Missing Mary Road

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you ‘The Titanic’ is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he’s sinking is Christianity. In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn’t resurrected –the cornerstone of Christian faith– and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it’s not a re-make of “The Da Vinci Codes’. It’s supposed to be true.

Let’s go back 27 years, when Israeli construction workers were gouging out the foundations for a new building in the industrial park in the Talpiyot, a Jerusalem suburb. of Jerusalem. The earth gave way, revealing a 2,000 year old cave with 10 stone caskets. Archologists were summoned, and the stone caskets carted away for examination. It took 20 years for experts to decipher the names on the ten tombs. They were: Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua.
Israel’s prominent archeologist Professor Amos Kloner didn’t associate the crypt with the New Testament Jesus. His father, after all, was a humble carpenter who couldn’t afford a luxury crypt for his family. And all were common Jewish names.

Keep reading at the blog for TIME magazine. Also here’s the official website.

Islamic Artisans Constructed Exotic Nonrepeating Pattern 500 Years Before Mathematicians As early as the 15th century, elaborate symmetrical tile work on medieval Islamic buildings contained patterns straight out of modern math.

Medieval Islamic artisans seem to have developed a procedure for creating jigsawlike mosaics that ultimately led them to an exotic pattern that mathematicians would discover nearly half a millennium later. Researchers report that 15th-century buildings in Iran feature tiles arranged in a so-called quasicrystal, which is symmetric but does not repeat itself regularly.

“Here is evidence it [the pattern] was being used, if not understood, 500 years ahead of when we had any idea what was going on with [it] in the West,” says physics graduate student Peter J. Lu of Harvard University. Lu began poring over photos from Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan after seeing hints of the pattern while traveling in Uzbekistan. The Islamic artisans seem to have spun a wide variety of symmetric traceries from a set of five shapes, according to a report Lu co-authored, published online February 22 in Science.

There’s an interesting debate going on at the Guardian about why English-speakers use the word Allah to refer to the Muslim version of God:

There is no logical reason for this. Why use an Arabic word in English-language news reports when there is a perfectly good English word that means exactly the same thing?

Various Arabic words — jihad and sheikh, for example — have crept into everyday usage because no precise equivalent exists in English, but “Allah” is not of that type. It is simply the normal word that Arabic speakers use for “God” — whether they are Muslims or not. Arab Christians worship “Allah” too, and the first verse of the Arabic Bible informs us that “In the beginning Allah created heaven and earth.”

God has told Pat Robertson that America will be savagely attacked in the second half of 2007: “I’m not saying necessarily nuclear, the Lord didn’t say nuclear,” Mr Robertson said on his television show The 700 Club. “It’ll be mass killing, possibly millions of people, major cities. “The evil people will come after this country and there’s a possibility, not a possibility, a definite certainty, that chaos is going to rule.” Mr Robertson told viewers they should not be afraid because “if you get blown up or something, you go to heaven; that’s the worst thing that will happen to you”.

Here is a link to the video in which he unveils his divine truth.Mr. Robertson was previously written about by me as well.

a friend has made a video documentary on the long years of violent conflict in kashmir and how kashmir has suffered because of it. do check it out. the entire film is available here.

Reuters has a short video clip on the very weird ways to achieve Nirvana practiced by Hindus for the Allahabad holy bathing festival (Ardh Kumbh Mela festivalAlso here are some images from the BBC News Gallery.

What sort of insane thoughts go through these peoples heads? Dennis Prager, who is demanding Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison swear in using the bible, was appointed by President Bush in September to the taypayer-funded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Are all Jews also asked to swear in using the Bible?

Edit: Bob Merkin has his rant on this whole topic. Go check it out on Planet Vleeptron.

Since the beginning of time, people have created myths to explain things that we can not understand. Modern psychology now explains a phenomenon where our brain will even create its own images, theories and even memories to fill in blanks and complete a ‘story’ in our mind.

There is a scene in the Wizard of Oz (when Dorothy and Scarecrow meet the Tin Man in the apple woods just before they all set off towards the emerald city) whereby a shadow is seen below one of the trees. Myth holds that a munchkin committed suicide on set and the original filming captured this. MGM have always maintained the shadow seen in the frame was a bird. Over time, the quality of the film had deteriorated such that the shadow is no longer visible on most dvd/vhs copies sold in the past few decades.

