Gate = Bridge = Pass = Pax = Peace = Salam = Shalom = Taarak

Palesraeli Hadhari

lihat sabar, young padawan... Do not make me take a Jedi stance and draw out my Jedi Light Sabre Kris and wave it about menacingly!

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/this-is-a-kosovar-muslim-11372

The reason I was disappointed in the behavior of the Serbs (and not much more with the Montenegrens, Croats, Macedonians) was that I had such high regard for their rich, ancient cultural history. They had greed but no need to harm their neighbors.

of the innocent on all sides who died, al fatiha ~ blessed and rest in peace
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

for those interested, this is one path one might take, among many equally valid:
http://www.seasons-of-peace.net/opening/fatiha.htm

however, being, of nor calif, my singular responsibilities differ from imams ~ an example is that i don't count prayers, as there are never enough for those who lead, nor do i count the footsteps nor swimming strokes or breaths taken and given.

i do not support the nation of israel,
i do not support the nation of palestine,
i do offer my whole hearted but just symbolic support to de` caffienate krislamarina caliphate of palesrael, in peace, via resource allocation, manufacturing, trade, technology, etc. as chief executive officer (ceo) of the non-profit corporate caliphate, pro the dream maker program in the form noted as 'dream stars & desert islands' (dsdi), once i've found a lady and married, insyaAllah. Until then, i can only watch the suffering in silence, since i cannot claim this position if i'm solo, sad to say. i lost `my' princess to an imam, which is why i do not follow or submit to the imam, though i do not oppose them; they have their duties, i have mine, alhamdulillah.

اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭ al mustaqīm
guide us to the straight path ~ guide us along the arc of life


The Quran says:

“Let there be no compulsion in the religion: Clearly the Righteous Path is distinct from the crooked path.” (Quran 2:256)

The righteous or straight path is a smooth curvilinear arc, not jagged or crooked.
Of course, real life is bumpy, but the ideal is to go through it smoothly.

please note that straight = curved because earth is spherical in the space-time continuum, it is not a flat surface. an example of this, is the making of window glass: a puddle of molten glass must rest upon a puddle of molten tin, in order to have a consistent thickness, since both puddles, like the oceans follow the earth's curvature. in two dimensions (X, Y), the path is straight, in three dimensions (X, Y, Z) the path follows an arc, in four dimensions it follows an orbital cycle (X, Y, Z, T (T = Temporal)). life is fluid and therefore spherical and cyclical following planetary orbital seasons, through the temporal dimension of light years of time, not crystaline like a rock which cracks and erodes into alluvial fans or eluvium, therefore, the straight path is an arc, by definition. those who have been to the moon and outer space have verified this fact. earth is not flat land, it is curved. all paths are curvilinear made up of arcs. many do not understand this, and do not understand scientific theory of geology, ecology, biology, spatial geometry, etc. it is nature, it is the primal gift. sela. salud. salam. shalom.

on the other side

so far away ... je ne comprends pas


courage, diva, iloveurightoutloud through tears and fears,
cramps and cries, chores and snores, giggles and sighs...


both sides now: Joni Mitchell
lyrics/joni+mitchell/both+sides+now

Nice instrumental version by Sungha Jung: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yauNUxfQaHk

Oh poo! Replication of chemostat E coli

Dirty diapers and the beginnings of life

[Random selections from Carl Zimmer's blog The Loom]

"If you type in "Escherichia coli" into PubMed, the search engine for the National Library of Medicine, you get 253,128 scientific papers. Today millions of diabetics get their insulin from E. coli that carry human insulin genes.

So you might think there must have been some eminently rational plan to select E. coli to become the creature science knows best. But there wasn't. It was discovered by Theodor Escherich, a pediatrician. In 1885 he delivered a lecture announcing the discovery of a rod-shaped microbe in the diapers of healthy babies. He was struck by how fast it grew on all sorts of food--milk, potatoes, blood. Scientists in the early 1900s used it to study metabolism, but they also used a lot of other bacteria. It was one among many.

As the French E. coli biologist Jacques Monod declared, what is true for E. coli is true for the elephant (regarding reproduction)".

Larry Moran at Sandwalk blog: Carl Zimmer is among the very best—possibly the best—of the modern science writers. His new book Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life is going to be on sale May 6, 2008. I was mildly disappointed to see Carl repeat a common myth about DNA replication in E. coli on page 29.

http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/05/dna-replication-in-e-coli-problem.html
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/04/buy-this-book.html

Larry: Here's the problem. How can E. coli divide faster than it can replicate it's chromosome?

