French Alphabet

The very first thing we need to learn in French is its alphabet pronunciation. Once you've mastered the alphabet, it will be easy to pronounce other French words.

For the English speaking people, you'll find that most letters from "A" to "Z" are pronounced differently in French. In the beginning, you might also confuse on how they pronounce the letter "e" and "i", "g" and "j", and so on..

Watch (the video below) and learn how to correctly pronounce the different letters of the French alphabet...

Solat Boleh Rawat Penyakit Kritikal

Sumber: http://www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Sunday/Bmdua/20081019084321/Article/index_html

HASIL kajian Jabatan Kejuruteraan Biomedikal Universiti Malaya mendapati setiap gerakan solat mempunyai manfaat tersendiri yang mampu meningkatkan tahap kesihatan secara menyeluruh. Berita Minggu mendapatkan pandangan setiap pengkaji mengenai hasil kajian masing-masing.


Profesor Dr Wan Abu Bakar Wan Abas - Aktiviti Otot

Beliau yang mengkaji aktiviti otot memberitahu manusia perlu sentiasa melakukan regangan dan senaman kerana otot menjadi lebih kuat apabila selalu digunakan. Katanya, hasil kajian mendapati solat yang membabitkan gerakan tubuh seperti berdiri, tunduk dan bongkok menyamai senaman ringan.

"Kebanyakan otot serta sendi bergerak ketika solat. Umat Islam beruntung kerana solat yang wajib dilakukan setiap hari menyamai aktiviti senaman dan regangan yang memperkuatkan sistem otot dan fizikal tubuh," katanya.

Malah, katanya solat sama seperti terapi fizikal yang jika dilakukan secara berterusan dan betul menghasilkan kesan positif terhadap tubuh. Beliau berkata, kajian lebih teliti sedang dilakukan untuk mengenap pasti otot yang aktif ketika solat.

Ng Siew Chok - Isyarat Otak

Beliau berkata, perubahan kimia berlaku apabila otak aktif. Proses kimia yang menyebabkan pergerakan ion atau atom membawa cas elektrik boleh diukur menggunakan elektrod yang diletakkan pada kulit kepala. Sejenis alat, iaitu EEG (Electroencephalography) digunakan untuk mengukur isyarat otak daripada aktiviti elektrik.

"Gelombang otak mempunyai beberapa frekuensi irama yang dipengaruhi oleh keadaan fizikal dan emosi. Jenis gelombang otak Alfa (8-13 Hz) menunjukkan keadaan tenang," katanya

Walaupun bukan Islam, Siew Chok kagum terhadap hasil kajian yang dilakukannya apabila mendapati keadaan dan pemikiran orang selepas bersolat tenang dan menyamai keadaan selepas bangun tidur.

"Ada fenomena menarik dalam solat, iaitu keadaan berdiri seketika sebelum sujud sebagai peringkat paling tenang ketika bersolat. Saya bukan Islam dan diberitahu bahawa keadaan itu adalah tamakninah," katanya. Ketika itu, katanya isyarat alfa meningkat secara mendadak yang menunjukkan seseorang itu berada dalam keadaan tenang.

Siew Chok berkata, solat juga meningkatkan penumpuan terhadap sesuatu perkara dan memperkuatkan kuasa otak. Sehubungan itu, katanya solat membolehkan seseorang itu menyediakan otak untuk lebih bersedia terhadap sesuatu cabaran yang perlu dihadapinya dalam aktiviti harian.

Dr Fatimah Ibrahim - Komposisi Tubuh

Beliau berkata, komposisi tubuh mengandungi empat komponen utama, iaitu tisu aktif, tisu tulang, komponen air dan lemak.

Beliau berkata, ada beberapa kaedah untuk mengukur komposisi tubuh, tetapi kajian itu menggunakan Analisis Penyepadanan Bio yang menghasilkan keputusan tepat, pantas dan selamat, berbanding pengambilan darah.

"Teknik ini tidak digunakan secara meluas di hospital negara ini, tetapi di Amerika Syarikat, teknik ini digunakan untuk menilai status penyakit seperti Aids, diabetes, demam denggi dan pelbagai penyakit kritikal lain," katanya.

Dalam kajian ini, katanya model untuk mendapatkan komposisi tubuh terbaik adalah dengan melakukan lima perkara, iaitu solat lima kali sehari, memahami maksud bacaan dalam solat, solat berjemaah, rukuk dengan betul (90 darjah) dan melentikkan jari kaki ketika duduk antara sujud dan tahyat akhir.

Dr Fatimah berkata, orang yang tidak melakukan lima perkara ini mempunyai komposisi tubuh yang kurang baik. Katanya, kajian mendapati secara keseluruhan orang yang solat berjemaah mempunyai kesihatan lebih baik berbanding yang bersolat secara bersendirian.

"Kita mendapati apabila berjemaah, orang yang melakukan solat bersentuh bahu ke bahu. Tubuh manusia seperti bateri. Ketika bersolat, cas tubuh manusia mengalir seperti dalam litar dan akhirnya meneutralkan cas tubuh.

"Sebelum solat, ada orang yang penat dan ada yang tidak penat. Ketika solat, orang yang tidak penat dan mempunyai cas positif akan mengalirkan cas positif kepada orang yang letih dan mempunyai cas negatif," katanya.

Katanya, ini yang menyebabkan orang yang bersolat jemaah mempunyai badan bertenaga dan lebih tenang. Dr Fatimah berkata, solat tarawih dan berpuasa juga memberi kebaikan dan ini terbukti berdasarkan kajian yang dilakukan. Sebelum Ramadan bermula, katanya komposisi badan diukur dan selepas 21 hari berpuasa, komposisi tubuh yang diukur semula mendapati keadaan tubuh sihat seperti kolesterol rendah akibat kadar pembakaran lemak yang meningkat serta paras glukos rendah.

Selain itu, katanya posisi tubuh (posture) dalam solat dapat mengubat sakit pinggang. Malah jika berjumpa doktor, pesakit disuruh melakukan senaman seperti berdiri dan membongkokkan tubuh yang menyamai gerakan solat. Beliau berkata, keputusan positif itu adalah berdasarkan ukuran saintifik dengan meletakkan beberapa sensor (pengesan) di tulang belakang pesakit untuk melihat isyarat otot.

Katanya, hasil kajian mendapati pesakit yang mengikuti terapi solat selama sebulan, iaitu dengan membuat rukuk 90 darjah, sakit pinggangnya berkurangan.

"Ini membuktikan terapi solat boleh digunakan untuk merawat sakit pinggang. Kita akan menerbitkan buku kedua terapi solat yang bukan saja sesuai untuk wanita normal, tetapi untuk wanita mengandung. Bukan Islam juga boleh mengikuti terapi ini dengan melakukan senaman sama seperti gerakan solat," katanya.

