It's now 11:30pm Eastern time. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is going to start in a few hours. I'm going to sleep now. But if some crackpots are right then this is my last post and the world is soon going to be destroyed by a black hole created by the LHC. I can only quote Douglas Adams at this point: So long and thanks for all the fish.
You can spend your last hours reading about why we are fascinated by the talk of last hours or about all the other ways we can kill ourselves (also see this). Or better yet, you can follow live blogging of the start of the LHC at Cosmic Variance and also read Sean Carroll's take on some of these crackpot ideas and what will the LHC find (also see this excellent Scientific American article on the LHC).
Good night and may be Earth wasn't such a bad place to live.
UPDATE: Still alive and the weather is much much better today. Hmm...so it appears that the LHC (and its mini black holes) has had a positive impact on the weather in New England!
What is Irtiqa?
Irtiqa is Salman Hameed's blog. A few years ago (before Facebook killed many of the blogs), it used to track stories of science & religion, especially those related to Muslim societies. That is still one of its foci, but now it dovetails more of Salman's interests including film, astronomy, science fiction, and science outreach in both Pakistan and the US.
Irtiqa literally means evolution in Urdu. But it does not imply only biological evolution. Instead, it is an all encompassing word used for evolution of the universe, biological evolution, and also for biological/human development. While it has created confusion in debates over biological evolution in South Asia, it provides a nice integrative name for this blog. For further information, contact Salman Hameed.
The blog banner is designed by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad. You can find all his creative endeavors at Orangie.
Salman Hameed
Salman is an astronomer and Associate Professor of Integrated Science & Humanities at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. Currently, he is working on understanding the rise of creationism in contemporary Islamic world and how Muslims view the relationship between science & religion. He is also working with historian Tracy Leavelle at Creighton University to analyze reconciliation efforts between astronomers and Native Hawaiians over telescopes on top of sacred Mauna Kea in Hawaii. He teaches “History and Philosophy of Science & Religion” with philosopher Laura Sizer, and “Science in the Islamic World”, both at Hampshire College. Salman and Laura Sizer are also responsible for the ongoing Hampshire College Lecture Series on Science & Religion, and you can find videos of all these lectures below. Contact information here.
LABELS
- Arab Spring
- art
- Astronomy
- Astronomy Pictures from Pakistan
- atheism
- beliefs of scientists
- Catholic Church and science
- creationism
- education
- education in muslim world
- ethics morality and science
- evolution
- faith and medicine
- film theater and television
- Friday Journal Club
- general
- history
- humor
- intelligent design
- Irtiqa Conversations
- Islam and Modernity
- islam and science
- Islamic Calendar
- islamic creationism
- Judaism and science
- media
- Muslims in Europe
- off topic
- Pakistan
- politics of science and religion
- posts by Nidhal Guessoum
- primates
- pseudoscience
- religion and environmentalism
- Religion and Health
- Religion and Technology
- Saturday Video
- science and Native religions
- science and religion books
- science fiction
- science in muslim world
- science of belief
- science of morality
- science religion and terrorism
- UFO religions
Blog Archive
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2008
(241)
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September
(23)
- Creationism with Harun Yahya and Sarah Palin
- Islamic Creationism talk at Creighton University
- Steven Weinberg on life without God
- Steven Weinberg on tension between science and rel...
- Off-topic: Fresh Air on "extraordinary renditions"
- The Vodka-Hashish Line
- Saved by a guardian angel? Huh!?
- What did Darwin say about religion and God?
- Stem cell research in Iran
- The Onion on Existentialism from Football
- Unneccessary ouster by Royal Society
- Anglican Church for Darwin
- The Lunacy around Islamic Lunar Calendar
- Loosing faith...
- Islamic financing: Some savings on faith
- Just in case...
- Susan Blackmore on evidence versus understanding
- Suicide bombings and the Taliban in Pakistan
- The Onion on Darwin stain
- Some more Kosher gadgets
- End of the world by an asteroid impact
- Why was Giordano Bruno burnt at the stake?
- Colbert on the Atheist lobby
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September
(23)
3 comments:
I was hoping LHC would destroy us all so I could've skipped my dentist appointment earlier this morning.
No such luck. *ouch*
Stupid hadrons...
Well, it didn't do anything positive to the weather in the Midwest, so obviously it's a failure so far. :)
May be the LHC will simply collapse under all these expectations - from weather to the dentist appointments. But it seems that people have their priorities right.
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