However, the legend of the munchkin suicide has persisted, most recently highlighted by Irvine Welsh in a play called Babylon Heights which tells the ‘story’ of the dwarves who played the munchkins – it follows the main story of unrequited love but also the victimisation the dwarves felt at the hands of the remaining crew. The play is very much in the theme of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked which retells the story of the witches in the movie.

The munchkins were dwarves recruited from various worldwide casting agencies but Judy garland herself was reported to have said the small stature actors were billeted away from the rest of the cast due to their indulgences in “sex orgies, drunken behaviour and general dwarf debauchery.” Despite this, it is generally accepted that the myth was exactly that, a myth. Possibly the cast in their mystification of the dwarves created the myth. Logically any suicide would surely have been spoken of by other crew members. Rumour has it, CSI might make a visit to archives to uncover the story. Then again, rumour has it the whole hype was resurrected to coincide with the 50^th anniversary video release of the movie in 1989.

Next week sees the general re-release of the Wizard of Oz in its restored format. Each frame has been “cleaned” pretty much as one would take a layer of varnish off a master. Only people who saw the original cinematic release in 1939 will have seen the film as intended by the director, in all its colourful glory. As for the shadow scene… yes you can see it much more clearly but it does look more like a bird, a plane or even a UFO! Not a hanging munchkin…

I’ve just come back from a special screening and as someone who has seen this film more times than I can possibly count, I guarantee you, that until you have seen this version, you have not seen The Wizard of Oz.

view the so called scene – watch the middle of the screen and look into the woods. please comment – and if you see the re-release, do let me know what you thought!!

i love the wizard of oz :)

Since the beginning of time, people have created myths to explain things that we can not understand. Modern psychology now explains a phenomenon where our brain will even create its own images, theories and even memories to fill in blanks and complete a ‘story’ in our mind.

There is a scene in the Wizard of Oz (when Dorothy and Scarecrow meet the Tin Man in the apple woods just before they all set off towards the emerald city) whereby a shadow is seen below one of the trees. Myth holds that a munchkin committed suicide on set and the original filming captured this. MGM have always maintained the shadow seen in the frame was a bird. Over time, the quality of the film had deteriorated such that the shadow is no longer visible on most dvd/vhs copies sold in the past few decades.

However, the legend of the munchkin suicide has persisted, most recently highlighted by Irvine Welsh in a play called Babylon Heights which tells the ‘story’ of the dwarves who played the munchkins – it follows the main story of unrequited love but also the victimisation the dwarves felt at the hands of the remaining crew. The play is very much in the theme of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked which retells the story of the witches in the movie.

The munchkins were dwarves recruited from various worldwide casting agencies but Judy garland herself was reported to have said the small stature actors were billeted away from the rest of the cast due to their indulgences in “sex orgies, drunken behaviour and general dwarf debauchery.” Despite this, it is generally accepted that the myth was exactly that, a myth. Possibly the cast in their mystification of the dwarves created the myth. Logically any suicide would surely have been spoken of by other crew members. Rumour has it, CSI might make a visit to archives to uncover the story. Then again, rumour has it the whole hype was resurrected to coincide with the 50^th anniversary video release of the movie in 1989.

Next week sees the general re-release of the Wizard of Oz in its restored format. Each frame has been “cleaned” pretty much as one would take a layer of varnish off a master. Only people who saw the original cinematic release in 1939 will have seen the film as intended by the director, in all its colourful glory. As for the shadow scene… yes you can see it much more clearly but it does look more like a bird, a plane or even a UFO! Not a hanging munchkin…

I’ve just come back from a special screening and as someone who has seen this film more times than I can possibly count, I guarantee you, that until you have seen this version, you have not seen The Wizard of Oz.

view the so called scene – watch the middle of the screen and look into the woods. please comment – and if you see the re-release, do let me know what you thought!!

i love the wizard of oz :)

A Polish exchange student spent six months with a fundamentalist Christian family in the US and didn’t have such a good time.

“When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, ‘Child, our Lord sent you half-way around the world to bring you to us.’ At that moment I just wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.

Things began to go wrong as soon as I arrived in my new home in Winston-Salem, where I was to spend my year abroad. For example, every Monday my host family would gather around the kitchen table to talk about sex. My host parents hadn’t had sex for the last 17 years because — so they told me — they were devoting their lives to God. They also wanted to know whether I drank alcohol. I admitted that I liked beer and wine. They told me I had the devil in my heart.

