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Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Lessons of Leadership from Abu Bakr r.a.

Let It Immerse in the Heart and Mind
khas utk diri sendiri .. in point form .. bukan berobjektif utk bacaan umum .. tak sempat nak tulis panjang panjang

Abu Bakr's r.a. strength was from his innerself
- izaar dia sentiasa jatuh .. hadith dari izaar melebihi buku lali.
- kurus dan cengkung.

Abu Bakr r.a. was the pillar of Islam - DAKWAH DAN KADERISASI
- sejurus lepas masuk Islam .. terus jalankan usaha dakwah dan kaderisasi
- Islamkan 5 dari 10 orang 'asharah al-mubasharah

Abu Bakr r.a. paling berani
- quote dari Ali r.a. .. "who is the bravest?"

Abu Bakr r.a. mengamalkan hikmat ketenangan abadi
- reaksi selepas dari kewafatan Rasulullah s.a.w.

Abu Bakr r.a. yang paling proaktif dan swift
- siapa yang berpuasa hari ini? siapa yang ikuti jenazah? siapa yang ziarahi orang sakit? siapa yang lakukan sadaqah?
- ana .. ana .. ana .. ana ya Rasulullah

Abu Bakr r.a. bervisi luas
- dialog di Bani Sa'idah
- reason yang logikal dari Ansar
- bersetuju dengan pandangan Ansar
- menerangkan SEBAB apa perlu leadership di tgn Quraish
- bukan hanya sekadar mengquote hadith semata
- visi utk seluruh Arab dan bukan sekadar Madinah

Abu Bakr r.a. prioritize!
- bergegas ke Bani Sa'idah

Abu Bakr r.a. knows when to put his foot firm
- discussion and arguments di Bani Sa'idah belum habis .. tetapi dia sudah sampai kepada keputusan .. (applicable pada never ending meetings etc)
- his firmness in the fight against apostasy

The humility of Abu Bakr
- "I have been given authority among you, but I am not the best among you"

Penerimaan amanah
- Bukannya sebab individu itu yang terbaik!

The need for change of personality
- Abu Bakr r.a. changed his personality apabila dilantik menjadi khalifah .. so did Umar r.a.

Pure belief WITH rationality
- beriman dengan hujjah ..
- reason .. "IF rasulullah s.a.w. said that than it is true"
- percaya yang rasulullah s.a.w. berkomunikasi dari bumi ke langit .. apa yang peliknya untuk 'kembara' ke langit?

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Nawawi Foundation
April 2004: Prophets, Prophecy, and the Unseen

The Nawawi Foundation is pleased to announce its upcoming weekend intensive, “Prophets, Prophecy, and the Unseen.” Featuring Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah, this year’s program will be a sequel to last year’s event, “The Attributes of God in Islam.” However, it is not necessary to have attended last year’s series to benefit fully from this presentation. Attendance is open to the public, and all are welcome.

“The Attributes of God” focused on the first of the three major concentrations of traditional Islamic theology—belief in God. This year’s program will examine the remaining two: what Muslims believe about God’s prophets (nubuwwat or prophetology) and the Unseen (sam’iyyat or eschatology). Special reference will be given to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. We will consider his rank among the messengers, the nature of the night journey and ascent, and his salvific role on the Day of Judgment. Regarding the phenomenon of prophethood in general, we will treat such topics as the nature of revelation, the divine books, prophetic infallibility, and miracles. The issue of sainthood is also germane to this discussion: What is a saint? How do they differ from prophets? Do they have miracles?

The third concentration, eschatology, is traditionally broadest in scope and content, including generic belief in the Unseen, angels, spirits, demonic beings, resurrection, heaven, hell, and the sacred geography of the hereafter like the Station of Waiting, the Traverse, the Balance, and the Quenching Pool. The Signs of the Hour are unavoidably prominent: the rising of the sun in the West, the closing of the Door of Repentance, the Eastern, Western, and Arabian earthquakes, the coming of the “Guided One” (mahdi), the emergence of the False Messiah (al-masih al-dajjal), and the second coming of Christ. Questions about the nature of time also arise: Is Islamic time linear as in the Judeo-Christian traditions? What are the implications of the realm of timelessness, pre-eternity, the unfolding of time in sacred and human history, the folding up of time in miracles, the end of time, and the eternity of the Garden and Fire? We will also discuss the meaning of life and death, the “intermediary world” (barzakh), and the rewards and punishments of the grave.

Finally, we hope to discuss a number of issues that are part of the traditional discourse but have taken on special relevance today, often because of their misuse: Who is or is not a Muslim? What is the gravity of declaring people outside the faith (takfir)? Is Islamic theology inclusive or exclusive or something else? What is the share of non-Muslims in the hereafter? Are we required to understand eschatological references literally? When is allegory allowed or even desirable? What standards are required in reading current moments in history—like the Arab-Israeli struggle—in apocalyptic, millenarian, or messianic terms? Are today’s events the culmination or fulfillment of particular prophecies and eschatological cycles?

Much of the most important content of Islamic faith comes under the rubric of “Prophets, Prophecy, and the Unseen,” and these concerns are as vital today as they were yesterday, although—like any aspect of faith—they require sound understanding and intelligent application.

Suggested Background Reading
- Imam al-Ghazali, The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife
- Imam al-Haddad, The Lives of Man
- Shaykh Nuh Keller, Reliance of the Traveller, pp. 807-825
- William C. Chittick, Faith and Practice of Islam, pp. 1-12, 47-54, 81-104, 119-127

©2003 Nawawi Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

Monday, March 29, 2004

Wa Qul I'malu

Bismillahi walhamdu lillah allazi laa ilaaha siwaah wassolaatu wassalaamu 'ala rasulillah.

Pertamanya, ana memberi amaran kepada barisan MKT yang baru agar bertaqwa kepada Allah 'azza wa jall, dalaman dan luaran. Jangan biarkan hubungan antum dengan Khaliq dihalangi oleh makhluq, dan jangan biarkan hubungan antum dengan sahabat-sahabat yang lain dihalangi oleh diri antum sendiri.

Sudah terlalu lama persatuan alumni bagaikan berkubur tanpa nisan, hidup segan mati tidak mahu. Justeru dengan amanah kepemimpinan yang telah Allah berikan atas asbab undi (pos) ana dan rakan rakan, bangkitkanlah alumni keluar dari kuburnya.

Ada beberapa elemen yang perlu dipadu dalam menjayakan alumni, bak satu sistem .. tanpa adanya salah satu maka terhenti atau cacatlah suatu sistem itu.

1. Alumni sebagai wadah
2. Aktiviti yang teratur, sistematik, konsisten dan bermanhajkan Islam
3. Kewujudan ahli yang taat dan pemimpin yang berhaluan
4. Ukhuwwah fillah sesama ahli
5. Perlembagaan yang bermaqsadkan maslahah
6. Celupan iman dan biah solehah

Setiap perkara bermaqsadkan agar mendatangkan maslahah dan mengelakkan mafsadah. Maka apabila ia sudah hilang maqsadnya maka bersedialah untuk melakukan hijrah dan perubahan agar maqsad shari'ah menepati maqsad as-shari' jalla wa 'ala.

Sesungguhnya di dalam al-Qur'an terdapat bashar (berita gembira) dan nazar (amaran), agar antum berterusan takut kepada Allah s.w.t. dan senantiasa meminta keampunanNya. Bagi Allah ada hak yang perlu dipenuhi di waktu malam, dan bagi hak manusia ada yang perlu ditunaikan di waktu siang. Jika malam antum dihabiskan dengan tidur maka akan hilanglah nafs antum, dan jika siang antum dihabiskan dengan tidur maka akan larilah pengikut antum.

Ketahuilah, bahawa selagi mana antum memimpin dengan iman atas jalan Al-Qur'an dan As-Sunnah, maka antum akan dapati orang-orang beriman akan sentiasa bersama antum. Jika antum tersasar maka ana akan menjadi antara insan terawal untuk merubah dengan tangan, biiznillah.

"wa qul i'malu fa sayara Allahu 'amalakum wa rasuluhu wa al-mukminuun"

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Al-Baraa ibn Malik al-Ansari

His hair looked dishevelled and his whole appearance was unkempt. He was thin and wiry with so little flesh on his bones that it was painful to look at him. Yet in single handed combat he defeated and killed many opponents and in the thick of battle he was an outstanding fighter against the mushrikeen. He was so courageous and daring that Umar once wrote to his governors throughout the Islamic state that they should not appoint him to lead any army out of fear that he would have them all killed by his daring exploits. This man was al-Baraa ibn Malik al-Ansari, the brother of Anas ibn Malik, the personal aide of the Prophet.

If the tales of Baraa's heroism were to be told in detail pages and pages could be written. But let one example suffice .

This particular story begins only hours after the death of the noble Prophet when many Arabian tribes took to leaving the religion of God in large numbers, just as they had entered it in large numbers. Within a short space of time only the people of Makkah, Madinah and Taif and scattered communities here and there, whose commitment to Islam was unwavering, remained within the religion.

Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the successor to the Prophet, stood firm against this blind and destructive movement. From the Muhajireen and Ansar, he mobilized eleven armies each under a separate commander and dispatched them to various parts of the Arabian peninsula. Their purpose was to make the apostates return to the path of guidance and truth and to confront the leaders of the rebellion.

The strongest group of apostates and the greatest in number were the Banu Hanifah among whom Musaylamah the Imposter arose, claiming that he was a prophet. Musaylamah managed to mobilize forty thousand of the best fighters among his people. Most of these however followed him for the sake of Allah or tribal loyalty and not because they believed in him. One of them in fact said, "I testify that Musaylamah is an impostor and that Muhammad is true but the impostor of Rabiah (Musaylamah) is dearer to us than the true man of Mudar (Muhammad ). "

Musaylamah routed the first army sent against him under the leadership of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl. Abu Bakr dispatched another army against Musaylamah led by Khalid ibn al-Walid. This army included the cream of the Sahabah from both the Ansar and the Muhajireen. In the front ranks of this army was Baraa ibn Malik and a group of the most valiant Muslims.

