No, I didn't go there. I'm just jotting this down to express my concern over the whole event.
What's the concern you might ask? Well, I am very much concerned over the sponsor for the event : Magnum Corporation. For those who don't know what that company does - they deal with gambling.
Gambling, in Islam; is haram. The profits that they (Magnum) acquires hence forth from their business is then also haram. Thus the event, and more importantly the food served - is haram.
Do the people who went there last Saturday realize this? I mean I guess it's "OK" to go there, listen to the music and enjoy yourself - as long as you DON'T TAKE THE FOOD!!!
I don't know man...I certainly hope they didn't. Worries me a lot when a muslimah (i think) announcer can easily say "Are YOU game for it? " <-- this is Magnum's tagline btw.
Enuf of my rantings. Time to get to work.
It's been about 6 month now since I've entered Comptel. It's been great - working and all that. Meeting new people, learning new things, jargons and languages (as in programming languages) and honing my english-speaking skills (one of the reasons I picked an MNC). Always wanted to be in the telco industry. The problem used to be from which angle should I enter - networking, RF, or programming. I guess my job now answers that question huh.
The early months was pretty laid back I suppose, with lots of training to attend to, and there was also this time when I was pretty much without work (in which as it turns out, my manager had thought that I was busy doing something - so she chose not to assign me with anything. Later on after we had a lil' chat, I explained my situation and later on some CRs came in my mailbox. Damn relieved to have some work to do).
So far my product knowledge goes only up to the Eventlink 4 and Eventlink 5/6. The two although quite similar in function, works quite differently. One relies much on S-Lang and shell scripts, while the other uses much C language and Perl. Frankly though I think I am starting to hate EL4, hehe~
And I've been getting the hang of reading Functional Specs nowadays. And those weird jargons and terminologies don't seem to scare me anymore. I used to worry a lot whenever I read those specs - actually I still worry now too but because of different reasons, haha. Back then it used to be about understanding what the terms meant and all and try to make sense of things. Now the problem is understanding how the program is suppose to flow and what exactly is the customer expecting to see.
These on-the-job training can be quite intimidating at first. I used to be able to use my "fresh-grad" status to buy myself some time in order for me to learn up some new things. It's like having a "Get-out of Jail Free Card" I suppose, where if you'd make a mistake or need some leniency, you can always get it. After some time though - you do not seem that "fresh" to them anymore. Buffer periods get shorter, works get tougher. And all of a sudden you might be thinking that extra cup of coffee might not be a bad idea after all. Owh, and don't forget the pizza delivery, it's gonna be a long night.
Coming from an electronic background, there were times where I question my decision to work here. Hell I could be doing RF or Networking if I'd want to. But I chose programming. Hurm~
Maybe it's one of those days where you wonder about the what-ifs stuff eh? What if I had done this...what if I hadn't apply that..all those unnecessary and useless question. There were times that this "self-questioning" thing became quite troublesome to me (especially in the head). But I guess this is just a phase that I'm gonna have to go through sooner or later.
Is there better opportunities out there? Should I jump while I'm still quite new in this programming thing and seek other jobs in a different field..you know..just try things out..see if it suits me or not.
I dunno. Life is full of stupid questions at times. I say it's stupid because most of the times you already know what the rational answer is, but you still keep on asking the darn question - and usually hope that someone might be able to read your thoughts and give you their second opinion, supportive or not.
Guess I'd just have to live with it for now. Been doing a lot of hard work lately (and sleeping rather late as well I might add). Working on stuff for FET, DiGi..and now Vodafone New Zealand.. man.. I need a break.
Or at least I think I do. It's that "hope" thing that keeps me going I suppose. That "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow kinda thing. Where you think that after this is all done you're gonna go wild and do all sorts of crazy things - but once done you get there, you realize you may not wanna enjoy yourself that much after all. It's that "hope" that gets you finishing that job earlier.
Owh, recent internal news says that Comptel has been voted as top OSS Vendor in Asia..err..or something like that. Great news I'd say. Better news should that mean I'll be getting a fat bonus at the end of this year.
Fat chance of that ever happening eh? But a man can dream. Owh you bet he can.
An interesting piece of reading! Taking a break from the Obama-fever (congrats to him btw), this piece about conspiracy theories in general really gives you a refreshing take on the subject matter. Ripped off from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4319574.stm
By Harold Evans
In his weekly opinion column, Harold Evans takes issue with Michael Crichton's latest thriller, in which global warming is the work of mad eco-scientists.
Do you ever read that line on an early page of a novel: "Any connection between the characters and events herein portrayed, and real people, is purely coincidental."
In Michael Crichton's State of Fear, I'd say the connection was purely intentional. It's about the kind of hurricanes, floods, tsunamis and tornadoes we've been experiencing. Crichton's trade is to bring pleasurable terror to millions by spinning tales of science gone amok - as in Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain.
