tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77059381744387893792023-11-16T07:11:21.170-05:00Oscar Loves LifeA secularist, Muslim-born scientist's perspective on religion, hypocrisy, conflict, sexuality and societyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-27305433098094673062012-01-09T23:17:00.000-05:002012-01-09T23:18:31.180-05:00Diversity of foreign students decreasing in the United StatesBeing a foreign student, the subject of international students in the United States is close to my heart. Moreover, having attended educational institutions in the USA for the past 11 years as both an undergraduate and graduate student, has given me a unique perspective about how important a role, international students students like me play in the United States. Arrogance aside, I know first-hand how many opinions I altered, how many stereotypes I broke and how interesting it was for my American friends to gain exposure to me, my family and my culture. I admit, I am certainly far from being the most interesting man in the world, but I did take my role as a pseudo-representative of Pakistan seriously.<br />
<br />
And it wasn't just a one way street of cultural learning. <br />
<br />
I remember first coming to the United States as a scared and nervous but impressionable teenager, fresh of the boat with my own laundry list of stereotypes about the world at large and Americans in particular. Of course, all, if not most of my opinions altered dramatically during college. I'm not going to list every opinion that changed, but needless to say, I really did find who I truly was in college. And in my opinion, it wasn't just the education that opened the world and shaped me, it was also the diversity of people around me. I used to partake in those oh-so-typical late night college chats with my American, Israeli, American, Spanish and Brazilian friends late into the night. I attended Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist and non-denominational services. I took part in mediated political debates with my Indian friends. And I cried and stood in solidarity with my friends and neighbors after September the 11th. And lastly and most importantly, I helped change how my family and friends from Pakistan viewed America, Israel, Spain, the West, Judaism, India, Hinduism etc etc.<br />
<br />
College was truly eye opening for this foreigner and I truly believe that exposure to different cultures and creeds while studying in the US helped shaped others like me tremendously.<br />
<br />
Now multiply my minuscule cultural contribution to the interactions of approximately 723,000 international students currently attending the colleges and universities across America and one can just imagine the benefits of building bridges through America's international student ambassadors. Right now in the United States, we have 723,000 young representatives from around the world, eager to impress, to learn and to report their experiences back to their home countries. There is no better foreign policy weapon that exists better than these 723,000 students. And trust me, these students are also changing the opinions of Americans across the nation. They are constantly helping shape and break the stereotypes that Americans may have about their country through friendship and collaboration.<br />
<br />
Now financially, we already know that international students play an important role in higher education, because they contribute roughly $14 billion to the U.S. economy yearly. In fact, the U.S. Department of Commerce ranks international education as the 5th largest service sector export. In higher education, their contribution is even greater because a large number of international students conduct basic research and work as teaching assistants. For example, the number of international graduate students in my PhD program vastly outnumbers the Americans and I am sure this trend exists at many other universities.<br />
<br />
Though financial contribution is important, it is the diversification of America's educational institutions that is the most important role of international students. And according to the latest data released by the <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors">Institute of International Education</a>, this diversity is decreasing dramatically.<br />
<br />
I downloaded the data for the top 27 countries of origin for international students from 1999 till 2010 and plotted entropy, which is a measure of diversity, as a function of time. Entropy basically measures how the students are distributed amongst the 27 countries. Entropy is highest if the students are distributed equally amongst the countries. It is lowest, when all most of the students belong to one country. The 27th country is "Other". <br />
<br />
The 27 countries included in this study are listed in decreasing order in terms of the number of international students that originate in these countries in 2010/2011. China, India, South Korea, Canada, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, Nepal, Germany, United Kingdom, Brazil, Thailand, Hong Kong, France, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Columbia, Iran, Venezuela, Pakistan, Kenya, Russia and "Other". <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXS399mVy6h2Ga4LWdBC4qMtuk-pRfAF77btHnyvdE4JJ9M7aWKLJUttzDXNEJg4vwZw3S9l4T_MbD4sa5bwcEnTZrWbFkZglAVx4cswbmEMU48stfV-4sdc-ivzyY-lkDMQ8jU7Ql6zC0/s1600/DiversityOfForeignStudents.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXS399mVy6h2Ga4LWdBC4qMtuk-pRfAF77btHnyvdE4JJ9M7aWKLJUttzDXNEJg4vwZw3S9l4T_MbD4sa5bwcEnTZrWbFkZglAVx4cswbmEMU48stfV-4sdc-ivzyY-lkDMQ8jU7Ql6zC0/s400/DiversityOfForeignStudents.GIF" width="400" /></a></div>
The plot shows that diversity amongst international students has been in slow decline since 1999 before it suffered a sharp drop after 2007. The reason for this decline is a sharp increase in the number and proportion of Indian and Chinese students. In 1995, only 15% of international students were from India and China. In 2010, this number more than doubled to 36%. In contrast, the proportion of students from other parts of the world has decreased. In the same period, the proportion of Taiwanese students went from 7% to 3%, Japanese students decreased from 10% to 3%, and Indonesian students decreased from 3% to less than 1%. Apart from the 26 countries, "Other", which represent the other 100 or so countries not included in the 26, went down from 60% in 1995 to 18%. in 2010.<br />
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Even though the number of international students is increasing every year, the diversity is steadily declining. Two countries account for a third of all international students and this proportion is increasing yearly. <br />
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I have absolutely nothing against Chinese and Indian students. The majority of my friends are Chinese and Indians and I have nothing but great things to say about them, their country and their culture. But I believe this overall trend is worrying and needs to be corrected immediately. It is to only America's advantage to have such great diversity in its colleges and universities. I am not sure why diversity is decreasing but it is entirely possible that more Indians and Chinese apply to American colleges than Germans. However the the numbers for other countries don't reflect this hypothesis. For example, why is the tiny nation of Nepal 11th on the list? Do more Nepalese students apply to American colleges than Indonesian students. Or are they encouraged to apply a lot more? To me, this process reeks of politics, and reflects America's foreign policy relations and the lack of visa's to certain nations. This is unfortunate because education and accepting students into colleges should ideally be policy free.<br />
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In order to get the balance back into the international student populace and to increase diversity, I believe quotas should be implemented to force the acceptance of pre-screened (for security) and highly qualified students from underrepresented countries. Only then can true diversity be achieved. These young foreign ambassadors will eventually return to their respective nations. If America's colleges and society shapes them into future leaders of their nations, it will only be to America's advantage.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-14591161902409124852012-01-03T22:33:00.001-05:002012-01-03T22:33:11.375-05:00Jesus was one of many holy figures "born" on the 25th of DecemberJust finished watching an independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming called "The God Who Wasn't There" which questions the existence of Jesus. The documentary itself was disappointing as I felt the writer was pushing his own agenda a bit too intensely. Rather than discussing the details, historical facts and proof outlining his arguments, he spends too much time being bitter about his religious upbringing. On the whole, the documentary felt childish and amateur to me.<br />
<br />
However, like any other documentary, it wasn't totally a lost cause because its thesis was extremely interesting. For one thing, I actually had no idea that there is lot of controversy regarding the birthday of Jesus, let alone the fact that there is an intense ongoing debate regarding his very existence. And after researching the topic a little on the Internet, I felt a bit stupid as both these controversies so popular, that every theist needs to know about them. One <a href="http://www.writespirit.net/ad/greatest_historical_myths/">website </a>considers the birthday of Jesus as one of history's 20 greatest historical myths:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but there is no
evidence whatsoever, biblical or otherwise, that He was actually born on
that day. Nor is there anything to suggest that He was born in a
manger, or that there were three wise men (although, as any nativity
play will remind you, three gifts were mentioned). There are differing
views as to why December 25 was chosen as Christmas day, but one of the
most interesting is that the day was already celebrated by followers of
Mithras, the central god of a Hellenistic cult that developed in the
Eastern Mediterranean around 100 BC. The followers of this faith
believed that Mithras was born of a virgin on 25 December, and that his
birth was attended by shepherds... </i></blockquote>
In fact, it seems that there are <a href="http://unexplainedmysteriesoftheworld.com/archives/the-mystery-of-the-pagan-origin-of-christmas-jesus-was-not-born-on-december-25th-but-a-whole-bunch-of-pagan-gods-were">several other historical pagan deities</a> besides Mithras "born" on December 25. According to research done by this <a href="http://unexplainedmysteriesoftheworld.com/archives/the-mystery-of-the-pagan-origin-of-christmas-jesus-was-not-born-on-december-25th-but-a-whole-bunch-of-pagan-gods-were">website</a>, they are: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Horus</i><br />
<i>Attis</i><br />
<i>Dionysus the son of Zeus</i><br />
<i>Tammuz</i><br />
<i>Hercules</i><br />
<i>Perseus</i><br />
<i>Helios</i><br />
<i>Bacchus</i><br />
<i>Apollo</i><br />
<i>Jupiter</i><br />
<i>Sol Invictus - (The "Unconquered Sun")</i></blockquote>
