Nigerian Taliban rejects vapour theory of rain
The Boko Haram group, also known as the Nigerian Taliban, is a radical Islamic sect that has launched a number of attacks across northern Nigeria. Its main target has been police stations and it aims to overthrow the government and impose extreme sharia law. Boko Haram means “Western education is a sin”, and the group is determined to outlaw it.
Their leader, a wealthy, “highly educated”, Mercedes-driving Muslim fundamentalist, died in police custody on Thursday. But Mohammed Yusuf’s background doesn’t explain his primitive medieval views. In an interview with the BBC, he espoused some interesting views, to say the least:
In an interview with the BBC before he was killed, Mr Yusuf, 39, said such education “spoils the belief in one God”.“There are prominent Islamic preachers who have seen and understood that the present Western-style education is mixed with issues that run contrary to our beliefs in Islam,” he said.
“Like rain. We believe it is a creation of God rather than an evaporation caused by the sun that condenses and becomes rain.
“Like saying the world is a sphere. If it runs contrary to the teachings of Allah, we reject it. We also reject the theory of Darwinism.”
He’s right of course. It’s absolutely preposterous to believe that rain is not a mysterious gift from god! And like the world isn’t flat! Sure… Look – it may be a slightly bigger stretch to believe that god uniquely created every living thing on earth and minutely controls the activities of every single living cell – but he’s a religious man so he must be right.
CSI: Where is the science?
Forensic science has been catapulted into popular culture through the enormously popular CSI TV series franchise. Beautiful, smart and interesting people swoop on a crime scene and in the next 45 minutes collect the most minute traces of evidence, analyse it, match it to suspects, and finally arrest the perpetrator. The evidence is always overwhelming and the baddie has no alternative but to confess to the crime.
I guess one has to be pretty naïve to think that’s how it really happens. In reality CSI forensics is slow, methodical and hard work. A toxicity test that will take minutes to complete in the show could take several months in a real laboratory. The real equipment bears no resemblence to the hyper-cool halographic examination tools or the amazing imaging equipment that can transform a tiny blurred, oblique image into a perfectly sharp masterpiece.
Yet it appears that there’s even a phenomenon named after this unrealistic idea of forensics: the CSI Effect. And there is some evidence to suggest that it’s not only the public who are taken in by it, but also policemen, prosecutors and jurors – and criminals.
But even in the real world, how scientific is forensis anyway? Popular Mechanics has published an interesting article, CSI Myths: The Shaky Science Behind Forensics, which illustrates that most of it was not developed by scientists but by cops. In a related article, even that gold-standard of forensics, fingerprint matching, is shown to be inaccurate and unscientific.
A 2006 study by the University of Southampton in England asked six veteran fingerprint examiners to study prints taken from actual criminal cases. The experts were not told that they had previously examined the same prints. The researchers’ goal was to determine if contextual information—for example, some prints included a notation that the suspect had already confessed—would affect the results. But the experiment revealed a far more serious problem: The analyses of fingerprint examiners were often inconsistent regardless of context. Only two of the six experts reached the same conclusions on second examination as they had on the first.
The other familiar modalities of ballistics, trace evidence and even biological evidence are also shown to be largely unscientific. This is actually quite shocking.
As one would expect, the closer the techniques are to real science, the more reliable they are. So, for instance, one can have complete confidence in DNA profiling.
But back to the TV show: do the writers not understand how GSM networks work? They continue with the standard old land-line telephone bromide of keeping the fugitive on the line long enough to do a trace. Obviously, as soon as a cell phone attaches to a GSM network its position is known – albeit approximately. No delay – this information is known immediately. So why do they persist with this nonsense?
No surprise as Zimbabwe rulers found to be idiots
The con-artist who convinced the Zimbabwean government that a special rock bled diesel fuel on demand, has been found guilty of fraud. The self-styled medicine woman, Rotina Mavhunga, claimed to have cast a spell on the rock which then oozed diesel when tapped with a stick. In fact, the tapping was a signal to hidden accomplice to pour the diesel into a concealed pipe. In a country with incredibly severe fuel supply problems, a mystical source of diesel would seem like an amazing boon – if you were a complete cretin.
