Jingo Cheetah

In Appreciation of Life

2011-04-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Free movies on a flight have always been a time to experiment. Not that my significant other appreciates my choice of movies during the regular days, but more so for the freedom to skip over to another movie, in the case of the movie falling below expectation. Plus there is nothing better to kill the time in the clouds.

Grave of the Fireflies - A Japanese anti-war movie - has been on my list since 2005 but never materialized. IMO this movie should be watched by everyone, who have not seen the social effects of war. It tingles the very fabric that makes you human. Life is not a given comfort of abundance. Aiming high is good, but disregarding the blessing of life is bad; not appreciating the available luxury is worse.

Extending this from war to the current Tsunami - and you know that the story is being repeated even today. It is possible to help the affected people of Japan. You don't need me to remind you of this duty. It should need no encouragement but your own desire to share your blessing of life.

Global Giving

Well Done Rajnikanth

Double Role

2011-03-29T09:56:00.003-07:00

FYI - Ahmed and Virat

And then these 2 pop out - playing different roles.
FYI - Gautam and Wahab

Supersedence

2011-03-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

What could be worse than to have your struggles be superseded by someone else's struggles?

What could be worse that to have your disaster be superseded by someone else's disaster?

Tunisia started it but Egypt took the cake;
Bahrain joined the party but Libya got the media's attention;
New Zealand's earthquake is a past memory, Japan's destruction attracts the news;

And analysts are worried about the impact on the bottomline of iPad2's launch delay in Japan.

Manager Managee Conflicts

2011-03-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

How bad can it be?

2011-03-16T15:42:00.001-07:00

Assuming that a good star cast should have some effect on the movie or the outcome is my achilles heel. Each time i try to stick to that value and each time - BAM - it knocks me down. To pass a weekend - what better line up could I have come up with. Getting to the meat - the worst movies for your weekend are ---- ---------

[3] At number three - No Country For Old Men. Yes Tommy Jones, Yes that spanish hitman, Yes some good plots - but what the hell was this movie about. Cats chasing mice would have been better. From the time the money is found till the time mr hitman breaks his arm, this movie just keeps rambling along, and goes straight for the anti-climax. This looked like some director's wanderlust or his high school project.

[2] At #2 - Only because she is married to the actor does it even make it past a B-grade movie. It epitomizes everything that an aspiring documentary should be, and a mainstream movie should not. In Pune - we would have kept it for Liberty or Vasant cinema. If you still have not guessed, the movie is Dhobi Gha(a)t. Let me take my earlier words back - this should have been a small segment in the DD News on some regional channel.

[1] And at #1. In toastmasters, there is a saying, let your speech be like a dog and not like a snake. A dog has a definite beginning transitioning into a body and then transitioning into a defined endpoint - everything that a snake does not. This is true for the above movies, but is taken to a whole new level by There Will Be Blood. Someone please explain why head bashing with a bowling pin is a climax? Yes that is a spoiler for those who still wanted to see this movie. Terrible to be kind to it.

Parables

2011-02-19T21:41:00.001-07:00

Just randomly while trying to find the end of the internet, these stories struck out. Especially liked the Carrot,Egg,Coffee parable, and the Beautiful Heart.

In Loving Memory Of Punctuation Marks

2011-02-08T22:48:00.001-07:00

In Loving Memory Of Punctuation Marks

And when they get to Heaven,
To St. Peter they will tell,
Punctuation Marks reporting, Sir -
We didn't do so well.

We tried our best,
To get into text,
Typed at super speed,
By young lads and lasses
Fresh from their classes
Who told us they did not us need.

We fought and we tried,
But the letters came as hail
Like Hell's own rifles ablaze...
Linebreak died,
And Comma did flail,
Then Fullstop dropped, his eyes wide agaze.

And now we are in Heaven,
We’re sorry that we fell,
Punctuation Marks reporting, Sir,
We hope we served you well.

Credits go to someone else. Least said he did not want to blog.

Kinect

2010-11-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

The revolutionary Wii shook up the market place bringing personality, connection between game play and human gesture. No longer did your thumb on XOAB define the existence of your virtual personality.

But Kinect in my opinion will be a game changer. (And like other bloggers let me brag - you heard it first over here). This seems to be a real innovation without the "i" (maybe apple with its chinese army will still create an iKinect). But what surprises me is the neglect in creating a sensor bar in history. I mean why was it so difficult in the past to have cameras, and a few more sensors with a controller packaged neatly in a tube? Look at the Honda gizmo humanoid. They must be using this idea for the last decade. How come it never took centerstage?

Old Joke - Still Very Funny

2010-11-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

American Democracy

2010-11-01T09:30:00.001-07:00

– Heard on the street –

A government of the people, by the people, for the corporation.

A selection between two dictatorships. (Considering there are only two parties, and each party forces their guys to follow their own party line)

This is corruption ....

2010-10-12T08:14:00.005-07:00

Copied from a visa application –

Visa Type / Duration Confirmation

You have selected a Entry Visa with 5 Years Multiple Entry.

Please be aware that the actual duration granted is up to the discretion of the Consulate.

There will be No Refunds if a lesser duration is granted.

All it says is that you can pay for the max duration, but we ‘may’ give you the min duration and pocket the remaining….

Yes there is a grammatical error as well (a Entry Visa). MFernandes is probably ready to scream somewhere.

Mansion Of The Gods

2010-10-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Dang - I must have grown old now, since my favorite Asterix series is depicting reality. Check the first page of the Mansion of the Gods - edited below -

and then you see the reality in the West Bank and the reason why Palestinians want a freeze

We may be laughing at one end, but for others it is a reality. Wouldn't it be better if this was only in comic books?

How Will You Measure Your Life

2010-10-05T12:03:00.001-07:00

The article from HBR makes a good read in asking three questions

First, how can I be sure that I’ll be happy in my career?

Second, how can I be sure that my relationships with my spouse and my family become an enduring source of happiness?

Third, how can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail?

I especially like the part of how “culture” is defined.

A Reality Check

2010-09-23T13:56:00.002-07:00

The shudder of realization of the only certain aspect of every human, makes us question. Some of us will try to debate the justice behind actions, some of us will question the unseen and seek answers, some of us will just shrug it off and move on. Change remains as the only constant in life, death reigns as the only certainty of life.

We will come back to debate the aftermath of death for a missed one. The stark truth of this aspect as defined in Islam, puts all Halloween and Ramsay-brother blockbusters to shame. It is the culmination of all chances for repentance, forgiveness, debt repayment, love, laughter and joy.

According to Islam - When a person dies, his works end, except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him.

This pertains to the departed. But there should not be a social death for those who lose their loved one. It is the responsibility of the society to look after them. A social visit after the burial, even after the mourning has ended, and even after your understanding that everything is fine, is still what makes and keeps us human. It is this realization of our responsibility that should be pursued, as a matter of respect for the departed soul.

A one-minute mentor thought to have recovered from cancer passed away this morning. Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Raajioon.

All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t

2010-09-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren't

Posted on 20 January 2010 by Danios

Don't be fooled, and don't be a wuss. You don't live in constant fear of radicalized Latinos (unless you're Lou Dobbs), even though they commit seven times more acts of terrorism than Muslims in America. Why then are you wetting yourself over Islamic radicals? In the words of Cenk Uygur: you're at a ten when you need to be at a four. Nobody is saying that Islamic terrorism is not a matter of concern, but it's grossly exaggerated.

CNN recently published an article entitled Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated; according to a study released by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "the terrorist threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans has been exaggerated."

Yet, Americans continue to live in mortal fear of radical Islam, a fear propagated and inflamed by right wing Islamophobes. If one follows the cable news networks, it seems as if all terrorists are Muslims. It has even become axiomatic in some circles to chant: "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims." Muslims and their "leftist dhimmi allies" respond feebly, mentioning Waco as the one counter example, unwittingly affirming the belief that "nearly all terrorists are Muslims."

But perception is not reality. The data simply does not support such a hasty conclusion. On the FBI's official website, there exists a chronological list of all terrorist attacks committed on U.S. soil from the year 1980 all the way to 2005. That list can be accessed here (scroll down all the way to the bottom).

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil by Group, From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI Database

According to this data, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%). These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion. These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.

Yet notice the disparity in media coverage between the two. It would indeed be very interesting to construct a corresponding pie chart that depicted the level of media coverage of each group. The reason that Muslim apologists and their "leftist dhimmi allies" cannot recall another non-Islamic act of terrorism other than Waco is due to the fact that the media gives menial (if any) coverage to such events. If a terrorist attack does not fit the "Islam is the perennial and existential threat of our times" narrative, it is simply not paid much attention to, which in a circuitous manner reinforces and "proves" the preconceived narrative. It is to such an extent that the average American cannot remember any Jewish or Latino terrorist; why should he when he has never even heard of the Jewish Defense League or the Ejercito Popular Boricua Macheteros? Surely what he does not know does not exist!

The Islamophobes claim that Islam is intrinsically a terrorist religion. The proof? Well, just about every terrorist attack is Islamic, they retort. Unfortunately for them, that's not quite true. More like six percent. Using their defunct logic, these right wingers ought now to conclude that nearly all acts of terrorism are committed by Latinos (or Jews). Let them dare say it…they couldn't; it would be political and social suicide to say such a thing. Most Americans would shut down such talk as bigoted; yet, similar statements continue to be said of Islam, without any repercussions.