That's quite a few pagan Gods. So apparently around the 4th century AD, the Catholic church just adopted this traditional pagan holiday of December 25th as the birthday of Jesus. Fair enough!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-48349109489834757352011-12-24T23:09:00.002-05:002011-12-25T01:18:58.468-05:00Do aliens exist? If so, does that refute the existance of God?Just watched Part 1 of the documentary, "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" which talks about Aliens and found it to be fascinating. There were some new ideas I learned and other ideas that were confirmed to me. For instance, I knew that Hawking strongly believes that alien life has to exist, just based on the sheer size of the universe. In fact, he believes it would be unlikely for alien life NOT to exist. What I didn't know was that alien life could exist within our own solar system, for example on Mars or more interestingly, on the moon Europa circling Jupiter. With regards to Eurupa, this moon is covered by a layer of ice 15 miles thick. However, because of its egg-shaped orbit around Jupiter, it expands and contracts, releasing lots energy, leading scientists to hypothesize that liquid water may exist underneath the ice surface. A quick look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28moon%29#Potential_for_extraterrestrial_life">Wikipedia</a> reveals that though space missions to this moon have been suggested, it would be extremely expensive to put something together. I think it would be remarkable if we could send an unmanned device to this moon. Just the mission itself would inspire a generation. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Europa-moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Europa-moon.jpg" width="320" /></a>Second thing I learned was that water isn't essential to life. Life could exist in other a soup of others chemicals too, such as liquid nitrogen or even mixtures of gases. Life could even exist without light, which it certainly does in the deepest parts of Earths oceans. Some planets are only gaseous, while others are too cold to support liquid water, but might be able to support liquid nitrogen. The point is, the possibilities are endless, and almost every shape and form of life must exist somewhere. <br />
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Hawking is also skeptical of supposed "encounters" with aliens that are occasionally reported on earth. To him, it makes no sense for aliens to take the time to travel across the galaxy only to arrive on earth unannounced and secretly find lonely and abduct them. Hawking fears that if aliens do come to earth, it won't be for peaceful purposes. <br />
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It was an interesting documentary and certainly fun to watch. After it was over, I was wondering if the existence of aliens would refute or confirm the existence of God to believers on Earth.<br />
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This question has almost certainly has been posed to religious scholars. Do any of my readers know the answer? If you do end up reading my query, and can point me in the right direction, please do so in the comments!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-78451449034998380072011-12-22T14:55:00.000-05:002011-12-23T20:27:43.087-05:00Pakistan's New Year's Resolution: A secular pipe dreamIf Pakistan could speak, this is what I feel she would wish for in 2012.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Religion</b>: Begin the process of separating state and religion once and for all. Extremism, feudalism and nepotism have shaken my foundations. Though secularism isn't perfect, it is the best solution given the toxic state of the country. Adding more theocratic nonsense to feudalism and masochism is beyond dangerous. </li>
<li><b>Name</b>: Remove "Islamic" from my official name. Wasn't even my original name. </li>
<li><b>Defense</b>: The armed forces take up a big chunk of my budget. Even though I am officially considered a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4964934.stm">failed state</a>, the military spending is ranked 35th in the world. That is too exorbitant. I want to reduce the size and strength of my armed forces, redirecting those funds towards education, technology, energy and infrastructure.Sounds naive but I need to shift my priorities and focus on internal strife rather than external threats. </li>
<li><b>Education</b>: I will make bold strides to education my people, especially the women, who form the strength and backbone of families.The feudal, masochistic traditions coupled with Islam, have suppressed women for generations. That clock needs to be rewound. </li>
<li><b>Minorities</b>: Minorities have long been persecuted in this country. So much for Jinnah's dream about protecting them. Perhaps shift some defense forces from the Indian border to the entrance of churches?</li>
</ul>
I know that wishes don't necessarily come true. But a secularist can hope.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-68148102122440639912011-12-17T01:47:00.002-05:002011-12-17T13:42:27.171-05:00Bible belt states lead the US in gay pornography searches between 2004 and 2011The states of the Bible belt, America's conservative corridor, lead the country in searching Google for homosexual online media content between 2004 and 2011. I applied Google Insights for Search to the term <i>gay porn</i> and filtered the results to the "Online Media" category. The specific link to the search I performed can be located through this <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-3-613&geo=US&q=gay+porn&cmpt=q">link</a>. The results are normalized by Google such that the scaled numbers can be compared with each other. The top 10 states that lead the United States searching for gay porn are Mississippi, Florida, West Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and New York. The results also include a map showing the relative scaling for search volume across the US.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0iAIf5rhnhLJL75JgK_rfJkWgBEcfhJaUEYaxRpdp6aJaUttSHE91pqoMgT3odkfifA5tMFSbvws7jyTn1B21Vtchqst0KgkMz5kl6RujQ6DRZuYdLmJ8RZlMQvRG-ED0_32r_JVttMC/s1600/GoogleSearchesMap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0iAIf5rhnhLJL75JgK_rfJkWgBEcfhJaUEYaxRpdp6aJaUttSHE91pqoMgT3odkfifA5tMFSbvws7jyTn1B21Vtchqst0KgkMz5kl6RujQ6DRZuYdLmJ8RZlMQvRG-ED0_32r_JVttMC/s400/GoogleSearchesMap.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Search volume index for gay pornography searches</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since a few of the states in the top 10 are Bible belt states, I wanted to graph the search volume index of gay porn as a function of religiosity for people from those states. I included data from a recent <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/114022/state-states-importance-religion.aspx">Gallup Poll</a> that surveyed Americans about how important religion was to their lives. I plotted the results of this poll as a function of the number of searches for the word 'Bible' in each of the 51 states, just to confirm the that Google searches do indeed reflect the opinions and interests of the people within their states. <br />
<a name='more'></a>To no surprise, as the graph below shows, there is terrific correlation between the Gallup Poll on religion and the relative number of Google searches for the word "Bible". <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3FIoXpiiUFBC2s4GefkIHXjHpiaQ4Y4O4vcX9pkyNaVYBKljJjFnMdRhAFFkMzyVfev06xI56pNyCM4KXNmtEgqGrvY7SNy_pxaYUOmdtDrFwNSwNRF0TI4uL4UpKIB3v3K7XIHvjw1e/s1600/ReligionImportanceVsBibleSearches.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3FIoXpiiUFBC2s4GefkIHXjHpiaQ4Y4O4vcX9pkyNaVYBKljJjFnMdRhAFFkMzyVfev06xI56pNyCM4KXNmtEgqGrvY7SNy_pxaYUOmdtDrFwNSwNRF0TI4uL4UpKIB3v3K7XIHvjw1e/s400/ReligionImportanceVsBibleSearches.GIF" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Utah comes out as an anomaly because of the large Mormon population who are not as interested in searching for the word "Bible". For Utah "LDL" was more searched religious term. <br />
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Next, I plotted the Gallup Poll as a function of Google search volume index for "gay porn" and plotted the results below. The trend is not perfect, and it is not meant to be. But it does have some interesting features. The results clearly show that the most religious state, Mississippi, also leads the country in gay porn searches. Several other religious states are also surprisingly at the top of the list. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnhS6f15mv_NL6erH8rZj9XQBq0EpsJAeZKjth1rhmA9a7VuUPczHKqUqbq7mr7UFCulAUbjuBb-EN-WOLhPJxDJ05V7U4r1fNGpnMuPaN0-t6WKOGbDHsXW0rxbGAG3oMYGQw-P0rvZd/s1600/ReligionImportanceVsGayPornSearches.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHnhS6f15mv_NL6erH8rZj9XQBq0EpsJAeZKjth1rhmA9a7VuUPczHKqUqbq7mr7UFCulAUbjuBb-EN-WOLhPJxDJ05V7U4r1fNGpnMuPaN0-t6WKOGbDHsXW0rxbGAG3oMYGQw-P0rvZd/s400/ReligionImportanceVsGayPornSearches.GIF" width="400" /></a></div>
Those were the results and in my opinion, this data shows that hypocrisy is quite prevalent in the Bible belt. People may be conservative or they may be pretending to be conservative, but there is certainly a lot more homosexuality around than they are led to believe.<br />
<br />
It is also possible that homosexuals in these states are oppressed and are reluctant to come out of the closet and fuel their frustrations through openly dating. They may be a lot more isolated and alone than gays in California, for example, which is a much more liberal state. As a result, they turn to the Internet to sexually satisfy themselves. <br />
<br />
The table below shows the raw data. Data for the Google searches for gay porn has been extracted from the Google Insights for Research website which can be accessed through this <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-3-613&q=free%20gay&geo=US&cmpt=geo">link</a>. Similarly, the data for the "bible" Google searches can be accessed through this <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=bible&geo=US&date=1%2F2011%2012m&cmpt=geo">link</a>. The data for the importance of religion for the states comes from a recent <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/114022/state-states-importance-religion.aspx">Gallup Poll</a>.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 405px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 5120; mso-width-source: userset; width: 405pt;" width="140"></col>
<col span="3" style="width: 100pt;" width="100"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl66" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 105pt;" width="140"><b>State</b></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 100pt;" width="100"><b>Google searches for gay porn</b></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 100pt;" width="100"><b>Google searches for "bible"</b></td>
<td class="xl66" style="width: 100pt;" width="100"><b>Religion is important (%)</b></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Mississippi</td>
<td class="xl65">100</td>
<td class="xl65">93</td>
<td class="xl65">85</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Alabama</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