 Keep reading. It gets better.

it is the ten year death anniversary of the only Pakistani Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Abdus Salam. It really is too bad he wasn’t considered a Pakistani nor does the state acknowledge any Pakistani to have one a Nobel. The Pakistaniat covers in depth the life and contributions of the Doctor. Also cited is the Daily Times entry which truly explains what a sad state of affairs the country is at this point, that we have to outcast our own citizens. It is a sham, a lie and a farce all at the same time.

The tragedy of our treatment of Dr Abdus Salam

Dr Abdus Salam (1926-1996) died ten years ago. He was the first Pakistani to get a Nobel Prize in 1979. But he might be the last if we continue to allow our state to evolve in a way that frightens the rest of the world. Our collective psyche runs more to accepted ‘wisdom’ than to scientific inquiry; and even if we were to display an uncharacteristic outcropping of individual genius the world may be so frightened of it that it might not give us our deserts.

We are scared of honouring Dr Salam because of our constitution which we have amended to declare his community as ‘non-Muslim’. When Dr Salam died in 1996 he had to be buried in Pakistan because he refused to give up his Pakistani nationality and acquire another that respected him more. But the Pakistani state was afraid of touching his dead body. He was therefore buried in Rabwa, the home town of his Ahmedi community whose name is also unacceptable to us and has been changed to Chenab Nagar by a state proclamation. But that was not the end of the story. After he was buried, the pious, law-abiding and constitution-loving people of Jhang, which is nearby, went over to Chenab Nagar to see if all had been done according to the constitutional provisions regarding the Ahmedi community to which he belonged.

Click here for more.

why are people so ignorant? it’s because of moron’s like glenn beck who are allowed to be on television and radio all goddamn day and night long spouting propaganda bullshit.

six imam’s were forcibly removed yesterday from a minneapolis flight because they were seen saying their prayers. their freedom of religion and expression as a constitutional right allegedly means nothing in an airport. only reason they were removed, because some ignorant whitey say their bearded prostrating positions.

why did the ignorant whitey speak up? because he’s ignorant. why is he ignorant? because he’s hearing this man on tv all goddamn day long. this asswipe is on tv more than CSI. i don’t understand why he is allowed to be.

you know what beck said when keith ellison was democratically elected into congress…the gall of this man…”prove that you’re not working with our enemies.”

pitiful that this farce of a person is allowed in such a giant media outlet allowing others to remain ignorant.

i’m totally ripping this off from 3qd. you should read that site. it’s brilliant.

In ZNet, Pervez Hoodbhoy looks at Pakistan, 7 years after Musharraf’s coup.

Some had feared – while others had hoped – that General Pervez Musharraf’s coup of October 12, 1999, would bring the revolution of Kemal Ataturk to a Pakistan and wrest the country from the iron grip of mullahs. But years later a definitive truth has emerged. Like the other insecure governments before it, both military and civilian, the present regime also has a single point agenda – to stay in power at all costs. It therefore does whatever it must and Pakistan falls further from any prospect of acquiring modern values, and of building and strengthening democratic institutions.

The requirements for survival of the present regime are clear: on the one hand the Army leadership knows that its critical dependence upon the West requires that it be perceived abroad as a liberal regime pitted against radical Islamists. But, on the other hand, in actual fact, to preserve and extend its grip on power, it must preserve the status quo.

The staged conflicts between General Musharraf and the mullahs are therefore a regular part of Pakistani politics. This September, nearly seven years later, the religious parties needed no demonstration of muscle power for winning two major victories in less than a fortnight; just a few noisy threats sufficed. From experience they knew that the Pakistan Army and its sagacious leader – of “enlightened moderation” fame – would stick to their predictable pattern of dealing with Islamists. In a nutshell: provoke a fight, get the excitement going, let diplomatic missions in Islamabad prepare their briefs and CNN and BBC get their clips – and then beat a retreat. At the end of it all the mullahs would get what they want, but so would the General.

And see also this piece by him on related issues.

[A]t the heart of Pakistan’s problems lies a truth – one etched in stone – that when a state proclaims a religious identity and mission, it is bound to privilege those who organize religious life and interpret religious text. Since there are many models and interpretations within every religion, there is bound to be conflict between religious forces over whose model shall prevail. There is also the larger confrontation between religious principles and practices and what we now consider to be ‘modern’ ideas of society, which have emerged over the past several hundred years. This truth, for all its simplicity, escaped the attention of several generations of soldiers, politicians, and citizens of Pakistan. It is true that there has been some learning – Musharraf’s call for “enlightened moderation” is a tacit (and welcome) admission that a theocratic Pakistan cannot work. But his call conflicts with his other, more important, responsibility as chief of the Pakistan Army.