amazing things

titanic hero

2011-08-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

important info

2011-08-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Breaking news

Sica loses bid for judge-only trial

Kym Agius 4:24pm An accused triple murderer has lost his bid in Brisbane to have a judge-only trial.

Court gives bond to disgraced developer

4:34pm A Sydney magistrate has fined disgraced Wollongong developer Frank Vellar and given him a good behaviour bond.

Resources tax risks minnows: industry

Andrea Hayward 3:44pm Changes to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax risk burdening small companies involved in onshore and offshore oil and gas production, the industry says.

Fiji church leaders banned from travel

Tamara McLean, AAP South Pacific Correspondent 2:54pm Fiji's military regime has banned church leaders from travelling overseas just days after forcing the cancellation of an annual Methodist conference.

Audit gave Securency clean sheet: RBA

Colin Brinsden 2:44pm An initial audit of scandal-hit banknote maker Securency gave it a clean bill of health, the Reserve Bank told a hearing on Friday

Defence probes 'other suspects' on Rayney

2:39pm The defence team of prominent Perth lawyer Lloyd Rayney, accused of murdering his wife, has sought information from police on "other suspects" in the case.

Lavicka coy on Emerton role

Rob Forsaith 2:29pm Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka wants to speak with Brett Emerton before making any decisions on the marquee signing's role with the club.

Same midwife at two fatal home births

Tim Dornin 1:44pm A coroner has been told that the same midwife supervised the home births of two baby girls who died soon after being delivered.

Sarkozy in Pacific amid unrest

1:44pm French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived in New Caledonia on his first official visit since islanders backed his election four years ago.

Coal seam gas moratorium wanted: poll

1:24pm Most Australians want a moratorium on coal seam gas operations, poll conducted for the Greens shows.

Japan PM announces resignation

3:24pm Naoto Kan has resigned as president of the Democratic Party of Japan,

human skull

2011-08-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

islamic issue

2011-08-25T02:17:00.000-07:00

Bid'ah - Innovation in Islam :

Wa sharrul Umoori Muhdathaatuhaa, Wa kulla Bid'atin dhaialah, wa kulla dhalatin fin-naar" Al-Hadith (Sahih Muslim). Translation of the above Hadith: Every innovation is a misguidance and every misguidance goes to Hell fire.
IMAM SHAFI'S EXPLANATION OF THE ABOVE HADITH:
Kullu bida'tin daiala: "Every innovation is a misguidance"? Doesn't the term "every" include all innovations?" Such an objection stems from the misinterpretation of the term kull ("every") in the Hadith to be all encompassing without exception, whereas in Arabic it may mean "Nearly all" or "the vast majority." This is how al-Shafi'i understood it or else he would have never allowed for any innovation whatsoever to be considered good, and he is considered a hujja or "Proof," that is, reference without peer for questions regarding the Arabic language. The stylistic figure of meaning the part by the whole, or nechdoche in English is in Arabic: 'abbara 'an al-kathratf bi at-kulliyya. This is illustrated by the use of kull in the following verse 46:25 of the Quran in a selective or partial sense not a universal sense:
"Destroying all things by commandment of its Lord. And morning found them so that naught could be seen save their dwellings". Thus, the dwellings were not destroyed although "all" things had been destroyed. "All" here means specifically the lives of the unbelievers of 'Ad and their properties except their houses.
ARE THERE GOOD OR BAD INNOVATIONS IN ISLAM?
Prophetic saying as stated in Sahih Muslim is known even to common Muslims, let alone scholars: "He who inaugurates a good practice (sanna fil-islam sunnatun hasana) in Islam earns the reward of it, and of all who perform it after him, without diminishing their own rewards in the least. " Tirmizi, Page 92.
Imam Nawawi said in Sahih Muslim (6-21):"The Prophet's saying 'every innovation is a general-particular and it is a reference to most innovations. The linguists say, 'Innovation is any act done without a previous pattern, and it is of five different kinds."' Imam Nawawi also said in Tahzeeb al Asma'wal Sifaat, "Innovation in religious law is to originate anything which did not exist during the time of the Prophet, and it is divided into good and bad." He also said, "al-muhdathat (pi. for muhdatha) is to originate something that has no roots in religious law. In the tradition of religious law, it is called innovation, and if it has an origin within the religious law, then it is not innovation. Innovation in religious law is disagreeable, unlike in the language where everything that has been originated without a previous pattern is called innovation regardless of whether it is good or bad."
Sheikh al-Islam lbn Hajar Al Asqalani, the commentator on al-Bukhari, said, "Anything that did not exist during the Prophet's time is called innovation, but some are good while others are not."
Abu Na'eem, narrated from Ibrahim al-Junaid, said, "I heard Ash-Shafi'i saying, 'Innovation is of two types: praiseworthy innovation and blameworthy innovation, and anything that disagrees with the Sunnah is blameworthy."
Imam al Bayhaqi narrated in Manaqib Ash-Shafi'i that he said, "Innovations are of two types: that which contradicts the Quran, the Sunnah, or unanimous agreement of the Muslims is an innovation of deception, while a good innovation does not contradict any of these things."

