Quest for extraterrestrial life not over: experts

PARIS: The discovery of an Earth-sized planet in the "habitable" zone of a distant star, even though thrilling, is nonetheless a extended way from pointing to the existence of extraterrestrial life, professionals said Friday.

The planet, dubbed Kepler-186f, is the 1st of this size located orbiting its star at a distance that would allow it to have liquid water-a prerequisite for the improvement of life, regardless of whether primitive or complicated.

But no matter if it has any, we may perhaps never ever know.


"Unfortunately, the technique is too far away and also faint to know far more," Heike Rauer of the German Aerospace Centre's Institute for Planetary Analysis told AFP.


"We never know for certain no matter whether it is rocky, we do not know for certain that it has an atmosphere, what this atmosphere is produced of, or that it has water," she mentioned.


"We know how we want to measure it: by taking a spectrum of the atmosphere, but with present and next foreseen technologies, we can't take this spectrum."


Sean Raymond, an astrophysicist at France's CNRS national analysis centre who was a member of the team that found the planet, agreed we will not know how hospitable Kepler-186f is for pretty some time. If ever.


"We are not even close to having the suggests with which to take these measurements," he mentioned. "We will have to wait for the next generation of space telescopes, in 10 or 20 years."


Are we alone?


The exoplanet, some 500 lightyears from Earth, shows that potentially habitable worlds can exist.


Other exoplanets located inside their stars' habitable zones have been gas giants-this one's size may perhaps imply it is a rocky planet, an additional situation for life to take root.


Science has invested much time and sources into finding so-known as exoplanets, which revolve about stars other than our Sun.


The quest is targeted mainly at answering the query: "Are we alone?", but also to discover clues as to how and why life on Earth started.


Rauer, who will head the European Space Agency's (ESA) PLATO planet-hunting mission, due for launch in 2024, said the very first dedicated searches started in the mid-1990's, with telescopes on the ground measuring the mass of distance planets.


This was followed in the subsequent decade by satellites figuring out their radius.


NASA's Kepler space observatory, which spotted the new planet, was committed exclusively to the activity of discovering exoplanets-it has found 3,600 planet candidates of which 961 have been confirmed so far.


Future missions like PLATO will seek to detect Earth-like planets orbiting stars that are brighter than Kepler-186f and closer to our personal planet-which must make it simpler to detect life, if there is any.


"In the subsequent decades, we will be capable to get answers, but in other systems" than Kepler-186f, stated Rauer.


Fabio Favata, coordinator of ESA's science and robotics exploration programme, mentioned that when Kepler-186f is the only planet of its size located in a habitable zone to date, that may well quickly modify.


"We are in a golden era of exoplanet discoveries. So far it is exceptional, but will it keep so? I am prepared to bet you revenue that it won't."


The search for a planet capable of hosting life remains an academic pursuit-there is no solar method close adequate for mankind to ever attain it, unless we develop time travel.


Kepler-186f is so far from Earth that "if you could construct a best spaceship that can travel close to the speed of light, to go there and back would nonetheless take more than 1,000 years," stated Favata.

Former ECP official alleges of massive rigging in 2013 polls

ISLAMABAD: The current impasse between the ruling PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was staggered on Sunday night when an ex Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official- who was directly involved in the arrangements, preparations and execution of elections- directly showed up in support of Imran Khan’s claims of massive electoral rigging.

Muhammad Afzal Khan alias Afzal Qadhafi appeared on a private television talk show and pointed finger squarely at the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and retired Jusice Riaz Ahmed Kiyani (who was the ECP member from Punjab) for being a party in the electoral fraud. Mr. Afzal had served as the additional secretary of ECP from 2012 and until his retirement just after the elections of 2013. Mr. Afzal alleged that Chief Justice Iftikhiar Chaudhry had interfered in the mandate of ECP by appointing returning officers (ROs) due to his influence on the erstwhile Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhurddin G.Ibrahim. ‘’ To save his skin, the CJP ordered Fakhru bhai to submit an application seeking the apex court’s assistance in appointing RO’s’’, he revealed. Referring to the line, often used by Imran Khan that there 35 punctures in the elections, Mr. Afzal said that there were a lot more than 35 punctures in the general polls of the past year. 

Why Court Decisions create a bigger deadlock?

Why Court Decisions create a bigger deadlock? - Supreme Court decision asking PTI & PAT leaders to clear the Const. Ave has wider implications. 
First, Courts are seen to be intervening very selectively in a political situation that favors one side - PMLN & its allies - against the other ie PTI and its allies in a charged atmosphere in which protesting opposition had been accusing courts to be partisan and referred to them repeatedly as "Sharif Courts". In the past several weeks Courts have failed to take any meaningful notice of Executive blocking the "right of movement" across a large part of Pakistan from Lahore to Islamabad; Courts have also failed to provide relief to the continuous blocking of entry points into Islamabad from Pindi and all other adjacent areas which Police does to prevent protestors reaching Islamabad.
Second, Courts have failed to take notice of thousands of Arrests - preventive detentions - which Punjab Police has been doing intermittently all across Punjab since June to erode PAT & PTI's ability to collect crowds.
Third, Courts including Supreme Court failed to react to the "Massacres in Model Town in June" and have not taken any meaningful action to force Punjab govt to register FIR's of Murder as per the law and convention of the country.

