Just For Fun

Face recognition merupakan satu bidang yang sangat menarik dan agak rapat dengan topik projek 3rd year aku. Masa tengah buat projek beberapa bulan lepas, aku pernah mencuba beberapa website yang buat face recognition secara online. Antaranya yang paling popular dikalangan pengguna facebook adalah dekat Heritage. Sebelum ni, keputusan yang diperoleh tak memuaskan. Aku tak kisah la muka sapa pun, sebab aku bukan suka sangat orang kata muka sama dengan orang lain. Oleh sebab baru-baru ni aku result yang agak ok, boleh la aku masukkan kat sini. Just for fun. Nothing significant. Tahniah kpd Hisyam, pandai ko observe.

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Lagu best??
Kak Idlan telah men'tag' aku suruh tulih fasal lagu-lagu nostalgik ketika aku berusia 18 thn. Hmm apa yer. Memandangkan aku tak layan sangat lagu-lagu ni. Aku tak tahu sangat apa nak letak. Setakat lagu yang selalu berkumandang di radio dan chalet budak2 KMYS aku tau la kot.

List yang dia bagi panjang sangat, so aku amik top 10 sajalah. Dalam banyak2 tu aku tau lagu Avril Lavinge shj. Kat kolej dulu agak popular jugak la lagu Complicated ni. Kalau pi chalet Bojol mesti dia layan lagu tu.

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Lagi best
Alhamdulillah semalam sempat menghadiri satu talk by Syakh Hamza Yusuf Hanson dekat Friends House, Euston. Kali ini dia berbicara tentang 'politik dari perspektif Islam'. Alhamdulillah ucapannya sangat menarik dan sebahagian daripanya sama dengan apa yang aku belajar sebelum ini. Yang menarik adalah beliau dapat mengaitkan idea-idea dari barat dengan ilmu Islam tradisional. Mudah faham. Aku juga sempat membeli buku Purification Of The Heart dengan harga 10 GBP sahaja.

UCL: Top University in the UK

I am proud to know that the Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL has been rated 2nd out of all such Departments in the UK and top Department in London in the 2008 University Guide published by The Guardian newspaper. UCL overall is rated 5th out of all UK Universities. Well done!!

Why?

Once, I was asked by somebody, "Why do you keep your beard. I'd prefer to see you shaved." It took me few seconds to think what is the best way to answer the question since the person older than me. Finally I took courage to say, "I'm following the sunnah." Then the person replied, " Well, its not obligatory..."

Sometimes it is quite tough to stand up and stick to our belief. Especially when we're challenged. The only strength we have is that we know what we believe is the truth and understand the value of what we believe in. Just look at Bilal bid Rabah. How he continuously say Ahad, Ahad, Ahad... Never tolerate his faith in any condition.

Care to care?

We are living in ignorant world. Most of the people don't really care about others. Why? Maybe bcos our mind are occupied by thinking about 'me, myself and I'. Consumerism shifted our from concern about people around us to the the commercial world. What is the latest gadget, what is the best console game of the year, what celebrities do, the most expensive and fastest car etc.

But how many of us really care to care about others? Are you willing to spend some time, money or effort to look after others welfare. I bet, most of you don't really bother. Ah these people, just go away, we dont need you, Sampah! You may find some people saying that. This is a sign of illness of our heart.

Well to be fair, I would admit I used to be one of the ignorant people in this world. My concern was limited to just whatever evolves around me. As long as I'm having a peaceful life, I'll be satisfied. But having friends like WMF and WSWJ had opened up my mind, my eyes. These people introduced me to the world of activism. They always emphasise to me and people around him to think and take action to help the other people, the poor, the less educated, the opressed etc.

I would like to share few video that touched me. I don't care where does it come from, but the more important thing for me is the gist of it. May we, the people who given some extra opportunity and gift from the God take appropriate action to defend the oppressed, lift poverty and make our country free from injustice.

Lorong Neraka

Rumah Setinggan ker ape?

YAD: Yet Another Demolition

As a conclusion I would like to quote my friend's saying to ponder upon. "Budak-budak muda memang suka benda-benda macam ni? Sekarang semangat la. Tengok kat sini pun sama. Biasala orang muda rebellious. Tapi bila dah keje nanti baru kita tau their true colours. Orang suap dengan duit berjuta-juta, goyah iman, jadi lain pulak." May Allah prevent us from being in those group of people.

How do we see others

Can Muslims get along with Non-Muslims? - Part 1


Can Muslims get along with Non-Muslims? - Part 2

Before I came to the UK, I used to listen and believe that The West are the source of evil. They caused a lot of misery in Muslim world. Just look at the war waged in Bosnia, Checnya and Afghanistan. I also heard many conspiracy theory against muslim. Therefore the way I look at The West is very negative.

But after living here for few year, I found that not everyone in the west is bad. Most of them are just like others in the East. In fact in certain aspect, they are better than us. Therefore we should not just generalise people and as daie, we should follow the way Rasullulah treat the 'others'. Habib Jifri's speech made me think have I ever treat people in good way. Do I really care about others?

