Cramming is demonized all around as a despicable lil duress to our greater conceptual clarity & development.
not that i'm saying no to its negation.. if u get what i mean :p
just that.. i think turning the toss coin would indeed help us see the exception to this generalization.
Down the line of years its usefulness has been downplayed by people from all walks of life, calling it the enemy of intellect.
I dare to defend the art_of_memorizing by mentioning few of its advantages here, leaving rest of the pros as a homework for the readers;
The first n foremost 'plus' is the ability to analyze a complex problem.
A complex equation / piece of code / text / poetry yada yada when stored and imprinted in our grey-mater... cooks, evolves and dis-solves.
Debugging codes, deriving mathematical derivations & similar tasks are greatly enhanced & improved by formulas-cramming capabilities.
The second merit is the ability to survive as a loner in tough world surrounding us.
This situation might arise out of misfortunes (i.e. sudden change of HQ's) or mishaps (e.g., crashed HDD) etc.
Infact, I've witnessed a genius friend of mine re-producing, in a jiffy, the lost C-code for a video-standard which he had been writing for past few weeks, with the deadline looming large and the hard-disk that got all phuff into hot smokes.
moral pretty much would be;
next time you meet a crammer.. don't get all grumpy about it & avoid tripping.
steer clear of broad generalizations in branding all part-time crammers as counter-productive.
"He recites in 'Hafs' I think, and what an amazing recitation for sure.
While 'Warsh' form of recitation is used in Morocco & Egypt.. the 'Qaloon' recitation is used in Algeria.
All these type of recitations are taught by various Quran teachers with Isnaad reaching back to the Prophet salaLLAhu alehi wa alihi wassalam.
(I suggest you find one, and learn from him)
As we got a confirmation call from the oncology research-center for hiring (alhamduliLLAh), lil did we know that a loved one will come up with a diagnosis of cancer itself.
The 60 years old lady is like a second mum to my consort - though not related by bond of blood - nonetheless, took care of her while she was away form home completing her studies.
that's how things look so far;
privacy blanked out, here is the cytology report - [click to zoom]
& the biopsy report -
In legal proceedings one is innocent until proved guilty.
In medical findings, however, dysplasia or atypical cells are cancer cells until proved otherwise (or so i've been told).
Although 70 - 80% of such patients are diagnosed in stage 0-1 (thats pretty early stage & optimal for cure) with an 80 - 90% survival rate after surgery..
but still, the chills this 'c-word' diagnosis throws down one's system, are indescribable.
ain't sure about this lady's stage, but may Allah bless her with complete health.
..Verily He is the Healer.
Plz pray for her too, in case you're reading this.
I close this with the reply of Prophet Ibraheem (Abraham) alehi salam to his nation, when he said;
"Who has created me, and it is He Who guides me.
And it is He Who feeds me and gives me to drink.
And when I am ill, it is He who cures me.
And Who will cause me to die, and then will bring me to life (again).
And Who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on the Day of Recompense (the Day of Resurrection).
My Lord! Bestow Hukm (religious knowledge, right judgement of the affairs and Prophethood) on me, and join me with the righteous."
{سورة الشعراء ; Ash-Shuara; The Poets, Ayah 78-83}
"Look! Allah has ordered the ocean not to cross THIS boundary & it obeys..
& when the order is lifted.. then there comes what u call tsunami."
.. amidst the wild whooshes of calm waves, someone whispered near my ear, pointing towards the beach line of the Red Sea.. & the words sent thankful chills down my spine.
alhamduliLLAH, for Imaan, for life & love, for family & friends & for every blessing He has bestowed upon us..
A flash trip to Uroos_bahr_ul_ahmar 'the bride of Red sea'; Jiddah (literally meaning 'Grandmother' - a name taken up because of Amma Hawwa alehi salam; Eve alehi salam resting abode) ended up in an awesome day out of 4-5 families at the red sea itself.
Red sea; so named for its dramatic red coral, possesses warm, safe and fish-abundant waters & has a pleasant climatic aura about it thats ideal for swimming, sailing and fishing almost all year round.
After praying Salatul Jum'ah, we headed off to north Abhur.