Jangan terkejut kerana solat boleh merawat Erektil Disfungsi (ED) atau lebih dikenali sebagai mati pucuk, masalah kesihatan yang lelaki amat takut. Untuk lelaki normal, keupayaan seksual adalah tiga kali penegangan ketika tidur dan volum ketika ketegangan mesti lebih 200 peratus.

"Kajian dilakukan dengan mengukur zakar (pesakit diajar melakukan ukuran). Pada bulan pertama, tiada ketegangan langsung, tetapi selepas melakukan terapi selama dua bulan iaitu dengan melakukan solat tambahan, sudah ada ketegangan dan volum mencapai tahap normal," katanya.

Beliau berkata, terapi adalah dengan cara melakukan solat sunat sebanyak tiga kali seminggu dengan setiap terapi sebanyak 12 rakaat atau kira-kira 30 minit. Selain itu, katanya antara hasil kajian yang menarik perhatian pakar sakit jantung ialah mengenai kadar denyutan jantung kerana selama ini, kajian saintifik lain menyatakan bahawa kadar denyutan jantung paling rendah adalah ketika berbaring.

"Kajian mendapati ketika solat, keadaan sujud mencatatkan kadar denyutan paling rendah dan lebih baik berbanding ketika baring. Ini menunjukkan posisi tubuh ketika solat adalah bagus," katanya. Sehubungan itu, katanya kajian akan dilakukan dengan lebih meluas untuk melihat sama ada posisi tubuh ketika solat boleh merawat sakit jantung.

Katanya, pakar jantung gembira dengan hasil kajian itu kerana boleh memperkenalkan terapi solat kepada pesakit jantung untuk melakukan senaman. Ketika ini, setiap pesakit jantung perlu melakukan senaman selama 30 minit setiap hari.

Filter your Facebook !

Stacey McLeod

Monday, December 01, 2008

It seems everybody and their mother (literally) has a Facebook page these days. The social networking site has paved the way for us to broadcast every minute detail of our lives, from what we ate for breakfast to what we really think about our jobs. But while uploading our dirty laundry for the digital world to see can be liberating, it’s also easy to forget that our co-workers -- and worse, our bosses-- are out there too.

With an endless amount of personal stories swirling around Facebook, it’s amazing what stories you can’t get people to tell. Digging through Facebook groups with titles like my boss is going to fire me because I spend all my time on Facebook and I hate my job at (insert company name here), there are funny wall postings about workplace gossip and antics. However, despite people being comfortable enough to splatter their names and faces across these pages, it’s still shocking that strangers, and their bosses, can find them in there.

John F. Morton is a creative director in New York City. A self-proclaimed tech geek, he keeps a blog called Supergeekery.com where he picks apart the digital world and offers tips to the not-as-web-savvy.

To Morton’s surprise, one of his most popular posts is also the one his readers are afraid to comment on. His highly popular October 26 posting Facebook Privacy 101: Keeping Your Status Updates From Your Boss is garnering lots of attention, but little response.

“It’s probably one of the most instantly popular posts I’ve ever written,” Morton says. “I’ve had so many people express such a concern about their Facebook status. It’s something they realize after the fact.”

Morton says that as people get more comfortable on Facebook, their guard comes down and while many were once firmly against adding co-workers and employers, it’s much more common now.

“It’s a funny creep of contact,” Morton says. “It suddenly explodes into not only friends, but everyone you know.”

He says that while many workplaces, such as government offices, have banned access to the social networking site, more creative industries can actually encourage it. In these worlds, having to accept or reject friend requests from bosses can be especially tricky.

“There’s a social pressure to say `no Mr. Boss Man, you can’t be my friend’ but you can’t,” he says. “I work for myself, so I don’t care. If I sneak out to go to a movie, it’s me I’m sneaking out on. I don’t care if you went to some party and have pictures of yourself inebriated, but I’m not everybody.”

Since it’s awkward rejecting a friend request from an employer, it can be equally as awkward giving your employer a window into areas of your not-so-professional life. That’s why he dug through Facebook tools and settings and came up with ways of easily keeping track of how much your boss can see.

Morton says that by adding friend circles, you can limit what your boss and co-worker views without having to make the tough decision to reject their Facebook friendship. Close friends can be kept in an “inner circle” while employers can politely be shuffled off to the “outer circle.”

“Then they can still feel that they’re your friend,” he laughs.

He suggests clicking on the “friends” link at the top of the page navigation, and then on the “friends list” link on the left column. Click on “make a new list” and begin adding your lists of friend circles. Morton chose to make an “inner friend circle,” a “regular friend circle” and an “outer friend circle” where he suggests adding employers and co-workers.

The next step is to decide what access you want each group to have to your information. Click on the “settings” tab on your profile, then “privacy settings” and finally “profile.” In there, you can customize which parts of your profile are visible to each group, and hide your profile status updates, group lists and photos from your creeping boss.

John Ciechanowicz, an intake counsellor with JVS Toronto Career Counselling, says employers and employees should never get too close outside of work, and that includes Facebook.

“I’m friends with my boss,” he says. “I’ve known him for eight years. But, we still don’t socialize outside of the office.”

He says that if you are put in a position where you hesitantly accept their Facebook friendship, start thinking twice about what you allow on your page.

“You’d really have to be careful about what you say on your profile,” he says. “People should be careful no matter what they’re doing. Once it’s on the internet, it’s out there.”

Morton agrees. “I err on the side of saying the less stuff that’s personal, the better,” he says. “I always warn everyone, if they want anything you post badly enough, they will find it.”

Pantun : Une Maniere De S'Exprimer

Aujourd'hui, on s'apercoit de temps en temps qu'on a du mal a communiquer. En reflechissant un petit peu, on pourrait peut-etre trouver une solution. Avez-vous conscience que votre maniere de vous exprimer ne plaisent pas trop les autres? Vous etes trop maladroit parfois. Souvent, vous n'employez pas les mots qu'il vous faut. Et pire encore, vous etes toujours trop direct et trop grossier!

Voila une formule qui va vous etonner. Cette art de s'exprimer existait deja bien longtemps chez nous, les malais. "Pantun", qui ressemble un petit peu a l'alexandrin chez les francais, etait une maniere de parler couramment pratiquee par les malais au XVeme siecle. Comme les gens a cette epoque etaient un petit peu timides (surtout les jeunes amoureux), ils exprimaient alors souvent leur sentiments envers les autres sous la forme de "pantun".

"Pantun" est constitue de plusieurs vers variant de deux jusqu'a quelques dizaines ou peut etre vingtaines. Certes, quatre vers est le plus employe pour la construction de "Pantun". Quoi qu'il soit le nombre de vers, il doit etre toujours en nombre pairs.