Mad Bob Mugabe dispatched a high-powered task-force to investigate the claims. No ordinary task-force this: it comprised the Ministers of Energy and Power Development, Science and Technology, and of Mines. Their verdict: Zimbabwe’s fuel shortages were at an end. They obviously had applied their minds objectively to this investigation, starting with removing their shoes in the mystic-one’s presence.
So they lavished her with gifts and farms. Mugabe claims they were blinded by her beauty. Not to mention their deep belief in tribal superstitions, the ancestral spirits with which Mavhunga claimed to be imbued. Nevertheless, when some damned sceptic raised doubts, yet another panel was dispatched which this time concluded that it was all a con.
Arresting her proved to be beyond the police who were scared of her mystical powers and believed she was untouchable. She made a brief appearance in her trail, but was largely left alone in hiding. Her appearance though caused fear amongst the superstition-addled public:
During the trial, Mavhunga would start growling in the dock before the terror-stricken public gallery, but the magistrate said she had been faking a trance to try and have herself declared unfit for trial.
If you ever wondered how people could systematically destroy their country and not realise the consequences of their actions, you need wonder no further.
Flaming Flamingoes smoke The Tree of Life
The first The Scientist Video Awards winners have been announced. Good as the winning David Attenborough-narrated Tree of Life is, I prefer the Flaming Flamingoes video. Featuring PhD student Marita Davidson, it gives us an interesting glimpse of young scientists out in the field doing very accessible science. This is something to show my kids.
Tuesday’s Tune: Come On Up To The House
When Tom Waits released his long awaited indie album Mule Variations in 1999, fans like me found it instantly familiar – like an old friend. Legions of new fans though, were attracted by its scuffed sonics behind theatrically harsh vocals, counterpointed by his outrageously emotional and tender ballads. Yes, at the time it seemed he had mastered his art but had not progressed much as a songwriter since the magnificent Rain Dogs. But in hindsight it provided the perfect transition to Alice and, to a lesser extent, Blood Money in 2002.
Mule Variations is the most bluesy of Waits’s albums. You can almost smell the beer soaked floor boards of a Southern blues bar in Come On Up To The House. All the Southern influences are there, from revivalist gospel to backwoods blues. There’s even a hint of Woody Guthrie’s I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore (“The world is not my home / I’m just a passin thru / Come on up to the house”).
The video of Come On Up To The House, directed by Anders Lövgren, is a masterpiece of creativity. It is utterly intriguing yet straightforwardly simple. When my daughter arrived back from school the other day with writing all over her legs, I knew I had to dig up this excellent vid.
Yeah,
Come down off the cross
We can use the wood
Come on up to the house
The old Kenyan Prince Birth Announcement Scam
It’s been reported that CNN boss, Jon Klein, has told the odious Lou Dobbs to put up or shut up. Dobbs has has been pandering to right-wing birther wackaloons for months now, feeding the ridiculous urban myth/conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is not eligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the US. From Klein’s memo:
“Since the show’s mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite. And then it seems this story is dead – because anyone who still is not convinced doesn’t really have a legitimate beef.”
Not that this would have the desired effect on these morons: you could show them original film footage of the birth, with doctor, hospital chief, mayor, governor and chief justice in the room all testifying the authenticity of the birth they are witnessing – and they would still insist it’s all just a conspiracy.
John Stewart has a very funny take on it:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Born Identity | ||||
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Politics of the Past
South African townships are once again in turmoil. There are widespread protests against the lack of “service delivery” by the government, usually resulting in violence. This violence typically starts with chanting, menacing m
obs setting fire to tyres and blocking traffic, then harassing passing motorists and stoning vehicles. Following this it escalates into running battles with the police who react highly aggressively. Public buildings, such as community halls, schools and administration centres are burnt. Mayors’ and councillors’ houses are attacked and destroyed. Then the most vulnerable (and most productive) members of the community, the foreigners, are violently attacked in fits of xenophobic hatred.
These people are taking this action against the very politicians they overwhelmingly voted into power less than three months ago. It is obvious that the Wonderland promises of fantastic largesse – in the form of housing, service, healthcare, education and a chicken in every pot – have a lot to do with this. In a cynical populist exercise, the politicians created expectations they had no means of satisfying.
And yet, there is no positive action from the government. It remains passive, putting out statements that plead for ending the violence and calling for patience. Any action taken against the violent mobs is quietly dropped.
