Latest Buy @ Kinokuniya - Last but not least

1) Music at the Limits: Three Decades of Essays and Articles on Music
by Edward Said

2) Classical Music
by Julian Johnson

3) Vivaldi: red Priest of Venice
by Susan Adams

4) Everything is Connected: the Power of Music
by Daniel Barenboim

5) The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gwande
(non-music)

American man trapped in Russia for 77 years suddenly speaks English again after stroke

It reminds me of Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia.

DAILY MAIL

Last updated at 9:13 AM on 14th June 2011

An American man trapped in the Soviet Union 77 years ago - deep in Stalinist times - has suddenly reverted to speaking in his native English instead of the Russian he was forced to learn to survive his epic Communist ordeal.

Kenneth Edwards, now 95, recently suffered a stroke which left him unable to communicate with his Russian family and children.

'I am having to learn Russian all over again,' he said in a halting American accent in Zlatoust, an industrial Ural Mountains outpost where he worked in a watch-making factory for 60 years, latterly as the locksmith to the head of his department.

'I say something in Russian to him, and he replies only in English,' said wife Zoya, 79.
'I only understand what he wants to say by his intonation.'

He rarely used English after his idealistic left-wing father Willard moved his family from Alabama to the USSR in 1934, the year after Franklin D Roosevelt came to power, believing the future lay with Communism not Capitalism.

Kenneth's parents and siblings found a way to escape back to the U.S., but he was stuck because his father had insisted his eldest son should give up his American citizenship and hold only a Soviet passport.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003114/American-man-trapped-Russia-77-years-suddenly-speaks-English-stroke.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Wishlist - We Are Muslim, Please

It is Zaiba's experience as a Muslim in UK, in the middle of non-Muslim community.

Latest buy - @ Borders and MPH - all about music

My Big Investment
1) Bridge of Waves: What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the World
by W.A. Mathieu

2) All You Have to Do Is Listen: Music from the Inside Out
by Rob Kapilow
I attended his concert once, he was a guest conductor for Family Fun Day Concert.

3) How Music Works: A listener's guide to harmony, keys, broken chords, perfect pitch and the secrets of good tune
by John Powell

4) The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature
by Daniel J. Levitin

5) Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music Drama
by Thomas May

6) The Life of Berlioz by Peter Bloom

Baru Beli @ Pekan Buku UM

1) Demi  Duha - Muhammad Makhdlori
- terjemahan dari bahasa Indonesia

2) Sejarawan dan Persejarahan Melayu: Tradisi dan Transformasi - Muhd. Yusuf Ibrahim

3) The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

4) Modul Pengajian Tamadun Islam dan Tamadun Asia
- Editor: Osman Bakar, Azizan Baharuddin dan Zaid Ahmad

5) Sejarah China Moden - Suffian Mansor

6) Pantun dan Kebijaksanaan Akal Budi Melayu - Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid
- Siri Syarahan Raja Ali Haji

7) Sejarah Pemikiran I: Sumber Ilmu, Perbandingan Ideologi dan Orde Baru Dunia - Sulaiman Noordin

Sebaik sahaja  balut dengan plastik, susun buku dalam kotak, persediaan untuk pindah. Harapnya ada banyak masa untuk baca buku-buku ni. ;;)

Latest buy - all about music

Bach & Wagner

Latest Buy - Borders @ The Gardens

I like science, I like music

It's for my nephews.

My Wishlist - music books

The Hat - Why?

"When it comes to a special occasion in British society, the special occasion is not complete without a hat," Hilary Alexander, fashion director at the Daily Telegraph newspaper, says.

"There has to be a hat, it's part of the social fabric."

So what sort of hat should be worn to the royal wedding?

"For most people, the hat is quite serious and frivolous at the same time," Alexander says. "It completes the outfit and it's a finishing touch."

And for those with hair that's hard to tame, Alexander has the answer: "The bigger the hat, the more hair you can hide. So if you're having a bad hair day, on goes the hat and you can face your public."

Credit: http://abcnews.go.com/International/Royal_Wedding/royal-wedding-importance-wearing-hat/story?id=12769508

Can't Get Enough of It!

