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Dear Everyone,

Its been a while since we last heard anything about the paintball tournament we were supposed to have a few months back.

Allow me to offer my services to organize the tournament for everyone. I'm targeting 27 September 2003. This date is a firm target. I think the problem we had last time was that we tried to accomodate everyone and this made the date keep on switching, so this time let's set it for 27th.

In the next few days i'm going to get the information necessary from the paintball venue to see what needs to be done to get things rolling, including how much each of us will have to pay and what will the format of the competition be.

In the meantime, please mark the date down. We'll do things in the morning, starting 8 or 9 am.

Also, please leave a comment if you're interested to participate so that i can add you to the mailing list for latest updates on the program.

Its been a long time since i last posted a chat on the Volume of Interactions. But i believe the following chat on the rights of a husband and wife in an Islamic family might be of interest. Feedback and comments are very welcome - this is an area that i think many of us (myself included) do not yet fully understand, and its probably something that all of us, Muslim or non-Muslim, should be aware of.

It was a cold dreary day in 1993 - i was in the UK, it was raining outside, and mom wouldn't let me go out and play. Dejected, i flipped channels, and chanced upon a game of football being shown: Newcastle United FC against someone i can't remember. In those days, Newcastle was trapped in the lower divisions of British football, and though they had a huge fan base, affectionately called the Toon Army, their games were, at best, shown on TV on a massively delayed basis; probably the stuff the TV stations show when they don't think anyone is watching but they have to put something on the air anyway to pass the time.

To say the least, for some insane reason, i was enthralled by the Magpies (that's Newcastle's nickname) - their style of play was unstructured and a bit messy back then, but the attacking football was undeniable in its class and determination. They won the game, i cheered, and since then, i've been a fan.

As a football fan, there are two missions in life:

# To watch your team play LIVE in a competitive match
# To make a trip to their home (in this case, the city of Newcastle in the North-East UK), and watch them play a game there

Winning or losing is not too important in relation to these missions - at the end of the day, you hardly remember whether your team won or lost; what matters is that you were there to witness them play, LIVE.

Well, tomorrow, the first mission will come true. Newcastle is in Kuala Lumpur and will play the opening match of the FA Premier League Asia Cup against Birmingham at Bukit Jalil, 8.45pm.

Shearer's famous one-handed salute

I got my tickets months ago. I've got my replica Newcastle jersey prepped. Thinking about making a banner saying, "Alan Shearer - I LOVE YOU". I can't wait. My footballing heart is buzzing in anticipation.

UPDATE: The NUFC Malaysia Supporters' Club held its first activity over the last weekend. Check out the report here.

When i found this great site, The Star Wars Alphabet Project it brought back a flood of memories from my younger days. I don't know whether any of you did this too, but i used to pretend that my hands were spaceships (of the Star Wars variety) and i would re-enact whole battle scenes from the movies. One hand would "chase" the other, then "shoot" its laser beams, then one hand would "explode" - all to the tune of the Star Wars theme in the background, and verbal commentary by myself (i would mimic the voices of the pilots in the ships, "Die, rebel scum!" or "The Force is strong with this one").

It was great fun. And i confess, i still do it, once in a while, even now.

"Red Wing, Gold Wing, make your attack run now... "

A. Asohan, the editor of InTech has provided a public response to all the bruhaha that started with a posting i recently made in review of an article written by L.C. Wong about bloggers in INFOSOC. The response in its entirety can be found below:

Hi everyone.
Yes, it's me, A. Asohan, that horrible In.Tech editor.

This is going to a long, long post, unfortunately.

Dear Asohan (editor of InTech),

Its been suggested to me by some of my readers through comments on my website and also through email that my posting was unfair in its criticisms towards InTech. The posting is question is:

http://www.aizuddindanian.com/voi/archives/000602.html

Over the last few days, i've been giving it a lot of thought and concluded that some of my assumptions were wrong. For these errors, i apologize:

* It was presumptious of me (or anyone else for that matter) to suggest to InTech how they should run their stories. When i made mention of how some of Najah's ideas were not reported upon, it was incorrect of me to suggest that they should have been included.
* During the interview with L.C. Wong i repeated some of Najah's ideas - L.C. was absolutely correct to report it as she heard it. It is not within her responsibility to track back on whose idea it was or wasn't. In all fairness to her, she was faithful to the things that were mentioned during the interview.

