Click here. Ah, irama Pinakang, muzik tradisi kaum Momogun Kimaragang. Dulu pernah cuba-cuba belajar monitik do kulintangan tapi tidak sempat graduate. Tapi kalau mengulintangan dengan gitar, boleh juga!
Source: Bank Bunyi, Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
Ketika tengah memandu di tengah-tengah kesesakan teruk di Tambak Johor petang semalam, handphone tiba-tiba bergetar. Ada SMS masuk untuk menyampaikan berita...
Nampaknya, seorang lagi ahli komuniti akan menempuh hari besar. Khabarnya, bulan dua. Hmmm... tengah fikir-fikir sambil tengok-tengok kalendar. Mudah-mudahan semua perancangan berjalan lancar.
I went for a "drive-about" around the city of Singapore yesterday at a time when the island state was hit by a worsening haze situation. I managed to snap some pictures while I was on the wheel and here's one of them.
When the haze season is over, I plan to take another picture of this skyline, for a before-and-after the haze comparison.
Entah betul, entah tidak. Nampak macam betul, nampak macam bukan betul. Anyway, the person who claimed he stumbled on this creature is auctioning the carcass on eBay.
Relations between religion, in particular Christian and Islam, plunged almost to a new low last week after a mid-week remark by Pope Benedict XVI sparked anger and prompted a wave of protests around the Muslim world.
From the Middle East to Southeast Asia, the anger remained unabated over the weekend, with Muslim leaders around the world demanding that the Pope extract the controversial remark and issue a personal apology to the Muslims after he quoted in his speech a 14th century Christian emperor, referring to elements of the Muslim faith as 'evil and inhuman'.
According to the online version of Time magazine on Sept 12:
...in a riveting and provocative university lecture, the Pope explored the philosophical and historical differences between Islam and Christianity — a speech that would become the surprise centerpiece of a five-day visit that many had expected would be mostly just a walk down memory lane. [...]
He went so far as to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor's hostile view of Islam's founder.
"The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'"
Benedict added "I quote" twice to make it clear these were someone else's words. Nevertheless this reference was undoubtedly the most provocative moment of a provocative lecture. In a sense, explicitly including the Muslim prophet by name, and citing the concept of jihad, was a flashing neon signal to the world that the soft-spoken Pope intends to make himself heard clearly on this defining tension of our times." [Source: Time Online]
The Muslim reacted with anger but a word of "sorry" from the Pope himself on Monday has helped ease the tension although some say sorry was not enough.
Malaysia, the current chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), said it "can accept" the expression of regrets form the Pope:
"I think we can accept it and we hope there are no more statements that can anger Muslims," he (Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) told Malaysian journalists covering his working visit in New York for the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Abdullah said that when he mentioned the controversial papal comments in talks with US President George W. Bush earlier, the American leader responded that he respected Islam and viewed it as a religion of peace.
"When I touched on the matter during our discussions just now, I noted that it sparked intense reactions because the one who uttered it was the Pope himself. The Pope is not just any other person. That's why there has been much anger (on the part of Muslims)." [Source: Bernama)
So, what next? In another report, many Vatican experts in Rome regard the Pope's speech as "a mistake" and may endanger the live of Christians, in particular Catholics, living in Muslim countries.
"The West's relation with Islam is the most delicate issue facing our time. It is precisely for this reason that a religious leader like the pope should be very careful about what he says," Marco Politi, one of Italy's most respected papal watchers told Deutsche Presse Agentur [Source: M & C News]
Know what I think? I think the remark -- and the reactions and the refusal to accept the expression of regrets -- had let loose a much crazier monster in the dynamics of the conflict between the two religions and between the West and Islam.
This new monster, whose claws are much sharper than that of other monsters previously seen, would grow stronger each day as it is constantly being fed by the fiery expression of hatred from both sides.