<td class="xl65">100</td>
<td class="xl65">82</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">South Carolina</td>
<td class="xl65">79</td>
<td class="xl65">85</td>
<td class="xl65">80</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Tennessee</td>
<td class="xl65">77</td>
<td class="xl65">93</td>
<td class="xl65">79</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Arkansas</td>
<td class="xl65">88</td>
<td class="xl65">91</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Louisiana</td>
<td class="xl65">90</td>
<td class="xl65">63</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Georgia</td>
<td class="xl65">82</td>
<td class="xl65">77</td>
<td class="xl65">76</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">North Carolina</td>
<td class="xl65">81</td>
<td class="xl65">76</td>
<td class="xl65">76</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Oklahoma</td>
<td class="xl65">79</td>
<td class="xl65">79</td>
<td class="xl65">75</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Texas</td>
<td class="xl65">93</td>
<td class="xl65">77</td>
<td class="xl65">74</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Kentucky</td>
<td class="xl65">90</td>
<td class="xl65">72</td>
<td class="xl65">74</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">West Virginia</td>
<td class="xl65">89</td>
<td class="xl65">67</td>
<td class="xl65">71</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Kansas</td>
<td class="xl65">75</td>
<td class="xl65">60</td>
<td class="xl65">70</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Utah</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
<td class="xl65">24</td>
<td class="xl65">69</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Indiana</td>
<td class="xl65">75</td>
<td class="xl65">66</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Missouri</td>
<td class="xl65">80</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Virginia</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
<td class="xl65">62</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">South Dakota</td>
<td class="xl65">63</td>
<td class="xl65">60</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">North Dakota</td>
<td class="xl65">59</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Nebraska</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
<td class="xl65">51</td>
<td class="xl65">67</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">New Mexico</td>
<td class="xl65">91</td>
<td class="xl65">47</td>
<td class="xl65">66</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Florida</td>
<td class="xl65">100</td>
<td class="xl65">60</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Ohio</td>
<td class="xl65">85</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Maryland</td>
<td class="xl65">59</td>
<td class="xl65">50</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Pennsylvania</td>
<td class="xl65">80</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Michigan</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
<td class="xl65">58</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Iowa</td>
<td class="xl65">63</td>
<td class="xl65">50</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Illinois</td>
<td class="xl65">76</td>
<td class="xl65">49</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Minnesota</td>
<td class="xl65">58</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
<td class="xl65">64</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Arizona</td>
<td class="xl65">80</td>
<td class="xl65">45</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Idaho</td>
<td class="xl65">58</td>
<td class="xl65">44</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Wisconsin</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
<td class="xl65">43</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Delaware</td>
<td class="xl65">65</td>
<td class="xl65">40</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">District of Columbia</td>
<td class="xl65">56</td>
<td class="xl65">40</td>
<td class="xl65">61</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">New Jersey</td>
<td class="xl65">77</td>
<td class="xl65">34</td>
<td class="xl65">60</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Wyoming</td>
<td class="xl65">66</td>
<td class="xl65">49</td>
<td class="xl65">58</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">California</td>
<td class="xl65">75</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Colorado</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
<td class="xl65">44</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Hawaii</td>
<td class="xl65">76</td>
<td class="xl65">40</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Montana</td>
<td class="xl65">68</td>
<td class="xl65">50</td>
<td class="xl65">56</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">New York</td>
<td class="xl65">83</td>
<td class="xl65">38</td>
<td class="xl65">56</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Connecticut</td>
<td class="xl65">66</td>
<td class="xl65">28</td>
<td class="xl65">55</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Nevada</td>
<td class="xl65">88</td>
<td class="xl65">33</td>
<td class="xl65">54</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Oregon</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
<td class="xl65">46</td>
<td class="xl65">53</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Rhode Island</td>
<td class="xl65">85</td>
<td class="xl65">25</td>
<td class="xl65">53</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Washington</td>
<td class="xl65">67</td>
<td class="xl65">46</td>
<td class="xl65">52</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Alaska</td>
<td class="xl65">57</td>
<td class="xl65">49</td>
<td class="xl65">51</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Maine</td>
<td class="xl65">78</td>
<td class="xl65">29</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Massachusetts</td>
<td class="xl65">71</td>
<td class="xl65">25</td>
<td class="xl65">48</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">New Hampshire</td>
<td class="xl65">66</td>
<td class="xl65">28</td>
<td class="xl65">46</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl65" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Vermont</td>
<td class="xl65">74</td>
<td class="xl65">24</td>
<td class="xl65">42</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-88754845893703845682011-12-14T12:51:00.001-05:002011-12-16T14:46:51.698-05:00Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are the most Googled "Four Horsemen of Atheism"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XdN9wcjPqAgPnj7fVYo3n5peW9hqsPoXoimYVQ9E9zvatDKCq41c0Hk5KtR601Fv622NMZQOl66JVqB2rhIJaFvNtN_4q30aiLUIPCIA5P9lsVtY5HSFdmsm9hB6I0KsW_UFcS8CxTSP/s1600/four+horsemen.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XdN9wcjPqAgPnj7fVYo3n5peW9hqsPoXoimYVQ9E9zvatDKCq41c0Hk5KtR601Fv622NMZQOl66JVqB2rhIJaFvNtN_4q30aiLUIPCIA5P9lsVtY5HSFdmsm9hB6I0KsW_UFcS8CxTSP/s400/four+horsemen.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
The "Four Horsemen of atheism" is term coined by Richard Dawkin's <a href="http://richarddawkins.net/videos/2025-the-four-horsemen-available-now-on-dvd">website </a>in reference to a debate on atheism feathing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harris_%28author%29" title="Sam Harris (author)">Sam Harris</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_C._Dennett" title="Daniel C. Dennett">Daniel C. Dennett</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins" title="Richard Dawkins">Richard Dawkins</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens" title="Christopher Hitchens">Christopher Hitchens</a>. I was curious to see which one of these guys is the more Googled atheist in the World. <a href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=Sam+Harris%2C+Daniel+Dennett%2C+Richard+Dawkins%2C+Christopher+Hitchens&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=1">Google Trends</a> shows that Dawkins was the actually the most searched atheist for a while, but Hitchens is pretty much neck and neck with him now. Well, besides being slightly interesting, this isn't the most useful knowledge in the world.<br />
<br />
UPDATE Dec 16th 2011: Rest in peace Christopher Hitchens.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-2260347375996189882011-12-13T01:21:00.001-05:002011-12-14T12:54:27.161-05:00Muslims should boycott Lowe's but also address legitimate concernsLowe's is the latest corporation to pull out as a sponsor of TLC's "All American Muslim". I find this move to be bigoted and despicable and I will subsequently stop shopping at Lowe's.<br />
<br />
The show they were sponsoring isn't my favorite television show but it is a show that needs to be aired. The goal of the show is to depict the lives of normal, boring American Muslims. What is wrong with that? Everyone on earth knows how the fringe extremist Muslims think. This was a much needed show.<br />
<br />
Lowe's claims that they are removing their ads because they didn't want to 'alienate anyone'.<br />
<br />
What the ...?<br />
<br />
They just alienated an entire community by pulling their sponsorship. <br />
<br />
On a second and more important note, I believe Muslims across America need to come together and address the root cause of this sponsorship suspension. The initial opposition from the Florida Family Association that forced Lowe's hand may be racism or bigoted or extreme.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
But whatever the case may be, their gripes with Islam is that it seems to be an extremist religion.<br />
<br />
So if Arabs and Pakistanis, Sunnis and Shiites, Nigerians and Indonesians etc can come together in unison to support "All American Muslim", can't they take this opportunity to collectively acknowledge the accuracy of the fear that the West does have towards Islam. I say use this opportunity to condemn terrorism, condemn the suppression of women, and make strides towards removing extremism from Islam, from their communities and start educating the right people back in their home countries. <br />
<br />
Every Muslim comes together to complain about the West attacking Islam, but when some extremist Muslim does something stupid, moderate and liberal Muslims are silent. Why do they disconnect ourselves from their religion when it suits them, and suddenly become defensive and united when they are attacked?<br />
<br />
Muslims need to not only condemn extremist behaviour as a group but also work towards removing this scourge from their ranks.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-39750507176939383942011-12-13T00:31:00.001-05:002011-12-14T12:54:00.239-05:00Predominantly Muslim countries among global leaders in searching for homosexual pornographic contentThe Islamic view on homosexuality is well known. Not only is it forbidden in the religion, but it is also a <a href="http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Homosexuality">punishable offense</a> in certain Muslim countries. <a href="http://www.glaad.org/2009/05/21/gallop-poll-includes-muslim-views-on-homosexuality">A recent Gallup poll</a> below highlights the negative attitude of Muslims in Western countries towards homosexuality.
