Isaac Schrödinger

You Can't Check Out

National Post:

In Lamine Yansané's hometown of Boké in Guinea, his father is a revered imam who sometimes leads Friday prayers. But after Mr. Yansané married a Catholic woman and abandoned Islam for Christianity, his father disowned him, and Friday prayers have featured a call for his death, the Federal Court heard yesterday.

Read the rest to see how his refugee claim is proceeding.

Classical Liberal asks in the comments:

"Isaac, does your case set some sort of precedent?"

I think I am the first blogger + ex-Muslim to become a refugee and then a permanent resident in Canada. Though, I don't know if I'm just the first ex-Muslim to become a refugee in Canada.

During my hearing in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board, there were five people in the room: the judge, an immigration officer with her assistant, my lawyer and myself. I fully realized later that the immigration officer was there as a "prosecutor". She questioned me about every minute detail in my application.

Where are my parents from; where are they now; how many siblings I have; when was the last time I was in Pakistan; why don't I just call myself a secular Muslim, go back to Pakistan and stop bothering with this nonsense (I paraphrase) and so on.

She was looking for any sort of crack in my history and subtly minimizing the danger I'd be in if I went back to Pakistan. I've been learning English since grade one, so I had little trouble understanding and answering every single question she asked; sometimes passionately so. I survived three hours of legal verbal assault. I appeared to be credible.

It is likely that someone with poor English skills or uncomfortable body language would appear to be not-so-credible. This is what I think happened to poor Lamine.

White Beauty

I used to play cricket in Saudi Arabia with my friends on a weekly basis. The scorching sun is not kind to light skin. I remember being on vacation in Pakistan in the early 90s. I was visiting an aunt; her reaction upon seeing me was to moan about how much black, kala, I had become.

I was confused for a few seconds till my mom explained why I wasn't so lovely anymore. The culprit being cricket. The obsession with skin color -- specifically white -- is all-powerful in Pakistan. For example, often an arranged marriage can come down to just how 'fair' the bride really is.

At Foreign Dispatches, one can view an Indian ad which showcases this mentality. The actor is Saif Ali Khan, a famous actor and the main actress is Priyanka Chopra who was crowned Miss World in 2000. So, the ad is definitely mainstream.

The Global Swindle

Last year, I was talking to one fellow about recycling. The conversation turned to global warming.

"What do you think we should do about it?" he asked.

"I do not think the globe is warming."

"Oh, you don't believe in global warming?"

"Believe!? Is it a religion? What is there to believe? It is either happening or not. If one looks at figures, the earth has been cooling for the past ten years."

He looked at me like I'd grown horns. He wanted to discuss the merits and demerits of various taxes to combat global warming but I didn't even yield on its existence.

On the same topic, here's Vox Day:

Never place any trust in an expert who can't explain himself to your satisfaction. Especially when he's asking you for money.

Clarity and Precision

An excellent article about sound quality at Trusted Reviews.

a few people in the last six months or so - people who take their audio gear seriously and have spent thousands of pounds on Hi-Fi equipment - have admitted privately to us that 256kbps MP3 is easily good enough for serious listening, and that they struggle to hear much difference over 192kbps MP3 in many situations. This got us thinking: when we claim that we can tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and a FLAC encode, are we really hearing some substantial difference, or are we merely telling ourselves that one is better than another?

It's tough to tell apart music encoded at 320kbps with MP3 when compared to a FLAC encode. However, a 192kbps encoded MP3 has lost a few important qualities.

1. The bass is not as deep. If your CD music is loaded with booms, then each punch of it will sound like an anvil being dropped. A high compressed MP3 will reduce that sound to a dropping of an empty cereal box.
2. The instruments get muddled. Classical music with FLAC sounds incredible. The instruments sound crisp and clear. When one compresses the music, the instruments seem to overlap; their sounds fade. The beauty and skill of the musicians sadly gets jumbled up.
3. Certain sounds are almost impossible to hear. Often, very faint cues that add a nice layer to the music are hard to hear on an MP3. Though, it's possible that the fault lies with the audio equipment one uses to listen to the MP3 rather than the compressed file itself. If you're not familiar with Grado, Logitech or Creative, then it's likely that you're not getting the optimal audio experience.