Creatures like this one thrives on crisis and conspiracy, feeds on the gullible minds of overzealeous preachers and their brethren and spews out new offsprings each day to perpetuate and escalate the conflict and bring the abysmal relations further and further down.
Fortunately, mankind from all religions can still tame the monster if they wanted to -- by sobering up collectively to the reality there can never be a way for the six billion people in the world to embrace one, and only one, religion.
Once that is done, the creature would come of age and shed off some of the sharp claws and spew out less aggressive offsprings.
But that seems to be a lost dream at least on this very date, as angry reactions and expression of war and destruction continues on one side, and the suggestion that the "sorry" word was not really meant to express an apology, on the other.
On one side:
Al-Qaida militants in Iraq vowed war on "worshippers of the cross" and protesters burned a papal effigy yesterday over Pope Benedict's comments on Islam, while Western churchmen and statesmen tried to calm passions.
The statement by an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al-Qaida came after the Pontiff said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of a medieval quotation on Islam and holy war.
"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council. [Source: China Daily]
On the other side:
The Pope's response to the anger his statements sparked in the Muslim world was more offensive than the statements themselves. He apologised not for what he said, but for Muslims' failure to grasp the intended meaning.
That the Pope should have quoted from a Byzantine text on Islam is hardly surprising. The line of continuity between Emanuel Paleologos's conception of Islam -- quoted in the papal speech -- and Benedict's has never been severed.
The massive body of terms, images and narratives on Islam which the church inherited from the middle ages survives intact. There, Islam is depicted as a false creed propagated through violence and promiscuity, with Muhammad as scoundrel, magician, heresiarch, and precursor of the anti-Christ. [Source: Guardian Unlimited]
I fear that the clock has started to tick back to the past -- an anomaly which could trigger a chain of events that would untimately lead to the destruction of the universe's most intelligent creation. Us.
Tandek, Jambongan, Kota Marudu, Kudat, Tamparuli, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore. Not too far, not too near.
You want to do more with your picture but not having the right tools? Not to worry, why not try Picasa?
These are just some of the examples of how members of the Community could organise and edit their picture, change the colour tone, the sharpness, apply special effects such as black and white, sephia and many more.
Picasa, owned by Google, is definitely one of the better picture management tools I've discovered nowadays. The good news is, members of the Community can now download Picasa via the button "Organize your digital pics with Google's photo software" on the left bar of this blog.
According to the website: Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized.
Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures – you can email, print photos at home, make gift CDs, instantly share via Hello™, and even post pictures on your own blog.
Goole said that with Picasa, you can find the pictures you forgot you had. Picasa organises your entire collection while you watch, scanning the images on your computer and automatically sorting them by date.
Move and re-name pictures from inside Picasa. Want to clean up messy folders and move pictures around on your computer's hard drive? Simply drag and drop pictures from one folder in Picasa to another.
Picasa will make the change permanent after double-checking with you. Want to change a picture's filename from 671056398a.jpg to yourpreferredname.jpg? In Picasa, it only takes seconds to re-name one picture or a group of pictures.
Anyway, you can read the rest from Picasa homepage.
Gambar ini diambil dari blog Mickey's Corner. Sememangnya tokoh ini banyak mengingatkan saya kepada kisah-kisah lama -- kisah-kisah sewaktu membesar di antara sawah padi dan ratusan pokok kelapa. Perawakannya sederhana, malah lebih daripada sederhana, beliau sebenarnya bertubuh kecil.
Ketika saya dalam Tingkatan 3, kami berdiri sama tinggi dan duduk sama rendah. Ketika itu, saya sendiri bertubuh kecil -- lambat membesar mungkin kerana dipegunkan oleh kerja keras di kampung. Otogon ialah istilah bagi Momogun Kimaragang untuk menjelaskan fenomena ini. Tokoh ini, Sangi namanya, bukanlah lambat membesar. Sememangnya beliau telah lama berhenti membesar.