Beautiful!

The Hat - Jokes

Cat :x

The Hat - Sold Out!

Hat in 'delicate tea rose silk' has been auctioned off on eBay for over £81,000 and it goes to the charity.

The Hat Story

I'm wondering how she attached the hat on to her head and get into the car ???

The Tale of Two Princesses

Princess Eugenie (21) and her elder sister, Princess Beatrice (22) at their cousin's high profile wedding. Sekali tengok macam kakak tiri Cinderella! 

The Most Outrageous Hat Topper - Tanduk Rusa

Princess Beatrice, with her most outrageous hat designed by Philip Treacy. My mom says it's tanduk rusa!

First evidence of other universes that exist alongside our own after scientists spot 'cosmic bruises'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1338818/First-evidence-universes-exist-alongside-discovered.html

By Niall Firth
Last updated at 8:29 AM on 17th December 2010

Scientists say that they have found evidence that our universe was 'jostled' by other parallel universes in the distant past.

The incredible claim emerged after they studied patterns in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) – the after-effects of the Big Bang.

They say they may have found evidence that four circular patterns found in the CMB are 'cosmic bruises' where our universe has crashed into other universes at least four times.


 

The different signatures of a bubble collision. A collision (top left) induces a temperature change in the CMB temperature map (top right). The 'blob' associated with the collision is identified by a large needlet response (bottom left), and the presence of an edge is determined by a large response from the edge detection algorithm (bottom right).

The findings are based on the complex theory of eternal inflation for our universe. This theory holds that out universe if only one bubble in a larger cosmos and that other universes,which will have different physics to our own, all exist at the same time.

This is also know as the the multiverse theory.

Where these universe bubbles crash against each other they leave signature traces in the background radiation, some scientists believe.

The findings, by Stephen Feeney from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London, are likely to be controversial.

A number of cosmologists have already written in response to the paper that it is too easy to jump to conclusions about what can be seen in the CMB.

The team behind the paper accept that 'it is rather easy to find all sorts of statistically unlikely properties in a large dataset like the CMB'.

But they add: 'If a bubble collision is verified by future data, then we will gain an insight not only into our own universe but a multiverse beyond.'

The paper, published online yesterday, comes just a month after a similar study of the background radiation claimed to have discovered evidence that the universe existed before the Big Bang.

Most scientists believe the universe was created in the Big Bang around 13.7 billion years ago. Stars and galaxies started to form around 300 million years later. Our Sun was born around five billion years ago, while life first appeared on the Earth around 3.7 billion years ago. The CMB dates back to 300,000 years after the Big Bang and has now cooled to around -270 degrees Celsius.

A map of the cosmic background radiation (CMB) in the universe with circles which may signify events that took place before the Big Bang.

A paper posted online on the website arXiv.org by respected scientists Professor Roger Penrose from Oxford University and Professor Vahe Gurzadyan from Yerevan State University, Armenia, suggested the universe could be much older han previously thought.

Penrose and Gurzadyan argue that evidence unearthed by Nasa’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotophy Probe in the CMB shows imprints in the radiation that are older than the Big Bang.

They say they have discovered 12 examples of concentric circles, some of which have five rings, meaning the same object has had five massive events in its history.

The rings appear around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background radiation appears to be strangely low.

The research appears to cast aside the widely-held 'inflationary' theory of the origins of the universe, that it began with the Big Bang, and will continue to expand until a point in the future, when it will end.

They believe the circles are imprints of extremely violent gravitational radiation waves generated by supermassive black hole collisions in a previous aeon before the last big bang.

