If you will be in the Ottawa area on Thursday, October 11th, 2012, you might want to pop down to Southam Hall at Carleton University for a public lecture about the Higgs boson, called ‘Mystery of Mass revealed’
To be delivered by Carleton University Physics professors Thomas Koffas and Heather Logan, tis public lecture is free and promises to be both informative and fun. So, if you’ll be in the area, treat yourself to some brain-candy and check it out!
While the current geopolitical events are focusing our attention on the previous clashes between Islamic cultures and ‘the West’, it may be of interest to take a look at some of the factors which contributed to the decline of the Ottoman empire.
This following video, while acknowledging the external pressures, highlights some internal developments which affected the decline of the Ottoman empire – developments which we ought not dismiss out of hand:
This ought to raise your eyebrows, regardless of your political affiliation because expanded ‘State powers’ can be used to abuse any citizen, regardless of political affiliation…
A treat for those of you either living in Ottawa, or planning a visit here during the festival. This is the official announcement, which I received via email today:
September 25, 2012
3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Festival!!!
We’ve got an amazing Festival this year!
The Festival will feature four major events: On November 1st, the Festival will open with “Losing Our Sons”, a poignant tale of two fathers who have lost their sons – one through terrorism, and one through indoctrination. On November 2nd, the Festival features the Canadian premiere of “Death by China”, a film about the increasingly destructive economic trade practices of a rapidly rising China with author Greg Autry in attendance. On Saturday, November 3rd, Producer Michael King will be on hand to introduce the film, “The Rescuers” about diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust, and the Festival will end with a tribute to Raoul Wallenberg – a celebration of his 100th birthday in association with B’nai Brith Canada.Other films include “The Invisible Men,” about the plight of gay Palestinians; “Windfall,” about the pitfalls of wind power; “Freedom’s Fury,” a look at the “blood in the water” water polo match between the Soviet Union and Hungary at the Olympics in 1956; “Their Eyes Were Dry,” a film about the massacre of teenagers in Ma’alot in Israel by Palestinian terrorists in 1974; “Occupy Unmasked,” a hard look at the Occupy movement; “21 Brothers,” a Canadian film about World War I; “The Red Chapel,” a comedy that exposes North Korea’s totalitarian system; “Putin’s Kiss”, a documentary on the brutality of the Putin regime; “Winston Churchill: Walking With Destiny,” examines why Winston Churchill’s legacy continues to be relevant in the 21st Century; “Why Is It Hate?,” Martin Gladstone’s film on why Queers Against Israeli Apartheid bring a message of hate to Toronto’s Gay Pride; and many, many other films.
In addition, three authors will be in Ottawa to launch their books. Bruce Bawer, the acclaimed American author, will read from his new book, “The Victims Revolution: The Rise of Identity Studies and the Closing of the Liberal Mind;” Pierre Desrochers will present on two of his books: “The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet”, and “The False Crises of Rachel Carson: Silent Spring at 50”, and Arpad Szoczi will present his book, “Timisoara – The Real Story Behind the Romanian Revolution.”
Trailer – 3rd Annual Free Thinking Film Society 2012
Festival passes are available for $75 and can be purchased either online or at the following retailers – Compact Music (785 Bank, 190 Bank), Collected Works (1242 Wellington), and Ottawa Festivals (47 William Street). Day passes will also be available for sale.
Some Amazing Speakers Coming to Ottawa for the Festival!
Martin Gladstone, Producer of “Why Is It Hate”, a documentary about how Queers Against Israeli Apartheid bring a message of hate to Toronto Gay Pride.
Yariv Mozer, Director of “The Invisible Men”, a documentary about the plight of gay Palestinians who have run away from their families and are hiding in Israel. CANADIAN PREMIERE.
Greg Autry, Author of the book, “Death By China” will be here to talk about his new documentary of the same name. CANADIAN PREMIERE.
Michael King, Producer of the film “The Rescuers” in which historian Martin Gilbert teams up with a survivor of the Rwandan genocide to interview diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust.
Pierre Desrochers, Professor at the University of Toronto, will be presenting on his two new books: “The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000 mile Diet” and “Silent Spring at 60: The False Crises of Rachel Carson”.
Bruce Bawer, acclaimed American Author, will be in Ottawa to launch his new book: “The Victim’s Revolution: The Rise of Identity Politics and the Closing of the Liberal Mind.”
