White House Trip!

Link to the article/page NEA made for the trip (with me as the token teacher activist):  http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/2011/11/02/video-nea-members-talk-school-modernization-with-president-obama/

NEA representatives in front of the White House prior to the Nov. 1, 2001 meeting on the American Jobs Act.

Vice President Joe Biden addressing the audience.

President Barack Obama

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and David Plough during the West Wing conference call.

Me with the NEA President in front of the West Wing.

The group photo with VP Biden on his way out of the office.

President Obama exiting the meeting.

Me with the President speaking behind me.

The White House as it looked as we headed back to the hotel.

Write-up for CSEA newsletter:

I had a very unexpected message when I got home from parent-teacher conferences in late October.  The message was from Andy Linebaugh at the NEA offices in Washington D.C., and he was inviting me to go to the White House for a meeting with President Obama.  It was too late to call him back that evening, so I had to wait until the next day to get more information.  I was being invited because of a short paragraph I had written at the Education Votes website in response to an NEA e-mail request asking teachers to describe how budget cuts were affecting their schools. 

This is what I wrote:

“My school has been lucky compared to many in these times of cuts. We didn’t have to lay off nearly as many teachers as some schools. But, year after year we come to work in 90+ temps with packed classrooms and no AC. We can’t pass a bond issue for many reasons—public education’s battered reputation and “we-can’t-take-one-more-request-for-money” battered voters are two of the big ones. I have classes of 36 and 37 teenagers packed into desks that are falling apart, using textbooks older than they are. Every day, students ask for food, paper, pencils, fundraiser purchases, even clothes, let alone the graphing calculators we want them to have to keep up with technological advances in education. Our carpet is threadbare, stained, and approaching 40 years old, but can’t be replaced because there is an asbestos issue we can’t afford to address. New mandates come from the government every year, but never with any funding for the training and infrastructure required to implement. We’re supposed to be a magic black box that produces perfect widgets out of students with nothing. I wish we could have some of the joy of Finnish education; I wish I could feel that people of America believed in the value of free quality education for all. That was a principle I was raised on and firmly believe in, but I feel it is a value that is being sorely eroded.”

I felt I shouldn’t pass up a rare opportunity like this one, so I accepted the offer and the following Monday I was flying to Washington D.C.  All the business happened on Tuesday.  I made my way a block from my hotel to the NEA offices where I was warmly welcomed.  It turned out, I was the only classroom teacher attending – the ten others representing NEA and teachers were the NEA President, a member of his staff, and 8 representatives from various states that are association Presidents and Vice Presidents at the state level.  We attended a briefing, and then were interviewed and video-taped individually about school conditions to be used in press releases or provided to the state and local associations to use as needed.  We went to the White House in the afternoon.  The meeting was in the East Room and included some other organizations like the NAACP in addition to NEA for a total of about 120 guests.  Three cabinet members and the Reverend Al Sharpton were in attendance.  There were four speakers including Vice President Joe Biden and President Obama.  The topic of discussion was the American Jobs Act and the need to create and preserve public sector jobs and infrastructure.  The President did take questions and comments from the audience and committed to continue fighting for school funding.  He said that the most important thing educators and students can do to try to advocate for school funding and infrastructure is to get their stories out in the local press as much as possible.  Much of the public does not really understand how budget cuts are affecting what happens in the classroom and the state of repair of schools and the only way they will learn is if people in the schools tell them and show them.

After the President left, the NEA group was quickly ushered to the West Wing to attend a conference call with David Plough (President Obama’s campaign manager and political strategist) and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, and a variety of NEA members from around the country who wished to learn about the meeting we had just attended or express what is happening in their schools.  When the call concluded, we left the White House and each gave short video synopses of our experiences to the NEA press crew. 

