science makes for early kickoff ramadan

It is that time of the year again. Muslims all over the world start the Ramadan. Most started today, but not all. Strictly speaking Ramadan starts when two orthodox Muslims see (yes, with their eyes) the start of the 9th moon cycle of the Muslim year.

That of course raises a couple of questions. What is orthodox ? Which two Muslims ? Those can be females ? Where do they have to stand ? What if it is clouded in that location ?

Because of all this doubt (doubt and religion are not good companions), a lot of Belgian muslims started one day early this year. When asked about this, a spokesman said that : "We resorted to science. We had science calculate the exact start of the moon cycle in Belgium for the next hundred years ..."

To me that sounded a bit like the joke about why Jesus was not born in the US (they could not find three wise man and a virgin there). To hear a man who had just been praying to his imaginary friend (and when you see how Muslims do that one understands why they do not like gays) claim that they resort to science, just about made my day ...

One would think that it would not be too much for an all-knowing and all-powerful (and that is a contradiction in itself) god to give an annual kickoff of his main event (another spokesman described the Ramadan as the way to get good points from god) so everybody starts at the same moment ? No, no, they use science for it ...

diamonds in the rough

It is suggested that the Internet will mean the end of our scientific evolution. Like real evolution it goes fastest on small isolated islands. With the Internet at everybody's fingertips we have become a collective brain. And this might kill creativity.

However, the Internet can also be used to further the cause of science. In this post I will put links to sites that really are gems in the pornographic rough of the World Wide Web. Here's two to wet your appetite :
http://www.periodicvideos.com/
http://www.sixtysymbols.com/