters. Muslims are actually encouraged to interpret the Islamic laws by themselves provided they have good background knowledge. This is why there are actually many "Schools of Jurispudence" or "Mazhab" where there are differences in interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. While there are congresses of learned clerics (ulama) you can (personally at least) choose to ignore their interpretation. Therefore, it is wrong to lump all Muslims as a monolithic group.
WTF dude? Your sweeping statements of Middle Eastern MOOSLIMS smacks of something Colbert would say. Really, do you think places that practice polygamy are Mad Maxesque Thunderdome x10 where all young Muslim males go in and only one comes out at 60? I never understood the "Western" world's view on polygamy. You're okay with teenagers sleeping around, you're okay with married people sleeping around (as glamorised by your insipid soap operas) but apparently not polygamy? In Islamic countries, polygamy is allowed but usually on several conditions and is highly regulated.
You must have enough money (courts usually demand proof). In some countries, applications can be denied because of lack of money.
You must be as fair as humanly possible to the wives, even so far as the amount of time spent with them (the wives can complain to the courts)
In some countries, you have to get the first wive's consent
Legally, all of the wives have equal rights to your money and assets. If you buy a car for one, you have to buy a car for all of them.
All of the children sired are the husband's responsibility. You are required by law to protect, feed, house, educate them until they are adults. There are no difference in status of children from different wives
It is for these reasons, especially for reason number 2, which 'fundementalist' Muslims believe is the quickest route to hell should you screw up that polygamy is actually not that widely practised in proportion to just having one spouse. Now, compare this to the de facto polygamy that is practised in the Western world and see who is mysogynistic.
If I'm not mistaken, Isaac Asimov wrote in Foundation's Edge that the reason why humans have developed a technological society is because we have hands. Dolphins and whales have sizeable brains but they lack hands. He even goes as far to say that humans 'thinks' with their hands, in that the hands are manifestations of intelligence.
Making drugs legal will make the drug lords even richer, unless you advocate the state to have a monopoly on selling drugs to its citizens
People's lives are already ruined because they take drugs, not to mention their families, spouse and kids. Getting caught is half of the story. Your point about forest fires is confounding
Massive amounts of tax payer money are wasted to rehabilitate drug addicts who will usually end up as unproductive members of society by their own addiction. You will also have to take into account the cost of negative social effects such as increase in petty crime, domestic violence, public disturbances.
If you're high on drugs, can you be relied to make sane and logical decisions such as not driving?
In Malaysia (a Muslim country), most public universities have more female students than male students. In my Biotechnology Faculty, the ratio of women to men is like 3:1 as in the other science faculties. In fact, my university has been jokingly renamed the Women's University of Malaysia. About the only bastion of male majority left is engineering, and even then the numbers are almost equal.
I might be mistaken but I think I read in a book about designing warships that the F-117A and the B-2 could be detected and targeted by British frigates during the first Gulf War. They are only stealthy against outdated Russian-made radars that the Iraqis had.
Free Tibet? Give me a break. Free Hawaii first before you shout for Free Tibet. Read up on how Hawaii was annexed by the US, how the language and culture of the polynesian inhabitants were eradicated, suppressed or bastardized. Read up how immigrants outnumber the natives and how the natives were pushed out of their ancestral lands. Does all this sounds familiar?
You speak the truth Commissar YittriumOxide. We must burn these heretical aliens as they are a blight to the Righteous Emperor. It does not matter whether they are microscopic cells or inferior mockeries of humankind. It is the fate of the Xenos to be killed and Heretics to be cleansed. Let the exterminatus begin!
How dare you speak against the will of the Supreme Council of Scientists, comrade Snocone. Obviously, you are a member of the Counterglobalwarming Clique bent on drowning the proletariat in the melting polar caps. However, in the name of the Mother Earth and the Green Revolutionaries, we of the Supreme Council of Scientists take pity upon you and sentence you to 10 years at the Consensus Gulag for re-education.
Thats right. Just stop buying their products. Don't pirate them either. I think its high time we move away from the so-called entertainment drivel that the industry produces. That way you won't get in trouble with what ever draconian laws that they implement and your IQ will improve as well. I have never bought a music CD since 1997 and I borrow from my local library any movies that I want to watch. Sure, the library have a limited selection but I think this is actually good since it filters out most of the crappy ones. I haven't gone to the cinemas since 2000 either since my home TV is loud enough for me. Alternatively, go and support your local indie bands.