The two armies met in the territory of the Banu Hanifah at Yamamah in Najd. Before long, the scale of battle tilted in favor of Musaylamah and his men. The Muslim armies began to retreat from their positions. Musaylamah's forces even stormed the tent of Khalid ibn Walid and drove him from his position. They would have killed his wife if one of them had not granted her protection.

At that point, the Muslims realized in what a perilous situation they were. They were also conscious of the fact that if they were annihilated by Musaylamah, Islam would not be able to stand as a religion and Allah--the One God with whom there is no partner--would not be worshipped in the Arabian peninsula after that.

Khalid mustered his forces once more and began reorganizing them. He separate(i the Muhajireen and the Ansar and kept men from different tribes apart. Each was put under the leadership of one of its own members so that the losses of each group in the battle might be known.

The battle raged. There was much destruction and death. The Muslims had not experienced anything like this in all the wars they had fought before. Musaylamah's men remained firm amidst the tumult, as firm as immovable mountains although many of them had fallen.

The Muslims displayed tremendous feats of heroism. Thabit ibn Qays, the standard bearer of the Ansar, dug a pit and planted himself in it and fought until he was killed. The pit he dug turned out to be his grave. Zayd ibn al-Khattab, brother of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with them both, called out to the Muslims: "Men, bite with your jaw teeth, strike the enemy and press on. By God, I shall not speak to you after this until either Musaylamah is defeated or I meet God." He then charged against the enemy and continued fighting until he was killed. Salim, the mawla of Abu Hudhaifah, and standard bearer of the Muhajireen displayed unexpected valor. His people feared that he would show weakness or be too terrified to fight. To them he said, "If you manage to overtake me, what a miserable bearer of the Quran I shall be." He then valiantly plunged into the enemy ranks and eventually fell as a martyr.

The bravery of all these, however, wanes in front of the heroism of al-Baraa ibn Malik, may God be pleased with him and with them all.

As the battle grew fiercer and fiercer, Khalid turned to al-Baraa and said, "Charge, young man of the Ansar." Al-Baraa turned to his men and said, "O Ansar, let not anyone of you think of returning to Madinah. There is no Madinah for you after this day. There is only Allah, then Paradise."

He and the Ansar then launched their attack against the mushrikeen, breaking their ranks and dealing telling blows against them until eventually they began to withdraw. They sought refuge in a garden which later became known in history as The Garden of Death because of the many killed there on that day. The garden was surrounded by high walls. Musaylamah and thousands of his men entered and closed the gates behind them and fortified themselves.

From their new positions they began to rain down arrows on the Muslims.

The valiant Baraa went forward and addressed his company, "Put me on a shield. Raise the shield on spears and hurl me into the garden near the gate. Either I shall die a martyr or I shall open the gate for you."

The thin and wiry al-Baraa was soon sitting on a shield. A number of spears raised the shield and he was thrown into the Garden of Death amongst the multitude of Musaylamah's men. He descended on them like a thunderbolt and continued to fight them in front of the gate. Many fell to his sword and he himself sustained numerous wounds before he could open the gate.

The Muslims charged into the Garden of Death through the gates and over the walls. Fighting was bitter and at close quarters and hundreds were killed. Finally the Muslims came upon Musaylamah and he was killed.

Al Baraa was taken in a litter to Madinah. Khalid ibn al-Walid spent a month looking after him and tending his wounds. Eventually his condition improved. Through him the Muslims had gained victory over Musaylamah.

In spite of recovering from his wounds, al-Baraa continued to long for the martyrdom which had eluded him at the Garden of Death. He went on fighting in battle after battle hoping to attain his aim. This came at the battle for Tustar in Persia.

At Tustar the Persians were besieged in one of their defiant fortresses. The siege was long and when its effects became quite unbearable, they adopted a new tactic. From the walls of the fortress, they began to throw down iron chains at the ends of which were fastened iron hooks which were red hot. Muslims were caught by these hooks and were pulled up either dead or in the agony of death.

One of these hooks got hold of Anas ibn Malik, the brother of al-Baraa. As soon as al-Baraa saw this, he leapt up the wall of the fortress and grabbed the chain which bore his brother and began undoing the hook from his body. His hand began to burn but he did not let go before his brother was released.

Baraa himself died during this battle. He had prayed to God to grant him martyrdom.

Monday, March 22, 2004

Taking Oneself to Account
By: Yusuf Qardawi

It is necessary for an individual to pause at the end of each day that has passed, in order to check himself and run through his achievements: What has he done in the course of the day? Why has he done it? What has he omitted? Why has he omitted it?

How excellent it would be if this self-criticism were to take place before one retired to bed.

This period of self-criticism and appraisal should certainly be counted among man's moments of progress; it is a moment when man impartially sits as a judge over himself and reviews his yearnings and inclinations, his instincts and motivations. It is a moment when the believer appoints, out of his conviction, a policeman to watch over himself, an investigator to probe him, and a judge to condemn or acquit him. In this way he progresses from the state of "the soul that incites to evil" to the state of "the self- reproaching soul" which reproaches its owner whenever he plunges into sin, or falls short of expectation.

In a hadith we quoted before it was said: "It behooves any sane person to have four periods of time" and one of the four periods is "a period in which he engages in self-criticism."

The Commander of the Faithful, 'Umar bin al-Khattab says: "Criticise and appraise yourselves before you are criticised and appraised on the Day of Judgment, and weigh out your deeds, before they are weighed out for you." [Transl.: "On that Day will men proceed in groups, sorted out, to be shown their Deeds. Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it." (Qur'an 99:6-8)]

`Umar himself, may Allah be pleased with him, used to whip his foot at night and say to himself: "Tell me, what have you done today?!"

Maimun bin Mahran, a famous companion of the Prophet, used to say: "A pious person scrupulously examines and appraises himself more than he would a tyrant ruler and a tight-fisted partner!"

Al-Hasan said: "A believer polices his own Self; he criticises and appraises it for the sake of Allah. The Final Appraisal (Hisab) may turn out to be mild on some people simply because they were wont to appraise themselves in this life; and the Final Appraisal on the Day of Resurrection may turn out to be rigorous on a people who took this life with levity, and thought they would not be called to account".

Then he described how this self-criticism and appraisal operates in practice: "A fascinating thought (or idea) suddenly comes to the mind of a believer. He says to himself: 'By Allah this is fascinating, I need it! But no, never. Get lost! I am prohibited from executing you!'" (This is self-criticism and appraisal before the event).

And: "A believer may inadvertently do something. He would then turn to himself and say: 'What do you mean by this? By Allah, I cannot find an excuse for this. I shall never repeat it, insha'Allah!'" (This is self-criticism and appraisal after the event).

If a Believer fails to observe this brief period of soul-searching daily, then he should at least try to do so once every few days, or once a week. In this way, he draws up his life balance sheet, depicting to him his (spiritual) assets and liabilities.

A Believer should also have a longer period of this practice at the end of each month, and an even longer period at the end of the year, when he bids farewell to one year and prepares for and welcomes another.

This is the time to critically review the Past and plan for the Future. This is the (spiritual) equivalent of his final accounts for the year.

One blameworthy innovation initiated by the West and unfortunately imitated by some Muslims, is the annual birthday celebration, where people are invited to a party and served with delicious food and drink.

At times, people obsequiously yield to meaningless rituals and imitative practices for which Allah has sent down no authority. For example, they light a number of candles, each one representing a year in the lifetime of the celebrant. Having lit the candles, the celebrant then histrionically proceeds to blow them out. Gifts are presented and pleasantries exchanged on the occasion.

Rather than this blind, useless imitation, it is better for an intelligent and sensible person to seize this occasion, which marks the expiry of one year of his lifetime, to reconsider and reflect upon his life. At the end of every year, a careful trader applies the brakes in order to measure his performance over the past year, and establish his financial position at the end of it. He wants to know his profit or loss, and his assets and liabilities; i.e. his claims and the claims against him. An intelligent, sensible person ought to do likewise, in respect of his life. More than that, he should beseech Allah to bless his life, make his day better than yesterday, and his tomorrow better than today.

It is worthier for an intelligent and sensible person to call himself to account for one whole year of his life that has expired, in respect of which Allah, the Exalted, will question him. A year is not a short time. It is a period of twelve months; a month is on average thirty days; each day has twenty-four hours, each hour sixty minutes, and each minute sixty seconds. And every second should be counted as a blessing, a favour upon him from Allah and a trust from Allah in his hands.

It is worthier for this intelligent and sensible person to commiserate with himself over the turning of a page in the book of his life. Each day that passes is, as it were, a leaf that has withered and fallen from the tree of his life. May Allah have mercy on Al-Hasan al-Basri when he says: "O son of Adam! You are but a bundle of days. As each day passes away, a portion of you vanishes away!"

Abu 'Ali ad-Daqqaq used to chant the following lines:

"Each day that passes, a portion of me it takes away,
On the heart, a bitter taste it leaves, and then glides away."

Another poet says:

"Man rejoices as long as the nights continue to pass by,
Yet, he too, as they vanish gradually perishes away. "

Yet another poet says:

"We take delight in every day that we have lived,
Yet each day that passes is a portion (gone) of a lifetime."

This is the view that every intelligent and sensible person ought to take. However, intelligent and sensible people are few in this world.
Think Positive!!

This is nice - finding positive out of every negative - which we don't always manage to do. I am thankful...

1. For the husband who snores all night, because he is at home asleep with me and not with someone else.

2. For my teenage daughter who is complaining about doing dishes, because that means she is at home & not on the streets.