Me: (Probably completely wrong, since it's purely guessing) light-dark cycle as a factor in replication timing, ability to speed up dependent on if light-dark cycle is speeded up? The thing is, of course the light-dark cycle (diurnal-nocturnal, day-night) can't directly affect the gut bacteria, since they are inside the body. But is there a clock which synchronizes the GI tract according to a) body temp = activity, b) glandular secretion / biochemical stimulation via the eyes, skin, transparent fingernails etc.? Well I just wanted to throw that in at his blog comments.

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080522/full/news.2008.848.html

Here's Larry's solution: http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/05/dna-replication-in-e-coli-solution.html?showComment=1210535040000

It seems to me to be a tidal phenomenon, waves of replication of DNA daughters, making new ones before the old ones have fully separated, in the same way waves at the seashore will overlap one another. Well, that's cool, tidal is cooler than temporal clocks, possibly being subjective to solunar effects hypothetically. I'd like to know the wavelength and frequency of these waves, and compare to heart rate and oceanic waves, might be a correlation there.

Carl's post-operative articles at his blog, the loom, scroll down to see his top 5 questions about E coli and his book Microcosm:
http://scienceblogs.com/loom/

and his honest admission of his booboo: "Meanwhile, Larry Moran is going over the book with a fine-tooth comb and catching at least one mistake. Ouch. I knew I should have been more careful about how fast chromosomes replicate. Something to fix in the next printing..."

coolness for any biofreaks, right? hehe. Nature rules people's stools! ahaks.

Mothers Day * Hari Ibu

In memory of Byrde and her daughter Caryl (my mother), and appreciation for present & future moms. [oleh abang daud di nor qalif]

Mothers and Daughters

Without mothers and daughters, where would we be?
sitting in an empty boat, out on the open sea...
They make a cold cruel world a much warmer place
they deserve all our love and almost all of our space

It would be hard to find a trace
of a smile on a little boy's face
without mothers and daughters
a^m^a^z^i^n^g ~ g^r^a^c^e.

Well that's what teddy bears are for
when loved ones have gone through the door
Yeah that's what teddy bears are for
when loved ones have gone through the door
and that's what wings and prayers are for


[A gentleman's poetic reflections on Mothers Day, DDeden]
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Amazing Grace

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining like the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun

The lyrics are based on a prayer of King David (prophet Daud) in which he marvels at God's choosing him and his house. John Newton, the author of the lyrics to Amazing Grace, had a turning point in his spiritual life when a violent storm occurred one night while piloting a ship at sea, he realized his helplessness and concluded that only the grace of God could save him. My mom really liked this song, especially when accompanied by Scottish bagpipes and guitar, me too.

al fatiha ~ mama ~ rest in peace


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




http://hasni.blogdrive.com/
cari entry: Selamat Hari Ibu Wednesday, May 07, 2008

lost a friend and a hope

just one more day, xayang,

just one more day, saya seorang sendiri.

looking into your eyes, even so briefly, i believed.

fear, trust, innocent, honesty, humble, peaceful, kind, loving.

i'm so sad that we didn't have sons & daughters together.

i'm so sad that we didn't hold hands together gether.

i'm so sad that i never saw you again.





saya harap mazy dan anak dan suami sedang rasa yang baik dan sihat.

Protecting the herd, the flock, the school, the team

Imagination: *MUTHU & INTERVIEWER - FINAL PART*

Interviewer : "Just imagine you're in the 20th floor of a building and
it's on fire. How will you escape?"

Muthu: "It's simple.. I will just stop my imagination. "

[copied from a mirian duckie's blog]
***********************************************************************

Religion and imagination
http://scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts/2008/05/religion_and_imagination.php
Category: Evolution • Philosophy of Science • Religion • Social evolution
Posted on: May 5, 2008 10:04 PM, by John S. Wilkins

Blogging on Peer-Reviewed ResearchIn a piece reported on in New Scientist, Maurice Bloch has proposed another basis for religion: imagination. Because we can project ourselves and imagine the "transcendental" relation in social and personal relationships, we can imagine that there are agents not visible or present, he claims. The paper is also a good historical review of theories of religion, and makes the point that "religion" is not well defined as a topic of investigation of explanation.

