The Arab vs. Western Perspective

The Arab vs. Western perspective ARAB Family – Center of everything. (Father has first and last word.) Friends – Periphery, but courteous to all. Honor – Very Important amongst Arabs. Honor will be protected and defended at all costs. Shame (especially against family) – avoided at all costs, insults and criticism taken very seriously. Time – less rigid. Approach to time is much more relaxed and slower than that in Western cultures. Religion – Central to all things. Society – Family / tribe is most important Government – Most governments are secular, but still emphasize religion. Age and Wisdom honored. Wealth honored. WESTERN Family – Important but not as central to individual. Friends – Core to some, important to most. Honor – Typically not as important. Shame – Typically not as important. Time- Very structured, deadlines must be met. Religion – Varies by individual, very personal, not discussed in polite conversation. Society – Individual rights. Government – Purpose is to protect rights and improve standard of living. Youth and Beauty praised. Wealth honored in both cultures.

On religion, terrorism and the multicultural society in which we live.

I'm often asked for my opinion on terrorism, this strikes me as odd as how can one have differing views on it? I realise however that perhaps this is because I am a Muslim and they simply want to ensure my views are the same as theirs. From childhood I have been taught the Qur'an, I try to understand it and follow the path set out by Allah, sometimes not with the conviction I would wish for but always with an earnest to be a better Muslim. Apart from religion, the country in which I was born and live has also taught me many things. It has allowed me to integrate into a what I believe to be a multicultural society: my childhood best friend is a pious follower of the Sikh faith who has taught me many good things about his religion. In the primary school I attended I was taught Christianity. I have also participated in the lighting of Hanukkah candles during my GCSE years and have read select verses of both the Ramayan and Mahabharat, so as to further an understanding of such mythology for a religious studies symposium. Through understanding my own and other forms of faith as well as maintaining such friendships, I believe I have become a better human being. It is this country that has allowed me to tread this path. The British civilization does not distinguish in terms of religion, it in fact celebrates the uniqueness of all the major faiths around the world. We are not just an example to ourselves, in many ways we are the realisation of an almost impossible dream that others can only hope to achieve, this is why I feel proud to be British. Yet through all this talk of 'utopia', over the past decade distinct dystopian thoughts and actions have become significant. My parents have taught me many things. They say that religion does not teach us to quarrel with each other. Adoni, Allah, God, Ishwar, these are all linguistically differentiated names for the same supreme being. As a result all religions preach the same concepts: peace, brotherhood and respect. They are equal in every sense, in fact the term religion stems from the latin 'religare', meaning to unify or bind. However these lessons from childhood seem to have taken a back seat despite our religions availing to show us the correct way to live. Certain devils and misguiders from within the followers of all these faiths have formed their own religion. I believe this religion is called 'terrorism', all religions celebrate life yet this one does not. So what happened to the great unifier of differences as we kept living? What has happened to that multicultural society where one could better themselves? When did the Athaan in the minarets, the change ringing in temples and churches, the charms of the Buddhists all fail along with the parents aim to educate their child in religion? I think you'll agree with me that this failure, which now exists as the uncertainty and hatred that we see around the world today is mildly due to the manifestation of extreme religious viewpoints, misinterpretations, misrepresentations and just plain misguidance. Allah, the most merciful, the most gracious does not sanction wars, holy or otherwise. He is a forgiver, a father figure and a benefactor to the one that follows him, in return he does not ask for one to kill innocent lives. The Bible teaches us to offer the other cheek, rather than a crusade, if someone assaults you and the Guru Granth Sahib says that 'Gods devotees should be like God, who is without fear and without enmity'. We face a challenge in which we luckily have a choice: either to destroy the slightest trace of terror or accept the annihilation of our people. I am sure that we will all rise to the occasion as although it is inevitable, neither you or I want to die. We all want to live and believe in what we were taught in our childhood: that the whole point of believing in God is to have a higher standard of behaviour and life, and this is a point that no one can have a difference in opinion on.

A tale of illegal money, match fixing and general Pakistani incompotentness: "Daily Pakistan news: First up the result of tomorrows match".

The past 2 weeks have seen some shocking revelations about the Pakistan cricket team, The News of the World has been have been the main accusers. There evidence: damning to say the least. A video of Mazhar Majeed, a man pictured arm in arm with quite a few Pakistan cricketers, laid bare his history of spot fixing. He implicated Salman Butt, the Pakistani skipper, Kamran Akmal, the wicketkeeper, Mohammad Asif, a bowler and Mohammad Amer, the up and coming (well, before this) Pakistan left arm speedster, in his confession. He revealed to an undercover NOTW reporter that he had control of 3 other Pakistani cricketers and that together they had match and spot-fixed for the last 2 years,including the infamous Sydney Test, which saw Pakistan lose from possibly the strongest position ever witnessed in a test match for the past 10 or 20 years. In the current England/Pakistan test series he revealed that he and his clique had been deciding when no balls would be bowled in the match, ensuring a huge payout for the players involved and third party betters. He revealed that Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amer would bowl certain no balls to order, and they did. The PCBs response: "The evidence is fake". Go figure.