En ce qui concerne la premiere moitie de vers, elle fait partie a ce qu'on appelle l'illustration ou le decors. C'est cette partie qui ensuite menera a la conclusion de "pantun" qui se trouve toujours a la fin de sa deuxieme partie. La terminaison du premier vers de la premiere moitie partie correspond normalement a la terminaison du premier vers de la deuxieme moitie partie, et ainsi de suite.

Ca vous parrait trop complique? Assez d'explication, voici un exemple pour vous eclairer :

"Pergi ke bandar kepala berpinar
Memancing ikan tersua buaya
Jangan takut dan jangan gusar
Hutang kau kubayar lepas raya"

Vous voulez un autre, le voila :

"Bulan Ramadan aku puasa
Lepas puasa aku beraya
Tahun ni kau cukup puasa?
Kalau tak puasa jangan nak raya

Pour ces deux exemples, vous constaterez forcement que la terminaison du premier vers correspond a la terminaison du troisieme vers. Si vous avez compris ceci, vous avez compris alors la principale regle de "pantun".

Ainsi, tout le monde communiquaient par "pantun". Peu importe de quoi on parlait, on l'exprimait en "pantun". Au cours de temps, cette maniere de communiquer disparaissait petit a petit. A l'aube de XXeme siecle, on entendait rarement les gens parler en utilisant le "pantun". Heureusement "pantun" est encore conserve jusqu'a nos jours. Les eleves en Malaisie consacrent suffisamment de temps a l'ecole secondaire pour le connaitre et ne pas l'oublier ensuite.

Pour satisfaire a vos curiosites, je vous donnerais ci-dessous quelques autres exemples (avec la traductions un peu moins exactes en francais):

"Ke Telok sudah ke Siam sudah
Ke Mekah saja belum tiba
Berpeluk sudah berkucup sudah
Bernikah saja belum masanya"

(J'etais a Telok, j'etais a Siam
Il me reste d'aller a la Mecque
Je l'ai embrassee et je l'ai aimee
On aurait du peut-etre se marier)

"Yang lorek itu kendi
Yang merah itu saga
Yang molek itu budi
Yang handsome itu saya"

(La rose est rouge
Le lotus est bleu
Notre langue est belle
Notre politesse est jolie)

"Pantun" represente bien notre belle culture. Comme il ne nous reste pas beaucoup de souvenir de passe (la plupart de nos objets historiques ont disparu ou ont ete detruits au cours de longues annees de colonisation par les anglais), "pantun" est l'un de principal survivant de notre histoire. Nos jeunes ancetres etaient tres fiers de savoir s'exprimer en "pantun". C'etait le symbole de l'intelligence, de politesse et de dignite.

A la prochaine ...

Nak Tengok Jadual Kerja Saya?

1 Dis - Shift malam
2 Dis - Shift malam
3 Dis - Off
4 Dis - Off
5 Dis - Off
6 Dis - Off
7 Dis - Shift pagi
8 Dis - Off
9 Dis - Off
10 Dis - Shift petang
11 Dis - Shift malam
12 Dis - Shift malam
13 Dis - Off
14 Dis - Off
15 Dis - Off
16 Dis - Off
17 Dis - Shift pagi
18 Dis - Shift pagi
19 Dis - Shift petang
20 Dis - Off
21 Dis - Shift malam
22 Dis - Shift malam
23 Dis - Off
24 Dis - Off
25 Dis - Off
26 Dis - Off
27 Dis - Off
28 Dis - Off
29 Dis - Shift petang
30 Dis - Shift petang
31 Dis - Shift malam

Kalau nak tau, inilah jadual kerja saya untuk bulan Disember 2008. Saya hanya akan bekerja 14 hari. Baki 17 hari saya akan bercuti aka lepak2, surf internet, facebooking etc. Yahuu!!! Best nyer :)

Pengurusan Kewangan Peribadi Dalam "The Pursuit Of Happyness"

Salah satu filem motivasi yang elok ditonton adalah "The Pursuit Of Happyness". Filem ini mengambil latar kota San Francisco pada tahun 1981. Watak si ayah iaitu Chris Gardner dilakonkan oleh Will Smith. Ditontonkan sepanjang filem ini bagaimana sang ayah yang berjuang untuk kebahagiaan hidup dia dan anaknya.

Walaupun mengalami kesukaran menjual 'bone-density scanners', Chris tetap tidak berputus asa. Namun satu demi satu ujian mendatang dalam hidupnya. Kekasihnya, Linda bertindak meninggalkan Chris dan anak tunggal mereka dek tak tahan tekanan kesusahan hidup di kota. Kemudian Chris pula diusir dari apartmen karena bayaran sewa yang tertunggak. Tanpa tempat tinggal, dia dan anaknya harus hidup berpindah-randah dan tidur di merata tempat di sekitar bandar kediaman mereka (stesen subway, tandas awam, tempat tumpangan gereja etc.)

Di penghujung filem, diceritakan yang Chris akhirnya berjaya menjadi jutawan dan menggenggam kebahagian hidup bersama anak lelakinya Christopher.

Dari sudut pengurusan kewangan peribadi, ada beberapa pengajaran yang boleh kita ambil dari filem ini. Antaranya :

1. Jangan laburkan semua wang anda dalam satu pelaburan sahaja. Chris Gardner melaburkan semua wang simpanannya pada perniagaan 'bone-density scanners'. Akhirnya dia mengalami masalah disebabkan produk tersebut begitu sukar untuk dijual.

2. Jangan putus asa dan sentiasa fokus pada matlamat hidup. Chris tidak pernah berputus asa. Dia mengambil keputusan apa yang dia ingin buat dan terus lakukannya.

3. Motivasi dan sikap. Chris punya motivasi yang tinggi. Dia tahu dia punya anak yang perlu diberi makan. Dia tahu dia tak boleh gagal dan dia sentiasa bersikap positif.

4. Berkorban untuk jangka masa terdekat demi kejayaan di masa hadapan. Dalam "The Pursuit of Happyness" ditunjukkan bahawa Chris telah berjaga sepanjang malam untuk membaiki mesin scanner tulang dan juga belajar. Dia sanggup korbankan masa tidur demi memastikan semua urusannya selesai. Begitu jugalah dalam kehidupan kita. Berbelanja kurang dari pendapatan, melangsaikan hutang, menabung, semua itu adalah pengorbanan jangka masa pendek demi kejayaan di masa hadapan.

5. Jangan sesekali fikir kita tak mampu lakukan sesuatu. Dalam salah satu scene filem ini, Chris memberitahu anaknya dia tak akan jadi pemain bola keranjang berjaya. Setelah berfikir sejenak, dia memandang pada anaknya dan berkata, "Jangan sesekali biarkan sesiapa memberitahu yang kau tak boleh lakukan sesuatu.."

