Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all, especially to the followers of Christian faith

 

(Image credit : Flash Screen.com)

The True Meaning Of Christmas

by Brian K. Walters

In todays' day and time,
it's easy to lose sight,
of the true meaning of Christmas
and one special night.

When we go shopping,
We say "How much will it cost?"
Then the true meaning of Christmas,
Somehow becomes lost.

Amidst the tinsel, glitter
And ribbons of gold,
We forget about the child,
born on a night so cold.

The children look for Santa
In his big, red sleigh
Never thinking of the child
Whose bed was made of hay.

In reality,
When we look into the night sky,
We don't see a sleigh
But a star, burning bright and high.

A faithful reminder,
Of that night so long ago,
And of the child we call Jesus,
Whose love, the world would know.

Sambutan Awal Muharram

Salam Awal Muharram 1431H kepada muslimin serta muslimat semua, semoga dirahmati sepanjang masa.

  

(Penghargaan kepada Tanco Dot Com untuk imej ini)

Every passing moment is a new "year", why stand in wait ?

And again as (my favorite) Rumi said it...

Love's wine, is endless

keep on pouring it forever.

Don't search for the water,

just get thirsty,

so that the water may arrive,

 just as the cry of the newborn baby

brings the mother's milk

Office 2006 : The Version That Wasn't

This is another one from "unknown author", dug from my email vault. I have reason to believe that the author was one Mr. David Deckert, who was kind enough to put an end note to say, "Feel free to redistribute." (Note : The graphic images were by Mr. David Deckert (?) and I try to spice them up with my little "story-telling". Feel free to redistribute it too, but please lah!!! give some credits to me and Mr. Deckert by mentioning the link to this blogsite..kay?... he..he..he..)

The History of Microsoft Office started with the versions 3.0, 4.x, Office 95, Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007 (Office 2010 coming soon??).

Since Office 97, with the exception of Office XP, Microsoft decided to release new Office version once in every three years. By the year 2006, it was then, the time to release the upgraded version of the successful Office 2003. Microsoft people had these ideas to incorporate into the newly to be released version, the Office 2006.

The lab technicians wanted to start by adding a special key function on the key board..... for corporate users.

the technicians and programmers also realized that bosses had become increasingly demanding... a tool was needed to assist the poor fellas in dealing with their bosses (not to forget, their subordinates too) at work place.....

and a neat "someone" for them to occasionally take the time-off to relieve some of the office stresses.........

sometimes, good and valid excuses were needed. There were little chances that the bosses would understand how the computer works anyway....

after all those stresses with difficult bosses, the poor fellas may completely forgot on how to start writing an official letter...

well ..

a cute letter-writing assistant was very necessary then.....

and of course, a cute little "assistant" to predict and assist you on what need to be done next !!!

No wonder the Microsoft boss skipped the Office Version 2006 and released the 2007 version, a year later....

 
The world's 2009 richest man !, still...

Those who are familiar with the earlier version of Microsoft Word, may appreciate the little cute "assistant" when it pops up while you are typing.

images credit : microsoft.com

Moral of the story ?! huh ?!

oh! I don't know...!! perhaps.. you corporate bosses should be looking at your "human asset" as human being? not simply a tool or 'some things' to generate profit "all the time" to the company ?

No ?! 

Sambutan Aidil Adha

Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Korban buat kaum Muslimin serta Muslimat semua. Maaf zahir & Batin.

(image credit : ns.net.my)

"....Berkorban apa saja

Harta ataupun nyawa

Itulah kasih mesra

Sejati dan mulia..."

(Seniman Agung P. Ramlee)

and poems by Jalaluddin Rumi

I see His face, I see His smile –

There is my joy!

I feel His rage, I feel His painful blows –

There is my joy!

But what's this? He has asked for my head!

At least He has asked me for something –

There is my joy!

(Jonathan Star & Shahram Shiva, A Garden Beyond Paradise, Bantam Books, 1992)

(image credit : mim786)

I am in love not only with his smile and radiant face

but also with his wrath and contempt.