3. For the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

4. For the mess to clean after a party because it means that I have been surrounded by friends.

5. For the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

6. For my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

7. For a floor that needs mopping, and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.

8. For all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

9. For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.

10. For the noise I have to bear from my neighbours because it means that I can hear.

11. For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

12. For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.

13. For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am stilll alive.

And finally ....... for received personal and meaningful forwarded e-mails because it means I have friends who are thinking of me.

Friday, March 12, 2004

fasbir sabran jameela, inahum yaraunahu ba'eeda, wa narahu qareeba

Maka khabarkan kepadaku
tidak lelahkah dikau dalam perjalanan
mari lah rehat bersama ku seketika
kita bersenang lenang dan bergelak ketawa

fa al-yadh-hakuu qaleelan wa al-yabkuu katheeran

"Tidak .. tidak .. jalanku masih panjang
bekalanku masih tidak mencukupi
untuk sampai ke destinasi
pendakian dan pencarian ini harus kuteruskan!"

safaree ba'eed, wa zaady lan yubalighunee

Sabar shaykh, usah terburu-buru
masa terbentang di depan mata
usia pun masih terlalu muda ..

ya 'ibaadiy allazina asrafu 'ala anfusihim la taqnatu min rahmatillah

"Dapatkah kau menjamin kapan
terhentinya masa di dunia
atau kaku nafas tidak bernyawa?

fa seeruu fil ardh

Murtafaq ku bukan di sini
secebis ketenangan memang dapat dihirup
namun ketenangan abadi harumnya di sana
dapat kurasakan laungan itu semakin hampir
melambai lambai memanggil ..

thumma ilayna marji'ukum

Ayuh Juhd! Tunggu apa lagi
pacukan kuda, siapkan kelengkapan
tunjukkan ku ke arah mana haluan kita!"

man jaahada feena lanahdiyannahum subulana

Sesungguhnya darakaat itu mudah,
kerana ia menuruni ikut tarikan duniawi.
Namun darajat itu payah,
kerana ia melawani arus tarikan duniawi.

* Will be starting the quest with my beloved friends, habeebi Johan, Tarek and Waheed. Make do'a for us insha Allah. If there's any need to reach me the numbers are:
(202) 242-4047 weekdays
(765) 532-1314 weekends.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

First and foremost, bear in mind that the lifespan of a fly is about two weeks. For a human, not much can be done, but for a fly, that is a lifetime. If a fly is going to live in a man's world, he has to cram up human's 60 years in two weeks. So, on the first day he is born he has to learn how to walk and to communicate because he has to go to school the next day. Then, he must finish up his elementary school in one day. This fly must be very genius.

Next, he will go to high school on the third day. After that, since this fly is a genius, he got admitted to university. However, since studies in University are quite complicated and he has relatively smaller brain, it takes him two days to finish up his Bachelor in Entomology. Now, he is ready to live his live with his own income. He got a job as an entomologist cum researcher in a laboratory.

Nevertheless, the life at the laboratory is very uninteresting. He decided to get married. Thus, at the age of seven days, he got married to a female fly, which is definitely bigger than him. But he has no problem with the size. She does.They have a very long night together. He continued going to work on the 8th day of his life, and suddenly this fly begins to think about his future. What will he do when he retires? He decided to deposit some money in a bank which gives him a special, Dieflybye Savings packages with 50% interest rate for him with a hope the money he deposited will yield quite a sum.

At last, at the age of 12 days, he begins to feel tired and old, and decided to retire. He stays at home and fills his days playing with his grandchildren. Now only he realized that the 50% interest worth is not much to him because he can never keep his money there for a long period. He takes it as a lesson and hope it will never happen again. Finally, at the age of 14 days, he passed away and left his entire legacy to his grandchildren, with the hope that they will use their lifetime for something good.

Written by comrade Faiezy with slight editing from me.

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Sunnah Berjuang
.. and i'm drowning in the world .. Allahumma ighfirli

sunnah berjuang version 1

Berjuang menempah susah
Menanggung derita menongkah fitnah
Itulah gelombang hidup samudera duka
Seorang mujahid memburu syahid.

Dibuang dia berkelana
dipenjara dia uzlah dibunuh syahid
Namun jiwa tetap mara menuju cita
membara demi Allah dan Rasul-Nya.

Berjuang tak pernah senang
Ombak derita tiada henti
Senang susah silih berganti
Inilah sunah orang berjuang.

Malamnya bagai rahib merintih sayu
Diiring serta air mata
Siangnya bagaikan singa di rimba
Memerah keringat meluah tenaga.

Berjuang memang pahit
Kerana syurga itu manis
Bukan sedikit mahar yang perlu dibayar
Bukan sedikit pedih yang ditagih.

Berjuang ertinya terkorban
Rela terhina kerana kebenaran
Antara dua pasti terjadi
Tunggulah syahid atau menang.

sunnah berjuang version 2

Sudah sunah orang berjuang
Mengembara dan berkelana
Miskin dan papa jadi tradisi
Berenggang dengan anak dan isteri

Biasanya para pejuang
rumah mereka merata-rata
Rezekinya tidak menentu
tidur baringnya tak berwaktu

Orang lain buat harta
tapi dia membuangnya
Orang lain kawan terbatas
tapi pejuang kawan merata;
Orang lain musuhnya kurang
pejuang musuh tidak terbilang

Tidak kurang yang sayang padanya
Orang lain mati dilupa
Para pejuang tetap dikenang
sejarahnya ditulis orang
Makamnya sentiasa dizarai
walau perjuangan tak berjaya

* dedicated to Abah and fellow comrades ..


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Enlightened Conflict

choosing an NFL winner or loser Trump style

September 25th, 2017

interfere word

“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Most of us don’t mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn’t interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not.“

Joseph B. Wirthlin

Just to finish off my thoughts <and frustrations > with regard to Trump’s lack of leadership and the NFL <and pettiness with Steph Curry “dis-invite” of someone who wasn’t going anyway> I wanted to point out just one more trump-i-am-what-i-amincredibly disturbing behavior he continues to exhibit – picking winners & losers with individual businesses.

It seems like he has forgotten he is no longer a faux business person, when he could tweet out absurd faux business statements about other real businesses and business people, and that he is now a faux president where he is not supposed to tell businesses how to be run, what an industry should or should not do and call out individual people like he is calling out to the guy who always finds a way to lose to him on the golf course whenever he walks through Mar a Lago’s front door.

Presidents don’t pick business winners and losers.

Presidents don’t tell people how to conduct their business.

Governments establish laws, rules & regulations within which individual businesses, industries and people work within. HOW they work within those guidelines is up to them.

In fact.

Even if a president has some business experience it doesn’t matter how they ran their business, how they believe a business should be run or how they believe specific demands upon organizational behavior should be dictated … it does not matter what he or she thinks.

Businesses are enterprises permitted to run their business independent of step-foward-brave-go-do-businessgovernment ‘input.’ It is the right of any business to conduct themselves, legally, the way they choose.

I say that because lost in the racial and faux patriotism aspects of the Trump versus NFL <black athletes> mosh pit is the basic fact he interfered in the way an entire business conducts their business.

“I think NFL team owners should fire the son of a bitches.”

No business owner calls the employees sonofabitches.

If they do they get fired.

I have run businesses. No one tells me who I can, or cannot, fire.

No one.

I have run businesses. No one tells me how my employees should conduct themselves and what they can, or cannot do,

No one.

free-bad-advice-business-blog-contrarianYou should boycott the games <do not attend or watch>.”

So … the president suggested Americans should not support American business.

That’s the bottom line.

Gussy that up any way you would like but … that’s it.

Do not spend you money on American business.

At some point I am sure some Trump administration spokesperson can turn themselves into a pretzel telling me how wrong I am to think and say that … but … uhm … the American president told American people that because American businesses were not doing what he believes is the American way of conducting business that American people should no longer support specific American businesses.

What an asshole.

What a fucked up version of an American First business ideology.

I imagine my larger point is that since Trump was elected he has called out specific companies and industries … and even specific people … all under the guise of “here is what I believe is good or bad.”

<i imagine any Republican/conservative reading this just gagged a little>

When he has done this … believe it or not … it has made a difference. constructive destructive business progress

Businesses respond, stocks respond and the specific target hears responses <from customers, acquaintances and Trump trolls>.

By the way … this forces those businesses, industries and individuals to have to spend unplanned money attempting to respond to the highest office in the country.

He is the president. Presidents don’t pick business winners and losers.

Whether you like, or dislike, what the president has said about the NFL it is coming with a cost.

Saturday morning coaches, owners and players thought the game plan was the most important thing. By late Saturday morning PR teams, business owners conference calls, team captains, and players were all geared up trying to figure out what to do and how to respond.

Business as usual was interrupted.

We may think football is game … but it is a business to these people and it is a job.

Trump interfered with people’s business, careers and livelihoods.

In business words have repercussions.

pause interfere life business

…….. Trump’s affect on business by interfering ……….

But Trump doesn’t think beyond the moment and the soundbite and the audience.

He is one of those assholes he just lets others clean up the mess he leaves behind and justifies all his shit by saying shit like “I am just saying what everyone is thinking” … not realizing that most business entities kind of build a system to accommodate ‘the shit’ so when someone comes along and topples the system … well … you have to invest energy, time and money rebuilding a new system to accommodate new shit.

There are dozens of real stupid leadership things about trump that drive me nuts. But this one is actually different. This is a lack of understanding of the roles & responsibilities of being a president.

You don’t pick winners and losers.

You don’t tell someone how to run their business.

You don’t tell someone who to fire and who to not fire.

secrets loser think sad community bad behavior

This weekend should remind Donald J Trump that he shouldn’t interfere with anything in the Constitution <free speech> and shouldn’t interfere in American business.

I would be furious if I were an NFL owner or head coach.

I would be nervous if I were a business CEO or business leader.

Very nervous.

