Black History Month & The Significance of Islam // With Imam Zaid Shaki

Black History Month & The Significance of Islam // With Imam Zaid Shakir

From Meccaone

BBC: The story-tellers of Marrakesh

From the BBC:

In the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, you can still find men who tell ancient stories that have been handed down from generation to generation.

But with modern technology offering new forms of diversion and entertainment, young people are ignoring the story-tellers and for the first time in perhaps 1,000 years the tradition is dying out.

Loading up a van-Pakistani Style

This is one of he most dangerous roads in Islamabad. and yet this does not stop public transport vans from using every inch of space on the van ( Picture is from islamabad Metro blog).

I think the TTC is safer.

PBS---Canada: The cell next door

PBS frontline documentary on the arrests last summer. One of the more detailed journalist accounts of the arrests.

Water contamination in Pakistan

Recently World Wide Fund for Nature and Several NGOs in Pakistan completed a report on the water situation in Pakistan. Some of it's findings as pe rthe Dawn newspaper were:

Water contamination in the country is continuing unabated as the issue does not feature high on the agenda of the government which also lacks commitment to enforce laws it has enacted for protecting water for future generations.

This apathy on the part of the government, enforcement agencies and the industrial and agriculture sectors responsible for contamination is resulting in the death of at least 250,000 children every year while adults are facing severe health hazards.

This was revealed in a report launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan in collaboration with Actionaid Pakistan, Pani Pakistan, Sungi, Pakistan Environmental Lawyers Association, Shehri and Human Welfare and Nature Conservation Society at a press conference here on Thursday.

WWF-Pak Fresh Water and Toxics Programme director Hammad Naqi told the newsmen that all the data for the report “Pakistan’s waters at risk” had been collected from various official studies so that the authorities could not challenge its authenticity.

The News, another leading Daily newspaper expands furthur on the situation:

The picture becomes more disturbing if one looks at it more closely. For instance, the government's own data reveals that 99 per cent of industrial effluent and 92 per cent of urban wastewater is discharged untreated into rivers and the sea (the extent of damage to marine life and the ecosystems of these bodies of water can probably not even be imagined). Drinking water in most urban cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Multan and even Abbotabad and Islamabad has been found to be laced with biological and chemical pollutants (according to a survey conducted by the NGO Network and the National Institute of Health, three-quarters of all water in the federal capital is not suitable for drinking). Equally alarmingly, 36 per cent of the population of Sindh and Punjab is exposed to arsenic levels in water that are five times more than the safe limit as prescribed by the World Health Organisation. The picture is quite dismal and reflects, regrettably, the government's misplaced priorities since some other areas receive more attention and funding (the most obvious being defence).

As the figures above suggest, it would actually not be a cliché to say that improving the quality of water in Pakistan is a life and death issue -- it is precisely just that. What is needed is a government that displays the political will and commitment to address this issue seriously, gives it the priority that it deserves and does not dismiss it as a fashionable issue advocated by the NGO sector for its own ends such as funding and so on (one suspects that is what the government partly tends to think of the matter).

I dont think Pakistan is alone in it's struggle to balance development and water protection. I have heard people say that the economy supersedes the environment when a country is developing. But the where do you draw the line? how many people need to die from water pollution before one realizes that sanctity of life is more important then the economy.

What drives landowners and others to remove pollution causing sources in the developed world? I thinnk it is the legal implications of the impact their land may cause to human health. As in, the threat of a legal suit and/or heavy fine from the government drives water pollution protection.

In summary the key components of water pollution protection is as follows:

• Government Regulations that set limits for different contaminants
• Government regulators who oversee the implementation of these regulations
• Some sort of check or audit on the government to make sure it is doing it's job
• Public awareness and consultation
  
• A justice system to seek out pollutors
• technical skills ( includes consultants, lab technicians, contractors, etc)

I am sure I have missed some components.in the above bullets but the point is that it is not easy to implement regulations that the developed world currently has and use them in a devleoping country. This is a multi step and multi tiered process which could take decades to implement. So what is the solution?

A question to explore on another blog post.

A proof ( quote)

“A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.” jean chretien

Spiegel Online: From Ghana to Europe

A very interesting (and long) read from Spiegel Online.