The Islamophobes live in a fantasy world where everyone is supposedly too "politically correct" to criticize Islam and Muslims. Yet, the reality is the exact opposite: you can get away with saying anything against the crescent. Can you imagine the reaction if I said that Latinos should be profiled because after all they are the ones who commit the most terrorism in the country? (For the record: I don't believe in such profiling, because I am–unlike the right wing nutters–a believer in American ideals.)

The moral of the story is that Americans ought to calm down when it comes to Islamic terrorism. Right wingers always live in mortal fear–or rather, they try to make you feel that way. In fact, Pamela Geller (the queen of internet Islamophobia) literally said her mission was to "scare the bejeezus outta ya." Don't be fooled, and don't be a wuss. You don't live in constant fear of radicalized Latinos (unless you're Lou Dobbs), even though they commit seven times more acts of terrorism than Muslims in America. Why then are you wetting yourself over Islamic radicals? In the words of Cenk Uygur: you're at a ten when you need to be at a four. Nobody is saying that Islamic terrorism is not a matter of concern, but it's grossly exaggerated.

RAND report: Threat of homegrown jihadism exaggerated, Zero U.S. civilians killed since 9/11

Update:

A reader by the name of Dima added:

The FBI Terrorism Report shows…[that] the highest number of terrorist incidents in the U.S. by region (90) took place in Puerto Rico.

Second Update:

An Islamophobe commented on this article, saying that the statistics are flawed because the FBI included small acts such as "stealing rats from a lab" as an act of terrorism. Of course, this is patently false. Here is a breakdown of the terrorist attacks by type (the pie chart is from the FBI's official website and can be accessed here):

Terrorism by Event, From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI Database

http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/not-all-terrorists-are-muslims/

Dates and Debates

2010-08-11T10:48:00.002-07:00

Yes - Happy Ramadan to one and all. I pray that everyone gets blessed with patience. Lots of it!

New Ramadan, new people, same debates. Calculation vs. Sighting, Local vs. global, 8 vs. 20 - you know what I mean…

IMHO - we have strong opinions on either side for the local versus global moon-sighting. Both have been ratified as genuinely correct, and yet we have all the time in our lives to debate the superiority of one over the other. I think the ego of the community leaders greatly overweighs the need of unity in the land. This is a simple agreement that can be decided upon at the city level, and we stick with it. Leaders should only implement it, focusing their energies on other debates.

Two extremely simple solutions stand out -

The-voting-solution: Come Muharram, all the muslims in the city cast their ballot whether they want a local or global sighting, and we accept the opinion of the masses. Breakaway splinter masjids - who don’t appreciate the unity of the land - in my opinion, don’t accept the ruling of unity in Islam and there is something wrong with them, that only some strange force can impart unto them. May the force be with the united mass.

Ding-dong-solution: Even=global, odd-numbered-year=local. Publish and accept. You happy this year, I happy next year, Islam always happy, unity always at the forefront.

Bind your self. Give your bayah. Pledge your allegiance. But don’t waste precious time explaining the superiority of your opinion.

Retaining a Developed World Status

2010-08-02T09:58:00.001-07:00

I am trying to answer the question – what constitutes a third world country or the milder version “a developing economy”, and especially what led it into being a developing country. Specifically was India, at the turn of the 20^th century, a developed country or a developing country?

My understanding is that when the East India Company started trading, India was a developed country, where finished products were available for trade resulting in revenue and capital for further development (economic or military). However the industrial revolution in Europe far outpaced the production capacity of India, not matching the finesse of Indian artistes. On the whole it was cheap, people could afford more of what Europe produced and local industries got destroyed in the process. A little arm-twisting from the now British shareholders over the spineless manipulative rajas and maharajas, no doubt, helped in a wider adoption, and subsequent transformation of India as an excellent base of raw supplies. People were exploited for their raw supplies and squeezed to produce more, but was the economy of India still a powerhouse, if we add all the revenues created from the individual provinces etc? I believe it was a great economy but with unequal distribution and welfare. Considering that to be the case, I think that the fall from developed to developing, came about with independence, and the realization that India has lots of raw supplies but no useful method and process of materializing on this treasure. It took India a good 50 years to realize its potential, getting manufacturing knowledge established for profit, getting manufacturing infrastructure in place, and for knocking on some certification agency for a “developed country” status.

India = USA

East India Company/British = China

20^th Century = 21^st Century

Rajas/Maharajas = Senators/Congressmen

Independence -> dreadful wait

50 years for India = ?? years for USA

Moral of the story – Manufacturing knowledge is paramount to success.

PopTech

2010-05-08T14:37:00.003-07:00

An hour for myself is currently a luxury. An hour for myself watching TV is pandora. An hour for myself watching TV with a program dedicated to poptech - pure ecstasy (wanted to write priceless, but lets keep that cliche for later).

Poptech is all about visionaries, unpolluted by corruption, extending and redefining what is possible and who gets to decide it. This episode was aired on our local klru channel. Let it be about rewiring nervous systems to cross the boundary into electrical circuits (an obvious instant technology steriod), or social technology for making a village producers and maintainers of their own solar power (Bunker Roy), or just rebuilding in the face of natural disaster (Architecture For Humanity). Actually the last speaker for AFH mentioned a classic statement about how you can get 50 people who will live and breathe the project for the price of one Halliburton engr!!

Poptech is a must see/watch/browse because it is positive, because it liberates your mind. It is as if someone has enlightened you to be more active in that one hour. I am just rediscovering the joy of finding more positiveness on the never ending internet.

Yes - and one speaker obviously was about photography. For the uninitiated visit the following links for Paris and Dubai.

A Doctor's Perspective to the Healthcare System Overhaul

2010-03-15T14:33:00.002-07:00

It makes me sick to think that I cannot practice medicine the way medicine is meant to be practiced: with care, quality and timeliness. Financially I feel deprived and it disgusts me that so much money goes to pay medical malpractice premiums and tails, and that our livelihoods are at risk as we are considered lottery tickets, by society, in general.

Most of the health care dollar goes to administrative costs for health insurance companies, with a large part going to the salaries and bonuses of their executives. That money should be meant for patient care. Little of the health care dollar even goes to pharmacies and hospitals, much less to the physicians. Doctors get far less of the healthcare dollar than do the executives of the insurance companies, yet without us they would be out of a job. Once we actually get reimbursed, we have our medical school loans and ever rising business costs to pay for with our ever decreasing earnings.

Now the current administration wants to decrease payments even further in order to “save” the health care system. We already know that a number of capable people are leaving our profession, or declining the arduous journey to become an American trained physician; not to mention the huge number of our friends (including me) who don’t want their own children following in our footsteps. How sad is it when we don't want our own progeny to follow us all because we are treated like thieves, or thugs, as children who cannot govern ourselves. This attitude in our society towards physicians is doing nothing but creating a loss of quality of well trained physicians.

There are close to 1 million physicians in the country and around 25 million people in the health care industry. They don’t treat or care (for) about the patients. Our patients suffer as physicians must see more patients every year just to make the same amount (or often less) money than last year; physician burnout is a well documented and a worrisome trend in our profession. This can affect our ability to properly formulate patient care. With the addition of paperwork and increased regulations put upon us by the state and federal governments, we have even less quality time for ourselves and our families. Not to mention the trauma of malpractice issues, that have taken the creativity out of patient care…resulting in the increase cost of healthcare.

In addition we need to deal with ugly politics of hospital administrators who can, just for unfriendly facial grimaces, suspend us and report us to the National Practitioner Data Bank, thus irrevocably ruining our careers, well before any investigation or fair hearing is called. We work our butts off to get top grades in college, to get into medical school, and then residency programs, where we often worked 100 or even 120 hours a week, for what? So should we give up nights, weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and even the birth of our own children to practice the vocation to which we were drawn upon? And even then, how are we treated? We are considered the vilest criminals, cheats and depraved practitioners with no sense of integrity or consciousness, only out to harm those we have struggled so long to serve. If we are so bad, so vile and so depraved, shouldn't we let our patients get treated by these lawmakers, advisors, politicians, and administrators who are trying to ‘save the health care system.

Quality of care suffers more when we spend less time checking our patients. This extra work is forced upon us when insurance companies like Medicare and Medicaid, constantly refuse to pay us in a timely fashion for our time and effort. And, when we do see patients, our clinical acumen is stifled as we must follow a cookbook approach to patient care. Yet what am I to do when 25% to 50% of my procedures, which are 'authorized' by insurance companies, are not compensated because, although authorized, they are not covered benefits. Insurance companies have no incentive to provide better care if it in turn we take good care of a patient, if good care may extend life expectancy.

It is time that we (physicians) stand up for our cause. We live in the land of the free and home of the brave. But we are passively giving up our noble lives as physicians, without liberty to practice as we should, and without the freedom to stop the government and the insurance companies from turning us in to hourly workers, but rather into the true professionals we believe we are. Perhaps we can show the country that we are worth more than a co-payment; that physicians are the real heroes for society; and that our profession is needed, our services are required, and our practice is a calling to be respected, not a trade that is to be negotiated to the lowest bidder.

I am inviting you to join my cause to ‘Save Future of Health Care’. We want our services to be adequately reimbursed, we want less paperwork, we want less money going into the hands of insurance companies and administration costs and we want medical malpractice reform, with caps on all damages, so that we can practice without the fear of needless and unwarranted lawsuits. We want the National Practitioner Data Bank reformed so entries are made after all administrative remedies have been executed, so due process is given to all physicians and that all entries are reviewed by an independent board of physicians without any ties to the accusing hospital, state, or local medical societies prior to submission. And we want proper compensation for services that pay us enough to manage our practices and allow us a living that compensates us for our years of study and training.