Jika kita sudah tetapkan dalam minda kita tak boleh lakukan sesuatu, maka kebarangkalian untuk kita dapat melakukannya adalah rendah. Tapi jika kita percaya pada kebolehan kita, peluang untuk berjaya adalah tinggi.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
-W. Clement Stone

“You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.”

Law of Attraction

Pernahkah anda mengalami apa yang anda fikirkan kadangkala muncul di depan mata tanpa diduga? Ataupun ketika anda sedang memikirkan seseorang, tiba-tiba sahaja anda menemuinya di tepi jalan atau anda mendapat panggilan telefon darinya. Mungkin secara kebetulan anda dipertemukan dengan pelanggan ataupun pasangan hidup yang sempurna.

Bagaimana pula kisah orang yang berterusan mempunyai hubungan yang tidak baik, dan terus mengadu yang mereka sentiasa tertarik kepada situasi yang sama? Welcome to the Law of Attraction.

Hukum Tarikan didefinisikan sebagai "Saya menarik ke dalam hidup saya apa sahaja perkara yang saya berikan sepenuh perhatian, tenaga dan fokus, sama ada positif ataupun negatif."

Jika anda pernah menggunakan kata-kata ataupun ungkapan berikut, anda sebenarnya merujuk kepada Hukum Tarikan: tanpa diduga, nasib baik, takdir, tanpa disangka, sudah ditakdirkan, kebetulan, sejak azali, etc..

Ramai pengarang menulis mengenai Hukum Tarikan sejak awal 1900. Antaranya Dr Raymond Holliwell dalam "11 Truth Principles for Successful Living" menulis :
"Jangan sesekali fikirkan perkara yang anda tidak inginkan dan jangan sesekali menginginkan perkara yang anda tidak fikirkan. Apabila anda memikirkan sesuatu yang anda tidak ingini, anda menarik perkara itu... Sebaliknya apabila anda memikirkan apa yang anda inginkan secara berterusan, maka kemampuan anda menarik sesuatu yang diingini menjadi semakin kuat. Minda adalah magnet yang menarik apa sahaja yang selaras dengan konsepnya."

Mungkin inilah antara rahsia kekuatan minda jutawan yang berjaya membawa mereka mencapai apa jua yang mereka inginkan. Mereka sentiasa memikir dan menarik perkara-perkara positif ke dalam hidup mereka. Anda pula bagaimana? Masih memikirkan sesuatu yang negatif?

Francis Cabrel - L'encre de tes yeux

One of my favorite song back in the 90's when I was in France :)

Francis Cabrel - L'encre de tes yeux

Puisqu'on ne vivra jamais tous les deux
Puisqu'on est fou, puisqu'on est seuls
Puisqu'ils sont si nombreux
Même la morale parle pour eux
J'aimerais quand même te dire
Tout ce que j'ai pu écrire
Je l'ai puisé à l'encre de tes yeux.

Je n'avais pas vu que tu portais des chaînes
À trop vouloir te regarder,
J'en oubliais les miennes
On rêvait de Venise et de liberté
J'aimerais quand même te dire
Tout ce que j'ai pu écrire
C'est ton sourire qui me l'a dicté.

Tu viendras longtemps marcher dans mes rêves
Tu viendras toujours du côté
Où le soleil se lève
Et si malgré ça j'arrive à t'oublier
J'aimerais quand même te dire
Tout ce que j'ai pu écrire
Aura longtemps le parfum des regrets

Dunia ini hanyalah permainan ...

Tak tau apa nak update kali ni.
Klip video ni saja yang ada untuk tatapan anda semua.
Yang galak menyanyi lagu 'Wonder Pet' tu si abang, Muhammad Haziq.
Yang buat aksi guling-guling tu si adik, Muhammad Hazim.
Cheers!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Pada 12 Jun 2005, Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Computer dan Pixar Animation Studios telah diberi penghormatan berucap di hadapan ribuan graduan Stanford. Dalam ucapan motivasinya, Steve Jobs yang tidak menghabiskan pengajian kolej telah menceritakan 3 kisah hidupnya untuk renungan semua pendengar. Melalui kisahnya kita akan tahu kenapa dia mengambil keputusan berhenti belajar, sejarah ringkas syarikat Apple, NeXT dan Pixar yang dipeloporinya dan kenapa kita perlu mencari bidang pekerjaan yang kita benar-benar cinta.

Berikut adalah teks penuh ucapan Steve Jobs untuk untuk kita hayati bersama :

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much."

TemuramahMurah Dengan Bill Klentong

Transkrip penuh TemuramahMurah Dengan Tan Sri Bill Klentong, saudara bau-bau burger dengan Bill Clinton :

Editor : Kabare Bill?

Bill K : Oh, khabar baik, waras!

Editor : Woit! Hang pun boleh speaking rojak melayu?

Bill K : Biasala beb! Aku memang boleh cakap banyak bahasa. Bahasa apa ko nak denga? Bahasa Rusia? Rusia, Rusia, Rusia. Bahasa Belanda? Belanda, Belanda, Belanda. Bahasa Estonia? Estonia, Estonia, Estonia. Andorra..

Editor : Cop! OK aku caya hang. Boleh cerita latar belakang hang sikit?

Bill K : Heh! Ko nak main kotor ni. Belum apa-apa dah nak tanya belakang. Aku sensitif bab belakang ni. Sorry man. I’m straight! Jantan sejati! Tak caya cuba tanya Monica…

Editor : Bukan tu, maksud aku… Boleh beritahu asal usul hang sikit. Bagaimana keadaan waktu mula menceburi kerjaya politik sampai berjaya jadi Presiden.

Bill K : Oh! Macam tu ka? Aku ni lahir di Whiskey Dick Mountain, Washington State, United States ..

Editor : Err..Bill, boleh ulang tak nama tempat tu?

Bill K : Aku tau ko saja nak gelakkan aku, Whiskey Dick Mountain. Nape? Apa yang tak kena?

Editor : Takde apa. Cuma nama tempat tu macam porno sikit je.

Bill K : Lepas tu aku merantau ke Pulau Lombok ikut bapak tiri aku meniaga rojak bobok.

Editor : Ooo. Sebab tulah ko boleh cakap Jawa ye?

Bill K : Bukan sebab tu aje. Dulu waktu aku duduk Rumah Putih, ada penyangak ceroboh masuk. Lepas tu aku 'hire' sorang pawang dari Jogja. Dialah yang jadi tutor aku sampai fasih bahasa Jawa & Melayu. Terus terang aku cakap aku memang suka cakap Melayu. Bahasa Melayu ni ada daya estetik dan ...

Editor : Boleh blah la Bill. Macam aku tak tau ko nak kelentong aku.

Bill K : Betul! Aku sumpah dengan taji ayam arwah atuk aku.

Editor : Atuk kau ada bela ayam ke?

