Point and shoot

Holiday trip to some places are good time to educate us on with whom we share the world and how different is the topography from our area of habitats. In fact, according to many views, travel or going places is a better investment compared to buying gadgets and such. Memories increase in value, the experience lasts forever and non-tranferable. Gadgets and other nice to have items don't. In fact,  some of the items are liabilities as they depreciate in values.

During travelling the tendency is to record as much of the scenery by pointing and shooting the camera almost at any point of interest.
Recently Nakamora reviewed all the photos he took and raised many questions to himself. What happens at the edge of the picture. Why the person has no head, etc. That's point and shoot.
He tell himself that next time he need to take more time to compose the picture before shooting. But then, that is not always possible. Perhaps it is better to just enjoy the view, record it it memory, and snap only as as appropriate. Well, in the end, it all depends on the situation and the opportunity of the moment.

Beware of what you want and ask for....

Short stories have the value of providing us with insight into life, into things that we might go through or have gone through. It can rationalize things that may seem irrational. It can put things in perspectives. Hence Nakamora wishes to share the following story which he came across in a daily tabloid quite some time ago.

There was an old lady, staying alone in a village, supporting herself by selling vegetables and other produce at the local farmers' market. One of her best selling product is tempe. Tempe is a traditional soy product produced by fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempes can be eaten fried or cooked in a curry to be taken during regular meals with rice.

The lady is very pious, God-fearing, always do good deeds and never ever cause problems to others or do any bad or evil things.

Tempe - done and sold at a night market near Nakamora's house

Every time, before packing her produce to leave for the market she would check to see if her tempe were done and ready to sell. One day she found that her tempe were only half done. She wondered why as to her best memory she didn't change the recipe and followed exactly the way she always make tempe.

She prayed for her tempe to be done so that she can sell them that morning at the farmers' market. She believed Allah can do anything. She always depended on Him and have great faith in Him. In the meantime she prepared her other products, and when done she checked the tempe again. No change, the tempe were still as before.

She was a bit shaken but not losing confidence. She prayed again asking Allah for miracles. She needed to sell the tempe to support herself. Besides, it is the end of the month; there will be a lot of shoppers in the market. A large part of her monthly revenue comes from sales at the end of the month. She said, “Oh Allah, I know you can make miracle, I know you can make anything at your will. Help me, please make the tempe done. I am asking you for a miracle.”

She packed the tempe together with other products and made the trip to the farmers' market hoping that during the trip her payer would be answered; a miracle would happen; and the tempe would be done.

On arrival she set up to display her products. She peeked into the tempe covering to see if they are done since she wanted to display the tempe too. She was taken aback when she saw that the tempe were still as before, half done. She started wondering why her wish was not granted. She is pious, never forget or intentionally forget to pray, never did anything bad. She felt sad and her faith was somewhat weakened when she almost got angry with her predicament.

She left the tempe in the package in despair, but still harboring the hope that somehow the tempe will be done. Hours went by, occasionally she peeked into the tempe covering to see if they can be sold. No change. The market is about to close and sellers all prepared to go home. So as she.

As she was about to leave, a middle aged lady stopped her and asked if she have tempe, half-cooked; as the lady did not want them fully done. She was surprised, and this time she prayed to Allah not to grant what she has been asking for all along. Please, let the tempe stayed as they were. She responded to the lady that yes, she has plenty of half done tempe. The lady glowed and smiled happily as she has been asking here, there, and everywhere for half-cooked tempe. The lady asked to buy all of her tempe.

Slowly and trembling, she opened her package and took out the tempe. Yes, the tempe remained half-cooked. And the lady bought all of them. Before the lady left she asked why she wanted half-cooked tempe. The lady replied that her son is studying in the USA and craved for tempe, so she wanted to mail him the tempe. Fully cooked tempe would have gone bad while in postage.

Now, the she understood why her prayers were not granted for Allah knows best, and has a better plan for her. It touched her deep in her heart and thank Allah continuously as she made her way back home while regretting to almost show her anger when her wish for the tempe to be done were not granted.

Sometimes, what we asked was not what we actually wanted, Nakamora thought. He philosophized that it's better to ask for the tempe to be sold than for them to be fully done. Focus on the goal - after all, what matters is the tempe are sold, not for them to be fully done. Thus, Nakamora concludes, beware of what you asked for...

Virtual in reality

It is a tiring journey, being in a plane for over fifty percent of a day. Amsterdam Schipol airport is 13 hours 10 minutes away from KLIA by the midnight flight. Arriving at Amsterdam just as the sun breaks through the horizon. Lucky that the airport has nice waiting areas, open to passengers of all classes, secluded from the main thoroughfare where other passengers are departing or arriving. Not all trees there are real, but the prerecorded background sound of a farm area, birds chirping, ducks quacking, give it a sense of reality. A nice place to rest before boarding the  next connecting flight to his final destination. Nakamora has just to be aware not to fall asleep there, like others also in waiting.