Trump has no idea how to be a president nor how to conduct himself as a president … businesses will suffer this fool week after week.

idealism and realism (possibilities and pragmatism)

September 15th, 2017

idealism pragmatist doing shit

“It has generally been assumed that of two opposing systems of philosophy, e.g., realism and idealism, one only can be true and one must be false; and so philosophers have been hopelessly divided on the question, which is the true one.”

Morris Raphael Cohen

“Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.”

Herbert Hoover

“Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.”

John Galsworthy

I am a pragmatic hope guy. I clearly love instilling hope as part of any business, suicide hope againstor Life, vison but don’t believe in any aspect of false hope. As I have written before while false hope is maybe slightly better than no hope at all    … hope should be treated carefully.

That said.

All hope to me should be grounded in some sense of pragmatic and reality.

I, frankly, don’t understand when people suggest you cannot have both.

I, frankly, don’t understand when people suggest you cannot have both idealism and realism.

I, frankly, don’t understand when people suggest you shouldn’t have aspects of both hope & pragmatism, possibilities and pragmatism and idealism & realism.

We should want both AND demand both.

It is reaching for the stars and reaching realistically.

It is keeping your feet in the clouds and, yet, head on the ground.

But that’s how I think.

I thought of this as I noted Hillary has an entire chapter in her new book called pragmatc-hillary-won-some-lost-someidealism and realism where she criticizes some aspects of Bernie Sanders.

I would suggest everyone not read it as criticism of Bernie but rather a tutorial on how you can both be idealistic and realistic.

I will not defend Mrs. Clinton. It’s not my job.

<nor will i buy the book>

But I will defend we hope believers who also believe in pragmatism.

I will defend that I can offer a sense of a difficult path without creating a larger sense of ‘doom or Armageddon’ to create the sense of urgency which we often deem necessary in order to inspire real action.

And, inevitably, that is what this is all about.

How do inspire people not just to inspire but to take action?

How do I inspire larger ideas and larger actions?

I imagine all politicians, who are a version of leaders, have to figure out how to balance this. It is a tightrope all of us who have led walk.

The difficulty on this tight rope is that there will always be people debating, and futurist non linearcriticizing, while you walk on this tight rope. They will argue we need more radical change. They will argue we need less radical change. Shit. They will argue we need no change moving forward but rather reverse some of the changes made.

And you know what?

Some of that, in all of that, is right.

Some of the past is awful and some of the decisions we will make for the future, and in the future, will be awful.

Conversely, some of all of that will … well … not be awful.

To suggest that there are easy answers or that the steps forward are clear and simple is … well … stupid. Stupid & foolish.

Hillary is, and will always be, a lightning rod.

We may scratch our heads with regard to some of the things she says … or we may instead sit back and ponder the good debate to be found in the lightning rod discussions.

For in her “Idealism and Realism” can be found the constructive decision which any leader tries to find their own course in leading.

We debate all of this shit in our own heads … and then we debate it in conference rooms and boardrooms every week.

deal with uncertainty repeat embrace life do

We are responsible for past decisions and, yet, try to unburden ourselves so that we can move forward.

Simplistically, just because I <maybe> made an awful decision in the past doesn’t mean I will make an awful decision in the future.

Simplistically, just because I maybe offer a hopeful idealistic decision for the future doesn’t mean it is a realistic decision for now.

Simplistically, just because I try and slow everybody down on some idealistic discussion shouldn’t suggest I am any more ‘canny or wise’ than everybody else let alone the person who offers the idealistic hope that people may gravitate toward … it just suggests that maybe I am trying to balance … well … reality.

And maybe incorporate the fact that, pragmatically, I would like to incorporate some possibilities for people today & tomorrow.

I will suggest, no, I will tell you the harsh truth … getting good shit done is hard.

pragmatic hope people balanceGetting shit done means balancing overreach and under reach.

Balancing possibilities and pragmatism.

Balancing idealism and realism.

Balancing the practical and the hope.

Balancing what people think they want and what they need.

Balancing the majority and the minority. Balancing what is good for one and good for all.

Anything less than that is oversimplification.

And then there is context.

One can never lose sight of context.

You have to balance the idea, the hopefulness of ‘what could be’, against pragmatically where you have been <what has happened if not what has just happened> as well as where you are.

It is incredibly simplistic to suggest an Obama decision when he took office should be compared to a decision a Clinton or a Trump would make when they took office. Just as it would be incredibly simplistic to judge a business leader if they were to take over a large company which was truly heading into a shithole versus a company which had some problems but was, in general, businesswise healthy.

Every transition has its own singular issues. And, let’s be clear, every situation has problems.

We should all recognize that in the overall life cycle of Life problems and opportunities, practical and possibilities, hope & despair, heroes & villains, will appear in different forms.

This is not cynical … this is … uhm … reality

Whoever became the new president of the United States was going to deal with some problems.

compromise life good want you they

Harping on whatever those problems doesn’t really get you anywhere.

They are what they are.

I could also argue that … well … arguing over idealistic ideas and vision without admitting some pragmatism and practicality doesn’t really get you anywhere.

We all hate cynicism and because we do we confuse it with pragmatism and practicality.

We all get tired of pragmatism because … well … it sounds small.

But I would point out that we all not only get tired, but absolutely unequivocally hate, false hope and unrealized idealism. “Large” unrealized equals zero, nothing, nada. People don’t like a zero, nothing, nada no matter how large the zero, nothing, nada is.

And you know what?

A good leader knows all of this. And they do their best to walk the tight rope. They may not always get it right and they may not always get done whatever is needed to get done to alleviate the problems, or all the problems, that exist in the here and now. But I would point out that, realistically, you can never alleviate all problems and that problems exist, contextually, no matter if an idealist or a realist, a pragmatist or a ‘possibilities driven’ leader, a hope or a practical leader steps in. the only constant that any leader faces is that problems existed to be addressed, exist to address and will exist to address … all to eventually be solved.

Not accepting that as a Life truth is foolish.

I thought of this today as I envision Hillary Clinton will face another day of criticism from not only all sides but all dimensions. I am sure she will deserve some but the sheer amount is crazy. Yeah. It is most likely an easy buck for a shitload of people but it is lazy.

Lazy rhetoric and lazy thinking.

Maybe, just maybe, we should be sitting back and thinking I would suggest everyone maybe think about this as a grander tutorial on how you can both be idealistic and realistic.combine contradict idealism realism possibilities

I tend to believe this would not only be helpful, but a necessary, discussion because … well … we deserve both idealism & realism, possibilities & pragmatism and hope & individual significance.

Once again, I am not in the business of defending Hillary Clinton, however, maybe … just maybe … we should stop criticizing what happened and start discussing what happens now.

you do not get credit for what you are supposed to do

August 28th, 2017

work doing the best you can not enough

“A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.”

Henry Kissinger

“When you do things right, people won’t be sure that you have done anything at all.”

God (in Futurama)

Think what you want and say what you want to say about Kissinger … but the unseen lifeopening quote is awesome <although, geologically speaking, it may not be truly accurate>.

In our quest for recognition as a leader many business people, and leaders in general, seemingly get shoved <on seemingly a daily basis> into some absurd universe where everyone judges you <mostly on some absurd views of ‘being noticed is what matters’ or ‘shine bright like a diamond‘>. I say that because this means thinking of yourself as a piece of coal seems … well … quite underwhelming and quite ‘unleaderly’ <I made that word up>.

One of the most frustrating things you learn early on in a management career path is that you do not get credit for what you are expected to do.

And maybe what makes this most frustrating is that this lesson applies to a crisis as well as the most mundane everyday grind responsibilities.

The thing is as you gain more and more responsibility you learn that this is actually a good thing.

People like reliability.

People like consistency.

People like a foundation of quiet competent leadership.

People like you doing what you are supposed to do <with little fanfare>.

leadership confidence credit insecure Trump

This is a lesson learned early on in a management career … and you can tell the leaders who <a> did not learn it or <b> saw the lesson but lack self-confidence … because they … well … ignore the lesson and exhibit ongoing aggravating self promotion <even on the things they are expected to do>.

That said.

This doesn’t mean you aren’t tempted to take amount or two to point out in some fairly loud messaging that you want some credit for what you are doing.

This is the ‘dance.’ The management & leader “credit dance.’ I call it a dance because every good leader knows they have to do some self-public relations and, yet, they don’t want to be seen as doing any overt self-public relations.

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

Winston Churchill

Being a great leader is all about doing your job and doing the right things at the right time … and <I imagine> figuring out how to actually tell people that you did the right things at the right time. This means not being seen a as blowing your own horn or being some narcissistic attention seeking, credit seeking asshat but rather one who understands it really isn’t about gaining credit or accolades but rather reassuring people that the right things, the good things, just get done under your watch.

I would note that reassurance is a powerful tool.

It is powerful because doing things right isn’t about small … nor large … but if you do it right … really right … people will not really be sure that you’ve done anything at all and, yet, feel reassured that you are there.

In today’s bombastic world it can actually become a bad thing if no one notices. Why? <insert a ‘huh?!?’ here> because someone else at the exact same time is telling everyone what they did … and yes … unfortunately … often the squeaky wheel does get the grease.

Aw heck.

The truth is that the value is never in the credit. And leaders know that. And we everyday schmucks need to remind ourselves of that more often.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Leaders know that the little things can matter and that just delivering upon good person what you do not what you saywhat you are supposed to do really matters <a lot>.

A subtle touch can create the needed ripples. Doing what you are supposed to do insures the right ripples are always … well … rippling.

Good leaders know you can be the initiator, instigator or implementer … or even all of them … and it doesn’t really matter.

I would note that within the realm of doing what you are supposed to do about the only thing that can truly diminish ‘greatness of simple doing’ is not accepting responsibility – for the bad and the good and all that it takes to get to either place.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that what I just stated is ‘character’.

Leaders don’t lead by asking or telling people to follow it most often happens by doing the shit you are supposed to do really well.

