Marhaban Ya Habibi Ya Rasulallah

Today, 12 Rabiul Awwal Hijriah according to popular opinion is the birthday of prophet Muhammad pbuh. The other is 8 Rabiul Awwal.  No matter what the date is, the important thing is that we love our prophet so much for the sacrifices he did for us and we know he too loves us very much. As mentioned in the Qur’an on the last two verses of Surah At Taubah (The Repentance);

 

There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves.

Grievous to him is what you suffer;

[he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.

 

But if they turn away, [O Muhammad], say, “Sufficient for me is Allah ;

there is no deity except Him. On Him I have relied,

and He is the Lord of the Great Throne.”

 

Sallu Alaih.

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Modding Road Bike Frame To Stay Current

I had an old road bike frame with the shifters mounted on the down tube. I like the frame because it was quite light for an aluminium frame, only about 1.7+ kg and the aero design. Since I prefer disc brake rather than calipers brake, I decided to rework the frame so that I can use disc brake plus some changes to the cables routing and an additional water bottle on the seat tube. Here are the brief details of the work done;

Brake cable runs through inside the top tube, cable holder welded on the seat stay, mount for disc brake welded and extra water bottle cage mounting on the seat tube created. A slice of 8 mm aluminium tube welded on the seat tube, to make it thicker, before holes were drilled and tapped. Also mounting for the side stand on the chain stay removed

 

Old brake cable holders on top tube removed as also the mounting for shifters on the down tube. Stoppers for shifter cable housing were then welded underneath. The carbon fork bought from Ebay and cable holder fashioned from aluminium tube glued to it with resin

 

Here is the finished bicycle, a Gravel Bike running 700x32C tyres.

MotoGP Sepang 2018 Friday Practice Pictures

Here are some pictures of practice 1 & 2 shot at the last corner of the circuit located at the Grandstand which is opened to the public on first day of the event.  As for tomorrow, I will be shooting at the Hillstand.

 

The early morning crowd.

Main entrance

Fans queing early to get the chance to meet the riders

Early morning crowd

Evening crowd

Evening crowd

Lets get the wheels rollinig

 

Pictures from Practice 1 and 2.

 

…and some pictures from the mall area.

Tari Bangsawan Orang-orang Sirkasi Yang Mempersonakan

Orang-orang Sirkasi atau di dalam bahasa Inggeris disebut Circassian adalah mereka yang menduduki bahagai baratlaut daerah Kaukasus (Caucasus – wilayah utara Turki dan Iran ) berdekatan Gunung Elbrus. Ia tertakluk di dalam jajahan Russia, bersebelahan dengan wilayah Republik Chechen, juga bawah jajahan Russia.  Kebawah Republik Chechen, ialah wilayah Dagestan (Russia) dan negara-negara Georgia, Armenia dan Azerbaijan.

Saya ada menaruh minat terhadap tarian-tarian orang-orang yang menduduki daerah Kaukasus ini. Sedang saya mencari tarian mereka di Youtube, terjumpa pula tarian ini yang sangat mempersonakan walaupun pelahan gerakannya dengan diiringi irama yang tidak kurang mengasyikkan.  Tarian ini dinamakan Tarian Bangsawan Sirkasi ( Circassian Noble Dance ). Ini akan difahamkan kenapa begitu setelah melihat gerak-geri penari-penari lelaki dan perempuan. Apa yang membuat saya lebih tertarik adalah iramanya yang ada mirip-mirip irama Melayu.

Mereka mempunyai banyak jenis tarian yang berbeza dari segi koreografinya walaupun gerak-gerinya seakan-akan sama. Sudah tentu masing-masing daerah akan mempunyai cara persembahan mereka yang tertentu.  Bagi kita yang asing, akan kelihatan sama sahaja. Sejujurnya, tarian yang saya cari ialah tarian orang-orang Chechen (sama juga bagi daerah lain Kaukasus) yang digelar Tari Lovzar atau Lowzar atau Lezginka. Begini tariannya;

Selamat Hari Raya ‘Idil Adha 1439

Saya mengambil kesempatan pada saat ini mengucapkan kepada sekalian muslimin dan muslimat;

“Selamat Hari Raya Haji/Korban.”

Semoga sekalian yang mengerjakan ibadah haji pada tahun ini mendapat Haji Mabrur. Amin.  Begitu juga bagi mereka yang mengerjakan ibadah korban dan aqiqah semoga ianya diterima Allah s.w.t..

