"Shut Up and Play" -- Etan Thomas

okay, i've always like etan thomas (mostly because of the hair), but now i have a quasi-legitimate reason for doing so. A highly political player, he writes a response to those who tell him to "shut up and play" :

I was watching this special about Muhammad Ali and they showed him shaking hands with George Bush, of all people, and I thought to myself, How ironic. When talking about Muhammad Ali, it is important to remember that all of these people in mainstream America, who now look at him with reverence and dignity, did not feel that way when he was in his prime. It is important to remember that he was one of the most vilified and reviled men of his time. When he made the decision not to enter his name in the draft, not to step forward and fight in a war that he did not agree in, he was looked upon with hate. All of the people who once cheered him and marveled at his ability and overall skills in the ring suddenly looked upon him with eyes of contempt. If was almost as if they were thinking, How dare he not jump at the opportunity to fight for his country?

The reality was that Ali was the epitome of standing up for what you believed in. For having the moral courage to ignore public opinion and stand on his convictions. You have to remember that this was a different time. A time where black people all over the country were being brutally lynched, burned alive, doused with water hoses and attacked with dogs, and this was by the police. This was a time of dire consequences for such actions, and it took a proud black man as Muhammad Ali, who waited until he won the belt, until he was the heavyweight champion of the world, to say to the entire country, Gotcha! This is who I am. And I'm not going to give you any choice but to accept me as a man. You can't put me in a box regardless of whether you want to or not.

I liked the quote... but read the article weeks ago so don't remember the rest. check it out.

Useful Paper-Writing Technique

Increase the length of your paper by increasing the font size of all the periods... brilliant!


Really Useful Paper Tip - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search

Me & the Mosque: Women in Islam (Video)

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. In North America, most converts to Islam are women, many of whom are drawn to the ... all » religion through their experiences of social injustice and political involvement.

Ironically many mosques force women to pray behind barriers away from the men, and some mosques do not even permit women to enter the building. When it comes to user-friendliness for women, Canadian mosques run the entire gamut.

In Me and the Mosque, journalist and filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz visits mosques throughout Canada and talks to scholars, colleagues, friends and neighbours about equal access for women. Discussions about the historical role of women in the Islamic faith, the current state of mosques in Canada and personal stories of anger, fear, acceptance and defiance punctuate the film. And Nawaz herself speaks of the spiritual longing that comes from belonging to an institution that doesn't want you.

With original animation, archival footage and deeply personal interviews, Me and the Mosque is a smart, self-aware and whimsical story that documents the debates and presents the personalities on all sides of the issue.

NYT - Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls

in case you haven't turned on espn in the last week:
Study of N.B.A. Sees Racial Bias in Calling Fouls

though i'd love to see the paper itself...
EDIT: nyc deel found it: Text of Study thank you! (i'm not highlighting that; will read later)

Highlights:

[The study] found a corresponding bias in which black officials called fouls more frequently against white players, though that tendency was not as strong. They went on to claim that the different rates at which fouls are called “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew assigned to the game.”

“I would be more surprised if it didn’t exist,” Mr. Ayres [author of "Pervasive Prejudice?"] said of an implicit association bias in the N.B.A. “There’s a growing consensus that a large proportion of racialized decisions is not driven by any conscious race discrimination, but that it is often just driven by unconscious, or subconscious, attitudes. When you force people to make snap decisions, they often can’t keep themselves from subconsciously treating blacks different than whites, men different from women.”

But they said they continued to find the same phenomenon: that players who were similar in all ways except skin color drew foul calls at a rate difference of up to 4 ½ percent depending on the racial composition of an N.B.A. game’s three-person referee crew.

With their database of almost 600,000 foul calls, Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price used a common statistical technique called multivariable regression analysis, which can identify correlations between different variables. The economists accounted for a wide range of factors: that centers, who tend to draw more fouls, were disproportionately white; that veteran players and All-Stars tended to draw foul calls at different rates than rookies and non-stars; whether the players were at home or on the road, as officials can be influenced by crowd noise; particular coaches on the sidelines; the players’ assertiveness on the court, as defined by their established rates of assists, steals, turnovers and other statistics; and more subtle factors like how some substitute players enter games specifically to commit fouls.

Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price also report a statistically significant correlation with decreases in points, rebounds and assists, and a rise in turnovers, when players performed before primarily opposite-race officials.

Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price claim that these changes are enough to affect game outcomes. Their results suggested that for each additional black starter a team had, relative to its opponent, a team’s chance of winning would decline from a theoretical 50 percent to 49 percent and so on, a concept mirrored by the game evidence: the team with the greater share of playing time by black players during those 13 years won 48.6 percent of games — a difference of about two victories in an 82-game season.

The N.B.A.’s reciprocal study was conducted by the Segal Company, the actuarial consulting firm which designed the in-house data-collection system the league uses to identify patterns for referee-training purposes, to test for evidence of bias. The league’s study was less formal and detailed than an academic paper, included foul calls for only two and a half seasons (from November 2004 through January 2007), and did not consider differences among players by position, veteran status and the like. But it did have the clear advantage of specifying which of the three referees blew his whistle on each foul.

The N.B.A. study reported no significant differences in how often white and black referees collectively called fouls on white and black players. Mr. Stern said he was therefore convinced “that there’s no demonstration of any bias here — based upon more robust and more data that was available to us because we keep that data.”

Both [authors of the paper] cautioned that the racial discrimination they claim to have found should be interpreted in the context of bias found in other parts of American society.

“There’s bias on the basketball court,” Mr. Wolfers said, “but less than when you’re trying to hail a cab at midnight.”