While we hope that the meeting will make some positive difference that all of us will benefit from, the experience was also very exciting and fun.  We all had opportunities to get pictures of the President and Vice President, some shook hands with one or both of them, and we had a group photo with the Vice President as he was leaving the West Wing on his way home.  We were made to feel quite welcome at the White House.  I put some of my trip pictures on my blog at http://masooma.blogspot.com/2011/11/white-house-trip.html , which also includes a link to an article with pictures and video that NEA wrote up about the event.  They decided to make the stories with me the focus of the event because I was the classroom teacher as opposed to a state officer.  I tried to represent us all well and am very thankful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Seven Deadly Sins

Can you remember a time in your childhood when you first realized that your perceptions of the world were not necessarily the same as everyone else’s, and not necessarily correct? One example from my own childhood involves my perception of the past. I had seen old shows on TV like Leave It To Beaver and I Love Lucy, or old news reels about World War II. My visual perception of what the past was like was based on these shows and other sources like old family photographs. All of these were in black-and-white. It was a revelation for me when one day I suddenly realized that color had not first come to exist sometime in the mid-twentieth century and that the world was not black-and-white in the past, but rather the media available simply were unable to record the color. It was a double revelation for me when I discovered that not every child had the same misconception that I did.

That was one of my earlier experiences that taught me that we do not all interpret the world identically to one another and that our perceptions at times do not match reality. A much later example of this came after adolescence. Even though I realized that men and women were different physically, I had been raised to believe that the differences between genders stopped there. I was taught that there was no basis for any different treatment between genders in terms of work, career, school, sports, or anything else. However, I saw that society didn’t fully uphold this teaching in its practices; boys shouldn’t come to school in skirts or play too often with baby dolls.

I gradually came to understand that the differences in gender extended to brain chemistry and hence also psychology, perception, mental processing, and even spirituality. In particular, I realized that there was merit behind Islamic teachings regarding interaction of the sexes. We now understand that males are more easily and quickly stimulated through visual means than women, and that words are a faster way to a woman’s heart than to a man’s, generally speaking. As simple as those two ideas may sound, many adolescents are at a stage of psychological development such that they fail to understand them well enough to realize the implications and act accordingly. An example: as a high school teacher, I regularly see girls dressing in a way that stimulates their male counterparts. Some of them do it on purpose to get a reaction, but many others are truthfully unaware that males may perceive their appearance through a different lens then how they see themselves. It takes time to develop the empathy and ability to comprehend the myriad ways that others may experience and perceive the world differently from us.

These different perceptions and experiences, whether tied to biology or something else, mean that we each have different strengths and weaknesses in the face of temptation. A case in point, the Catholic Church has recently reported results of a study indicating that there is a relationship between gender and what particular types of sin we are more likely to commit. The Catholic study focused on The Seven Deadly Sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath/anger, envy and pride. The exact origin of this Catholic list of the seven classes of sins that warrant hellfire is unclear, but they are mentioned in Dante’s Inferno, were written about by Pope Gregory I in 590 AD, and became relatively common in the fourteenth century as a theme of European religious art.

According to the report, based on a study of confessions carried out by Fr Roberto Busa, a 95-year-old Jesuit scholar, the top three confessed Deadly Sins for males are lust, gluttony, and sloth. For females, the top three are pride, envy and anger. Lust is a sin of sexual desire, gluttony a sin of excess particularly associated with food, and sloth is a sin of despairing of God’s mercy or losing hope as well as a sin of laziness or failing to work to achieve one’s potential. Pride is a sin of desiring or viewing oneself to be more important or attractive than others and is considered by Catholics (and others) as the most deadly of all sins, being the reason for Shaitan’s fall and the precursor of many other sins. Envy is the sin of resenting the good in others’ hands and desiring it for oneself, and anger is a sin of hostile emotion associated with loss of self-control and objectivity. The study does not assert that either gender is immune from the other sins, but merely that the strongest temptations and struggles are likely to be different.

The study results were released in the context of concern that fewer and fewer Catholics are going to confession. Pope Benedict said that, "We are losing the notion of sin. If people do not confess regularly, they risk slowing their spiritual rhythm."

