Racism in words

Rabina Khan on BBC London. To watch interview, click link on top right of page.

Launch of East London Professionals Association

The East London Professionals Association (ELPA) was launched at its inaugural dinner on Tuesday 16 January 2007. The event was held at the Naz Express restaurant in Brick Lane and was attended by around 50 Muslim professionals from various professions. The guests included lawyers, teachers and those working in the City. There were three presentations from guest speakers.

Majad Hussein, involved with Islam Channel and also working in the City of London, called for unity in the Muslim community and greater co-operation in community work. He stressed that community projects will be more effective when initiated in a spirit of unity.

Mahbub Ali, Trustee for Cityside Primary Trust, an educational trust launching an Islamic primary school in Tower Hamlets, highlighted the increased demand amongst Muslim parents to send their children to Islamic schools. He called for more focus to be channelled in the area of education where the national curriculum is integrated with Islamic studies. He urged the guests to contribute to similar educational projects so that access to Islamic education is available in greater number.

Kamran Khan, a presenter at Bangla TV and also working in the City of London, highlighted the greater need for Muslim professionals to engage with the wider society to dispel the countless myths surrounding the community. He emphasised the need for a proactive approach by professionals at a time of heightened fear and suspicion vis-à-vis the Muslim community.

Wakil Ahmed, hosting the evening, expressed the objective and vision for ELPA, “With the wealth of skills and knowledge in the community, we believe that it is possible to initiate projects as well promote the existing ones in Tower Hamlets to better our community. We wish to inspire and motivate professionals to make positive contributions by coming forward and partaking in these projects”.

ELPA aims to provide an effective network for the ever-increasing number of Muslim professionals in East London. It is a forum to discuss issues affecting the community in areas such as education and culture in the UK and organise social activities to promote and initiate projects for professionals to participate.

Website: www.elpa.org.uk
Email: info@elpa.org.uk

London Marathon 2007 Diary: DAY 3

A great 10 miler. I haven't felt as good about a run for along time. Enjoyed the run immensely and was in control all the way. Very happy bunny...

London Marathon 2007 DIARY: DAY 2

I've been ill and training has been a no go. Thankfully GP told me to carry on and not stop training. This years training is going to be a real struggle, judging by the way things have gone thus far. I hope to do along run this week, health permitting. Watch this space...

"Ahad's constant" - the official definition

Search the internet for "Ahad's constant" and you'll get an inordinate amount of discussion and yet an equal amount of contention about how this number ought to be calculated and what it should be called. Two years ago, when I first calculated a one number solution for the universe's total background illumination, it never occurred to me that the net value of such a logarithmic series could become the subject of so much controversy even to this day. It is understandable, however, on the grounds that the exact value cannot be computed, for reasons of "asymptoticness".

What is "Ahad's constant"?

If we exclude all light coming directly and indirectly from the nearby Sun, the rest of the universe collectively supplies us with a mere 1/300th of a Full Moon worth of light. That is "Ahad's constant"

Astronomers measure the brightnesses of stars across the night sky using something called the magnitude scale, first introduced by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the second century B.C. The scale in itself can be somewhat confusing, since a first magnitude star is actually brighter than a second magnitude star...opposite to what you'd expect going purely by every day common sense. You can learn more by searching Google for 'magnitude scale for star brightnesses' Here's one site that goes into much elaborate detail.Back to the definition of "Ahad's constant".
Suppose we have two stars of magnitudes M1 and M2. Then their luminosities L1 and L2 are related by the formula:-

L2/L1 = 10^[0.4*(M1-M2)]

The luminosity of the pair of stars is L1 + L2 = L1(1 + L2/L1), and their combined magnitude is then given by:-

Mc = M1 - 2.5*log10 (1 + L2/L1)

For the general case, where the magnitudes of "n" stars need to be aggregated, we can generalise this by computing all the ratios:-

Li/L1 = 10^[0.4*(M1-Mi)]

for all stars i from 2 through n. The combined magnitude is then:-

Mc = M1 - 2.5*log10 (1 + L2/L1 + L3/L1 + ... + Ln/L1)

"Ahad's constant" is simply defined to be the sum of all the individual magnitudes of every single star across the entire night sky, right down to the faintest star that could ever be seen with the most powerful telescope ever invented or is likely to be invented in the future.
In other words, the value of "n" in the above formulae (i.e. the star count) will tend to infinity. Based on my own numerical integrations, I have found that as n tends to infinity, the variable Mc in the above equation tends to a net figure of -6.5 magnitudes (1/300th of a full moon equivalent worth of light). That is what some are calling "Ahad's constant".