He has asked for my head, I do not care if I lose it

what makes me ecstatic is

Him asking.

(Azima Melita Kolin Maryam Mafi, Rumi: Hidden Music, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001)

"Your beloved lives next door" - Ghazal 648

O you who've gone on pilgrimage - 
where are you, where, oh where?

Here, here is the Beloved!

Oh come now, come, oh come!

Your friend, he is your neighbor, he is next to your wall

You, erring in the desert - what air of love is this?

If you'd see the Beloved's form without any form

You are the house, the master, You are the Kaaba, you! . .

Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?

Where,
one soul's pearly essence when you're the Sea of God?

That's true -
and yet your troubles may turn to treasures rich

How sad that you yourself veil the treasure that is yours!

(Translation by Annemarie Schimmel, "I Am Wind, You are Fire", Shambhala, 1992)

(image credit : islamidavet)

Pilgrims!

why are you turning round in circles,
what are you looking for?

The Beloved is here, why search in the desert?

If you look deep in your heart,
you will find Him within yourself.

You have made the pilgrimage
and trod the path to Mecca many times.

You rave about the holy place
and say you've visited God's garden

but where is your bunch of flowers?

You tell stories about diving deep into the ocean

but where is your pearl?

There is some merit in the suffering you have endured

but what a pity you have not discovered
the Mecca that's inside.

(Translation by Azima Melita Kolin & Maryam Mafi, "Rumi: Hidden Music", HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001)
(image credit :i.telegrapgh.co.uk)

Pilgrims on the way! where are you?

Here is the beloved, here!

Your beloved lives next door, wall to wall

why do you wander round and round the desert?

If you look into the face of Love

and not just at its superficial form

You yourselves become the house of God

and are its lords

Ten times you trod the trek unto that house

For once come into this house

climb onto this roof

That sweet house of sanctity --

you have described its features in detail

But give me now
some indication of the features of its Lord

If you have seen that garden,
where is your bouquet of souvenirs?

If you are from God's sea, 
where is your mother of pearl soul?

And yet, may all your troubles bring you treasure

What pity that your treasure lies buried in your selves.

(Translation by Franklin D. Lewis, "Rumi - Past and Present, East and West", Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2000)

The Agreement

AL-MA'IDAH (The Table Spread)

Surah 5, Ayat 7

"5:7. Dan ingatlah akan rahmat Allah ke atas kamu, dan perjanjian-Nya yang Dia buat dengan kamu apabila kamu berkata, "Kami dengar, dan kami taat." Dan takutilah Allah; sesungguhnya Allah mengetahui apa yang di dalam dada."

"5:7. "And call in remembrance the favour of God unto you, and His covenant, which He ratified with you, when you said: "We hear and we obey"; and fear God, for God knows well the secrets of your hearts."

AGREEMENTS

Watching the world
From our window of life
Can we see all there is
That is real
That is right
To the distance so far
From our true understanding
Making us want more
Making us see less

The fire
Making me clean
Making me fly
Spinning me 'round
Spinning me 'round

The fire within your eyes
This mystic time
I've known before
Once before
The flame within my heart
Agreements made
Are now realized
Like before

Agreements of Trust
Agreements of Faith
Agreements of Truth
Agreements of Liberty

Speaking of worlds
Driven far far apart
How the (industry) innocence
Crushes the nature of things
To the point that we lose
All we're trying to gain
Making us want more
Making us see less

The fire
Making us clean
Making us fly
Spinning us 'round
Spinning us 'round

The fire within your eyes
This mystic time
I've known before
Once before
The flame within my heart
Agreements made
Are now realized
Like before

Agreements of Trust
Agreements of Faith
Agreements of Truth
Agreements of Liberty

The fire
Making us clean
Making us fly
Spinning us 'round
Spinning us 'round

The (fire) flame
Making us clean (dream)
Making me fly
Spinning me 'round
Spinning me 'round

Agreements of Trust
Agreements of Faith
Agreements of Truth
Agreements of Love
Agreements of Liberty

Do We Understand Each Other - Part 2

Two things...!!
1. Cannot tahan the itch la.. !
2. Malaysia-Instinct.com
(image credit : Damian Harvey)
For those who do not understand what "cannot tahan" is, it means "cannot stand".