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.glaad.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/gallup-survey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://www.glaad.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/gallup-survey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
This trends gains strength in Muslim majority countries. A <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2007/10/04/world-publics-welcome-global-trade-but-not-immigration/4/#chapter-3-views-of-religion-and-morality">Pew Global Attitudes Survey</a> indicates that besides Western Europe and the Americas, the majority of polled citizen from Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, East and Southeast Asia, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East believe that homosexuality should be rejected. Included in these regions are obviously the countries whose populace is mostly Muslim.<br />
<br />
None of these surveys are surprising. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
What is interesting is that Google Trends shows that statistically speaking, several Muslim countries are amongst the global leaders in homosexual pornographic searches on Google. <br />
<br />
For example the search for <i>gay sex pictures</i><b> </b>in Google is run the most by the following countries in decreasing order:<br />
<ol>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Nigeria</li>
<li>Sri Lanka</li>
<li>South Africa</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Serbia</li>
<li>Ireland</li>
<li>United States</li>
</ol>
The <a href="http://trends.google.com/trends?q=gay+sex+video+download%2C+homosexual+porn%2C+gay+porn%2C+gay+porn+videos&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=0">search </a>for <i>gay sex video download </i>in Google is run the most by the following countries in decreasing order:<br />
<ol>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Vietnam</li>
<li>United States</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>United Kingdom</li>
</ol>
The <a href="http://trends.google.com/trends?q=gay+porn+download&ctab=0&geo=all&date=ytd&sort=1">search </a>for <i>gay porn download </i>in Google is run the most by the following countries in decreasing order:<br />
<ol>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>South Africa</li>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Serbia</li>
<li>Greece</li>
<li>Singapore</li>
<li>New Zealand</li>
</ol>
There were several more Google searches that I looked at but the facts don't change...and here the facts. <br />
<ul>
<li>The search data from several Muslim countries indicates that they lead they way in the searching for homosexual content on the Internet</li>
<li>These statistics show that the number of searches go far and beyond anything that represents fringe behavior. </li>
<li>Hardly surprising, but there are plenty of homosexuals that reside in these countries. </li>
<li>Gays are everywhere. </li>
</ul>
Those were the facts. Now whats my conclusion?<br />
<br />
For one things, I know and believe that homosexuality is natural. Sexual preference is something people are born with and it must be recognized as such. Science has made plenty of strides in this regard to show the genetic basis of homosexuality. <br />
<br />
Secondly, Islam is certainly not the only religion that attacks homosexuals. Almost all the major monotheistic religions look down upon homosexuality. I did this study on predominately Muslim countries because I wanted to prove a point. Muslim countries probably have the same proportion of gays and lesbians as other countries. However their rights are probably suppressed, they probably feel more isolated and resort to the Internet more than their Western peers. It is a lot more difficult to 'come out' in a Muslim country than it is to come out of the closet in Westerns nations.<br />
<br />
Having said that, I think the US government made a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/world/united-states-to-use-aid-to-promote-gay-rights-abroad.html">great decision</a> to try help bolster the rights of gays abroad. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In a memorandum issued by <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama.">President Obama</a>
in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by
other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct, abuse gay men,
lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, or ignore abuse against
them. </blockquote>
That's great news and a recent <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/12/11/can-you-be-gay-and-muslim.html">editorial </a>in the Jakarta Post regarding this subject is encouraging dialogue. The author writes<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Within a more humanistic framework, celebrating beliefs and expressing
sexual identity are part of our human rights and for that reason the
government should recognize them as they are explicitly mentioned in
international documents. </blockquote>
and <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In fact, two-way communication to bring different perspectives about
sexual identity and to convey the message that it is a fluid concept
should be encouraged in order to create commonalities among components
of society. </blockquote>
This debate needs to be encouraged in all countries.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-73751817734392924372011-12-10T21:55:00.001-05:002011-12-11T01:09:33.096-05:00The top 10 songs that bring back memories<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Music has played and continues to play a big part in my life. Some music, and in particular, some songs bring back intense memories, some are good memories and some not so. Here is a list of my top 10 memory-evoking songs in no particular order and the memory I attach to the song.</span></div>
<ol style="font-family: inherit;">
<li> <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96jFtzVa80A">Ace of Base - The Sign</a>. 7th grade crush. Whatever!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914">A-Ha - Take On Me</a>. Cheese puffs, RC Cola and records. Good old days!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw">Culture Club - Karma Chameleon</a>. Growing up in the 80's. Loved that time. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q">Dexys Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen</a>.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="OFFICIAL Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole"> Same as above. Who doesn't miss that music?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="OFFICIAL Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I">Somewhere over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole</a>. Grandparents. Miss them. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iol0B-clFFM">The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup</a>. Crushes suck. This song is beautiful. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5TwT69i1lU">Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World</a>. Life, love, nature really are incredible. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk">Bon Jovi - Livin on a Prayer</a>. My time in New Jersey. Loved this place. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMPM1q_Uyxc">Snap! - Rhythm is a dancer</a>. Karachi. My hometown. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm0eqPJwQDo">Lighthouse Family - High</a>. Broken heart in college. </span></li>
</ol>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-58769106718295281012011-12-09T11:24:00.001-05:002011-12-09T12:04:04.057-05:00Top 10 ways to save money as a PhD graduate studentAs most of us graduate and PhD students know, the stipend isn't exactly a gold mine. But it suffices. There are, however, ways of stretching that stipend out quite a bit so that you can enjoy some things in life more? Here are my top 10 suggestions.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Travel</b>: When you travel, <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">couch surf</a>. Its the way to go. You'll save on hotels, and plus if you're traveling abroad, you'll stay with people who may be willing to show you around. What can be better than touring a new place with an expert?</li>
<li><b>Groceries</b>: Start couponing! It sounds like hard work but it is so easy. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it. You can save 50% or more on everyday groceries. Just get the local or regional newspaper every Sunday, and keep the "Smart Source" and "Red Plum" inserts. Then go to one of the many couponing websites that already match the coupons you have to the grocery stores in your area like <a href="http://www.couponmom.com/">Coupon Mom</a>, <a href="http://www.generoussavings.com/">Generous Savings</a> and <a href="http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/">Living Rich With Coupons</a>. Don't believe the show "Extreme Couponing"; you don't need a lot of space to store the free or extremely cheap stuff.</li>
<li><b>Commute</b>: Skip the car, bike to work. Or take the campus bus. But try and avoid your own car as much as possible. Besides, its healthier too. <a name='more'></a></li>
<li><b>Drinks</b>: Figure out the local happy hour scene and become a local at your favorite pub. As graduate students, life is not as structured as in other professions. You can probably go to a Thursday happy hour at the local watering hole at 4pm, while others need to stay at work till 6pm.Plus if you become friends with the bouncer or the bartender, the drinks will flow...for free. </li>
<li><b>Lunch</b>: Keep an eye out for interesting campus talks that may be unrelated to your field. Your department probably sponsors the lunch for the departmental seminar every one or two weeks, which is great. But you may be interested in some of the Psych, Math, or Religion department seminars too. And remember, they also serve food. I'm not saying you should go for the food. But, go for the talk. The free food is a plus. A friend and I in graduate school once had lunch for free every single day for 2 weeks while attending different seminars. It is possible. </li>
<li><b>Groceries</b>: Buy or share a <a href="http://www.costco.com/">Costco </a>membership! I think with a certain Amex credit card, its free for the first year or something...and buy in bulk. I know a lot of people really are into the whole Ramen thing. But I for one, don't believe you should cop out out on food. But the best stuff, but just be smart about it. Look for deals in the grocery store fliers, buy in bulk, and coupon! Even Costco accepts coupons. Plus you Costco also sells gas at a better rate than anyone around. </li>
<li><b>Television</b>: Get the <a href="http://www.roku.com/">Roku player </a>and skip the cable bill. Seriously. You can get all your favorite shows through Roku/Hulu/Netflix anyway. Who watches live TV nowadays anyway? Read my <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/2009/05/roku-rocks-netflix-streaming-video.html">last blog post</a> about this for more information. </li>
<li><b>Drinks</b>: Do you drink a lot? Consider buying a kegerator for your place. I don't have one but my friends do. That thing pays for itself.</li>
<li><b>Entertainment</b>: Yes, I know. The graduate student committees and campus organizations are lame. Forget those. Keep an eye instead on Groupon, LivingSocial, DailyDeals etc. Tons of entertainment options there. </li>
<li> <b>Dinners</b>: Eating out is convenient, but try and cook at home as much as possible. Honestly, it takes 30 minutes to prepare a good meal. If you have no time, make lot of food on the weekends and store it. There really is no excuse for not cooking at home. </li>