It dicusses the journey of one would-be-imigrant from Ghana to Europe and all the interesting places/people/tests he encountered in between. Realy opens your eyes to how some people are living their lives in this world and how lucky we are.....

There are journeys that change a traveler, that transform ( abd longhim into a different person. And there are travelers who, by the end of their journey, want nothing so much as for life to return to the way it used to be. But they discover that there is no turning back, that their world has changed irrevocably.

For John Ekow Ampan, Africa was his home throughout his journey. Then he lost his security -- his friends, his customers, his language and his laugh. He wanted to become a European. Today he dresses like a European, works like a European and buys European TVs and washing machines. READ (much) MORE

Naan?

You have all heard me talk about the importance of roti in my life ( and its relevance to my marriage). A cousin of roti is naan. Metroblog Islamabad talks about naan and its roots.:

Islamabad is truly a city with a thousand faces. Islamabad has a population that is characterised by ethnic identities from the far north to the southern most point of the countryand each of these people has brought some part of their own cultures with them and as time has gone by, that particular tradition has become identifiable with Islamabad's life style.

One of these traditions that has grown largely due to the population that was initially based in NWFP, specifically Peshawar City where even today, people rely mostly on the 'tandoor' to provide their daily intake of the 'roti', a flat leavened form of bread made from wholewheat flour. Islamabad has hundreds of small and large tandoors located in small markets and in nooks and cranies around the city which provide many forms of fresh, warm bread hot from the oven to residents of the posh areas to the laborers employed around the city. Some of these tandoors are attached to small hotels that also serve the not so well off when it's time for an afternoon or evening meal.

As time has gone by, tandoors have evolved the conventional 'roti' into many varied types, to suit different occasions and tastes. For example, a 'roghni naan' or a 'paratha' usually kneaded with ghee and/or milk usually signifies a special occasion; guests or lunch or even a simple leasurely meal on a holiday. During a convential week, it is the common 'naan' that usually graces the table. If you don't like what you have to eat at home, you can order a mince meat or vegetable naan that will fill your tank up quite well.

Be it a crisp, clear day or an evening, there is nothing more comforting than the warm scents of the naan and rotis wafting from the tandoor at the corner. It is guaranteed to make anyone feel hungry.

Bon Appetit!

Funny man Colbert

Recently I have started watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. And it is hilarious. Mr. Colbert makes you think with his witty sense of humour. One of his most famous Public appearences was the white house correspondents dinner early last year which wa sbeing attended by Mr. Bush as well. Here is a quote from Colbert where he talks about bush:

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound — with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."

Watch full video here!

Warming upto Global warming?

Speigel Online did a summary of the UN Global Warming report. Here are their main points:

• Eleven of the last 12 years rank among the hottest years since 1850, when records on global surface temperatures began.
• Global temperatures have climbed 0.76 degrees since the latter half of the 19th century and the rate of temperature increase for the last 50 years is twice that of the last 100 years.
• The global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide -- one of the gases most directly responsible for the greenhouse effect -- has jumped 35 percent since 1750, from 280 to 379 parts per million in 2005. The current value is well over the average of the last 650,000 years, as shown by ice cores drilled out of the world's glaciers. Seventy-eight percent of the rise can be pinned on the burning of fossil fuels, with the remaining 22 percent due to changes in land use.
• Other greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide likewise play a role, albeit a lesser one, in global warming. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has risen by 148 percent since 1750; that of nitrous oxide by 18 percent.
• The report indicates "a very high confidence" that humans have caused a rise in global temperatures since 1750 and that the rate of temperature increase is "very likely" to have been unprecedented in more than 10,000 years. The report translates "very high confidence" to mean a 9 out of 10 chance of being correct and "very likely" to mean a greater than 90 percent probability.
• Average temperatures in the world's oceans have increased down to depths of 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) -- the oceans have been absorbing up to 80 percent of the temperature increase, causing sea waters to expand and worsen sea level rise.
• The frequency of heavy precipitation has increased.
• Average temperatures in the Arctic have increased at almost twice the global average in the last 100 years; new data indicates that the melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica have "very likely" contributed to sea level rises. The rate of sea level rise from 1993 to 2003 was 42 percent faster than the rate from 1961 to 2003.
• Average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 50 years were "very likely" higher than in any other such period in the last 500 years and "likely" (greater than a 66 percent chance) higher than in the last 1,300 years.
• Sea levels are rising at the rate of some 3 millimeters per year since 1993 and rose 17 centimeters during the 20th century. About half of that rise is due to the expansion of ocean water as it heats up, 25 percent is due to the melting of mountain glaciers and 15 percent is due to melting polar ice caps.
• The temperature of the upper layer of permafrost has risen by 3 degrees Celsius since 1980 with the total area of permafrost having shrunk by 7 percent since 1900.
• The average amount of sea ice in the Arctic has dropped by 8 percent since 1978; in summer it has dropped by 22 percent. No such reduction has been observed in Antarctica.
• Taken together, the warming of the atmosphere and ocean along with the loss of ice "supports the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely (less than 5 percent chance) that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing" -- that is, without human activity -- "and it is very likely that it is not due to known natural causes alone."

