Wednesday 23 April 2008

Exam preparations

i'll be facing my final a-levels exams in a few weeks and i believe its time for me to allocate more time to my studies(what else could u expect from a person does loads of last minute stuff?) believe it or not is of course is a personal choice,regardless,i feel this is a thing i have to do (this really do not occur that often)so i'll try to keep my time spent on blogging at a minimal so expect little if no updating for the upcoming 2 months. i might be back in mas and start looking for work on the 27th june or a week later at most depending on my situation.i apologise to those who visit my blog expecting to read something new in the coming 2 months just to find nothing has change. byeee

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Reply: kyd and pau, and sumthing else

i had a feeling(just a feeling) that when i wrote that entry a few days ago, there will always be people who have other views,ideas etc about it. some one even went as far(or near,depending on how u look at it) as to give a long comment which made the entry longer than it actually is. regardless,if ure reading this, i really appreciate ur thoughts and views on the matter. i really didnt want to do this reply in the first place but after thinking it through,i might as well just do it for a reason i dare not tell(i know what ure thinking,its ego,pride bla3,well think wtv u like, i'll just accept the fact that some ppl are so negatively minded..look whos talking).

this is gonna look unbalance seeing that i am the one holding the pen(the author of the blog laa) but there are truth in my words if not all of em are true(please do correct me if i'm wrong). Dr. Frank M. Sacks of Harvard Medical School's Channing Laboratory in his experiment which can be found in Aug. 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, has proven,i repeat PROVEN that eating meat can cause negative health effects which in other words is BAD. however, just because it is bad,does not mean that its no good. Meat and oxygen are just examples of how good things can be bad if u look at another angle.if one argues that cigs are always bad for you then how bout soft drinks or red meat?vehicles running on fuel if u think bout it,they have exhaust fumes that are dangerous to ppl and environment,if i used the same argument u used for second hand smokes, cars running on petrol and airplanes could actually be haram.

Almost if not everything in this world as we know it has its pros and cons. in the book the logic of life written by Tim Harford, he agrees with Von Neumann and Chris Ferguson among others that people act rationally when they do sumthing(i really enjoyed reading it,have ago if u have the time).based on this understanding, if people smoke then those ppl must have calculated(either conscious or unconsciously) that the pros out weigh the cons. i quote

danial syafiq said...
spot on fiqss. wanted to comment exactly the same thing. i mean wtf? whats the good point of smoking? come on, ill belanja the person who can at least come out with 3 plus sides of smoking. =/
21 April 2008 05:32

i am gonna give u ur 3 reasons(although there are more,i just wanna keep this brief) so u can belanje me when i get back unless of course its wrong.
1)Smoking lowers Parkinson's disease risk
Evan L. Thacker from Harvard School of Public Health and colleague reported in the March 6th issue of Neurology, compared to people who had never smoked and were considered to have "normal" Parkinson's disease risk, former smokers had a 22-percent lower risk of Parkinson's disease and current smokers had a 73-percent lower risk.
2)Reduces the risk of Breast Cancer
Jean-Sebastien Brunet, lead author of a study being published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, that the incidence of breast cancer was 54 percent lower among heavy smokers than among nonsmokers.
3)Less risk of Alzheimer
In an article in The Times of London (9/7/93), Dr. James Le Fanu provided an examination of the research on smoking and its apparent protective effect for certain diseases. Dr. Le Fanu stated unequivocally: "Smokers have a 50 per cent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's--and the more smoked the greater the protection."
I have to point out that all these arent the opinion a 19 year old but opinions of established medical researchers in their own fields.

moving on to the point of whether it is makruh or haram. i have to say i just dont know.it could halal for all i know . its one of those things that u were told ever since u were young and u still believe to this day. i'm at the stage of my life where i like to question when it is in doubt .i'm still confuse though which is the right way to go, ok until its proven not ok,or not ok until proven ok..in this matter i would assume most ppl to say not ok until proven ok but in diff circumstances(eg court cases) if u think of it as innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent,i'll prob get a diff answer.

i really appreciate ur thoughts and views and i quote u kyd,who quoted the quran
Firman Allah s.w.t.: Allah menghalalkan bagi mereka segala yang baik dan mengharamkan bagi mereka yang buruk-buruk.
(Al-A'raf : 157)
i am not an Islamic scholar but i think it is safe for me to assume that most of us if not me alone, dont know to what extent is baik and buruk2,i have nvr heard that its been specified in the quran(do tell if it is).eg, most would say the act of killing is wrong but when its extended to killing as a result of defending ones life is it different?lets say he can defend himself witout killing the other person but still kills the other person?..what bout if he is able to defend himself witout killing the person but chooses to kill the person so that he wont be killd if ever he is caught of guard? theres so many different ways to look at sumthing so deciding whether its good or bad depends on how u look at it.

