If you spend more than 15 minutes commuting and don’t listen to podcasts or any sort of audio material, gosh oh-gosh, you are missing an entire world of laughter and learning. Over the last week I have been hearing heard the fabulous story of an ordinary individual taking up fight against Racial killers of the Ku Klux Klan, the hilarious tale of a sleep-walker and his misadventures and the wonderful mystic words of Al Ghazzali from his ageless Alchemy of Happiness.
The audio explosion on the internet is as rich as the text and video material out there. What is it that interests you? What problem is it that’s bothering you? Just search for a podcast on that topic in iTunes or Yahoo podcasts and boom, you’ve got yourself a university of knowledge on that topic area. So much to listen but don’t have time to do so? You don’t need to take out time, just pop the mp3 files in your phone, plugin the earphones to your ear and hear it while coming to or leave from work. It couldn’t get easier.
I’m subscribed to about a 100 podcasts, however I listen to just a handful of those. I’ve blogged about some earlier podcasts that I dabble in here and here. In addition to those, below are a couple of others that I’m currently tuned into:
The Moth Story Telling Podcast
It’s Rated the number 1 Podcast for several weeks on the ITunes podcast directory, every story I’ve heard till date, connected with me at some level. The podcast contain true stories of individuals, which although is completed within 15 minutes, I’ve caught myself thinking, reflecting on the stories long after it’s passed through my ears. A podcast that I would heartily recommend.
Fora TV Audio of the Week Podcast
Fora TV, has an eclectic selection of lectures, panel discussions, debates on Political, Scientific, or any other topical subject (Thanks for the recommendation Sudeep). In the past, the episodes that I’ve heard on Fora TV and have found them to me greater insight to the workings of the world are:
Finally, in addition to the above, I’m having simply a ball of a time, listening the audio rendition of Right Ho, Jeeves by P G Wodehouse, performed by B J Harrison of The Classic Tales Podcast. I’ve tried to pickup books by Wodehouse several times, but could never read past a few pages. But when B J Harrison gets behind the microphone to read out the exuberant expiditions of Wooster and Jeeves, not only do I look forward to each new episode but also find myself chuckling and giving whoops of excitement as I go of driving jolly well off to work.
Ever since I’ve a boy I’ve been twisting and turning the Rubik’s cube. As a kid, it took me a few weeks to understand how the cube works and managed to solve one of the six sides of the cube. Then after a break of a few years, managed to solve one side plus one line. And now after a decade and a half, I’ve re-picked the infamous cube to give it one final shot and crack the damn thing.
Why? Well, my daughter is growing up and by the time she’s 2 or 3 I would have liked to have solved it on my own so that I can guide her through the thought process of solving the cube herself. Well friends this is the closest I have come so far. I have solved one side, one line and almost solved the second line. As you can see, it’s one or two pieces in the second line that I’m not able to have in place without disturbing the other pieces. Well I’m still at it, watch this space for future updates.
Is it a new car? A job promotion? A new house? Does our Happiness depend on external factors? Do we wait for someone or something to make us happy? Many of us think that “If I had so and so… I would be Happy”. “If my partner would behave in a certain way … I would be Happy” Depending on external factors to make us Happy gives us only short term Happiness, till the time we start craving or the next thing or event to make us Happy. read more…
The above is a guest post we had done for Zeenat Syal’s Blog Positive Provocations. She’s got some good articles on her Blog that are worth going through.
Share and Enjoy:
Feb 28, 2010
Posted by arif in Uncategorized | 0 comments
I don’t know if it’s just me but I’ve been coming across a lot of literature these days on Eating less (and ironically as I’m typing this I’m enjoying a cup of green tea). Health benefits aside, it’s one of the more fundamental spiritual practices to enlightenment.
Here are my more favourite quotes on Eating Less:
- Imam Ali, AS has famously said, “Don’t make ur stomach a graveyard for animals.”
- From the Hadith of Ascension, Allah SWT advises Prophet Mohammed (SAW) directly: O Ahmad! Beware acting like a child who, upon seeing what is green and what is yellow, he loves it, and when he is given of what is sweet and what is sour, he is deceived by it.” The Prophetsaid, “Lord! Lead me to a deed whereby I seek nearness to You.” The Almighty said, “Make your night a day and your day a night.” The Prophetsaid, “How so, Lord?” The Almighty said, “Turn your sleep into prayer and your food into hunger.”
- From Imam Ja’far as Sadiq’s Hadith, to Unwan al Basri
“As for the three pieces of advice on self-discipline – firstly do not eat that which you have no appetite for, for this brings about idiocy and stupidity. Secondly do not eat unless you are hungry. And thirdly when you do eat, eat only that which is lawful (Halal) and begin in the Name of Allah (SWT), and remind yourself of the tradition of the Prophet (SAWW): “There is no vessel that man fills worse than his own stomach”. So if you must fill it, then allow one third of it for food, another third for drink, and keep the last third for air.
Benefits of eating less:
It’s surely a difficult thing to do. I’m personally so used to eating till my brim, that I find it difficult to judge whether I’m still hungry or not. And then when I do know that it’s time to stop, my hand feel like a tonne. My hands feel just way too heavy to lift and push my plate away. Yet it feels extremely light to go ahead and make the most of another delicious helping. What’s worse is that in many households it’s actually a culture that when one’s invited, the host is expected to stuff the living daylights out of the guest. It’s then when he’s perceived to be a good host.
