An MI5 ‘restricted’ report says that religious literacy and being faithful to the religion actually reduces the chances of getting caught up in terrorist groups and activities.
Quote:

Far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, and there is a higher than average proportion of converts. Some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation.

<sarcasm>Surprise eh?</sarcasm>

The full report has been printed in the guardian.

Via DeenPort

A blog about being more manly. It’s a relief to see this kind of thing when this whole metrosexual idea is gaining ground. Some of it is a little cheesy but it’s still a pretty decent read for the most part.

Maddox concurs (Warning: strong language)

61 years after this country escaped from the rule of the British, it’s still got a lot to learn.
The mere fact that for over half a century, we’re still existing as India and Pakistan does, atleast in my simple minded view show us that we have a lot to learn. We were never split up like this. Am I alone in feeling that if parties on both sides really wanted to solve the Kashmir problem, they’d have done it a long time ago?
Inside the country, the rise and growth of chauvinistic nationalism is another thing that’s scary. Various Hindu and Muslim groups preach division and hatred so much that it’s painful to just be in the vicinity. One would think that there’s no middle ground and that it’s an ‘us or them’ situation. What kind of a world are we making for our children?

Am I proud to be an Indian? I think so. There are a ton of things I can name offhand that I love about this place and that I’m grateful for. The problem however is the universal problem. We seem to be selling ourselves short. We’re capable of more than this.

I’m totally out of practice but here’s an attempt.

One and sixty years ago, on a blessed Friday night.
The sun set on the British Raj and we saw freedoms light.

Many were killed and saints were slain, to reach this lofty goal.
Wounds were cut and scars were caused in our search for an Indian soul.

Our nation split after a weary war, cut off from it’s brilliant past.
Plunged into a storm of pain and a war that till now lasts.

The bastard children of the British way of divide and rule.
Rear their ugly and putrid heads and spew their venoms cruel.

A twisted shadow of a an ancient past is what we have become.
Where we fight and kill our fellow man to further the greeds of some.

We wait for a kingdom of light and peace untarnished by wicked hearts.
Not a new and stupid alien world but one that relights those ancient sparks.

Okay. Not really hotwiring but still breaking into a car. I locked myself out of my car today while going out for supper. Of course I had a spare key. Where was it? In my house. Where are my house keys? On my key chain. Where’s my key chain? In my car. So, I was locked out completely. I tried a couple of things but thanks to lack of any cord or string of any kind, I couldn’t get very far. I called the Hyundai helpline and he suggested that I use an improvised slim jim to unlock the door. He also suggested that the closest thing I might have is my front number plate. I whipped out the same thing that helped me last time I was in such a situation and unscrewed the number plate. A neighbour, the house caretaker and I tried our luck for a while and after 3 or 4 tries, the caretaker succeeded and the driver door was opened. 45 minutes and no damages. Pretty cool.

I think it’s a skill that everyone should learn.

A useful article on how to deploy a Turbogears application using FCGI if your hosting provider doesn’t allow you to do mod_proxy or anything else convenient.
http://www.thesamet.com/blog/2006/04/15/how-to-deploy-turbogears-applications-on-bluehost/. The paths and stuff are specific to bluehost but the content applies to almost anywhere where you have a shell acccount.