Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.
— Walt Whitman
What others say and I like.
Mostly an archive of internet articles I want in one place, with some of my writing and rumination sprinkled here and there.
Sunday 10 June 2012
Quote, Unquote
Saturday 9 June 2012
Words with voices
Every word has a sound. That's obvious. Every word has a characteristic sound, that's understandable too. Some people, like linguists, poets, writers, or the like, even fall in love with some words just because of the sound of them! For example, I like the sound of beautiful -- the way your lips curl while making that eau is just, beautiful.
But this post is not about words having sounds (Another post may be). It's about words having voices. I feel words have voices. I hear them! I wonder if you have noticed this, but I some times do. Let me put this way, sometimes, when I read a paragraph, or a sentence, I hear that said out in a voice, but that voice, and perhaps the tone, is actually the weighted average of the individual voices of those words that I read (and no, the voices of the words are not because letters have voices too). Let me give a few examples.
So for instance, whenever I read the word 'exquisite', I hear in the voice of 30 something white american woman. I mostly get this voice when I am reading Apple product's feature list too. You know, the kind of voice that wants to sell something? in an alluring way? That voice. You probably guessed I hear the same voice with 'alluring' too. I could never imagine these words in the voice of a black person, or a Pakistani villager, or an Indian. This has to be white Caucasian, and female.
'Clarity' -- just close your eyes and say that word. Clarity. When I do that, I hear this in the voice of 20 something young woman. Intellectual, honest. One with a honey-thick voice. I didn't say honey sweet voice, and I didn't see thick voice. It's just, the voice flows, slowly, like honey does.
Another word, 'I', It's a complete word, mind you. A very powerful word, and according to some, even dangerous too. I always hear that in a voice too. In my own voice :) Same goes for a lot of other words too, like 'Hahahaha!', but if that 'HAHAHAH' is in all caps, or all lowercase, I don't hear it in my own voice.
Another example is 'guilty' - whenever I read it, I hear it in the voice of a 12-15 year old boy, who is a debater, delivering some speech. Trying to look like he is making a point. I can't imagine this word in the voice of any 40 year old or something, and if in a story or something, it is said by someone other than the said teenager, I don't usually hear a voice.
Another word is 'seminar', I hear this in the voice of that sophomore girl who is doing really well in AIESEC.
That's just me. That is to say, that's just the result of picked up biases, prejudices, experiences etc.
But, like I said, that's just me.
But this post is not about words having sounds (Another post may be). It's about words having voices. I feel words have voices. I hear them! I wonder if you have noticed this, but I some times do. Let me put this way, sometimes, when I read a paragraph, or a sentence, I hear that said out in a voice, but that voice, and perhaps the tone, is actually the weighted average of the individual voices of those words that I read (and no, the voices of the words are not because letters have voices too). Let me give a few examples.
So for instance, whenever I read the word 'exquisite', I hear in the voice of 30 something white american woman. I mostly get this voice when I am reading Apple product's feature list too. You know, the kind of voice that wants to sell something? in an alluring way? That voice. You probably guessed I hear the same voice with 'alluring' too. I could never imagine these words in the voice of a black person, or a Pakistani villager, or an Indian. This has to be white Caucasian, and female.
'Clarity' -- just close your eyes and say that word. Clarity. When I do that, I hear this in the voice of 20 something young woman. Intellectual, honest. One with a honey-thick voice. I didn't say honey sweet voice, and I didn't see thick voice. It's just, the voice flows, slowly, like honey does.
Another word, 'I', It's a complete word, mind you. A very powerful word, and according to some, even dangerous too. I always hear that in a voice too. In my own voice :) Same goes for a lot of other words too, like 'Hahahaha!', but if that 'HAHAHAH' is in all caps, or all lowercase, I don't hear it in my own voice.
Another example is 'guilty' - whenever I read it, I hear it in the voice of a 12-15 year old boy, who is a debater, delivering some speech. Trying to look like he is making a point. I can't imagine this word in the voice of any 40 year old or something, and if in a story or something, it is said by someone other than the said teenager, I don't usually hear a voice.
Another word is 'seminar', I hear this in the voice of that sophomore girl who is doing really well in AIESEC.
That's just me. That is to say, that's just the result of picked up biases, prejudices, experiences etc.
But, like I said, that's just me.
Know your breakfast!
■ What is barley?
Barley is just another cereal, another grass which we humans cultivate to eat its seeds, in Urdu it's called جو.
■ What is Porridge?
Porridge is when you mix any cereal (any mixture of its components, inner seeds or husk or whole grains) in water or milk. You can add seasonings to it too. In Urdu it's called دلیہ.
■ What is cereal? and...
Cereal are just those grasses which have edible grains. Which humans cultivate for their grains mainly, like rice, pulses, wheat, oat, barley etc. In Urdu: غللا
■ What is oatmeal?
Basically it's just porridge made from Oats.
■ What is oat?
Oat and Barley are parallel. They are two different kinds of grain, each comes from a different plant. They are what you would broadly call Cereal. Oat is a cereal, barley is a cereal, corn (Maize) is a cereal, rice is a cereal etc.
■ What is bran?
So when you take the grains from cereal, it's a whole grain. Meaning it's complete, it's what's good for health. Mostly, it's refined, and the outer layer, the husk, is separated from it. And the inner seed is ground or milled to produced flour, while the husk is separated. This one is the husk of wheat. I don't know what are the names of husks of other cereal though. In Urdu: چوکر.
Barley is just another cereal, another grass which we humans cultivate to eat its seeds, in Urdu it's called جو.
■ What is Porridge?
Porridge is when you mix any cereal (any mixture of its components, inner seeds or husk or whole grains) in water or milk. You can add seasonings to it too. In Urdu it's called دلیہ.