It can be appreciated by someone sailing more than a couple of light years beyond the neighborhood of the Sun in any direction. When you're that far out, you'd want certain physical barometers to pinpoint your overall "existence". One of them might be knowing whether the environment your ship is sailing through is a complete vacuum. Another might be knowing your distance from the next nearest planet or star. Yet another might be to know how much net starlight the sky is providing (i.e. "Ahad's constant").

It will remain an invariant celestial constant to a traveller located in deep interstellar space within several hundreds - if not thousands - of light years from here. All that humanity can ever hope to physically experience or meaningfully contemplate over within the foreseeable future of our species...

Stars in the neighborhood of the Sun are extremely feeble in their intrinsic brilliance - most of them being tiny red dwarves of < 0.01 x Sun power - and the average spacing between them is approximately 5 light years. Hence, 99.99% of the time during an interstellar voyage between two stars in this part of the galaxy, you will be travelling under the feeble illumination quantified by "Ahad's constant":

Above: Stars in the neighborhood of our Solar System, going 20-light years out in all directions. If you place your finger randomly anywhere on this map, 99.99% of the time when you're physically there, you are going to be surrounded by a perpetual cosmic night. The net illumination from all the pinpricks of starry light in the 360-degree celestial sphere around you will then equate to "Ahad's constant". FACT, not fiction!

To make my work somewhat "official", preliminary results of the above integrations were published in Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 115, No. 5, October 2005 edition, page 297.

(Note: "Ahad's constant" is not to be confused with something called "Olbers Paradox")

Example of another asymptotic measure that is widely debated

Just because a physical quantity is "asymptotic" by calculation, it does not mean that it cannot be estimated or is not significant. Here is a more Earthly example: the air pressure in our atmosphere tails off "asymptotically" as you go up in altitude. If you're located at mean sea level, you experience a much higher atmospheric pressure than you would when you go up to the top of a mountain or climb up to 37,000 feet inside a jumbo jet. The higher up you go, the thinner the air and the lower the density of air molecules. See this site for more details. Atmospheric density falls off with altitude, following an "asymptotic" curve like this:-In other words, it's a very gradual thinning out of air and there is no clear boundary to say when you're 50-km up or 100-km up or 200-km up into the sky, you've reached the edge of space. Yet for managing rocket re-entries for things like the Space Shuttle, NASA engineers have set 100-km as an arbitrary altitude boundary that defines "where our upper atmosphere comes to an end and the vacuum of space officially begins".
So there you have it. Ultimately, the expanse of our upper atmosphere and the total flux of our night skies both have *finite* values, even though they are asymptotic...

Barack Obama: Could this be the first black President of the USA?

CELEBRATING EID IN CANARY WHARF

[Sponsored by Islamic Relief: www.islamic-relief.org.uk ]

Nasheeds by Dawud Wharnsby Ali(Canada)* and Khaleel Muhammad (UK)*

Also with Qari Imam Bokhari*; Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham*; Mayor of Tower Hamlets* ; Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari*

Date: Friday 26th January 2007
Time: 6.15pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Clifford Chance Headquarters, 10 Upper Bank Street,
Canary Wharf, London, E14 5JJ

All welcome and free entrance. Limited spaces so please e-mail us at info@wharfma.com with the name and e-mail of each person wishing to attend.

Rare pic

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN WHEN SUPERHIT SHOLAY WAS IN THE PIPELINE......

They were looking at Ashrani when he was doing practice first time with his funny Jailer's dress...

'Voices' for women

Watch 'Voices', the discussion chat show for Muslim women on channel 791, Bangla TV, live on Tuesday 7.30pm.

We aim to chit chat over coffee - in front of cameras of course! - on a whole host of issues ranging from how to guide our youth, the pressures of being beautiful, to the infamous problem of dealing with in laws!

This week we will be looking at the concept of equality for women - A cornerstone of the society we live in, but we want to ask does it really exist? In theory as well as practice? If so to what extent? And more importantly how far does this idea secure value and worth for women in general?

Tune in this Tuesday, 7.30pm to join the debate!

Councillors call for action on Big Brother racism allegations

Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets have voiced concern over the way in which Bollywood star, Shilpa Shetty is being treated in the current series of the reality TV show, Celebrity Big Brother.

The behaviour of a number of the other contestants in the house has given rise to over 14,500 complaints to OFCOM so far, a UK television record by a margin of 5,500, while a further 2,000 complaints have so far been received by Channel 4.

The councillors have welcomed assurances from OFCOM, the media regulator that the matter is being fully investigated.

This year is not the first time that Celebrity Big Brother has been associated with alleged bullying behaviour, with Bethnal Green and Bow MP, George Galloway condemned by many for his behaviour towards fellow 2006 contestant, Jodie Marsh in the Big Brother House.