Islamic theology holds a slightly different view about confession. Catholic doctrine holds that a priest is a necessary intermediary between a layperson and God. Shia Islam does uphold the concept of appealing to God through the means of someone closer to Him than oneself, but it does not put the intermediary as a barrier to the direct connection. Further, Islamic teachings suggest that it is often preferable not to advertise one’s sins in the form of public confession, as doing so may gradually make the commission of such sins seem more acceptable or ordinary to those who hear the confession. This is apparent enough to anyone who has watched TV long enough to see its influence on what is acceptable in society. Granted, Catholic confession is not public per se, but certain denominations of Protestant faith have taken it to that level and adopted public confession as a virtue.

All, however, seem to agree that a path of spiritual self-improvement, i.e. jihad e akbar, requires careful self-examination and acknowledgment of one’s sins to oneself and God. Pope Benedict was right at least to the extent that if we do not analyze our behavior for sinfulness, then we risk overlooking our sins, taking them too lightly, and going further away from the right path. A sin that is excused or overlooked as minor may open the door for greater and greater disease in the soul and ultimate loss. At a societal level, there does seem to be an alarming global pattern of losing the notion of sin or wrong. What a previous generation would find shocking may be in this generation seen as normal behavior.

Islam also holds the concept of mortal sins akin to the Seven Deadly Sins of Catholicism. The list, however, is not limited to only seven, although many of the long list of mortal sins in Islamic teachings are related to one another and could be classified into a fairly short list of overarching categories or clusters, just as the Seven Deadly Sins have under them many related diseases of the soul and so could be considered far more than seven. Ayatollah Sayed Abdul Husain Dastghaib Shirazi wrote a fantastic treatise on mortal sins called Greater Sins, including mention of such sins as shirk/polytheism, despair of God’s mercy, disregard of Allah’s punishment, murder, disobedience to parents, usury, fornication, drinking alcohol, lying or cheating, and many others. It is excellent and necessary reading for anyone seeking to engage in the Greater Jihad against self. An online English version is located at http://www.najaf.org/english/book/37/.

One point that was unclear from the BBC’s summary of the study is whether the variable of what sins people admit to, either to themselves or to a priest, is confounded with the variable of what sins they really commit. Regardless, several reflections can be made about this study and its context. One is that awareness of what constitutes sin and self-evaluation for any sign of sin or moral error is absolutely necessary. Second is that the paths to ruin are wide and numerous, while the straight path is a narrow, moderate one. Third, due consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of human beings includes understanding of differences and adapting one’s behavior to limit the trials and temptations of self and others as much as possible. This may include anything from observing hijab to avoiding places where alcohol is sold.

Finally, the above three points should lead us to develop a focus on our own shortcomings over judgment of others. To paraphrase Jesus (as), why should we obsess over the speck in our brother’s eye yet ignore the mote in our own? Or, as he also said, “Let he who is without fault cast the first stone.” In conjunction, if we care for our brothers and sisters then we must not overlook our obligations to help them steer clear of those wide and numerous paths of ruin. For most of us, our duty is that we are our brothers’ keepers, but not their judges. Just as when we were children we gradually learned about how our perceptions may differ from others’ and from the truth, as we grow older we must expand and refine that knowledge to understand the differences between Jihad –e- akbar and irresponsible asceticism or selfishness, between recognizing one’s sins and accepting them or unwarrantedly relying on the forgiveness of Allah swt, between tolerance, forgiveness, or compassion and enabling or encouraging a sinner, and between enjoining good or forbidding evil and self righteousness or obdurate harshness.

Comfort Aid International

Yusuf Yusufali of Comfort Aid International is Islamic Insights Person of the Year

A very worthy charity

How to Supplicate

From Understanding the Month of Glory.

What is Du`a?

Dua is a simple acceptance of the difference between the existences of God and the human being.

-The existence of Allah as the source of all good, perfection, independence and bestowal.
-The existence of the human being as a vessel of poverty, need, dependant on constant bestowal and favor.