</ol>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-91577774771716556252011-12-07T15:46:00.001-05:002011-12-07T16:09:55.189-05:00Google searches for phrase "Is there a God" increasing dramaticallyGoogle insights for search allows one to compare and contrast the phrases that people are Googling and how that interest shifts over time. The data is scaled out of 100 and prior to the scaling, is relative to the total number of all searches (the insights for search <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/">website </a>has more information about the scaling). As a result, one can compare interest in certain search terms with other terms.<br />
<br />
I noticed an interesting trend this morning.<br />
<br />
As the chart below shows, interest in the phrase, "is there a God" has <a href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=0-14-59&q=%22is%20there%20a%20god%22%2C%22does%20god%20exist%22%2C%22is%20god%20real%22%2C%22god%20is%20real%22&date=1%2F2006%2072m&cmpt=q">skyrocketed </a>over the past 4 years. I had put the phrase in quotes, as that forces the ordering of words. Some of the the other terms also show slight increases. I'm not claiming that this implies that atheism is on the rise, but that the relative interest in understanding religion, or the lack thereof, seems to be on the rise. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrZNn_pWhVb3vEiBOO5SLLzs7pQCy5XyDojFGKnZXqJYm71hAZpQPBsGtlNWMkSBtXsYZCB2gs7HJm6YzGIBdpcgFtjF2U235o9xbgfZEkPDHev-w1iS4UI8bziR7usyl5GYtjJiiA3_M/s400/Questioning+Religion+Searches.PNG" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relative number of Google searches for various phrases questioning God as a function of time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What is odd is that "is there a God" is the only phrase I found that increased so dramatically. Some of the other phrases that I have not shown on the graph did not show such a dramatic rise. Thinking that there might have been some event around 2008 that caused the spike, I Googled this term myself and did not find anything out of the ordinary that would cause it, like a song, movie, famous quote, or event. There is, however, a website called www.isthereagod.net but I don't think searching for that website can account for such a sharp rise in the search for this phrase.<br />
<br />
Just thought I would put this out there. <br />
<br />
Interesting stuff.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-45519446406428490902011-12-04T23:36:00.001-05:002011-12-05T00:14:40.809-05:00Pakistan leads internet in twisted sex-related keyword searchesSince <a href="http://www.google.com/trends">Google Trends</a> started releasing their data on global keyword searches, it had been well known that Pakistan leads the entire world in Google searches for the keyword "sex". I had read the initial news reports on this with amusement but never investigated it myself...till now. What I found out surprised me. <br />
<br />
First of all, just to confirm the <a href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=sex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0">results</a>, as of December 4th, 2011, Pakistan still leads the entire world in total volume of searches for the keyword, "sex". Rounding out the top 10 are:<br />
<ol>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Vietnam</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Egypt</li>
<li>Morocco</li>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>Turkey</li>
<li>Greece</li>
<li>Poland</li>
</ol>
Interesting to note that 7 of the top 10 are predominantly Muslim majority countries (I included India just because it has a sizable Muslim population).<br />
<br />
I can't prove why Muslim countries seem to be leading the way in this unflattering trend, but I think I have an explanation for this.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Muslim societies are starved for sex and entertainment. Because of the rules of Islam, mixing between the genders is either forbidden or taboo, and is as a result, a rare occurrence. The only outlet for people's frustration is the Internet, where there are no rules, no boundaries, and no limits to the imagination. In my opinion, Google is their playground; the outlet for their curiosity and disgruntlement. <br />
<br />
That all seems fair. Sex is a basic carnal need, and I can probably understand and accept why Pakistan would top the list above.<br />
<br />
Upon further investigation, what I did not expect was how twisted the country really is. Pakistan also leads the entire world in several other bizarre sex-related searches: <br />
<ul>
<li>"rape"</li>
<li>"child porn"</li>
<li>"animal sex"</li>
<li>"dog sex"</li>
<li>"horse sex"</li>
<li>"rape videos"</li>
<li>"rape girls"</li>
<li>"sister rape"</li>
</ul>
I am not one to judge someone's private life, or their personal sexual preferences, but there is something to be said about a specific country leading the entire world in searching for the most fucked up things. This goes far beyond sexual starvation. The perverse thoughts reflected in the popularity of these search terms speaks volumes about the lack of morality in a society that is spinning out of control. This isn't a dozen people or so and nor are these results relative. This is based on the sheer volume of searches.These are real statistics. <br />
<br />
Land of the Pure....<br />
<br />
How ironic.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-76515392701078817952011-11-03T11:33:00.003-04:002011-12-22T13:10:12.459-05:00About MeI'm a bioinformatics researcher studying resistance mutations and correlations in viral proteins. Sequence <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/search/label/science">evolution</a> plays a central role in my research. Being born and raised in <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/search/label/pakistan">Pakistan </a>exposed me to Islam and religious hypocrisy at an early age. As a result, I am critical of several aspects of <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/search/label/religion">religion</a>. I enjoy questioning religion, blind faith, set beliefs and unspoken norms and am interested in highlighting the hypocrisy of religion in society. I am especially sensitive to the (mis)treatment of <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/2009/06/banning-burqa-is-not-solution-but-it.html">women</a>. Through this blog, I share my perspective. You can also find <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/haqomar">me on twitter</a>. <a class="twitter-follow-button" count="false" href="https://twitter.com/HaqOmar" lang="en">Follow @HaqOmar</a><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/OscarLovesLife"><img alt="" height="26" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Efc/OscarLovesLife?bg=99CCFF&fg=444444&anim=0" style="border: 0pt none;" width="88" /></a><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/OscarLovesLife" rel="alternate" title="Subscribe to my feed" type="application/rss+xml"><img alt="" src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/feed-icon32x32.png" style="border: 0pt none;" /></a>
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Oh. And Oscar is my dog. He loves life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-52511951169355450412011-10-20T01:55:00.001-04:002011-11-02T10:24:39.792-04:00New book traces origin of AIDS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiENOuyIpxlVpxesORw9WgNFaBCm828eNTN5VGUiTpzwZfFiRWjk-twbd3UcmhQ51EkKMGTkutpexwPyQcIuPJaydTQmkByNXttOxovwj6OjIP2ZRJ6a0FcE80h3rMepTXkxWPQcqKYwLTb/s1600/51T6LJDLmUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiENOuyIpxlVpxesORw9WgNFaBCm828eNTN5VGUiTpzwZfFiRWjk-twbd3UcmhQ51EkKMGTkutpexwPyQcIuPJaydTQmkByNXttOxovwj6OjIP2ZRJ6a0FcE80h3rMepTXkxWPQcqKYwLTb/s1600/51T6LJDLmUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div>
The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/health/18aids.html?_r=1">published </a>a review of a really interesting book this week. The book is called The Origin of AIDS and it is written by Dr. Jacques Pepin. From the review, it looks like a really detailed, well researched book and is obviously very interesting to me, because my PhD work is on the evolution of HIV. <br />
<br />
I glanced through the book at Barnes and Noble this afternoon and it really looks pretty detailed. Basically, the author has pieced together clinical information, historical data, HIV sequence data and come up with some very plausible ideas about how AIDS initially spread. He talks about how 'amplification' of the virus occurred and postulates that there were four different points at which the virus jumped from apes to humans. He also discusses the role Western countries, as imperial powers, played in spreading the virus. <br />
<a name='more'></a>Nowadays, the M strain is the mist widespread HIV strain. Dr. Pepin talks about why this may be so. Worth a read one day!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-961277100419823192011-10-19T18:53:00.001-04:002011-11-02T10:23:48.015-04:00Why the US needs to legalize marijuana<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rtGXJZ2aQJYEmWeqb_99auddxnxqaQXaKXmR4g-L5p5HYB2hnDq8I66HOAtKe0KHdrVSo7pGeFaA6avuRjSwNN0DAA8bYYicV-xkBSoRk6U7gvkZakqe2NCKH2Z9RF7rI_XexuX0cDde/s1600/CSativa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rtGXJZ2aQJYEmWeqb_99auddxnxqaQXaKXmR4g-L5p5HYB2hnDq8I66HOAtKe0KHdrVSo7pGeFaA6avuRjSwNN0DAA8bYYicV-xkBSoRk6U7gvkZakqe2NCKH2Z9RF7rI_XexuX0cDde/s320/CSativa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/150149/Record-High-Americans-Favor-Legalizing-Marijuana.aspx">recent Gallup poll</a> has determined that half of Americans are now in favor of legalizing marijuana. Some salient points from this study are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Liberals and 18 to 29 year old people are 69% in favor</li>
<li>Republicans, Conservatives and seniors at 31% in favor</li>
<li>Support for legalizing it has been growing steadily over the years. It is now at a record level. </li>
</ul>
Interesting that a third of conservatives are also in favor of it. I also believe that marijuana should be decriminalized and I strongly believe it is bound to happen. Plus the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a> <ol>
<li>It is safer than alcohol and other drugs. However, operating machinery is dangerous while doing any drug. It doesn't make sense to ban one sort of drug and allow another. </li>
<li>Legalizing it will reduce criminal indictments. Will lead to less strain on the police and the judicial system plus the supply won't be underground anymore. </li>
<li>Taxing it will be a revenue source</li>
<li>It does have medical benefits</li>
<li>I think initially there will be a spike in marijuana related incidents, but they will certainly level off</li>
<li>It will reduce the amount of frustration in society that is directly connected to the drug</li>
<li>Will probably lead to a reduction to the power of cartels. Suppliers can be based in the US. </li>
</ol>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-27334345501986545722011-10-19T13:26:00.000-04:002011-12-09T14:33:37.080-05:00Privacy PolicyPrivacy Policy for <a href="http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/">http://oscarloveslife.blogspot.com/</a> <br />