Why the focus on "Islamofascists" (a lazy and Godwinite term if anything). There are hundreds of terrorist organizations all over the world, Maoist, Catholic, Protestant, Anarchists etc. The only reason that I can make out is that the author of this book is pandering to the current US government's scare mongering tactics using the current boogeyman, Muslims (China is fast supplanting us, though). I am a Muslim and here is what I see. The majority of Muslims do not support terrorism (it is actually against the teachings of our Prophet to harm non-combatants, even crop plants and the Quran specifically prohibit carrying destruction of the world). The majority of Muslims wants peace and the freedom to get on with their lives. However, the majority of Muslims are not happy with the way US has meddled in the Middle East, Palestine and Iraq and soon, Iran. Remove this meddling and I am sure the terrorists will lose support and sympathy from Muslims. Iraq was the US own undoing and you will end up like the Mongols, British and Soviets in Afghanistan. Many Muslims believe that the "al-Qaeda" as the James Bond-villain is a myth, cooked up by the people like the author of this book since we never heard of it until the Western media started to hype them up. That is not to say it doesn't exist but we believe the West potrays them that way so that you can have a defined entity to hate. It is hard to get people to enlist when you are fighting an amorphous foe.
I can't comment on your CS labs as I am a bio science grad student but for the molecular biology labs, expect a lot of frustations. Molecular biology is an unforgiving mistress. Assuming that you will take "wet labs", you will be dealing with volumes of 0.1 - 10 micro liters and setups such as the PCR and cloning reactions that are more art than science. I have had PCR setups that suddenly decide to go on strike for no discernible reason, even though they worked well before. Only after pledging my soul to Chaos Undivided would the PCR work again. Expect to be hunched over in front of your laminar flow cabinet for hours on end while trying to keep focused on what you are doing. One mistake in pipetting and you're back to square one. Regarding the Professors, it depends on where you are studying and the individual professors themselves. However good or bad your professors will be, you are now expected to have the initiative to look for information yourself. If you will share your lab with grad students, there is a chance that you will be ignored by them or treated as an annoyance. ALWAYS ask first before using any reagents or machines in the lab and NEVER take someone's things, favourite pipettes, favourite work bench etc. It always pays to keep yourself in the grad student's good books as they will be a great help to you, even more than your professors. Finally, treat the lab assistants as you would treat a teacher back at school. Although they are usually the lowest ranking staff members, they have a wealth of experience and knowledge that you can access if you are friendly with them.
This is actually a big step forward for the ruling coalition's big wigs. Until very recently, no one dares to openly criticise the Prime Minister or the high ranking ministers in the mainstream media or even in real life. The mainstream media, even the privately owned ones spew propaganda ala North Korea. During the previous Prime Ministers tenure, it even got to the level of Stalinisque personal cult. I once attended a university gathering in 1999 where a minister was openly criticised by a student. As a result, he flew into a rage in front of 1000 people and demanded that the Vice Chancellor expel the student. Now, they finally realise that cocooning themselves from criticism is self defeating. The Blogs will provide the people with a way to directly vent their frustations to the politicians. Whether the politicians will take heed remains to be seen. Malaysia is now at an important stage of political growth. Press freedoms are slowly increasing, with the mainstream newspapers starting to give equal coverage to Opposition views. People are starting to realise that they have the right to freedom of speech and should no longer be afraid to use it.
Slashdot Mirror
'It's Not the People Who Vote that Count; It's the People Who Count the Votes' (Though, it is actually never proven that he said this). So, it doesn't matter if your vote was hand counted, Diebolded or Linuxed. If the powers that be who are managing the vote counting are biased or corrupt, it is all moot anyway.
O.k. I'm a Malaysian (Malay) and I consider myself to be quite progressive in my views. Yet, what the rest of the world does not realise is that Malaysia is sitting on a highly unstable racial powder keg. It's like a bad Tolkien-knockoff fantasy kingdom. We have the Malays who are something like the Hobbits in temperament, the Chinese who are like Dwarfs and the Indians who are just unpredictable. The Malays rule the country, the Chinese controls the economy and the Indians corner the legal and medical professions. It has been like this since the British dramatically changed the demographic from almost all Malay to something like 65% Malay, 26% Chinese, Indian 8% in less than 100 years. It didn't help that the British used divide and conquer to keep everyone in check, by assigning roles to each race. The end result is that each race wants to keep their identity, religion and language intact. Keep this in mind when you read anything about Malaysia. Malays by history and by law, are Muslims and it is firmly tied to our identity. This is why there is such a big hue and cry over the case that the AC mentioned as it is perceived more as a slap to the racial identity, than just to the religion. To Malaysian's credit, we managed to live together for 50 years, barring several flare ups. We did this by very carefully tip-toeing around controversial issues and making deals and compromises between the major races. Undeniably, this means that many issues have been swept under the rug but progress has been made. Unfortunately, many people, like the blogger mentioned (who is a Malay) are impatient and want change NOW, without realising the inherent instability of the country. My view is that change, towards a more liberal political and social environment is inevitable as the country matures but we must do it slowly and with deliberation.