Thus the human being needs to ask for and receive the favors of the Almighty. He is in constant need for what only Allah can give Him. To help him achieve his dreams, to give him success and happiness in this world and the Hereafter, he needs the favors of Allah.

The Almighty God, in His mercy and love for the human being, has allowed believers to ask from Him, and has promised to answer them. This is a great favor of God. The following Qur'anic verses show how Allah invites believers to ask from Him:

* And when my servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the supplicant when he calls upon Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me, that they may walk the right way. (2:186)
* Call unto Me, I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell. (40:60)
* Call your Lord humbly and secretly, He loves not the transgressors. (7:55)
* And call on Him, fearing and hoping, surely the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good. (7:56)

Many Hadith also emphasize the importance of supplicating to Allah:

* Du`a is the weapon of the believer, and the pillar of faith, and the light of the heavens and the earth. Holy Prophet (s)
* Know that He who owns the treasures of the skies and the earth has permitted you to pray to Him, and has promised you acceptance of the prayer. He has commanded you to beg of Him in order that He may give you, and to seek His mercy in order that He may have mercy on you.

He has opened for you the door of repentance. Therefore whenever you call Him, He hears your call, and whenever you whisper to Him, He knows the whisper. You place before him your needs, unveil before Him yourself, complain to Him for your worries, beseech Him to remove your troubles, seek His help in your affairs, and ask from the treasures of His mercy what no-one else has the power to give, namely long life, health of body, and increase of livelihood. Imam Ali (a) Letter 31, Nahjul Balagha

Allah loves the believers who ask from Him, and supplicate constantly. The Holy Prophet (s) has said that on the Day of Judgement, two men with very similar deeds will enter Heaven. One of them will see that the other is granted a rank above him. He will ask Allah: "My Lord! We have the same actions. Why have you preferred him over me"? Allah will reply, "He asked from Me, and you did not".

Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (a) often encouraged his companions to ask from Allah. He once said to Maysar, his companion : O Maysar! Supplicate, and do not say the affair has been destined. Surely there are ranks with Allah which cannot be reached except through asking. If the servant (of Allah) closes his mouth and does not ask, he will not be given anything, so ask and you will get. O Maysar, the door that is knocked often is most likely to open.

Dua is a great tool given to believers by Allah. Using du`a they can achieve great things and overcome many problems. One who has been given the power of Dua can never lose hope, as in his hands lies a great weapon. It is man's own loss if he does not make use of the tremendous potential of Du`a.

Effects of Dua

1. Pleases the Almighty

Allah loves that believers should pray to Him constantly. He says in the Holy Qur'an: Allah would not care for you were it not for your supplications. (25:77).Ahadith also tell us of how Allah loves those who pray and ask from Him:
* God loves nothing better than that His servants ask from Him. Imam al-Baqir (a)
* Supplicate, for there is nothing like Dua to get you closer to Allah, and do not leave out your minor needs, for the One who is the Master of the major needs is also the Master of the minor ones. Imam as-Sadiq (a)
2. Gives Peace and Contentment

A person who prays to Allah, putting all faith and trust in Him, never feels alone or lonely. He has harnessed his own insignificant power onto a being who is the Supreme Power, and who has promised to answer His call. This gives him great peace of mind. It makes him confident that with the help of Allah, all things can be done. He knows also that whatever happens to him is the decree of the Wise, the almighty. Says the Holy Qur'an: Those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah, surely by Allah's remembrance are hearts set at rest. ( 13:28)
3. Increases Knowledge and Humility

Most duas teach us about the greatness of Allah, and His qualities. They also make us aware of our lowly position and our helplessness. That is why Allah says: Call unto Me, I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell. (40:60) Those who do not ask from Allah are described as the proud ones. Believers are encouraged to pray all the time, and for all things - even those which seem minor. Allah once told Nabi Musa (a), O Musa! Ask Me for everything, even the mending of your shoelace. When a human being realizes that he is in constant need of the favors of Allah, this will prevent him from becoming proud and arrogant. It reminds him of his own neediness and poverty.
4. Changes what is destined