i have to stress now that if anyones a non smoker and reads this and wants to start smoking(dont think that'll ever happen,but just in case)please dont.i didnt write this to encourage ppl to smoke, just wntd to point out that there could be other views on it. however both me and the ppl i quote can be wrong,Einstein once said " If the facts dont fit the theory,change the facts". and please bear in mind,although i am giving proof of smokes can be good,it does have negative effects. but most ppl probably know what they are so no need to say a word. i'll try not to do another reply on this particular topic even if sumone writes(types) a 400 word essay comment underneath cos this is one of those things that can be dragd on and i prefer to do simple entries like my life and what i do. apologies to both kyd and pau for referring to their comments witout their consent. on that note,till i find something better and simpler to blog about,later

Saturday 19 April 2008

Smokes are Haram?

back in malaysia,i got a couple of friends who are some what anti-smokers(they dont say it out loud but we know they are) and are really confident that smoking is 'haram'(banned). just recently,i read a blog about someone who just read a 'fatwa' that states smoking is haram. a fatwa for those who didnt know is is a religious edict or a ruling on Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar(yeah,i copied and paste) .

the argument given was the health issue(well one of the arguments). personally,i dont see how u can ban sumthing because it has health risk.just think bout it(if u have time to waste,that is),we could actually ban almost if not everything just on the basis that they're not good for ur health. too much oxygen aint good for ya.Pulmonary Oxygen Toxicity occurs when a person is exposed to high oxygen levels for over 16 hours in pressures of 0.5 bar or more. It occurs in progressive, overlapping phases. During the first phase, fluid floods into the tissues of the lung that are normally filled with air. Bleeding then occurs between the alveoli, destroying capillaries and epithelial cells. Tissues begin producing in an attempt to heal the area. This causes thickening and scarring of the lungs. (another copy and paste).i'll be doing alot of copy and paste for this one cos they're creditable data,and at the moment are facts.so since oxygen kills,why cant be ban it?owh yeah,i forgot,we need it to breath and if we dont,we die . even so,ppl could argue that its vital for our lives so it can be accepted.how bout eating meat? Meat causes the digestion to work hard and this is not efficient. To breakdown food in the body requires a process of burning oxygen which is called oxidation. Oxidation is a process in the body that results in the production of free radicals. Modern science, by the preponderance of the evidence, believes 80 per cent or more of the damage to the body is the result of free radicals. The more difficult digestion, as in the case of digesting meat, the more oxidation is required to breakdown foods. The more oxidation, the more free radicals are produced, which leads to free radical accumulation. Accumulation of free radicals is not considered healthy. so if eating meat is bad for you,why dont we ban it?we can live as vegetarians.

if ure sayin its not as bad as smoking,well the fact remains it still is bad and who dictates the degrees of bad(ness) at which one can issue a fatwa to ban it. and the fact remains that it is deemd haram by a fatwa,not the Quran or a Sunnah.a few things bout fatwa that most didnt know:

There is a binding rule that saves the fatwa pronouncements from creating judicial havoc, whether within a Muslim country or at the level of the Islamic world in general: it is unanimously agreed that a fatwa is only binding on its author.

individuals are free to accept them, but Islam recognizes that extenuating circumstances may prevent it.

i got a couple more but this is getting long so i'm trying to cut it short.some of the things i copy and paste could be wrong(correct me if it is and please do explain how they are wrong) but based on the first one,it implies to the guy who issued the fatwa not every muslim in the world and to be fair to him,he probably knows more than i do(he did argue using the Quran,but then again the interpretation of the Quran differ to some scholars) but i refuse to believe smokes are haram.

act i could type more bout it but i dont want to cos i'm somewhat in the middle in this issue. i know my arguments states that smokings arent haram but i'm not sayin its not bad either.i believe that we are givin a choice in the matter and neither are wrong or right.as with everything,they r good points on smoking but theyre also bad ones,so i'm gonna settle on personal choice rather than anything else. just cos a few ppl think dont like it doesnt mean everyone else has to.