Bomb the US. Clearly the US is harbouring Cyber-Terrorists (CTs)within its borders and is not doing anything to stop them from Cyber-Terrorising other countries. If the US won't do anything about this, then the rest of the world have the right to send in attack helicopters and marines into the US or at least lob some cruise missiles at some Cyber-Terroristic Servers.
Hmm... I never thought of it that way before. So what you're saying is that different nations owns different parts of the space station. Now, lets say Russia is "forced" to protect its "citizens" in Ukraine and decides to invade, triggering Cold War II. This of course will sour their relations with the US. Will they then draw a line demarcating their "territories" on the space station and require passports to cross? What happens if a fight breaks out there and one party takes over the space station. Will this be equivalent to invading another country's soil?
I'm not worried, and my country is a lot closer to China than the US or Europe. In fact, I think many Asians welcome a strong China which will allow us to play China against the US to curry favours, just like we did during the Cold War. See here, the way I see it, there is no difference in principle between so-called democratic capitalist governments and communist governments. The only difference is the method of choice that they use to screw you. Unlike China, the US has developed far enough to no longer needing to use a bullet to the back of the head (Guantanamo aside) to keep the populace in line but instead uses an arguably far more devastating method: litigation and obtuse laws. To a citizen of a capitalistic society, there is nothing more deadly than being sued to bankruptcy. Also, I wonder who was the first person to come up with this theory of capitalism = democracy? This is utter crock. Throughout history, capitalistic societies are sometimes the worst there is. The Roman Empire is probably the ultimate example of this, fueling its economy by invading, pillaging and enslaving everyone. It is no surprise then that China is turning out not as a clone of the US.
Ok, though I hate to greet an alien whose genitals are on his/her knees.
I almost puked after reading this biased Slashdot article. The US and the Western world have been raping your own environment, and your colonies since the Industrial Revolution and you are now still reaping the benefits of this, channelled into political and military bullying. Who are you to tell "Asians" how to take care of the planet? I smell a political agenda to this so-called finding. The US is scared of an industrialised China and is not above playing dirty to stop it.
I work with hyperthermophiles (>90C)and I couldn't help think that we humans have a very mesophilic bias to living organisms. Just think, to these extremophiles, humans live in an inhospitable environment. My cultures of hyperthermophilic archaea won't even grow at temperatures less than 80C and in oxygenated atmosphere. Some even die off. I firmly believe that given even a small chance, life will independently evolve in other extraterrestrial bodies.
Finally a note to fellow Slashdotters. Muslims are actually encouraged to interpret the Islamic laws by themselves provided they have good background knowledge. This is why there are actually many "Schools of Jurispudence" or "Mazhab" where there are differences in interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. While there are congresses of learned clerics (ulama) you can (personally at least) choose to ignore their interpretation. Therefore, it is wrong to lump all Muslims as a monolithic group.
It is for these reasons, especially for reason number 2, which 'fundementalist' Muslims believe is the quickest route to hell should you screw up that polygamy is actually not that widely practised in proportion to just having one spouse. Now, compare this to the de facto polygamy that is practised in the Western world and see who is mysogynistic.
If I'm not mistaken, Isaac Asimov wrote in Foundation's Edge that the reason why humans have developed a technological society is because we have hands. Dolphins and whales have sizeable brains but they lack hands. He even goes as far to say that humans 'thinks' with their hands, in that the hands are manifestations of intelligence.
If you're high on drugs, can you be relied to make sane and logical decisions such as not driving?
In Malaysia (a Muslim country), most public universities have more female students than male students. In my Biotechnology Faculty, the ratio of women to men is like 3:1 as in the other science faculties. In fact, my university has been jokingly renamed the Women's University of Malaysia. About the only bastion of male majority left is engineering, and even then the numbers are almost equal.
I might be mistaken but I think I read in a book about designing warships that the F-117A and the B-2 could be detected and targeted by British frigates during the first Gulf War. They are only stealthy against outdated Russian-made radars that the Iraqis had.
Free Tibet? Give me a break. Free Hawaii first before you shout for Free Tibet. Read up on how Hawaii was annexed by the US, how the language and culture of the polynesian inhabitants were eradicated, suppressed or bastardized. Read up how immigrants outnumber the natives and how the natives were pushed out of their ancestral lands. Does all this sounds familiar?