Tan Sri Mokhtar Bos Baru Pos Malaysia

Tahniah Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar. Semoga beliau dapat mengemudi Pos Malaysia dengan baik. Sejak tahun lepas lagi harga setem dan lain-lain perkhidmatan pos telah meningkat lebih 100%. Kalau dulu pos surat guna setem 30 sen sahaja tapi sekrang sudah jadi 60 sen. Apa yang aku harapkan, perkhidmatan tu berbaloi dengan apa yang kami (pengguna) bayar.

http://www.bharian.com.my/articles/KonsortiumSyedMokhtarpilihanbeliekuitiPosMalaysia/Article/

Konsortium Syed Mokhtar pilihan beli ekuiti Pos Malaysia
Oleh Ahmad Farizal Hajat
ahmadfarizal@bharian.com.my
2011/02/15

Bank Muamalat mampu jadi rakan sinergi kembang rangkaian produk
KONSORTIUM diterajui Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary dikatakan sebagai calon yang mempunyai kelebihan dalam bidaan membeli kepentingan 32.21 peratus dalam Pos Malaysia Bhd daripada Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Ini susulan langkahnya mengetengahkan bank Islam yang dikuasainya, iaitu Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd sebagai calon dalam mewujudkan sinergi strategik dengan Pos Malaysia, sekali gus ‘memenuhi’ kriteria pembida yang dikehendaki agensi pelaburan kerajaan itu.

Bank Muamalat, bank Islam ketiga terbesar Malaysia dari segi aset adalah anak syarikat milik penuh DRB-Hicom, konglomerat yang dikuasai Syed Mokhtar.

Ia dikatakan mampu menjadi rakan sinergi terbaik bagi Pos Malaysia terutama dalam usaha kedua-duanya mengembangkan rangkaian produk serta perkhidmatan serta jangkauan capaian pelanggan masing-masing.

Pos Malaysia ketika ini giat mengembangkan perniagaannya melangkaui perkhidmatan tradisionalnya. Ini termasuk menawarkan khidmat perbankan.

Bank Muamalat pula perlu mengembangkan lagi rangkaian cawangan bagi membolehkannya bersaing lebih berkesan dalam sektor perbankan Islam yang sedang berkembang pesat di negara ini.
Justeru, pakatan Bank Muamalat-Pos Malaysia itu bakal menyediakan platform terbaik untuk pengembangan perniagaan kedua-dua entiti itu.

Pos Malaysia kini mempunyai lebih 1,000 cawangan di seluruh negara. Bank Muamalat pula ketika ini hanya mempunyai 56 cawangan.

Syed Mokhtar, individu ke-655 terkaya di dunia dengan aset dianggarkan bernilai AS$1.5 bilion (RM4.58 bilion) memiliki pegangan 55.92 peratus ekuiti dalam DRB-Hicom Bhd yang dikuasainya menerusi Etika Strategy Sdn Bhd.

Mengikut laporan tahunan DRB-Hicom bagi 2010, pemegang saham utama lain konglomerat itu termasuk Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) yang menguasai hampir 10 peratus dan Khazanah dengan 5.13 peratus.

Mengulas perkara itu, Ketua Penganalisis OSK Research, Chris Eng berkata, kerjasama sedia ada Pos Malaysia dengan Maybank Bhd dan RHB Bank Bhd dalam menawarkan beberapa perkhidmatan perbankan bukan menjadi penghalang kepada pembabitan aktif Bank Muamalat dalam syarikat pos itu.

“Kami tidak melihat kerjasama Pos Malaysia dengan Maybank dan RHB Bank sebagai penghalang kepada Bank Muamalat dalam membentuk pakatan bermakna dan lebih meluas dengan Pos Malaysia.

“Sebaliknya menerusinya penyedia perkhidmatan pos tunggal negara itu boleh meluaskan lagi perkhidmatan perbankan yang ditawarkannya, malah mampu menyediakan perkhidmatan perbankan lengkap,” katanya kepada Berita Harian.

Beliau berkata, penyertaan Bank Muamalat itu adalah strategi terbaik Syed Mokhtar menonjolkan lagi jenama bank Islam itu.

Difahamkan, selain Syed Mokhtar, dua gergasi logistik antarabangsa, iaitu Deutsche Post dari Jerman dan TNT Post dari Belanda dan beberapa tokoh perniagaan tempatan lain seperti Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun (Berjaya Group); dan anak pengasas dan bekas Pengerusi Kumpulan Naza, Allahyarham Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin adalah antara pembida yang sudah menghantar cadangan bagi pengambilalihan itu.