The Innocent Look of Happiness

2010-01-14T15:41:00.002-07:00

There is humor and then there is a light hearted happiness, more like a sense of relief, relaxing your eyes, replenishing your soul and registering that moment in the book of unforgettable memories, creating a desire to revisit it time and again, simultaneously cheering you up for having lived that moment but longing to live it again. It matters not, if all the people stamped into that scene are around you right now, but the essence of that moment, the ether that accompanied it is irreproducible. Attachment to the event location is transitory, stressing the fact that the location wanted you to enjoy the moment then, but will not make any attempt to rewind to that point again.

Why this? why now? Returning home - I heard the chatterbox in her elements explaining the wondrous day spent at home, clockwork redefined, all excitement gears synched up with shaft of an ever peaceful world.

And no I don’t understand her gibberish baby talk.

Between Cisco and Sujood

2009-12-28T22:33:00.002-07:00

There is such a serious pursuit for corporate acceptance, that I have been quite disconnected with my soul talk. Imam Suhaib Webb, imho, has such a marvellous personality that you can joke on serious topics with him and yet return with valuable insight. He has many lectures and audio clips on his website, but something that captured my attention is the following two part series, titled Between Cisco and Sujood.

Part 1 || Part 2
Reading time = approx 30 mins

Part 1 is very relevant to muslims everywhere, whereas part 2 is US specific in a few ways. Part 1 took me back to my first hand experience of muslims giving up work, applying undue burden to the family, all in the name of Islam.

Enjoy the posts.

Blogging

2009-11-15T23:25:00.001-07:00

Never Before Have So Many People With So Little To Say Said So Much To So Few

(From my Doctor's Calendar)

2009-04-20T13:31:00.002-07:00

A standstill

2009-02-08T18:28:00.002-07:00

sleep -> wake -> eat -> drive -> work -> eat -> work -> doze -> break-> work -> drive -> play -> eat -> play -> work -> sleep

+ 5 breaks for prayers

- blog

- exercise

- read

- tv

- facebook/orkut/phone calls

= recession

(maybe)

Palestine

2009-01-23T09:06:00.002-07:00

Any report of the carnage in Palestine by me would mean hate towards the oppressor and guilty by association to former world war perpetrators - so instead the reason why I think the oppressor is wrong -

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/14/when-israel-expelled-palestinians/

Should Rang De Basanti have been banned for glorifying the terrorists in Indian history?

Of life and management

2009-01-03T02:31:00.003-07:00

"You cannot be a manager - unless you see your team as a bar chart of productivity and deadlines"

Management principles aside, I find a big need to classify every aspect of my every day life. Ok - it may be a stretch but it is possible. Add to this the aspect of "lists" and you will know what happens daily.

Reach the office - there is always a list of deliverables - classified according to priority. List of data to be collected from juniors and classifying the data into more useful indicators for higher-ups or general external visibility. The days of the month decide a list of chores/payment schedules - again with a priority. Wife dear has a list for you with obvious must-haves and can-do-withouts. Darling daughter has a single item list - play with no obvious priority except the highest - coming to the point that the simplest life have the most fun.

But lists have their own charm. 10 things that you didn't do last year, or 4 movies that could be better with kanta behn, 5 gizmos for the next 5 years - How often have we been so attracted (or distracted) by these titles!! Forbes seems to have made its fortune from these lists!!

Classifying is a whole different art altogether and there does not seem a general consensus on it. Websites seem to be the best examples of classifying and depending on whether you see chess as a sport or academic exercise, you will realize that the your own classification depends a lot on the websites you visit. For example - "Britney crashes Chevy Volt and survives" - is this an Auto section headline or the Entertainment gossip section? Only way that classification in your life will survive is by a general buy-in from above. You know what i mean?!! If not then next time dont ask your spouse before heading to the store ;).

Hilarious Tamil Horses

2008-12-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

Live Free or Cry

2008-12-25T17:26:00.006-07:00

The little life form in my house - besides cheering one and all - has been very effective in exploration and living life on own terms. Let it be chewing all the DVDs and other things that cannot be described but can be effectively classified as toys, or pulling strings and sheets to the floor, or frantic scramble to anyone with a phone in hand, life is always free. I believe you probably already understand the Cry part of the title. Whatever be the activities pursued, it always interests me to see that the shortest path to anything is the one that cuts everything in between. Parents can be scrambled over, suitcases can be climbed (and then toppled), toys can be shoved aside but that thing that has caught her interest has to be pursued. I wonder why we ever spent time trying to understand the Postman's algorithm or the shortest path algorithms.

That brings me to the next interesting point - Raising the Bar. Yes - this seems like the most apt description of parents trying to salvage everything by keeping it a little higher than the baby's reach. But as we can see this will be an iterative process as Ms-want-it-all comes up with new access mechanisms.

And So it is

2008-12-18T11:06:00.003-07:00

Taking a trip to India always generates writing material. No matter how the wind blows there are always interesting developments that meet the eye. Malls springing up and monopolistic laws have assured that Reliance has become the indian avatar of Walmart - all their petro-comm rupees are subsidizing food prices to kill local sellers is just one example. But there were some more interesting observations such as -

Niqabs = Piety? Niqabs are the dress where only the eyes are uncovered in a women's dress. Muslim girls are stepping up to their teachers/parents and requesting them for niqabs, with an explanation demonstrating absolute divine need. However teachers are now realizing the ulterior motive of hidden identity unlimited mazaa. Hey you dont always find non-muslims requesting niqabs in stores -- or do you?
Goonda raj and sophisticated goonda raj aka politicians and industrialists resp. Blatant show of power and abuse are rampant. The civics syllabus in school needs to be revised for the monetary compensation given to politicians. I came across a case of a telecom company giving a 7 figure bribe to lay its broadband line in a residential neighborhood to the incumbent corporator. For the general good of the people this is a small amount. The general attitude was that of live and let live - judge the good and bad with the current age not the 60 year old constitutional law.
Me first - Imagine a one lane uphill road with a cyclist straining himself to proceed. In India you have to imagine a car driver right behind this cyclist blasting his horn on the cyclist. Then imagine a bullock cart heaving itself across a traffic light (even a color blind animal was following the traffic lights), and then imagine a couple of motorbikes that cannot understand the same simple concept, avoid a near-hit, and cause the bullocks to grind their hooves into the tar for some rash motorists. No order no discipline all chaos.

No bloody-american-bashing-indians but an undeniable visible trend.

OBAMA BHANGRA PARTY

2008-11-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

South Asians for Obama Arizona

Invite you to join us for the…

OBAMA BHANGRA PARTY

with

Obama Campaign Representative

Honorable -------- Arizona State District 10 Representative

On Monday 3^rd November

National Treasure... sorry Debt

2008-10-09T08:00:00.003-07:00

.. Time to start using HEX instead....

Can we expect a movie on the same lines of National Treasure with that one-eye-on-one-dollar now representing something new?

community generated media

2008-07-30T07:57:00.003-07:00

One of the good things from 2007 was the appearance of digg.com, a community oriented portal to allow sharing of news that you would not see unless you are an ardent follower of Oddly Enough on reuters. At the start this was a healthy break-away from slashdot and the forum-oriented discussions.

Gradually this has become a lazy-man's disgruntling site. If you dont like GWB click here and voila you have a sense of contributing to dissent. All bull and no effect is my opinion. If you dont like big oil dirtying the coast of alaska, then by digging one opinion is not going to change a thing; you have to get out and show strength in numbers - something like the hispanic population challenging illegal immigration in Phoenix, with mexican flags outnumbering the star spangle 10:1. Cops could not arrest these who were proudly displaying their crime, so just imagine what the effect would be when you are opposing something legally. That reminds me of the other time folks here were oppsing a trans-texas highway - their opposition was planned for Saturday when the government offices are closed, the governor and mayor are probably hunting some lame ducks with the veep, and the sound of gun-shots is far louder than the people's voice.

Some other time we will cover how the other extreme of burning buses/and public property is also senseless.

New School Year

2008-07-28T10:27:00.003-07:00

Walking into my workplace today, I was caught up in a strange nostalgia never experienced for atleast 15 years. Strange as it may seem, these thoughts took me back to the start of every school year at Vincents, and simultaneously encouraging me to take time off to write something on this oh-so-neglected-blog. Just like a new school year you realize that mr. bench-sharer has left the school and there is someone new instead. So yes, a few links on this page are now owned by not the people I know, and yes it will be on my list somewhere to honorably remove all references.

Walking into my workplace today, I had to hunt down my new cubicle moving aisle to aisle, just like the old days of moving from notice-board to notice-board finding your new division and whether other men-at-arms had made it as well. There was more then - everything from our football team having a chance to win, or whether we had the talent to make it through the 4x4 relays that were atleast 7 months away. After you brave the confusion regarding the line in the morning assembly, you find your place in the classroom and the teacher that you will have to face for the rest of the year. In much the same manner, the cubicle and aisle are new, the desk is lower than my knees right now and the remaining folks in my aisle are on vacation of MIA.

That should explain why I am distracted and posting things on my blog, knowing fully well that a crunch time is expected in two weeks, and then I will need another "event" to drag me back to blogging.

Good Measures Half Date at a time

2008-02-26T16:58:00.003-07:00

Helping and Contributing to make this world a better place -

Can your dollar give you contentment?

Can your dollar make someone else happy?