Like many others, Bloch infers that religion is a byproduct of things that were evolutionarily adaptive, such as cognitive skills. His critics also think there are other aspects of evolved psychology that apply here, like "theory of mind", or the ability to infer that others have minds like our own, which underwrites the tendency to see agency in natural processes:

Chris Frith of University College London, a co-organiser of a "Sapient Mind" meeting in Cambridge last September, thinks Bloch is right, but that "theory of mind" – the ability to recognise that other people or creatures exist, and think for themselves – might be as important as evolution of imagination.

"As soon as you have theory of mind, you have the possibility of deceiving others, or being deceived," he says. This, in turn, generates a sense of fairness and unfairness, which could lead to moral codes and the possibility of an unseen "enforcer" - God – who can see and punish all wrong-doers.

A recent paper [pdf] by Shariff and Norenzayan claims that humans who believe they are being watched in their social transactions are (marginally) more likely to cooperate rather than cheat; another argument is made by Barbara King, that religion derives from the faculty of empathy that social apes must have. There are a plethora of explanations of "religion".

"But it seems to me that we need to be more careful in our choice of explananda. These different explanations explain different things. A principled division of things to be accounted for would resolve much confusion. As it happens, I'm proposing just that in a talk I'm giving at Sydney Uni Philosophy Department tomorrow at 3 - if you are in town, come by and hear me."

silly mat salleh di bule land

omg hilarious answers to this Brit's interrogation. Brilliance + Ignorance.

Q. What is the religion of Israel?
A. "Diaperhead?" [DD: WHAT????]

Q. What is a mosque?
A. "Some kind of animal?" [DD: alamak, mina ta paham soalan tu?? bukan nyamuk aise]

Q. Where is France?
A. (pointing to Australia) "here, south" [DD: hmm give up]

alles kaput

,,,,,,,,|'_____________________________________|________________________________`|.........







hey what you lookin at ??

.......................
........,\|/,........
........(O O)........
--oooo--(_)--oooo--
================

so then again ~*~ u so de

ne



so desu ne

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/cat+stevens/moonshadow_20028197.html

Codeword: Gold Show

gold show here today for Arts Alive (every 1st saturday of the month is Arts Alive, lots of open houses at art shops, theatres, coffee shops). Nice art pieces, abstract paintings and sculptures etc. My favorite was outside though, the beautiful sunny day. :) I stopped by Russian Innocence dome to see their creative icons, quite nice.

Golden Sunrise Saturday.










Morning has broken




Nature provide seed
for everyones' need
but not enough feed
for all of your greed

paraphrase: MGandhi

EARTHQUAKE!! [Earth-dance]

EARTHQUAKE!! Moderate earthquake rocks northern California

* A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook northern California on Tuesday
* The quake hit shortly after 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET)
* There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

(CNN) -- A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook a rural part of northern California on Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The moderate quake hit shortly after 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET) about 11 miles east-southeast of Willow Creek, which is about 190 miles northwest of Sacramento.
===============

Yup, we got hit by a little quake. I thought it was a 5.1, but it was a 5.2.
Felt like surfing a medium wave. We had a smaller one yesterday, just a hiccup. Willow Creek (home of sasquatch/bigfoot) is a few miles from here.

Now I am repainting the ceiling and gallery walls. Always something to do... scraping, then sweeping, then spackling, then priming, then painting...

update: ok priming the ceiling & window sills all done, and painted all the cube pedestals "old whisper white" color (kind of yellow-pink ivory shade) and spot painted the table and cabinets. Looks lots better than before, definitely. Katy & the ladies are hanging their artworks now for the Gold show. No more quakes for a while hopefully, insyAllah. Shilpa stopped by, namascar. Ok. Had coffee at McD. So what's next? diary entry? nothing. journal? nada. nuther day. nanti tido.

jom !

Dr Taj Hargey, chair of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford:

"The only requirement is that when women swim they should be modestly clad."