Our picnic spot was Abhur creek also called Sharm Obhur (where sharm means the creek.. & not the urdu one :p)
People spell it with an 'o', but i'm pretty comfortable with my spellings, & besides its an arabic word so..
The word literally means 'sailed' & a sixth century traveler 'Ibn Juabir' talked about his experience in Abhur waters in his travelogue like so;
أرسينا بمرسى يعرف بأبحر, وهو على بعد يوم من جدة, وهو من أعجب المراسي وضعاً وذلك أن خليجاً من البحر يدخل إلى البر والبر مُطيف به, من كلتا حافتيه, فترسي الجلاب منه في قرارة مكنة هادئة. فلما كان سحر يوم الإثنين بعده أقلعنا منه على بركة الله تعالى بريح فاترة, والله الميسر ولا رب سواه. فلما جنَّ الليل أرسينا على مقربة من جدة وهي بمرأى العين منا. وحالت الريح صبيحة يوم الثلاثاء بعده بيننا وبين دخول مرساها, ودخول هذه المرسى صعب المرام بسبب كثرة الشعاب والتفافها
not that im perfect in my translation.. but if you could try your best shot, now is your turn :p
Its an 11 km long beach, less than 30 km from main city & is studded with fantastic sites well-supplied with hotels and resorts.
Jet-skiing & scuba diving enthusiasts are no less in number either.
People say they hit the sunny beaches where they occupy themselves keeping the sun off their skin, the saltwater off their bodies, and the sand out of their belongings... but that wans't the case here.
Not only did we dip.. we dipped deep :p
.. & with a biryani, sweet rice (xarda), tea & some cake we throughly enjoyed our stay there.
oh & there was a camp setting up too, for those who needed a time off from all the fun.. it remained vacant for almost all the while though :p
We have had a lil competition of hold_your_breath_underwater thing & gladly i won :p alhamduliLLAh.
(an approx 60 sec of turmoil, had me wondering about the water-boarded victims.. May Allah rid the captives from the captivity of their evil captors.. amin)
Its true that by and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class... seriously.
.. we left the shores behind in the evening as the sun prostrated for Maghrib :)
A day out on fantastic sunny sands - and the rest of the year on financial rocks : /
All in all, an epic experience..
& alhamduliLLAH for that.
~*~*~*~*~
Other bits of the album:
Take a peak at myfull-screen Abhur gallery slide-show. [click 'Show Info' in left upper bar in there, to view the captions.]
We walked beyond those steal gates into the oncology (cancer) research center_of_excellence, with thumping hearts & warm feet - after being lost in the huge specialist hospital complex.
The interview (more like an informal chit chat, me sitting inside the room to observe) went fine, except for a funny moment when on constant questioning of the american hired Director of Research to my consort as to why she got interested in research at all & not perusing clinical side after achieving much in her clinical studies... her sixer reply was;
"umm.. err.. actually.. sir.. i mean doctor saheb.. i'm done with my license exam, but i don't want to specialize & end up being a grey-headed professor for the rest of my life.."
.. too late to recognize that he himself had a grey head.. And was a professor!
ooopsy!!!
lol
But the cool guy meticulously changed the subject altogether.. haha
Needless to say that he was impressed (or depressed?) & has asked us to come later :p
After taking some suggestions from me & others on job selection, this is what she wrote;
'Thinking about professional working, investing time & exerting skills generally, I have ranked the following which I personally find most useful spending my life getting at something, making a difference & bringing a smile on a sick countenance (if i can as a clinical researcher.. or a physician).