I’ve been trying to practice eating less, although difficult the rewards are worth it:
- Increase in your willpower:
Just like anything else in life, the more you practice at something the better you get. Similarly, the more your exert your will against your ravenous desires, your willpower gets stronger.
- You feel just right:
After a few minutes of holding yourself back you realise that what you ate was just right for your. And now your full as well as active enough to carry on the next/future tasks.
- Your meals are more balanced:
When I have a light dinner, I experienced that I’m exceptionally hungry for breakfast and hence can treat myself to a larger meal then. We’re obviously more active during the day and the heavy breakfast gives me the energy that I require. A heavy dinner, simply piles on more cellulite.
- Importantly the satisfaction of doing the right thing for yourself, and not taking the easy convenient more delicious option.
- Ofcourse you will immediately experience an increase in your spiritual levels too.
- The final benefit I’m listing here is that eating less is one of the key factors indicated in the study on what it takes to live up to a 100. You can learn about the other lifestyle criteria in this TEDx video here or the Blue Zoneswebsite here.
When I started drawing comics the workflow that I followed was:
* Sketching & Inking the images on paper
* Scanning the images
* Drawing Layout and lettering in Photoshop
After studying the advances made in the technology of Digital art (such as Wacom Tablets), I realized how much time is saved by drawing the comics digitally. One of the important points to consider when going digital is the software to use to draw the comics. Though photoshop/illustrator is the most common software, in this post I’d like highlight the features that make Manga Studio EX 4 a better software for creating Comics:
1. Comic Balloons
Manga Studio Comic Balloon
Comics are a silent art (unlike movies). Balloons are important elements to express variation in what the character is saying. Manga Studio comes with a rich library of Vector balloons that can be easily resized & edited. Each Balloon contains a text, and balloon tails can be extended from it, this makes editing very easy.
2. Perspective Ruler
Manga Studio Perspective Rulers
This feature along is good enough to use Manga Studio for comics. At times drawing backgrounds can be a pain, especially if there’s a complex 2/3 point perspective involved. The perspective ruler makes it a breeze. 1,2,3 point perspective rulers are available that makes it easy for you to draw perspective lines for your backgrounds. With the ruler in place, as you draw on the screen, it automatically snaps your drawing to the auxiliarylines.
3. Tones
Manga Studio – Tones
Tones in a comic help to set the mood of the story. Black and White tones are especially an important element in Manga Comics. Manga Studio comes with a large library of Tones, which can easily be added to any panel by simply dragging and dropping it in.
4. Organize Comic in Pages (Story Management)
Manga Studio – Story Mangement
Each Manga Studio Story file can contain several comic pages. This makes it very easy to oraganize your story and files on the hard disk.
5. Creating Panels
Manga Studio Panels
This is another great feature. Not only is there a library of ready panels to use. it’s easy to create your own custom panels by varying the size & thickness of the panel borders.
6. Importing 3D Materials
Manga Studio – Importing 3D Materials
Manga Studio allows a user to import and rotate 3D files. This can work as a great great hack for creating backgrounds! One way is to create a background using Google Sketchup, and import the file as a 3D material. Then you can either use this background or trace over it to whatever level of detail it suits you.
Want to get the best of both worlds? (Manga Studio + Photoshop)
Manga Studio – Export to Photoshop with layers
Use the Export feature
Though Manga Studio is better than Photoshop for drawing comics in many ways, one aspect where it falls short is when it comes to coloring. So if you want to draw your comics in Manga Studio and color them in Photoshop, Manga Studio allows you to export your black and white comic page in PSD format maintaing all layers including text!
Ever since I’ve started using Manga Studio I’ve not looked back. If you’re a comic artist, I recommend you give it a try. A Trial version can be downloaded here for free.
One of my more favourite verses of the Quran is when it commands us to speak and act justly even if it be against your community, your parents, even yourself. The exact verse is:
4:135 O you who believe! Be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness of Allah’s sake, though it may be against your ownselves or parents or near relatives; if he be rich or poor, Allah is nearer to them both in compassion; therefore do not follow (your ) low desires, lest you deviate; and if you swerve or turn aside, then surely Allah is aware of what you do.
Pretty common sense when you come to think of it. But very difficult to live by. How many times we protect our loved ones for wrongs that they have done. As parents we protect our children for their mistakes, instead of letting them face the music. Or as a Manager or Fellow employee protect another fellow employee. We give in to our “low desires” rather than striving for and sticking to higher ideals of living that we’ve been destined for.
I’m posting the below video not to air my political views, but simply to share my awe in how he is not afraid to speak up for what he believes is right inspite of the seemingly overwhelming opposition. Furthermore this video is also an epitome of the Silent Majority syndrome. Observe how vociferous the minority of the audience gets when what they hear is not to their liking; but as soon as the speaker responds at 1:14 the crowd explodes in applause. The same thing happens towards the end, the crowd responds in an overwhelmingly positive manner. The question is, why was the crowd silent till that time? Why did they wait for the Norman Finklestein to air his frank views on the Holocaust to then offer their support? It’s the same reason why I don’t standup for the corruption and injustice that I see today. It’s so much more comfortable to sit and watch instead. And give support when only when everyone else is doing so.
