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This video was sent to me by my friend Taha Raja, who has contributed guest posts to this blog. He bought a box of Kellog's Raisin Bran at WalMart and was shocked to find live bugs crawling around inside the sealed packaging. He took video and has uploaded it to YouTube. This is really disturbing video, so be warned.
No, this is not a joke.
This actually helps me get ready, mentally speaking, for Ramadan!
This Wednesday, the majority of mankind is for quite a show - the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. As the NASA graphic at right (click to enlarge) makes clear, the path of the eclipse traverses half the globe, covering all of India and Indonesia and most of China, not to mention the rest of Eastern Asia and Japan. NASA has made a cool interactive map available using Google Maps to help you track the path for the total eclipse, though the boundaries of the partial eclipse are much, much wider. The path for totality however is notable in that it passes near major asian metropolises like Mumbai and Shanghai.
This eclipse is generating a lot of attention. There are plans to broadcast the eclipse in real-time on the Internet, via a team from the University of Madrid. It has some people predicting earthquakes and tsunamis off the coast of Japan (the theory being that tidal pull will exacerbate tectonic plates or something). And the tiny village of Taregana in the dirt-poor Indian province of Bihar is enjoying a massive boon in tourism and infrastructure spending, because of its ostensibly ideal vantage point for viewing the totality. Of course, Chinese scientists beg to differ, claiming China is the place to be. Interestingly, the best spot to catch totality might well be Iwo Jima, since the maximum duration (6 minutes) occurs closer to there than in mainland Asia.
There won't be an eclipse like this for another 12 decades. That fact alone should inspire some awe - especially given that the sweep of centuries are like the second hand of the cosmic clock.
For detailed information on eclipse path, visibility, and timings, see NASA's factsheet. Wikipedia has a nice summary of information about the eclipse as well. Finally, my Beliefnet colleague Lynn Hayes offers an astrological reading of the eclipse.
All eclipse predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC [cite].
Michael Jackson's passing is almost as fittingly mysterious and dramatic as was his life. Everyone has their own MJ stories about how his music played a role in their lives, but tlooking back it seems like there were two of him, pre-Thriller and post-Thriller. Pre-Thriller, MJ was a musical icon, but afterwards with his descent into eccentricity, face bleaching, and retreat into a literal Neverland of his own making, MJ took on the status of living myth. The power of that myth persisted despite bankruptcy woes, accusations of child molestation, and other slings and arrows, so much so that last year when rumors of Jackson's conversion to Islam began to float, they sent a shockwave of fascination throughout the world.
Though his conversion was never confirmed (and outright denied by his publicists), the idea of Michael Jackson as Mikael Jackson proved too powerful to let go. It's fascinating how muslims in particular are now responding to his death; this thread at Talk Islam has attracted many readers who normally don't comment to leave a message and express their sorrow and prayers. That MJ was a muslim is simply assumed as a given, and the thread is full of the muslim prayer for the dead, Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un. His death has clearly touched muslims as one of their own, and the question of his belief only adds to the mythos he leaves behind.
Rest in peace, Michael. Like Marilyn Monroe, you've become immortal in a way that almost no other celebrity has ever become.
This is one of those amazing stories of the raw power of simple piety and compassion:
Storekeeper Mohammad Sohail was closing up his Long Island convenience store just after midnight on May 21 when -- as shown on the store's surveillance video -- a man came in wielding a baseball bat and demanding money.
"He said, 'Hurry up and give me the money, give me the money!' and I said, 'Hold on'," Sohail recalled in a phone interview with CNN on Tuesday, after the store video and his story was carried on local TV.
Sohail said he reached under the counter, grabbed his gun and told the robber to drop the bat and get down on his knees.
"He's crying like a baby," Sohail said. "He says, 'Don't call police, don't shoot me, I have no money, I have no food in my house.' "
Amidst the man's apologies and pleas, Sohail said he felt a surge of compassion.
He made the man promise never to rob anyone again and when he agreed, Sohail gave him $40 and a loaf of bread.
"When he gets $40, he's very impressed, he says, 'I want to be a Muslim just like you,' " Sohail said, adding he had the would-be criminal recite an Islamic oath.
"I said 'Congratulations. You are now a Muslim and your name is Nawaz Sharif Zardari.'"
Technically, the storekeeper Mohammed Sohail did spread Islam at gunpoint! But of course it was his compassion and forgiveness for his would-be assailant that really softened the criminal's heart.
First Michael Jackson, now Paris Hilton?
As Nicole Ritchie might say, Islam is hot. It should be noted that according to at least one pundit, Paris Hilton's embrace of Islam might well be as revolutionary for the faith as Malcolm X was. Truly momentous!
(Yes, I am joking. No, that probably isn't Paris Hilton. And yes, Michael Jackson's publicist has denied the conversion thing, too. Though I am unsure about Brian Lara's status...
UPDATE: That really IS Paris Hilton - during an episode of Simple Life, where she and Nicole Ritchie were hosted by a Pakistani family in Los Angeles. Blogger Bilal Zuberi caught the episode on TV and had some commentary:
The two women certainly left an impression on The Ghauris - Mr. Ghauri shuttered his eyes when the go-go-girls started grinding with him at the night club, and the young Ghauri boy kissed a girl and learnt the art of don't-kiss-and-tell. Mrs. Ghauri definitely tried her best to teach these women a thing or two about being a good wife, passionately claiming her son would never do such a thing! Never in a million years.
And the heiress: well, she was her usual stupid self (though I must say she looked kinda cute in the Pakistani shalwar kameez!). When the host asked them what the religion of Pakistan was, they gave blank stares. When given the hint that "its the religion most talked about since 9/11". Paris replies flirtatiously,"kabbalah?". Could it get better! Oh yeah, and she found the call to prayer 'sexy'.
And that pretty much justifies adding the "stranger than fiction" category to this post...
Related: with apologies to Right Said Fred...
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