STARLING!!!Surely none of these changes are natural? The sad part is that despite agreeing with the conclusions of the report, Mr. Harper doesnt want to take urgent action. The problem however is that if we dont act now, we will just make mateers worse. See it this way, its like a rotee warming up on a stove. If you warm it too much it will burn so you need to take it off the stove right away once its ready. The world is like a rotee on a stove and its starting to burn Come on Harper dont let the rotee burn. take some action NOW an at least take part of the rotee off the stove!

Alami Garmee ( global warming)

Well hopefully the debate about Global Warming ends now that the UN report has been issued. The report clearly states:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the most authoritative group on warming which groups 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more severe rains, melting glaciers, droughts and heatwaves and a slow rise in sea levels. The final text of the report said it was "very likely" -- meaning a probability of more than 90 percent -- that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years.

Timming up the calories

If you are a Timmies fan like myself it is imperitive that you check out how many calories you eat there. Wow I did not know that each choclate tim bit had 70 calories in it.

Okay I will write more later. I might just go to Timmies right now :-)

Iraq oil ownership

Interesting to hear on BBC radio today about Iraq's oil ownership process which seems to be heading in what I think is a pathetic direction.

Quoting from this this CBC report:

The Iraqi government plans to introduce a law that will give Western oil companies rights to the country's huge oil reserves, a British newspaper says.

The government is drafting a law based on "production sharing agreements [PSAs]," which will allow major oil companies to sign deals of up to 30 years to extract Iraq's oil, the Independent on Sunday reported

Over the top of what is happening right now in Iraq, I hope it does not become another Nigeria.

Mooselim

Some retired senior MSA-ers from Waterloo decided to get together and start a blog called Mooselim.ca . From what I have seen there are a lot of quality posts on a regular basis.

And knowing almost all of the bloggers individually, I think they will cotinue to make me think by writing about what they think in what they think is the best way to communicate about what mulims might think or might not think.

In fact they also made it to the Toronto Star.

Canadian Temperature conversions

Forced marriage

A sad twist to Arranged marriage can lead to the problem of forced marriage.....as this Boston Globe article dicusses:

Forced marriage is the ugly flip side of arranged marriage, a widespread and valued tradition in South Asia. In arranged marriages, parents typically help their son or daughter choose a suitable partner -- often along lines of class, education, or wealth -- but leave the ultimate decision to the child.

Forced marriage, however, has no consent, just a brutally imposed social contract. The problem is widespread in the region, said Khalida Salimi of Struggle for Change, a Pakistani women's organization.....................

healthy eating

A few tips from Psychology today on how to stay healthy...( yes we should eat whole wheat roti!)