but then again,i'm only 19,wtf do i know bout anything

Friday 18 April 2008

1 Litre of Tears

i'm not gonna continue with my easter break just yet(this is some what more urgent,at any other time and mood,i'll nvr be able to blog bout it,i think)i'll do it when i have more time though,i promise. i'll start with a huge thanks to syaz who intro-d me to the japanese drama 1 litre of tears ,to syaz,when i finish the watching the whole thing(just about to move on to vol 10)i'll issue a 'u owe me 1o hours' notice for making me spend approx 10 hours just watching it(i dont care if its worth it,its still precious time)owh,and bare in mind i'll blame you if i get low grades and/or couldnt finish my work. to those in a blurr for not knowing what it is,where have u been ppl?!!!,actually, i cant blame u,its not in eng (although having eng subs) and due to the quantity of dramas we have at this current moment,its really easy to see y.to those who do know,dont say it,i know,i'm slow,u've seen it like ages ago but in my defense,i'm not really interested in tv series and the fact that i'm watching a drama series by itself is quite aamzing(to me at least).reckon i should do a brief summary bout it. basically,its about a girl who has a disease which cannot be cured,at a young age of 15 she finds out bout it and the story pretty much starts there.i'd type more bout it but as syaz would have said it,it'd spoil the story to those who are interested in watching it.if u ask for my opinion,i'll have to say there are a few dodgy scenes(eg vol 8 ,the ending bit, where the whole class ran after the main character and somehow decided to sing a song when they caught up to her,i skippd it of course,didnt interest me)but as an overall view,its alright.i told a friend of mine(well a few actually,but this one wasnt really encouraging),ans she thought i was 'jiwang'(i'm really sorry but i have no idea what the exact translation is but i would have thought 'cheesy' would be a good one,correct me if i'm wrong)for watching it. not gonna comment much on her views of how 'sweet' and 'jiwang' differ from one another but come on,although having a bit of a love story in it(actually,its one of the main focus) theres also a huge part on how she has to live her life.i was askd to give 10 reasons why she should watch it(i quote her,a lot of ppl has been telling me to watch it but i dont feel like it),i did what i normally do,i didnt give her any cos i know her.owh,she did ask me whether i cried watching it,i chose to remain silent cos a yes or no would give a lot more info bout myself than i would like to give out. i remember being told that a very dear friend of mine once lockd himself up in a room to watch cinta(a malay remake of an eng movie of 5 seperate love stories) and as he came out,they saw he was crying.not really surprising since a i saw ted cry whilst we were watching blood diamond. i have to strongly state here that it does not say that they're soft,instead it prob showd how bold they are at expressing their emotions and theres nothing wrong with that.i saw august rush last night and..well...it 'moved' me.too much info already...better stoip before i reveal more..till tomorrow?

Monday 14 April 2008

makeover

a bit weird aint it to start a blog with a picture of myself?just so that its clear,i didnt put put it up so that everyone in the world can see how warm i am(since i am neither hot nor cool).i dont normally take pics of myself but since i thought it was gonna be some kind of a historical moment for me,i might as well take a snap of myself.what i was aboutto do back then was sumthing i havent done for years if not a decade ago.before i reveal anything,heres a few important characters:
(excuse the pics with the wrong way up,too lazy to turn it around)


gabs,the guy who owns the damn thing


ted,the guy who persuaded me to do itjosh ,the guy who did it to menow,what i am about to blog would be a shocker.my sibs didnt want me to do it,most ppl dont think i'll ever do it and some would kill me if they knew.well ladies and gentlemen,i have shaved my head.shocking yes but believe that it is true.heres an after pic..
omg...i look sooooo weird.at first gabs told me that a 4 would be short but not too short but ted somehow persuaded me to go down to a 2.i'll put up a very funny pic of what happened somewhere between my past and present hair hopefully tomorrow when my bluetooth gets up and running but at the moment these are the only ones i can put up.still cant get over the fact that i've shaved my head(well josh did most of it but i did do the first stroke)hill keeps laughing at it although glass and seb thinks it looks really good(probably just to cheer me up).regardless, its not like i can do anything with it(glass did offer his cap) so i'll just have to live with it until it grows long.the only thing is that i got around 2 months to let it grow back before coming back to kl where homocidal friends would kill if they saw me.personally i dont know what to think cos i dont really care that much bout how i look.i'm always dull regardless whether my hair is long or short,it wont change anything in a large scale.i'm just gonna stop here for the day and mourn for my lost hair(since thats the only thing i can do).i'll do another one as soon as i find the time.