■ What is cereal? and...
Cereal are just those grasses which have edible grains. Which humans cultivate for their grains mainly, like rice, pulses, wheat, oat, barley etc. In Urdu: غللا
■ What is oatmeal?
Basically it's just porridge made from Oats.
■ What is oat?
Oat and Barley are parallel. They are two different kinds of grain, each comes from a different plant. They are what you would broadly call Cereal. Oat is a cereal, barley is a cereal, corn (Maize) is a cereal, rice is a cereal etc.
■ What is bran?
So when you take the grains from cereal, it's a whole grain. Meaning it's complete, it's what's good for health. Mostly, it's refined, and the outer layer, the husk, is separated from it. And the inner seed is ground or milled to produced flour, while the husk is separated. This one is the husk of wheat. I don't know what are the names of husks of other cereal though. In Urdu: چوکر.
Monday Monday Monday!
So on Saturday night, while convincing Sharjeel that he should go to gym with me regularly, we decided that we will go for a morning jog/walk on Monday. What happened was that he tried to explain to me why gym wasn't such a good idea (*yawn*) and I, who usually listens to almost anything he says, did not budge. Well, cause I knewhe was wrong, I also knew that I had more reasons to work out than slim down.
Anyway, so while convincing me, he tried to be smart with me, said: 'If you go for jogging for one week with me in the morning, I will join the gym with me'. Now, the reasons I wanted to start working out at the gym, in the evening, by paying a fee, were served a thousand times better if I went to jogging in the morning with Sharjeel! So what did I say? That's right.
And on Sunday night, I made arrangements to sleep early. And for some of us, that's a risky thing to do, specially those who aren't that good with telling their minds to not screw with them. And so it happened. What followed was a sleepless night. And because I had woken up pretty late on the Sunday, this time is lasted till Morning. Though at 3 am I had texted him that I am not coming, at 5-ish I told him that yes, we are going. And so we did.
We had a great time. He had brought with himself Qasas-ul-Anbia by Ibn-e-Katheer and he read it to me after we had done jogging and had a sprint. I was very, very satisfied with my morning and till now had no plan of not going to work. At eight am, when it was time to get ready for work. I quit. I decided I hadn’t slept for the night, and had worked out in the morning, I decided I needed to sleep, take a day off. But, I was not to slack. I was to wake up with still some sleep deficit, so I could fall asleep easily Monday night. And I would go to NADRA office and get the process for my new NIC, the one with the beard, complete. And so I did that. I had a wonderful day! I made two trips to the place on foot, and thought, man we programmers don’t do anything physical on an average day! I got barley flour, so folks would eat that. And the nice walks in the sun surely had a soothing effect on the mind!
Thank Allah for that, and thank Sharjeel too. I hope this continues everyday.
Thursday 7 June 2012
Quote, Unquote
Double Bluff:
Said Watson to Holmes, “Is it wise –
Such false whiskers when hunting for spies?”
Said the sleuth, “I’m afraid
You’re as dense as Lestrade:
I’m disguised as myself in disguise.”
– R.J.P. Hewison, Punch, Nov. 21, 1951
source: http://www.futilitycloset.com/2012/06/06/double-bluff/
How to not do what you love
Today I was reading a really good blog post, titled The Three-day Monk Syndrome. It was about how when we dearly want to do something, we start if off with great dedication and passion, effervescing with energy like poured coke, and then lay it down flat after a few days.
The post argued that it's like being a monk, i.e. giving it your best shot and everything, but only for a few days.
We all have had our monk-periods, and we all know that despite we get quick, even encouraging results in those periods, somehow those activities never really hit home. Why does it happen? Because important thing is to stick with something for longer, and I don't even need to argue about it. But then, how to that? Well, for that, you need to stop being the monk, and, like the article says, say your good twenty minute prayer everyday! (metaphor alert!)
I am not going to reiterate what the post said about preventing the syndrome, but I will copy one thing that I absolutely loved, one of the points said:
source: http://zenhabits.net/3-day-monk/
The post argued that it's like being a monk, i.e. giving it your best shot and everything, but only for a few days.
We all have had our monk-periods, and we all know that despite we get quick, even encouraging results in those periods, somehow those activities never really hit home. Why does it happen? Because important thing is to stick with something for longer, and I don't even need to argue about it. But then, how to that? Well, for that, you need to stop being the monk, and, like the article says, say your good twenty minute prayer everyday! (metaphor alert!)
I am not going to reiterate what the post said about preventing the syndrome, but I will copy one thing that I absolutely loved, one of the points said:
Remind yourself of what you want. You’re doing the activity (exercise, language learning, meditation) presumably because you want to do it. When we stop doing something, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we wanted it. We start to fear it for some reason, and try not to think about it. Instead, think about it, but remind yourself of why you started doing it in the first place. That might mean reading some motivational articles, watching some videos that motivate you, looking at some pics that motivate you, referring to a vision in your head.That there, the underlines part, is what hit home for me. When you were beginning your endeavour, did you really want something? Or was just a whim? You saw somebody do it and thought it was cool? Or did you see someone have something, and decided you wanted it? Well, do you still want it? Remind yourself, you want it! It's not a chore!
source: http://zenhabits.net/3-day-monk/
When we stop doing something, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we wanted it.
Wednesday 6 June 2012
Lonely, Not!
When I foresee something difficult, or start to indulge in depressive thoughts, and I say to myself "I have no one to turn to!" and just before I begin to worry, a voice in my heart says, "Don't be deluded, you will always have Allah to turn to!".
Alhamdulillah! Thank God for that voice!
Alhamdulillah! Thank God for that voice!