Link via Instapundit.

Fair and Blind

Instapundit:

TOO MUCH TIME INDOORS causes myopia?

I've wondered about that since I have myopia. There weren't any sports or activities at my school in Saudi Arabia. With the weekly exception of a cricket game with friends, I spent practically all my time indoors reading novels and magazines. It was the same in Pakistan; though, the cricket frequency was a bit higher.

American Coolness

Instapundit:

A LEATHERMAN IS always in good taste.

Indeed. I've bought only one pocket knife in this decade and it was a Leatherman. (Hmm, that could be a nice slogan / advertisement for Leatherman...)

For What?

While I was having lunch at work today, someone mentioned that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought to myself, "Did you read that at the Onion?"

Of course, it's true.

A reader at Instapundit sends in this gem:

“It’s a peace prize, not a peace peace prize.”

Via Michelle Malkin comes this beauty:

Choosing Misery

Vox Popoli:

I've always said that men won the Sexual Revolution. Reading Dowd's column, I'm not sure what is funnier. Is it the fact that feminism has made women less happy or the fact that so many women will still cling to the "gains" that are making them miserable?

Last summer I was having lunch with a couple of ladies at my workplace and the conversation turned to happiness. One of them simply asked, "Are you happy?"

I said, "Yes."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, I look at the past few years. Each one has been better than the last. I've graduated, got a stable job and I'm able to live in the Western world. There is little reason to be unhappy."

There was no reply from the ladies. I, of course, asked, "What about both of you? Are you happy?"

They both said, "No." They didn't elaborate even when I asked for the reasons. One was married with kids, the other was single. It was quite a sad spectacle. They live at the apex of comfort and safety, yet are going through life in a glum state.

I wonder why.

The Final Countdown to More Happy!

I've replayed it three times and I crack up whenever 'responsive' is said.

I've used Windows 7 Release Candidate for over a month and it'll stay as my main OS. Microsoft has done it right this time.

8 Years Later

Four years ago, I wrote about 9/11 and its impact on my life.

It was the third part of this series:

1.0. In Darkness

2.0. The Land of Trinity

3.0. IX . XI

4.0. In Delirium

It's a Bug?

Back when I was attending a boarding high school in the US, one of my friends asked me if I liked music by this certain band. I had never heard of them. He was stunned. He, then, proceeded to play their songs on his laptop and asked me which mp3s I would like. "Uh, I wouldn't really listen to that," was my straightforward response. He was shocked! He had bought tons of their CDs and I was rejecting their free music. He shook his head.

It was The Beatles.

Intel i-Infinity

Intel's new, mainstream processor will be released soon. It's called the Core i5. After the silly Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad naming scheme, Intel settled for the Core in strategy -- where n is a number.

Of course, this hasn't really made things simple. The chaos is just a bit more elegant. We already have the Core i7, Core i5 will be out shortly and then in a few months, we'll get the Core i3 and the Core i9. Intel has added further convolution by:

1. Using two different sockets across these four lines. So, if you buy a Core i5 this year, and later you'd like to upgrade only your processor to a Core i9 (a six-core beast due in 2010), then you're out of luck. You have to upgrade your motherboard to get a different socket which will accept a Core i9.
2. Using the 45-nm process today and then later switching to the 32-nm process. Now, this would be great if we could actually tell the difference between the two by just the name of the processor but, as far as I can tell, we can't.

I once upgraded my processor. So, I certainly do not like having this option being made more difficult and expensive. And I clearly remember in early 2008 when new 45-nm Core 2 Duos sat next to the older 65-nm Core 2 Duos. The pricing of such processors made sense from the cost-side but not from the performance-side. You see, Intel was selling older ~$300 processors that were slower than their ~$250 newer processors.

Now, a logical customer would see that those two processors have the same name and conclude that the more expensive one ought to be faster. But, no. It looks like we'll see a similar scenario next year.

The Superpower

PJTV: Bill Maher, Barack Obama and the Truth About American Exceptionalism.

