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I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

alya1989262
2007-05-04 07:37 pm UTC (link)

And also I'll point out that most people in the Middle East today (in 2007) don't know their exact ages as birthday celebrations are uncommon.

...

*dies laughing*
TRUFAX, GUYS! I DON'T KNOW I'M 18 YEARS OLD.

One and a half thousand years of Islamic 'civilisation' has done shockingly little to advance maths, physics, arts, philosophy, medicine - as anyone possessed of the least bit of acquaintance with the history of these disciplines will be only too aware.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but... I thought the practice of stitching the skin up using animal ligaments (thus enabling the skin to regenerate) is the invention of a Muslim scientist? I'd say this was quite an important advancement in medecine, to name only one.
Also, um, mathematics? Muslim mathematicians invented algebra, people!

Who was Ibn Sina do you think? He did not even believe in god.
... And he wrote a book in which he said so, and, surprise!, no one persecuted him. He was, on the contrary, greatly respected, which is way more than I can say about atheists in Europe at the same time.

PS. Those giant US companies that exploit poor countries actually provide jobs so it is better than nothing and thanks to them the US and other wealthy counties spend millions on free forign aid around the world. There are two sides to everything.
"It's okay to exploit poor countries; it makes us richer so we can send them money later! YAY!"

I for one think religion, all religion, ought to be a private matter only.
As much as I hate Islam-bashing, I don't thinking this is the best point to bring up when defending Islam. It utterly fails at that whole "religion should be a private matter" thing.

5. How come women are only 1/2 witnesses in court proceedings under Sharia law?
---- Absolutely not true... whoever applies this is misreading the text
Okay, get off my side! Ignorant idiot! *fumes*

Okay, I'll go get a towel, now.

*is Muslim in culture and agnostic in religion so really doesn't know with whom to side*

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	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! marciamarcia 2007-05-04 07:48 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I was going to say, who was it that kept Greek scholarship alive and kicking for 1000 years while Europe wallowed in Christianity-fueled ignorance and totalitarianism? Oh, yeah, the Muslims. That guy isn't as well-acquainted with history as he thinks he is. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

sheep
2007-05-04 08:05 pm UTC (link)

Well, as some one who used to register over 40 people a day for private hospital treatment in the UK, he is not far off the mark by saying that many people from the Middle East don't know their exact birthdays. Either that, or they are very good at birthing children on the 1st of the 1st of any given year, or the first of any other month to a lesser extent ;)

What this has to do with anything I'm not sure *hasn't read the wank yet*

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Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

alya1989262
2007-05-04 08:09 pm UTC (link)

Okay, I'll give him that some people in rural areas here don't know their exact birthdays, but it is pretty rare. We do have such things as birth certificates... We even have ID cards once we're 16, and can vote at 18. I don't know how the government would manage elections if nobody knew their birthdate exactly...

Although it could be argued that our elections are forged anyways, so the government doesn't care. >.>

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Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

alya1989262
2007-05-04 08:14 pm UTC (link)

(I'd just like to point out that I understand you may have encountered some Middle-Esterners who don't know their exact birthdates, or they're forged or something, but this by no means represents "most people".

On the other hand, my grandfather was born in rural Egypt 72 years ago and he's got a birth certificate with an incorrect birthdate, because he wasn't born away from his father's village and thus wasn't registered until he went there.

Sorry if I sounded patronising; it just ticks me off that people still think of the Middle East as Middle-Ages-Europe, and "Oh, do you go to school on a camel?!")

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	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! alya1989262 2007-05-04 08:16 pm UTC (link)
	because he WAS born facepalm* (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

sheep
2007-05-04 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Oh, I wouldn't think the Middle East as the Middle Ages just because some countries/areas there may not place the same importance on birth dates as we do. I mean, come on!

After you typed middle ages, I kept typing that instead of Middle East/ern*

Please don't confuse me like that DDDDDD:

()I originally had a very long comment with numbers an' stuff, and then thought that most people probably don't care and deleted it.)

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Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! -

sheep, 2007-05-04 09:04 pm UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! silrana 2007-05-04 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	That sort of thing happens all over. I grew up in Kentucky, and when a friend of my mom's interviewed for a job in New York City, they asked her if wearing shoes on a regular basis would be a problem for her. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! -

hallidae, 2007-05-04 10:25 pm UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-04 11:17 pm UTC

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hallidae, 2007-05-04 11:24 pm UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-04 11:36 pm UTC

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icedark_elf, 2007-05-05 02:57 am UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-05 03:07 am UTC

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icedark_elf, 2007-05-05 03:36 am UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-05 03:39 am UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 05:55 am UTC

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icedark_elf, 2007-05-05 04:23 pm UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 05:53 am UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-05 06:23 am UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 06:27 am UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-05 06:29 am UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 06:36 am UTC

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notjo, 2007-05-05 06:39 am UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 06:45 am UTC

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napalmnacey, 2007-05-05 06:45 am UTC

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rimrunner, 2007-05-05 03:55 pm UTC

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icedark_elf, 2007-05-05 04:26 pm UTC

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visp, 2007-05-06 03:08 am UTC

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v_digitalwytch, 2007-05-05 03:30 am UTC

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littlest_lurker, 2007-05-04 10:33 pm UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! seiberwing 2007-05-04 08:07 pm UTC (link)
	And who gave the Jews a bit more of a break? Not the Scientologists. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

innsmouth_eyes
2007-05-04 09:15 pm UTC (link)

>>PS. Those giant US companies that exploit poor countries actually provide jobs so it is better than nothing and thanks to them the US and other wealthy counties spend millions on free forign aid around the world. There are two sides to everything.