Du`a reverts what has been destined. Although Allah decrees all things, He has given us the ability to make changes through Dua. The Holy Prophet (s) has said: What is destined cannot be averted except through Dua. Another Hadith says: Indeed caution cannot save you from what is destined, but what can save you from it is Dua. Imam `Ali(a)
5. Averts Difficulties

Many problems and difficulties in life can be avoided by praying to Allah. He is in complete control, and can keep away all afflictions from those who ask Him for that. The following Ahadith explain the importance of Dua for avoiding difficulties: Whoever fears difficulties should supplicate, Allah will never let the difficulties come to him. Imam as-Sadiq (a) Surely Dua meets the difficulties, and the two join together until the Day of Judgement. Imam al-Kadhim (a)

Etiquette of Du`a

As we spend more and more time reciting Duas during the holy months of Rajab, Sha`baan, and Ramadhan, it is necessary to know the correct etiquette of Dua. Supplicating to the Almighty should be done in the appropriate manner - in the manner that Allah loves - in order to benefit fully from it. The following are some of the Etiquette of Dua according to Hadith.

Begin with Bismillah: A Hadith of the Holy Prophet (s) says: No dua which has Basmalah (saying of Bismillahir Rahmaneer Raheem) at the beginning of it is rejected. A dua should begin in the name of Allah, putting all trust and hope in Him alone. Describing Him as Kind and Merciful creates confidence that the dua will not be rejected.

Send Blessings on Muhammad and his family: A Hadith of the 6th Imam (a) says: Whoever has a wish he wants Allah to fulfill, let him begin with blessings on Muhammad and his family, then let him ask his wish, and end by sending blessings on Muhammad and his family. Allah is nobler than to accept the first and the last (the blessings) and reject the middle. Salawat is a dua for the Holy Prophet (s) and his family. Whoever includes that dua is assured of the acceptance of his dua for himself.

Praise and Glorify Allah: Every Dua should begin with the praise of Allah, the recognition that He alone has the Power and Might over everything. A supplicant increases in his humility as he acknowledges the greatness of the Almighty. He realizes that everything is in the control of God, and if He wishes, the dua can be accepted and answered immediately.

Acknowledgement of Sins: When supplicating to Allah, one should be aware of and confess that one is a sinner, undeserving of the favor of Allah. Humility and apprehensiveness are commendable qualities in the one who supplicates.

Pray emotionally: Allah says in Hadithe Qudsi to Nabi Isa (a): O Isa! When you ask from me, supplicate to me the supplication of the grief stricken, the overwhelmed, the one who has no helper . . . and do not supplicate to Me except in an emotional state. Your grief should be only one. Whenever you pray to Me in such a way, I shall answer you. A soft heart and tears are the best weapons of a human being in his quest to achieve nearness to Allah. When one prays emotionally, the Dua is very sincere and acceptance is assured.

Pray for others: Whoever prays for others pleases the Almighty greatly. A Hadith of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a) says: Nothing is more swiftly answered than a Dua recited for others. According to the Holy Prophet(s), the Dua of a believer for other believers is returned to him as many times as the number of believing men and women from the beginning of creation to the Day of Judgement.

Have confidence that Allah will answer your prayers : When praying, the supplicant must have trust that Allah will answer his prayers. A Hadith says, Whenever you recite Dua, assume that what you need is at the door.

Du`a is always answered

Whoever asks something from Allah, his du`a is always heard and answered. Sometimes it is not answered in the way the supplicant expects. No du`a is rejected. Allah is more noble than to tell His servants to ask from Him, and then reject their du`a. Many Ahadith tell us of how Allah always answers the supplicant, and is pleased with Him. A believer who prays and asks from Allah, is guaranteed one of three things:

* Either his du`a is answered immediately
* Or he is given a reward for it for the Hereafter
* Or a difficulty is averted from him

During the month of Ramadhan, believers try and spend as much time in du`a as possible. This is the month in which du`a carries even greater reward than usual, a month in which the mercy of Allah guarantees immediate acceptance of du`a.