Cermin Mimpi

Kata orang mimpi adalah mainan tidur. Kadangkala kita mimpi benda yang menyeronokkan, sedih, pelik ataupun menakutkan. Adakalanya mimpi ini hanyalah gangguan syaitan ataupun apa yang kita sibuk fikir waktu jaga. Namun ada ketika mimpi ini merupakan petunjuk dari Allah. Misalnya mimpi Nabi Ibrahim menerima arahan dari Allah untuk menyembelih Nabi Ismail ataupun mimpi Firaun iaitu mimpi tujuh ekor lembu dimakan oleh tujuh ekor lembu kurus. Rasanya semua maklum.

Dalam beberapa hari lepas, beberapa kali aku bermimpi berlatar-belakangkan sekolah. Yang paling aku ingat salah satunya adalah melompat2 dan ada ability berjalan upside down dekat siling dekat bilik pantry. Ada juga satu masa mimpi kena balik ke sekolah belajar semula kat sekolah, dalam masa sama aku perasan ada yang tak kena sebab patutnya aku kat UK ni.. Pelik sungguh rasanya. Apa kaitan. Tak semena-mena teringat pasal sekolah.

Apapun masa sekolah menengah dulu memang seronok. Terpelihara dan terlindung dari segala dugaan dan godaan dunia ini. Rasanya pengalaman kat skolah dulu jugalah yang banyak membina kecenderungan aku kepada perka-perkara agama ini. Alhamdulillah kat sekolah dulu sentiasa solat jemaah, tiap-tiap hari dengar tazkirah atau kuliah dari kawan2 dan guru-guruku. Walaupun kadang-kadang bosan, mengantuk, menyampah dengar kuliah terutamanya by Mapau dan kuliah subuh by Pak Pin. Apapun aku tetap hormat dan sayang diorang sebagai guru, bukan berniat nak memburukkan diorang kat sini. Bila time Mamulidur Rasul semua sibuk2 menghias dorm masing2 dan tak tidur malam siapkan banner untuk perakan sempena maulidur rasul. Seronoknya ingat time 'muda-muda' dulu. Sekarang ni lemah betul rasanya, piki-piki balik sudah banyak perkara yang aku tinggalkan. Semoga dengan kesedaran ini aku dapat membawa diri kembali ke landasan yang betul. Amin.

Msian Students on British TV!!!

Soultul Salam in Islam Channel

I am very proud to see my friends appeared on British TV!! Hey Malaysian students on TV, can you imagine that?? Congrats to Faizal, Azrrul, Helmi and Ihab. Im very immpressed.

FYI, their group called Soutus Salam. Established last year. The group comprised 8 M'sian students. They had performed in few events in London and joined a nasyeed competition called NEXT in Sheffield for two years. more info look at youtube here

From Protest To Engagement

I found an article about an event I attended last Feb here . Selamat membaca

Blog of Scope

In order to gain blog of scope (modified from Economies of Scope), I will write few topics in just one entry.

Endurance

As exam season has started, I have to do a lot of revision to prepare for the exam. However, my endurance is very low. I can only withstand 30 minutes for reading or 1 hour reading + making notes. I can't focus any longer than that duration. May Allah help make revision easy for me.

Economy

This week I made revision on Business in Competitive Environment. I learn about market, competition, innovation, government's role and globalisation in this course. There are two interesting points I would like to share here. They are about macroeconomic policy and innovation.

Monetary policy is one of the subtopics mention in macroeconomics topic. In capitalist world, the govenment's monetary policy controls the interest rate in order to control country's economy especially inflation and fluctuations in exchange rate. However, interest (riba') is haraam (unlawful) in Islam. I wonder what is the instrument available in Islamic economic system to control the economy. What will Bank negara do to control our economy if our country embrace Islamic economic system fully. Currently Malaysia boasts as the centre of the world of Islamic banking. But that is Islamic banking what about other area? I'm interested to know the answer. Hopefully I can find the answer after the exam.

Micheal E Porter said in his article about "The Competitive Advantage of Nation's":

A nation competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.

It is interesting to know that problem, pressure and competition in the industry lead to new innovation. This is clear in many examples shown in the article. For example, Japan has pioneered just-in-time-production manufacturing technique in order to deal with storage problem.

I think what is happening in Malaysia is the other way round. Politician interference, cronyism and corruption seems preventing domestic rivalry, thus affecting innovation. That is my assumption based on my conversation with some staffs in GLCs and other sources. I don't have data to support my argument. However, it is clear that Malaysia still struggling. Just look at Proton, it has been operating for more than 23 years, but Proton are not able to compete with foreign cars. Why?