– where 1 is most important, 8 is the least:'
Salary (Incentive, Facilities)
4
Job Satisfaction (Feeling more fulfilling in doing what I’m doing)
2
Work Environment (Leg-saving / Politics-free)
----------------------
1
Institute’s Reputation
3
Real Research & not a ‘clap research’
5
Encouragement
6
Outcomes (Making a solid difference in lives)
3
Training
8
seeing this table, it seems one sure doesn't like people patronizing her..
hah! thats for sure ;)
Returning -
my exposure with cancer research dates back (& was largely limited to) years when we have had wholesome family dinners, after an exerting day of student life; where my father while peeling fruits would discuss about his cancer research experience & the nitty gritties of food 'carcinogens' (? or whatever he called them back then)
When an engineer builds a building, it’s very well built, but it’s so ugly that the people tear it down; when an architect builds a building, it’s very beautiful, but it falls down!
back then i heard; 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away..'
but then, since my consort ain't a dentist, i think im pretty contended with the variation in this familiar theme;
'an apple a day keeps the dentist away'
:)
so, here's my bit about the new purchase i made - thankx to mani for helping me out in placing the order online for much less infact.
its slick, its slim, its..its a supermaaan.. NOT.
:p
its air.
& its neat.
doesn't come handy though..
a bit overpriced, i dare say.. (got it much cheaper nonetheless :p)
but considering the world's slimiest AND a duo core, i thnk its worth it.
wasn't a knee jerk investment, neither a coincidence.
it was well planned & after much shuffling & reshuffling of choices, we finally landed on this piece of art err..air.
for some it dares to buck_the_trend, setting a new standard for mobile computing.
and others are annoyed & negatively reviewing, disgruntled that..
Sometimes somethings need to be dug into, there has to be a commencing point to solutions no matter how dull they initially seem or smell..
And in this short bit here, Peter is tryna come up with some nice examples concerning that.
[The guy seems to gesticulate much though.. a habit im trying to rid myself of :p ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbwpRlEMNS0
As R.Feynman would put it;
"..nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough."
Deeper enough or farther enough.. here is what Newton said;
"If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."
Later Mathematician R. W. Hamming added;
"Mathematicians stand on each other’s shoulders while computer scientists stand on each other’s toes."
Finally, computer scientist Hal Abelson quipped;
"If I have not seen farther, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.."
Well, nice way to place the blame i guess :p
But really, deeply enough doesn't necessarily correspond to originality or perfectionism.
Leonard’s in his lil booklet Mastery quotes like so:
"...the essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty.
Satisfaction lies in the discovery of endless riches and subtle variations on familiar themes."
Rote application of statistics is mind-numbingly dull, yes, but statistics can be quite interesting when you dig deep down to the foundations.
Back in the day one of my supervisors used to exhort us to volunteer to teach freshman courses. Most people want to teach the more advanced courses instead, but he said that some of his best inspiration came from teaching the most foundational courses.
Focusing on depth of the basics is a jolly hard work and few people would want to do it.
People usually focus more on originality of it all..
"People like the idea of innovation in the abstract, but when you present them with any specific innovation, they tend to reject it because it doesn’t fit with what they already know. … As Howard Aiken said, “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas [plagiarism]. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats anyway.”
If you strive to be original, you might achieve it in some technical sense, but end up with something nobody cares about.
Strive for persistence and excellence instead, and VOILA.. you’re more likely to do something valuable.
"No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work’s sake, and what men call originality will come unsought."
"Honey, it’s all been done before. Nothing’s really original. Not Homer or Shakespeare and certainly not you. Get over yourself."
Frankly, trying to be completely original is paralyzing, and not even possible.
Only the Al Mighty Creator creates ex-nihilo.
Everyone else starts with something somewhere.
Lets not try to be Al Mighty... lets try to be humans instead.
And last but not the least, speaking about the thin line between depth & the delusion; this quote from W. C. Fields is refreshing to the very bone:
"If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."
heh.. im soo frigging loving the originality of this last one.
lol.
SubhanAllah..
i was reading this in Shaih al Bukhari (Kitaab ul A'thaan) today.
and was genuinely upset & quite taken aback actually.. for many of us, in our ignorance & casual laid back styles, are quick to blame their fellow brethren & even Noble Companions..
May Allah save us from such blatant misguidance.
And forgive our mistakes.