In this new bestseller those hurricanes etc aren't natural disasters at all. They are the creations of global warming activists - eco-maniacs desperate to publicise the case for controlling emissions of carbon dioxide. To make sure you get his point, Crichton adds a 32-page footnote documenting his own conviction that global warming is an unscientific scare.
What about the contrary worldwide consensus of scientists that global warming is a man-made disaster in the making? Crichton's answer: "If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus." As I suppose in the old consensus that the earth is flat.
Crichton's is not actually a thesis that the displaced folks in Louisiana and Texas can concentrate on at the moment in the wake of Katrina and Rita. Yet for his polemic on global warming, Crichton has become something of a hero to the groups fighting hard to stop anything like the Kyoto treaty.
The well-endowed think tank, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, honoured Crichton with an invitation to Washington to address its members - not on the novel, but on science policy in the 21st Century. The point of that was to embrace Crichton's attack on what he calls the pseudo-science of global warming. It's not easy to embrace Crichton himself; he is an intimidating 6ft 9 inches.
Michael Crichton: 'Something of a hero'
The sceptics on global warming needed this kind of reinforcement. They have mostly been keeping quiet after the ferocity of Katrina and Rita, widely blamed in the press on the unusually hot waters of the Gulf. Al Gore, in a rousing "action now" speech that impressed business leaders at the Clinton summit in New York recently, pointed out that since the 1970s, hurricanes both in the Atlantic and Pacific have increased in intensity by about 50%.
'Great hoax'?
It is quite significant that while President Bush has been active on hurricane relief, he has not reiterated his well-aired doubts about whether global warming is a real threat or a scare. Nor have we heard much from the Republican chairman of the Senate Environment Committee.
Senator James Inhofe's previous best effort was this: "With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phoney science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it."
The senator did not explain quite how 2,000 top scientists in 100 countries could have been persuaded in 2004 to produce a rare consensus that gas emissions left unchecked will produce a series of catastrophes. Nor is he likely to try and explain in the post-Katrina atmosphere.
Hurricanes are now more intenseThe conspiracy Crichton outlined in his novel might seem tailor-made for Hollywood - scientists manipulating weather systems to suit their own leftie agenda. But it is very much in the paranoid political style identified by the renowned historian Richard Hofstadter. There are still people who just know that FDR conspired with Winston Churchill to have the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. There are millions who just know that JFK's assassin, the shooter on the grassy hill in Dallas, was hired by Lyndon Johnson.
As a historian, I have never been much impressed by conspiracy theories left or right. Too often, they are exalted by non-evidence - "proved" by records that have disappeared, "witnesses" whose stories have been suppressed. But if you happen to be in the market for a conspiracy theory today, there's a rather more credible one documented by the pressure group Greenpeace. Just bend an ear for a moment for the names of a few organizations very much concerned with global warming.
You wouldn't guess it but all these highfalutin bodies are dedicated to undermining the science of global warming and preventing America signing something like the Kyoto Treaty. And again, you wouldn't guess it, but they take thousands of dollars from Exxon Mobil. It's the world's largest oil company and a high profile opponent of Kyoto for imposing too many costs on the developed world.
- Advancement of Sound Science Centre Inc
- Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
- Heartland Institute
- Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Annapolis Center for Science-based Public Policy
The five groups I mentioned are not the only ones with deceptive titles. Greenpeace has identified 40 such mouths at the Exxon nipple. So what's wrong about this? For one thing I'd guess you'd be a bit more sceptical of their pronouncements on global warming if they made it clear that they are not - shall we say - unrelated to the interests of their Exxon sponsors.
Grazing on drought-stricken landI asked Exxon about supporting so many of these propaganda groups. They point out that pro-Kyoto foundations give out much more money than they do, and that's true. What's disturbing to me is that the groups Exxon supports are much less forthcoming about their connections; they are often treated in the media as if they were wholly independent scientific bodies.
In addition Exxon has done something positive in committing $100m to Stanford University for research into new energy technology. So where's the rub? Well, funding long-term research like this is all well and good. The trouble is - as the economist Keynes famously said in another context - in the long-term we are all dead. The damage is being done here and now every day. It is accelerating - and it is damage that could be irreversible.
Smear tactics
All the delaying tactics, denials and obfuscations bring to mind what happened in 1974 to two American scientists, Professor Sherwood Roland and Dr Mario Molina. They coolly set out the evidence that the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration, aerosols and air conditioning were eating at the ozone layer which protects mankind and plants from dangerous ultraviolet radiation.
They were at once smeared as scaremongers. The manufacturers ran an all too successful campaign to fog the issue. A lazy media bought into it. The public got bored and bamboozled. And as they did so, millions more tons of the pollutant were added to the atmosphere.
The era of procrastination is coming to a close; in its place we are entering a period of consequences
Winston ChurchillThirteen years later when the world finally woke up to an ozone hole bigger than anyone had predicted, there was a swift international agreement - led by the US - to find alternatives to the CFCs. In the meantime, great damage had been done.