Evolution or not

2008-02-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

Darwin was an interesting guy and wrote that excellent book that spoke about species in general. I have to admit that evolution exists and also in humans. One classic example can be observed in the weapons of war used by (lets not go too far in history) the mughals. Each sword weighs a ton, indicating that they were well built and had a height that was bigger that the people of today. So I will say that humans in their evolution have actually decreased in size over the years.

As an electronic engineer, we have studied the marvels of the atom and the electron but have never seen these particles yet we believe in it. So it would be apt for us to believe that no rosetta stone is necessary for us to prove conclusively of some tree swinging ancestor(astgh). However there is a big difference in saying that the species of cats exists in many different forms, and the species of goats exist in multitude countries and that saying that once upon a time the cats and goats were partners in crime. (To me it seems straight out of Disneyland).

Similarly every animal had its evolution- some died, some were killed, and man brought others to extinction. (Forget the next generations - I ask you - why did the cheetah disappear from India when man could have prevented it.) But what is the relation between an ant and an elephant to a scorpion - there is no rosetta stone and no link whatsoever. So I conclude that Darwin was right in evolution of species but that was individually. And if I look back at the life of Darwin, I am all the more convinced that his study was based on winches with varying beak sizes and not a relation between winches and seals etc.

And speaking of the Creator - His creations extend way beyond our imagination. If you work with the complexity of ASICS, you will understand that emulating a section of the P4 takes a million dollar box with 128 million ASIC gates. Now the best supercomputer uses 128K+ processors and cannot yet come even close to the complexity of the brain. So sbh I can only marvel at the creator. And lets extend this to beyond living organisms - can we explain why sea water and river water taste different though they mix freely? And the biggest non-explanation I have ever received - Can you explain life that arises in the womb? Darwin cannot explain that and nor can some atheism manual.

I am a muslim and nearly all my references come from the Quran. Taking the historical age of its relevation and its authenticity, I am marvelled at the miracles that were mentioned in it and seeing it confirmed in the years since then, only reaffirms my belief in God. There is harmony between the Quran and modern science. Allah does not tell you how to solve calculus and to program in C, but surely he has bestowed you with a beautiful mind and spirit that enables you to do so.

A student might be deceived by the accuracy of mathematics and then generalize and consider all the subjects included in philosophy, including metaphysics, to be as accurate. I pray to God to guide you to the right path to protect from knowledge that is of no use to you.

http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/scientific_index.html
http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/towards_a_sound_awakening/ch1p3.htm

Countdown

2008-02-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

41 days more

dastane abdul texas dilruba - 2

2008-02-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Continuing from last time -

Street Lights sensors - Wait on the street lights for your turn when you are the only car at the intersection and think about it.
Speed Cameras - Austin does not need this, the roads are narrower anyway to prevent speeding
3G - only regulations in TX no improvement, and they want to sell Iphones
21 days to change a modem MAC - no jokes, COX could do it over the phone, TimeWarner needs 21 days.
Jai Mexico, Jai Jai Mexico, You are my butterfly Sugar, baby!!

dastaane abdul texas dilruba - 1

2008-01-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

As the name goes - it is a series of my acclimatization to Austin -the capital of Texas.

It can be summarized by the four letter word that everyone refrains from using, and for all men - i am not implying "love"

[1] U-turn lane is the left most lane on every exit. Only in a city like Austin. And kattar austinites like HSanj will tell you - "What you all dont have Uturn lanes? How can you live?"

[2] If someone is backing out, you should not allow them to complete - you start crossing as soon as you see enough space for your car.

[3] Drive at 55mph on a 65mph empty freeway

[4] If you can exit from the freeway onto one street - you cannot enter the freeway from that street.

[5] Jai Mexico!!

Are you smarter than a Chimp?

2008-01-04T13:39:00.001-07:00

Now dont cheat!! and beat him at the first time.

LINK

2007-12-25T14:26:00.001-07:00

http://tillthend0.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!B92B8B0496E1EBFC!258.entry

VT Madness

2007-04-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

just a correspondence from my profs at VT -
" Thank you for asking; fortunately my family and I are fine. My
father's office is in the building of the shootings, but he did not
go into the office today. I am actually out of town and not
returning to Blacksburg until tomorrow -- I can't say that I am
looking forward to returning. A truly awful day."

"Thanks for checking. I am okay. The shootings were in Norris Hall,
which is not far from Torgersen and which houses the offices for the
dean of engineering. I've heard from nearly everyone in the e-textiles
lab, and they are all fine. But since the dean's offices are there and
the classrooms are used for engineering classes, I am very afraid that
some of the victims may be students or colleagues of mine. "

On a side note - condolences for atleast one sister who did not survive. Inna lillahe wa inna ilayhe rajeoon.

Overhaul?

2007-03-28T11:22:00.001-07:00

This blog needs a visual overhaul. period.

Bored stiff? Loosen up...
Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games.

WC woes

2007-03-28T11:20:00.001-07:00

India is out and suddenly the sheen from the World Cup is over. Ok Bangladesh fans can rejoice that their team will play three more matches, and I wish to believe that they will lose all three. They dont have any more fun teams like India that transform from tigers to lambs in one day.
So who do I wish to win - Sri Lanka.
Do i regret not watching WC anymore - NO

Don't get soaked. Take a quick peek at the forecast
with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.

Lipan Point

2007-03-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

If you are an Arizonian, you have been to the Grand Canyon. And each
time I went there I always tell everyone its a big hole in the ground.
My dad and me were just calculating the other day about how many men
would have worked day and night to create this big hole. Imagine - men
waking up and getting to work to dig and dig and create - viola - a
canyon. Those red indians must have worked themselves out generations
over generations just so that in the end we can make a road (and now a
skybridge) to marvel at it. Really absolutely amazing!!!

Normally I take visitors to the desert tower for ooh-aah oomph and
then stop at random pullouts for some more ooh-aah. Then just for the
experience of enteriing into the canyon, I take them to the Bright
Angel trail. Occasionally Mather point finds itself into this
itinirary. But this time, we stopped at Lipan point and for the first
time I dont call it a big dugout. This point is just awesome -
overlooking the canyon and giving a broad view of the canyon. Must see
for all those who have not.

Optimistic

2007-03-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Year 1981

Prince Charles got married
Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
Australia lost the Ashes
Pope Died
2 years later India won the world Cup!!!

Year 2005

Prince Charles got married
Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
Australia lost the Ashes
Pope Died
2 years later will India win the world Cup?????

1982 Football World Cup won by Italy
1983 Cricket World Cup won by India

2006 Football World Cup won by Italy
2007 Cricket World Cup is won by .....

OPTIMISTIC ?!

wheezing

2007-03-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

Just to get me started back

[1114] I have to start acting better in front of cops. The last time i was cheery and smiley, and not the sober self, I got a ticket and have to attend a defensive driving class. Luckily not too exhorbitant, but it pinches. ouch!!

[906] The World Cup begins and I have not purchased any package. Seeing that I have hajaar things in my head anyways, it seems like skipping it is the best.
By World Cup - i dont mean two clubs of some small US cities battling it out for a trophy that only US recognizes. But this world cup is for real - cricket with teams representing many countries. Though not as global as football.

[771] Tax time - zzzzzz!!! grrr!!

[517] Baby boom time - One more nephew, three more friends becoming parents, another two friends in some time. Learning dua's had never been so easy!!

[300] Loss of a blogger!! Boohoo. Even a farewell note saying that the blog was shut would have been fine. Now it just leads you into the scary horrible world of ad redirection. Someone should make a note of ill-effects of marriages of today...

[1] Parents in town. What better way to spend the next two months.
Seem to recall nearly all the tips we used to get from the various student groups before we arrived here. That one tip that we did not recall was about carrying eye prescriptions and extra glasses. Alhumdillah that was all. Dad now sports a new bifocal.

blog blok

2007-01-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

These days life is so dramatically volatile that I have time to blog, but what i blog may be on the borderline of boring for the general public. It is the fun of fob-biness of being explorative in this festive season, and awesome weather, and keeping tons of patience in every aspect.

Also z-mamoo is leaving la, 2 others got jobs away and the rented house of yesteryears is finally left without any guys to occupy it. It was like a frat house, with alumni stopping by, someone always at the dining table even in the odd hours at night, and salafi, tableeghi, hanafi, shafii etc etc always enjoying themselves. Feeling sad that this day had to come, but happy about the time spent there.

Just enjoy the sales....

forget the last post - this one is better

2006-12-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

At New York’s Kennedy Airport today, an individual was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of
the notorious al-gebra movement.9 He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

“Al-gebra is a fearsome cult,” Ashcroft said. “They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there are three sides to every triangle,” Ashcroft declared.

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have letter weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes. I am gratified that our government has given us a sine that it is intent on protracting us from those who are willing to disintegrate us with calculus disregard. Under the circumferences, we must differentiate their root, make our point, and draw the line.” President Bush warned, “These weapons of math instruction have the potential to decimal everything in their math on
a scalene never before seen unless we become exponents of a higher power and begin to factor in random facts of vertex.”

Attorney General Ashcroft said, “Read my ellipse. Their days are numbered as the hypotenuse tightens around their necks.”

Math P J

2006-12-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

A group of Polish tourists is flying on a small airplane
through the Grand Canyon on a sightseeing tour. The tour
guide announces: “On the right of the airplane, you can
see the famous Bright Angle Falls.” The tourists leap out
of their seats and crowd to the windows on the right side.
This causes a dynamic imbalance, and the plane violently
rolls to the side and crashes into the canyon wall. All
aboard are lost. The moral of this episode is: always keep
your poles off the right side of the plane.

