Hadith of the Week: Week 7

It is narrated from Hudhayfa (ra) that he said: Allah's Messenger said: "Do not be conformers who say: `If people do good we shall do good, and if they do wrong we shall do wrong.' Rather, make yourselves ready to do good if people do good, and, if they do wrong, not to do wrong."

Al-Tirmidhi narrated it and declared it hasan, as stated in al-Targhib and elsewhere.

Obama Rally in St. Louis

Obama's Speech Part 1
Obama's Speech Part 2

McCain/Obama Roast(s)

All sorts of amusings.

YouTube - John McCain Brings Down The House - Al Smith Dinner Part 1

YouTube - John McCain Brings Down The House - Al Smith Dinner Part 2

YouTube - Barack Obama at the Al Smith Memorial Dinner Part 1

YouTube - Sen. Barack Obama - 2008 Al Smith Dinner - Part 2

The Decay of Gratitude

[Francis] Flynn asserts that immediately after one person performs a favor for another, the recipient of the favor places more value on the favor than does the favor-doer. However, as time passes, the value of the favor decreases in the recipient's eyes, whereas for the favor-doer, it actually increases. Although there are several potential reasons for this discrepancy, one possibility is that, as time goes by, the memory of the favor-doing event gets distorted, and since people have the desire to see themselves in the best possible light, receivers may think they didn't need all that much help at the time, while givers may think they really went out of their way for the receiver.

Via Marginal Revolution

The Bradley Effect by Kate Zernike (NYT)

Article.

Basically:

In recent days, nervous Obama supporters have traded worry about a survey — widely disputed by pollsters yet voraciously consumed by the politically obsessed — that concluded racial bias would cost Mr. Obama six percentage points in the final outcome. He is, of course, about six points ahead in current polls. See? He’s going to lose.

If he does, it wouldn’t be the first time that polls have overstated support for an African-American candidate. Since 1982, people have talked about the Bradley effect, where even last-minute polls predict a wide margin of victory, yet the black candidate goes on to lose, or win in a squeaker. (In the case that lent the phenomenon its name, Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles, lost his race for governor, the assumption being that voters lied to pollsters about their support for an African-American.)