Sangi. Ya, Sangi. Saya menggelar beliau "tokoh" kerana walaupun beliau bertubuh kecil dan hidup dalam kekurangan, beliau juga dihormati orang sekeliling. Minta tolonglah apa sahaja, jika beliau ada kemampuan tenaga, beliau pasti akan cuba menolong.
Semasa kecil saya sering bergurau dan kadang-kadang mempersenda beliau kerana tahu beliau tidak akan ambil hati. Kadang-kadang saya sengaja bawa beliau beradu lumba lari. Kadang-kadang saya menang, kadang-kadang dia kalah! Heh heh!
Rasanya sejak ahli komuniti Masin Asin masih kecil, sehinggalah dewasa ketika ini -- walaupun beliau masih juga terus kecil -- setiap daripada ahli komuniti Masin Asin pasti mempunyai cerita dan pengalaman sendiri mengenai beliau. Saya juga tidak terkecuali daripada mengalami banyak kenangan lucu dek kerana karenah tokoh ini yang walaupun bertubuh kecil, tetapi kadang-kadang degilnya mengalahkan keadaan fizikalnya.
Misalnya, janganlah cuba-cuba beri beliau makan apa-apa hidangan yang mempunyai resepi telur ayam kerana katanya, beliau tidak akan sekali-kali memakan benda yang keluar dari tempat yang sama di mana tai ayam keluar. Heh Heh! Klasik! Beliau juga tidak memakan makanan berkicap kerana, kata beliau, kicap dibuat daripada darah. Heh Heh Heh! Memang klasik!
Suatu ketika saya pernah bertanya beliau, tidak bolehkah beliau berhenti menyedut rokok daunnya itu. Dengan wajah "selamba jack", sambil menyedut rokok daunnya, beliau menjawab, "Aa po ma kaakan sangadau, kada nopo 'ot amu kosigup" (Tidak makan satu hari pun tidak apa asalkan dapat menikmati rokok daun). Beliau juga berkata "Nga kon ko nunu nunu songsigup. Subai ko sigup do kampung. Amu tantu oku do sogirit, amu apa'ang" (Tapi bukan sembarang rokok, mesti rokok kampung (rokok daun) juga. Saya tidak berapa suka sogirit (cigarettes) sebab tidak cukup pa'ang (power)".
Ini adalah antara ungkapan yang masih terngiang-ngiang dalam ingatan. Saya rasa, isi ba'ai palastik (beg plastik) biru dalam gambar ini tidak lain dan tidak bukan adalah bekalan rokok daun. Tidak syak lagi.
Pada tahun-tahun 70-an dan 80-an dahulu, apabila ada majlis keramaian dan apabila ada air tapai dihidangkan, dan beliau ada bersama, hah, siaplah semua orang, sebab dia pasti akan membuka topik debat kegemarannya -- ong ikau, nunu tabanar, nasip ko pikiran (pada pandangan awak, apa yang menentukan hidup kita -- nasib atau daya fikiran?)
Tak kiralah macam mana, atau berapa ramai, orang cuba meyakinkan beliau bahawa daya fikiranlah daya penentunya, beliau akan terus berdegil dan mempertahankan bahawa nasib adalah penentunya. "Umbalai obo kumaraja, nga ong aso no nasip, ih tongo parai nga oruyow do tadau ataupun (pinjam bahasa Melayu ni) ara'ag do liyud" (Cubalah kau kerja, tanam padi ka, apa-apa sajalah tapi kalau tiada nasib, padi kena kemarau la, ataupun kena banjir la..."
Kadang-kadang ada orang yang geram sebab beliau enggan menerima apa-apapun hujah daripada kalangan mereka yang berpihak kepada "pikiran". Tapi akhirnya debat itu berakhir begitu sahaja, tiada pemenang dan tiada jawapan.
Tidak tahulah sekarang ini sama ada debat itu masih berterusan. Mungkin tidak lagi... kerana banyak yang sudah berubah sejak itu dan kesempatan untuk memanjangkan debat itu kini tiada lagi.
