The Reader

Twitter

Some of us may have heard about Twitter and I have been testing it at this blog for a few days.You can see the blue box just below the calendar.As early adopter of new technology,I like to try and play around with it.Sometimes, I can use it for my business.New technology gives access to new business opportunities,limited only by our creativity...

I have just written a proposal to create a community for construction project managers to communicate among themselves for their own personal benefits using mobile communication(text messaging). The SMS portal ,hopefully,shall be provided by CIDB.The technology is nothing new, but contents and collaboration need to be managed.

Now, I must put my thinking kopiah(cap) and explore how to use Twitter not only for social networking but also for business.

Vox bloggers has a group for Twitters here.

PS: More than 10 years ago,around July 1995 I subscribed to JARING and got myself an email account.As early adopters of technology,I had problems whom to send my emails to...

When I asked my peers to get email addresses, they asked me back what is email?

What is next?

Today I read about a ceiling collapsed in one of the buildings in Putrajaya. Not too long along, I read about a slope collapse and later pipe burst that caused flooding in another building.

As an engineer, my mind just asked,"What is next?"[hopefully nothing will happen]

I am writing here is not to scare or blame anybody but something must be done fast to prevent any untoward incidents that may cause not only building damages but can be fatal as well.What have happened had happened, but we can do something to prevent or mitigate what could  happen to a certain extent,insyaAllah.

IMHO,building and structural audits must be carried out immediately so that preventive actions can be taken.It is a form of risk management initiatives.

Over to you my fellow professionals at Putrajaya.And good luck.

Slide shows of moleskine notebooks

I began to use moleskine notebooks since the beginning of last year.Now, I have about 10 pieces for me and another six given to friends/ relatives/ clients.Today,I have learnt how to put some of my moleskines photos on a slide show.To see, please click on the icon below.

Better muslims/muslimahs

                              

Are we better muslims/muslimahs than we were a week ago,a month ago or a year ago? Ask anyone, every muslim/muslimah wants to be a better muslim/muslimah. But what have we done to become a better muslim/muslimah?

To get ourselves educated, we went to school and before exam,we burnt the mid night oil. To get money, we go to work everyday and come home dead tired.From secondary school, we strived hard to get to university and similarly we we continue to work harder to get better jobs with higher salaries.We continue to improve ourselves to achieve our goals for this world.The question is are we doing the same thing or better for the next world?

My posting today is not to preach but to provoke our minds and souls to wake up and think and insyaAllah, we all are going to do something however small to become better muslims/muslimahs than we were yesterday.May Allah guide all of us.

"Had it not been for the favour of God upon you, and His mercy, not one of you would ever have grown pure; but God purifies whom He wills, and God is all-Hearing, all-Knowing". [Quran   24:21]

The choice is ours to do someting.

Below is a short note from Nasiha for your reference.

Assessing Spiritual State

                              

Should a person wish to know whether they are rising or   falling in their deen (religion), they should look at how his or her   state and conduct had been a month or a year ago. If he finds that they are better than his present state and conduct, he should know that he is descending into degradation; whereas if she finds that that her present state and conduct are better, she should know that she is rising and improving.

                              

It has been handed down that "he who finds that his day resembles the previous day has been cheated, and he who finds that his day is worse than the previous day is accursed". Accursed here means remote from a particular and specially accorded mercy. He who is not increasing is diminishing. To explain, if when thinking about previous days, you feel that you then had no desire for the world, were eager for the hereafter, scrupulously avoided doubtful things, were quick to good actions, quick to obedience, remote from transgressions, and by comparison are now no better or are to any extent worse, then know that you are going down,   deteriorating in the deen, in your aspiration for God, and in striving for the hereafter. You should then feel apprehensive and fearful and then begin to show resolution and exert effort.