Jefferson Davis and Colorado Springs

Well, I learned some Colorado Springs history today - all direct descendants of the President of Confederacy have lived here since the 1880's, and founded the First National Bank of Colorado Springs. Read Article Here.

Post 1001 - Uncontacted Tribes

Originally I just posted this on Facebook, but I decided to post it here, too, because somehow it just really strikes my imagination. These images are from a plane fly-by over a "village" of people who have had absolutely no contact with the outside world, apparently.

If you look carefully at the pictures, absolutely no modern artifact is to be seen. What did they think of the plane? Do they have contact with any other people at all? What do they live like, what do they think and believe?

As for the past week, school has been officially out but I worked a few days this week with some other teachers on preparing in our school for a new math curriculum on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday, I was helping my brother with some of his master's work. Monday we had a barbecue at mom's house. Sunday I took my brother's kids to Territory Days in Old Colorado City. Basically it is a street fair - they close off the streets and set up lots of vendor selling stuff and giving away samples and freebies and there are some rides and entertainment. I saw several of my former students or other people I know because that neighborhood is kind of the hometown area for the high school I teach at. Saturday I did yard work all day. My brother's son helped. Raking is sooo hard! :) Friday and Thursday last week I worked hard at school, too - moving books and going through and getting rid of about 10 years of old department files. So that's about it!

And here's a meme from Patrick's Place



What was your FIRST job?

Well I had two jobs that summer - one at McDonald's and the other at a Mexican non-chain fast-food place in the mall.

What was your FIRST car?

A 1981 Oldsmobile Omega.

Who was your FIRST grade teacher?

Mrs. Baptist. Here's what I remember about her, mainly: She had permed white hair, she beat certain boys with a yard stick when they misbehaved, she taped a 6 on my desk because I kept writing it backwards, and she wanted to move me to 2nd grade early but my parents said no.


Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?

I think my first by myself was in college maybe, perhaps to Oklahoma; before that I think my family had flown to Florida to visit my uncle and Disney World. And the first (and only) time I flew a plane was in a circle in California.

Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk?

The one girl who I think best fits the criteria of best friend in terms of how much time we spent together and visiting each other's houses, etc., was Angela Premier. Angela Premier and I were "best friends" for most of elementary school but she moved away and gradually we lost touch. I've tried to find her several times but haven't succeeded yet.

Where was your FIRST sleep over?

I don't remember. It might have been a sleep over involving several Brownies at one of the troop members' houses - maybe Christine Glick's house. But I don't remember for sure - it was probably 1st grade.

Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?

I've only been in one wedding - my brother's, when I was in high school. We're not a big formal event type of family.


FIRST foreign country you went to?

Mexico - Juarez, on a junior high Spanish class road trip. Kids sold candy at concessions after school and at events for a long time to raise the funds. I was the first person in my family to ever leave the country!

FIRST movie you remember seeing in the theaters?

I remember going to the drive-in that used to be down here. My dad had a red pick-up truck and he'd park it backwards and I had a sleeping bag to lay in. I think I remember seing Superman and some Western movie but I fell asleep.

First state you lived in?

The only state I've lived in for any length of time is Colorado.

Who was your FIRST roommate?

Helen Cooney from Canon City, my freshman year in the dorms at college.
We didn't really hit it off.

Mildred Loving, a True Heroine

Heroes and Heroines don't set out to be one in most cases. Mildred and her husband Richard stood up for love and against bigotry, because they loved each other. Mildred has passed away this week.

Read more here.

Ya Hussein! and Amaal of Ashura

Read more at this great blog by the author of Soaring to the Beloved, Manifestations of the All-Merciful, and more!

Anyone looking for Amaal of Ashura - please visit this location at duas.org.

May Allah reward us greatly for our grief for Hussain (as), and may He include us among those who avenge him with His representative the Imam Mahdi from the Household of the Prophet (as).

Good Muharram articles

The Khoei Center's publication Al-Huda has some good, not too long, articles related to Ashura.