David Matas, attorney for the B’nai Brith and Human Rights Activist, will be presenting the latest research on the fate of diplomat Raoul Wallenberg – the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust in Hungary.
Clayton Garrett, Producer of 21 Brothers, a Canadian film about life in the trenches during WW1. Shot in Kingston, Ontario.
Marc Lebuis, author of the website pointdebasculecanada.ca will be in Ottawa to present on the Muslim Brotherhood in Canada.
Major announcement on the Festival next week!
We’ve got yet another book launch for the Festival which we will announce next week. Stay tuned…this one is going to be a ton of fun.
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
The Great Canadian Debates
The Great Canadian Debates, a series of four provocative debates exploring some of the most compelling issues to Canadians. Each debate will be presented at the Canadian War Museum and will feature well-known personalities and a moderator. Audience members are invited to get involved by posing questions during a Q&A session and voting for the winning argument. Following the debate, the evening also includes private access to the War Musem’s special exhibit.
We’ll have a table at their next debate which is on October 4th on the CBC. Come visit us, please!
Last Saturday, there was a ‘multi-faith’ protest against the blasphemous movie, ‘Innocence of the Muslims’.
In so many parts of the worlds, these protests have been extremely violent and, well, deadly. And not just from the primary rioting: in many places of the world, Muslims who were not deemed to be sufficiently ardent in protesting have faced violence. In one famous example, a man who declined to close his shop in order to join the riots in Pakistan has been charged with ‘blasphemy’ and is facing life in jail or a death sentence. In another example, journalists whom the rioters suspected of not giving their riots sufficient coverage (or casting them in positive enough light – depending on which sources you read) were violently attacked and barely escaped with their lives.
So, I am very happy to report that the Toronto protests were all peaceful.
Well, peaceful in the sense that the people protesting did not riot – and that is a good thing. That some of the protesters called for violence – and even the death of the moviemakers – that is less good.
Here are some videos of both the protest and the coverage thereof by Sun Media:
Ezra Levant with Raheel Raza:
If you’d like to check it out – Muslims Facing Tomorrow website is here.
Michael Coren’s (who made it to the protest personally) coverage is here:
BTW – I oppose the laws that forbid the denial of the holocaust. Not because I don’t thing it happened – my mother, as a small child, guided by her mother – actually sneaked food to Jewish concentration camp inmates when they were on a work detail in her neighbourhood. My grandmother saw, with her own eyes, a prisoner, dive onto a compost heap to eat some potato peels – and how, for this, he was beaten to death by his guard…using a beam with a nail in it… Yes, I know it happened and I have heard 1st person testimony of just how nightmarish it was. That, of course, is not the point: even if they are vicious lies, people must be free to say them, and say them publicly. To me, freedom of speech is absolute.
BlazingaCatFur – who was also there – asks some very basic questions:
SDAMatt2a, who also attended the event in order to report on it, captured the protester’s assertion that ‘Islam condones racism’. In case you think this is a linguistic error, please, do consider that the Koran itself considers the supremacy of Arabs over other races (and the Qureshi tribe is given supremacy over other Arabs) and that under Sharia – even today, it is not just illegal for any non-Muslim men to marry a Muslim woman, it is also illegal for non-white Muslim men to marry white Muslim women, it is illegal for non-Arab Muslim men to marry Arab Muslim women and it is illegal for non-Qureshi Muslim men to marry Qureshi Muslim women. That is recognized by ALL the ‘schools’ of Sharia and women whose wali (legal guardian) who agrees on their behalf to a marriage contract (as women cannot agree on their own – that power is reserved for their guardian alone) to a man in contradiction of this race-based rule have the right to sue for divorce on the grounds of having been married ‘below their racial status’. All schools of Islamic jurisprudence recognize this and side with the race-based ‘status’. I personally think this is wrong – but I do not have any influence over Sharia…
I don’t usually post the Magic Sandwich Show because though there is sometimes good stuff there, it is not a great fit with this blog – at least, most of the time.
And – it is a full hour long.
Yet, in this episode, there is a most illuminating discussion regarding genetically modified foods. But, it is not your run-of-the-mill discussion – it actually gets into the nitty-gritties of the process and explains it in a way that I suspect most people who have finished basic highschool biology can follow.
The discussion opens with a discussion of one creationist’s position, a creationist with a scientific education…and around the 13 minute mark they first mention DNA, but the interesting ‘genetically modified food discussion’ does not really get started until after the 16-minute mark:
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 