I wouldn't blame you if you did not laugh!!
http://www.ams.org/notices/200501/fea-dundes.pdf

TechnoPolitician

2006-12-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of technical and techno-political (if that exists) reading. Partly this interest lies from me being away from it for quite some time (read married life). Apart from the bashing of PS3 and praise for Wii from either camps, and unnnecessary praise for eveything Apple (iT1, iJingoCheetah etc), I came across a couple of links that were interesting.

Though "Support OPEC, buy an SUV" sounds good on paper, hydro, electric and hybrid energy are enthusiastic endeavours. Alas Oil companies and Big Brother does not support this as seen from the following link
Link 0 - http://easygrowhouseplants.blogspot.com/2006/12/inventor-of-water-powered-car-murdered.html

Link 1 - A very very nice interview with Tim Berners-Lee about his story about developing the WWW.
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html#Examples

Old Joke - but good laughs

2006-12-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

------Jocks vs Nerds----
Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.

If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.

If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he's there.
If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.

He makes $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.
He'll make $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.

If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.

He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.

Assuming he puts the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), his contributions will hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.

If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you'd be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.
He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.

While the common person is spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he'll pull in about $5600.

This year, he'll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined. Amazing isn't it?

However...If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 450 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has today.

$$$ Game over. Nerd wins.

3+3= whirlwind

2006-12-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

The days of fattening the newlyweds with the choicest of dishes + visa appointment. As you can see we survived both and the whirlwind ended.

Now i feel fine about writing udder stuff on the blog.

3+3+3=whirlwind

2006-12-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

The second 3 days is where things turn a little bit more interesting. Now many people will agree with me and many wont, but I put my foot down for that custom/rivaaj called as mehendi where sisters+aunts+cousins of the bride come to my house and subject me to a round of mehendi, grabbing a finger in the end and demanding money to end the torture. (hehe). Henna fine, custom not fine, reason don’t ask. So you would believe that there would be an outcry from the bride’s family about it. Gosh the only outcry was that from my family. No one could explain why this custom came around, no one could explain why green bangles are the norm – but all they were scared off were some superstitions. Surprisingly I found support from all my cousin brudders. Each one had opposed it, but fallen to it in the end, but was happy that I was still standing. In the end all the womenfolk from my house went to A1’s house and had a good time. Good ending to a useless debate.

Day of the nikaah, people were still arriving and we were still picking them up from the railway station. (its India – airports are luxuries). 3 hours to nikaah, and we brothers decide to take a little detour – a detour to find out what are the preps at A1’s house. (Our nikaah was at A1’s house itself). Detour was fine, peeped into their preps, and then zoomed off. Coming home we discover that my contemporaries from my in-laws had come to probably trade my wedding clothes for useful moolah. Since I was out on a detour I missed them, and they probably left disappointed. Feel bad about missing them – because this was not like a blind rivaaj/custom but just some fun time with no superstitions attached. When we reach home – the elders remind me that some picky maulanas will not accept anything except hard cash for mahar – and that was not what we had planned. It is great to have brilliant minds that have experience plenty of weddings to classify the maulanas into useful categories. Last minute arrangements were made. There was still a problem with number of drivers and number of cars. Just the usual at weddings since we always have more guests than the cars to transport them and public transport (rickshaws/taxis) don’t always suffice. Turns out that being the groom I cannot drive, and hence I am at the mercy of others. Things get resolved and we arrive to the nikaah. Stage is set, paperwork gets introduced, maulana wants cash, maulana gets debate from elders, maulana explains his position, cash he gets, wakil etc get signatures, T1 is staring through all these procedures, and gullibly signs on the dotted line when his turn arrives, T1 tests mic, T1 proclaims his nikaah, T1 reads dua with maulana surprised that he did not have to repeat, maulana hugs T1, T1 hugs everyone else in the long line, everyone else in the long line hug T1’s dad/mamoo/wakil. In this organized confusion, A1 magically appears on the stage and T1 heaves a sigh of relief. Now time to stare into the light and smile at every guest on the stage, posing with a few as necessary. C+D+N+S+K arrive and ask about the food and also wish us (Never was happier). Lots of photos, thanks to WK. Great food in the end and a non-tearful bidaaii. Cousins smuggle some money out from me for allowing us to enter into the house. No rituals are allowed (right somebody spoke of kicking milk can) only entering with the Koran.

Day of walima was even better. Jetlag finally gets to me, and I pass out at 3pm and wake up at 6pm. The walima invite mentions 7pm as the time, and I am identifying myself with all the people whom I had labeled as late-latifs. Turns out I am pretty quick after a nap. We were present at the open air garden at 7:15pm. Quite impressive, huh!! Guests pour in, faces that were kids in front of us are suddenly standing 3-5 inches above my head. Good reunion follows with all the people, but then the light on our faces becomes unbearable. M-the photographer remarks occasionally on my sullen face. Again C+D+N+S+K wish me, and then return after savoring the food and all their lip-smacking made me wonder if A1 could manage the stage by herself while I took a small walk to the food. Here is where married life comes into the picture and then I wonder about the food but mention it not to A1. Finally we take a big Sheikh family photo spanning multiple generations and then food. Food never tasted better. And then TaDaaah welcome to real married life. Festivities are done.

Seriously parents rock!!!! To bring about so much for their son sitting far away takes a lot of energy and inspiration and hardwork. If you really feel that this was anyways a fun event (and even if you don’t), please remember my parents in your duas/prayers as this is the only gift that I can give them.

3+3+3+3=whirlwind

2006-12-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Three days from the time I land till the time life lands on me. The last time family used this same flight, they reached an hour early. But the VIP that I am, the plane is delayed in Heathrow due to bad weather and subsequently we were waiting for air traffic control to give us the go ahead to land. The taxi from airport was booked for 11 am and there I walk out at 1:30 pm. Why was I worried about this 2 hours? Patience junta that’s coming. So Mr. Cabbie was sleeping under a tree, and when I wake him up lo and Behold!!! He happens to be the same one who picked me up and dropped me back the last time. A joyful reunion follows, and all the broken marathi flows freely as if nothing has changed. Over home-grown peanuts, the journey to Pune lasts 3.5 hours. An even more joyous reunion follows – dad,mom,gmom,sis etc etc. nice cuppa tea and time for me to drive the car. (left hand drive usa – right hand drive India). Time for me to get wedding clothes stitched. Plan was to leave 2 hours earlier for all of this since shops close at 8-9 pm in my dear old Pune. People normally have their clothes all ready 3 days before the wedding, but kya karen videsi dulha plane late. So count 5400 seconds and shopping was completed – from the head to the toe!!!!

Remaining important shopping was scheduled for next day. Sherwani time at a super store is quite interesting. Apparently another dulha like me was also searching for a sherwani and lets just say that I was 5 inches taller than him on any normal day. Now sherwani tends to make you appear a little short. So ultimately looking at me, he decided that jodhpuri was more his style, whereas vice versa I decided against a jodhpuri. Anyways it was a nice time to stand on a lighted ramp in front of a body length mirror in a room of a grooms to be, each chatting with his own family.

At home, surprises abound – cousins not seen for 20 years make a magical appearance. Obviously, I remember no one, and they remember the 4 foot T1. Not-so-niche-comments like – “Oh so he is the dulha?” flow freely. All the pent-up guilt of not knowing could not be hidden from the faces. But it was great to see my gdad’s generation at my wedding.

Flame Fractals

2006-12-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10878_11-33277-37.html

Amazing fractals for better desktop backgrounds!!

please dont kill me as yet for not writing about my hectic two weeks at india. its already old so may not be of interest and i am all for skipping it. :)

living the life of an arees

2006-11-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

All Ramadaan i was glad that my weight was being kept under control and whoopeee over a weekend all that flab has reappeared. partly i am to be blamed as well - i could have gone with a salad, but then red lobster with endless shrimp was like a sweet juicy carrot dangling in front of me. i fell for it reminding myself that i had a week to recover. but i have seriously no excuse for that wonderful delicious dessert called as icecream. what fitna!!! No it is time for LA fitna ... sorry LA fitness.

actually the arees thingy started a day before when people started asking me for tickets to india and i politely started selling the place that i had inside my suitcases. till now 4 people have committed to occupying the suitcases.

i never knew how this thing spreads - circa icc picnic - everything from biryani to roast lamb to advice to personal stories to apartment to tension (and the absence of it) to clothes and i forget the others. yes and imad did not make it any easier. now even at isha those little cub scouts come walking to me - not knowing how to congratulate me - but inquiring whether what they heard is true. and the pleasure they derive from hearing it from the horse's mouth!!!

and the less said about chat the better. when i went back to india for the first time - there was this set of questions tht were to be expected from everyone. i have now become aware of the next set of questions. (hitting-head-on-chair-smiley)

speculation theory

2006-11-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

I promise this will be my only speculation - but the rove machine surely is going to use the impending trial decision of saddam to twist the tide in the two days prior to nov 7.

vote for bloggers

2006-10-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

[1] http://www.scholarships-ar-us.org/blog/2006/10/31/vote-for-the-winner-of-the-blogging-scholarship/
These 10 finalists have a few good blogs. let me not be biased towards anyone, but have a look at what they have to offer. some same stuff like ours, one apple fan.....

[2] http://www.intelbloggerchallenge.com/
6 blogs - 5 weeks - you decide who is worth the prize.

