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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:32 am Post subject: |
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Damn!
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| 4 A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing - concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him. |
I would've loved to have met that guy. |
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bigverne
Joined: 12 May 2004
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| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: |
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These are not really 'Islamic inventions' though are they? They are inventions by people living in the Muslim world. Hardly surprising that the Independent, a paper more PC than the Guardian, tries to attribute them to Islam.
Haven't done much recently though have they? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| thanks for the glass half-empty opinion. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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Can't access the article...
But I do know that two Muslims invented the rocket for the Mongols to siege a fortress in China. Do I get any cool points? |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:48 am Post subject: |
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The carbomb?
Oh no that was the IRA I think...
Hmm. |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Muslims invented "shoe bombs". Or maybe a British person did. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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Who invented that poison-tipped umbrella used to kill that BBC guy during the Cold War?
(I think it was a BBC guy) |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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| Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
Who invented that poison-tipped umbrella used to kill that BBC guy during the Cold War?
(I think it was a BBC guy) |
Georgi Markov, killed by KGB agent using ricin-poisoned umbrella, September 7, 1978.
No idea who invented it though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov |
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jinglejangle
Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Location: Far far far away.
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| Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Recently (past few years) a muslim (ethnic at least, his name is Mohammed) invented the pot-in-pot refridgerator; a refridgeration unit requiring no electricity, and costing almost nothing to make, which is threatening to revolutionize the quality of life of rural people across poor sections of Africa. |
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Hyalucent
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: British North America
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| Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:17 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| and a crater on the Moon are named after him |
That's hillarious!  |
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