If, on the other hand, you find that you have more aspiration   and eagerness than before, then thank God the Exalted even more, remember His gifts and grace, and be ever attentive to them. You should not feel pleased with yourself, nor think that it is due to your own ability and power, for as God has said, "Had it not been for the favour of God upon you, and His mercy, not one of you would ever have grown pure; but God purifies whom He wills, and God is all-Hearing, all-Knowing". [Quran   24:21]

 

Compiled from

"Knowledge and Wisdom" - Abdallah ibn Alawi al-Haddad (translated by   Mostafa al-Badawi)

                           

                         

                        

MWA AGM

 
 

May I welcome the new President of Malaysian Water Association Dato' Ir Wan Ngah Ali(the CEO of SATU).I wish you all the best and I hope you can lead the association to the next level of success not only for the association but also for the water industry fraternity.

My thanks to Dato' Ir Syed Muhamamd Shahibuddin(immediate past president) for his twelve years of dedicated service and to Tan Sri Ir Omar Ibrahim founder-President for his vision.

My best wishes for the new MWA Council!

Hyperconnected

As I was browsing the current Time magazine in a bookshop,my eyes caught the topic as above.It is about data addiction.You can read  it here.

After reading the article, it reminds me of what I see everyday either on the street,in the office, in the masjid and in me.Mobile phones are every where.Seldom I notice a friend without a mobile phone.Among my nerdy friends,they have more things than the plumbers do.

Scene One:

As I was travelling along Bangsar Village,I saw five ladies at the bus stop.One is holding a book but the other four have their mobile phones in their hands- two were talking and the other two were reading text messages.(sms).

Scence Two:

Before the imam starts the solat(prayer), he reminds everyone to switch off their mobile phones. Then I will see a few will pick their phones from their pockets and do as instructed. As soon as the imam ends the solat, I will see a few will pull out their mobile phones to check any missed calls or text messages.

Scene Three:

Looking at the photo above, this man was reading or sending a message via his mobile phone.He was in his own "cyberworld" and  was temporarily away from the real world ,no matter how noisy was the environment at F1.

By the way,I am no better.This posting is to remind myself especially to live my 'digital life' in moderation.I observe that many of us got carried away...many a time, and I do.

Note: The photo shows me sending messages via my  mobile phone while watching F1 a few years ago. Thanks to MBA for the ticket and the photo.

Young artists..

Wall tiles paintings-1
Originally uploaded by Adibi.

I must congratulate the management of One Utama shopping complex for displaying the above paintings on tiles by children.I hope more wall space will be given to local artists to show their 'master pieces'.

May I suggest to the management of KLCC Suria to display more work of art by our Malaysian artists instead of mostly commercial advertisements.

2nd encounter of the 3rd kind!

I stood by the road side waiting for the pedestrian traffic light to turn green.When light turned green,I looked on my right to ensure all the cars stopped before I walked across the road to the other side. As I walked half way,I got a shock of my life when a motorcycle whizzed in front of me and it made an emergency break into the yellow box.It missed me by about one metre!

The evil in me just wanted to give this motorcyclist a flying kick!

This is the second time.The first time was when I drove my car making a right turn in front of all other vehicles which had stopped on the other side of the road.Half way through, a motorcyclist came suddenly and just hit my two -month old car.Luckily, he did not suffer serious injuries.

My scary encounters mentioned above are nothing new on our Malaysian roads.IMHO, nothing will change the attitude/behaviours of this group of our motor-cyclists.One of the ways is to remove this  type of people from  using our roads.

What say you?

Meeting of Pens

The photo shows my pens and ball pens.I honestly don't know why I buy all of them but their prices are mostly less than RM10 each- a few are RM100 plus,nothing expensive.

May be I just love to have them because they are nice and functional as well.If the pens/ballpens could talk, they may tell each other that I am crazy to need all of them;-)

Talking about pens, are they still mightier than the swords? I believe they do but in different medium and use in specific war zones.

Red chairs by the the padi field?

red chairs by the the padi field?
Originally uploaded by Adibi.

I took this photo using my Lumix FX8.Those red chairs next to a restaurant attracted my attention.

Have a good weekend everyone:-)