Winston Churchill back in the 1930s had this to say about another government that didn't believe a threat was real. As the Chamberlain Cabinet dithered about Hitler, Churchill warned: "They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent."
And he concluded: "The era of procrastination, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."
We are entering that period now with global warming. And if quoting Churchill in this context puts me in Michael Crichton's class of conspirators, I will bear it with fortitude.
Hear A Point of View in the BBC Radio Player
Recently there was this furore about Majlis Fatwa going about discussing whether or not Yoga, is haram or not.
Taken from the blog RantingsbyMM by Marina Mahathir, I find this comment from one of the reader most interesting indeed and have decided to put it all here for all to read/see/talk/discuss with friends. It's not much on Yoga, more on what a fatwa is all about. If you find it wrong or misleading or whatever, feel free to give a comment or two. :)
1. Members of the Majlis Fatwa are selected from scholars of various disciplines of Islamic knowledge such as Hadith, Qur'an, Fiqh, Usuluddin etc.
2. Fatwas are not issued for fun.
3. A Fatwa is needed for issues where its halal or haram is not direclty mentioned in the Qur'an.
4. A Fatwa is the interpretation based on the knowledge and understanding of an issue in a particular time, and place. So a Fatwa can change as an issue is better understood by way of research, or sudden inspiration. Since our life evolves around new things, we will certainly need Fatwas from time to time.
5. A Fatwa is a way out for those who do not wish to push the limit of 'harus' to the maximum. He or she prefers to remain safe from 'syubhah' or associating themselves with something that is close to being haram.
e.g: Majlis Fatwa has issued a decision on cigarette. It's haram based on medical reasons of the day and statistics i.e people who smoke are more prone to getting cancer compared with those who don't. So if you smoke it's like you're subjecting your body to getting cancer, which is close to suicide, which is haram.
If you wish to smoke, it's all right because Qur'an doesn't mention anything about smoking. As far as Qur'an is concerned you can smoke the whole cigarettes in the ciggy factory if you want. And you can still argue with God that since it's not mentioned in the Qur'an you figure it's all right to smoke.
But for those who wish be closer to Allah - they may chose not to smoke based on this Fatwa.
(Not a big deal - the choice is yours)
Members of Majlis Fatwa is made up of liberal-minded individuals with exceptional intelligence that Allah has given them. They have more open discussions than what you have accused them of here. They've had discussions with M. Nasir on lyrics, music and such. They've had discussion with gays and homosexuals. They don't have to tell you about this.
A Fatwa (yet to be issued) on Yoga is in the process of being discussed. You can bet your left ear that by the time they're done with it, they will have understood Yoga better than the most senior Yogi the bear.
The Majlis Fatwa, like the rest of Majlis Fatwa in other Islamic countries, have issued thousands of Fatwas for matters you may consider trivial, but a big deal to those who want to be close to Allah and do not wish to commit 'syubhah'.
That's what Islam is about. It's about obtaining the 'redha' from Allah because you know everything you do here, will be questioned in the hereafter.
Of course, a great many Muslims do not really think that the hereafter is a big deal and so it doesn't really matter to them whether or not Allah 'redha' for all their actions here.
One of the signs that you don't care all that much about Allah is when you feel uncomfortable with the sound of people reading the Qur'an. Or people talking about Qur'an. Instead you make it your mission to point all the 'flaws' in the Qur'an so that you have this thing in your heart whispering; if Qur'an is perfect, then how come Allah has imposed so much rules on women like tudung.
And you have this doubt in your heart that Qur'an is not the ultimate truth, which is why you don't read it every day. Besides you don't speak Arabic. Since you're the type who understand what you read, you figure there's no point in reading the Qur'an. But you forget, people have read Qur'an for more than a thousand years and a great many of them don't understand a word what it means but yet, they find it beautiful.
This blows your mind away. Which is why you figure; I'm a Muslim but I'm a thinking Muslim. Which why you figure you don't need HIDAYAH.
It's just a Fatwa. Not a big deal. You may choose to follow. You may choose not to follow. You may choose to make Yoga your way of life because it is just a form of exercise. Or you may choose to sing songs in a church because you figure, it's just a song.
Each will answer before Allah our action. There's no force in Islam?
Is it just me or has the cinema scene here in KL have become rather dull as of late?
I mean seriously, it has become really congested with 'Thai' and 'horror' genre movies - which is not to my liking.
Anywho, these below however do pique my interest a bit. Can't wait to see'em.
The Spirit
Director: Frank Miller
Starring: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eve Mendes, Jaime King
Genre: Action
In Cathay Cineplexes 25 December 2008
Transporter 3
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Robert Knepper
Genre: Action
In Cathay Cineplexes 4 December 2008
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
Director: David Yates
Starring: Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton
Genre: Adventure / Fantasy
In Cathay Cineplexes 2009
Quantum Of Solace
Director: Marc Forester
Starring: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Jesper Christensen & Mathieu Amalric
Genre: Action / Thriller
In Cathay Cineplexes 6 November 2008