1. Kidney beans: Fiber lowers cholesterol and fosters a steady energy supply to the brain. Folate lowers artery-damaging homocysteine and boosts neurotransmitters to improve alertness, memory and mood. Iron aids cognition by making enzymes essential for neurotransmitter function. Thiamin (vitamin B1) aids attention and memory by boosting the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Tryptophan is a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin.
2. Whole Wheat Bread: Fiber. Thiamin (B1). Ferulic acid is an antioxidant that prevents cognitive decline. Glucose furnishes energy and neurotransmitter components. Iron contributes to enzymes essential for neurotransmitter function. Riboflavin (B2) contributes to acetylcholine. Vitamin E is a brain antioxidant.
3. Apples: Pectin fiber. Epigallocatechin is an antioxidant that may prevent cancer. Quercetin is an antioxidant that preserves brain function, prevents Alzheimer's disease and boosts oxygen supply by aiding lung function.
4. Oranges: Folate. Thiamine (B1). Carotenoid antioxidants preserve nerve-cell membranes and prevent vision degeneration. Hesperidin flavonoid preserves blood-vessel function, reduces cholesterol and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Vitamin C is a brain antioxidant and aids neurotransmitter production.
5. Red Grapes: Anthocyanin antioxidants preserve nerve cells and prevent cancer. Resveratrol antioxidant protects the heart and especially the brain.
6. Milk: Calcium influences neurotransmitter release. Carnitine prevents aging by boosting mitochondria. Choline is a precursor to acetylcholine. Cobalamin (B12) also contributes to acetylcholine and to nerve-cell insulation. Niacin (B3) supports nervous system function.
7. Fish: Choline. Cobalamin (B12). Niacin (B3). Omega-3 fatty acids protect the heart, lower cholesterol, preserve nerve-cell function, relieve depression and fight inflammation. Pyridoxine (B6) contributes to acetylcholine.
8. Red Pepper: Pectin fiber. Pyridoxine (B6). Vitamin C. Beta-carotene antioxidants preserve brain function. Beta-cryptoxanthin antioxidants protect against vascular disease. Hesperidin and rutin flavonoids preserve blood vessels, reduce cholesterol and act as anti-inflammatories. Luteolin antioxidants help prevent heart disease and stroke.

Water and Development

Water is an essential need. One of those things we take for granted every day. It is essential in almost everything we do. Water and development have a close connection which this article discusses.

The parts which I find most interesting are quoted below:

The documentary’s look at Coca Cola (Coke for short) company’s activities in India highlighted problems also seen around the world. Because Coke had been pumping water from local wells and aquifers, this led to farmers digging deeper and deeper to search for waters, under sometimes dangerous conditions. Some farmers were digging as deep as 450 feet without finding water. The documentary noted that they wanted Coke to leave for they brought them nothing but misery. Indeed, earlier in 2000, violent protests by farmers in the state of Kerala led to the closure of Coke there.

The documentary also noted that for each liter of drink from Coca Cola, some 3 liters of water was needed.

When asked, Coke noted all the activities they were pursuing to be a more responsible neighbor. Coke also claimed that government figures showed they did not cause the drop in water levels, yet those figures showed otherwise. They also noted that agriculture is responsible for more water usage than Coca Cola. While this is partly correct, this applies more to industrial agribusinesses, not small farmers.

Furthermore, farmers are arguably using the land for more productive (and necessary) purposes than Coke. In addition, Coke, typical of many global companies, have used the lands (and, in this case, water) of the poor countries, to produce products to be mainly consumed by people in wealthy countries.

n Tanzania, the documentary noted the hardships and struggles of the poor when the country followed rich-country and World Bank advice and privatized their water services. In a region where currently 11 million lives are at risk from water shortage, these policies are having serious impacts. Privatization led to increased prices and lack of access, rather than increased access.

In Bolivia, even though much of the major city covered by the documentary was connected up by the global water company, the poor could not afford the connection charges. Some 200,000 people in that city—a quarter of the population—were not connected. (The French company that owned the water services there said in the documentary that the poor “chose” not to be connected.) Numerous health and social problems developed, especially for the children and the poor were resorting to illegal connections. (We can often see such actions by poor as being “illegal”, but when the system itself encourages such last-resort actions and “corruption” we hear less of that aspect.)

In Detroit, USA, the documentary noted that the poor in the richest country in the world were also affected by similar global problems. Like families in Tanzania, many African Americans in Detroit were finding they needed to make daily trips to get water. The documentary followed the struggle of a woman who had fallen behind on her water bills because her disabled husband’s medical bills had grown so much. Yet, some 40,000 households (some 100,000 people) in Detroit were facing water shortages in similar ways, simply for being too poor to afford the bills. In this particular case, city officials were also accused of running down the water service so that it could be privatized and thereby reduce their accountability.......

..Throughout Latin America and Asia, massive industrialization in rural communities is affecting the balance between humans and nature. Water use is being diverted from agriculture to industry. Huge corporate factories are moving up the rivers of the Third World, sucking them dry as they go............