Labour Council Leader, Cllr. Denise Jones said:

“Racism or bullying in any form is unacceptable in civilised society. I would ask Channel Four to take immediate action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable. Tower Hamlets has an excellent record in tackling racist behaviour and promoting community cohesion but important local work can be undermined by this type of behaviour on national television.”

Labour Councillor for East India and Lansbury, Cllr. Shiria Khatun said:

“Calling someone a “dog” or “the Indian”, suggesting that Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food and the alleged use of the offensive term “Paki” are all absolutely unacceptable. All of these ‘celebrities’ have a duty to act as positive role models and instead are demonstrating the most appalling behaviour.”

Football Haiku: Reversing fortune

Rueing missed chances,
defensive lapses,
lost opportunities
If...






(c) Emdad Rahman - 16.01.07
www.footballpoets.org

Councillor Fred Warwick

Loved ones of Cllr. Fred Warwick.
We are deeply saddened to hear the news about the sudden death of the late great Cllr. Fred Warwick who died at age of 76.

Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.

The death of Cllr. Warwick is a tremendous loss for the community. He was an honorable and committed Councilor who worked hard for the people who elected him.

This blog would like to offer his family our deepest sympathy; and a reminder that this community is filled with people who care about his family and are thinking about them in this difficult time of sorrow.

CELEBRATING EID IN CANARY WHARF

[Sponsored by Islamic Relief: www.islamic-relief.org.uk ]

Nasheeds by Dawud Wharnsby Ali(Canada)*and Khaleel Muhammad (UK)*

Also with & Qari Imam Bokhari* ; Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham*; Mayor of Tower Hamlets* ; Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari*

Date: Friday 26th January 2007
Time: 6.15pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Clifford Chance Headquarters, 10 Upper Bank Street,
Canary Wharf, London, E14 5JJ

All welcome and free entrance. Limited spaces so please register on our website with the name and e-mail of each person wishing to attend.

For more information please contact:
Tel: 07914 481 776
E-mail: info@wharfma.com
Website www.wharfma.com

Simply superb.........

The Washington Post has again published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any
word from the dictionary, and alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year's winners:

1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very,very high.
5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.
12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:
16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an a--hole.

Poem: FC Carra & Gerry

IN TRIBUTE TO ABU ALI













If it weren't for Jamie and Steven where would the Pool be?
Would they lose to Tranmere, odd goal in three

Vital solder in the squad, one very low in esteem
The single vital image of Rafa's regime

'Also rans, has beens' do we hear the mancs shout
Fergie'll have them in a jiffy, that'll smite your trout pout

As Scouseland dream of their own Desert Storm
Let that thought keep scouse hearts toasted and warm

(c) - Emdad Rahman - 10.01.07

www.footballpoets.org

The video the meat industry doesn't want you to see...

http://meat.org/

Remembering Wharton

A black pearl on an ivory beach
The first to extend his reach

Paved the way gloriously, Three Degrees, Blissett, Barnes, Earle and Wright
The sassenach who would highlight the black man's plight

At Stamford the Lilywhite set a hundred metre record
Racism saw to it that there was no England cap award

With clear authority the Blades penalty area the ex Miller would stalk
Until competition arrived in the rotund shape of "fatty" Foulke

Died in 1930 as a peniless alchoholic
Yet his memory remains rather vitriolic

Wright Phillips, Lennon, Richards and Bent
Let us all remember Wharton, he with the foreign accent

(c) - Emdad Rahman - 10.01.07
www.footballpoets.org

Poem: Oh the romance of the FA Cup

Gerrad's cup heroics reduced to a premature end
Champions League winners again? This could be a Godsend
For this year at least, the Reds bring out the hearse
Still, it could have been worse
As Luganis Johnson and the boys in blue
Surrendered to Blackburn as if they all had killer flu

(c) - Emdad Rahman - 09.01.07
www.footballpoets.org

Poem: January Sales

The time when all stragglers get a kick up the butt
You'd better move fast fore the window is shut

"Monster!" screams Eric Hall as the vultures start to hover
When transfer sharks hone in there's hardly time to recover

It's open season to turn things around
Buy well and all is well at the ground

Pinny pinching chairman with their Lebanese pound
Buy bad and it's an epitaph on your grave mound

Maam! Can I recommend a Ljungberg, a Shevy or a Valente
Or will Baros swap Villa for Levante?

Ribery and Hargreaves, if they come most will be glad
Yet Viduka offered 60 k, it's all gone a bit mad

It takes a wily fox to rejuvenate a depleted squad
To appease irate fans, you'll need an act of God

Deadline day sees a flurry of media interest
As the merry go round sees many a chairmen obsessed

Owen breaks pool hearts and becomes a Geordie
Tevez and El Jefe join the BNP

Will things change? Will tems start to fly
The reality of it all is for many it's goodbye

Emdad Rahman (c) - 09.01.07

www.footballpoets.org

Canary Wharf Muslim Association (WharfMa) Presents:

AN EVENING WITH DR IMRAN USMANI [International Shariah Finance Scholar]*

Join us for an informal chat and questions & answer session with one of the world's leading scholars of Islamic Finance.

*Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani Dr. Imran Usmani, son of the world-renowned Islamic scholar Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani. Dr. Imran holds a PhD in Islamic Finance. He has also obtained degrees of Alimiyyah and Takhassus (specialization in Islamic Jurisprudence) from Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi. His area of expertise is Islamic Finance in which he has carried out extensive research. Dr. Imran is a faculty member/teacher of Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi and Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi. He is author of various books on Shariah (Islamic law). His book 'Meezanbank's Guide to Islamic Banking' is well-known in the industry. Dr. Imran is a member of many Shariah Committees of regulatory and financial institutions such as;State Bank of Pakistan; HSBC Amanah Dubai, UAE; UBS Switzerland ; Mashreqbank, Dubai, UAE Guidance Financial Group, USA ; iHilal Financial Services, Dubai, UAE; DCD Financial Group UK;Future Growth Equity Fund, South Africa and more.

Tube: Canary Wharf Station (Jubilee Line)
DLR: Heron Quays and Canary Wharf
Buses Routes: D3, D7, D8, 277

All welcome and free entrance.

For more information please contact:
Tel: 07914 481 776
E-mail: info@wharfma.com
Website www.wharfma.com

********** WHARFMA NOTICE ************************

WHARFMA Presents;

LADIES ONLY BASIC KARATE & SELF DEFENCE COURSE

6 Weeks course with qualified trainer, learn basic Karate Moves and effective Self Defence moves, will also cover reaction training, street awareness and confidence building.

Dates and times: TBC depending on numbers
Venue: Tower Hamlets College Sports Hall,
Poplar High Street, London E14 0AF

10 minute walk from Canary Wharf

For further information and to register your interest please email:
sports@wharfma.com or call: 07841 317 033

Bangladeshi British Chamber of Commerce Anniversary Event

This blog is happy to support the event mentioned above. Please see letter from Dr Wali below...

On behalf of the Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce, I would like invite all of you to attend the above program to be held on Tuesday, 30th January 2007 at Troxy, 490 Commercial Road, London E1 0HX.

We are expecting about 800 guests, including Senior Ministers, MP’s, Leading Business representatives, Community Leaders and dignitaries from London and rest of UK and Europe, along with His Excellency Sabihuddin Ahmed, the High Commissioner of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the UK.

Program Schedule:

Lunch: 12:45pm - 1:30pm
Networking Event: 1:40 pm - 4:00 pm
Dinner and fashion show : 7:00 pm 10:30 pm

7-15 Greatorex Street, London E1 5NF
Office: 0207 247 5525
Fax: 0207 247 3334
E-mail: info@bbcc.org.uk
web: www.bbcc.org.uk

I will be grateful if you confirm your attendance by 15th January 2007.

Dr Wali Tasar Uddin MBE JP
Chairman of the Bangladesh-British Chamber of Commerce

London Marathon 2007 DIARY: DAY 1

Dear all. Finally, I've got a marathon place via allocations through my work. Phew. I really needed this!!! Went for a 60 length swim on Wednesday, did a ten miler round Barking yesterday, was really struggling but didn'tr stop till I finished. I'm very much overweight so I'm hoping to shed two stones quicktime. Joints aching today, but am going for a long swim now. St George's here I come. I'm running for Amani Foundation, so any financial assistance from readers would be much appreciated. I'll bore the readers with my training diary as and when I'm up to it...

A day to remember...

World Chechnya Day is intended to commemorate the dignity and resiliance of a people who, against all odds, refused to be erased from existence.

On 23 February 1944, Stalin ordered the deportation of the ENTIRE Chechen and Ingush population to Central Asia. More than half of the 500,000 people who were to be forcibly transported died in transit or in massacres committed by Soviet troops. Those who survived the journey were left facing starvation and disease in the harsh winters of Siberia and Central Asia.

Within days an entire people had been erased from the land of their ancestors. Overnight Chechnya and Ingushetia were emptied of their native inhabitants, and every reference to Chechnya was removed from official maps, records and encyclopaedias.

In 2004, sixty years after the event, the European Parliament passed a motion that recognised this catastrophe as Genocide.

23rd February 2007 is World Chechnya Day.

It is a day that few are aware of and yet none should forget.

**To help raise awareness please inform others**

Events will be taking place worldwide and all over the UK. Information regarding vents will soon be released.

Please email info@savechechnya.org or hajira@cantab.net if you can help in any way be it prior to events or on the day itself.

http://savechechnya.org/index.php