saje

it was a good idea back then

This was on the newspaper today. Not that new. 

Al-Quran 2:275 - 280: Those who devour usury will not stand except as stand one whom the Evil one by his touch Hath driven to madness. That is because they say: "Trade is like usury," but Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury. Those who after receiving direction from their Lord, desist, shall be pardoned for the past; their case is for Allah (to judge); but those who repeat (The offence) are companions of the Fire: They will abide therein (for ever). Allah will deprive usury of all blessing, but will give increase for deeds of charity: For He loveth not creatures ungrateful and wicked. Those who believe, and do deeds of righteousness, and establish regular prayers and regular charity, will have their reward with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury, if ye are indeed believers. If ye do it not, Take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger: But if ye turn back, ye shall have your capital sums: Deal not unjustly, and ye shall not be dealt with unjustly. If the debtor is in a difficulty, grant him time Till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew. 

Taken from USC Quran database. 

What a save

People do stuffs that they know it's wrong or dangerous for them. Why? If you think that at the end of the day you'll get away with it, then why not. Usually, the dangerous and wrong stuffs are fun and gives you a quick dose of 'high' and is often easier than the alternatives that are commonly more laborious or demand perseverance and patience. Human are not built to experience easy 'high's and body builds up tolerance to such an experience. It is perhaps this mechanism is built into mankind so that they don't get complacent and to continue to strive for 'high's. It is a mechanism necessary for survival. But in modern lifestyle when survival is easy and obtaining 'high's is easy, the body & mind become corrupted & diseased chasing those 'high's & surviving & functioning in society become secondary to these. lalalalala...b***s***. All I wanted to say is, be patient & persevere.

evaluation

And do not follow (blindly) any information of which you have no (direct) knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception, you must verify it for yourself. (In the Court of your Lord,) you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning."[17:36]

I think from now onward, I should start writing in Malay as well, which will serve as a good practice for me. Just an opinion regarding blogging: it's easy to use everyday language and the intermingling of Malay & English (aka Manglish) as commonly used in Malays conversations & speech, but IMO, consorting to this meant you deprive yourself an opportunity to practice writing properly & improve your language/writing skill. As in everything, the more you practice, the easier things become & my recent flurry of blog entries is a culmination of getting the hang on writing + free time after finishing all assignments.

1337 & teh jihad

[Continued from previous post] The 1st habit is being pro-active. For more explanation, read the book :) but just a snippet here and my own addition from another tazkirah: Part of being pro-active is being aware of what you can actually change and do and this almost ultimately means that the only thing you can change is yourself. There are 3 types of people: people who controls/fight/jihad against himself, people who are slaves to themselves and their whims, and people who interchanges between controlling and slaving to their ownselves/whims. The first lot, also known as mujahid linafsi (fighter against ownselves/whims), have the following characteristics:
1. Knows that controlling his whim is key to success,

2. Is charitable and not greedy,

3. Is thankful of his providence, 

4. Totally depends on his Lord on all aspects of life,

5. Mind that is open to the truth and willing to embrace it.

The slaves of their whim are those who:

1. Is greedy,

2. Is never thankful of his providence and often lament his luck,

3. Does not think that he need his Lord,

4. befriend syaitan - indulge in sins.

The last lot - the people who interchanges between the two states - make up the majority of the people in the world. The degree of interchangability varies between individuals and it is prudent for one to achieve success to have a greater degree of control of one whims rather than slaving over them. 

If you click on the photo above, it'll take you to some photo of terrorist training us playing paintball. 

This is how you do it

The diagram should be self-explanatory and if you click on it, it will lead to more raya @ Chch 2008 photos. It doesn't seem to stop huh? Even with exams looming around the corner. This open house was preceded with Solat hajat in conjunction with the oncoming exam held primarily for Canterbury Uni students. I crashed in because of the free food. Tazkirah given that night by the usual person in Chch (Napi) was centered around the 1st habit of '7 habits of higly effective people' authored by Stephen Covey. That Covey chap is an interesting guy. He was (or still is) a Christian preacher who wanted to convey his messages and values. He realised that in this secular age, anything with religious connotation will have its market restricted or be negatively perceived. Hence, he repackages the information into a "secular" form and wrote what became a best-seller book. I've read the book and it doesn't contain any subliminal or frank messages on Christianity - the book is just on common and good senses written in a coherent, easily understood and well structured manner. To be continued ----- 

Everybody knows

Everybody knows it's you but let me give some idea to those who are still in oblivion of who is impersonating me on shoutbox.