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The list is in no particular order.<br /><ul><li>New Hope, PA, Lambertville, NJ</li></ul>New Hope and Lambertville are on opposite sides of the Delaware river in Pennsylvania and New Jersey respectively. These towns are beautiful, cute, with antique shops, and fun dining. New Hope's main street has quite a few restaurants, some of which overlook the main street. So you can sit at Havana's, a bar on the main street, sip a beer, relax and watch people parade their Harley's and old restored cars. New Hope Winery is close by too if you're up for some wine tasting. It also has a historic steam engine train station that you can wander through the county in. New Hope is more lively, while Lambertville is the quieter of the two towns. It has a bunch of antique shops, a nice ice cream place called Bucks, and a supposedly fantastic restaurant with a great view of the river, the Lambertville Station Restaurant. I always wanted to eat there, but we couldn't ever find it! I know where it is now though, and I'll just have to wait till this summer to try it. I've been to both these towns a bunch of times, and it's always been fun.<br /><ul><li>Cape May, NJ</li></ul>Cape May is by far, the nicest Jersey shore town in my opinion. It is without the riffraff that accompanies some of the northern shore towns, and far removed from the ugliness of Atlantic City. It has a fun boardwalk, great restaurants, and a cool ferry to Delaware, though I haven't been on that yet. Another attraction is the yearly Cape May Wine Festival.<br /><ul><li>Clinton, NJ</li></ul>Clinton has a cute downtown, a historic red sawmill, an awesome bridge on main street, and a restaurant with a beautiful view of all of the above, the Old River House Restaurant. I would recommend going next door to the Balic of Clinton to taste some wines, buying what you like, and uncorking them at the Old River House. <br /><ul><li>East Stroudsburg, PA</li></ul>My latest discovery and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. This town is fantastic. It has a population of about 10,000 and about 20 pubs. Yuengling is brewed nearby and you can find $1.00 draughts. That's right. I said $1.00. I recommend Tony's pizzeria for dinner, and Maritas Cantina for the after party.<br /><ul><li>Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park</li></ul>I found this park by accident while driving home with my parents one day. This is a park that goes along a bunch of canals in the area. Although we just walked part of it, one can kayak down the water or use the bike pathways as well. It was scenic, peaceful, and a good place to relax and go for a walk... if you're in to that kind of thing.<br /><ul><li>Shawnee Mountain, Campgaw Mountain</li></ul>Both these ski areas are about an hour from me, and both have their pros and cons. Shawnee is bigger, with more trails, but is usually very crowded. Campgaw is a tiny hill, but it is devoid of crowds usually. Shawnee offers student discounts as well.<br /><ul><li>Somerville, NJ</li></ul>Somerville, NJ reminds me of Wellesley, MA for some reason which I can't pinpoint. Unfortunately I have only visited this town once, but it looks cute, very walkable and seems fun. The reason I am recommending it, is because its got an amazing fondue restaurant, the Melting Pot. You have to try it!<br /><ul><li>Keansburg, NJ</li></ul>My fiance and I wandered over here by mistake, as we were driving to Atlantic City, and we got hungry. But Keansburg is kind of fun, in a trashy sort of way! It's a quiet beach town, with an amusement park. There are no nice restaurants, as far as we could see, but plenty of seaside type eats. Watch out for the fried food stalls though. They were frying pretty much everything under the sun. Fried snickers, fried bananas, fried you-name-it!<br /><ul><li>Sandy Hook, NJ</li></ul>This is a Jersey Shore town without the crowds and the bars. It has a bunch of seafood restaurants, and a deserted military base, with lighthouses. It's really close by, and if I'm in the mood for the beach, which is rare, this is where I go!<br /><br /><ul><li>Fall drive through Frenchtown</li></ul>This was really fun this past fall. My fiance and I drove through Frenchtown, avoiding the major roads. We wanted to see fall colors and this was a great place in Jersey to see them. We also visited the famous, and one and only covered bridge in New Jersey, the Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge. However, seeing this bridge was definitely very anti climatic, but cool in a weird way. I would recommend the Sergeantsville Inn for lunch. Great food!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-21065284673670953012009-06-26T21:11:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.642-04:00Banning the burqa is not the solution, but it's a start<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8R1xoi88QdbWwrSzaUZlLeshnLXe96Mc3ZgxFDUehCrW6kLlSO1sW2IM3Aumhv4z6KRLnjGEEHILaEQ8eTzGHuM-RvTiu6X6wtYe0JNLsWbzbGvVLekBEQ8jeOuZ20dOadf8N2avaFwQ/s1600-h/niqabgroupphoto.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8R1xoi88QdbWwrSzaUZlLeshnLXe96Mc3ZgxFDUehCrW6kLlSO1sW2IM3Aumhv4z6KRLnjGEEHILaEQ8eTzGHuM-RvTiu6X6wtYe0JNLsWbzbGvVLekBEQ8jeOuZ20dOadf8N2avaFwQ/s320/niqabgroupphoto.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351823078326408034" border="0" /></a>French President Sarkozy recently reignited the debate over the burqa or the veil that <span style="font-weight: bold;">some </span>Muslim women wear. He said <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">that the<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">...burqa is not a religious sign. It is a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.</blockquote></span> I disagree with the French president...but only with the second part of this quote. But first, let me preface my argument with my own thoughts on the the burqa, also spelled as burka and may be referred to as the hijab or the chador as well. (In this post, I am referring only to the complete head to toe burqa, with perhaps a slit or netting for the eyes. In this outfit, the face is not visible. The headscarf is something very different, and is what some women in my family back home in Pakistan wear.)<br /><br />I believe that the burqa really is a construct of a misogynistic and feudal society. And there is no doubting the fact that Islamic societies have suppressed the rights of women for as long as one can remember. The cause of this evil (and it really is evil...) is not Islam, however, because Islam was meant to be the cure. In its purest form, Islamic teachings do make valiant efforts to raise the status of women, but these teachings have fallen to deaf ears. The real reason in my opinion, is illiteracy, and the fact that Islam spread like wildfire through lands that were already pagan, uneducated, and heavily misogynistic. Islam was meant to heal these ancient feudal lands of this backbreaking curse on women, but has instead become associated with women's rights violations. But that is the past, yet today things have not changed much. Therefore, in this day and age, Islamic leaders and followers deserve the blame for the imbalance of power between the sexes.<br /><br />Moreover, I don't see how the burqa helps a woman as I believe it disconnects her from society at large, especially Western society. And it is unfortunate that it is mostly Western leadership that is denouncing the veil. Jack Straw, the former British foreign Minister once wrote that, "wearing the full veil was bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult". This careful statement is completely true, and besides the obvious community aspects, the head to toe covering must be unbearably uncomfortable. I can not fathom how a woman enjoys wearing something completely covering her up and is barely able to walk. It's also a safety issue. I've seen women driving with their faces covered, and its obvious to see that their peripheral vision is limited. That's just as dangerous as driving with your eyes closed.<br /><br />However, even after all this, I believe it is the right of any woman to decide whether she wants to wear a burqa or not. We must recognize the fact that not all women wear the veil on their own free will. Let's not be naive here. There is immense pressure on women to wear the veil, especially if her community at large wears it. In fact most women don't even have the choice to NOT wear the veil. In these situations, both the Islamic leadership and the country in question, must provide avenues for discussion, and safety for the woman who decides against the burqa. If women choose not to wear the veil, then they should be allowed to do so, with adequate protection from their community and country. I believe the President Sarkozy should communicate with Muslim leadership in his country and convey such a point. Banning the veil outright, and imposing his belief system on another person is just plain wrong, to quote my brother.<br /><br />Muslims (mostly men) around the world have been incensed with the French president's stance. They all believe that Muslim women must have the right to choose to wear the burqa. That's no problem. But these same Muslims must realize that they must provide their women with the right to NOT choose to wear the burqa as well. And that's really where the problem stems. President Sarkozy recognizes that Muslims societies are not willing to give up this stranglehold on women and what they wear. Wearing the burqa has become such an integral part of Muslim societies that people don't realize that its not an Islamic practice in the first place. And even if some sects believe that it is a integral practice, then they must allow their women the choose to wear it or not. And it is these women that must be protected. The issue isn't Jack Straw or President Sarkozy being racists against Islam, but the problem is that Islamic societies are unwilling to change and unwilling to remove the sexist policies of their uneducated, pagan past.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-34770662818122769932009-06-10T11:00:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.659-04:00New 'words' in the English language are stupidSo the <a href="http://www.languagemonitor.com/no-of-words">Global Language Monitor</a> just announced that the number of words in the English language exceeded 1 million this morning at 10:22am. Since it's 11am right now, most people would incorrectly deduce that I was awaiting this event with bated breath. Well, actually the millionth word was added according to <strong style="font-weight: normal;">Stratford-on Avon Time so I'm about 5 hours behind and slightly less of a loser.<br /><br />Anyway, I think some of the new words are ridiculous. The millionth word is actually 'web 2.0' meaning "</strong>The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you". Firstly, <strong style="font-weight: normal;">isn't that a word and a number? And secondly do we really need to add such a silly word to our vocabulary.<br /><br />The stupidity doesn't end here. Some of the words that <span style="font-style: italic;">lost out</span> by not becoming the millionth word are: </strong>Jai Ho!, N00b, Slumdog, Cloud Computing, Carbon Neutral, Slow Food, Octomom etc.<br /><br />You get the idea. Some of these words are slang, some are movie titles, and some are words in an another language. Now of course I understand that many words like veranda, chutney, kama sutra, actually originate in foreign languages, but that process took decades. In fact, a large majority of native English speakers know these words and use them in every day language. I obviously don't agree that the majority should know the word before it is officially incorporated (and by no means is the Global Language Monitor official), but there needs to be a lower limit as well. Where a certain proportion of the population needs to understand the meaning. After all, the only thing "Jai ho!" has going for it, is a <a href="http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=pussy%20cat%20dolls%20jai%20ho%20remix&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#">Pussycat Dolls remix</a>.