Saturated White

Sepia Mutiny:

This past Memorial Day, I opened the medicine cabinet at my aunt’s house looking for toothpaste only to find a tube of Fair & Lovely staring back at me. My heart sank. I yelled for my 10-year old cousin. “What is THIS?” I asked her, holding the tube gingerly.

“What?” she said innocently, “It’s just suntan lotion so I don’t get dark.” I looked at the ingredient list. Indeed, among the ingredients was “sunscreen.” I shouldn’t have been surprised. This was the same girl who had teased her seven-year old darker-skinned cousin so much that a year later, the poor kid still adamantly states “I’m not pretty.” Little wonder given that our mothers come from a country where bridal makeup still means you pancake the woman in white foundation from the neck-up and then hide her hands under her dupatta so the color disparity doesn’t show.

I remember being amused by photographs of various brides and grooms in Pakistani magazines. The grooms came in all colors. The brides, however, had the same tinge: vampire-white.

My Favorite Breed

I wish I could get one, nay, a dozen of these. Unfortunately, it would be mighty unfair to them; for they require tons of activity and space.

The Magic of Static Analysis

Charles Johnson:

Here’s one of the most short-sighted and self-destructive things I’ve ever seen the Associated Press do — they’re going to try to prevent search engines and blogs from even linking to their articles, unless they pay for the privilege.

I should adopt that policy for my blog. About 50 different blogs link to me; at, shall we say, $1,000 a link that'll be a cool $50,000!

And that's just the sidebar / favorite links. Over the years, I've got hundreds of links. (Of course, I'll offer a discount for each additional link sent my way.)

My financial worries are over!

Cheap Space

Instapundit:

YEP, IT’S THE 21ST CENTURY NOW: A 1-Terabyte hard drive for under 100 bucks. I remember when a 10 megabyte HardCard was expensive . . .

We should hit 100-terabyte drives by 2020.

My first personal computer was a laptop. I got it in 1998. It came with a whopping 2.1GB hard drive. The maximum configurable was ... 4GB.

Today, I carry around a 16GB flash drive which can easily store all my documents. If I get a 32GB flash drive, I could store all my documents and my entire music collection.

At 64GB, I can store all my valuable data.

Paying With Hot Air

I have never lived in a place which either I or my parents owned. I've been living in rented spaces my entire life. I remember filling out my refugee application in which I had to provide addresses of places where I lived during the previous ten years: from 1996-2006.

There wasn't enough space on the application for all the relevant info. I had to attach another sheet with over a dozen addresses. I had lived in different apartments in Saudi Arabia, different rooms in dorms in the USA and Canada, and then different apartments and houses in Canada.

I certainly see the appeal of owning a place. It would cut down on the constant headache of finding a decent space, packing up and then finally moving. However, one has to go about the process sensibly.

An Instapundit reader provides an example on how not to go about it:

The big light bulb moment for me came when a “My First House” buyer who lived in California, wanted to move to Denver and buy his first home. He had no job, no money down and really bad credit. Yet he was still able to buy a house for over $250,000 in Denver at 14% interest rate. Both his mortgage and down payment were financed at this rate.

Yikes. I wouldn't even consider getting a house if I couldn't make at least a 25% down payment.

The Precious Bubble

Vox Popoli:

The problem with most analysis of the value of a college or graduate degree is that the aggregate figures include the sharks graduating from the elite schools - many of whom would have been just as successful without their degrees - and then attempt to apply it to Jane Average who is planning to attend Podunk State.

When I was presenting my thesis in university, the questioning with a professor turned to graduates who got their degrees from big-name universities.

The professor stated that the magnificent success of such students justified the costs of education. I replied that such students were brilliant to begin with -- they would have earned big bucks even if they hadn't received their degrees from the top level universities. Basically, it's tough to quantify the added benefit of these institutions.

The professor's face got all red. He, perhaps, took it personally that his profession doesn't underwrite the success of smart students. His voice got strident and he said that the parents of such students wouldn't be donating tons of money to these universities if they didn't provide them a benefit.

I thought, but didn't say, "Your face looks like a tomato."

I continued with my presentation and didn't argue further.