Hisham @ 2332 16/10/2008 is a telstraclear Wellington Cable TelstraClear Wellington Cable Customers 24/7 TelstraClear NOC phone +64-9-91XXXXXXX

Hisham @ 1341 15/10/2008 is student-6.wnmeds.ac.nz imported inetnum object for UNIVER-164

IP tracker used: aruljohn.com/track.pl

More raya @ chch 2008 photos (click on the poster below):

break

Just a random entry for a break from writing - guess what - another ethic assignment. yippeee. If you want a doctor well versed with ethical theory, choose an Otago graduate. Theory doesn't translate to practice though, just like someone who has spent years in a religious school doesn't necessarily mean that that guy is a pious person. Does that mean to hell with education? Of course not, as you're never certain who will turn out alright or when the effect of the education is going to come. A person who is made aware of certain things will perform an action with that knowledge subconsciously working to guide that action IMO. 

--- 2 hours later ----

OK, I'm actually stuck with this essay and I need my brain to get going so I'm going to blabber on here for it to work. So, there was this handicap guy with some bowel problems. The team popped in a urinary catheter into the guy while he was under GA for a CT scan. What is wrong there? Nothing. lalalala apart from the fact that he wasn't told about it. Does it matter? He's retarded and doesn't understand anyway and would it just be a futile exercise? 

--- 2 hours later ----

aaargh, still haven't finish this damn essay. Its due tomorrow actually, thats why I'm burning the midnight oil. Anyway, things going on with me: I'm only 2 weeks + 1 day away from my summer holiday. OSCE on last week of october. This ethic essay is my last assignment for the year. I'm going to stay in NZ for a month, possibly doing odd job then head to Malaysia via Melbourne and Bangkok. Direct flight to KL cost $500 more than going to this route - I'm not sure why. I will also leave my current shitty cold flat and will rely on my friend who is staying over the summer to find a new flat. What will I do in Malaysia? So far, planned to travel to Kuching and possibly Johor. Balik kampung to Terengganu is always a feature. I reckoned December will be filled with wedding invites so I'll be staying in Shah Alam during those time. I also have a plan to learn arabic if I could find some intensive course somewhere. I plan to do my electives in Egypt, now that my brother is studying medicine there. I'm surprised he chose that since I thought he was adamant not to follow his brother's and sister's footstep. Anyway, good luck to him and I'll be sending my no-longer-needed textbooks to him. When I get back home, it'll be just me, my baby sister (happy birthday!), mom & dad. Mom will be busy with her PhD (I think). Dad is always busy. Baby sister is a baby & watches soap drama all day long after her SPM. The others who wont be at home - sis being a teacher somewhere in Kedah & another sister who is studying medicine in UK. Yes, I'm still staying with my parents. sigh - people my age are married off, having kids, living by themselves - here I am lagging behind as always.

Statistics

Just finished my Evidence-Based Medicine assignment and now is plowing through the books on breast surgery and GI diseases. As I have been toying with papers involving some statistics lately, here are some few interesting statistics on bread:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 240 degrees Celsius! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

Stolen from wwww.phsyics.uwo.ca

What are we actually celebrating?

In his Eid sermon, Christchurch imam likened Eid celebration to a university graduation. Unlike Christmas, which commemorate birth, Eid is to celebrate the success of believers doing deeds during Ramadhan - the fasting, tadabbur quran and tarawih to name a few. Ramadhan is a month made to train the souls, discipline and physics of man in order to attain the pleasure of Lord of the universe. It is hoped that we will carry some of the deeds through to the rest of the year. Hence, Eid is not a celebration of freedom from fasting and its inhibitions and should not be treated as such. That is why Eid day is started with Eid prayer and sermon soon after Fajr prayer - acts to which serve to remind mankind of their purpose in life and that is to worship God. I have been alarmed at myself for failing to carry on some of the deeds that I have set out to do and this entry was meant to serve as mainly a reminder to me and not as a swipe at anybody. Anyway, more raya in Chch 2008 photos: 

Taken from PelangiBonda.com:

“Daripada al-Nawwas bin Sam’aan Radiyallahu ‘anhu, Nabi sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam telah bersabda: Kebajikan itu adalah pada keelokan akhlak. Manakala dosa kejahatan pula adalah apa yang mendatangkan resah pada dirimu, dan engkau tidak suka manusia lain melihat atau mengetahuinya.” [Hadith Riwayat Muslim]

Housekeeping

Just to post blog updates and more raya pics. I have added more blogs on my blogroll - JIM website, my mom's cousin, fellow Canterburian and a childhood friend when I was in Loughborough. The top photo is taken at our current shitty cold flat when we did our open house last Saturday. It was a joint venture with the Cambridge Terracce girls, Chow and Rae Na (5th year IMU students). Us boys at the flat spent almost $200 for the party and we cooked satay, rice vermicelli tom yam, and nasi lemak. This time around I didn't use ayam brand satay sauce to marinate the chicken but modified the recipe found at rasamalaysia.com. Here's the recipe:

Boneless chicken/beef cut into cubes.

