newtypist

When they leave, will everyone become uglier?

I live in the middle east. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday. I can understand that, Friday being the holy day, shops will be closed most of the day. But on Saturday, I tried going to an electronics store at 1pm. It was closed. Shuttered, along with every other shop on the street. What's the deal-yo? That is prime-time for going shopping. I had to drive home and sit around the house until 4:30pm, when they re-opened.

I bought an Acme Anvil Lifter the other day. I think it's missing some parts. I can get it to lift the anvil in only 22 steps instead of 23. If I get an extra pulley assembly, I can make it 23 steps. Is this how it's supposed to come?

I'm talking about my avatar. It looks like a cross between Hugh Grant and Keith Richards.

Dodo's? Kurdo? Kabab-ji? Where?!

I read an article in the Saudi Gazette:

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.php?option=co...

It reads like a Stone Age comedy sketch. But sadly, it's reality that a nation has laws based on this form of Islam. Is there any defensible position for such a law? What about not allowing women to drive? Now, when they get around to allowing them to do THAT, look out, because that will be the beginning of the end.

So, how can westerners NOT think that Islam is debased when we read about student journalists being sentenced to death for allegedly distributing a document that "blasphemes Islam"?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/af...

It's like a small ocean filled with chum. They keep tossing more and more in. Some sharks take advantage of it and have a feast. But mostly, it just rots and smells bad.

(Thought about submitting this to the Poetry subcategory, but surprise, surprise, there were no open Questions there, so I figured that space had been abandoned)

in Kuwait? I have a real hankering for a fried pork chop, but seeing as how pork is illegal in Kuwait, I can't find a restaurant that serves them. It'd also be great to drink a nice cold one while digging in. Thanks for your suggestions.

This will probably be better understood by speakers of Arabic. Do you think the word "jihad" and "jihadi" when they refer to Muslim terrorists is being mis-used? Shouldn't a word such as "mufsid" be used to describe a Muslim that engages in the type of atrocities that terrorists commit? I have also heard the word, "hirabah" which means sinful warfare. Why do even Muslims and speakers of Arabic continue to use "jihad" when they really mean mufsid/mufsidun and hirabah? Should they not attempt to differentiate between their "struggle" to be true to their religion (jihad), and outright criminality/sinfulness?

I was watching a news report about people being robbed in bathrooms, and in an interview with a person on the street, the person said, "Things are just more eviler and eviler; I guess I have to pray more." ?! What does that really do? Does that suddenly make the thieves of this world wake up on Monday and decide they're going to be good citizens? I hear the, "let's pray harder" answer a lot, and I think it really only serves to make the person praying feel better; it doesn't solve the real problem. A police officer's foot on the neck or, even, a 9mm round in the gut, will solve the problem.

Why don't people seem to realize or care that when they fire their guns into the air in celebration that the bullets are going to come down pretty much the same speed they left the gun?

(my reference is to the deaths reported in Iraq due to celebratory gunfire after their soccer win)

Is it true that paying someone interest on a loan, or earning interest on a financial investment is against Islam? I understand that there are Islamic banks in the middle-east the manage to do things correctly under Sharia law. However, what about muslims in the West? How do they reconcile this issue when they bank (borrow, invest, etc) at western institutions?

You're not really 82, are you? And they let you use a computer? ; )