Berdasarkan harga penutup saham Pos Malaysia semalam, iaitu RM3.35 sesaham, saham Pos Malaysia milik Khazanah itu adalah bernilai kira-kira RM580 juta.

Acropolis

To the insensitive - it is little more than a pile of ruins.
To a romantic - it is a memorial to all that is fine about Greece and her people.

 

Pic credit: Photodisc

Kedai Buku - Mana Satu Aku Suka?

Dalam banyak-banyak kedai buku, yang mana agaknya aku suka? Aku cuma senaraikan kedai buku yang aku biasa pergi.

1) Kinokuniya @KLCC  - dulu-dulu, semasa kerja di Tower 2, aku selalu sangat datang ke sini dan beli buku. Macam-macamlah. Sebab aku pernah ada masalah dengan kaki aku dan menjalani pembedahan lutut, aku beli buku yang berkaitan kesihatan. Harganya - agak mahal tapi sebab masa tu aku bekerja, Alhamdulillah, aku mampu beli. Diskaun yang paling tinggi adalah 30%. Macamana nak memupuk budaya membaca sedangkan bahan bacaan sangat mahal dan hanya mampu dimiliki oleh sesetengah orang?

2) BookXcess @Amcorp Mall - aku suka tempat ni sebab buku-bukunya sangat murah. Bayangkan aku beli buku Bobby Brown Makeup Manual dengan harga tak sampai RM40 sedangkan harga sebenarnya di Kinokuniya lebih daripada RM120! Buku Salman Rushdie pun ada di sini. Aku tidak pernah mengagung-agungkan dia. Aku cuma nak tahu apa yang dia tulis sehingga menimbulkan kemarahan umat Islam. Namun, buku The Satanic Verses tidak ada di kedai buku di Malaysia. Bargain book pun RM5 sahaja. Aku beli buku Michael Crichton - Eaters of the Dead (The 13th Warrior) dengan harga RM5 sahaja. Tapi buku-bukunya tak sebanyak di Kinokuniya dan sedikit outdated.

3) Borders @ The Gardens - aku serbu Bargain Books dan aku sukakan buku-buku bergambar, coffee table books, aku suka tengok gambar bunga yang cantik. Aku selalu beli buku kanak-kanak untuk anak-anak saudara aku.

4) The Big Bookshop @ Ampang Park dan The Mall - ini pun best sangat walaupun buku-bukunya terhad dan outdated. Aku suka beli buku bergambar, harga permulaan RM3 ke atas. Buku kanak-kanak pun banyak. Aku pernah beli buku Dr Edward de Bono dengan harga RM10 sahaja!

5) Syarikat Muda Osman @ Kota Bharu dan Kuala Krai - selalunya aku beli majalah terbitan DBP dan kadangkala beli buku terbitan DBP juga. Beli pun sebab nak dapat poin.

6) Kedai Buku Banggol @ Kuala Krai - Aku menyokong kedai buku Muslim dan beli buku agama. Kadangkala ada diskaun. :)

Ini adalah senarai kedai buku yang aku ingat sekarang ni.

Homoseksualiti

Homoseksualiti adalah orientasi seksual dan perlakuannya terang dan jelas dikutuk Tuhan. Perlakuan homoseksualiti wajib ditolak tetapi pelakunya tidak patut dipulaukan.

Tindakan menidakkan kedudukan mereka dlm komuniti akan menyebabkan mereka berasa tertindas. Atas alasan penindasan itu maka akan wujud, malah akan wujud segala mcm kesatuan yg akan mperjuangkan hak-hak asasi golongan homoseksual.

Kita menerima golongan homoseksual bukan kerana kita turut meraikan perlakuan songsang mereka. Sebaliknya kita mengiktiraf masalah mereka. Bagaimana permasalahan dpt diselesaikan sekiranya masyarakat takut mengakui kewujudannya?

- daripada cerpen Dewan Kosmik 2008

Koleksi di Rumah

Sirah Nabi-nabi dan buku-buku agama.

Majalah - Her World, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Cleo, dll