Tag is dangerous - dont play

2006-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Subhanallah, tag is now declared by one an Attleboro elementary school to be violent for the kids. Reminds me of those times we played hide&seek, and to take the denner out, we ran, skinned our knees, elbows, cried and then went back to play. How far are we going to shield our children??? There is already the rule of "spare the rod and spoil the child" (and babysitters are gnashing right now). It seems all topsy turvy here.

Vending machine no more

2006-10-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

coming off from ramadaan, some old habits die hard - especially the one of seeing a $1 note being sucked into a vending machine and a bottle of refreshing dr pepper being ejected noisely down a chute. too bad they raised the price of a bottle to $1.35. That extra jingle from 35 cents drove me away. seems like costco zindabad from now on.

An article why muslimness is thrust in the face

2006-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Nice Article - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/15271.html

From the article -
Indian Muslims from being mishal-e-raah (pathfinders) have, over the last 60 years, become raah ke pathar (stones on the path). The slide has been unrelenting, and neither the community itself nor its leaders have made any move to arrest this. Nor has the media. The Gudiyas and Imranas have hogged headlines. Images of veiled women appear with or without reason, to titillate readers. An aggregate of the two confirms stereotypes of “retrograde Islam”. But very few scribes and producers have bothered to highlight the Malegaons. They are present in every one of our 600 districts and yet they remain invisible to all.
The onus is equally on the Muslims. What are they going to do to better their circumstances? The first word of the Quran is ‘Igra’ which means ‘read’. It seems that the time for that has at last arrived.

On a lighter note - why is it that you get benefits for muslim women education and not men?

a distraction to make your day

2006-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.hemmy.net/2006/10/15/creative-advertisements-around-the-world/

best one - people move away from your body odour and the mini

worst one -those dubai designers

Dear X

2006-10-12T11:48:00.001-07:00

If my thanking God for His blessings is a blessing,

then I must thank Him again in the same measure again.

How can one thank Him save by His grace

as time goes on and life goes by?

If a good thing comes, I rejoice heartily;

if a bad thing comes, I receive a reward.

In both cases He gives me a gift too large

for the minds of men, and the land and sea.

- Mahmud al-Warraq

Everyday of the year we come across many blessings that we don't even acknowledge. There were numberous fund-raisers so that we will have enough funds for the year to come, but how many of us thought about those people who started that masjid, fund, organisation that actually is benefitting us today. I am guilty over here itself since this was brought to my attention over a casual iftar, by a person who was coming for the first time.

This post is to remind us of "X" who contributed for the masjid that I pray in today, who made possible my iftar, who made material available for free for the sake of knowledge, who stand up for me in the places I dont know, who help me in becoming a better person either directly or indirectly, who teach me knowingly and unknowingly, who think they are better than others and use their talent likewise, who refuse to acknowledge their worth but always are like the hidden gems, who unify people for a common goal either for sport or recreation or anything constructive, who work without pay, who run events because they like to, who give a smile whenever they can, and who thank you for what you have done.

Dear Sister

2006-10-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Muslim relates on the authority of 'Abdallah ibn Amr (ra) that the Prophet saws said " whoever does not show compassion to our young, and does not know the rights of elders. is not one of us."

One of the distasteful features today is the worship of youth and its indifference towards the elderly. We have strong sentiments of independent views among the youth but lack of mental ability to counter the consequences that these views bring about. The resentment towards authority, and the overnight disappearance of the trust that existed before the rebellous teenage 'I-am-right' years. Elderly folks are given all avenues of "easy-assisted" living but the main pillars of their assistance get their jobs done by a monthly payment to the shelter.

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. People around you help you grow, and only in the weirdest of places will they be unsupportive of everyone's wish to live a better life.

This post goes towards all the people that I know have made my life better - to my sister who cared for me, played with me, quarrelled with me, scolded me, shared her icecream when mine got over, taught me- to my cousins who all contributed to make the diverse family in terms of education and non-education, closely familial and distantly familial, urban and rural - to grandparents that were an example by themselves, teachers like no others, and pamperers of grandchildren - to those people whom you never know how they are related, but are always seen at family gatherings, and who always support your family - to those friends from elementary, secondary,high,undergrad and grad schools who played, competed etc - to those friends who did not have to be in your school to be friends with you.

What you are today is partly a product of what you were surrounded with. Those people who have shaped your life deserve a round of thought in your prayers for mercy from Allah swt.

Dear Mom

2006-10-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

After Rasulallah, sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, moved onto ar-Rafiq al-'Ala, the Ummah was tested with humans that tried to corrupt, discredit, or amputate the Sunnah from Islam.

And from the depths of the Ummah's men and women, Allah ta'ala - from His mercy to the Ummah of Muhammad - raised up warriors that would stand in the face of the most vicious of the enemies of the Sunnah.

From those people that Allah ta'ala raised was a young boy named Ahmad. Ahmad lived in Baghdad over a thousand years ago. On those cold wintery nights, his mother - the blessed Mu'minah that she was - would wake long before Fajr to warm the water for her son. Then - again long before Fajr - she would wake him to make Wudhu, then she would wrap him in shawls and off through the molten dark alleys of Baghdad they would carefully make their way to the Masjid.

There was no male to escort him (he was an orphan), so Ahmad's mother would take him that early so that he could get a good seat in the hadith halaqah after Fajr. Then she would wait for him long after the sun rose to safely escort him back home. Her son grew up to be one of these warrior defenders of the Sunnah, one of the four Imams of this Din, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

So when was the last time you appreciated your mom and all that she does behind the scenes for you? How ever much we undergo for our moms, we dont even come any close to what she has done for us. When she has left her job to look after me, cleaned up after I messed things up, taught me my first words, deciphered what I actually meant at that time (and now as well), made eid special, cooked hot rotis at sahri, listened to all the complains I had, gave me a good whacking when I was rude with whatever she could lay her hand on, made me realize the value of home, bought me goodies that only I appreciated, and still does more things. Alhamdulillah for the boon/gift/etc called as parents.

Dear Dad

2006-10-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

http://cjcphoto.com/can/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

Taken from the article:
Eighty-five times Dick Hoyt has pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

Like Dick Hoyt, our own dads have a tale of their own - about how our lives have changed together. From the time when he changed nappies for the first time, rushed me to the doctor when I sneezed and coughed, protected me from the terrible howling winds and rains of the monsoons, taught me the first alphabets, read to me from 'Tell me Why', brought the first trainset, took me to the first day of school, took me home after the first day of school, travelled with me in our vacations, gave me a taste of punishment so that i dont do that thing again, and many more. All the time managing the pressures of a job, and family, and extended family!!!! They are superhumans- Not the insulting way dads are portrayed in the form of Homer Simpson.

Remember the mercy of Allah SWT in the form of your dad, and how your life was easier because of his presence. There are different levels of engagement - the least is to pray for him regularly.

My initial plan was to write about Imam Ghazaali's dad but last minute changes happen.

Shyamapana festival

2006-10-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

The last 10 days of Ramadaan are just a wink away. Though each one of us will be striving to maximise this time either in prayers, Quran, duas, I would also like to take the step of asking for forgiveness from each one of you - for anything I may have done intentionally and unintentionally, for anything I may have said but not meant, for anything that I may have written. We live a very busy, worldly life. In the process, we accumulate a lot of mental and emotional clutter. We gather unnecessary baggage of pride, fear, animosity, greed, ego and delusions in our thoughts and feelings.

So over the last year if I would have hurt your feelings in any way or form, please forgive me – "Verzeihen Sie mir bitte", “Perdóneme por favor” and give me mandate to start a new score!!

Shyamapana is a festival of forgiveness; it's popular in folks of Jain faith.

auctions at fundraisers

2006-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ahamdulillah the last two auctions at MAS and PMIS were entertaining. SH should get the compliments for this.Bravo!!! and his attentive companion HN - Bravo!!

But the auction can also be a distraction to the actual fundraising. The same person who donated lets say $500 towards PMIS is left wondering why he did not wait till the auction to donate the same amount. Yes niyat matters, no doubt. But if you are inviting guests over and then tempting them with auction rather than fundraising then the event should be named as an auction. (there is nothing wrong with calling it an auction, its a noble cause). Everyone can argue that the donor (not the auction winner) wanted to soften his heart and extend his generosity and uplift the community and he does it only for the sake of Allah swt (hey this is one of the branches of faith). But arent we ridiculing his intention and making it more difficult for future donors to give in the noble cause without taking anything back in return?

How to wear a lungi

2006-09-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.lungi425.com/how2wear.htm

insurance logic

2006-09-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever understood the reasoning behind increasing insurance premium when you change addresses. I moved from Chandler to Tempe and they (AAA) said that insurance will be higher because it is Tempe. I move back to chandler and they put the same argument once more. Cheaters!! If they did not give the lowest rates I would shift away.

Bill Clinton takes on chris wallace

2006-09-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/22/president-clinton-blasts-chris-wallace/

The best answer till date:

WJC : Well, every even number year–right before an election–they come up with some security issue. In 2000, right before the election. In 2002, our party supported them in undertaking weapon inspections in Iraq and were 100% behind them in Afghanistan and they didn’t have any way to make us look like we didn’t care about terror. And so they decided they would [push] the Homeland Security bill that they opposed and they put some pill in it that we wouldn’t pass–like taking the job rights away from 170,000 people–and then [they could] say that we were weak on terror if we weren’t for it. This year I think they wanted to make the question of prisoner treatment and intercepted communications the same sort of issue until John Warner came and Lindsey Graham got in there and it turns out there were some Republicans who believe in the Constitution and their convictions…some ideas about how best to fight terror.