You speak the truth Commissar YittriumOxide. We must burn these heretical aliens as they are a blight to the Righteous Emperor. It does not matter whether they are microscopic cells or inferior mockeries of humankind. It is the fate of the Xenos to be killed and Heretics to be cleansed. Let the exterminatus begin!
How dare you speak against the will of the Supreme Council of Scientists, comrade Snocone. Obviously, you are a member of the Counterglobalwarming Clique bent on drowning the proletariat in the melting polar caps. However, in the name of the Mother Earth and the Green Revolutionaries, we of the Supreme Council of Scientists take pity upon you and sentence you to 10 years at the Consensus Gulag for re-education.
Tom Hanks found a solution for this situation a few years back: Wiiillllson!!!
Have you seen the picture of the supernova from the Chandra press room website? The first picture, top left looks like the Firefox logo.
Thats right. Just stop buying their products. Don't pirate them either. I think its high time we move away from the so-called entertainment drivel that the industry produces. That way you won't get in trouble with what ever draconian laws that they implement and your IQ will improve as well. I have never bought a music CD since 1997 and I borrow from my local library any movies that I want to watch. Sure, the library have a limited selection but I think this is actually good since it filters out most of the crappy ones. I haven't gone to the cinemas since 2000 either since my home TV is loud enough for me. Alternatively, go and support your local indie bands.
Why the focus on "Islamofascists" (a lazy and Godwinite term if anything). There are hundreds of terrorist organizations all over the world, Maoist, Catholic, Protestant, Anarchists etc. The only reason that I can make out is that the author of this book is pandering to the current US government's scare mongering tactics using the current boogeyman, Muslims (China is fast supplanting us, though). I am a Muslim and here is what I see. The majority of Muslims do not support terrorism (it is actually against the teachings of our Prophet to harm non-combatants, even crop plants and the Quran specifically prohibit carrying destruction of the world). The majority of Muslims wants peace and the freedom to get on with their lives. However, the majority of Muslims are not happy with the way US has meddled in the Middle East, Palestine and Iraq and soon, Iran. Remove this meddling and I am sure the terrorists will lose support and sympathy from Muslims. Iraq was the US own undoing and you will end up like the Mongols, British and Soviets in Afghanistan. Many Muslims believe that the "al-Qaeda" as the James Bond-villain is a myth, cooked up by the people like the author of this book since we never heard of it until the Western media started to hype them up. That is not to say it doesn't exist but we believe the West potrays them that way so that you can have a defined entity to hate. It is hard to get people to enlist when you are fighting an amorphous foe.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
I can't comment on your CS labs as I am a bio science grad student but for the molecular biology labs, expect a lot of frustations. Molecular biology is an unforgiving mistress. Assuming that you will take "wet labs", you will be dealing with volumes of 0.1 - 10 micro liters and setups such as the PCR and cloning reactions that are more art than science. I have had PCR setups that suddenly decide to go on strike for no discernible reason, even though they worked well before. Only after pledging my soul to Chaos Undivided would the PCR work again. Expect to be hunched over in front of your laminar flow cabinet for hours on end while trying to keep focused on what you are doing. One mistake in pipetting and you're back to square one. Regarding the Professors, it depends on where you are studying and the individual professors themselves. However good or bad your professors will be, you are now expected to have the initiative to look for information yourself. If you will share your lab with grad students, there is a chance that you will be ignored by them or treated as an annoyance. ALWAYS ask first before using any reagents or machines in the lab and NEVER take someone's things, favourite pipettes, favourite work bench etc. It always pays to keep yourself in the grad student's good books as they will be a great help to you, even more than your professors. Finally, treat the lab assistants as you would treat a teacher back at school. Although they are usually the lowest ranking staff members, they have a wealth of experience and knowledge that you can access if you are friendly with them.
This is actually a big step forward for the ruling coalition's big wigs. Until very recently, no one dares to openly criticise the Prime Minister or the high ranking ministers in the mainstream media or even in real life. The mainstream media, even the privately owned ones spew propaganda ala North Korea. During the previous Prime Ministers tenure, it even got to the level of Stalinisque personal cult. I once attended a university gathering in 1999 where a minister was openly criticised by a student. As a result, he flew into a rage in front of 1000 people and demanded that the Vice Chancellor expel the student. Now, they finally realise that cocooning themselves from criticism is self defeating. The Blogs will provide the people with a way to directly vent their frustations to the politicians. Whether the politicians will take heed remains to be seen. Malaysia is now at an important stage of political growth. Press freedoms are slowly increasing, with the mainstream newspapers starting to give equal coverage to Opposition views. People are starting to realise that they have the right to freedom of speech and should no longer be afraid to use it.