HAPPY PLAYOFFS!

so stop calling me. thanks.

jawad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL0Qvo0LmHA
jawad: if i knew anyone with an imminent birthday i'd send them that

Aerosol Arabic on USA 'Arts and Islam' Tour

i'm dumb for not having gotten this out earlier. sorry, kids :-/

If you're not aware of his work, it's pretty damn hot. i'm a huge fan. he's touring the US; check it out if you get a chance, if for no other reason than because his name is friggin "aerosol arabic"... c'mon! you know that's awesome.

The dates for the Arts and Islam USA programme are as follows:

Chicago:
11th-14th April
New York:
15th April – 19th April
Boston/Massachusetts:
20th April – 21st April

Aerosol Arabic's youtube videos

Pearls Before Breakfast (Washington Post)

ironic that i'm highlighting an article about taking the time to find beauty in life, eh?

Washington Post placed Joshua Bell, a world renowned violinist, in a busy metro station to see how many people would stop to listen or drop change. he goes on to discuss the priorities we've set in our our lives and whether we take the time to appreciate beauty in the midst of our hectic schedules. seriously a very well-written article; i highly recommend reading the whole thing.

Pearls Before Breakfast by Gene Weingarten (Washington Post)

Highlights/Spoilers:

No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother's heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.

and

But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.

And then there was Calvin Myint. Myint works for the General Services Administration. He got to the top of the escalator, turned right and headed out a door to the street. A few hours later, he had no memory that there had been a musician anywhere in sight.

"Where was he, in relation to me?"

"About four feet away."

"Oh."

There's nothing wrong with Myint's hearing. He had buds in his ear. He was listening to his iPod.

What about Joshua Bell?

He was too loud, too, Souza [ the shoe shine lady] says. Then she looks down at her rag, sniffs. She hates to say anything positive about these damned musicians, but: "He was pretty good, that guy. It was the first time I didn't call the police."

Souza nods sourly toward a spot near the top of the escalator: "Couple of years ago, a homeless guy died right there. He just lay down there and died. The police came, an ambulance came, and no one even stopped to see or slowed down to look.

"People walk up the escalator, they look straight ahead. Mind your own business, eyes forward. Everyone is stressed. Do you know what I mean?"

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies

Tickle Me Elmo on Fire

so. disturbing.

Smoke Art

Gorgeous.

"An engineer by education and profession, Mehmet Ozgur is also an avid photographer. His work spans a substantial range of subject matter and technique, from the landscape panorama to normal format landscape, digital compositions and his amazing smoke works. His smoke series comprise stunning images of incense smoke, mainly in monochrome but some in color. These, as all of his work, are digitally manipulated on the computer to provide the effect he is after" (Cosshall).

Cosshall, Wayne J. "Jan 2007 Outstanding Art/Photo Site Award - Mehmet Ozgur" The Digital Imagemaker. 2007.

Pictures

Purification of the Heart - Displeasure with the Divine Decree

*Excerpts from "Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms, and Curses of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart," a translation of Imam al-Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub, by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf*

Displeasure with the Divine Decree

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Poem Verses 106-107

“Displeaseure with the Divine decree occurs when one resists
God, the Majestic and Exalted, in what He has decreed.

For instance, saying, “I did not warrant this happening to me!” or “What did I do to deserve this suffering?”

(p. 69)
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“God-conscious people, when asked about what their Lord has given them, say that all of it is good. They say this out of knowledge of the nature of this world, as a temporary crucible of trial and purification. Because of this elevated understanding, they are patient with afflictions and trials. For worldly people, there is only this world, and this understanding creates a blind spot to the wondrousness of God’s creations and the signs strewn throughout.”

(p. 69)

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“As for obedience, one must recognize that obedience is a blessing from God. If a religious person starts to believe that he is better than other people – even if these “other” people are in a state of disobedience – he invites haughtiness. This is the danger of obedience and, in fact, the danger of religion – self-righteousness.”

(p. 70)
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“The Prophet (saw) once said that whoever has a mustard seed of arrogance in his heart will not enter Heaven, a sentiment shared with Christianity. What God asks from obedient people is simply acknowledging that their obedience is a gift from God. The Prophet (saw) said, “Do not find fault in others. If you find fault in them, God may take their faults away and give them to you.” It is unbecoming for a believer to look with scorn at those in tribulation, exhibiting loathsome disdain towards others who seem unguided. It is better to come with compassion toward them and gratitude to God. When the Prophet (saw) saw people severely tried, he made the supplication: “Praise be to [God] who has given me well-being such that I was not tried like these people. And He has preferred me over so much of His creation.” Compassion for those in tribution and gratitude for well-being is how the Prophet (saw) responded when he witnessed people in difficulty.”

(p. 71)
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“ “It may be that you dislike something, though it is good for you. And it may be that you love something, though it is bad for you. And God knows, and you do not know (Quran 2:216). Ibn ‘Abbas said that if a person is tested with a tribulation, he will find in it three blessings: first, the tribulation could have been worse; second, it was in worldly matters and not in spiritual ones; and third, it came in the finite world and not the infinite one. All three are reasons to thank God even for tribulations.”

(p. 71)
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“It is important to look at the life of the Prophet (saw) and know that no one faced greater tribulation.
…
Not once in a single hadith is there a complaint from him – except when beseeching his Lord.”

(p. 72)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

“Should people be happy with all that comes their way, even the bad thigns? God has decreed that evil exist in the world in order to test humankind and for reasons that accord with His wisdom. We should not be displeased with His choice in allowing this. But when one sees societies plunged into immorality, it is not something to be pleased with or even feel indifferent. On the contrary, God requires that we dislike it. But never should we resent or be displeased with the fact that God has created a w world wherein such things exist, however unpleasant they may be.”

(p. 72)