I know. I know. that doesn’t sound “great” but greatness really cannot be achieved without it.

This kind of suggests that greatness is a contradiction.

Let’s use Winston as an example.

Huge ego. MASSIVE ego. Charismatic speaker. Maybe one of the greatest orators of all time. Made some huge mistakes. HUGE mistakes.

But humble in his responsibility. He permitted  the people to get credit for success and strength and what needed to be done … all the while doing what he as supposed to be doing.

He was vocal, and sincere, on issues and the people of Great Britain getting credit.

All despite his ego.

Great leadership reflects a unique balance of ego and humility.

Ego to effectively lead and humility to be effectively followed.

I would imagine those with the greatest character reside somewhere on the line between those two things.

I would imagine those with the greatest character reside somewhere in between not getting credit for what they are supposed to do and actually being acknowledged for enabling greater greatness.

I know it isn’t popular to say this but most of the best things in Life, and leadership,  are found in the unspectacular:

  • The best people more often than not go unseen and unnoticed by the majority.

  • The best moments more often than not go unseen until looking back.

Just as perfection is most often found in the imperfections … spectacular is most often found in the unspectacular. And, yes, doing what you are supposed to do is unspectacular.

But I would argue the spectacular would never ever happen if the ‘supposed to do’ shit never happened.

In the end.

do what you said you would

Great leaders are often judged by what you don’t see them doing. This also means great leaders are often judged by what they feel comfortable remaining silent about … by what they don’t say about what they are supposed to do and supposed to be.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out this is a little more difficult than it may appear. It is a little more difficult because a great leader does have to have some ego and some higher level of confidence and, therefore, some positive affirmation kind of helps to put some well needed oxygen back into the confidence balloon.

It takes a awhile to learn you don’t have to ask for oxygen or even try and fill it yourself … well … at least good leaders learn that … the bad, insecure ones never do.

not answering questions and deflection

April 21st, 2017

Question Cloud the issue answer business

This is the word to use when evasion is achieved by clouding the issue.

Creating a smoke-screen.

prevaricate, evade, dodge

“When shrouded meanings and grim intentions are nicely polished up and pokerfaced personae are generously palming off their fantasy constructs, caution is the watchword, since rimpling water on the well of truth swiftly obscures our vision and perception.

(“Trompe le pied/wrong foot.”)”

Erik Pevernagie

There is possibly nothing more aggravating in business than someone not avoid word businessanswering “the” question. To be clear on what I am speaking about … they answer a question … just not the one you asked.

I am not going to argue that some questions are not easy to answer.

I won’t even argue that we get asked questions we don’t know the answers to but the situation dictates we make something up <yes … that happens in business>.

But abandoning the question completely is … well … complete bullshit.

But you know what?

I think the main reason it is so aggravating is because it is truly a reflection of intentions.

There is even a book called The Anthropology of Intentions by a professor, Alessandro Duranti, who kind of tackles this whole discussion of intentions & words.

He offers us the thought of ‘intentional discourse’ wherein an individual filters words through their beliefs & desires and their plans & goals to guide the discourse <regardless of whether the rest of the people want it guided that way>. In other words, using another phrase he offers us, by engaging in an intentional continuum people ponder their use of words through self-interest motivations <some good & some bad>.

By the way … I am fairly sure I mangled his academic masterpiece … but you get the point.

“You get the point.”

I share that again because while we sit there aggravated at someone who completely avoided answering the question asked … we almost always also sit there wanting to invest a little of our own energy trying to assess why they did it. Because, in our aggravated minds, in its most simplistic viewing … avoiding the question is solely about shifting attention – away from something and toward something else.

It could be something as simple as steering you away from their lack of deflection answer question avoidknowledge and steering you toward something they may actually know.

But, in most cases, a full abandonment of a specific question is complete & utter deflection.

In the intelligence community they call this effort to shift attention as deflection or misdirection. Magicians do something similar getting people to focus on one thing and away from the trick itself.

Completely avoiding the question is the business version of a distract-the-audience approach. It is this weird moment in which someone pretends to answer the question by actually answering some other question that magically appeared to replace the question really asked.

It’s almost like entering an alternative universe for a while.

Sadly. Aggravated or not … the more practiced the deception <the more practiced the business magician is> the more likely you hesitate to step in <and the more you get aggravated as you hesitate> and correspondingly … the more many of these people actually believe deception works.

It is maddening.

If they are good at it … when someone responds to a question by not addressing the points of the question, thereby avoiding the issue itself, it doesn’t create unrelated discussion to the issue … it simply avoids the issue in totality.

..... watching the question being ignored .........

….. watching the question being ignored ………

I am fairly sure we have all sat there in a meeting and watched something like this unfolding right before our eyes.

The visceral response, the aggravation, we have to this ‘answer evasion’ situation is most likely found in the revelation it is occurring … watching it unfold before our eyes.

Philosophically, we can see that through some internal conviction to retain something they feel like they should own <their reputation, their title, their perceived intelligence, their whatever> they justify evading the question.

Conviction. Yeah. I just used ‘internal conviction.’ This means their intentions reflect they are more important than not only the question itself … but you. You are not even dignified with an answer.

It is irksome <at its least worst>.

It is loathsome <at its most worst>.

I give a partial pass to the asshats you can see who have some answer they want to give everyone, regardless of what question is asked, and blurt it out when given the opportunity. They haven’t deflected the question … they just ignored it as unimportant to what they want to say and have been planning to say no matter what has been said up to that point.

It’s the ones you know heard the question … and just ignored it. Or avoided it. Or just didn’t answer it despite the fact they heard every word, every syllable and every intention from the question giver.

In other words … they intentionally do not answer the question.

<envision a deep sigh here>

I want people to face questions head on. And what makes this even more aggravating is that you know these people are quite capable of taking things head on.look over there answer

How do I know that?

These are the same people who will attack, or ‘aggressively question’, the intentions of the question giver themselves. It is a common tactic for the answer avoiders. The natural instinct is to ‘defend’ … to answer the attack. Fuck that. I want to say … “just answer the fucking question asked.”

How else do I know these people are quite capable of taking questions head on?

These are the same people who will attack, or ‘aggressively question’, the question itself. This is not a deflection tactic … this is a ‘turn the question back on itself’ tactic. And, once again, your natural instinct is to defend or … well … answer the question you are asked.  Fuck that. I want to say … “just answer the fucking question asked.”

And maybe what makes this ‘not answering the question asked’ so maddening is that we, most sane pragmatic business people, tend to sit back <after saying “WTF”> and try and unravel why it happened and what the hell just happened.

Unless you are in an interview scenario <in which you always have an opportunity, one-to-one, to hunker down and hammer out a clear answer> you are most likely in a room with other people and the non-answer has sent at least some of the people careening down a completely different road.

That makes it even MORE aggravating.

One intentional non answer to a question can completely derail a meeting or a avoid questionsdiscussion.

That is intentional discourse. Or how about the other phrase from that academic’s book … engaging in an intentional continuum.

And one last way you know these asshats are intentionally not answering the question is when they cleverly decline to answer the question with the infamous head fake answer … “I don’t know the answer to that question. I’ll work on finding the information for you and then get back to you with an answer” <and they have no fucking intention of ever getting back to you>.

You know … sure as shit … they have no plans to work on it and will never ‘get back to you’ unless you call them on it.

They are intentionally refusing to answer the question assuming the conversation will move on and, in a laundry list of other shit to do, that this one will either never make the list or be so low on the list they can stiff arm you on answering based on “working on things more important.”

Its bullshit. You know its bullshit. They know its bullshit.

Fuck you.

Fuck you and the non-answering horse you rode in on.

In my mind a good well-articulated question demands some accountability. The one given the question is now accountable for the answer. They may try and deflect and they may just answer a completely different question … but a question asked exists … it does not disappear. You cannot get away from it.

Let me share a graphic example of why accountability remains whether the question dodger likes it or not.

You open your front door in the morning and there is a nice pile of dog poop avoid question bomb stink business problemssquarely in the middle of your front door opening. You either clean it up or you avoid it. The question dodger never acknowledges the pile and steps over it moving on to something else. The shit stays at the front door and over time the smell increases and the flies crowd around.

A good question unanswered is just like that. And a question dodger cannot avoid the smell in the end.

All that said.

My message to the asshats who completely do not answer the question asked:  You will be accountable to the question and to cleaning up the mess … now … or later <and quit aggravating me by not answering the fucking question>.

Author note:

When I reread this, which took me less than a ½ hour to write, I was a little asshole admittingsurprised by how … well … aggravated the tone was.

Lots of ‘fucks’ and ‘asshats’.

I left it as is because as a 50something business guy who has always attempted to take on what needs to be taken on regardless of how painful t may have been <and career wise possibly less than prudent> I get a little angry about how the business world has become incredibly unkind to the risk takers & truth tellers and seems to reward the less-than-competent and ‘political maneuverers’ more often than it should. That’s my excuse for why I let this one stand as it does.

Enlightened Conflict

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Thursday, 20 April 2017

Building greening economies

Africa needs more than token action towards building green economies. Without adequate climate action, African farmers may lose 40 % to 80 % of their croplands for growing grains. Preventing the loss of biodiversity (SDG 9) and ecosystem degradation will safeguard urban people’s food supply too. The big question is: how will private sector resources be mobilised? No doubt, African financial institutions have significant capacities to support investors. However, they have a history of risk aversion and lack sufficient market instruments to facilitate risk-sharing. Therefore investments in agribusiness has stayed below what is needed. A further drag is the macroeconomic situation. Interest rates are rising and are increasingly beyond what smallholder farmers and small and mid-sized enterprises can afford. To unlock private-sector funding, therefore, the credit market’s demand and supply sides must be unblocked. Moreover, there has to be a framework for sharing expertise on the continent. The good news is that we already have networks that pool resources, help to mitigate risk and share knowledge. They need better coordination however. In this contest, the African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a very promising initiative at the supra-national level. Founded in 2012, it is a donor-supported agency of the African Union. It basically runs an insurance scheme to finance disaster response and promote climate resilience. In line with its mandate, the ARC is planning to create an Extreme Climate Facility (XCF), which will issue bonds. The idea is to raise funds on global capital markets, attracting investors from beyond Africa. A market-driven insurance facility that is backed by governments and multilateral institutions is a clever way to spread risks widely. One hopes that the XCF will soon become a reality, and the rigorous risk modelling it plans to have in place will serve other market initiatives. Necessary as it is for Africa to take responsibility for its resilience to climate change and to develop its adaptation mechanisms, the continent should not be denied climate justice. The heavily-industrialised countries account for overwhelming shares of the emissions that are heating the planet and are intensifying climate risks for vulnerable people in less-privileged countries.

