By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
The schizophrenia surrounding humankind’s attitude towards space was demonstrated when Russia shot down one of its own satellites on Nov. 15 to affirm its capability in any war among the stars. Just around then, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) coincidentally announced that it will launch its James Webb Space Telescope into orbit this month from Kourou, French Guiana, courtesy of the European Space Agency, Eric Berger reported in Ars Technica.
The telescope, named for a former NASA administrator, will succeed the aging Hubble. It was first conceived of 25 years ago and has cost $10 billion to make, involving 1,200 scientists, technicians and engineers from 14 countries and more than 28 U.S. states, according to The Smithsonian. Continue reading
BARBADOS — Royal note to Barbados: no apology, no reparations but we love your culture – By Mohamed Hamaludin
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OPINION — By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
Nearly 400 years after the British occupied the island that came to be known as Barbados, the Caribbean nation finally severed official ties with the former “Mother Country” when it replaced Queen Elizabeth II with its governor-general Sandra Mason as the titular head of state. It was surprising that it happened 55 years after independence.
The British presence dated back to 1620 when a Captain Simon Gordon, ignoring the Arawak who lived there for centuries, determined there were no inhabitants. Five years later, on May 14, 1625, a Captain John Powell arrived and, as Barbadian journalist Suleiman Bulbulia noted in a Guardian column on the eve of the severing of the colonial links, claimed it for King James I. “Los Barbados” (the bearded ones), so named by earlier Portuguese visitors for the beard-like appearance of its fig trees, became simply Barbados. Continue reading →
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