Many of the world’s most water-stressed areas will get less water, and water flows will become less predictable and more subject to extreme events. Among the projected outcomes:

• Marked reductions in water availability in East Africa, the Sahel and Southern Africa as rainfall declines and temperature rises, with large productivity losses in basic food staples. Projections for rainfed areas in East Africa point to potential productivity losses of up to 33% in maize and more than 20% for sorghum and 18% for millet.
• The disruption of food production systems exposing an additional 75–125 million people to the threat of hunger.
• Accelerated glacial melt, leading to medium term reductions in water availability across a large group of countries in East Asia, Latin America and South Asia.
• Disruptions to monsoon patterns in South Asia, with the potential for more rain but also fewer rainy days and more people affected by drought.
• Rising sea levels resulting in freshwater losses in river delta systems in countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt and Thailand...........

............Agribusinesses growing crops for export are claiming more of the water once used by family and peasant farmers for food self-sufficiency. The global expansion in mining and manufacturing is increasing the threat of pollution of underground water supplies and contaminating the aquifers that provide more than 50 percent of domestic supplies in most Asian countries.

To feed the voracious global consumer market, China has transformed its entire economy, massively diverting water use from communities and local farming to its burgeoning industrial sector. As the big industrial wells consume more water, millions of Chinese farmers have found their local wells pumped dry. Eighty percent of China's major rivers are now so degraded, they no longer support fish. Economic globalization and the policies that drive it are proving to be totally unsustainable.

School of the Americas

When at Waterloo, I attened a lecture about the School of the Americas. I was shocke dto learn that the US actively trained Latin Americans who later go and torture their own people. Wiki bhai has more information on this School ( no wonder there is a rise of the left in Latin America..well this is one of the reasons away):

The SOA was established in 1946 with the purpose of training Latin American men to promote democracy in their native lands, but, according to SOA Watch, graduates of the school have perpetrated many of the worst human rights violations in recent Latin American history and demand its immediate closure.

In addition to conducting its annual vigils and educating the public about abuses committed by graduates of the academy, the SOA Watch continues to lobby Congress to shut down the school.

In 2004, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez agreed to withdraw all troops from WHINSEC, which has trained over 4,000 Venezuelan soldiers. Several of the officers involved in the failed 2002 coup d'etat were School of the Americas graduates^[1]. In 2006, the governments of Argentina and Uruguay decided to stop sending soldiers to the school, as well [1]. SOA Watch is pressing other South American leaders to follow the examples of these countries...................

Read more about the School of Americas Watch here. and also here:

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC or WHINSEC), formerly School of the Americas (SOA; Spanish: Escuela de las Américas), is a United States Army facility at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. Its motto is Libertad, Paz y Fraternidad (Liberty, Peace and Brotherhood). ^[1] It has a history of supporting controversial anti-communist regimes and guerrila organisations.

The institute is a training facility operated in the Spanish language, especially for Latin American military personnel. As of 2006 the school now offers its Command And General Staff course to United States military for whom Spanish is their primary language. The course which is formally called ILE is the same which United States military officers attend only in Spanish. Somewhere around 60,000 people attended the now closed School Of The Americas. Presently roughly 1,000 students per year attend WHINSEC which was created as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The school has frequently in the past supported regimes in Latin America with a history of employing death squads and otherwise infringing upon human rights, something the school has staunchly denied. In response to this type of past criticism, the school in 2004 created a human rights protection training course, requiring each student to take eight hours. The school has also included in much of its course work training in the principles of democracy. Critics accuse the school of teaching these classes to only a few students and argue that the minimum of eight hours of ethical instruction mandated by recent law is not sufficient.

Dubai chalo

One hears a lot about Dubai being an awesome place and all. However one of the isues I have with Dubai is their Environmental record. Read this article for more details.....

Energy consumption in the Emirates runs high for many of the same reasons found in the United States: a feeling that the good life requires huge air-conditioned houses and cars, and a disdain for public transportation.

Making matters worse are Dubai's audacious developments, including artificial resort islands that have destroyed coral reefs and an indoor ski slope that still creates snow when it is 120 degrees outside.

"Of all the places to make artificial snow, this has to be the most absurd," said Jonathan Loh, a British biologist who co-authored the WWF report.