<br /><br />I'm not alone in finding this silly. According to their website, a number of linguists disagree with putting a number on words in a language...<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"><span></span>Linguists believe that there is no way to count words, since the nature of what a word is, itself, is in dispute.<span> </span>Hence you cannot count what you cannot define.<span> </span><span></span>More so, even attempting to take a measure of the language is to be condemned.</span></blockquote>Well, I'm certainly no linguist or expert in the matter, but I'm interested to see what my friends in linguistics think about this...<br /><br />Sigherz...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-71742209171976575922009-06-04T13:00:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.676-04:00Protein folding and docking on the PlaystationFolding@home, as most people in the field would know, is the massively distributed protein folding simulation. As far as I remember, users around the globe can download a screen saver and contribute their idle computer processors to aid explicit (and recently implicit) solvent simulations of proteins folding and/or misfolding. Understanding this process is therapeutically important, as I have pointed out in an <a href="http://omarhaq.blogspot.com/2008/10/why-is-protein-folding-so-important.html">earlier post</a>.Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that people had begun using Playstation consoles as a more than adequate substitute for expensive, and cumbersome nodes which are commonly used in computer clusters. The reason for this is that modern games require such heavy graphics and processor power, that the Playstations are computationally very efficient. Moreover, due to their popularity, the cost of a single Playstation is quite cheap, and the technology is very well developed. It makes sense that scientists involved in biological simulations have caught on. Folding@home and Sony have recently got together, making even idle Playstations useful. <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span>It's not just protein folding, but the powerful playstations can be used for other computationally demanding assignments such as ligand docking. I just <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/cen/87/i21/html/8721sci3.html">read</a> that <a href="http://www.simbiosys.ca/">Simbiosys</a> has released a version of their docking software for the PS3.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">To lower the cost and power consumption typically associated with compound-library-screening programs, SimBioSys has also released </span><strong style="font-style: italic;">eHiTS Lightning.</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> This package combines the 2009 eHiTS software with IBM's Cell/B.E. chip multiprocessor, found in the Sony PlayStation 3, to achieve a 10-fold increase in computational speed. The PlayStation 3 hardware (shown) replaces some of the expensive computer infrastructure required for virtual screening programs, opening up computer-aided drug design to smaller companies previously unable to afford it.</span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span> Pretty damn cool!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-25524764492375030692009-05-26T23:48:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.700-04:00Roku rocks! Netflix streaming video, right to my television!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1AZKXkU8JMYo1hfBbBDzoQa8TH14sePyacGNZ8fCoaIC9dqHBZqESouiaQu-Hq6E04oTDhEgeNpI_DRE8Vb9L5vjcjXPLE7fdl08Bh-HkgJMum-j1hIi06Rupk0PZKmWDNrvs67Rrzo/s1600-h/netflix_roku_streaming.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1AZKXkU8JMYo1hfBbBDzoQa8TH14sePyacGNZ8fCoaIC9dqHBZqESouiaQu-Hq6E04oTDhEgeNpI_DRE8Vb9L5vjcjXPLE7fdl08Bh-HkgJMum-j1hIi06Rupk0PZKmWDNrvs67Rrzo/s320/netflix_roku_streaming.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340360534844381458" border="0" /></a>When Netflix launched their video streaming service, I was ecstatic. Being able to watch a movie on my computer anytime I wanted to, was spectacular convenient. And having been part of a generation, who are more than used to watching movies on our tiny laptops, this form of media delivery, with its smaller screens, overheating laptops on our laps, and terrible sound, did not bother me at all. (On a side note, I still remember how shocked I was to see commercials while watching Family Guy for the first time on TV. The reason being, I was part of the vast number of people who had only seen Family Guy and other shows like it via P2P networks.) Of course the convenience of instantly watching needs to be offset by something, and that something is a reduced library of movies and shows which can be watched instantly. So Netflix doesn't offer its full range of media, but it still lets you watch about 50,000+ things. And it's unlimited viewing via streaming for $8.99 a month.<br /><br />Sp recently my brother told me about his latest purchase, the <a href="http://www.roku.com/default.aspx">Roku </a>player.This player streams the available Netflix movies and shows via the Internet right to your television. It can use your wireless Internet as well, is sometimes in high definition depending on the movie, and moreover, it requires no subscription, just a one time cost of $99, plus of course a monthly Netflix subscription. However, I would buy the HDMI cable from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hdmi+cable&x=0&y=0">Amazon </a>or something, as its about 10 times cheaper than buying it from the Roku website.<br /><br />Anyway, I love this device. It's so much better to watch stuff on my television than on my laptop. Plus some movies are in HD, so the picture is a lot better. And the amount of shows available are more than enough for someone like me, who is always about 5 seasons behind everything. Plus I'm into independent and art house movies, and recently I've been obsessed with re-watching the classics, so I'm more than happy with the variety that Netflix and Roku provide. The Roku player for streaming Netflix movies is one of the most affordable and useful pieces of tech out there right now. I can't see myself ever living without one.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-32387440184696866892009-05-26T17:26:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.718-04:00Movie recommendation: The Man from Earth"The Man from Earth" is a fantastic science fiction movie touching upon arguably the most sensitive topic known to man, religion. The screen play is brilliant and though its a short film, it is unnervingly captivating, and does not come off in any way, as cheesy or ridiculous. The story is about a protagonist professor, John Oldman, who is leaving the university he works at and moving away, out of the blue. When pressed by his friends as to why he is leaving, he reveals for the first time to anyone, that he is actually about 14,000 years old and was once a caveman, and since he doesn't age, he needs to keep on moving along from one point to another every 10 years or so, to avoid suspicion. Thus the entire movie is an intellectual discourse amongst the skeptical guests at his going away party. These guests include a historian, a biologist, an anthropologist, an archaeologist and a religious scholar and they all grapple with the remote possibility that someone might actually be able to live this long, yet have no way to prove it, be a part of history as well, and more importantly, be a religious figure. In a shocking twist, Oldman reveals that he became a follower of Buddha after meeting him in India. After Buddha's death, he decided to spread Buddha's teachings of tolerence and peace and travelled across the world preaching. People didn't listen to him, they spited him and so on and eventually they crucified him. But John just let his muscles relax and pretended to die, using meditation he had learned while traveling through India. His audience is flabbergasted as, incredibly, Oldman had just claimed to actually be Jesus Christ!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHor45jEJkRbcfLzUDmKg8iTfQhC4XxHxyz-nfcRraXlR83_RN7HQsxqBjIMSc2jBpY-M7lGz3gg4llkb9perSq_kLDj1Jj_47zuC7jZyA6XWr4aSIfGYgLS9zq1vQDZ4cx51EII41gqk/s1600-h/manfromearth.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 247px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHor45jEJkRbcfLzUDmKg8iTfQhC4XxHxyz-nfcRraXlR83_RN7HQsxqBjIMSc2jBpY-M7lGz3gg4llkb9perSq_kLDj1Jj_47zuC7jZyA6XWr4aSIfGYgLS9zq1vQDZ4cx51EII41gqk/s320/manfromearth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340262796264751490" border="0" /></a>Anyway, I certainly cannot explain this movie as well as wikipedia or the movie itself, so I'm not going to even going to try. But I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science fiction, or who thinks about religion and the meaning of life. At the very least, this movie has the ability to spark discussions.<br /><br />I certainly felt this movie was thought-provoking, I was frightened at some points, inspired at others, but at the end, I was aching to talk to someone about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-69039418995426407392009-05-10T22:15:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.732-04:00Community targeted advertisements - Only in New Jersey...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJw5QWmZs-AbYcFpYo4C_UG53Ma4hdK3suchFOvgAVlIKw4z96M4A7sl3tncoB6kRA6AKreXFwgwuvp6UoHg6YCWBasGugjBbSYs1kyQRr-UG18uvZmyjsanrUvVutW_1m39Q-PCtrVj4/s1600-h/PIC-0062.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJw5QWmZs-AbYcFpYo4C_UG53Ma4hdK3suchFOvgAVlIKw4z96M4A7sl3tncoB6kRA6AKreXFwgwuvp6UoHg6YCWBasGugjBbSYs1kyQRr-UG18uvZmyjsanrUvVutW_1m39Q-PCtrVj4/s320/PIC-0062.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334384766666935282" border="0" /></a>Check out this flier I got in the mail the other day. I was so amused to read "TASTE KI BAAT HAI!" on top. I was even more surprised to see that it was from McDonald's, who are currently in the midst of promoting their new coffee drinks.<br /><br />So for those of you who don't speak Urdu, "TASTE KI BAAT HAI!" means something like "It's about the taste".<br /><br />I guess they probably found me through my name. But the concept of targeted advertising is quite interesting nevertheless. I don't know if community targeted advertisements are supposed to work better than just ones in plain English, but one thing is for certain. This can only happen in New Jersey!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-29759979524659996022009-04-19T13:34:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.748-04:00Recent op-eds about Pakistan paint a dire pictureRecent op-eds in various newspapers have painted a terribly dire picture of Pakistan's current situation and future prospects. The opinion pieces that one reads every once in a while about Pakistan, aren't usually particularly rosy, but this sudden clumping of articles over the past few weeks is worrisome as the situation gets progressively worse.