The Reader

Islamic Calligraphy

Yesterday my son took his cousins from our kampung to visit Islamic Art Museum but it was closed.Today, they are going again.I am happy to note that they are interested in the beauty of Islamic arts.The subject comes back to my mind when I read this article in The Sun.

Many of my family members are teachers and government servants, but one cousin of my  mother is quite famous for his Islamic calligraphy works. He is Ustaz Yusof Abu Bakar.One of these days, I would like to buy one of his beautiful master pieces.(without him knowing it;-)

Looking at the pictures hanging on the walls of my house, I saw a modern art,some flowers, a photo of my son's graduation and Ayat Kursi but not even one Islamic calligraphy. I think ,it is time for me to get one-soon.

Note: The photo is taken from a bookcover as a sample of Islamic calligraphy.

Teddy Bear picnic

  Teddy Bear picnic? 
  Originally uploaded by mohdadib.

While doing my Sunday morning walk at KLCC garden yesterday, I took this photo.It is a picnic for kids-owners of Teddy Bears and of course with the parents came along..

I observed that kids nowadays are pampered right and left,top and bottom.It is not that I am jealous because there were no Teddy Bears during my time(anyway, we cannot afford them)but parents must control what we to give in and what not.

Personally, I am also guilty as charged because I gave too many toys for my kids.On reflection, may be I bought the toys for me....

By the way, I was informed(please verify on your own) that KLCC is having an expo for Toys For BIG boys from 3 to 6 June,2005. Most likely, I will be there.

Note: This posting is done via my photoblog.

My first Macfest

Last night I managed to drive to Ikano Power  Centre despite my coughs and running nose.If it is not for the Macfest ,I would rather lie in bed.On top of it, I have been promising my friends to attend the gathering but missed two times to-date. No matter what, I have to be there tonight.What more, I donot wish to miss some creative works by my fellow mac addicts.Here is the agenda.

True enough, the TIGER SHOW  was great!This is MacOX version 10.4.I can't wait to get it as soon I get some money.Another software worth having is the latest iPhoto.

To Azul,my thanks and congratulations to you for being such a great host.And also thanks for the lucky gift I got.By the way, I love the free black Apple t-shirt.The first time I bought an Apple t-shirt was 1985 in Singapore.

If you are an apple/mac user residing in KL or nearby areas, don't miss the next event. For news ,visit the Malaysian MUG-Mac Users Group.

To Mus, thanks for helping me managing my palm applications file.

School holidays

May I wish everyone who enjoys school holidays a Happy and Safe Holidays.Personally, I love it because all my kids will be at home with me and my wife.I must accept the fact that soon one by one will be leaving me as they will start their own families and have their own homes. While they are around, I will make the best I can...

School holidays is normally very busy time for me. To-day, I have to attend two 'kenduri kahwin',one closing ceremony of a Project Management course during lunch time and a free photography course in late afternoon.Otherwise life won't be interesting,especially for someone at my age;-)

Yesterday, I asked my youngest son about his plan for this school holiday. He told me that he has a lot to do with his school work.Well, that is fine with me.I also need time to be at home to catch up with my readings because I have been going out quite often in the last two months.All of us  needs a breather some time.

To those who go out for a short holidays,please take care while you are travelling,especially on the roads in Malaysia. To my sister and her family who is Istanbul now, please enjoy your seminar and holidays and do take care. My du'a for your safety everyday...

Note: The photo was taken  on Saturday 28/5/2005 at the free photography seminar by Jen Siow using my Olympus Ultra750.

Heart attacks

Heart attack is one of the main killers in  Malaysia.I am not a doctor to expound the reasons for heart failures,but one of the main reasons is because we do don't take care of our hearts.

Similarly,we must also take care of our other "heart" i.e qalbu.I don't know how many of our qalbu have been paralysed or died spiritually.To the best of my knowledge,no statistics have been published and no equipments have  been invented to detect or measure the qalbu's failures.  IMHO,our deeds and behaviours reflected the state of our hearts.

Our qalbu is being attacked everyday by external and internal enemies-there  is a war zone inside there,whether we realise it or not.To protect it,we must know our enemies and ourselves.

To protect our qalbu,we must continously strenghten it and build and maintain its  defence.

Let's keep our qalbu in good state,so that we are safe from ourselves and for the good of others as well.