Bill K : Ada. Waktu dia berhijrah dari Scotland ke Amerika dulu, dia ada bawak dua ekor ayam. Seekor betina, seekor jantan. Tapi ayam betina tu tak bertelur sebab ayam jantan arwah atuk aku tu pondan. Jadi ...

Editor : Sudahla tu Bill! Jangan nak kelentong aku lebih - lebih.

Bill K : Tak caya sudah. Jangan jadi macam member aku. Tiap kali aku nasihat, dia kata aku kelentong. Last sekali dia eksiden motor.

Editor : Dah nama kau Bill Klentong, siapa nak percaya?

Bill K : Itu bukan salah bapak aku. Pegawai Jabatan Pendaftaran tu silap tulis nama bapak aku.

Editor : OKlah Bill. Kita dah terkeluar tajuk ni. Aku ada satu soalan serius ni. Kenapa kau tak hantar bala tentera kau tolong orang Bosnia dulu?

Bill K : Kau tak baca suratkhabar ke? Kan aku dah hantar.

Editor : Hantar untuk duduk melangut je nak buat apa. Buat abiskan bogheh aja.

Bill K : Abis tu nak buat apa? Nak suruh mereka berperang? Tak baik tau bunuh orang. Berdosa!

Editor : Eleh! Yang kat Teluk Parsi tu orang kau buat apa?

Bill K : Kat Iraq kitorang saja nak main koboi-koboi. Dah lama tak main tembak-tembak sejak abis perang Vietnam. Dahlah main koboi kat Vietnam kalah!

Editor : Ohh! Jadi kau nak balas dendam dengan orang Irak ya?

Bill K : Bukan nak balas dendam. Nak tunjuk kuat sikit je. Tak boleh ke?

Editor : Kalau kuat sangat kenapa pakai pawang?

Bill K : Pawang tu untuk urut-urut aku je sebenarnya. Lagipun aku ada problem sikit dengan bini aku.

Editor : OKlah Bill. Sampai sini saja sesi temuramahmurah kita kali ni. Lepas ni aku ada sesi temuramah kat rumah urut pulak.

Bill K : OK no hal. Err.. kirim salam kat Cindy ye.

Editor : Apa la kau ni Bill. Tak abis-abis nak buat skandal.

Bill K : Abis aku nak buat apa lagi. Duit pencen banyak aku nak buat apa? Lately ni aku banyak sangat masa free. Sejak ditinggalkan Monica. Bini aku pulak sibuk memanjang lepas jadi Gabenor. Anak-anak dah sekolah. Tak tau nak buek apa lagi.

*Nota: Temuramahmurah murah ini terpaksa dihentikan disebabkan kesuntukan masa. Tambahan pula Tan Sri Bill Klentong ni asyik melalut saja :)

Layar Lara

layarlah bicara indah
di persada lautan gelora
biar karam dihempas taufan
mati kelemasan
nafas tersekat
tersedut tersedak kemasinan
biar dimakan si todak ganas
pupus di dasar perut jerung buas

tenggelamlah sebuah kisah lalu
diari lapuk
cerita luka
antologi kata merdu
memusing bahasa
madah usang kehilangan makna
ghaib lenyap di dasar laut
pelantar dunia

Gone Baby Gone

"A four year old child is on the street. It's seventy-six hours and counting. And the prospects for where she might be are beginning to look grim, you understand? Half of all the children in these cases are killed, flat out. If we don't catch the abductor by day one, only about ten percent are ever solved. This is day three. He may look young, but if he wants to work this case, he better not act it."

Beberapa hari lalu saya menonton Gone Baby Gone, filem arahan Ben Affleck. Gone Baby Gone adalah sebuah 'crime movie' yang memang tidak rugi ditonton.

Gone Baby Gone berlatarkan bandaraya Boston di Massachusetts, US. Kes kehilangan seorang kanak-kanak perempuan berumur empat tahun telah menjadi berita besar dengan bantuan media massa di Boston. Dua orang penyiasat persendirian Patrick Kenzie dan Angie Gennaro diminta untuk menyiasat kehilangan Amanda McCready. Ibunya, Helene McCready seorang penagih dadah dan siasatan awal Patrick Kenzie mendapati Helene telah meninggalkan Amanda sendirian untuk menagih dadah.

Sedikit demi sedikit Patrick cuba memahami kaitan pengedar dadah, kumpulan gangster dan penculik kanak-kanak dengan kehilangan Amanda McCready. Adakah ia kes kehilangan anak, penculikan untuk meminta wang tebusan, perbuatan khianat akibat dendam atau ada sebab lain atas kehilangan Amanda?

"You got my money, you leave that shit in the mailbox on your ass way out, you feel me? Some other motherfuckers let fool rob on them. I don't play scrimmage. But I don't fuck with no kids. And if that girl only hope is you, well, I pray for her, because she's gone, baby. Gone!"

Di negara kita juga beberapa kali heboh dengan kes kehilangan Sharlinie, pembunuhan Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, Siti Syazwani, Nurul Huda Abd Ghani dan lain-lain lagi.

Tapi ending kisah Gone Baby Gone agak berbeza dengan kisah-kisah penculikan yang biasa kita dengar. Kalau nak tahu anda perlu tonton sendiri.

Satu lagi kisah berkaitan penculikan kanak-kanak yang menarik ditonton ialah "Man Of Fire" lakonan hebat Denzel Washington dan Dakota Fanning.

Who is Keyser Soze? ("The Usual Suspects")

One indication of how good a movie is, if we are able to watch it again and again with the same excitement. This is the case with "The Usual Suspects". I don't know about other people, but I never feel tired of watching this movie.

Five Suspects. Fifty Plot Twists. One Keyser Soze.

The Usual Suspects is one of the best crime movies in the 90’s. It is also an example of how a good movie can be made with only USD6 million low budget.

After the opening shooting sequence on a boat, the story starts with five criminals being hauled into the New York police station because a crime was committed and they are the usual suspects. Accused of hijacking a truckload of gun parts in Oueens, they are brought in for a line-up.

No one cracks, and while waiting to be charged or released, the criminals hatch a plan for an emerald heist. Eventually they wind up in California, where they are blackmailed by a lawyer named Kobayashi into doing a job for someone named Keyser Soze.

Hence, the ultimate question throughout the film : Who is Keyser Soze?

“Give me the fucking keys, you fucking cocksucking motherfucker, aaarrrghh.” (McManus-Stephen Baldwin)

Harga Minyak Turun Lagi

Kerajaan akan menurunkan harga minyak lagi mulai esok (15 Oktober).
Petrol RON97 akan menjadi RM2.30 seliter.

Mungkin sekarang ni trend penurunan berlaku di mana-mana: harga minyak dunia turun, pasaran saham merudum, ekonomi pun menurun ....