I've changed the template again. I plan to tweak it further and thought that I've better start with a Blogger default template.
I guess this will the final template change.
Somehow along the way, most members of the Masin Asin Community blog have gone on a hiatus. I wonder what were the reasons but I can only guess that some have lost interest in blogs. Probably there were other reasons, like not having the time to blog regularly.
Or perhaps this blog has lost its focus and no longer serving its purposes. Perhaps this blog has become too personal over the past couple of months that sharing stories online was no longer appropriate.
But I still believe that blogging is the easiest way to share stories online. Let's do it again. Let's blog again.
I encourage all of you Masin Asin Comunity bloggers to make an effort to post a short entry, if not on weekly basis, then perhaps once in two weeks will not be too difficult. I would like to hear from you again. I would like to read your stories again, whatever it is... politics, religion, arts, education, economics, literature, photography, about our kids growing up, about the country, the district, the village, anything you might like want to write.
Minggu lepas saya telah membuat eksperimentasi dan meletakkan iklan Google dalam blog In-Between Points dan juga dalam blog Masin Asin. Saya nak tengok betulkah ada faedahnya meletakkan iklan Google dalam blog.
Untuk melihat faedahnya, saya galakkan mana-mana ahli komuniti untuk mengklik pada mana-mana iklan yang ada pada kedua-dua blog itu. Tak perlu buat apa-apa, cuma klik sahaja, tak kiralah berapa kali sehari.
Ahli-ahli komuniti juga boleh meletakkan iklan pada blog masing-masing, cuma barangkali agak sedikit sukar untuk mendapatkan iklan yang menarik jika tiada entry dalam bahasa Inggeris. Sesiapa yang sudah meletakkan iklan pada blog masing-masing, bolehlah kita bertukar-tukar klik. Bagaimanapun, janganlah terpengaruh sangat dengan apa yang disebut dalam iklan itu. Yang penting, jika mahu lakukan apa-apa untuk menerima tawaran dalam iklan itu, maklumkan dahulu supaya tidak terperangkap dengan apa-apa tawaran itu.
Tak perlu buat apa-apa sebenarnya, hanya klik sahaja pada beberapa iklan yang ada. Itu sudah memadai.
Nampaknya ada trip ke KL lagi, dari 21 - 29 Julai untuk tugas-tugas berkaitan Mesyuarat Menteri-Menteri Luar Asean Ke-39 di KLCC.
Nampaknya, sibuk memanjang lagi...
Sebahagian daripada pemandangan bandaraya Singapura...
Semalam, 11 Jun adalah hari terakhir masa sibuk bagi tugas-tugas yang berjadual di republik ini. Hari ini, keadaan pulih seperti sedia kala dan tugas-tugas seharian berlangsung seperti biasa...
Hujung minggu ini, akan ke KL selama 4 hari -- tiba di KL pada petang 18 Jun. Malam free. Isnin hingga Rabu, mesyuarat memanjang di ibu pejabat mengenai soal-soal "memperkasakan" organisasi. Semua ketua-ketua dari seluruh negara serta dari Singapura, Bangkok dan Jakarta dipanggil untuk memberi sumbangan idea-idea.
Sepanjang di KL, duduk kat Hotel Putra, di Jalan Tun Razak, dekat dengan perpustakaan negara. Siapa-siapa ahli komuniti yang ada di lokasi berhampiran, bolehlah singgah. Sunday malam free, Monday malam ada dinner sampai jam 10.30pm, Selasa malam (20 Jun) free. Bolehlah datang lepak-lepak, teh tarik kat mana-mana gerai atau tak pun, boleh juga saya naik teksi cari korang, kalau jarak tak jauh sangat.
Ok. You have my contact number -- aso iso duo, walu tolu aso walu siyam aso aso!
Petang 21 Jun, pulang semula ke negara Singa dan kemudian selepas itu, rasanya mahu berehat selama seminggu. Dah tak larat kerja dah, kata orang Malaya.