Consolidation...

Many years ago I thought that it is better to separate different topics in several blogs, hence I have more than one blog. But with the labeling facility coming into being that would not be necessary anymore. Postings can be labeled accordingly, and as result passive blogs can be avoided. Hence postings at my other blog "Don't Throw Them Away" which was started in November 2007, will be gradually migrated to this blog. The blog is about traditions, knowledge, experience, culture, and heritage and how we can benefit from them...

Old things tend to find uses later, they tend to be recycled and become useful again. This is not just for material things, but also for concept, philosophy, and fashion....

Keris Making (Wavy Blade Daggers) -- A Dying Art / 12 Nov 2007

Keris making at a cottage industry in Terengganu

Making keris (wavy blade daggers) in Terengganu, Malaysia... looks simple, but there are a lot of scientific principles underlying the age old traditional method for making keris... forging, tempering, etching... the tools look equally simple, but they are able to be perform the task of producing a beautiful keris used to make the keris... it is a dying art, no one to pass on the knowledge to; youngsters no longer find such a 'career' or vocation attractive...

Travel the World for...

The mobility of peoples and goods, and information, has tremendously increased with the advent of modern transportation systems. It can be disrupted, severely in some occassions, as we have witnessed in the past week, but in general a lot more peoples and goods are moving from one place to another, for one purpose or another.
Some travel for businesses, others for holidays, or combine both. Nakamora's travel in the past week was of the latter type. In the process, he got stuck in Dubai, stayed three days in Vienna, and spent the weekend in Prague before due to fly home.
Still others travel the world for medical treatment, hence the term medical tourism; for recreation, hence recreational or sports tourism. Still another class, Nakamora thought, are those who travel, or being made to travel, for a living. A construction worker he met in Dubai mentioned that he has worked in a construction project in Malaysia in Bandar Baru Bangi, in Penang, and in Klang, along with a host of other countries. As he looked up at construction workers next to steel bars, scaffolds, and reinforced concrete columns at construction sites in many cities he wondered how many buildings have that worker be involved in, and in how many places has he travelled. He must have his own views and viewpoints of the city; views that are different from us altogether...

General purpose 'everything'

He is tired, no doubt, sleeping, oblivious to the noise and happenings around him. But what is that he is sleeping on? It is a cart, it is a bed, it is a place to rest, a single item with many uses.
The idea of 'multipurpose' or 'general purpose' equipment perhaps originated from an old practice of maximizing the benefit of an item by diversifying or extending its uses; like what we see in that picture. It saves money, and if we don't have much money we have not much choice but to make do with what we have, and hence the cartbed - a multipurpose cart. It can't be a multipurpose bed. The name after the adjective multipurpose should be the orginal name the item is used for, not the name of items its uses are extended to.
When resources are limited, we tend to be creative.

Testing Patience

The computer hangs, the smartphone gets infected, the ATM machine announces it is 'temporarily' unavailable for service, the traffic jams, the junk e-mails, etc. etc. Modern-day necessities and everything that ride on them. At times, it's testing your patience. Those times are when they are taking a leave of duty, not functional. Being so used to the prompt response, available on demand situation, we forget that we used to wait in line, patiently, waiting for turn at the phone booth, at the bank counter, for busses and trains tickets.

Hardcopy or Softcopy

Both have their respective merits and demerits. Hardcopy? It is hard to imagine magazine, newspaper, and book racks disappear from bookstores. The feeling of touching the paper, weighing the book, and skimming through the pages are still influential in making the buy or not buy decision. Glancing at the frontpage of newspapers lined up infront of small stores bythe bus stand from across the road also has similar influence.
Imagine reading an e-book or e-newspaper or e-magazine in a bus, or train (or even while driving). That electronic reader called notebook must be there with you, with battery that lasts long enough.
But where would you keep all those 'expired' magazines? Old newspapers have buyers. Perhaps keep only selected ones that could be useful for future reference.
Future reference? In hardcopy they may not be easily retrieved, especially if you do not have the tendency to be like librarians, cataloguing all your collections.
For a long time to come, one would neither replace the other. Not all inventions make existing methods or goods obsolete.

A Mouse by the Windows

Context gives meaning to words. Every word has different meanings when used in different situations. Within the context there is the philosophy that the word represents. Thus, words are mere labels, if we can say it that way.
Context is also connected to culture, as words are manifestations of culture, to certain extent. So then, what are 'mouse' and 'windows?' What do they represent? They both refer to everyday 'objects' and IT 'objects'; but they hardly sound scientific and technical.
Is that a manifestation that IT has already became an everyday thing? or is it a manifestation that that particular culture has extended the use of its everyday words as technical terms, used worldwide. Is that a manifestation that using its own language in science and technology has somehow over the years makes common, mundane words become acceptable as a technical term? May be so.
'Barn,' which is the unit of the cross-sectional area representing the 'probability' that neutrons would interact with a particular atom, also has its roots in everyday word. A barn, is an area the size of 10E-24 square centimeter.