Source: Development and Cooperation


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Travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo

travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo

Taipei is in a subtropical climate, so you will not see four distinct seasons in Taipei. The best times to visit are during the fall, when the weather is a little cooler.
For good exploring weather (not too hot and humid), I would recommend March- April and also October-November. South of Taiwan would always be warmer.
Taiwan has a subtropical monsoon climate, with wet, humid summers and short, relatively mild winters (though it often snows on the highest peaks) affecting the best time to visit. The north tends Taipei and aroundchevron_right. Taipei and...

Travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo tour fast

So, when is the best time to visit Taiwan if you want mild sunshine and good weather? Special seasonal highlight: It is a fine time to head up to the mountains to see the fall foliage. Holy See Vatican City State. This site uses cookies, by continuing to browse you are agreeing to our cookies policy. To the south of Taipei, you'll find the valley of Maokong , known throughout Taiwan for its romantic views and its thriving tea culture. Of course, there are many other night markets in Taipei and Taichung cities. It is also a good place to get acquainted with Taiwan's religious customs, as it is a shrine to a mix of deities from the Buddhist, Taoist and folk religion practiced in China.

The weather is cooler but still warm and sunny, and October and November has relatively less rainfall, and it is still warm. Hotels near Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. In general, autumn and winter are the best times to visit Taiwan, though early summer May to July can also be pleasant at higher elevations and in the north, travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo the high temperatures in midsummer make watersports and beaches far more tempting at this time. November is one of the best times of the year to experience places like Yangmingshan National Park where the fall colours are out in full force. While the country doesn't experience snow, wiki travelling salesman film weather can be chilly, especially near the mountains.

Travel: Travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo

  • Most of Taiwan has beautiful warm climate all year round. It is the world's second biggest IT show, and it is the largest in Asia. Weather: Spring is from March to May.
  • The Great Wall of China.
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  • Travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo

Best Things to do in Taipei - Overnight City Guide

Travel taipeitaiwanweatherandwhentogo -- travel

Why Visit Taipei in November? So, when is the best time to visit Taiwan if you want mild sunshine and good weather? Best month to go Taiwan.


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What Game Characters Do For Fun

Thrusting SticksNew posts are updated every Friday here, and at Thrusting Sticks.

Video games are a good way to escape your boring pitiful existence.

But what if you’re a video game character and your existence consists of blowing things up? Or shooting thousands of stupid bad guys in the face? Or fighting dragons, zombies, aliens etc… you know, that sort of stuff. You’ve got to unwind too.

But how?

Thanks to this 100% real footage captured by Thrusting Sticks, you’re about to find out.


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2721 Olde Cypress DR
NAPLES, FL 34119

Beds: 3
Baths: 4
Sq. Ft.: 3,686
Listing #217016559
SALE INCLUDES A FULL GOLF MEMBERSHIP TO THE CLUB AT OLDE CYPRESS. Custom 'Arthur Rutenberg' home with a fantastic Lake & Golf Course Views! Gourmet kitchen offers a breakfast nook with seamless glass, wood cabinets, granite countertops, center island, stainless appliances, double ovens with warming drawer, separate cook-top, & breakfast bar. Family room offers, built-in wall unit w/ gas fireplace and pocketing sliding glass doors giving you a indoor-outdoor retreat to the pool/spa, full pool bath w/ walk-in shower and outdoor kitchen w/ gas grill & bar. Separate formal living & dining area, high ceilings w/plenty of detail, crown molding throughout. Master suite, with His & Her walk-in closets, sitting area, spacious master bath w/ separate vanities, walk-in shower and jetted soaking tub. Don't miss the extra air conditioned BONUS room. Split floor plan w/two guest suites with private full baths. Dual zoned newer A/C units. Oversized garage that can fit your own golf cart and two cars or convert the Bonus room into a third bay A/C garage. A great price for a truly special home.
Property Features
Location Information
County: Collier
Development: OLDE CYPRESS
MLS Area: NA21 - N/O Immokalee Rd E/O 75
Community: Gated, Golf Course, Tennis
Subdivision: OLDE CYPRESS
Interior Features
Rooms: Exercise, Family Room, Guest Bath, Guest Room, Laundry in Residence, Screened Lanai/Porch, Den - Study
Interior: Built-In Cabinets, Cable Prewire, Fireplace, Foyer, French Doors, High Speed Available, Laundry Tub, Pull Down Stairs, Smoke Detectors, Surround Sound Wired, Tray Ceiling, Volume Ceiling, Walk-In Closet, Window Coverings
Dining Room Description: Breakfast Bar, Eat-in Kitchen, Formal
Kitchen Description: Built-In Desk, Island
Heating: Central Electric, Zoned
Cooling: Ceiling Fans, Central Electric, Zoned
Floors: Carpet, Tile
Equipment: Auto Garage Door, Cooktop, Dishwasher, Disposal, Double Oven, Dryer, Microwave, Refrigerator/Icemaker, Satellite Dish, Security System, Smoke Detector, Wall Oven, Warming Tray, Washer/Dryer Hookup
Exterior Features
Stories: 1
Construction: Concrete Block
Exterior: Outdoor Kitchen
Roof: Built-Up or Flat, Tile
Water / Sewer: Central
Garage Description: 2.00, Attached
Irrigation: Central, Reclaimed
Pool Description: Below Ground, Concrete, Equipment Stays, Heated Electric, Pool Bath, Screened
Lot Description: Regular
Lot Size in Acres: 0.31
Gulf Access: No
Waterfront Description: Lake
View Description: Golf Course, Lake, Landscaped Area
Is One Story: yes
Additional Information
Property Type: SFR
Property SubType: Single Family
Building Design: Single Family
Year Built: 2002
Status: Active
Is an REO: No
Is a Potential Short Sale: No
HOA Fee: 750
HOA Frequency: Quarterly
Additional Fees: Master HOA Fee: 450.00, Master HOA Fee Frequency: Quarterly; Mandatory Club Fee: 3095.00, Mandatory Club Fee Frequency: Annually
One Time Fees: Other Fee: 1500, Application Fee: 100.00
Pets: No Approval Needed
Boat Access: None
Spa Description: Below Ground, Concrete, Equipment Stays, Heated Electric, Pool Bath, Screened
Amenities: Clubhouse, Community Spa/Hot tub, Exercise Room, Fitness Center Attended, Golf Course, Internet Access, Private Membership, Putting Green, Restaurant, Streetlight, Tennis Court, Underground Utility
Maintenance: Cable, Fidelity Bond, Internet/WiFi Access, Lawn/Land Maintenance, Legal/Accounting, Manager, Master Assn. Fee Included, Reserve, Street Lights, Street Maintenance
Tax Year: 2016
Tax Amount: 7, 417

$ per month
Year Fixed. % Interest Rate.
Principal + Interest: $
Monthly Tax: $
Monthly Insurance: $
Interest Rate
Down Payment
List Price:
Based on a fully amortized fixed rate loan. Ask your agent for the tax rates in your area. Insurance estimate is based on an average cost, your final premium cost will be determined by the type of coverage you select. This program only provides an estimate.
Seller's Representative:
Downing Frye Realty Inc.
The data relating to real estate for sale on this limited electronic display come in part from the Broker Reciprocity Program (BR Program) of the Bonita Springs-Estero Association of REALTORS®, Florida Gulf Coast Multiple Listing Service, Inc., and the M.L.S. of Naples, Inc. Properties listed with brokerage firms other than John R Wood Properties are marked with the BR Icon and detailed information about them includes the name of the brokerage firm with which the seller has listed the property. The properties displayed may not be all the properties available through the BR Program.
The source of this real property information is the copyrighted and proprietary database compilation of the Southwest Florida MLS organizations. Copyright 2017 Southwest Florida MLS organizations. All rights reserved. The accuracy of this information is not warranted or guaranteed. This information should be independently verified if any person intends to engage in a transaction in reliance upon it.
SWFLMLS data last updated at September 25, 2017 7:47 PM ET


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Friday, February 4, 2011

And All Shall Be Well

"And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well..."
 Julian of Norwich (c. November 8, 1342 – c. 1416) is thought of as one of the greatest English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church.  This quote is from her major work,  Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393), believed to be the first book written in the English language by a woman.

I have no memory of ever hearing about this woman, but her words have echoed through my mind for as long as I can remember.  I  had no idea of the source --although I vaguely remembered a bit of it being tucked into TS Eliot's Four Quartets, which I read in college.  So, modern seeker that I am, I googled and copied the above info from Wikipedia.

It is one of the earliest prayers I remember ever offering up of my own accord.  I just read that this is what God said to Julian during a vision to she had on what she thought was her death bed when she was thirty years old.

Most recently it popped into my head while I was being taught some Reiki healing work.  Seems like the perfect mantra for such occasions, or anytime you wish to be with and bless any kind of predicament.  A great reminder that everything changes, and that -- in the largest sense of the word-- all is well.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Of Platelets and Glad Tidings

I do NOT have to go in for another blood draw today! Yay!