In terms of rivalry, the rivalry spirit amongst the Malay is very high. Just look at food industry. When you see a mak cik successfully open warung goreng pisang di Jalan X, you will find other people will open a new warung on the same road, bagaikan cedawan tumbuh lepas hujan! Interestingly, everyone will sell the same thing. Funny isn't it? This is not innovative. One sad thing is, sometimes, when they cannot compete with the leading seller, they will use black magic to make his/her competitors bankrupt. Why this should happen? Another weakness I could see is, they just focus on one attribute which is rivalry, not other atrributes such as factor condition, demand condition, supporting or related industry and strategy. Neglecting this factors will not help them to be the leader in industry.

What can we learn from this as an individual. I think this can help us to understand the hikmah of problems and challenges we faced in our daily live. Maybe Allah want to make us a better person by going through hard life so that we will be a better person in the future.

Da'wah

Read an article about athan here. I believe this issue is quite old. Surely as a Muslim, I feel uneasy when someone questioning our religious practice. However, I disagree with the provocative approach used by the writer. I think it is better if he explain in a good manner or by engaging with the people who are questioning the athan. I like the idea that human are given intelligance, when we are presented with rational arguments, we can make good judgement. Not everyone have bad intention. Maybe they just don't understand. Rasulullah always show great mercy upon people against him. Remember the story about an old Jewish women who throw rubbish to him? Despite that, that approach just cause more retaliation, disgust and the message about the beauty of Islam not conveyed. I think provocative is more suitable in controlled condition, the right place, right time , right condition, the right person.

Umrah

My Grand parents, Mak Long, Pak Lang and Pak Njang will go to Makkah next week to perform umrah. May Allah bless them.

Peperiksaan Hampir tiba

Setelah sekian lama dibelenggu masalah hilang semangat dan tidak dapat memberikan tumpuan ketika mengulangkaji, akhirnya jumpa di library uni. Sememangnya library merupakan tempat paling best untuk study. Ader komputer dengan skrin besar, meja besar dan kerusi yang selesa. Sebelum ni mmg malas nak gi library, tapi sebab ader group discussion petang tadi, ku gagahkan diri pi sana. Alhamdulillah... Esok mungkin sambung lagi di library.

Saja nak letak jadual exam sket. Jadual examku adalah seperti berikut:

Business in a Competitive Environment	27 Apr
Image Processing	2 May
Software Engineering & HCI	3 May
Control Systems 1	16 May
Advanced Digital Design	18 May

Doakan kejayaan ku.

Wonderful Weekend

Monkey's head made of coconut husk

Saturday
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Smamat asked me and a few friends to have lunch together in a Moroccan Restaurant at Portobello Road. We planned to meet at Notting Hill Gate Tube Station before go there together at 12 pm. I arrived there around 12.05. However, Smamat was late. So I went to a bookshop nearby to kill some time. I took that opportunity to read few books especially related to photography. I was surprised to know that the book sold in that shop was quite cheap.

By 12.45, everybody arrived and we moved together towards the restaurant. While walking towards the restaurant, we passed the Portobello Market. The very interesting journey made me forget the fact that I had to wait about 40 minutes. I was very impressed with the unique environment along the road. It is different from other market I have seen in the UK. It was colourful and I can see many many tourist came to visit, various kind of products sold, such as colourful and nice clothes, exotic stuffs, antiques, food and souvenirs. I was very excited to see one of the stall there making crepe live. The first time I was introduced to crepe was when Smamat made crepe with chocolate and banana at Ammir's House, it tastes really good.

Preparing crepe

We also stopped at Makan, a Malaysian Food Restaurant. The owner used to worked at Msia hall at Brynston Square before. He knows Smamat and gave some brochures to Smamat to promote his restaurant. About 1.20, we went to the mosque near Westway. The mosque is very beautiful and well maintained. I really like it. Maybe one day I will come back.

Finally, after prayer, with perut yg berkeoncong we arrived at Tagine, the Morrocon food restaurant. We had starters, bread, olive, chicken couscous, lamb tagine, couscous and desert. We had also had mint tea as our drink. Alhamdulillah food was really delicious. The taste is very unique. Writing this makes me salivating. For your information, this restaurant is very famous and if you're planning to try, you are advised to make a reservation before you go there. Thanks to Smamat for introducing such fine yet affordable restaurant.

Sunday
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The best thing happen today was the data recovery process of my damaged hard disk has ended. I found that most of the files stored are safe and remain intact. All my patience, waiting for about 6 days to recover the data is worthy. I managed to recover managed to recover most of the files stored in my hard disk.

At 4.00 pm I went to Msia Hall to attend talks held in conjunction of Project Amanat Negara organised by UKEC. One of the most interesting talk held was given by the environmentalist journalist from TV3, Karam Singh Walia. It was very impressive. He talked about his experience gathering information and exposing the environmental issue in Malaysia. It tooks great deal of patience, persistence and courage to expose the news. As a result of exposing the news, he had received many threats from various parties and was scolded by many officers. However these never stop him. The main drive is his passion to save the environment from being damaged for the sake of the people and the next generation. He believe in honesty in making reports. Bagus betul dia ni, dan mesti dicontohi.