حدثنا موسى قال حدثنا أبو عوانة قال حدثنا عبد الملك بن عمير عن جابر بن سمرة قال
شكا أهل الكوفة سعدا إلى عمر رضي الله عنه فعزله واستعمل عليهم عمارا فشكوا حتى ذكروا أنه لا يحسن يصلي فأرسل إليه فقال يا أبا إسحاق إن هؤلاء يزعمون أنك لا تحسن تصلي قال أبو إسحاق أما أنا والله فإني كنت أصلي بهم صلاة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ما أخرم عنها أصلي صلاة العشاء فأركد في الأوليين وأخف في الأخريين قال ذاك الظن بك يا أبا إسحاق فأرسل معه رجلا أو رجالا إلى الكوفة فسأل عنه أهل الكوفة ولم يدع مسجدا إلا سأل عنه ويثنون معروفا حتى دخل مسجدا لبني عبس فقام رجل منهم يقال له أسامة بن قتادة يكنى أبا سعدة قال أما إذ نشدتنا فإن سعدا كان لا يسير بالسرية ولا يقسم بالسوية ولا يعدل في القضية قال سعد أما والله لأدعون بثلاث اللهم إن كان عبدك هذا كاذبا قام رياء وسمعة فأطل عمره وأطل فقره وعرضه بالفتن وكان بعد إذا سئل يقول شيخ كبير مفتون أصابتني دعوة سعد
قال عبد الملك فأنا رأيته بعد قد سقط حاجباه على عينيه من الكبر وإنه ليتعرض للجواري في الطرق يغمزهن
713 ,صحيح البخاري, الأذان, وجوب القراءة للإمام والمأموم في الصلوات كلها في الحضر
Narrated Companion Jabir bin Samura (May Allah be pleased with him):
The People of Kufa complained against [governor] Sa'd (radiAllah) to Caliph 'Umar (radiAllah) and the latter dismissed him and appointed 'Ammar as their chief. They lodged many complaints against Sa'd and they even alleged that he did not pray properly.
'Umar (radiAllah) sent for him and said, "O Aba Ishaq! (surname of Sa'd) These people claim that you do not pray properly."
Abu Ishaq (radiAllah) replied; "By Allah, I used to pray with them a prayer similar to that of Allah's Apostle and I never reduced anything of it. I used to prolong the first two Rakat of 'Isha prayer and shorten the last two Rakat."
To which 'Umar said, "O Aba Ishaq, this was what I thought about you."
And then he sent one or more persons with him (back) to Kufa so as to ask the people (testimony) about him. So they went there and did not leave any Masjid without asking about him.
All the people praised him till they came to the Mosque of the tribe of Bani 'Abs; one of the men called Usama bin Qatada with a surname of Aba Sa'da stood up and said; "As you have put us under an oath; I am bound to tell you that Sa'd never went himself with the army and never distributed (the war booty) equally and never did justice in legal verdicts."
(On hearing it) Noble comapnion Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) said; "I pray to Allah for three things: O Allah! If this slave of yours is a liar and got up for showing off, give him a long life, increase his poverty and put him to trials."
(And so it happened).
Later on when that person was asked how he was, he used to reply that he was an old man in trial as the result of Sa'd's dua. 'Abdul Malik, the sub narrator, said that he had seen him afterwards and his eyebrows were over-hanging his eyes owing to old age and he used to tease and assault the small girls in the way.
[Sahih al Bukhari, Book of Call to Prayers, Hadith 713]
aahh..
Sometimes I so feel like that woodpecker Seth talks about in The Dip; tapping on a thousand trees..staying busy but getting nowhere :/
He quotes on a starving woodpecker like so;
"A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty thousand times on one tree and get dinner."
Lets see now, where to place the blame for this incessant inability in persistence :p
ahaa yes..
I think part of it is to be blamed on multitasking.
The F-state to be precise.
E.Hallowell coined two great terms in his work Crazy Busy;
C-state and F-state.
C-state is clear, calm, cool, collected, consistent, concentrated, convivial, careful, curious, creative, courteous, and coordinated.
F-state fractures focus, is frenzied, feckless, flailing, fearful, forgetful, flustered, furious, fractious, feverish, and frantic.
Pretty neat, init?
So, multitasking leads to F-state and activates different parts of the brain than C-state.
Just giving F-state a name and being aware of it helps to back out of it.
Countless articles tell a tale how multitasking makes us..