There are also a few published comments on my blog that may have been inaccurate and hurtful, as they were drawn from the posting i made. While i do not have absolute control over what my readers say, i think i do have some responsibility over what they read, hence i understand i have an influence on what they think. For giving them the wrong idea, i also offer my apologies. I think that's what it means to be a journalist (though i'm not one, i think there are publishing principles are universal): to have a sense of responsibility in reporting and writing. While writing can be done in isolation, its an important lesson i've learned that their effects rarely are.

InTech has been particularly supportive of the blogging phenomenon in the past, and i'm sure that many of the newer generation of bloggers have begun writing because of your team's efforts. In that sense, i think we share the same goals - my objective is to get as many Malaysians as possible to contribute to the online knowledge pool through the written word. Please keep up the fantastic work; i will do my best to do what i can on my end with Project Petaling Street and the rest.

Thank you for your kind patience and understanding. I look forward to a time in the future where our paths will meet in the offline world.

* The 2003 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships starts today.
* Its going to be another one of those grunting Finals.
* Drew on fire (literally!)
* Should airlines compensate the families of DVT victims? They say no. What do you say?
* I would hate to be a US soldier in Iraq. Bush with his foot-in-mouth again.
* I'm all for scientific research, but isn't this taking things too far?
* The coolest job on earth.
* Digital shoplifting - using handphones to take pictures of books and magazines.

The Daily Sho(r)ts is a simple collection of links i've found interesting each day. They are sourced from websites i visit regularly e.g. CNN.com, Slashdot.org and Google News

[To a fellow Malaysian blogger]

I've been asked the question "What is a blog?" so many times, both offline and online and in print. I needed to have an answer, not just because people asked, but because i needed to understand it myself. I looked hard on the Internet for a suitable definition, looked around at bloggers who have been around for a long time, looked around at what existed before the word "blog" was ever even mentioned. The answer i finally settled on, even back then when i first spoke about it in public, was certainly an answer that i knew would provide two separate outcomes:

# Many existing bloggers would disagree, some, very much so.
# For many others, expecially newer bloggers, it would act as a guide and provide a direction, in case they needed one.

There almost always is a positive and negative reaction in such decisions. I weighed both very carefully, and settled on my current course of action with a clear conscience.

I've never said to anyone, in any forum, that a blog isn't a personal journal, or diary (in fact, i would argue that 95% of blogs are the personal thoughts of an individual in an online format) . I've never said either that a blog must be about a particular topic, subject or matter. I've also never said that a blog can't be what you want it to be. All i have said is that the content should be presented in a particular manner so as to adopt the features of a blog. What are those features? I've publicly voiced my opinion for the answer to that question numerous times, as you know. That's all. I've never said that my opinion is better than anyone else's nor have i said that i think all other definitions of what a blog is was wrong.

The Daily Sho(r)ts is a simple collection of links i've found interesting each day. They are sourced from websites i visit regularly e.g. CNN.com, Slashdot.org and Google News

* Go naked and "scare a shark to death":http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/06/13/offbeat.scared.shark.reut/index.html.
* The Spurs have "won the NBA Finals":http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/us_sport/2992722.stm.
* Why is Harry Potter "so damned addictive":http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/12/60minutes/main558428.shtml?
* Will Real Madrid "spend it on Beckham":http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-715359,00.html?
* Its been 50 years since "we figured out how humans work":http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/06/15/genome.show.ap/index.html.
* A BRILLIANT IDEA - use "iPods as portable DJs":http://boingboing.net/2003_06_01_archive.html#200422830.

The Daily Sho(r)ts is a simple collection of links i've found interesting each day. They are sourced from websites i visit regularly e.g. CNN.com, Slashdot.org and Google News

* The world has lost a "true statesman of the silver screen":http://edition.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/12/obit.peck/index.html.
* Drink some soup, be "great is bed":http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/13/offbeat.viagra.food.hk/index.html.
* Not a good time to be a Muslim or Jew in the UK - "bleeding animals to death to be banned":http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/06/13/britain.meat/index.html.
* Re-civilizing Iraq: "the first steps":http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/06/13/rtr1000029.html.
* The "Mac IE is dead":http://news.com.com/2100-1045_3-1017126.html. Long live "Safari":http://www.apple.com/safari/.