The problem with the PCB is that they don’t stick to their guns: A life ban, a new bunch of board members (or a few batting collapses) and hey presto, the life banned cricketer is back on the cricket field. Take a look at the BCCI: When Azharuddin was charged, he never made a comeback; the life ban was a life ban and nothing less. Even Ajay Jadeja, who wasn’t officially charged, never played again.

Luckily The ICC have suspended 3 of the 4 accused.

The fact is that the skipper Salman Butt, regardless of his own belief, comes out looking the worst. The fact that his name literally translates to “Fish Ass” is not what I mean. Mazhar Majeed clearly states in the News of the World video that “Asif will bowl the third over”, he’ll only know this if Butt is in on it as the skipper decides who bowls which over. Add that to the fact that money given by the NOTW reporter to Majeed was found in Butts hotel room (he claims it was for shopping for his sister) and that Butt is the captain and should be leading by example and your looking at a reasonable punishment that will effectively end his international career.

As for Mohammad Amer, the no-ball that has been that is under the scanner is huge. Cricket is played within fractions, there is no way that such a big no-ball would have been bowled by an international class bowler unless it had been pre-determined, at the very least a bowler would know if he was going to overstep with such a huge margin just a few paces before the delivery, thus aborting his run up. Amer is a talent, possibly the most exciting prospect to happen to cricket since Sachin Tendulkar, if he tells all then perhaps he may get off with a lighter sentence.

Mohammad Asif is finished, period. He should have learned the last time when he was caught in possession of drugs, he didn’t and should say goodbye to any form of international cricket through a non-Pakistani administered life ban (perhaps the ICC needs to intervene). What’s more is the way he delivered the no-ball to order: it seemed more controlled, as if he had experience of having done so before. Amers no-ball seemed more like that of a novice fixer, desperate to get the job done regardless of how suspicious it looked.

What of Kamran Akmal? The fourth cricketer who was also accused, why does he get away scot free? The ICC have not suspended him, surely he should be under the scanner as well, after all one does not drop Mike Hussey 4-5 times when the lead is only 50 and then remain in the side. Mazhar has already admitted to the fact that the Sydney test or 'that test' as it is currently known was a match fix, Pakistan engineered that loss given that the betting odds where stacked heavily in favour of Pakistan winning the match and Akmal was the main culprit. On what grounds was he made vice captain with such a poor showing in Australia where he was accused of match fixing? It is those sorts of decisions that make Pakistan the laughing stock of international cricket.

They need to sort it out for the good of cricket and Pakistan itself.

Scientific Man.

Wats up Guys and Girls.

Have you heard of Superheating? It is another physical phenomenon similar to super-cooling which I mentioned last time.
This phenomenon can also be referred to as "boiling retardation". Superheating is easy enough to explain, it involves a water based liquid being boiled to a temperature higher than 100 degrees centigrade (waters metastable boiling point). However the liquid does not boil. This is due to a lack of nucleation sites (refer to my last entry if you do not know what this is) of which boiling can begin around. It is important to not disturb the liquid at any point in the experiment, especially when the water has been superheated.
Superheating can also occur when a person heats an undisturbed cup of water in a microwave oven. When the container is removed, the water still appears to be below the boiling point. However, once the water is disturbed, some of it violently flashes to steam, spraying boiling water out of the container. A word of caution, superheated water has the potential to be a hazard due its spontaneous boiling, at least were goggles when attempting this experiment.
There is one major difference between supercooling and superheating, where as supercooling only works in pure substances, superheating on the other hand has the potential to occur in liquids such as black coffee. Good luck trying this out, its a bit more trickier (and potentially more harmful) than supercooling!

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OXM4mr_i0

I want to move on to a chemical compound known as Sulfur Hexafluoride. It consists of octahedral geometry, consisting of six fluorine atoms attached to a central sulfur atom. It is also a colorless, odorless, non-toxic and non-flammable gas (under standard conditions). These properties lead to some very intersting properties. None less than the ability to act like water, on youtube this chemical is nicknamed invisible water! This is due to the fact that Sulfur Hexafluoride is denser than air.

Watch the link: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAsOfqCy4A0

It's amazing, no? I certainly thought it was, as did many of my friends at my school. But my real purpose for talking about this chemical is to ask wether anyone knows where this compound can be brought from, does it exist as a natural compound in the Earth's atmosphere or is it man made? Please E-mail me if you have any answers.

My third topic that amazed me when i read about it was Plasma, suppsoedly a fourth state of matter. Everyone knows about the three states of matter, no? Gas, liquid and solid. Well, plasma is a partially ionized gas in which a certain proportion of electrons are free rather than being bound to an atom or molecule. Plasma therefore has properties quite unlike those of solids, liquids or gases and is considered to be a distinct state of matter. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container, but unlike gas, in the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as filaments.

And that brings to an end my blog for today, this blog seemed more like a science lecture but this is due to my weird disorder of constantly surfing the internet for new scientific phenomenons. I promise to keep science to one paragraph in my next blog and talk more about my life and Dragonball: Evolution, due out in less than a months time!! Till then, goodbye and remember, work hard and play hard.

Sami.