The good news is, when market is going down, we can shop for properties (or equities) for a much cheaper price. Actually this is a good time for property investment. Kalau kita ada duit lebih la. Kalu takde, kena mula menyimpan dari sekarang. Sendiri mau ingat!

Mungkin 10 atau 15 tahun akan datang, berlaku lagi satu krisis ekonomi. Waktu tu gunakan peluang yang ada, beli property / equity dengan harga rendah dan jual semula bila harga naik dan ekonomi kukuh semula. Macam tulah jutawan dilahirkan semasa krisis ekonomi.

Related news :
Petrol Price Down 15 Sen A Litre Wednesday, Says Abdullah
Petrol prices reduced
Petrol turun 15 sen, diesel 20 sen esok

Gangster Puchong Mengganas Lagi

Keganasan pengganas gangster Puchong semakin hari semakin mendapat liputan media massa.
Terkini mereka meletupkan sebuah mesin ATM CIMB di Taman Kinrara Puchong. CIMB ni kira antara bank yang saya selalu singgah sebab memang ada akaun di situ. Apartmen saya pun tak jauh dari kawasan bank ni.

Tengoklah sendiri hasil kerja dua orang gangster Puchong ni ...

Gambar dari akhbar theStar.

Siasatan polis mendapati bahan letupan buatan sendiri telah digunakan dan dicampur dengan serbuk mercun untuk membolehkannya meletupkan mesin ATM (mungkin mercun raya ada lebih sikit, tak tau nak buat apa, so cubalah letupkan mesin ATM).

Hasil rompakan ? Zero, sebab pihak bank mengesahkan tiada wang yang hilang.
Cian diorang, buat penat je bangun pagi pegi letupkan ATM; tapi 'collection duit' raya tak tambah gak :)

Berita lanjut :
Perompak bom mesin ATM
Thieves blow up ATM with fireworks bomb
Firecrackers no match for ATM, robbers flee without cash

Emak

wanita itu memakai
baju usia yang labuh
kurniaan Tuhan
berwarna sepi
berbunga sunyi

hanya lenggang lengguk api pelita
dan batuk-batuk asma
sudi menemani
bila sesekali ia turun
ke lembah batinnya, memetik
buah rindu yang ranum
terhadap anak cucunya jauh di kota
ingatkan suaminya
di negeri yang abadi

jauh lagi
sepi seorang emak tua
setapak-setapak berjalan keseorangan
ke hujung hayatnya

-Mokhtar Mimi (Sitiawan)

Anggerik Pudar

kuntum - kuntum anggerik
berselerakan di persimpangan
di pertemuan lorong
putih dan hitam

kaki melata
tanpa endah
seribu gundah
turut menghenyak
kuntum - kuntum anggerik
kengerian
menempuh musnah
kepudaran

Kalau Aku Rindu Nanti

kalau nanti aku rindu
pada kisah - kisah lalu
di mana keremajaanku pernah berbunga
mengharum di sepanjang koridor asrama
sudikah kau menerima
kedatanganku yang sementara

kalau pun nanti aku sendiri
menghimpun kenangan manis
janganlah hatimu terguris
menyaksi aku menangis
kerana aku pilu
mengenang keindahan hidup bersamamu

*puisi tulisan Intan Peribumi, rakan sekolah di bumi Tanjung.

Ucapan Selamat Hari Raya!

Hero penyelamat sedunia, Batman bin Suparman telah mengirimkan ucapan Selamat Hari Raya buat pembaca setia blog ini dengan beberapa rangkap pantun Jawa :)

Bocah cilik mangan sego
Sego dipangan karo gulo
Wes suwi orak ngomong Jowo
Dino royo njalok ngapuro

terjemahan:
budak kecil makan nasi
nasi dimakan bersama gula
sudah lama tak cakap jawa
di hari raya ampun dipinta

Godok ketupat nang ngisor ondo
Godonge palas digawe atep
Salah silapku njalok ngapuro
Ketemu meneng neng taun ngarep

terjemahan:
rebus ketupat di bawah tangga
daun nipah dibuat atap
salah silapku minta diampunkan
jumpa lagi di tahun hadapan

"Sir lump mad hurry rare year ideal fit tree moo lee year..."
Batman bin Suparman

Cari Janda

Ini iklan desperado dari seorang mamat yang tercari-cari janda pujaan sepanjang hayatnya :)

IKE Membadai Texas

Gambar2 terkini kesan dari taufan Ike yang melanda pantai US. Kesan kerugian dianggarkan pada USD27 billion.

Keberangkatan

ayah pergi
di suatu pagi
meninggalkan kami bertiga
menunai janjinya
menemui Pencipta

ayah pergi
tanpa disangka-sangka
ketika usianya
belum lagi mencecah senja
dan kami pula
menjadi yatim semua
sewaktu kembara sebegini muda

perginya
yang begitu pantas
menyebabkan kami
sesekali berilusi
seolah dia masih lagi di sisi
menyapa mesra bertanya khabar diri

*ingatan buat ayah yang pergi pada 20 ramadan 1419 Hijrah.
*ibu menyusul pada 12 rabiul awal 1429 Hijrah yang lalu.

Persahabatan

Persahabatan adalah seperti jalan-jalan kecil di kampung kita.
Jika kita tidak melaluinya selalu, maka akan tumbuhlah lalang dan semak samun.
Dan apabila sudah dipenuhi lalang dan semak samun, sudah tentu kita tidak akan melaluinya lagi.

Di Kamar Rindu

wajah-wajah berlalu
di kamar memori dulu
dari raut tenang para guru
hingga tawa sang puteri
yang begitu mesra

ah
begitu indah
zaman membentuk wadah

wajah teman-temanku
masih kukuh mencengkam kalbu
safwan yang tak lekang dengan buku
adi sering mengusik ayu
dan aku memerhati penuh cemburu

zaman remaja memang bermakna
meski si dia hanya menganggapku teman biasa
razif juga mencuit ingat
di sebalik nakalnya dia menabur hikmat

kisah hidup yang telah ditempuh
sering hadir mengusik natijah
dan sesekali senyum si dia mengusik rindu
kini hatinya bukan milikku

ah
begitu pasrah
dunia insan asuhan

pembendung ummah

Krisis Kewangan & Taufan Di US

Dengan berita hurricane Gustav, Hannah, Ike yang mengganas di sekitar Gulf Of Mexico US, pengumuman bahawa bank pelaburan US Lehman Brothers yang memfailkan notis bankrup menjadi satu lagi berita buruk di sana. Khabarnya Merrill Lynch juga telah diambil alih oleh Bank of America.

Kesan sampingannya mungkin tidak dirasai secara langsung oleh kita di Malaysia. Tapi ekonomi kita banyak bergantung pada US. Setakat ini harga minyak dunia masih pada paras USD100, walaupun operasi syarikat gergasi minyak di sekitar Houston, Texas telah terganggu dek kehadiran taufan Gustav, Hannah dan sekarang Ike (termasuk Shell US, customer saya).