Can you really blame these people for feeling frustrated? For 15 years now the government has promised its voters a Halcyon life where their major needs, including health, education, housing and even leisure facilities, will be delivered to them. Instead these dependant masses have to deal with government departments near collapse, rampant crime and corruption, and State-owned enterprises in free-fall. And very few of the generous promises ever result in something tangible.
The inertia in dealing with the grievances of the citizens is contrasted to the zeal with which the government has promoted its “transformation” programme. By this it means the obstacles to unfettered ANC rule. The Zuma administration has shown single-minded determination to let nothing stand in its way, including the Constitution, that golden child born out of the peaceful negotiations and transfer of power from apartheid to liberation.
I recently discussed this with a prominent political consultant and he summarised the problem as “the politics of the past”. What he meant was that the ANC is obsessed with “righting the wrongs of the past” and spends most of its energy to that end. It is not about building for the future but destroying the past. It is a mindset of perpetual victimhood, which it uses to build a strong “us vs. them” group identity.
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The Zanufication of South Africa
Story 1: War veterans illegally occupy private farmland. The ruling political party to which they belong facilitates this by providing shelter to the invaders. When the owner and the local opposition-party mayor lawfully demand that the invaders leave or be forcefully removed, the police threaten to arrest the owner and mayor, not the criminal invaders.
Sound familiar?
Story 2:The supreme law of the land is the Constitution which guarantees a raft of basic human rights to its populace. The highest court in the land zealously guards it. The Ruling Party does not like the rulings the court hands down and so systematically goes about stripping the Court of independent jurists and replacing them with obsequious party hacks. Eventually the Ruling Party is allowed to do as it pleases, stripping people of their rights and brutalising the opposition supporters. The judges smile on in benign approval.
Sound familiar?
Well, we all know the story of Zimbabwe and its brutal ruling party, Zanu-PF. They have reduced their country to ruin, their citizens to penury and fear. In effect Zanu-PF runs a fascist dictatorship, a kleptocracy of vicious thugs.
South Africa is no Zimbabwe – that’s obvious. I for one have been dismissive of hysterical claims that South Africa is turning into another Zimbabwe. But I am starting to get a bit uneasy of late. Two reports appearing today have made me become quite apprehensive.
The first report came from Timothy Nast, the DA mayor of Midvaal Municipality on Radio 702 this morning. A large group of thugs were burning tyres, blocking traffic and stoning passing cars on a busy highway this morning. They had invaded a farm yesterday and, Nast alleges, habitable containers were provided by the ANC-controlled area authority. South Africa has appallingly anti-private property laws regarding squatters but at least they do allow invaders to be removed from the property within 48 hours of arriving. The owner quite rightly and lawfully demanded that the invaders move off the land and that the police should enforce this. Nast alleges that the police refused to do this and instead threatened to arrest him.
The second report was carried by Business Day. Judge President of the Western Cape, John Hlophe’s Judicial Service Commission (JSC) hearing into the dispute between him and the judges of the Constitutional Court (CC) have been cancelled. Let’s put this in perspective. Hlophe was accused by the CC judges of attempting to improperly influence judgements relating to Jacob Zuma. Hlophe ducked and dived, using every trick in the book his rabid supporters led by the fugitive Paul Ngobeni had honed to get Zuma off the hook. His waiting game was a transparent attempt to get a hearing by a far friendlier JSC after Zuma’s election.
And he got it. Zuma replaced his appointments with a bunch of pro-executive and definitely pro-Zuma and Hlophe lawyers. Their first action was to hold Hlophe’s hearing in secret and then to simply cancel them. It looks very much as if Hlophe, who any reasonable person would find to be the last person who should hold such a position, is headed for the post of Chief Justice. Even if that is not the case, these actions show executive intent to mould the judiciary into the ANC’s lap-dog. “Transformation” of the judiciary clearly means to transform independence into subservience.
So yes, Story 1 happened in South Africa, although of course it has happened in Zimbabwe countless times.
Story 2 is the story of the emasculation of Zimbabwe judiciary. Without a judiciary willing to uphold the constitution, ordinary Zimbabweans were left naked in their defencelessness from a ruthless and arrogant ruling party, Zanu-PF – lead by that madman Robert Mugabe. These actions taken in the JSC’s Hlophe hearings are an extremely worrying portent of where South Africa could be headed.