"The Prophet Mohammed pbuh is recorded as saying that it is a Muslim's duty to learn to swim as it could save his or her life".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's right girls, learn to swim, in a safe way. But ... even gorillas and orangutans can swim. (The pygmy chimpanzees seem scared to swim) Only HUMANS can dive and backfloat, so better learn that too! I can teach if u want. Jangan jadi chimpanzee oy.

even the desert camel can swim... and the long tailed macaque and big nose proboscis monkeys can swim better ... pompuan muslimah jom ... dive like the beautiful dolphin, backfloat like the happy sea otter hehe jangan takutleh jom jom

selamat selam jom kita berswimming & berdiving & berbackfloating

Art Gallery painting day

today, i scrape the ceiling of the art gallery, then sweep the floor, then paint the ceiling with latex primer paint (cuz got rainwater stains and loose chips).

I finished the scraping and sweeping, take a break...But feeling sleepy, nak napping dulu.

update: finished half the ceiling, ran out of paint. Maniana.
2nd update: the others didn't paint the walls, so I did.

still got hundreds of newsletters to fold, better get busy...

Human biology

http://anthropology.net/2008/04/24/pardis-sabeti-in-the-most-recent-issue-of-science/

A lady Iranian anthropologist, Pardis Sabeti MD, PhD

http://anthropology.net/2007/07/31/anthropology-and-islam-call-for-paper/
Anthropolgy & Islam conference in China, papers, from Kambiz

squall season

[Jedi grand master Yoda prepare to cut the birthday cake]


epi brpday cik paan taicho chan ! :)

Volcano Kettle

One minute water boiler kettle, for fuel-efficient, quick "coffee or tea or mee" while on a fishing or camping trek.
http://www.eydonkettle.com/stormkettle.html (2 handed, aluminum, L & S, fry kit)
http://www.safariquip.co.uk/i_kelly_kettle.html (2 handed, aluminum, 2 and 2.5 pint)
http://www.thermette.com/thermette_how-to.htm (one handed operation, copper metal)

Just a coincidence, I just came back from McDonalds for a coffee, and happened to walk by a group of teens who stood around a small camp stove, which was actually a coffee can with a side handle, a central grate with wood pieces on fire, and ventilation holes beneath giving a draft, which made the fire flow upwards through the can's chimney. It had a resemblance to the thermette, but did not have a water container, it was just a stove. I had never seen one quite like that, though I've I've seen other "hobo stoves" made from coffee cans before. I like the kettles above, but the prices aren't cheap, the smallest and cheapest is the 1 pint kelly kettle for $75, a good investment for some traveling campers, hunters, fishermen, kayakers etc.

I've been trying to think of possible improvements to the design, but haven't come up with anything practical except possibly to make it a bit shorter, so as to reduce the bulkiness while carrying. Still considering other details. Seems there's a bit of waste heat going out the chimney which could be of practical use, eg. setting a pebble atop it to heat, as a foot warmer at night after evening tea. But then one could simply boil a bit more water and put it in a hot water bottle as well. Anyway, neat concept.

Transformers

Amazing change from owl to peacock to karate cat?. Haiyo!

How about this one?

Hijabgirl "Who is trying to stop her? What is her mission?" Changes from niqab to ninja faster than maggie mee can cook...
hijabgirl
godsninjas




Allah ya'atik al-afyah ~ God give you strength

[couldn't find pic of the pompuan muslimah version of ninja girl]

Brains and Bits (part deux)

Einstein 's Brain, Watson's Genome

follow up from John Hawks: Watson's DNA

home :: topics :: humor :: quotes :: rosalind-franklin-genome-watson-2008

The teaser to this post on Science Blog:

The next generation of genome sequencing has been published using the DNA of James Watson. I'll bet they used Rosalind Franklin's DNA as a test drive and didn't tell us.

(DD: ahaks! Good one JH! Watson & Crick discovered the geometrical structure of DNA, but not without Franklin's research)

Why do humans have big brains?

GEOFFREY MILLER is a man with a theory that, if true, will change the way people think about themselves. His idea is that the human brain is the anthropoid equivalent of the peacock's tail. In other words, it is an organ designed to attract the opposite sex. Of course, brains have many other functions, and the human brain shares those with the brains of other animals. But Dr Miller, who works at the University of New Mexico, thinks that mental processes which are uniquely human, such as language and the ability to make complicated artefacts, evolved originally for sexual display.

One important difference between peacocks' tails and human minds, of course, is that the peahen's accoutrement is a drab affair. No one could say the same of the human female psyche. That, Dr Miller believes, is because people, unlike peafowl, bring up their offspring in families where both sexes are involved in parenting. It thus behoves a man to be as careful about choosing his wife as a woman is about choosing her husband.