Cotopaxi man found

Direct quote from krdo.com:

"Cotopaxi Man Missing Since September Found Dead

By Jenn DeHaan
j.dehaan@krdo.com

COTOPAXI - A man who has been the subject of a massive search since September 24 has been discovered dead. NEWSCHANNEL 13 has confirmed that the body of 63-year-old Gary Lorenz was found, reportedly sometime in the last few days.

While the Fremont County Sheriff's Office has now confirmed Lorenz's death, it was a NEWSCHANNEL 13 viewer that called in with the original tip. The viewer, who is being kept anonymous, says he was found on Saturday on a neighbor's property by a hunter. He tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 Lorenz's two golden retrievers, who were both last seen with him the day he disappeared, were still with the man, alive.

All of his information has proven accurate. Lorenz was found about 7 miles northwest of his home. His dogs were, in fact, still with him. His body was found by a hunter from Texas. The Sheriff's Office also reports that Lorenz apparently died from dehydration and exposure.

Lorenz was reported missing shortly after he was last seen as he was going out to check on some of his horses. His family had reported that Lorenz suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and could be in trouble. By the end of the first week, the search had grown to a 150-square-mile area with more than 70 volunteers and search team members. The search was then called off on October 10th, when Sheriff's deputies decided to take a more 'investigative' approach and examine other possibilities such as foul play."

So his dogs survived a month in the wild and stayed with him, that is pretty amazing. I'm glad he is found.

The purpose of the month of Ramadhan

"In the above verses, 3 purpose or results for fasting in Ramadan have been mentioned:

... 1. Taqwaa : learning self-restraint
... 2. Takbir : glorifying God Almighty because of being guided
... 3. Shukra : being grateful.

"In the above 3 terms, glorifying or praising God and being grateful is self-explanatory. Perhaps the first term, Taqwa holds the greatest significance and worth probing in details.


"The origin of the word taqwâ meaning "carefulness, Godfearing-ness" is from the Arabic root WQY from the 8th form verb, ittaqâ "be wary, godfearing".

"What does taqwa mean? Linguistically taqwa means protection and shield from what is "not good". Taqwa has multiple levels of meanings. In the exoteric dimension, taqwa means to save oneself from the illusion of this world which cause negative karma or punishment both in this world and in the hereafter. Taqwa provides the protection and shield which is established by true faith, which in return will cause great love and fear of God, that will lead to doing righteous deeds and avoiding the negative ones."

- from Br Sadiq Alam - read the rest here!

Mountain Lions seen in downtown Colorado Springs

Monument Valley Park lion sighting

Help Look for Steve Fossett

This is cool! Look for the missing Steve Fossett from your computer.

Something about this just doesn't seem right to me

Last week I read about a very young boy in India running great distances. Here is a story about an 8-year-old in China who just ran 40 miles a day for two months and weighs 44 pounds. She looks happy in the picture. Something about it seems potentially wrong to me for an 8-year-old to be doing that. What do you think?

More about her feat here.

Another Wildcat nearing extinction :(

The Iriomote

Solve a Rubik' Cube in Fewest Steps

26 steps from any starting point

Goats Eat Weeds

Something else going on around here I'd like to see.

No rain for 400 years

Atacama Desert - World's Driest Place

Evidence suggests this desert had no real rain for 400 years, and parts of it have not seen rain in hundreds of thousands to even possibly tens of million of years.

FRONTLINE: When Kids Get Life

This is appalling. Click the link and you can watch the whole episode.

This is about juvenile offenders going to jail for life without the possibility of parole. When you hear some of these stories from my own state of Colorado and realize juveniles are being sent to jail forever for snapping under a lifetime of abuse, for being present when someone else committed a crime, etc., it is so horrific and sad - and very important. There are what seem to very obvious miscarriages of justice and violations of human rights of our own kids and no one is helping them.

Writing prompts

For you aspiring creative writers, Toasted Cheese has lots of interesting writing prompts.