Minggu depan di negara Temasek ini, sekolah masih cuti. Sekolah hanya buka 26 Jun ini. So, nampak gayanya bolehlah rehatkan mental yang sudah teruk diperah dan jika diperah terus pun, tak ada lagi idea yang akan menitis keluar.
Sementara itu, blog ini menanti dengan penuh minat perkembangan dari tanah air. Rasanya Mick akan update dalam blog perkembangan-perkembangan itu.
Selain itu, blog ini juga akan cuba extract gambar-gambar yang ada dalam blog komuniti Masin-Masin dan poskan ke dalam album Masin Asin Flickr.
Sememtara itu, ucapan selamat untuk semua. Juga tahniah untuk ahli komuniti yang mendirikan rumahtangga dan yang mengikat pertunangan baru-baru ini...
Hari ini saya berpeluang untuk berbual dengan ibu dan saya bersyukur apabila diberitahu ibu dibenarkan pulang selepas seminggu menerima rawatan di hospital.
Semoga semua sihat sejahtera selepas ini...
Ingin membeli kamera digital? Tunggu dulu. Baca dahulu pengalaman seseseorang (iaitu sayalah) yang dua kali tersilap beli kamera digital. Bukan silap sebenarnya, cuma terlalu awal membeli kamera.
Jika saya tunggu beberapa bulan lagi, pasti saya akan dapat kamera yang cukup baik untuk keperluan jurugambar amatur. Sekarang ini, kamera yang saya idamkan ialah:
1. Mempunyai "super" zoom (sekurang-kurangnya 12x optical plus 4x digital).
2. Mempunyai auto dan manual control.
3. Ada continuous shot (sekurang-kurang 2.5 frame per second)
4. Gambar yang tajam dan penuh dengan detail.
5. Sekurang-kurangnya 5 megapixel.
Kamera yang boleh memenuhi keperluan ini cuma empat: Canon Powershot S2 IS, Panasonic DMC-FZ7, Sony Cybershot H1, Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5.
Antara semua itu saya pilih Canon S2 IS. Wai sudah beli model ni, dan berpuas hati. Bagaimanapun Canon baru sahaja mengeluarkan upgrade kepada S2 IS dengan model terbaru Canon S3 IS. Harga dalam RM1,650 kalau tak silap. Antara penambahbaikan ialah:
1. Mempunyai "super" zoom (sekurang-kurangnya 12x optical plus 4x digital) (sama)
2. Mempunyai auto dan manual control. (sama)
3. Continuous shot 3 frame per second (untuk ambil aksi-aksi pantas seperti sukan, etc)
4. Gambar yang tajam dan penuh dengan detail.
5. Kini dengan 6 megapixel.
6. Kualiti video yang bertambah baik.
Jika ada budget dan jika sudah ada dalam pasaran, S3 IS adalah pilihan tepat. Jika tidak, memadailah dengan S2 IS (yang hampir sama harganya tetapi biasanya datang dalam pakej memory card 512MB yang boleh memuatkan sehingga 300 keping gambar resolusi terbaik atau sehingga 3,000 keping untuk resolusi terendah).
Namun jika budget menjadi halangan, ada beberapa model lain tetapi tidaklah sama power dengan kamera-kamera di atas.
Untuk Mick, harap review di atas dapat membantu. Jika model kamera compact (kamera di atas bukan kamera compact), yang boleh dimasukkan dalam poket, juga ada beberapa model yang akan saya rekomenkan jika berminat. Harga kamera compact biasanya lebih rendah daripada kamera super zoom.
Jadual ketat menanti bulan Jun ini:
2-4 Jun: Sidang Kemuncak Keselamatan Asia, juga dikenali sebagai Dialog Shangri-La 2006, dihadiri menteri pertahanan dari Australia, Brunei, Kemboja, Kanada, China, Perancis, India, Indonesia, Jepun, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Filipina, Korea Selatan, Singapura, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam...