But is there any evidence that the ANC seeks to follow Zanu’s example? Well not directly and not really on the same path. Whereas Zanu-PF is a very aggressive fascist socialist movement, the ANC seems to be moving towards a highly centralised Stalinist statist model. Here are the pointers:
- Under Thabo Mbeki, the ANC government sought to centralise control of all facets of government and “deployed” ANC cadres to key positions – not on the basis of ability but on that of blind loyalty to the leader
- The ANC’s 2007 Polokwane conference resolved to centralise political power with the Party – not with the elected government
- The ANC arrogantly chose an entirely inappropriate candidate, Jacob Zuma, for president and then embarked on an aggressive campaign of threats against the judiciary to make sure the legal impediments to his ascendency were removed
- After years of doggedly pursuing Zuma on fraud and corruption charges, the National Prosecuting Authority succumbed to enormous political pressure and abruptly dropped all charges on flimsy and discredited grounds
- The majority of Zuma’s cabinet are or were loyal communists (as was he), including key appointments such as the Stalinist finance minister Pravin Gordhan and a senior cabinet post for Blade Nzimande, general secretary of the SA Communist Party
- A new, enlarged cabinet structure which has a heavy emphasis on central planning
- Policy, direction and disciple is not set by the president or his government but by the Party under the leadership of SACP chairman and ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe
- Justice minister Jeff Radebe interferes with the working of the “independent” JSC
I agree that this is not conclusive evidence of a South African version of Zanufication. But I would argue that with so many pointers toward total Party control, there is a great deal to be concerned about.
Tuesday’s Tune: Stand By Me
Playing For Change is movement that uses music to inspire, connect and bring peace to world. These connections come through beautifully in this virtual ensemble performance of Stand By Me – Playing For Change’s first song.
Four years ago while walking down the street in Santa Monica, CA the voice of Roger Ridley singing “Stand By me” was heard from a block away. His voice, soul and passion set us on a course around the world to add other musicians to his performance. This song transformed Playing For Change from a small group of individuals to a global movement for peace and understanding. This track features over 35 musicians collaborating from all over the world. They may have never met in person, but in this case, the music does the talking.
It is great to see so many South African performers, including the excellent Vusi Mahlasela. But there is one glaring omission. As any cricket lover will know, all matches played at Port Elizabeth’s St George’s cricket ground are accompanied by the constant sound of a rag-tag brass band sitting amongst the crowds. As far as I can tell they play only one tune: Stand By Me.
(Thanks Margs)
July 21, 1969: One small step .. Three smart cuts …
Neil Armstrong on the Lunar Surface, July 21st 1969
Granted, it was an American achievement. The Apollo mission was quintessentially American and set the iconography for the next generation. They paid for it. They did it. It was theirs to use as they pleased.
But dammit – the Moon is not the 51st State of the Union. And just because there are 5 US flags scattered on its surface (fluttering, the CTists would have us believe), does not mean the Moon resides within an American time zone. When events happen on the Moon (or anywhere else in the Universe except Earth), we conventionally mark the time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Even NASA does this.
But ask anyone and they will tell you man first walked on the Moon on July 20th, 1969. You see it in books, on quiz shows. Yet NASA agrees with me that Neil Armstrong took his first lunar step on July 21st, 1969 at exactly 02:56:15 UTC. I know this because July 21 happens to be my birthday.
It had been a long night following the landing and I was dead tired when the wake-up bell rang and it was really frosty outside. The first thing I did was to listen to my radio and caught the news a replay of Armstrong’s, “One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” I couldn’t believe my luck – the first moon walk on my birthday! And I was a teenager!
That luck didn’t last long. I was slow in getting up and was late for everything. I was so late that I was still showering when I was supposed to be at breakfast and I was summoned to a visit with the housemaster – the fearsome Rocco Erasmus, part-time radio DJ, part-time teacher and full-time sadist. He gave me three vicious cuts with his long cane, and sent me on my sorry way.
That evening after supper, my friends and I huddled together against the cold, looking at the moon. It was high in the Western sky – a half moon. One of the boys thought he could see the lunar module. We laughed. Then another wondered, “What if the rocket doesn’t fire?”, and we stopped laughing.
Before going to sleep on my first night as a teenager, I took one last look at the setting moon through the window, and sighed in relief that the rocket had fired and that the astronauts were safe. I felt my welts. All in all, it had been a good day.
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