Within this context of law & politics Supreme Court demanding protesters to clear the Const. Ave in the interest of "Right of Passage" of Hon. Judges and their staff looks very insensitive and unconvincing. It is being understood by the Opposition as Courts appearing clearly on the side of the PMLN govt. both in Lahore and in Islamabad. Because they perceive that Courts have failed to put pressure on govt. in all instances to act by law and constitution but at the same time they are acting to relieve govt. from political pressure which otherwise compels govt to seek political compromises.

What has changed today? - Courts unlike the medieval papal authorities have no physical powers of their own; they have merely provided a legitimacy to the use of force against the protestors, which is important because Islamabad Police had deemed it unprofessional and had been asking for written instructions from their political bosses. Also courts have threatened Imran Khan and Dr. Qadri with contempt of court- further tipping the scales against an angry and restive opposition.

All this would have made sense in a situation where both sides would have trust in the courts. But in an extremely polarized situation developing since Elections 2013 where opposition parties have been openly accusing courts to be partisan towards PMLN and where partisan judiciary has been cited as a major part of the political problem these recent statements and decisions emanating from the courts further reduce their ability to resolve the political deadlock. Example: All sides have been continuously demanding Supreme Court Judicial Commissions to inquire into Election Riggings, Vote Recounts and Murders in Model Town. With these new decisions courts have deprived the country of the kind of "Middle Ground" or "Intervening Forums" which both sides can trust and desperately need to resolve their conflict. This is a major loss to the political system - and has grave risks. And one hopes that Hon. Justices get to reflect on the emerging deadlock.
With Hopes & honest prayers!

The Enigma of WHY? Is life just an endless flow of questions?

  

There are so many imponderable things in life. As a matter of fact, life in itself can be imponderable at times. Now that sounds like a question, doesn't it? Yes, it does but what is the answer to that? And believe me therein, as the Bard would say, lies the rub. 

I spent a lot of time reflecting what will be explained in the next few lines. But the upshot is that I need some goddamn answers if I like to keep myself in the contours of sanity (well, some would say there’s an ample evidence that I have already trodden deep into the realm of insanity but that’s another argument). 

Ever wondered why there’s so many ‘WHYs’? I’m sure in each of our lives there comes a time where sundry of profound questions cross our path and left us pondering. Let us call them ‘Random questions’, which every now and anon pop up in our head. Let us assume there is a meaning to be taught and understood. 

The first question that I'm going to ask, well, to post it rather because I'm sure none of you have the apt answer or the one satisfies me anyway. 

“What part of life is truly under our control?”

While some of you would be like “Ummmmm” and others reduced to scratch their heads, I have another one that also distresses me considerably.

“If life is so short, then why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do.”

“What the hell sorta questions are these,” exclaimed one of my pals when asked. “It is just nonsense and all, go ask some goddamn philosophers,” he believes I’m nuts. 

But I gave a serious thought to that philosopher idea, though I stay away from those creatures called philosophers for they are lousy if you want to know the truth. I mean they ain't really lousy but what they usually come up with is mostly beyond my ken.
However, I did venture to ask one who happens to be a philosopher or he thinks he is. 

“You need to learn a thing or two about life, young man,” said he, evincing a look as if I were a kid before a century-year old Greek philo.
“The trick is to ask the right questions,” all he had to say taking something like five minutes to complete the reply. And in-between he screwed his eyes, tried to chew his ballpoint cap and scratched his head a great many times. On the other hand, I writhed to kill the urge not to punch him in the face.
You see! That’s why I don't get closed to philos. All he had to do is to say he doesn't know the goddamn answers. Now what’s the big deal? So many of us don't have a clue about life, but this kind of folks has to fudge just to make us look fools. Although, his notion of ‘Asking the right questions’ begs another question;

“What’s the right question?”

I could have asked it if I could bear his eccentricities but I didn't for two reasons. First, as they say ‘curiosity killed the cat’ and second; I feared if had done so, I would have knocked him out telling him “It’s all about giving the right answers,” but it would have brought me a considerable trouble. Hence, I didn’t just to be on the safe side….

When we sit with aforementioned thoughts running in our head… just as I do, sit staring at the LCD and typing these lines while thinking how many of these thoughts in my head are rational and what part can be categorized as irrational. More importantly, who decides the cusp of rationality? 

For all I know that even rational thoughts sometimes destroy our mind and soul. 

Understanding of life, knowledge, and reality leads us to plethora of questions for which there are no set answers, or such diverging opinions in the guise of answers that just raise more questions.

Had we known some of the answers, it would have done a lot to help us see life from a whole different perspective. We would have learned a great many lessons teaching us things about the world and ourselves. But the fact remains that most of them are left unanswered.

I often ask myself why there are more questions than answers. Then I tell myself perhaps the questions are more important than answers… or maybe there are certain things that we aren't supposed to know, why? Well that’s just another damn question.

