Magic Statistics

The Times of London columnist Alan Coren began pondering the impact his everyday activities have on the environment, and now he can't think about anything else.  It's driven him round the bend.

This morning, I couldn't think how to shave, because I have both a safety and an electric razor. Which is worse for the planet? The electric sucks from a fossily power station, the safety is made of steel and nonbiodegradable plastic that will end up on a landfill site, possibly cutting a gull's throat to boot, with God knows what ecological consequences.

And when I recall cleaning my teeth, the tremors start all over again. I have an electric water-pick for flushing old dinner out at dawn, but I daren't use it any more. I would have to plant a tree. I do not know where you get these trees you have to plant every time you burn carbon, but I bet you have to drive there, and you would have to buy another tree to offset the petrol. I can't do that every morning, especially as I have a very small garden. In less than a week, it would be a very small forest. Its roots would gobble up the water table and the house would fall over.

It seems the only way to avoid those problems is to stop consuming electricity and petroleum products altogether.

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Muslim students at a secondary school in Nigeria accused a Christian teacher of desecrating the Qur'an and then beat her to death.

Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was invigilating an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school in Gombe state when the incident occurred. The students attacked her outside the school compound after the exam and killed her, witnesses said.

It was not clear exactly what Olusase had done that angered the students.

Police confirmed the killing and said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot.

"We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said.

Gombe state in north-eastern Nigeria is one of 12 states that have adopted Shari'a law.

Just over a year ago in nearby Bauchi state, a riot broke out after a teacher confiscated a Qur’an that a pupil was reading in class.  Rumours soon spread that the teacher had desecrated the book.  Rioters armed with machetes killed at least 13 people.

h/t: Western Resistance

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• Nigerian Christian children kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam
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UPDATE (22 Mar.): More information has been reported.