Many years ago, I read a book called Class. It was a pretty funny book, but one point that I remembered was the citation of a study which showed that unless you obtained it from a university that had been established prior to some date in the nineteenth century, your degree wouldn't add anything to your expected lifetime income.

The Great Depression 2.0 is making this clear for many.

The New, New Math

This news is not from The Onion:

The path to high school graduation for Minnesota's next few graduating classes got significantly easier this month.

The Class of 2010 was going to be the first required to pass a new series of high-stakes state graduation tests before students were awarded their diplomas next spring.

But the Legislature recently decided that students no longer have to pass the 11th-grade math test -- many educators think it's too difficult -- and would have caused a precipitous drop in graduation rates next year.

I started studying in an American high school when I was in grade 11. The school had three levels of math for each grade: basic, accelerated and honors.

The school put me in a basic grade 10 course. After a few months, they bumped me up to accelerated grade 11. I wanted to take calculus in grade 12 but for that I needed honors grade 11 math -- basically pre-calculus. So, I studied it on my own in the summer. It's not like I had anything better to do in Saudi Arabia.

Not once did it ever occur to me to drop math. That's why it's amazing to see so many students who don't want to take math; who, in essence, want to get the least education as possible.

Back to the atrocity in Minnesota:

The solution passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, however, could raise a few eyebrows: Students either have to pass the test once, or fail it three times, to graduate.

The high school diplomas in that state are now worthless, assuming they weren't already.

Link via Vox Popoli.

A Great Author

Even though I am more into Western history, military and fiction, I can still appreciate certain mysteries.

Resistant

They can drink the water because their bodies are used to it.

When I visited my relatives in Pakistan, we always boiled water and let it cool before drinking it. Mind you, this was regular tap water. Drinking from a river would have been suicide.

The End for Some

Fox:

The Walkman, Discman and MiniDisc player: The multitasker's dream, the Sony Walkman portable cassette player changed the way the world listened to music in 1979, quickly becoming the hottest accessory of the early 1980s.

In 1984, Sony trumped itself with the introduction of the Discman, the CD version, which allowed for individual tracks instead of one never-ending, albeit varied, song.

Eight years later, a new format, the MiniDisc, essentially a tiny CD in a cartridge, caught on in Europe and Asia. But it fizzled in the U.S., where oblivious Yanks kept on listening to their Discmen until they were killed off by iPods in the early years of this decade.

I bought a Sony Walkman in the late 90s. At the time, I went back during the summers to Saudi Arabia where my family lived -- the numerous audio cassettes and the radio provided some relief in that hell.

Feeding the Poor

Times are really bad (via Glenn Reynolds):

Amanda Freitag is all about feeding the family.

She's executive chef at The Harrison, in Manhattan's trendy Tribeca neighborhood. Freitag treats guests to an inspired New-American menu that tourists and New Yorkers alike can't seem to get enough of.

As The Early Show Saturday Edition's "Chef on a Shoestring," Freitag sought to take a traditional, three-course spaghetti dinner and give it a little twist any family would love - on our new, lower, recession-busting budget of $35.

Ha! I just had the simple combination of pasta, sauce and meatballs. Cost: $4 max. As commenters there point out, this budget of $35 leads to an yearly dinner tab north of $12,000. The article is more hilarious than informative.

Two Years Later

January 4, 2007 will remain one of the most important days of my life.

The Quad Can Wait

Hunh. I was thinking of getting an entirely new desktop system but after looking at the high prices of the Core i7 setup, I settled for a single-component upgrade.

We Got Snow

The Canadian Press:

The Great White North is living up to its name.

Winter debuted Sunday with boisterous displays of heavy snow, powerful winds and numbing cold across the country. Forecasters are predicting Christmas will look much the same.

I had to walk a few hundred meters on Friday. It was a most brutal storm experience: High winds, flakes slashing into my face and snow in my boots. It took me a good thirty minutes to defrost after I got indoors.

Though flurries Sunday were somewhat anti-climactic there after five days and three storms - dubbed "snowmaggedon" by Environment Canada - some 30 to 50 cm will have accumulated across the province, Phillips said.

