sunnis, shias, and HDTV

eclectic: Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles: an eclectic taste in music; an eclectic approach to managing the economy.

Low content, but high utility post today, since I’m busy on multiple fronts (upcoming root canal, Lake Tahoe ski trip, California business trip, my country’s 500th anniversary to plan for, and a wife to murder). But that’s neither here nor there. Onto the non-content…

If you’re like most Americans, you probably have no idea what the difference is between Sunni and Shia Islam. You’re also probably enviously looking at those sweet flat screen TVs every time you walk into a Best Buy (or browse Amazon), but are a bit intimidated by all the jargon, like LCD, plasma, HDTV, EDTV, HDMI, etc. etc. Fear no more, because here are two excellent articles explaining both:

First off, we have Sunnis and Shias: Does it have to be war? in the Economist. Money quote for the truly lazy (ie, a summary paragraph of a summary article):

The word shia derives from the Arabic shi’at Ali or the partisans of Ali, and referred at first to the political faction that believed leadership of the Muslim community should remain in the hands of the Prophet’s family. When the caliphate passed instead to a rival branch of Muhammad’s tribe, other disgruntled groups, including many non-Arabs recently converted to Islam, joined the Shia cause, which drew further emotive strength following the martyrdom of Hussein at the hands of a Sunni army.

Over time this political division deepened into doctrinal splits, with each branch elaborating its own interpretations of sharia, or religious law. Sunni Muslims preserved their unity by coming to accept four rival, but equally valid legal schools of varying rigour. Shia Islam followed a different course. It continued to split into subsects over questions of whom to recognise as the imam, a leader whose blood links to the Prophet were held to render him an infallible interpreter of God’s will.

And as for the LCD vs plasma debate, we have this nice intro from Wired: TV’s Flat New World. Again, a summary quote from a summary article for the truly lazy:

The differences between LCD and plasma, particularly where performance is concerned, are getting smaller all the time. A few years back, LCD screens suffered from severe refresh issues, often producing hideous digital artifacts whenever the on-screen action intensified. Meanwhile, plasma displays were notorious for their short life spans because of the radioactive half-life of the gases they use. Fortunately for both sides, those problems are pretty much a thing of the past. LCD artifacting is now a relatively rare occurrence and plasmas now live twice as long as their forebears.

So there you go. Consider yourself more educated than 98% of all Americans.