Marinate meat overnight with: (for meat amounting to a tub of icecream -?size)

2 teaspoon of coriander

4 teaspoon of tumeric

2 teaspoon of salt

4 spoon of sweet soy sauce

2 spoon of oyster sauce

1/3 blended lemon grass

Skewer meat in soaked bamboo sticks and grill away. 

It was better than the first time around but still not there yet. I have to put on hold my dreams of starting Satay Haji Wan Hisham :D More raya at Christchurch 2008 photos:

Selor

Atoy

Now, I will labour on my final case report for the year.

Credit Crunch and bruises

The market is in a freefall at the moment and only recently, the US Congress has approved a $700bn bail-out of top American companies, including insurance giant AIG. This matters as ripple-effects from the US economy is felt globally, and countries, like China or EU, that was thought to counter-act this effect did not have enough strength. The root of the current problem is cited to be due to the current credit crunch. I have been oblivious to what is this credit crunch all about but I decided to let my mind free of this ignorance and here is what I found:

1. Credit crunch means sudden shortage of funds for lending leading to reduction of loans available. This can occur due to :

a) sudden increase in interest rates

b) direct money control by governments

c) drying up of funds in capital market.

Companies need loan to do businesses (ie buy stocks) hence lack of loan means inabililty to do business which results in loss of employment and lower income.

2. The current crisis is caused by these steps:

a) Initially, interest rates were slashed in the US to help boost economy after 9-11 and dot-com crash 

b) These lead to cheap debts and were given to inappropriate people (people with low incomes and bad credit). To make subprime mortgages (high risk loan for people with bad credit history) more profitable, mortgage companies package these subprime mortgages into consolidation packages and sold it to financial companies. This meant that mortgage companies borrowed in order to give out mortgages and not financed out of saving accounts or the like.

c) In 2007, US had to increase interest rate to curb inflation which leads to mortgage being expensive. Inflation also caused lower income from household to pay off mortgages. In addition, these mortgages has 2-yr honeymoon period of low interest rates followed by high interest rates the following years. Hence, on 2007 onwards, many defaulted on their mortgages. This lead to several companies to go bankrupt which then leads to huge losses of money by financial companies and banks.

d) This then lead to banks and financial companies to restrict their lending and thus the credit crunch.

e) In the UK and NZ, the credit crunch is caused by brankcruptcy of several financial companies that have high % of risky loans. 

More on credit crunch here or here or here

The song on new iPod nano ad is quite catchy. The link to mp3 is below the YouTube video. As for me, it's time to hit the books for haematology test tomorrow. Yippeee.

     

Chairlift - Bruises

Down

#*!@#$%^&. I wanted to write an emo entry like Nuha but then the machoness of this blog will forever be erased and turned into a wussy blog. But I could see the perks - you get to clear your head and your heart without directly bothering anybody else. However, I'll rather retain the machoness of the blog than capitulate to such level. Anyway, back in Malaysia I had someone to do that, now here, not anymore. sigh. miss her & i need replacement :D.
The truth is, when your heart is anxious and your head in shambles, who else is best at setting them straight than Allah a.s. It's a pity that I always forget about this.

Eid Updates

More photos:

Pelangi Bonda
Pelangi Bonda again
Another Pelangi Bonda
Yazid 1
Yazid 2

If you are coming to Christchurch, make sure your camera is a DSLR or don't bother to use it. Better option is to steal photos from those who have those fancy cameras. Anyway, not much of me in these photos - not photogenic enough :(

Still Eid Mubarak

More Eid photos. Stolen from Christchurch photographers with their spanking brand new DSLR, which made my 5 year old kodak camera embarassingly pathetic. I'm gonna go and bury it safely somewhere. The photos:

Atoy

Yazid

Also added some more blogs on my blog roll. Eid mubarak again and happy syawal fasting, something I have doubts I'll able to do this year.