"It's the third one that brings you down, you're running out of places to put the snow, you're just going on adrenaline and people are fed up," he said.

Indeed.

The PC Police

Queen's was one of the universities to which I applied -- but fortunately did not attend -- for my undergraduate studies.

Forget the Swiss

Sweet. Though, I wouldn't go for that particular model.

I like this one and this one. This I own.

First link via Instapundit.

Damn Straight

Of course:

We think http://isaacschrodinger.typepad.com/ is written by a man (86%).

Gender Analyzer.

Just for fun:

We think http://apostate.wordpress.com/ is written by a man (60%).

Yikes.

Seven Years Later

Writings from the past:

In Darkness

The Land of Trinity

IX . XI (I published this exactly four years after 9/11.)

In Delirium

iConfusion

August 2007:

I still think Intel should have publicly called the new line they released in July 2006 as the 'Core' processors. They could have kept the 'Core 2' name for the epic Nehalem line which will come out in late 2008.

Instead, Intel has done the opposite! The present generation is called the Intel Core 2. The next will be called the Intel Core.

The Intel Core will have generic identifiers. For now, it's i7.

I've built a couple of systems for friends. It's a major headache to explain the differences between the Celerons, the Pentiums and the five dozen flavors of Core 2s. Intel just managed to make it even tougher.

Mostly Man

Mike:

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 14%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 86%

Damn straight.

Recently, I've been to only two female-skewed sites: gmail and onelook. The most masculine site? Tom's Hardware Guide. Figures.

First link via Instapundit via Megan McArdle.

The Devil is Shiny

Charles Johnson gives in to The Dark Side.

I got a cellphone last year for $150. It's mostly so that my employer can call me. I got it setup with a killer plan: $10-a-month.

The iPhone definitely has ishtyle but it's too pricey.

The Magic Dissipates

Classical Values via Instapundit:

Obama might not know math, science, economics, or any number of other things. He does know race and so does his base.

Racist!

A few months ago, a colleague saw that I was reading a print out of American political news. She volunteered on odd statement. "I think it's time for a black president."

I thought but didn't ask, "What does that mean? Just curious, when will it be time for an Asian president?"

Obama's skin color has taken him quite far. Now, Americans will choose the better of the two and it won't be him.

Also: In the comments there, Andrew X August 4, 2008 04:41 PM, sincerely thanks Obama for his post-racial candidacy.

The Dark Knight

I'll be watching it soon on an IMAX screen.

Update
I waited this long so as to avoid large crowds in the theater. I got to the place 50 minutes before the start. There was already a huge lineup of folks waiting! On a Thursday afternoon! 14 days after the release!

Still, I got a good seat.

The experience was stunning. The screenplay, the direction by Christopher Nolan and the acting -- especially by Heath Ledger -- was sublime. The power of The Dark Knight lies in its brutal unpredictability.

In the previous movie, Batman was presented situations where the choice was between something right and something easy. Here, he's given bad and worse options. The prequel was relatively slow-paced and it set up the characters in a timely and proper manner. Here, we jump right in and the movie gallops throughout. It's, without a doubt, the most ambitious and epic comics-based sequel of all time. It packs a lot for 2 hours and 25 minutes.

The most riveting scenes have the Joker in the frame. There's a classic scene where Batman is merely asking a major thug about the whereabouts of the Joker. The manner and the content of the reply leaves Batman stunned and speechless.

James Berardinelli:

Often in superhero movies, there's a sense that, no matter what challenges the protagonist must face, all will be right in the end. That certainty is missing here, and its absence may represent Nolan's most impressive accomplishment.

This is the major reason for the unpredictable nature of the film. Batman is human; he has no superpowers. Nolan puts him in situations that can truly exist in the modern world. Batman can only use his mortal, human resources to fight back. Thus, one can be completely ignorant about comics and still enjoy the movie as is.

About the Joker: what a psychotic, forceful, evil villain. He is a man with no rules in a world with rules. He understands the thin, fragile nature of civilization and plans to shatter it. To do so, he must bring Batman to his knees -- and he almost does. I can't think of any other superhero movie where the main character suffers so much physical and emotional pain and yet survives.

