BBC NEWS | Middle East | Muslim call to adopt Mecca time — So what is stopping any group from doing whatever they want? Just do it and see what happens.
Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.
The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice. One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Meccas was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.
He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.
A prominent cleric, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim “qibla” – the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray.
 Says Mecca is the True Center of the Earth |
Found by Neil Jordan.
He is saying “I use these same four fingers to eat my food and wipe my ass!”
61. BubbaRay
No, I meant declination.
http://tinyurl.com/yw9a68
Deviation, as I recall, is how the magnetic field deviates from the earth’s magnetic lines due to local anomalies such as metal instruments & other structure in an aircraft.
RBG
55 Jopa
More on than you.
“The Islamic Golden Age, also sometimes known as the Islamic Renaissance, is traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century, though some have extended it to the 15th or 16th centuries. … Muslim artists and scientists, princes and laborers together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age
Now how was Europe doing at the beginning of this Golden Age? Ooops. The Dark Ages. So figuratively they were cave dwellers.
“I wish that somebody will just nuke mecca so we can move on.”
Yeah, Those guys are good ol’ boys at heart. I’m sure that wouldn’t affect you.
RBG
>>> # 13 Ah_Yea said, on April 21st, 2008 at
>>> “Muslim scientists”!!??
>>> Oxymoron!
Why the shameful bigotry?
Sure, the Muslim world is behind the west in scientific development but there certainly are good Muslim scientists, some teaching and working in America.
Will all our petro-dollars flowing to that part of the world, you’ll see more scientific projects just like we are seeing is Asia. You can bet on it. It wasn’t that long ago when China seemed hopelessly backwards.
while GMT is, in fact, a remnant of colonialism, it has the big advantage of putting the international date line smack in the middle of the pacific ocean where it will bother no one except for a few islanders, some kiwis (i think – not too sure), ships and jet lagged travelers.
imagine having the international date line bisecting the american continents… cross an imaginary line somewhere in texas and you’re suddenly a day ahead (or behind).
sorry for the double post…
judging from the map, if “GMT” were put in Mecca, the date line would halve New Zealand, the Aleutians, the Micronesian island groups and Siberia.
If I hold my middle finger up towards Mecca, would that indicate what time it is?
Kikineko said, I’m pretty sure that standard time was invented by Sir Sandford Flemming, a Canadian.
He was born and raised in the UK, then immigrated to Canada when he was 17, which I reckons makes him more British than Canadian….. but then you get into that murky ground of when does an immigrant stop being an immigrant…. if we accept that Sir Sandford is Canada because he lived there, then we’ll have to accept that all those famous Canadians living in the US are now Americans….
#66, RBG, I see the terms are equivalent. In astronomy, declination is the term equivalent to latitude for positions of objects in the sky. In aeronautics, variation and deviation are used for longitudinal magnetic offset.
So, no problem! I learn something new every day. Unlike some Muslim “scientists.”
72 corey2444. “If I hold my middle finger up towards Mecca, would that indicate what time it is?”
Actually yes. Time to change your name to Bubba.
RBG
Oh crap… sorry BubbaRay :^)
Most excellent, dude…I now get to sleep in and tell European analysts that I missed their call due to MECCA TIME! ::high fives all around::
In a move that everyone was waiting for, Apple has finally sued Psystar for violating its copyright and has asked for the company’s profits and a recall of all orders.