By the tone and setting of this blog, I originally intended to post only articles revolving around Rumi,  M. Nasir and the likes with some occasional weird stuffs which nobody seems wanting to give any comment... hu..! hu..! hu...!

After publishing the previous article, I have got this "socio-politic itch", which normally cured easily when I get my dose from Kenn. (Now you know why I do not have many entries in my blogroll, except for ...L I S T E D !!!.)

(image credit : omy)

Mopiko? Uh! Uh! did not help either..!!!

In my previous article, I wrote about how important to have a common language in order for us to understand each other. Common language is a key to nation building.

Sometime ago, PM Najib, in his 1-Malaysia blog mentioned that tolerance alone is not good enough. There must be acceptance, because tolerance seems to be "conditional" whereas acceptance is more on the basis of "willingness" that is, more on "unconditional". Stuffs like "unconditional love", "giving without expecting anything in return" etc. That is noble.

To reach that level of "acceptance", I think, people go through/experience some kind of process. Perhaps the process (simply to say) would be; people come to learn what is "tolerance" first before they could appreciate what is "acceptance".

But how do people come to learn, to understand and to know what "tolerance" is? Don't you think that people must understand each other first before they could tolerate?

And how could people understand each other when they don't even speak the same language?

hmmmm... not understanding each other means there are misundertandings... which may lead to....? suspicion? distrust? intolerance? non-acceptance?

So... common language is indeed a key to nation building.... common language is one of the tools to unite people.

Anybody has any idea what is the common language for Malaysians?

PM Najib, can you help me here? Well, for one thing I certainly cannot instruct the Minister in charge of press, printings, official communications and correspondences, bill boards, public displays and advertisements, signage, commercial banners etc to mind our own National Language in accordance to the provisions of the Federal Constitution and the Language Act. You have the power PM Najib, including warning the hypocrite-me to stop blogging in English !!! he..he..he...

Wow! my socio-politic itch is gone !!! hurray !!! yea !!!

I will stop right here, right now!
next please !

Kenn informed me that Malaysia-Instinct.com (MIc) has published the article here. Kenn believes MIc has reproduced my previous article titled "Do We Understand Each Other". I think Kenn has some grounds to believe so because:-

1. The same title

2. The last part the article ("Enemy In-sight") was my own experience when I sat for an exam, English paper, very long time ago.

That "Bush-Condi" joke was forwarded to me quite a long time ago (I mentioned "email vault" in my previous post). Save for the images in spicing up the joke, which I sourced from the net, I myself do not know who was the original author of the "Bush-Condi" joke. The author could be one of these (about 829,000) search results, if you google for it.

Oh well, it is not "giving the credit where it is due" that really matters for me in the case, but MIc had just missed to publish the real message that I wanted to get across in the first place! The first part of the article which carried the message "common language is a key to nation building" is what matter more than the "Bush-Condi" joke. If you asked me, MIc should not leave out that part, the real message!. Maybe in this case, MIc should get some advice from Kembara Politik, who did it right when he/she wrote:-

"Gelak, gelak juga... tapi pengajarannya kenalah ambil"

(Enjoy the laughs... but do take heed of the lesson as well)

More examples to do it right, perhaps, here, here and here, where all of them had mentioned the source (by giving proper credit), where the materials are being sourced from.

I just want to spread the words which are quite similar to what blogger.com caution us whenever we want to make use of something which do not belong to us. I too, want to keep on reminding myself on this.

Blogger.com says this:-

"Remember: Using others' images on the web without their permission may be bad manners, or worse, copyright infringement."

MIc also have this at the bottom of their page, haven't they?
"Copyright © 2009 Malaysia-instinct.com All Rights Reserved."