Di High Wycombe US, 1000 orang pekerja Lehman Brothers bakal diberhentikan. Ini akan diikuti oleh pemberhentian kira-kira 4000 orang pekerja mereka di London pada hujung minggu ini.

Maaf kerana entry kali ini agak negatif & tidak ceria. Zaman globalisasi nampaknya menyebabkan sistem kewangan menjadi semakin tidak stabil :(

Potret Seorang Lelaki

Aku menatap
potret seorang lelaki
yang setia pada kata
setia pada janjinya

dia pejuang
demi kebebasan
maruah bangsa
sepanjang usia

aku terkesan
lelaki di penghujung kembara
yang tidak sedia
berputus asa

dia negarawan
sanggup lakukan apa sahaja
mempertahan watan tercinta

dia pemikir
yang menolak senjata
untuk ke meja diplomasi bicara

hatiku terusik
oleh pengorbanannya
menghabiskan sebahagian besar usia
hanya pada satu cita
yang belum mampu dimahkotakannya
di puncak jaya

Laut Biru

laut biru
katakan padaku
deru ombakmu
masih setulus dulu

aku kehilangan
rimba hijau
dirodok kerakusan
pengusaha taman perindustrian

meski kutahu
biru warnamu
bukan warna alami
yang dulu
kau penenang
kusut mindaku
teman melontar resah
yang memberat dada dan minda

Common Mistakes During Prayer

The followings are some of the common mistakes to avoid during prayer.

Mistake 1: Reciting Surat al-Fatiha fast without pausing after each verse.

The Prophet (SAW) used to pause after each verse of this surah. (Abu Dawood)

Mistake 2: Sticking the arms to the sides of the body, in rukoo' or sujood, and sticking the belly to the thighs in sujood.

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: "Let not one of you support himself on his forearms (in sujood) like the dog. Let him rest on his palms and keep his elbows away from his body." (Sahih Muslim) . The Messenger of Allah (SAW) used to keep his arms away from his body during rukoo' and sujood that the whiteness of his armpits could be seen (Sahih Muslim).

Mistake 3: Gazing upward during prayer.
This may cause loss of concentration. We are commanded to lower our gaze, and look at the point at which the head rests during sujood. The Prophet (SAW) warned: "Let those who raise their gaze up during prayer stop doing so, or else their sights would not return to them. i.e. lose their eyesight." (Muslim)

Mistake 4 : Resting only the tip of the head on the floor during sujood.

The Prophet (SAW) said: "I am commanded to prostrate on seven bones the forehead and the nose, the two hands [palms], the two knees, and the two feet." (Sahih Muslim) Applying the above command necessitates resting the forehead and the nose on the ground during sujood.

Mistake 5 : Hasty performance of prayer which does not allow repose and calmness in rukoo' or sujood.

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) saw a man who did not complete his rukoo' [bowing], and made a very short sujood [prostration] ; he (SAW) said: "If this man dies while praying in this manner, he would die upholding a religion other than the religion of Muhammad."

Abu Hurairah (RA) said:
"My beloved friend, Muhammad (SAW) forbade me to perform postures of prayer copying the picking of a rooster; (signifying fast performance of prayer), moving eyes around like a fox and the sitting like monkeys ( i.e. to sit on thighs)." (Imam Ahmad & at-Tayalisi).

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: " The worst thief is the one who steals from his own prayer." People asked, 'Messenger of Allah! How could one steal from his own prayer?' He (SAW) said: "By not completing its rukoo' and sujood." (At Tabarani & al-Hakim).

To complete rukoo' is to stay in that posture long enough to recite 'Subhana rabbiyal Adtheem' three times, SLOWLY, and 'Subhana rabbiyal-a'ala' three times, SLOWLY, in sujood. He (SAW) also announced: "He who does not complete his rukoo' and sujood, his prayer is void." (Abu Dawood & others)

Mistake 6 : Counting tasbeeh with the left hand.

The Prophet (SAW) used to count tasbeeh on the fingers of his right hand after salah. Ibn Qudamah (RA) said: " The Messenger of Allah (SAW) used his right hand for tasbeeh." (Abu Dawood). The above hadeeth indicates clearly that the Prophet (SAW) used only one hand for counting tasbeeh. No Muslim with sound mind would imagine that the Prophet (SAW) used his left hand for counting tasbeeh. Aa'ishah (RA) said that the Prophet (SAW) used his left hand only for Istinjaa', or cleaning himself after responding to the call of nature. He never used it for tasbeeh. Yasirah (RA) reported: The Prophet (SAW) commanded women to count tasbeeh on their fingers.

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: "They (the fingers) will be made to speak, and will be questioned (on the Day of Resurrection. )" (At-Tirmidhi). The above Hadeeth indicates that it is preferable to count tasbeeh on the fingers of the right hand than to do so on masbahah (rosary).

Mistake 7 : Crossing in front of a praying person.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) warned: "Were the one who crosses in front of a praying person to know the consequences of doing so, he would have waited for *forty better than to cross in front of him." (Sahih Bukhari and Muslim). *The forty in the tradition may be day's months or even years. Allah knows best.

10 Cara Meraikan Ramadan

Berikut disenaraikan 10 cara untuk meraikan kedatangan Ramadan al-Mubarak :

1. Meninggalkan perkataan dusta dan perbuatan fasik.

2. Menghidupkan malam dengan beribadat (qiamullail). Sesungguhnya ibadah qiamullail adalah kegemaran Nabi Muhammad SAW dan para sahabat baginda. Kata Ummul Mukminin Saidatina Aishah r.a.: Janganlah kamu meninggalkan ibadah qiamullail kerana Rasulullah tidak pernah meninggalkannya. Apabila baginda sakit atau keletihan, baginda bersolat dalam keadaan duduk.

3. Bersedekah. Rasulullah SAW adalah seorang yang paling pemurah. Baginda akan menjadi lebih pemurah pada bulan Ramadan. Sabda Rasulullah: “Sebaik-baik sedekah ialah sedekah pada bulan Ramadan”. (riwayat Tirmizi).

4. Menjamu makanan. Ia dapat memudahkan seseorang itu masuk ke syurga Allah SWT. Nabi Muhammad SAW pernah bersabda: “Wahai manusia, sebarkan salam, jamulah makanan, sambungkanlah silaturrahim, solatlah ketika orang lain sedang tidur, kamu akan memasuki syurga dengan selamat”. (riwayat Ahmad dan Tirmizi).

Baginda bersabda lagi di dalam hadis yang lain: “Sesiapa yang menjamu orang yang berpuasa, maka pahalanya sama seperti pahala orang yang yang berpuasa itu”. (riwayat Ahmad).

