Last night, I was over at my friend's place for supper and I expressed interest in starting my own podcast though I had no theme in mind. He told me to stop fantasizing and to get on with it.I sat down on a couch in his living room and he pointed a tripod and a camera at me, and he would present topics or questions for me to talk about. It was a really interesting exercise because unlike say a...
Back in 2013 when I was still in University where I still have some polyvalent skills. A bunch of friends of mine joined to make a vision come true. The FreeBASE – a video game console that would play free games found online such as freeware, open-source and abandonware. It also would support documentaries, movies, shows and music that were available at no cost. The UI would be slick,...
I’ve made this excuse before: I’m busy. However, I actually do have quite a bit of free time not having any serious commitment other than my career and errands. No relationships. No family. No activism. No religion.My time tracking software is ManicTime mainly for keeping tabs on my work hours. It has advanced tagging and report features that I used often. As time accumulates, the software...
I was watching a video game documentary about the history of the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise, a theme park management game that had both an easy learning curve but with incredibly sophisticated dynamics. What really impressed me however was the origins of the first two titles: written by one man in assembly language.At that point, I realized how mediocre and untalented I was. Nothing I’m...
I've been attempting to work on side projects but most of them only yielded little profit. I soon realized that I don't have the magic touch to make one project go viral.Recently, I realized that I might have more luck doing multiple things at the same time. Perhaps sell gadgets, self-publish a few books, a few Android apps, provide various services and so on. Hoping the sum would make...
I got quite disillusioned working as a software developer. I couldn't stand it anymore and it became a source of boredom and stress for me.About a decade ago, I discovered a passion for writing. I knew I wanted to stay in the corporate world. I didn't do anything about it because I was salivating from the six digit salary.Eventually, I gave up, and switched to a technical writing gig. I've been...
I recall being taught about the victories of Islamic conquests through the ages starting with the Muslim-Quraysh wars. In Islam, war is seen as a reality of human existence, and as a valid means to deal with perceived injustice, oppression, etc. Finally, martyrdom in Islam guarantees one into paradise...
The problem with Islam is that it's extremely malleable. You can pick and choose your sources, scholars and books and have an Islam of your own. Each one has their side, and accuses the other of taking things out of context, or having an incorrect understanding. Some Muslims make heavy use of the No true Scotsman fallacy.
The former allows one Muslim to basically slide on the scale, from a nominal Muslim to an member of ISIS. You just need someone convincing enough to show you a few prophetic traditions, sound charismatic enough and revive your faith in the religion.
Even more absurd is the unfairness of the whole joke of life. I'm lucky with an education and a good job giving me a chance to focus on experiencing nuanced pleasures instead of fighting to survive. Being mentally ill does give me share of anguish, but mine is nothing compare to the poor, unfed and terminally sick. Their life is even more absurd: a passage through a brief but painful passage through anguish, suffering and hopelessness.
As an ex-Muslim, I have trouble adjusting to this: meaning is just a human construct. Things don't have meaning on their own, we assign them a purpose ourselves. Religion gave me re-assurance of eternal afterlife where I get a second chance to live a life without the evil and suffering of this existence. However, it did have a fatal flaw: it was false hope.
Now, life went from a short journey into another realm to a serious emergency. Now, I have to make of what I was lucky to own; but it can all go away in a single accident. After being a pattern-seeking religionist, everything is just starting to seem so random...
I have this vague memory of reading a humorous blog post by some Windows developer about a workaround he implemented because some Adobe Photoshop program used an API method incorrectly or something.<p>This API was rewritten and Photoshop no longer worked. He had to write some code in the API specific for Photoshop in order for it to work. All I can remember is that it involved Photoshop,...
Do you use any specific applications or websites? Any neat tips that you may have would be interesting too.Thanks! - Ahmed