Help me to spread the words here MIc, maybe one day Jebat Must Die will find it appropriate to list MIc in his/her blogroll as requested by one commentator named pj Moorthy. Let us contribute a little something to help maintain the high level of ethic. Indirectly, I am promoting/marketing Malaysia-Instinct.com, am I not Mr. pj Moorthy? Anyway, Kenn has listed Malaysia-Instinct.com in his ...L I S T E D !!! (check out the section titled "NEWSROOM", pj Moorthy!)

UPDATE 17/11/2009 : Kenn has delisted MIc from ...LISTED !!!

Okay, the two things are done! No more itch!

Before I sign off, I would like to "market" something too.. he...he...he...

1. If you like any part of this blog, please thank me by signing this petition here. To learn more, click the logo at the side bar, above which it says "To build a nation, build a school - Tagore"

2. I want to thank Kenn too. Kenn needs your voice to support the call for "Single Stream Schools". Click here.

Now, should I or should I not stick on to just Rumi, M. Nasir, weird stuff and the likes all the times  from now on ?

Do We Understand Each Other?

Gosh! I love music !!!. Music speaks to many, but with a language only unique to one! Many hear, one listens! Oh! Let us get our feet firmly down to the ground now...

Sometimes, when we speak to each other, even when using the same, common language of the tongue, there still bound to be misunderstandings. What more if we were to speak in different languages ? That is why it is very important to have a single, common National Language. Common language is the key to Nation building.

We want to understand each other, don't we?

Enjoy this, another one from my email vault.. he..he..he..

Hu Jintao was named chief of the Communist Party in China.
image credit : mirzaee

SCENE: The Oval Office. George Bush and Condolezza Rice.

image credit : imageenvision

George: Condi! Nice to see you? What''s happening?

Condi: Sir, I have the report about the new leader of China.

George: Great. Let's hear it.

Condi: Hu is the new leader of China.

George: That's what I want to know.

Condi: That's what I'm telling you.

George: That's what I''m asking you? Who is the new leader of China?

Condi: Yes.

George: I mean the fellow's name.

Condi: Hu.

George: The guy in China.

Condi: Hu.

George: The new leader of China.

Condi: Hu?

George: The Chinese?

Condi: Hu is leading China.

George: Now whaddya?asking me for?

Condi: I'm telling you Hu is leading China.

George: Well,I'm asking you. Who is leading China?

Condi: That's the man's name.

George: That's whose name?

Condi: Yes.

George: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?

Condi: Yes sir.

George: Yassir? You mean Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.

Condi: That's correct.

George: Then who is in China?

Condi: Yes, sir.

George: Yassir is in China?

Condi: No, sir.

George: Then who is?

Condi: Yes, sir.

George: Yassir?

Condi: No, sir.

George: Look, Condi. I need to know the name of the new leader of China. Get me the Secretary General of the U.N. On the phone. I bet he knows.

Condi: Kofi?

George: No, thanks.

Condi: You want Kofi?

George: No.

Condi: You don't want Kofi.

George: No. But now that you mention it, I could use a glass of milk. And then get me the U.N.

Condi: Yes, sir.

George: Not Yassir! The guy at the U.N.

Condi: Kofi?

George: No, milk! Will you please make the call?

Condi: Call who?

George: Who is the guy at the U.N .?

Condi: Hu is the guy in China.

George: Will you stay out of China?!

Condi: Yes, sir.

George: and stay out of the Middle East! Just get me the guy at the U.N!

Condi: Kofi?

George: all right! Light with sugar. Now get on the phone.

image credit : schooldistrict20

(Condi picks up the phone.)

Condi: Rice here.

George: Rice? Good idea. And a couple of egg rolls, too.

And perhaps that was how Mr. George Bush reached some of the decisions during his tenure as the President of U.S.A.

And if I remember it correct, this one was a part of an exam's question, long time ago :-

An army base camp commander received specific order from the H.Q.'s Commanding Officer to report any activity of the enemy prior to taking any action. This was during the Japanese invasion of Malaya.