(posted via Treo650)

//adib//

Remote posting

This is a test using my Treo to post blog .I hope it works.

//adib//

Halal Food Hub

I read with great interest about our PM's visit to Holland last week especially about the Food Valley.If we wish to be the Hub for Halal Food,then we also need a few Food Valleys.Considering we are still importing billions on foods, then we have a long way to go.Our policy makers and the people must ask ourselves a very hard question. How could Holland ,the size of Pahang with a population of 16m people could be the second world food producer after USA???

As a civil engineer,Holland always fascinates me in the way they plan,design,construct and maintain their irrigation and drainage system.

Another tough question is how come rice from Thailand has better quality and cheaper than ours?

I wish my country all the best in her endevour to improve her agriculture sector.To young men/women out there,your fortunes may be there in the next few decades. Personally, I stick to my knitting.

PS: In August 2003,I posted a short note about Going Dutch.

Sending email

For the record,my first experience in sending an email took place on 24th July,1995-the day I subscribed to Jaring.In two months time, I think I will have a small 10 years' celebration of my own.However, I am sad to note that I don't use Jaring a/c anymore.It is full of spams and  I have decided not to top up my a/c since two months ago.

Now, I am a .mac member,and with that I was given a pop email a/c.As a subscriber to TM streamyx, I also have another pop a/c.I use both-one for personal communication and the other for business.Along the way, I also subscribe to hotmail and yahoo mail.These web based a/c I use to subscribe to a few mailinglists. With the arrival of gmail recently, I switch almost all my subscriptions to all mailinglists to gmail.

Today, it is a great day for my Treo650.(a palmOS pda). I bought it on 16th Febuary,2005 and only managed to receive emails until yesterday(using versamail).All other pda functions are working normally other than the day I accidentally dropped it into a pail of water.It went into a coma for about 10 hours.

If you are a user of a wireless pda, to get/receive email is no problem at all. However, I have encountered a multitude of problems to configure and to send email from my pop a/c or web based a/c.The pda manufacturer does not give me any clues or manual on how to do this. One needs to join the usergroup to learn from one another. We,the pda users use different pda's, different telcos and different email a/c providers.The permutations of configurations gave me a headache until I almost give up! But today,I tweaked here and there(off and on referring to HOWTO's from my usergroup) and suddenly it works,at last!

Note: It works for my mac and gmail a/c.Now I am trying my streamyx a/c .If you have any technical question on this matter,please don't ask me.I got it by chanceThere are a few experts in my usergroup who can help.The photo shows one  of our experts busy with his pda.The group photos are here.

Just Get together

  BTM-Feb,2005 
  Originally uploaded by mohdadib.

Orthonological specimens of the same plumage congregate together.In less bombastic words,birds of the same feathers flock together...or simply,in the case of Palmx user group members,they love to meet one another anytime even in a group of three or thirty-be it at 10am or 10pm.

The photo shows our latest BTM( our group special word for a meeting).It means Talk,Beam and Makan-not necessarily in the order.The members who attended range from experts and novices,extreme users users and casual users, father and son,lecturers and students, husbands and wives(sometimes with a baby)and just friends and friends' of friends...(ada yang pakai kopiah putih dan ada yang pakai topi).Btw, we also have people who donot have pda and only bring their natural palms.They came for the good company and lively conversations;-)

Looking at the photo, you can see an iBook(macOS), a notebook(windoz) and a netbook(symbian OS) sitting on different tables.These are different machines used by different people to suit their needs and life-styles.Even though we are PalmOS users group, some of our members are using windoz based pda's.Not to mention, we use different models of PalmOS pda's.We are different and yet we are the same:-)

Despite our 'differences', we love to sit down for a cuppa and enjoy interesting conversations and celebrate our differences!

Now,it reminds me to fix the date of the next BTM-some time in June,2005.

Pulut kuning,pulut tanak

How about some pulut kuning for a "royal" breakfast? The photo shows sambal ikan bilis with some petai for 'pembuka selera'....

When I go home to Kelantan, I usually visit some 'kedai kopi' that sells pulut tanak with kelapa parut and ikan rebus goreng.The taste is fantastic!

By the way,anyone can tell me what is 'pulut semangat'?

Selamat Bercuti....