Marginal Nature A fascinating overview of the thesis-in-progress of Kevin Anderson, a geography doctoral candidate at UT-Austin. I could spend a fortune tracking down his bibliography. A former philosophy student, he’s able to tackle the big questions, like “what is nature?”, that I only daydream about till my head hurts. He describes his own background […]
Monthly Archives: September 2002
Wahhabis not Welcome
On September 11, 2002, the [Islamic Supreme] Council unequivocally calls on all leaders of traditional Islamic communities and Muslims at-large to immediately establish “Community Watch” groups across the nation. While typically such groups are designed to prevent external threats, these community-based groups will protect our mosques, schools and centers from the threat within our ranks, […]
Update
I came home to see Omar Al-Faruq on the front cover of my free copy of Time Magazine. OK, so that explains the embassy closings. That article is serious bad news, except for the fact they caught him. Really, the arrest of Faruq is a perfect example of the war on terrorism done right. Authorities […]
Malaysian students abroad spent RM6
Malaysian students abroad spent RM6 billion this year. That’s almost USD 2 Billion, the great majority of which is spent in the USA. That’s quite an expenditure that US colleges and universities undeniably benefit from. The University of Michigan charges upwards of three times in-state tuition to international students. Why then, did the US Consulate […]
Testosterone: Chemical Fountainhead of the Nafs
The always entertaining This American Life had a great radio show last Friday. I only caught the first segment, unfortunately, but it was fantastic. They interviewed a man whose body did not produce testosterone for 4 months. The result? Total Loss of Desire. Not just sex. All of it. For everything. More amazing: everything he […]
Garage Sale – Lightening the Load of Dunya
This weekend I managed to rid my house of 10 years of dunya accumulation. I left home in 1993 on a bicycle with a frame backpack. Less than 10 years later, I had filled a three bedroom house to the brim. Lord have mercy! Two days of garage saling and I have rid myself of […]
Why I changed my mind
Why I changed my mind about water fluoridation …found on Metafilter.com Well, after getting my you-know-what kicked at MetaFilter over mandatory vaccination, I’m glad to see some progress against the public health machine. Allopathic Medicine is not a revealed truth or a perfected science. It can and does make mistakes, even mistakes that become national […]
Transnational Sufism and Islamic Change
Transnational Sufism and Islamic Change in Contemporary Sri Lanka by Dennis B. McGilvray In the context of spectacular Sinhalese and Tamil forms of religious austerity and mortifying vow-fulfillment — such as the hook-swinging, kavadi dancing, and firewalking so prominently displayed at Kataragama — the so-called “cutting and stabbing work” of the Bawas is the only […]