<br /><br />The stranglehold of the Taliban in the northwest, the flogging of a peasant girl, and the peace treaty with Taliban forces have dominated headlines, sparked debate, and have caught the elite in Pakistan and the bourgeoisie by surprise. However the news item that bothered me the most, and if true, will be the biggest threat to the country's stability, is the possible Talibanization of Punjab, which is the heart of Pakistan. A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/asia/14punjab.html?fta=y">recent New York Times article</a> entitled, "United Militants Threaten Pakistan's Populous Heart" reported the following:<br /><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;">Telltale signs of creeping militancy abound in a belt of towns and villages near here that a reporter visited last week. Militants have gained strength considerably in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, which is a gateway both to Taliban-controlled areas and the heart of Punjab, the police and local residents say. Many were terrified. Some villages, just north of here, are so deeply infiltrated by militants that they are already considered no-go zones by their neighbors. </p><p style="font-style: italic;">In at least five towns in southern and western Punjab, including the midsize hub of Multan, barber shops, music stores and Internet cafes offensive to the militants’ strict interpretation of Islam have received threats. Traditional ceremonies that include drumming and dancing have been halted in some areas. Hard-line ideologues have addressed large crowds to push their idea of Islamic revolution. Sectarian attacks, dormant here since the 1990s, have erupted once again.</p></blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;"></p>Sadly, the Taliban are exposing one of the biggest weaknesses in Pakistan, and that is the disconnect between the peasants and the ruling class. They are simply providing these peasants an alternative rule. Pakistani feudal lords and the government have had a stranglehold on the livelihoods of the poor, leaving them frustrated and aching for change. The Taliban are simply filling the void.<br /><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;">...people complain that landowners and local politicians have done nothing to stop the advance and, in some cases, even assist the militants by giving money to some of the religious schools. </p><p style="font-style: italic;">“The government is useless,” said Mr. Ali, the local landlord. “They live happy, secure lives in Lahore. Their children study abroad. They only come here to contest elections.”</p><p style="font-style: italic;"> The police are left alone to stop the advance. But in Punjab, as in much of the rest of Pakistan, they are spread unevenly, with little presence in rural areas. Out of 160,000 police officers in Punjab, fewer than 60,000 are posted in rural areas, leaving frontier stations in districts virtually unprotected, police officials said.</p><p style="font-style: italic;">Locals feel helpless. When a 15-year-old boy vanished from a madrasa in a village near here recently — his classmates said to go on jihad — his uncle could not afford to go look for him, let alone confront the powerful men who run the madrasa.</p><p style="font-style: italic;"> “We are simple people,” the man said. “What can we do?”</p></blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><p>I've always felt that what Pakistan needs is a revolution from the ground up. With the poor standing up to the feudal lords, fighting for better pay, for better schools and job opportunities for their children. I just wish it wasn't in concordance with the Taliban. <a href="http://omarhaq.blogspot.com/2008/10/definition-of-armchair-pakistani.html">Armchair Pakistani's</a> like myself, aren't the only ones worried. According to the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090416/wl_mcclatchy/3214054">following </a>article, entitled, "Pakistan on course to becoming Islamist State", Western intelligence officials agree that Talibanization is spreading fast.<br /></p><p> </p><blockquote><p><span style="font-style: italic;">"The place is beyond redemption," said a Pentagon adviser who asked not to be further identified so he could speak freely. "I don't see any plausible scenario under which the present government or its most likely successor will mobilize the economic, political and security resources to push back this rising tide of violence.</span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> "I think Pakistan is moving toward a situation where the extremists control virtually all of the countryside and the government controls only the urban centers," he continued. "If you look out 10 years, I think the government will be overrun by Islamic militants."</p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> That pessimistic view of Pakistan's future has been bolstered by Islamabad's surrender this week for the first time of areas outside the frontier tribal region to Pakistan's Taliban movement and by a growing militant infiltration of Karachi , the nation's financial center, and the industrial and political heartland province of <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1239997931_10">Punjab</span>, in part to evade U.S. drone strikes in the tribal belt.</p></blockquote><p style="font-style: italic;"></p><p>The Taliban aren't the only ones that are feeding off the discontent sweeping the masses. A <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/kaplan-pakistan">recent Atlantic</a> piece talks about the discontent Baluchi's and summarizes that...<br /></p><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">With its “Islamic” nuclear bomb, Taliban- and al-Qaeda-infested borderlands, dysfunctional cities, and feuding ethnic groups, Pakistan may well be the world’s most dangerous country, a nuclear Yugoslavia-in-the-making. One key to its fate is the future of Gwadar, a strategic port whose development will either unlock the riches of Central Asia, or plunge Pakistan into a savage, and potentially terminal, civil war.</span><br /></blockquote>...and ends with a short interview with a Baluchi freedom fighter who is determined to gain Baluchi autonomy and rid the province of Pakistani influence...<br /><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p>Nisar Baluch was the warm-up to Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, the chief of the Marri tribe of Baluch, a man who had been engaged in combat with government forces off and on for 50 years, and whose son had recently been killed by Pakistani troops. Marri greeted me in his Karachi villa, with massive exterior walls, giant plants, and ornate furniture. He was old and wizened, and walked with a cane. Marri spoke a precise, hesitant, whispering English that, combined with his robe and beige topee and the setting, gave him a certain charisma. </p> <p>“If we keep fighting,” he told me gently, “we will ignite an intifada like the Palestinians’. It is the cause of my optimism that the young generation of Baluch will sustain a guerrilla war. Pakistan is not eternal. It is not likely to last. The British Empire, Pakistan, Burma—these have all been temporary creations. </p> <p>“After Bangladesh left Pakistan,” Marri continued, in his mild and lecturing tone, “the only dynamic left within this country was the imperialist power of the Punjabi army. East Bengal was the most important element in Pakistan. The Bengalis were numerous enough to take on the Punjabis, but they seceded. Now the only option left for the Baluch is to fight.” He liked and trusted no one in Pakistan who was not Baluch, he told me. </p> <p>And what about Punjabi overtures to make amends with the Baluch?, I asked. </p> <p>“We say to these Punjabis”—still in his sweet, regal voice—“‘Leave us alone. Get lost. We don’t need your direction, your brotherliness.’ If Punjab continues to occupy us with the help of the American imperialists, then eventually our name will be nowhere in the soil.” </p> <p>Marri explained that Baluchistan overlaps three countries—Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan—and would eventually triumph, as the central governments of all those lands weakened. Gwadar, in his view, was just the latest Punjabi plot that would prove temporary. The Baluch would bomb the roads and pipelines leading out of the town. </p></blockquote><p></p>Plus it won't be long before Pakistan's allies desert it. The central government needs to prioritize and the army needs to stop focusing on India as its primary target. Frustration in the US is rising. A recent <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/04/18/pakistans_double_game/">Boston Globe article</a> talks about Pakistan juggling between supported the Taliban in order to keep getting aid, and pretending to chase after them as well.<br /><div style="font-style: italic;" class="articlePluckHidden"><p></p></div><blockquote><div style="font-style: italic;" class="articlePluckHidden"><p>The ISI's puppet show in Afghanistan enables Pakistan to prevent not only India but also Iran and Russia from gaining too much of a foothold in Afghanistan. The double game also brings Pakistan $1 billion a year in military aid from the United States.</p></div><div style="font-style: italic;" class="articlePluckHidden"><p>This is how the game works: The army and the ISI hunt down Al Qaeda figures for the United States and have no compunctions about striking hard against Islamist radicals who want to seize power in Pakistan. These actions make Pakistan a valued US ally in the war on terror. But at the same time, Pakistan has an interest in keeping the jihadist pot boiling in Afghanistan. As long as the Taliban and kindred groups are in the field, American military aid continues coming in, and India is kept at bay.</p></div></blockquote><div style="font-style: italic;" class="articlePluckHidden"><p></p></div> It's a sad situation and I can't find the words to bind together all these articles because there is truth to all of them. Things are spiraling out of control. I've always defended Pakistan's status as a "failed state"....but I fear that it is beyond failure now.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7705938174438789379.post-29817190988389625362009-04-18T20:47:00.000-04:002011-10-19T16:27:15.768-04:00Why do snakes keep escaping inside planes?If you're going to carry snakes on a plane, then wouldn't it be advisable to put them in a secure container? Turns out last week, some <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8001644.stm">pythons escaped</a> on a Qantas Airways flight!<br /> <!-- E SF --> <p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson's pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne. At first it was thought the reptiles may have been eaten by the other snakes, but this was discounted after they were weighed on landing. Passengers were transferred to other aircraft. The jet was fumigated but the snakes' bodies are yet to be found. "They're not endangered so a decision was made to fumigate...if these snakes turn up they will be very much dead snakes," David Epstein of Qantas said. </blockquote>Let's hope they find them alive.<br /><p></p><p>But the questions remain unanswered: How do these damn creatures keep escaping? And secondly, why do we feel the need to keep transporting snakes on planes? This isn't the first time snakes have escaped. <a href="http://omarhaq.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-have-had-it-with-these-mothering.html">I've talked about this a few years back</a>!<br /></p>By now you must realize that I like talking about snakes a lot. But I don't really like them. In fact, I'm terrified of them. I think being surrounded by snakes is as awful a death as being surrounded by sharks. But I find these critters fascinating, because for some oddball reason, snake movies rock! I'm sorry, fans of Jaws, but shark movies do not rock. Read my <a href="http://omarhaq.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-10-snake-movies-of-all-time.html">top 10 snake movies list</a> (it's actually just 8!) for convincing evidence.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16987187939536047445noreply@blogger.com0