In the end, we fully comprehend the tragic nature of the title.

One more thing: Hollywood ought to make more movies like this. It isn't marketed as such but The Dark Knight is a great counterpoint to all the America Is Ultimately Evil garbage that Hollywood produces and loses money on.

More:
My favorite, spoiler-free!, review.
Praise to the max:

Evaluated just as a superhero movie, it surpasses all its contemporaries —simply put, it very well might be the best movie of its genre.

Ever.

Fontastic

I made brochures for a class during high school. I used Microsoft Publisher and numerous fonts and styles. Later, I would use many varieties for "burning" onto DVDs. So, I'm quite familiar with the font universe.

If you know your fonts, then you'll enjoy this video linked at Little Green Footballs.

The laugh out loud line: "You're insane! Nobody uses Microsoft Works."

I liked Century Gothic the most.

Too Curious

Achelois: “Where are you from?” Again

I often get asked that question in an innocent manner here in Canada. After they're satisfied with the answer, the usual follow up is, "Are you a Muslim?"

"No."

They're perplexed. "Hmm. Christian?"

"Nope."

"Atheist?"

"Nope."

Total confusion. Then, I kid you not, "What are you!?"

With a devilish smile, "I'm nothing."

Apostate Replies II

Read this post for background info.

I've always found it fascinating how certain people interact with the rest. Recently, at work, a fellow acted kindly towards me for the first time. I quickly realized the reason: he wanted something from me. Before then, his behavior was sometimes indifferent and often contemptuous.

Indifference I understand. It's the effort that some put into being rude that I do not get. This applies to the online world as well.

For example, last year, the Apostate sent me an email. An excerpt:

Hey, Isaac:

I just wanted to write a quick note to thank you for linking to me. I got the most hits I've ever gotten and made it into the fastest growing blogs of wordpress.

I don't know how many of the visitors you sent my way will return, but it was good to know that something I wrote was actually being read by someone. I don't care too deeply about traffic, but it's nice to have an audience when one has something to say.

I enjoy your blog and am in awe of your story.

[Emphasis mine.]

That was a sweet message. However, recently, we disagreed on the reasons for the gender imbalance in the academic fields of the US. A portion of her reply consisted of using the word "Paki" and this paragraph:

Hey, Isaac? Feel free to stop reading this “train wreck” at any point. I won’t miss you. After all, I never read your blog, because I find your wingnutty views ridiculously silly.

[Emphasis mine.]

Did she just pull a Kerry? She enjoyed reading my blog before she never read it! Note that I've been blogging since 2004. The "wingnutty" quotient of my views has been fairly consistent since then.

So, what exactly changed?

This recent post sheds some light. Life deals us with enough misery as it is. Why someone would want to create more is beyond me.

Poisoning Minds

LFG: American Kids Learning Jihad in Pakistan.

Make sure to watch the trailer of the documentary -- it's chilling.

For me, there's an added element of sickness: I used to visit my relatives in Karachi, Pakistan when I was a kid.

Apostate Replies

Here is her initial post.

I posted about that here.

Her reply to my post: Can't take the Paki out of the boy.

She starts off with this:

Isaac Schrodinger, another fellow Pakistani apostate who didn’t lose his sexism when he lost his Islam

Readers can view my writings and make their own judgments about the validity of that statement. Though, I did find her statement quite rich.

Why?

Recently, she posted these lovely remarks:

I tell you, I fucking HATE men. I’ve said it before on this blog - twice, if I recall - and I’ll say it again: I hate men.

I guess it's true: one can't take the sexism out of certain Pakistanis.

Getting back to her reply:

They don’t even pretend to think women are equals. Then they ascribe their sexism to factual reality. Then they turn around and declare Islam’s misogyny is a reason to leave it. It’s really lovely.

Of course. Leaving a religion where women are treated as slaves should mean that I ought to see phantom sexism in the choices made by women in the West -- choices that lead to gender imbalances in fields like psychology (more women) and physics (more men).

Hey, Isaac? Feel free to stop reading this “train wreck” at any point. I won’t miss you. After all, I never read your blog, because I find your wingnutty views ridiculously silly.

I am just not "Paki" enough for her.