Grr, I hate this one to death. It's not okay to exploit somebody because they're impoverished. The only reason the US GiantTechComCorps sent labor to third-world countries is so they can save a bunch of money by paying people a fraction of what they're worth, and not give them insurance or decent conditions. Yes, it's better than nothing, but not nearly what they'd have to pay an American worker for the same job.

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	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! mer1973 2007-05-05 12:17 am UTC (link)
	There are some pro-business folks I could strangle. Just because it's better for a business doesn't mean it's better for people! Institutions protect/serve themselves, not people. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! iwanttobeasleep 2007-05-05 01:01 am UTC (link)
	I suppose they have a point, it is better than nothing. Of course, that doesn't justify what the companies do, because they could do so much better without dipping into profit margins that much. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

dragonfangirl
2007-05-05 05:06 am UTC (link)

Also, the "better than nothing" doesn't take into account the local industries that are destroyed by the labor-sucking foreign factories, leaving the town destitute when they pack up and move, or the rampant inflation of goods that occurs with the sudden inflush of foreign dollars into the local economy. thus rendering those comparatively higher salaries worthless and completely destroying anyone who didn't take a job in the new factory...

Believe me, we ain't doing them any favors.

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	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! innsmouth_eyes 2007-05-07 04:31 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, and consider that a lot of those countries are shitholes in the first place largely because of colonialism which has done more damage than can be repaired in the first hundred or so years of liberation. Those very same countries are now doing obscenely cheap labor for the countries that enslaved them not long ago. Doesn't seem fair. (Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!
dracothelizard
2007-05-04 10:58 pm UTC (link)

"One and a half thousand years of Islamic 'civilisation' has done shockingly little to advance maths, physics, arts, philosophy, medicine - as anyone possessed of the least bit of acquaintance with the history of these disciplines will be only too aware."

My inner medievalist is howling with laughter so she won't have to weep at the stupidity. I bet this person thinks people in medieval times thought the Earth was flat.

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	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! seiberwing 2007-05-05 02:31 am UTC (link)
	Er...they didn't? feels like a plebe (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! eljuno 2007-05-05 03:32 am UTC (link)
	If I remember right, in general people knew that the world was round. Some people had serious trouble believing that people might live on the other side of the world, however. It's been about 3/4 years since I took my last Science of the Middle Ages course, however... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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seiberwing, 2007-05-05 03:38 am UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! dragonfangirl 2007-05-05 05:20 am UTC (link)
	Er...they didn't? Well, consider the implications of the Copernican system in the 13th century: he was providing an alternative to the universally accepted idea that the Earth was at the center of the universe and all heavenly bodies revolve in circles around it... which presupposes the earth itself being a globe. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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winter, 2007-05-05 05:42 am UTC

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dragonfangirl, 2007-05-05 11:30 am UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! dracothelizard 2007-05-05 10:26 am UTC (link)
	No. No, they didn't. They had figured that bit out by then, at least the higher classes had, anyway. They hadn't quite realised that the Earth revolved around the Sun rather than the other way around, but still. All them maps that're geographically incorrect and put Jerusalem at the center of everything? They were symbolical. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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seiberwing, 2007-05-05 03:49 pm UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! dragonfangirl 2007-05-05 05:01 am UTC (link)
	One and a half thousand years of Islamic 'civilisation' has done ~~shockingly little~~ a tremendous amount to advance maths, physics, arts, philosophy, medicine - as anyone possessed of the least bit of acquaintance with the history of these disciplines will be only too aware. Or did he miss the memo on 'algebra?' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! chikane 2007-05-05 08:01 pm UTC (link)
	Does he even know the word? It'd be hard to argue like that if he did... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! warrioreowyn 2007-05-06 05:49 am UTC (link)
	'algebra' Proof for thousands of schoolchildren that Islam really is evil. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better!

t_boy
2007-05-06 08:25 am UTC (link)

I mean, we could have exerted ourselves and invented predicate calculus or quantum theory (“eigenstates? Brain… hurts…”). Then you bastards would be sorry. ;>

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fionnabhair, 2007-05-07 01:24 am UTC

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! chikane 2007-05-05 08:00 pm UTC (link)
	It's cute how these people twist history so much. Current islam = in some cases stagnant and backward? TOTALLY means that the same was true 500 years ago. Because there are no changes in societies, ever. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: I really should practice sitting on my hands better! fionnabhair 2007-05-07 01:18 am UTC (link)
	And who evented the 0 bitches? Yeah. That's what I thought. Islamic mathematicians - who let be known, were making major discoveries while most of Western Europe was populated by illiterate muck savages. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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