Nuclear Insights

Nakamora has been pre-occupied lately with lending a hand to his friend completing a book. He is relieved now that it was done. He has more time now to tend his blog - cybergarden, the plants of which are his rumblings and wandering thoughts, he said to himself. The book, according to his friend, is now available for USD12 or RM30 including postage.

Here's what others say about this book:

"I have great interest for your philosophy of research and being scientist. I appreciate much your describing details of your association with TRCRE after I left for IAEA." ----- Dr. Sueo Machi, FNCA Coordinator, Japan.

"Your review and commentary on your R&D experiences interwoven with your thoughts on current issues as well as your ideas for positioning for the future will find resonance with your readers and assist them as they pursue their various quests and journeys across the R&D landscape." ----- Dr. John F. Easey, ANSTO, Australia.

Well, what would you say?

The book is also available at several bookstores in Kuala Lumpur including Pustaka Mukmin, Mehraj Bookstore, Nufair Street Bookstore, Universiti Malaya Bookstore, and INTAN Bookstore.

Cable Dependency: The Burden of Modern Living

Nakamora carefully dialed the number to unlock his bag. He needed to re-open it. He blamed it all on his checklists, which he prepared. He was then blaming himself, but he hated to do so directly. The travel checklist was just not complete.
It should have listed all cables, not cluster everything under a single item 'cable' and expects him to reconstruct the list of all cables he has to bring along for that 10-day trip. Yes, that's modern life. Everything depends on cable to continue to be useful, all types of cable, visible or otherwise.
He got the bag opened and started checking. Cable for the laptop, yes he got it. Cable for the digital camera, he got that too. Cable for the hand phone, no problem, it's in. Yes, that was the one not yet in. Cable for his personal digital assistant, PDA. Cable transfer for the digital camera, yes that was in too. There is just one more cable, for his MP3. And, he almost forgot, another one for the card reader. He may want to transfer the photos from his camera to his laptop, if time permits, and if the camera memory is full, whichever comes first.
Except for the digital camera all the rest are some form of communication devices. With his laptop he can use the internet, e-mail, messenger, and even Skype phone. Definitely the hand phone can be used to communicate too, so as the PDA. There are function overlaps, and he wondered if he could just leave some home. That would relieve the burden of checking all the cables. But perhaps no. Yes, they all can be used as communication devices but the condition and mode of communication each of them operates are different. It's a complicated world, isn't it. One mode of communication is no longer adequate.

A New Year

At dusk yesterday, or today as we know it can also be, depending on which system we are using, the first day of a new year according to lunar-based Islamic calendar began. We are now in the year 1429H. The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. It divides a year into 12 months with either 29 or 30 days to a month. The Gregorian solar calendar, which is widely used now, also has 12 months to a year but the number of days in a month varies from 28 to 31 days.
Those who were born on 29 February can rejoice this year and look forward to receive birthday presents; good friends may even present gifts of 3-year equivalent. Alternatively, find the corresponding date of birth on the lunar calendar and announce to friends annually of the birthday, whatever date that may be on the solar calendar. The setback is that you get older faster, but think of the gifts, which can be twice a year.
The lunar calendar is shorter than the Gregorian calendar by about 11-13 days; and it is not linked to seasons of the year. Thus every other 33-34 years the lunar and Gregorian calendars meet. Such meeting almost take place this year as the next new year's day for the lunar calendar is on 27 December. Imagine two points, one each at the circumference of two wheels of same diameter but rotate at different speeds. Depending on the speeds of rotation, there would be time when both points meet.
On the eighth month the lunar calendar is 'calibrated' against the phase of the moon to determine the beginning of the ninth month, Ramadhan, which is the fasting month. On the 28th day of Ramadhan again the moon phase is observed to determine the end of fasting and the beginning of the tenth month, Syawal. Thus the calendar gets calibrated twice every year. Nowadays, calculations are also widely used for that determination.

Floating....

As he leaves the airport in a car driven by his other half he saw a plane hovering, almost floating approaching the airport. It is amazing to see such a big chunk of object floating in the air with perhaps 400 or more people on board each with luggage on the average of say 30 kg.
Nakamora is in his way back to his home after being away for 10 days. He remembers how small things were while in the plane in the air. Everything looks small. He remembers looking at a passenger plane flying just above a layer of an expanse of clouds and a host of other planes as the one he is in approaches Heathrow airport.
Heathrow airport is one large complex. Getting from one terminal to another is quite a journey and an experience by itself.

Net Community

It is the same every morning.. driving to the place where we spend at least eight hours.. this is actually my very first posting and it feels great at least to have my thought being kept somewhere in cyberspace.. inspired by the many bloggers in Malaysia that I have searched through I decided to have a space of my own in cyberspace. Thoughts are meant to be shared, I thought.. well, at least some of it anyway..