Did I mention they took a second draw last week while I still had the infusion line in?  Well, they did.  It was the end of a long day and I left before the results came back.   Then Dr L and I played phone tag:  He left a message that he wanted to talk to me about my second blood draw, and that it was not an emergency.  In return, I left him a message giving him permission to leave a more thorough message on my voicemail.  That did not happen.

I called this morning, and he got back to me.  The second platelet count was much improved-- not perfect but closer to the low-normal range where I have been hanging out for sometime.  (Turns out platelets can do a little trick called "clumping"  where they hide out in clusters, which makes the count look lower then it is.)

Initially, he advocated for going ahead with another blood draw today, just to see where things stand.  I told him that I was not sure if he knew that I tend to be an extremely difficult poke, that my arm was black and blue from last week's attempt, and that while I would certainly do it if he thought it was necessary, I would prefer to save myself and everyone else the trauma if it was not.   He was glad I brought it up and said in that case, we could let it go until my next visit to Celilo, the first week of January.

To my mind, the best news is this:  I am getting better at respectfully standing my ground and asking for what I want from my medical team without working myself into a snit because they do not remember or already know what I know about my body, my situation,  and my preferences.  I am able to be a more competent member of my own team, in a way-- to be more responsible about how I participate and less panic-y and judgmental about how others participate.

I suspect the flip-side of the coin of old-fashioned blind-trust in doctors is this:  the desire that one could or should be able to have such trust.  We invest them with such authority in part because we wish their expertise gave them the ability to give black and white answers to our urgent health questions.  Yeah, that would be nice, but that just ain't the way things really work.  That's not anybody's fault.  That is just how things are.

When we don't like something, we look around for some one to blame.  That's kinda how we humans  are built.  But we don't have to play out that scenario.  And if we look more deeply, we might be able to see that every one of us has to deal with things-as-they-are and not  things-as-we-wish-they-were.

Recognizing that feels kind of grown-up to me.  As we grow up we have to give up some of the magical thinking that someone else has all the answers and can swoop in and save us.  That can be hard to give up on--- especially when we are faced with large, complex, scary issues like life and death.  But the more we can do that-- give up the us-v.-them attitude-- the more we can base our understanding on reality itself-- rather then on the reality we wish we had.

All this talk of reality is making my head spin.  Think I'll take a break and put some lights on the Christmas tree.  Best wishes, everyone.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like good news to me Thea! Merry Christmas, we won't stick you again this month!


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While tax might often seem one of life’s few certainties, there remain ways in which you can reduce how much of it you need to pay.

This certainly applies with car tax; however, there are numerous changes that have recently been enacted and, in the process, muddied the waters concerning how you can trim the amount you need to pay in tax on your car.

These are changes that have been made to Vehicle Excise Duty or VED, as it is officially called. There’s a rather complex picture painted by these changes, which came into effect on April 1, but one thing is clear above all: if you buy a new car now, you could end up having to pay much more in VED than you would have been responsible for under the old system.

In this article, we will detail how you can still take advantage of parts of the new system to save yourself significant amounts on car tax. We will also explain how even your car insurance policy could play a large part in minimising your car-related obligations to the Exchequer.

1. Use or buy a car that was registered before April 1 2017

One great piece of news is that, if your current car was registered ahead of April 1, you won’t be financially hit at all by the new rules, as Daily Post explains. Instead, you will continue paying VED under the previous system; the rate which you were paying, or soon due to start paying, won’t change from what was the case pre-April. The changes apply strictly to cars registered from April 1.

Also, these changes don’t apply to second-hand cars. Therefore, if you are in the market for a replacement for your current car, you could avoid paying tax under the new system by purchasing a used vehicle. Nonetheless, we emphasise that, before you buy this vehicle, you must check that it was registered before 1 April 2017; if it wasn’t, you would be paying under the new system.

If you are planning to go down this route, it might be better to buy sooner rather than later. Otherwise, if you go browsing for a used vehicle in the more distant future, you could find that the only used vehicles on offer meeting your needs fall under the same VED system as a new car.

2. Buy a zero-emissions car costing less than £40,000

The two main factors influencing how much VED is payable are the car’s list price and the carbon emissions that the vehicle will produce when it is driven. For deciding the extent to which emissions should affect VED in the first year that the car has an owner, the government has specified 13 different tax bands.

In the initial year, you would pay no VED whatsoever if your car falls into the lowest of these bands. However, the car would only fall into that band if it is a zero-emissions one, like an electric car. Furthermore, to stay exempt from VED after this first year, the vehicle would need to have a list price under £40,000. If the list price was above that threshold, a ‘Premium’ charge of £310 would need to be annually paid from the second year of ownership to the sixth.

3. Be careful when adding options to a zero-emissions car under £40,000

We’ve repeatedly used the phrase “list price”, but what actually is this price? It is defined as the car’s price before the addition of “on-the-road” charges like a new vehicle registration fee and delivery charge, plus fuel and number plates. Furthermore, it’s worth emphasising that it is the final list price that determines whether your vehicle crosses that crucial £40,000 threshold.

So, if you do seal the deal on a zero-emissions car priced beneath this figure, be wary of adding options that could lift the overall price higher than £40,000. What Car? warns that “an option costing a few hundred pounds could end up costing you more than £1,500 over five years in extra car tax costs.” This would remain the case even if the dealer provided a discount bringing the car’s price back down below £40,000, as this price would not be the list price.

4. Utilise clever tactics to cut your car insurance premiums

In November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, announced that, from June, insurance premium tax would be increased from 10% to 12%. IPT, as this tax is otherwise known, is levied on roughly 50 million insurance policies, including those for car insurance. As a result, car insurance premiums will soon rise beyond £600, as The Guardian has reported.

However, as this tax is charged as a percentage of this premium before the tax, you can lower the payable amount of this tax by, quite simply, lowering your premiums. You can do this in a variety of ways – such as by adding a parent or spouse as a named driver or, peculiarly, fitting a tow bar to your vehicle. That practice could trim up to 20% off your premium.

When the time comes to renew your car insurance policy, you should shop around. Call Wiser can help you in this task – as, taking account of policies from more than 30 leading insurance providers in the UK, this Hampshire-based company can give you an attractive quote in a mere 10 minutes. It can significantly reduce the hassle of looking for a great policy.

Looking for more tips on saving on your car? Check out this article from This Is Money about reducing your car insurance premium.

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What Is a 1098 Tax Form?

Form 1098 reports payments you made which are possible tax deductions for you.

Form 1098 reports payments you made which are possible tax deductions for you.

Most people are familiar with the tax forms W-2 and 1099. They're the ones used to report wages and potentially taxable income. Form 1098 is the flip side of those two. It's used to report money you paid out during the year which may be tax breaks for you. 1098s come in a variety of flavors, including 1098-T for tuition paid, and the most common, the 1098 mortgage interest statement.

1098 Mortgage Interest Statement

If you own a home, this may be the best form you get in the mail during tax season. The 1098 MIS indicates how much mortgage interest you paid during the year. It's also got boxes for points, real estate taxes, and, in some cases, private mortgage insurance paid. All of these are deductions you can take for your primary residence and second home. Report the amounts from 1098 MIS on Schedule A (Itemized Deductions) to take this very advantageous tax break. The lender will send a separate form for each mortgage.

1098-T Tution and Fees

If you or one of your dependents is attending any college or trade school, be on the lookout for this form in February. It shows how much tuition you paid. You may qualify for one of several generous education credits, which lower your tax liability dollar-for-dollar. One of them may be the American Opportunity Credit, which is worth up to $4,000 per student per tax year. Use the amounts from the 1098 on IRS Form 8863 to calculate how much credit you can take.

1098-E Student Loan Interest

If you paid back any student loans during the tax year, you'll want to wait until you get your 1098-E before you file a return. That form shows how much interest you paid on those loans. You get a deduction of up to $2,500 for this interest, and you can get it even if you don't itemize. Transfer the amounts from 1098-E to line 33 of Form 1040, or line 18 of Form 1040A.

1098-C Charitible Contribution

If you donated a vehicle worth more than $500 to charity, that organization should give you a Form 1098-C. This charitable contribution goes on your Schedule A of your taxes. If you donate more than one car in the tax year, you'll get a form for each one.

Electronic 1098 Access

Many educational and financial institutions have online versions of these forms. In many cases, they're available in early January if you want to get a head start on your taxes. You should find them at the school or bank website under "My Account" and "Tax Forms." If you can't, call the institution and ask if it posts electronic versions. You can print a copy for your records, but it's not necessary to send one to the IRS -- they'll have one of their own on file.

About the Author

Naomi Smith has been writing full-time since 2009, following a career in finance. Her fiction has been published by Loose Id and Dreamspinner Press, among others. She holds a Master of Science in financial economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Photo Credits

  • Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images


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Morgala was a dragon worshipped by vampires and defeated by Buffy Summers in her dreams. In this dream, in which she was back in 1997, Buffy was informed that a group of vampires wished to awaken the powerful dragon Morgala. Buffy was disappointed as she wanted to attend a party.

Morgala s8.gif

Morgala in BTVS Season 8

Morgala was awakened when the vampires inserted a large, red jewel into a stone statue. Buffy managed to jump onto Morgala before he could fly away. He led her on a flight over Sunnydale and even tried to eat Buffy. Buffy was able to use her Slayer strength to force the dragon's mouth back open. At one point during the fight, Buffy lost one of her boots, which fell down toward the earth and landed on Cordelia Chase's head, who at the time was gossiping about Buffy not attending the party. Buffy was able to defeat Morgala by removing the red jewel from the dragon's head, causing Morgala to vanish.

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"Horrid little man ... he was propositioning a streetwalker and dickering over the price - can you imagine? I told him I'd do him for nothing."

This unidentified prostitute was a British young woman killed by Darla in 1860 after she was accosted by Lord Nichols. After draining Lord Nichols, Darla also fed on the woman.