Both sexes, therefore, have reason to show off. But men and women will have different criteria for making their choices, and so the sexual-display sides of their minds may differ in detail.

Testing this hypothesis will be a long haul...
[Economist, Aug. 2007]
http://blogs.usatoday.com/techspace/2007/08/coffee-break--2.html?csp=34

(DD: Perhaps, but only if specific nutrients are present in the diet such as Iodine, Selenium, Omega 3 oils, etc. Else, cretinism, hypothyroidism, goitres occur.)

Brain scaling: “what rules differ across orders of mammals, and thus might account for phylogenetic variance across groups?” After doing some calculations, they found that if the same cellular scaling rules for rodents applied to primate brains, “a brain comparable to ours, with approximately 100 billion neurons, would weigh >45 kg and belong to a body of 109 tons, about the mass of the heaviest living mammal, the blue whale!” [Evo Fresno]

Hyper-link: how to make a link in a blog/comment

the link, as a simple word: "how"
Instructions on how to hyper-link. (Click on it)

how old are you

http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2


God made hands to hold in love, not to strike in hatred. My hands are empty.

oh nose!

In east Asian countries, many ladies get eyelid surgery, to make extra fold.
http://www.drmeronk.com/asian/asian-eyelid-photos.html

In Thailand, Indonesia many ladies have surgery to make bigger nose.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html


In Iran, many ladies have surgery to make smaller nose.
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/04/nose_jobs_in_iran.php

In Britain, other cosmetic surgeries are common, in US botox too.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/06/05/1212258982021.html

European hymen surgery
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/world/europe/11virgin.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp

Female circumcision surgery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting

I hadn't heard of this cosmetic non-surgical botox technique for reducing the protruding north Chinese 'square jaw' to a smoother cheek profile as in pic.
http://www.mirandaplasticsurgery.com/botox_for_jaw_reduction.html?gclid=CMDGlIfbhJQCFSMYagod1DE_XA


Different shapes and sizes. Plastic surgery to correct physical problems is one thing, but if only to make copies of famous people's noses is a bit ridiculous I think. But what do I know, I'm just a guy. Like I said to a friend, a girl is never more beautiful than when she is naked and leaving her mums tummy to join us. There is no makeup necessary, just a breath of fresh air and a little crying. Is she a hollywood model? No, she's a chubby wrinkly little mess, with a funny shaped skull and toothless and almost bald, some vernix and lanugo. Beautiful, eh? :) yup.

insyallah, i will be blessed too with a gift like that. alhamdulillah. peace be with you.

Sacred Biology: brains and bits

" Among the 17 tissues, the highest similarity in gene expression patterns was between human brain and testis, based on DDD and clustering analysis. Genes contributing to the similarity include ribosomal protein (RP) genes as well as genes involved in transcription, translation and cell division. Conclusions: Present results provide evidence to support the proposal that human testis and brain share the highest similarity of gene expression patterns."

http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?doi=10.1159/000076290


This surprised me, apparently testes and brains have some strong genetic similarities.


I was aware that during embryogenesis and fetal development IIRC, male gonads (testes) move internally from somewhere around the cephalic-cervical region (head-neck) towards the abdomen to the caudal-urethral region, producing a weak area susceptible to hernias. Is it possible that the testes are comprised of isolated homologous brain tissues, and are thus secondarily affected by bio-chemicals meant for the brain? Do treatments for brain disorders affect the libido? Do female ovaries also have brain-like tissue?

lost and found and lost and found...

"You don't know what you've got til it's gone"


From the song by Joni Mitchell, 'Big Yellow Taxi'

(I just happened to see a blogger's similar quote)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi
http://jonimitchell.com/musician/song.cfm?id=BigYellowTaxi
http://jonimitchell.com/research/g_entry.cfm?id=31


Joni is a Canadian Eurasian lady, she also wrote 'Both sides now', nice song.

Finance, sex, social status

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080405/ap_on_sc/finance_and_sex_10

"Stanford psychologist Brian Knutson, a lead author of the study, says it's all about the power of emotion and arousal and our financial decisions. The link between sex and greed goes back hundreds of thousands of years, to men's role as provider or resource gatherer to attract women, said Kevin McCabe, professor of economics, law and neuroscience at George Mason University, who wasn't part of the study."

There's a bit more to it...

a day aside

(I stowed away some posts.)