OLD il-bloop !

Today was the last day of classes before the one-week break for CNY and Awal Muharram (among others). So far, SAM has been quite interesting, partly because the variety of extra projects (within and beyond the curriculum) that one is currently involved in. However, must remained focused. Focused.

Speaking of projects, for the ESL project, I've decided to write an 'investigative report' on gold, titled : "Gold as an investment". Somehow, gold seems to appeal to me greatly of late, and I'm not really sure why. Anyhow, this woud be a good excuse to study how a fiat economy works which would give me a great advantage over the rest of my economics classmates!(jangan marah bang!). Interestingly, Hishamuddin Rais's latest article touches on his predictions for the year 2006 CE, which, among others, includes the price of oil reaching $100 a barrel. Now I've only started studying economics formally, so I can't pretend to have an inkling of an understanding why that would be in anyway significant, so I'll just have to repeat Mr Rais's analysis for the time being, that is it (the exorbitant price of petroleum) will tax the American Economy greatly, and put great pressure on the US Dollar, which, as we all know, is what the world runs on. This hyper-inflation (ooh! new word!) of paper currency has been in great debate for some time now, and is among the reasons people are calling for a return to the gold standard. The Malaysian Gov itself is one of the strongest proponent of the Gold Dinar, which you can currently see traded nowhere in the contry(except among smart numismatics). I also remember seeing a Maybank advertisement in the star for a gold savings passbook account ( not so long ago which i think must have piqued my current interest in gold (and also that book, Return of The Gold Dinar by Omar Fadilo that I read a few years back).

I also received my fair share of surprises this week, some being more pleasant than others. The best would be the fact that HAMAS won the Palestinian Election. This was totally unexpected to most, myself included. It seemed that everone was in chorus predicting that the best that they could have expected to be was a large opposition. Well, as the carvings on the top of the mimbar at Masjid Darul Ehsan reads :

"And another (favour will He bestow,) which ye do love,- help from God and a speedy victory. So give the Glad Tidings to the Believers." Surah as-Saff, Verse 10,Abdullah Yusuf Ali Translation(though it wasn't actually the whole ayat, only the second part (after the hyphen))

Now that they've won, it would be interesting to follow the developments that will take place in al-Quds in particular and also the whole arab world in general. And I'm sure if they prove to be a more competent, and more respectable goverment than the previous administraion (and others in the region), we will be able to see some its tempias here next year, insha allah.

So I shall end today on that note. To my friends of chinese descent, Selamat Tahun Baru Cina, and to my muslim brothers, may this new year be the year of change and reform, insha allah.

assalamualaikum

I'm proud to announce that i won't be shutting down this blog after all, despite the recent spate of blog closures . Some may accuse the writer of being one to buck the trend, but after a period of quiet meditation, reflection, healthy diet and active lifestyle, i think there is still a place for this insignificant blogger in the ever-expanding blogosphere (current price of blogshares notwithstanding).

You see, the previous incarnation of il-bloop had several notable problems. Most notably was that the blog lacked direction. Loyal readers(!) of the blog will have found the contents of the blog incoherent, one minute its tech,then tomorrow politics, then suddenly its personal; with no clear common thread running through. Then, there was also the lack of a concrete purpose for its being(existence). When i first started il-bloop back in dec 03, i was in kelantan, and being the smart person that i am, i figured that a blog would be an easy and cost-effective way to keep my friends and family updated of my daily exploits. Also, blogs then were consider the bleeding edge of technology so it seemed to be a pretty well thought plan.After the three months spent in Pba (or as i prefer to call it now, the "Arabic Language Centre") i returned home and the blog ceased to serve its purpose any longer because:

a)i meet my family constantly

b)i don't have any friends

with the prime motivators for me blogging gone, the blog began its descent into the abyss of unupdated darkness. It took some time to reach the bottom though as over the course of two years i tried my best(ok maybe not) to maintain a quality (sic) blog. In the (first) end, i stepped back and realised that the blog was now no more than a glorified electronic scrapbook which served no purpose except as a barometer of my thoughts for some people. Therefore i decided to pull the plug on il-bloop and said goodbye.

Now anyone with a sound mind would have wondered why declare a blog closed but still keep it online with a picture of the author taking up 1/3 of the page (i'll fix it soon, inshaallah)? And as i admitted to a fellow blogger, the closure was something like a noon siesta thing, where one needs to rediscover ones resources before pressing on with day. And as i had assumed earlier, i would be back and what do you know, i was correct! I'm back! But as some time have passed, inevitably somethings have changed.

Firstly, i will now write mainly in English because i have resigned to the fact that i am more articulate when writing in the language. There will still be works(peh!) written in BM, depending on the need and ,well, basically when i feel like it but generally i speaking london, ok?

Secondly, there will be no more wholesale "copyandpaste"ing of articles. Only brief passages that will be coupled with brief summaries which might/migh not include my brief take on that particular issue.

Thirdly(?), since i am now doing Sam (yes you read that right, at Taylors "TCSJ" Subang Jaya), and i have a lot of homework that requires research and writing very long essays(which I'm not very good at), this blog will also function as an online journal for my research and also some sort of a perpetual online draft of the final work. So those who are with expertise in the things that i have to do research on, 'can help or not?' meaning feel free to assist me, correct me through the comment system. The final work will still only carry my name but i will be very grateful and remember to acknowledge the nice people in the acknowledgements.
Of particular interest is economics, australian law, and add maths.
I'm taking the legal studies component by the way.

Fourthly, there are now more people reading the blog.
Maybe not.

The muslimness of the blog will remain, but the activism will be toned down. This is particularly because writing a actively political blog requires too much reading and reading into,which i just do not have the liberty of doing at this current point of time. Later maybe, but not now.


Thus are but some of the changes that have dawned upon this blog. There are more, but i'm typing this on a handphone and my thumbs are tired and sore. So inshallah there will more great changes in store. Visit often! RSS me! Untill then,

assalamualaikum