Please DIGG

2006-09-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

Start DIGGING please

http://digg.com/videos_educational/Realization_of_Ramadaan

Nerd? Geek? or Dork?

2006-09-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Pure Nerd
60 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Real-life ‘Iqbal’ lets his pace bowling do the talking

2006-09-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/13121.html

Never thought it was impossible but didnot think it would follow so soon. Probably the movie iqbal had something to do with changing the mindsets. Gosh India has so many fast bowlers, its time they also won us some matches - I mean with the bowling not batting. :)

In memory of ...

2006-09-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Names of children under the age of 18 killed during the operations mounted by the Israeli military in Gaza since 25 June, according to the Palestinian Centre of Human Rights

Bara Nasser Habib, 3 (hit by shrapnel to the head and body, Gaza City, 26 July)
Shahed Saleh Al-Sheikh Eid, 3 days old (bled to death after airstrike, Al-Shouka, 4 August)
Rajaa Salam Abu Shaban, 3 (died of fractured skull in air raid, Gaza City, 9 August)
Jihad Selmi Abu Snaima, 14 (killed by a shell, Al-Shoukha, 10 september)
Khaled Nidal Wahba, 15 months (died of wounds from an airstrike, 10 July)
Rawan Farid Hajjaj, 6 (killed with his mother and sister in an airstrike, Gaza City, 8 July)
Anwar Ismail Abdul Ghani Atallah, 12 (shot in the head, Erez, 5 July)
Shadi Yousef Omar 16 (shot in the chest by IDF, Beit Lahya, 7 July)
Mahfouth Farid Nuseir, 16 (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Ahmad Ghalib Abu Amsha, 16, (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Ahmad Fathi Shabat, 16 (killed by missile while playing football, Beit Hanoun, 11 July)
Walid Mahmoud El-Zeinati, 12 (died of shrapnel wounds, Gaza City, 11 July)
Basma Salmeya, 16 (killed in Israeli airstrike, 12 July, Jabalia)
Somaya Salmeya, 17 (killed in Israeli airstrike, 12 July, Jabalia)
Aya Salmeya, 9 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Yehya Salmeya, 10 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Nasr Salmeya, 7 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Huda Salmeya, 13 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Eman Salmeya, 12 (killed in Israeli airstrike, Jabalia, 12 July)
Raji Omar Jaber Daifallah, 16 (died of shrapnel wounds from missile, Gaza City, 13 July)
Ali Kamel Al-Najjar, 16 (killed by Israeli tank shell, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 19 July)
Ahmed Ali Al-Na'ami, 16 (killed by Israeli tank shell, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 19 July)
Ahmed Rawhi Abu Abdu, 14 (killed by drone missile, Al Nusairat refugee camp, 19 July)
Mohammed 'awad Muhra, 14 (killed by Israeli bullet to the chest, Al-Maghazi refugee camp, 20 July)
Fadwa Faisal Al-'arrouqi, 13 (died from shrapnel wounds, Gaza City, 20 July)
Saleh Ibrahim Nasser, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 24 July)
Khitam Mohammed Rebhi Tayeh, 11 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 24 July)
Ashraf 'abdullah 'awad Abu Zaher, 14 (shot in the back, Khan Younis, 25 July)
Nahid Mohammed Fawzi Al-Shanbari, 16 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 31 July)
'aaref Ahmed Abu Qaida, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Beit Hanoun, 1 August)
Anis Salem Abu Awad, 12 (killed by airstike, Al-Shouka, 2 August)
Ammar Rajaa Al-Natour, 17 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Kifah Rajaa Al-Natour, 15 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Ibrahim Suleiman Al-Rumailat, 13 (killed by drone missile, Al Shouka, 5 August)
Ahmed Yousef 'abed 'aashour, 13 (killed by missile fire, Beit Hanoun, 14 August)
Mohammed 'abdullah Al-Ziq, 14 (killed by drone missile, Gaza City, 29 August)
Nidal 'abdul 'aziz Al-Dahdouh, 14 (killed by rifle fire, Gaza City, 30 August)
Jihad Selmi Abu Snaima, 14 (killed by artillery fire, Rafah, 10 September)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1619227.ece

A hole in the wall

2006-09-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

A good concept about spreading computer literacy among the have-nots.

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/21860/itsmorethanjustaholeinthewall.html

I really dont know who does the computer maintainance, or who reboots the machine when windows crashes. I would not be surprised if the local NIIT center handles such requests on a regular basis.

For the know-nots, NIIT is like this computer education institute (like our local ITT tech etc). Once upon a time this used to be the biggest private education center. The dot-com bubble burts has changed things since.

Honda Ads

2006-09-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

A nice honda ad with a choir.
http://www.flurl.com/item/Honda_Civic_Choir_u_43459/

Honda sort of has a knack of coming up with really cool ads (outside USA ofcourse). Do you remember the parts of a car being used to form a rolling video?

A different shower

2006-09-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

Imam al-Shafi'i writes at the beginning of his Treatise (Risala) - "Praise be to God, Who, whenever He is thanked for one of his blessings, provides another blessing which in turn obliges one to thank Him again!"

Learning of the outing - If you give cub/boy-scouts with a place to start a fire and chairs around it, and a long stick each, they can spend hours just watching their stick catch fire. And once they have parked themselves, there are very few things that can distract them away from the allure of dry sticks flickering across the fire. Alhamdullilah that food had to be cooked for by themselves, and there was a strict rule about cleaning up. A few of them had never been close to a gas stove before, and a few did not know that dishes could be cleaned outside of a dishwasher!!! But then there is always a first time, and they were quite appreciative of this fact. Hopefully they follow it up at their homes, and realize the good work that their parents put in.

Due to a strange twist, the three elders, get the small tent and the boys get the other two big tents. Surprisingly the boys were on time for all the events and even found stuff at the Geronimo camp that we had not noticed before. Apples from the tree were absolutely delicious!!! (supposedly blackberry picking season comes around in Oct-Nov. Seems like a good time for another outing.)

Wind in the Willows - The temperature drops to 40 in the night and the wind starts howling through the woods. Awesome!!! Add the stars in the sky, at which you could stare at forever. And imagine doing wudoo with the water that exists. Just so many things that you can be thankful for.

Its all topsy turvy

2006-09-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Countless attempts to prioritize blogging over mundane tasks over the period of the last 604,800 seconds met with a futile end. On one part you are happy that one organization gets the funds they wanted (and layoff their intern). On the other you are reminded of a mom, who has two jobs – in the day she teaches at a school and at night works at a Call-Center. Surprising that I don’t get the rude ones and don’t do myself a favor by slapping myself. You are happy at Roger Federer winning the USOPEN and also lolling in front of the TV recounting your abilities as a couch-potato (and your ability to convince people to become one). A new pragma opens the world of scripting even further, dousing you with enough enthusiasm to burn the midnight oil, all in the pursuit of achieving balance between commitments as an employee and a volunteer and a student. And yet in the midst of all developments, the social aspect of stigmas, of heart-aches, of collective grief, all join hands in synchronizing harmony with something that makes us feel human. You try to comfort the loss of a friend; still dabble your way with limited vocabulary when you have to comfort your parents, but will be tongue-tied when you have to comfort your grandmother. SubhanAllah!!

Off to Payson to live in the wild with the wild like the wild i.e. with a few boy scouts.

.................................

(~._.~) T1

_( Y )_

()_~*~_()

(_)-(_)

The dilemma in India

2006-09-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Singing Vande Mataram is now an election issue; Forcing people to sing it is now a sign of patriotism. This is the sorry state of affairs that has cropped up in India, and again who are not patriotic - without doubt point the fingers to the muslims!!! South India categorically rejects hindi as a national language, and will have no qualms in skipping vande mataram in schools. But no dont look over there - point those fingers on superficial patriotism definitions.

C's last post obviously reflects on the double standards faced in the media. Sania Mirza is like any other teen in india from the middle/upper-middle class. I (with the wee bit of knowldge) love to talk to my contemporaries in the socio-family network, about the absolute simplest of things in Islam such as namaaz. Many of them will be defensive behind the statement - "But Islam is a moderate religion". Ask them what is meant by Islam, you get a vague explanation extending into pages but nothing noteworthy. Ask them about 'moderate', and be prepared to listen to ideas that contradict the teachings of islam. And, I am supposed to accept the answer from the likes of Ms Mirza!!! These same people have a very good understanding when it comes to inter-religion dialogue - eg namaste to elders, happy new year atleast 5 times a year, cricket on gandhi jayanti etc - and thats a proud trademark of Indians. So how does learning about islam and standing for whats wrong (eg ladies tennis skirt), suddenly break this trademark?

Indian Express is running this series of articles on muslims in India. Obvious coverage is given to exploitation of triple talaq in the low-income class, fatwa-giving-mullahs and how substituting arabic (Allah) for persian (Khuda) is a matter of grave concern. It feels the same way as reporting on muslims in USA - dont ask the intellectuals or the educated class, bias the article on the exploiting and exploited ones and portray that as Islam.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12036.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/12102.html

Roti [v], Kapda [v], Makaan[X]

2006-09-05T23:03:00.000-07:00

For all those who are staying by themselves and have to pay the rent every month - start saving more. The rents in Tempe, Chandler area have gone up by approx $70-$90 -- and that is on a 12 month lease!!! It is again quite unfortunate that interest rates have sky-rocketed and now even the rents. I know keeping away from interest is the best, but this is just to pose the situation that we find ourselves in. They are not even offering Move-In Specials.