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George Osborne visits George Bence & Sons

Published:  29 April, 2015

A week before the General Election, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne, visited George Bence & Sons in Cheltenham with the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Alex Chalk, as part of his South West campaign trail.

After being greeted by Paul Bence, managing director, Mr Osborne discussed the upcoming Election and how his party is setting out its policies to further boost small businesses. He also spent time mixing blue paint and operated a crane to carefully place some products on the bed of a vehicle ready for a delivery.

Mr Bence said: “We were honoured to have the Chancellor tour our business so close to the Election, and take time to have a conversation with us, in which we discussed our company’s heritage and how we have grown as a business.

“I believe low interest rates and low inflation have stimulated increased purchasing from our client base. We have successfully tapped into the government-backed GrowthAccelerator programme to help develop our senior management team and provide strategies in key areas of the business. We have funded new vehicle acquisitions at discounted rates via the Funding for Lending Scheme, and have enjoyed the benefits of the increased Annual Investment Allowance on these purchases.”

Mr Bence continued: “Opportunities have been provided for new starters through the government subsidised Prospect Training Services, and we have also benefited from apprenticeship-run schemes with Gloucestershire College for our staff.

“The current state of the economy has no doubt encouraged development over the past few years in the construction industry, and helped homeowners either further improve their properties or move to new homes. This has certainly had a positive impact on our recent financial results.”

Speaking about the visit, Mr Osborne said: “I visited George Bence & Sons because it is one of more than 5,000 companies across the UK who have signed the letter, and say to us that they have got the right economic plan now - just make sure you finish the job and lets not risk a change of course. We should listen to businesses like George Bence & Sons as it is a company that creates jobs and opportunities in our society, and enables us to afford great public services.”

Picture caption: L-r: Paul Bence talking to George Osborne and Alex Chalk about timber products.

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Messaging Messaging is important. Again, the security guru urges caution and advises you to maintain confidentiality and not share company secrets inadvertently. The career sherpa believes that building brand recognition through consistent professional messaging is important for managing your career … Continue reading

Words In information security, complex, but easy-to-remember passwords are critical in practicing safe social networking and in securing data in general. In reputation management, keywords are useful for searching career information online and making your information accessible to search engines … Continue reading


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Traditional Shotokan Karate Association: Annual Residential Course 2012

Having recently attended the Traditional Shotokan Karate Association (TSKA) Residential Course (12th – 14th May), I thought I’d share my experiences with you.

Being my first time at the TSKA residential course, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect, though it was well recommended by my club-mates.  So I turned up with high expectations and I have to say that I was not in slightest bit disappointed.  The 3 main instructors for the course were Sensei Pete Manning 6th Dan, Sensei John Euden 5th Dan and my own instructor, Sensei Paul Mitchell 5th Dan.

Despite the 3 Sensei’s each having their own unique approach, each of them was very practical in their application to teach the art as an effective form of self defence rather than sport or just looking good.

Sensei Pete Manning began with basics, making it clear that not only are our basics the foundation on which all Karate is built, but that as Dan grades it is our responsibility (not only to ourselves, but to those we teach) to make sure that we keep our standards high and don’t get lazy.

As we had guests from other Shotokan Karate associations, Sensei Manning also made it clear that although some of the coming course content would be different from what some people had seen before, it was still within the Shotokan system.  He explained that although some people train to a very high technical ability, they sometimes limit themselves to the grading syllabus which is not always the most effective method for surviving a real life street self defence situation.

This came into play later in the course when Sensei Manning took us through Jitte kata and it’s bunkai.  The sequence of Age Uke’s (Rising Blocks) near the end of Jitte which are often explained simply as blocks to straight punches are clearly ineffective in that application.  Firstly, why would you block one opponent, then turn to block somebody else.  As Sensei Manning pointed out, what would the first opponent do after he’s been blocked then you turn your back on him to block somebody else.  Of course they’re going to continue their attack.

Secondly, he explained that if you think our basics blocks (Rising Block, Outside Block, Inside block, etc) are just blocks, then try using them in sparring!  Have one person attack with any basic techniques and the defender can only use full basic blocks (no parries or evasions).  The defender will simply not stand a chance.

Sensei Pete Manning demonstrates a hooking punch

Instead, the Age Uke sequence at the end of Jitte was practiced as circular punches and elbow strikes which we used against focused mitts.  Emphasis was also placed on using centrifugal force.  I reminded myself as we practiced that Karate is largely based on Kung Fu (especially White Crane) which primarily relies on centrifugal force, rather than the linear force that most Karateka have become so familiar with.  Despite the earlier emphasis on technical basics, with this exercise we were encouraged to use more natural stances, in particular the heal of the back foot could come off the floor rather the technical version of our basics where the heal stays down.

I reflected as we trained that although the methodology was a bit different between the technical basics and the applied version, they both had commonality.  The technical version teaches us to rotate the hips (thus the erect spinal column) very fast.  The applied version still used a rapid hip/spinal rotation, it just took it a bit further in more free flowing manner.  Although some Shotokan Karateka may not have experienced this methodology before, I thought of the famous Funakoshi quote, “Learn various stances as a beginner but then rely on a natural posture”.

We also covered some releases from grabs, as well as some slightly unconventional (but nonetheless effective) strikes and take-downs from the opening sequence of Jitte.

Sensei Paul Mitchell continued on a similar theme with a combination of 2 crosses, upper cut and a devastating swinging back-fist strike.  Again we used natural stances and centrifugal force.  Emphasis was placed on striking right through the target.  To do this we had to leave out the usual kime which Shotokan usually relies on.  Sensei Mitchell reminded us that Funakoshi said that if you study the past to begin to understand the present.  Whereas most Karateka think that looking back is to look at Okinawan Karate; Funakoshi (being Okinawan) would have looked back to Chinese martial arts on which the Okinawan Karate was largely based.  The combination Sensei Mitchell had us doing was from a Chinese martial art, Chen Tai Chi.  It nevertheless fitted in hand in glove with Shotokan, filling in some of the practicality gaps in Shotokan’s arsenal,when only trained on a technical level.

Sensei Paul Mitchell explains some finer points

In later sessions, Sensei Mitchell took us through more conventional Shotokan punches, focusing on Gyaka Zuki (Reverse Punch) and Kizami Zuki (Extended Punch) with Suri-Ashi (Sliding Step).  After solo practice to refresh the technique, we partnered up and used focus mitts to make sure that the techniques were delivering enough real power.

Sensei Paul Mitchell’s last session drew largely from his knowledge of Tai Chi and for those who hadn’t seen it before it was quite mind-blowing.  Ki (Chi in Chinese) is internal energy and would have been a very important concept for the Okinawans as their martial arts were largely based around it.  Many Westerners do not believe in Ki/Chi and that’s fine, but it may have have been how Funakoshi would have trained.

Several evasions and takedowns were practiced which relied on complete relaxation so that we could use ki energy.  Although as Karateka we think we know how to relax in our technique, this session took it to a whole new level.  This session was not really something that could be taken away and used in isolation as the concepts take years of practice, even for Karate Dan grades.  However, it did give the students a taste of the higher levels and concepts of martial art that is waiting for them should they choose to follow that path.  For anybody who would like to understand it a bit better, Sensei Mitchell is in the process of writing a book which will be worth looking out for once it is published.

Sensei John Euden was probably the most classical in his approach, but nevertheless just as practical in his application.  His first session started with the kata Senka.  This kata he explained was created by Master Asai, and although it is not taught in all Shotokan associations it is nevertheless a Shotokan kata.  He recommended that we take it away and practice it to help keep it alive.  For the uninitiated, Senka has a lot of spinning/circular movements, utilizing centrifugal force, so again fitted in with an overall theme.

Later we did some slightly unconventional combinations of basics which tested us mentally as well as physically.  I was glad to see that I was not the only one who struggled a bit with them.  We then partnered up and practiced various striking and blocking combinations which took even more concentration (especially if you didn’t want to get hit).  This was great training for reactions and building speed.

Sensei John Euden demonstrating an arm lock

Later we practiced sequences of blocks and strikes, leading into take-downs, wrist locks and arm locks.  Some of these locks were excruciatingly painful, which in some strange way did seem to delight Sensei Euden 🙂

During some of the sessions with other instructors, several times we heard yells of pain coming from the intermediate grades that Sensei Euden was demonstrating on as he taught them alongside us.

Sensei Pete Manning demonstrates on Sensei John Euden

Other highlights of the residential included the beach training and the party.  The beach training has become a tradition now.  The soft sand makes it ideal for practicing take downs and throws learnt in the other sessions without getting too many bruises, though the wrist locks still hurt just as much.  You may get the odd mouthful of sand, but it does teach you when to keep your mouth shut!

Then somebody came up with the bright idea of going into the sea and training.  OK, this was not a new idea and is also part of the tradition.  So we went in up to about our wastes and practiced some punches and blocks.  Some people, with encouragement from Sensei Mitchell, ducked themselves right under.  I will admit that I didn’t quite find that such a good idea, though several around me seemed to think that it was.   Oh well; maybe I’ll man up enough to do it next year!

The party on the Saturday night is another annual tradition.  There was a BBQ, buffet, quiz, live singing and of course a bar.  One of the highlights was a hilarious dance display provided by an alcoholically liberated individual, which really deserves to end up on Youtube.  Overall it was a very good party where it was great to meet and mix with Karateka from other clubs around the country.

It appears that hangovers at Sunday morning training is another tradition, but I’d better not say too much about that!

To conclude, all 3 of the Sensei’s taught in an open, friendly, approachable but very professional manner and with a good sense of humour.  The course was fun, informative and hard work.  It also had a good social side to it and it was a pleasure to mix with like minded Karateka from other clubs and even other associations.   I would not hesitate to recommend it to anybody and fully intend to go back again in the future.

2 thoughts on “Traditional Shotokan Karate Association: Annual Residential Course 2012

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