Escape from Taliban author shot dead after returning to Afghanistan

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The rather sad news is that Sushmita Banerjee, the Indian woman who wrote a book about her dramatic account of escaping Taliban-ruled Afghanistan nearly two decades ago has been murdered by some religious thugs. The Guardian reports … The author Sushmita Banerjee, who married an Afghan and lived for years in a remote rural area, became a celebrity in India when her … Read more

Threats against Nahla Mahmoud

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Maryam Namazie has an update on what has been happening, I’m reproducing it in full here without any edits or additional comment  … As you know, following an interview on Channel 4 on Sharia law, Islamists threatened Sudanese secular campaigner and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Spokesperson Nahla Mahmoud with death, calling her a “Kafira” and “Murtada” who has offended Islam and … Read more

The things we do not know … yet

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There is a rather fascinating article in the Guardian that lists 20 big questions in science for which we simply do not have answers at the moment. This is all very interesting because it helps to define the boundary between what we know and where we are going next, in other words, it defines some … Read more

Virtual Zooarchaeology of the Arctic being created by Fairbanks university

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While on the road in Alaska one little project I tripped over was the creation of a virtual zoo of bones or Virtual Zooarchaeology as they called it. Herb Maschner and a team of researchers are busy creating an online database of bones from every known Arctic bird, mammal and fish. So when something interesting is found, … Read more

Daft Claim: vi-aqua is a Device that makes water wetter and increases the output of vegetables and fruits by up to 30 per cent

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The Irish Independent ran a story a couple of days ago that makes some rather outrageous claims … A GROUNDBREAKING new Irish technology which could be the greatest breakthrough in agriculture since the plough is set to change the face of modern farming forever. It is talking about a product called Vi-Aqua that has been … Read more