Whats happening

2006-09-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

For the last two months (i guess) there have been articles in the Muslim Voice, either lamenting about the sorry state of affairs of the Mulsim cemetery or the experience of some individual when he wished to finish the final rites.

As a volunteer we tried our best to beautify it, but in the light of the two articles, beautification is the minor issue. I know for a fact that when I was distributing flyers, in the summer sun after jummah, this individual comes up and tells me that it is way too early to come for volunteering - this was 6:30 am in summer on a Sunday. There were many more catch-22 situations that demanded that I only act as the quiet messenger.

But the recent issue, has Br. John Atik's experience, and this seems rather disturbing. He is lamenting about the issue of having less hands and his fear of the grave collapsing. Less hands!!!! how? why?

Extreme Origami

2006-09-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

The picture at the side is an Origami creation!!!! This dude with background in lasers and stuff at caltech etc., creates this computer program for Origami. It results in the need of a better (read as thinner and more flexible) paper and so he starts doing that!!!!

Good article on the world of origami and the japanese prodigy who is currently number 1 in the world along with this dude.

On a side note, blogger was inviting people to test out their new blogger that has tags to classify your post among other improvements.

Calculations for Ramadaan

2006-08-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Position of the Fiqh Council of North America

According to the calculation criteria for determining the Islamic Lunar dates adopted by the Fiqh Council of North America, following are the dates for Ramadan and Eidul Fitr for the year 1427.

Ramadan 1427 - First of Fasting September 23, 2006
Eidul Fitr 1427 - First of Shawwal October 23, 2006

For more - visit this link . I am sure many will have conflicting opinions about this method ..

Battling Murphy

2006-08-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

Out of town trips are cool. Especially in this heat.

Whatever the trip holds in store, when I return back on terrible tuesday, there is a seemingly unending battle in store with Murphy. A late flight prevents a good sleep, an early morning meeting ridicules my idea of giving up coffee, things beyond control only pepper up the pent up frustration. And then my laptop decides to ignore my requests to log in. Gee, thats a big huge problem. In the process found another file in the wonderful windows system that causes such interesting phenomenon, and now want to try it on an unwitting bakra. :)

All thanks to RSat,(P&V)Gupta and (N&J)Vora for guiding me around town, while I missed exits and tried alternate routes, and blamed the CA road signs for all the mess. Chaat and Paan and bhel-puri rock. Khajoor paan is another thing that has me hooked.

If you are having a bad day...

2006-08-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

http://stage6.divx.com/members/17146/videos/1059

The sequel to Matt Harding's original "Dancing" from 2005, which gained wide Internet popularity. Matt's first video of him dancing around the world was so inspiring that he actually got sponsorship to go on a second trip. Hence, this new 2006 video.

Masjid Omar is looking for donors

2006-08-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

An extended prayer room, new tile work and little book shop (urdu and english). Yeah Masjid Omar is getting renovated and a facelift. Did I ever mention the 15+ trees that were planted this summer, and are still green. And to top it a carpet selection was held tonight after isha. Many people opted for a red carpet with little spots - and also gave their opinion on the tilework that should go towards that-area-where-imam-prays. Now donations are needed for the carpet. Spread the word.

two hours with mali

2006-08-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

Out of nowhere, at 10:30 am, mali messages me about being in a chandler conference room, meeting another local engineer. Mali obviously hasn't change one bit since we last met in June 2004. A bit relaxed but the usual self. Unfortunately for mali, the lunch break started only at 12:40pm and till that time I was already stuffed with lasun sev. Yet had a jolly lunch talking about everyone from Jmeeel pai and Brother and everyone else.

yeah - whatever

2006-08-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

YouTube Revolution

2006-08-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

Normally I would prefer Google above everything else, but google video is still beta whereas youtube is not. till the time google comes out, i am going gaga over youtube. Yes there were videos of our own community brothers dancing to chaiya chaiyya (thanks RN), but there is more stuff besides this fun stuff as well.

There are many videos from bbc, reuters, india etc that have either not been shown due to political influences or are just too bold (translate violent-hateful-but-true). Whatever they may be, video hosting services are suddenly - for me - better than watching reruns on the tv. You cannot see cricket and football highlights on the tv but besides this as well there is stuff that piques your interest.

The only problem that i face with videos is that i cannot see that in my car while i am driving unlike lectures/readingbooks etc. It gives rise to a severe paucity of time to do anything else in and out of the house.

Currently what has piqued my interest is this 6 part BBC documentary dealing with the gensis and history of two movements that we today find on a collision course - the "Islamist" and the American Neo-conservatives. Extremely absorbing (and worth forwarding/spreading).

Part I (a) Baby It's Cold Outside
Part I (b) Baby It's Cold Outside
Part II (a) The Phantom Victory
Part III (a) The Shadows In The Cave
Part III (b) The Shadows In The Cave

Poetry

2006-08-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sahl ibn 'Abdullah said,
"The sign of the love of Allah is love of the Qur'an.
The sign of love of the Qur'an is love of the Prophet.
The sign of love of the Prophet is love of the Sunna.
The sign of love of the Sunna is love of the Next World.
The sign of love of the Next World is hatred for this world.
The sign of hatred for this world is that you do not store up any of it except for provision and what you need to arrive safely in the Next World."

Too beautiful to skip it and not share it with others. It does not come as a surprise but those who are able to convey their ideas in the best of manners are those who are well conversant with poetry and literature. I had even read somewhere that the appreciation of the Quran
also lies in its rhythmic flow - but dont quote me about this.

Another link to keep myself busy while driving - http://www.masbayarea.org/multiMedia.asp .

Crazier flying regulations

2006-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

FAA Considering Passenger Ban

George Galloway on Sky news

2006-08-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69WPZe_zYFo

George Galloway on Sky news - aka fox sister network.

embedding it on my blog causes big badwidth bottleneck, as i experienced in india. Sorry for that

chugging along

2006-08-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

[5] The traffic in Pune just keeps getting worse. To add mirchi to it, the roads are in a pathetic state. It rains as much in countries like singapore etc etc, but the roads in pune are the only ones that depict the intensity of rainfall.
[4] Take 300 pencils and make them stand lengthwise as close to each other as possible. Place them on an undulating surface and coat them with glass- What do you get?? ---- viola you have HongKong. Nice place to see what USA could not achieve in terms of public transportation and other businesses.
[3] Geravli has changed majorly from the last time I visited it. The optical telescope is now operational, and this was probably the last guided tour i will ever get. The scenery outside is still the same and--- I will posts pictures soon.
[2] C&D&KRV&R rock. D was upset about my comments on india and i apologise for it. Unfortunately Bangalore traffic was as bad as Pune and I could not squeeze in a trip to N or Poons. Family was even better when it comes to pulling my leg. Congrats to Rif and Dr. P - great wedding for a great cousin and all the greatness that comes with the great cousins around her.
[1] Welcome to A1. I had to relinquish some of my control to A1 and as ppl would like to say - she is my better half. Lots of bouncing around regarding multiple issues, but alhamdulillah that atleast somethings worked and subhanallah for the things that can only improve. Current visa interview appointments only make things difficult but inshallah we will have to work it out.

PS - posted while i am stranded in hongkong due to the effect of typhoon in hongkong, rains in mumbai causing incremental delays.

stop and go

2006-07-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

"Science tells me God must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand God. My Heart tells me I am never meant to."

M2BPL

wot saved sunday

2006-07-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Whoever thinks about moving it a notch up should see Roger Federer. Amazing game in which he broke Nadal 3 times in the first set, kept up with Nadal for the next two sets and then Moved one gear up in the 4th.

Zidane wins the Golden Ball as the best player of the World Cup!! Watching matches in a group always beats watching it solo - i.e. if you can take it as a sport.

and sometime sunday, some team called italy played their usual boring defensive game to only win the cup via penalty kicks - terrible!

Story sent in to me

2006-07-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Father : I want you to marry a girl of my choice
Son : "I will choose my own bride!"
Father: "But the girl is Bill Gates's daughter."
Son : "Well, in that case...ok"

Next Father approaches Bill Gates.

Father: "I have a husband for your daughter."
Bill Gates: "But my daughter is too young to marry!"
Father: "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."
Bill Gates: "Ah, in that case...ok"

Finally Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Father: "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."
President: "But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!"
Father: "But this young man is Bill Gates's son-in-law."
President: "Ah, in that case...ok"

This is how business is done!!
Moral: Even If you have nothing, You can get Anything.
But your attitude should be positive.

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close to lake tahoe

2006-07-05T23:18:00.000-07:00

nice lake.

i know bombay is like this right now, hope things clear up

40 to 110 in 3.5 days

2006-07-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

Fireworks at Tempe Lake are overwhelmed by nature's thunderstorms :)
The Log Cabin at King's beach at Lake Tahoe gets 10/10 for lunch and icecream. Family setup, super different menu, super duper icecream. - taste laajawaab.
Superman has improved but still lacks baty and spidey. Sounded so much better at Imax
Be Prepared when you want to camp at 40 F 50 metres from a lake. It is going to be veree cold and the tent is naat a bade of roses. dont crib dont come.
go France!!!

Imagine the jhatka of leaving at 69F and arriving at 110F

Brazil lost its france time

2006-07-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Brazil lost its france time now