Ooh ooh! I forgot to mention! Last Thursday, Tasneem (the wifey), delivered my new glasses. So it's out with my iconoclastic green plastic (watering can*) frames and in with my new Police gunmetal rimless spectacles. Woo-hoo!
I'm not sure whether it's because my prescription has changed or whether my new glasses are indeed new, but it certainly feels as if I can see much clearer in them.
Groovey! B)
* = cf. the Radiohead song.
The last few days have been reasonably linear and I don't really have any "news" to share.
I've been trying to make sense of this war, and trying to figure out what is actually happening out there in the "real world." I can't help but feel that we're being lied to by the media (on all sides of the socio-political-geographical spectrum). I don't blame them, however (Chomsky gives a good analysis for their motivations).
With all the propaganda targetting us, it's been refreshing to read Salam Pax's blog live from Baghdad, Iraq. Free of artificial flavourings and additives, his account of the events unfolding around him, as well as their causes and their affects, have a sense of heart felt realism and determination. I hope he survives the invasion of Baghdad.
Other blogs I'd like to recommend (if only because i've been glued to them over the past few days) are: Aziz's distilled commentary and analyses about anything political; and Christopher Allbritton's outlook of the war (unfortunately he's still "stranded" in the US). Good stuff.
My New Scientist subscription is coming to an end and I'm not sure whether or not I want to renew it. They've certainly been informative and enlightening to read over the past year, but they've also been time consuming, and I long to sink my teeth into something fictional, or non-fictional but more focused. Suggestions please!
I started Mullahs On The Mainframe for the Nth-time (where N>1) on the tube into work this morning. So far it's been an interesting but difficult read. I'll try to update you with my opinions as I get through it. Hopefully I'll finish it this time.
I wish I had more time to read. Must get back to work on that Delorian. :)
My sister, Tasnim, gave birth to a baby boy this morning at 05:38. Woo-hoo! Yay! :) It's her fourth one, so she's somewhat of a superwoman already. But I just wanted to share the joy of being an uncle... for the fourth time. ;)
I received the following mail from Travis today, which, although shocking, brought a big smile to my face. It's a shame I don't believe in luck. ;)
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 08:36:23 +0000
From: Yuen, Travis
Subject: feeling luck today?
Sometimes, you just have to feel lucky when nothing in particular happens to you.
I wear a seatbelt most of the time even when I am in a taxi. The only exception was this morning.
I was in a major car accident this morning. The "left handed drive" lorry literally crashed into the passenger seat (where I was). And the most exciting thing is: I can see the lorry coming and there was absolutely nothing you can do to stop it coming into your face. The impact actually is not that heavy. However, I still got thrown from the left seat to the right, just managed to stop getting thrown out of the window on the right. The taxi is pretty badly damaged on the left and rear. The foreign lorry driver does not speak a word of English but very cross.
Chinese saying: If you are not dead in a major accident, you will have a lot of good luck. So, I think I better go and get a lotto tonight.
Damn, I should have waited there and I could be on the telly tonight.
Pray for me. (the lotto, the lotto)
I received some interesting pieces of snail-mail this morning (for a change). As well as my weekly subscription to New Scientist (more about that later), and a letter from NTL informing us that we will soon be subscribed to their services (sorry BT), there was my monthly Amnesty International newsletter.
Together with the (aptly timed, considering that a state of war has just been declared) newsletter is a poster:
It looks like we're going to war. I wonder if anyone has considered the outcome if Saddam Hussain wins?
The general consensus appears to be that this outcome is not likely. I agree that the probability of Hussain winning a war against the Western Allies is very small, but it exists none-the-less. Furthermore, there have been other battles in history (i.e. Vietnam) where the technologically superior side have not won. So I don't think my question is baseless.
I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure what I mean by "wins" in this context. What if Hussain was to launch one of his weapons of mass destuction (WMDs) on a target such as Israel? Does that constitute "winning"? What about if he surrenders his WMDs but continues to stay in power to rule Iraq? Would that not be a defeat?
If Hussain were to win, what would it mean to the West? Moreover, how would the balance of power change in the Middle East? How would the World's opinion of the US as a military hyperpower change?
I don't know. But I should just clarify that Hussain winning the war does not necessarily equate with Iraq winning. And I find it absurd that we are still resorting to war given the N*103 years of history (where N>1) we have of ourselves, clearly indicating that this is a very bad thing.
We are the champions? Yeah, right...
So I wanted to write something about my Ashara Mubaraka 1424H, but since Yawm al-Ashura was last week, it all feels a little too late, and my thoughts and feelings about the event have become somewhat diffused. Ack.
Anyhow, I will just say that although I could not be in Mumbai, India, this year, with our Dai al-Mutlaq (TUS) my Ashara was particular spiritually uplifting because we not only heard, but also saw Aqa Moula's (TUS) waaz mubarak live from India. I felt like I was there, right in front of Moula, in Saifee Masjid, Mumbai, albeit without the heat and exhaustion. It was awesome!
From: Chambers Science and Technology Dictionary, Chambers, Cambridge, 1991.
epicycle (Astron.) The term applied in Ptolemic or geocentric astronomy to a small circle, described uniformly by the sun, moon, or planet, the centre of that circle itself describing uniformly a larger circle (the deferent), concentric with the earth.
Perhaps the hardest part of starting my own blog was choosing the name. I wanted something short and snappy, identifiable and distinctive, something I could relate with. Yet it had to sound cool too. ;) I found that all my initial choices, such as siphr (Arabic for zero), coincidence (my life is FULL of them) and potato (don't ask! ;) had already been taken. So had all the Greek letters and most of the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets too. Drat.
Anyhow, in the end I found epicycle (definition coming soon). I liked this word because of what it conveys, the idea of circular trajectories prescribed within circular trajectories. It kind of fits in with my philosophy of the circle of life (also coming soon -- watch The Lion King in the meantime), and has roots in the history of astronomy (yup, I'm a science geek -- sorry!). Plus it sounds cool. :)
So here we are: epicycle.
Tonight is the first night of the Islamic year of 1424 Hijri. Looking back on 1423H I feel a great deal of accomplishment. Spiritual accomplishment (I received a Mafsiyat), academic accomplishment (I completed my PhD) and personal accomplishment (I fell in love with Tasneem). I feel so overwhelmed with the fortunes of this past year, that I'm not sure how I would even begin to express my gratitude. But the strange thing is that although these accomplishments are relatively recent, I think I've already forgotten how my life was before them: What was it like before I entered the big bad world of work? How did I go about my days before I'd met Tasneem? What was my life like in 1422H?... Does not compute.
Anyhow, before this becomes a convolution of physics and philosophy (I'm not in the mood to elaborate upon either right now, sorry), I'd better wish you all a Hippy New Year...
Pehli Raat Mubarak!
I hope that all your wishes are fulfilled by the grace of Allah and the dua mubarak of Aqa Moula (TUS), and I hope that your 1424H is as good as my 1423H. If not, better!
Hey all!
So after reading Maria's blog (http://serendipity786.blogspot.com) I felt compelled to jump on the bandwagon and begin my own blog. Here it is. My main purpose for creating this blog is to provide a means to organise and record my random thoughts, and share them with the rest of the Universe. However, I've become so bad at communicating lately (at least by the medium of the web), that I'm not entirely sure how this blog will progress, how often I'll write, or even what it will all be about (does anybody ever really know what it will all be about?). In any case comments/criticisms/chocolate are most welcome.
Okey, so it's 12:30PM on Saturday 1st March 2003. I've just got up, checked my mail and am about to go have some breakfast (or should that be lunch?). Welcome to Epicycle -- circles within circles! :)