Travel Headache

Clayton Cramer: Various Aspects of Why I Hate To Fly.

It seems to get worse and worse.

The only flight I've ever missed was in December of 2001. I had called the airline exactly a week before to make sure that I didn't need any paperwork or some such nonsense to make my flight. I was told everything was in order.

They were wrong. I didn't have a visa for merely landing at a German airport and changing flights. This rule had been implemented around 11 days before my departure. Thus, I wasn't allowed on the plane.

Anyway, I always bring only a carry-on bag when I travel. In the summer of 2002, I was coming back from Saudi Arabia when at the airport the security gal asked me a few questions. Apparently I didn't convince her that I only had a single piece of luggage. So, she wrote something on my entry form.

At the exit, after having my entry form checked, I was directed into another queue where luggage was being inspected. I zipped open my handbag. The guard looked at me a bit surprised. "That's it!?"

"Yup, that's it."

"You can go."

Music to my ears. Haven't flown in over four years.

So Perfect

Hassan Radwan: Prophet Muhammad.

I've written quite a bit over the years about this "flawless" role model of humanity. Here's one that deals with his behavior towards the Jewish tribe Banu Quraiza.

Also, see this post where his personality is distilled down to seven words.

Moody Weather

Daily dose of imagery:

It seems like winter is finally over.

Let's hope it stays that way. A few years ago, we had the same situation when all of a sudden we got hammered with a winter storm in April! I had to help a shocked friend in getting his car out the driveway. It took 30 minutes.

Uncomfortable Questions

Hassan Radwan: Proof that Islam is True?

Radwan asks many questions that don't provide reasonable answers. It reminds me of the many I used to ask.

Update
A funny video here: Prophets of Islam.

Allah, for some reason, is obsessed with the Middle East.

A Looser

A fellow named Racist hater left this comment in a post from last year:

you stupid bastards dont know what your talkin about. Youre just a bunch of loosers with nothing better to do than discriminate muslims. If you think youre so brave why not leave your address.

I'll pass.

A Bit Too Much

Question asked.

I know it's not polite but, still, I'll answer with a question: Why should others have a say at all in how many pairs you buy?

I have two, by the way. One is four years old; the other eight.

Infidelicious

I got a spike in visits today; checked the stats and realized that the Conservative Grapevine has linked to my blog as the website of the day.

Thanks!

Insensitive Pig

Kristina De Guzman:

Stelmach’s speech bored me for the most part, but the man came off as humble—at least, more so than Ralph Klein ever did during his tenure. Still, I was struck by his remark about how he’s glad that his grandparents’ boat arrived in Canada because the other destination would have been Argentina. He quickly added that his Spanish wasn’t all that great either, which made the audience chuckle. What’s even sadder is that the people at CTV News were praising Stelmach’s good sense of humour.

Sadder?

A few people I know took the remark at face value and felt that Stelmach was simply expressing happiness about living in Alberta. But if this were the case, shouldn’t it be enough to say just that and nothing more? There’s no need to bring up the other, supposedly lesser choice.

Supposedly?

If Stelmach had actually meant to make a joke, that makes him more of a jackass than if he were simply stating facts. Unfortunately, culturally insensitive remarks like these are so subtle these days that few people seem to pick up on them. Stelmach didn’t say it outright, but by stating that Argentina would have been the other choice, he’s suggesting that it isn’t the best place to live in—which is true, if you’re part of the poor majority—but that’s completely dismissing all the reasons why that is.

It. Was. A. Joke. And a good one at that.

By the way, I'm glad my parents sent me to Canada after high school, instead of that Islamic hellhole called Pakistan. Plus, my Punjabi has always been rusty.

Link via Colby Cosh via Daimnation.

Endru or Urglish

That would be the hilarious child of English and Urdu.

I remember a BBC show from the early 90s in which a reporter did a small survey in my birth-city of Lahore. This guy went up to 100 men and asked them to write their names in English.

Only one had the ability to do so.

The fourth commenter provides another gem:

haha…reminds of an ad I once saw in the Masjid, brother selling a “sofa cums with love seat”…haha.

Isn't that haram?