First Meeting With A Jew

By Waqas A Khan

It was Friday at Islamic Centre - a day of prayer for us, the Muslims. My parents back in Pakistan have always stressed the need of prayer which I mainly missed until this Friday when I requested the editor Frank Denton of The Florida Times Union to help me find an Islamic Centre here in Jacksonville.

He did so by linking me and my fellow journalist Sidrah Roghey to Dr. Pervez who is the president of the Islamic Centre of North East Florida in Jacksonville. After attending the Friday prayer at Islamic Centre, I met many Muslims there from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Africa. Later, I started a discussion with Dr. Pervez an Indian Muslim and Dr. Nasrullah a Pakistani Physician about "Islam in USA". It was revealed in the discussion that Islam in USA is equally safer as any other religion and Muslims in America are enjoying equal religious rights.

However, extremist are everywhere and in an incident on May 10th, 2010 a middle-aged Christian male carried a can of gasoline and a pipe bomb into the Islamic Centre during evening prayers and detonated it. Fortunately, there were no injuries to people, though the bomb did damage property. However, the bomber was unable to escape for long and was killed by FBI on May 04, 2011 in a shoot out.

This was a wonderful example of equality before the law that US guarantees to it's every citizen irrespective of the religion. Later after receiving a lot of lunch and dinner invitations from Muslim community in Jacksonville, we came back from there to Times-Union office. All along the way, I was thinking of bombing the Mosque by terrorists. It was a hurtful feeling and this took me to another Idea, why can't I meet those who are bombing Palestine? I requested my Editor again to help me visit a Synagogue, a Jewish place of worship.

Just to mention that the editor, Frank Denton for me has always been like "The Granted Wish Foundation" and hence arranged a visit for us to Synagogue with a welcome note by Rabbi Lief, the president/head of the synagogue.

For me, It was a great opportunity as I had never met a Jew or visited a Synagogue before in my life. Me and Sidrah reached at Congregation Ahavath Chesed at about 5:00 PM. There was a grand dinner going on in the temple. It was a "Back to School Dinner" and was arranged to invite Jewish philanthropists to donate stationary and other school Items for the children who cannot afford to buy. I met with a nice couple over there and had a plenty of discussion with them on different topics including Arab-Israel conflict.

Later Rabbi Lief invited us to attend the prayer which we did in a big hall. It started with "Aava Nasheela, Sheela Narooya", I was unable to understand it but in pauses Rabbi Lief used English for communication from which I felt that it was a heart touching prayer for love, peace and prosperity for all irrespective of religion, cast and creed. Readers can access the video at goo.gl/pXSiv5.

At the end I had a short discussion with Rabbi Lief and was astonished to learn that how fluent he was on different issues including Pak-India conflict, Pak-Iran relations, Pak-Afghan issues, Arab-Israel conflict and so on.

A day later, I received an email in response to my survey questionnaire which I am conducting these days to complete my comparative study between Pakistan and US. The woman introduced herself as "Rhoda London". She told me that she is 70 years old, a Jew and have taught in public schools for 33 years and at Mercer University for 10 years. I also learnt that her late father was a professor and Rabbi too.

A discussion which started from democracy in America ended after a dinner at San Marco. The discussion started from Ashkenazi (Eastern Europe) Jews and Sephardic (Mediteranian) Jews. She told me that how in traditional synagogues, male and female Jews are not allowed to sit together even to date and in reformed Jews it is allowed for male and female Jews to sit together in a synagogue. This was in-line with mosques in Pakistan where the same rule is followed. I felt that there is something common between us. I then found some more commonalities between Muslims and Jews. Few are as below;

• Both believe that "Christ" is not the Son of God.


• Both believe in Prophets.


• Both believe in Angels.


• Both believe that "Fasting" is a way to purify soul.

For life after death, what I learnt is that Judaism has a different perspective. They believe that Heaven and Hell are more imaginary than real and said that Jews believe that its all about the good or bad legacy that we leave after death. She was a bit confused on my questions about life after death, heaven and hell. She said, "we are born to TIKKUN OLAN (repair the world)". My next questions were about the "repairing" Israel is doing these days in Gaza. Honestly, I found that she was upset and quoted a statement of former Israeli Premier, Golda Meir.

We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.

She was of the view that peace is a two way approach. She accepted that killing Palestinians is a brutality but in the same breath she also pointed that bombing Israel is equal brutality too. She pointed towards the philanthropic activities Jews are doing across the globe and also said that Jews in comparison to all other religions have low rate of abuse and divorces.

"Moses" always questioned God, others just followed. We are friends of God and better able to understand God than anyone else. We are leaders in ethics and have brought innovation, technology, science and knowledge in this world, she added.

The discussion ended on a mutual consent that Palestinians lives are equally sacred as Israelis. I do not know, If Jews in Israel are listening to Rhoda. I hope they would. Bombers are present in every religion. It is necessary to bring bombers down and raise humans up. Tolerance and accepting each others differences is a key to peace. Let the love take it's course, let the hope live and let the hate die.