The scout unit spotted the movements of Japanese's soldiers and went back to the camp to report. Upon getting the information, the base Commander promptly radioed the H.Q., informing:-

"Enemy in-sight, Sir !"

After a short while, the H.Q. issued an order for the base Commander to retreat to Singapore, abandoning the camp by burning everything, not letting the enemy to make use any of the facilities or supplies left behind.

Even though puzzled by the order, the base Commander went ahead to carry out the order.

Only much later that  the base Commander learned the H.Q.'s Commanding Officer thought he had heard this:-

"Enemy inside, Sir !"  

Like This ! Like This !

TAM DALYELL, one of the blog sites I regularly visit, wrote the following comment in responding to one of his readers:-

"It's like the The Night asking The Day when it dawns, "Where did your light come from? whereby The Day snuffs its light out, answering "If you can tell me where the light, has gone to, I'll surely tell you where it comes from."

It caught my attention because I remember teasing my now-adult-nephew quite similarly to what Tam Dalyell had written above. I lighted up a match stick and held up the flame to my nephew's face. I then, puffed it out.

"Tell me, where has the flame gone ? I'll give you 50sen if you can answer it..".

The 50 sen "prize-money" went up to RM1, then to RM5 and finally to RM50. At the end, my nephew gave up. The thing is, I also did not know what to tell ..... ha! ha! ha!

With that, I would like to dedicate here, one of the poem from Jalaluddin Rumi..

     

"LIKE THIS !"

(Jalaluddin Rumi)

If anyone asks you how the perfect satisfaction of all our sexual wanting will look, lift your face and say,

Like this ! (image credit : fotolia)

When someone mentions the gracefulness of the night sky, climb up on the roof and dance and say,

 



Like this ? (image credit : imageshack)

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is, or what "God's fragrance" means, lean your head toward him or her. Keep your face there close,

(image credit : acclaimimages) Like this ! 

When someone quotes the old poetic image about clouds gradually uncovering the moon, slowly loosen knot by knot the strings of your robe,

(image credit : thebsreport) Like this ?

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead, don't try to explain the miracle. Kiss me on the lips,

Like this !  Like this ! 

(image credit : down-bedding-delights)

                                             

  When someone asks what it means to "die for love," point

(image credit : ghostwritersandy) here ! 

If someone asks how tall I am,

frown and measure with your fingers

the space between the creases on your forehead.

This tall ! (image credit : scientificamerican)

 The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns. When someone doesn't believe that, walk back into my house.

   Like this ! (image credit : tvdsb)

I am a sky where spirits live.

Stare into this deepening blue,
While the breeze says a secret.

Like this ! 

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.

 



Like this ! (image credit : somersetkyobits)

How did Joseph's scent come to Jacob?

Huuuu....... 

(image credit : deviantart)

How did Jacob's sight return?

Huuuuu....... (image credit : netgautam)

A little wind cleans the eyes.

(image credit : qis.net) Like this ! 

When Shams comes back from Tabriz,

he'll put just his head around the edge of the door to surprise us.

Like this !! 

(Version by Coleman Barks, "Like This", Maypop, 1990)

Known by the Names

I've got this in my mail box today...

20 Most Unfortunate First and Last Names ...

Imagine how hard life can be sometimes for these people, especially when they are professionals… But at the same time, if they didn’t change them till now, it means that they know how to deal with different difficult situations that their names can cause.

1. Dick Hyman

2. Dick Payne

3. Professor Fuck

4. Dr. Cockburn

 

5. Anurag Dikshit

6. Coach Sally Mangina

7. Representative Dick Ball

8. Dr. Harry Beaver

 9. Dr. Dick Chopp

 10. Yolanda Squatpump

11. Ima Hogg

  



12. Peter Enis

  










13. Dr. Harry Johnson

14. Anita Dick

 15. Professor Assmann

 

16. Dr. Pornsak

  










17. Dr. Dick Weiner

18. Dr. B.J. Hardick

19. Ben Dover

20. Sheriff Mike Hunt