Poll Result: Cure for AIDS

It seems we are a positive crowd out there, 76% of us believing a cure for AIDS will be invented in the future. If it were not for hope the hearts would shatter, or so the Arabic proverb goes.

Vote in my next poll: How should one battle the spread of AIDS/HIV in the Muslim World?

Poll Result: Israeli Military Reaction

Not much more needs to be added to the poll results. They speak volumes in many ways. The world is not black and white and one is reminded of that more and more every day.

Do vote in my next poll: Do you believe a cure for AIDS will be invented in the future?

New Poll: Israeli Retaliation/Poll Result: Jeans

The world's first pair of jeans were made of hemp. 61% of voters knew that. And I am sure no googling or wikiing was done...ahem ahem.

Do vote in my next poll: "Is Israel's military response to Hezbollah's killing of 8 and kidnapping of 2 Israeli soldiers disproportionate?"

Poll result: Pepsi vs. Coke

This must be so far, the most useless poll I have put up, yet, the one most people have replied to. Anyways there is apparently a difference in taste. There Sam, it has been established.

Ah well. Do vote in my next poll, is Fanta tastier than Sprite?

Just kidding...

Next Poll: The world's first pair of jeans were made of...?

Poll Result: Swearing

19% swear but don't wanna admit it. 26 % swear and are proud of it. 11 % are prudent. 40 % your average human. Now what does the 4% who said they don't know (although there are ample alternative replies presented for them) mean? Any suggestions?

Do vote in my next Poll, inspired by a post on Samuraisam's blog: "Is there a difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi?"

Poll Result: The Alchemist & "Swearing Citizens"

The idea of this poll came after seeing and hearing from people around me, that The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho is one of their favourite books, and also widely read it seems even by people who normally don't read that much.

The results I suppose give an indication but could also be misleading because perhaps people who haven't read the book won't bother to answer to the same extent as people who have read the book would.

Do vote in my next poll: "How often do you swear?" After reading an article on CNN's website about the increase of swearing amongst the average American I ask myself; are we living in an age of increased linguistic profanity?

"Neal, 26, who works with disabled adults, says she swears only in moments of extreme frustration, "like if someone cuts me off when I'm driving, or if I'm carrying something and someone shuts the door in my face."

Perhaps it is so that using the F-word has lost its initial meaning and become part of the contemporary slang? Still you see people using the word's "effing" or "f-ing" in replacement of the initial word itself. By doing so does one not imply that the word in itself is bad to use and thus one "masks it"? Why the self-censorship in that case?

"Younger people admit to using bad language more often than older people; they also encounter it more and are less bothered by it. The AP-Ipsos poll suggested that 62 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds acknowledged swearing in conversation at least a few times a week, compared to 39 percent of those 35 and older."

CNN also conducted a poll of their own on their website: Do you think swearing has become too common? 81 % answered YES out of a total of 64 357 votes.

Poll Result: Danish Cartoons

It is interesting, although this poll does not really give an indication either way, how close the numbers are on Islamophobia and Freedom of Speech. Although a majority felt the publication was inciting towards a religious group, it seems that Freedom of Speech in this case has been equally understood as being Islamophobia. Two very different takes on the matter.

A poll with the title "Should an Australian newspaper publish the Prophet Mohammad cartoon?" was conducted on Australian National Nine News website, and the outcome really interested me if not baffled me.

A whole 96% of the voters answered No. (It should be added that the total number of people who participated in the poll was 243 354). A mere 4% said Yes.

I ask myself, what can be derived from this? Are the Aussies more understanding? Tolerant? Or are they scared of the possible aftermath? In that case, has Freedom of Speech become threatened? Or is it simply so that they have a different understanding of what Freedom of Speech is?

Don't forget to vote in the coming polls.

First cousin marriages: Poll result

I figure the time has come to print the poll results of my first poll "What is your take on first cousin marriages". I suppose I asked this question mainly because it is a very predominant custom among my Pakistani friends and family and it is something that is being more and more debated and even questioned. Every man to his own I say.

Do vote in my next poll:
"Under which of the following would you categorize the publication of the danish caricatures?"