5. Banyak membaca al-Quran dan menangis ketika membacanya. Sebahagian besar para salaf as-soleh khatam al-Quran ketika mengerjakan qiamullail pada malam bulan Ramadan tiga hari sekali. Ada juga yang mengkhatamkannya seminggu sekali dan ada yang mengkhatamnya 10 hari sekali.

6. Duduk di masjid sehingga terbit matahari. Menurut sebuah hadis lagi, baginda SAW bersabda: “Sesiapa yang mendirikan solat subuh secara berjemaah, kemudian duduk berzikir kepada Allah SWT sehingga terbit matahari, kemudian dia mendirikan solat dua rakaat, maka baginya pahala seperti pahala satu haji dan umrah yang sempurna, yang sempurna, yang sempurna”. Kata Sheikh Nasiruddin al-Bani: Hadith ini sahih.

7. Iktikaf.

8. Mengerjakan umrah. Rasulullah SAW pernah bersabda: Pahala mengerjakan umrah di dalam bulan Ramadan menyamai pahala satu kali haji. (riwayat Bukhari dan Muslim).

9. Mencari-cari Lailatul Qadar. Ubay bin Ka‘ab berkata: Antara tanda dan alamat Lailatul Qadar sebagaimana yang telah diberitahu kepada kami oleh Rasulullah SAW iaitu matahari terbit pada pagi hari tersebut dalam keadaan redup. (riwayat Muslim).

10. Memperbanyakkan zikir, doa dan istighfar.

Sumber : Utusan Malaysia (5 September 2008)

Why Fasting? (Part Deux)

So, are we going to be stronger or sleepier? More productive or less productive?


Fasting should make us stronger, if we correct the way we view it.
Refer to the "Mechanism Of Siyam", extract from saifulislam.com
According to Abu Saif, fasting is 30 days intensive training course for the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Muslim.

Pengarah Urusan HPA, Tuan Haji Ismail Bin Haji Ahmad pula berpendapat puasa adalah satu kaedah detox terbaik selain teknik detox menggunakan herba dan mesin colon hidroterapi. Detox dalam bulan Ramadan bukan hanya berlaku pada fizikal sahaja namun ianya juga berlaku pada rohani manusia bagi mengeluarkan keburukan hati yang telah lama terkumpul.

Al Fatihah Buat Pak Samad

Tan Sri A. Samad Ismail, atau Pak Samad, tokoh wartawan terbilang telah meninggalkan kita semua petang Khamis yang lalu. Mungkin tak ramai yang tahu anak kelahiran Singapura ini juga adalah salah seorang pengasas People's Action Party (PAP) bersama-sama Lee Kuan Yew.

Pak Samad pernah beberapa kali ditangkap dan dimasukkan penjara, iaitu ketika zaman penjajahan Jepun, British dan oleh kerajaan Malaysia. Meminjam kata-kata A Kadir Jasin, Pak Samad "keluar masuk penjara umpama insan biasa keluar masuk kedai kopi."

Apa yang pasti, memang sukar untuk kita temui lagi insan sehebat Pak Samad. Semoga roh beliau akan mendapat limpahan kurnia tertinggi di sisiNya.

Miss Terawih Lagi...

Alhamdulillah, petang Jumaat ni belum ujan lagi (tapi mungkin akan ujan gak sebab langit dah mendung). Hari ni masuk ofis kul 3 petang lagi. Balik dah tengah malam, akan miss terawih utk kali kedua berturut2. Takpe la, saya terawih kat masjidil haram je (TV9, 1.00 pagi). Harapnya Sabtu ngan Ahad ni tak disebukkan dengan urusan duniawi...

Hujan Ramadan

Seingat saya semenjak 1 Ramadan, kawasan kediaman saya (sekitar Puchong ke Cyberjaya) mula dirahmati hujan. Tak tentu masa, kadang-kadang pagi, petang, tengah malam pun ada. Macam sekarang ni, waktu saya tulis entri ni, masih hujan jugak. Tak ingat pulak bila mulanya, pukul sebelas ke, dua belas ke... bukak mata dah ujan. Saya tido tak lama, kurang lebih tak sampai 1 jam 60 minit kot :)

Rasa tak rajin pulak nak ke ofis bila tengok cuaca mendung kat luar. Dah le keje shift petang, kena bukak pose kat ofis je. Kat Cyberjaya mana ada gerai orang menjual lauk pauk buka, kedai mamak ada le. Tapi mengenangkan kelmarin dah amik cuti, semalam pulak amik MC, takkan nak sambung Emergency Leave pulak ari ni :)

Maka terpaksalah saya hentikan penulisan entri ni sebab sekarang dah melewati jam 2 petang. Kul 3 start keje....

Les 35 Heures

If you're working in France, this is the best thing for you as an employee : Les 35 heures!

The working hour was reduced from thirty-nine to thirty-five hours in France sometime in 2000.

This didn't mean all workers suddenly stopped an hour early every day. Companies negotiated with their employees and introduced policies to work it out. Some firms settled on 5 seven-hour working days, others gave a half-day off per week, or a day off every fortnight.

Try to phone an office in France on Friday afternoon, and you'll get the feeling of the thirty-five working hours in France :)

It seems the thirty-five working hours really work in France. Even the new law introduced by the government of Nicolas Sarkozy to revert to thirty-nine working hours is being met with resistance ... from employers.

Read here for more : French businesses loath to end 35-hour work week.

Time For A Change

In a latest statement to The Malaysian Insider, Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik said that Gerakan members might choose to leave Barisan Nasional.

"We had the worst kind of Umno arrogance as a result of the 2004 elections. The abuse of power, corruption, negotiated tenders with government tenders going mainly to Umno-associated companies. All this is not decided by the Cabinet but by the Ministry of Finance. You think people don't know. Prices are jacked up and there is no check on the implementation of these projects.

"And then you had the Umno assembly and everyone saw how racist its members can become. All these things put us as a component party in a very difficult situation. And then Hindraf came into the picture. So we knew before going into March 8 that it was very bad, '' he said.

Read the full content here.

"It's all money, money, money, money, money, '' he noted.

Audrey Tautou To Play Coco Chanel

Masih ingat lagi pada Amélie? Audrey Tautou yang membawa watak utawa filem Amélie akan melakonkan watak Coco Chanel pula.

Laporan lanjut di sini :
Audrey jadi Coco Chanel
Audrey Tautou Is Coco Chanel
Audrey Tautou To Play Coco Chanel

Puisi Pada Jam Lima

aku kerap terjaga
saban pagi
dan sebaik mata kubuka
jam belum pun
menunjuk ke angka lima

lalu puisi ini
lahir sebagai saksi
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yang merangsang kreativiti
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Sukan Olimpik 2012

Mungkin ini boleh jadi satu acara tambahan pada Sukan Olimpik 2012 di London :)

PENANTIAN

PENANTIAN

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