cia

2011-08-25T01:58:00.000-07:00

History of the CIA:

The United States has carried out intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have they been coordinated on a government-wide basis. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed New York lawyer and war hero, William J. Donovan, to become first the Coordinator of Information, and then, after the US entered World War II, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1942. The OSS – the forerunner to the CIA – had a mandate to collect and analyze strategic information. After World War II, however, the OSS was abolished along with many other war agencies and its functions were transferred to the State and War Departments.
It did not take long before President Truman recognized the need for a postwar, centralized intelligence organization. To make a fully functional intelligence office, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 establishing the CIA. The National Security Act charged the CIA with coordinating the nation’s intelligence activities and correlating, evaluating and disseminating intelligence affecting national security.
On December 17, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act which restructured the Intelligence Community by abolishing the position of Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI) and creating the position the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA). The Act also created the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which oversees the Intelligence Community and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC

2011-08-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Japan Fashion Now:
Visit the Online ExhibitionClick images below for 360 degree, interactive viewing, courtesy of Synthescape!!

Comme des Garçons, dress, autumn/winter 2009-10, Japan, museum purchase. Number (N)ine. Man’s ensemble, autumn/winter 2009, Japan, museum purchase. h.NAOTO. Gothic Lolita dress ensemble, autumn/winter 2008-09, Japan, museum purchase.

The Japanese "fashion revolution" of the 1980s dramatically transformed the world of fashion. Avant-garde Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion to the catwalks of Paris. Utilizing innovative textile technologies, together with aspects of traditional Japanese clothing culture, these designers were instrumental in creating a new relationship between body and clothes, a new attitude toward the beauty of imperfection, and a new appreciation of avant-garde fashion as "art."

The 1980s are now history. How has Japanese fashion evolved in the 20+ years since then? Who are the new Japanese designers? What is the role of Japanese youth fashion? Where does Tokyo fit in the hierarchy of fashion's world cities? Is Japan still the future?

Japan continues to be on the cutting edge, maybe even the bleeding edge, of fashion. However, Japanese fashion today embraces not only the cerebral, avant-garde looks associated with the first wave of Japanese design in the 1980s, but also a range of youth-oriented street styles. Indeed, contemporary Japanese fashion remains significant globally precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic envelope at the level of "high" art) with aspects of subcultural and street style. Equally significant, however, is the Japanese obsession (not too strong a word) with perfecting classic utilitarian garments, such as jeans, sneakers, and leather jackets. Extreme, even fanatical, attention to detail is characteristic of much of the best Japanese fashion.

Japan Fashion Now explored contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity, from designer fashion to street style, including menswear. An introductory gallery devoted to the Japanese "fashion revolution" of the 1980s included asymmetrical, "deconstructed" garments by Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, as well as avant-garde styles by Issey Miyake, "Orientalist" fashions by Kenzo and Hanae Mori, and pop-culture jumpsuits by Kansai Yamamoto.

The main gallery featured a dramatic mise-en-scène evoking the iconic cityscape of 21st-century Tokyo. Ensembles by Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe, and Tao Kurihara exemplify the evolution of deconstruction and reconstruction, as well as the influence of sub-cultural styles such as punk and the Japanese cult of cuteness. A range of looks by Jun Takahashi of Undercover linked the cute and the scary, the beautiful and the ugly, the animate and the inanimate, the strange and the strangely beautiful. New designers featured included Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi of Matohu (who are inspired by Japanese aesthetics), the flamboyant Toshikazu Iwaya of Iwaya33, and Chitose Abe of sacai.

An entire platform was devoted to some of Tokyo's up-and-coming menswear designers. Former boxer Arashi Yanagawa of John Lawrence Sullivan, Daisuke Obana of N.Hoolywood, Koji Udo of Factotum, Yasuhiro Mihara of Miharayasuhiro , Takeshi Osumi of Phenomenon (who presented his first spectacular runway collection in Tokyo in Spring 201), and Yosuke Aizawa of White Mountaineering was among those featured, as was the pioneering label, Number (N)ine


Comme des Garçons, dress, autumn/winter 2009-10, Japan, museum purchase.	Number (N)ine. Man’s ensemble, autumn/winter 2009, Japan, museum purchase.	h.NAOTO. Gothic Lolita dress ensemble, autumn/winter 2008-09, Japan, museum purchase.