5-11 Jun: Kejohanan Badminton Terbuka Singapura
Arrggghh! Susahnya dapat cuti...
Setiap dari kita rasanya pernah belajar Sejarah. Dulu zaman sekolah menengah pada hujung tahun 1970-an, subjek Sejarah masih dikenali sebagai Tawarikh (dari perkataan Arab yang bermaksud tarikh, atau haribulan, kalau tidak silap).
Alkisahnya, semasa di Tingkatan Dua, adalah subjek Sejarah Tanah Melayu, khususnya yang merujuk kepada Perang Larut di Perak pada tahun 1840-an dahulu.
Tiada apa-apa yang melucukan daripada Perang Larut itu. Tetapi seorang kawan Momogun yang berasal dari sebuah kampung kira-kira 15km dari Masin Asin tiba-tiba tersengih-sengih semasa guru sedang mengajar mengenai Perang Larut.
"Apa kau ketawa?" tanya saya.
"Macam mana saya tidak ketawa...seluar pun ikut berperang".
Barulah saya faham kelucuannya. Ia berpunca daripada perkataan "Larut" yang hampir sama bunyinya dengan perkataan "ralut" yang bermakna "seluar" dalam bahasa Momogun. Kalau dalam bahasa Melayunya, ralut bermakna "seluar jerut".
Bercerita pasal larut, dulu masa Darjah 4, saya pernah pakai larut untuk ke sekolah, matching dengan baju seragam! :)
Baru-baru ini saya menghadiri Bengkel Matematik Untuk Ibu Bapa yang dikendalikan seorang Profesor Matematik dari National University of Singapore. Saya tanya beliau bagaimana budak sekolah rendah boleh menjawab soalan yang susah macam ni? Tidakkah ini sesuai untuk soalan tingkatan satu atau dua?
1. Tom and Gary ran in a race. When Gary had completed the run in 20 minutes, Tom had only run 5/8 of the distance. Tom's average speed for the race was 75 m/min less than Gary's.
a) Find the distance of the race.
b) What was Tom's speed in m/min?
Beliau kata, tidak. Soalan ini tidak sukar jika seseorang kanak-kanak itu dibiasakan supaya mempunyai kecenderungan terhadeap nombor (number sense). Beliau kata, jika susah sangat, buat grafik yang boleh membantu menyelesaikan masalah itu.
Menurut beliau lagi, kadang-kadang sesuatu soalan itu menjadi sukar kerana seseorang itu membacanya dengan sekaligus. Sepatutnya, kata beliau, pecah-pecahkan soalan itu dan fahami situasinya satu demi satu. Soalan ini, katanya, boleh dipecah-pecahkan seperti berikut:
Tom and Gary ran in a race: (Bayangkan Tom dan Gary berada di garisan permulaan, kemudian kedua-duanya berlari).
When Gary had completed the run in 20 minutes (Bayangkan Gary sampai di garisan penamat selepas berlari selama 20 minit)
Tom had only run 5/8 of the distance. (Bayangkan ketika Gary sampai di garisan penamat, Tom masih ketinggalan. Ketinggalan macam-mana? Adakah separuh jalan, lebih separuh jalan? Ok, Tom ketinggalan lebih separuh jalan).
Tom's average speed for the race was 75 m/min less than Gary's. (maksudnya di sini, tiap-tiap seminit, Gary mendahului Tom sejauh 75 meter).
a) Find the distance of the race. (Kalau Tom hanya dapat menghabiskan 5/8 daripada bahagian jarak itu, maksudnya ialah jarak yang memisahkan dia dan Gary ialah 3/8 bahagian daripada jarak itu).
b) What was Tom's speed in m/min? (Soalan ini hanya boleh dijawab apabila kita tahu jawapan bagi a) di atas)
Jawapan akan diberikan minggu depan. Sementara itu, ada siapa-siapa mahu cuba menjawabnya?