Exposing The Blood Moon and The Eclipse

I missed the event in January caused I had to attend to some business.  Not this time, since it occurs late at night till early morning. The moon will be high up and I don’t need to go to an open ground.  I just need to set the camera up on the balcony. The difference between this one and the previous is that the full moon on 31 January 2018 was a big one (moon nearest to earth – Perigee), while this one is small since the moon is at the furthest distance from earth (Apogee). On the bright side, it is the longest lunar eclipse this 21st century.

Here are the photographs I had just taken on this day 28 July 2018 till the moon fully lost its brightness but still left with some light, hence called the Blood Moon. The picture of the Blood Moon here is just too grainy to punch up, so I leave it with just the usual edit.

0227 Hrs

0234 Hrs

0249 Hrs

0301 Hrs

0310 Hrs

0316 Hrs

0323 Hrs

Blood Moon 0332 Hrs

Also Mars is in line of sight.  That small dot in the lower left-hand is the fourth rock at its nearest point to Earth.

Note:

My mistake in capturing the Blood Moon was that I had a 1.4 teleconverter attached to a 150-600mm lens at an aperture setting of F9 running at 64000 to 128000 ISO settings.  I was too concerned about getting a large image.  In retrospect, I should be using the 70-210mm F2 lens with or without the 1.4 teleconverter, which would give me an F4 or F2 aperture respectively.  A much smaller image, but I would then be able to expose at a very much lower ISO and slower speed.

Selamat Hari Raya ‘Idil Fitri 1439

Bulan Ramadhan antara yang terbilang

Banyakkan amalan janganlah terhalang

Suatu ajakan yang sangat menjulang

Tiap kali tibanya Ramadhan yang gemilang

 

Kini Syawal sudah pun menjelang

Tamatlah sudah puasa yang diulang

Semoga ibadah yang sedikit ataupun yang tiada terbilang

Diterima Allah dan tiadalah ia hilang

 

Ku dengarkan dendangan penuh sedulang

Sampai fajar hampir menjelang

Yang membuat hatiku sayu di ulang-ulang

Tetapi yang ini membuat ku berlinang

 

Saya ucapkan kepada sekelian muslimin dan muslimat, dimana jua mereka berada, “Selamat Hari Raya ‘Idil Fitri, semoga setiap amalnya diterima Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, terhapus segala dosa-dosanya dan kembali Fitrah. Kepada yang mengenal diri ini, “Mohon ma’af atas segala kesalahan Zahir dan Bathin.”

Buat Membasahi Pipi

Tatkala di keheningan malam

Tatkala bumi berkeadaan kelam

Tatkala hati yang remuk redam

Menantikan keindahan datang menyulam

Sayu hati mendengar dendangan

Puja dan puji tiada rintangan

Pengorbanan tiada terhitung

Hanya kita tak tahu diuntung

Yang dikata banyak telah terkota

Tinggal menunggu sang mahkota

 

Surah At Taubah

Sesungguhnya telah datang kepada kamu seorang Rasul dari golongan kamu sendiri, yang menjadi sangat berat kepadanya sebarang kesusahan yang ditanggung oleh kamu, yang sangat tamak (inginkan) kebaikan bagi kamu, (dan) ia pula menumpahkan perasaan belas serta kasih sayangnya kepada orang-orang yang beriman.

 

Kemudian jika mereka berpaling ingkar, maka katakanlah (wahai Muhammad): “cukuplah bagiku Allah, tiada Tuhan melainkan Dia, kepadaNya aku berserah diri, dan Dia lah yang mempunyai Arasy yang besar

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan 1439

Umat Islam di Malaysia akan memulakan puasa Ramadhan pada tanggal 17hb Mei 2018.  Saya kira begitu juga dengan umat-umat Islam di rantau ini.  Sempena dengan kedatangan bulan Ramadhan yang mulia ini, saya ucapkan kepada sekelian muslimin dan muslimat di mana sahaja mereka berada,

“Selamat menjalankan ibadah puasa Ramadhan, semoga puasa kita diterima Allah s.w.t..” Amin.

 

Semoga Allah Ta’ala memelihara kita dari membazir dan makan yang keterlaluan.  Janganlah waktu berbuka, meja penuh dengan makanan. Bersederhanalah, kerana itu sebaik-baiknya.

DIY : Truing Stand From Scrapped Bicycle Parts

I had a commercial truing stand made of aluminium and plastic.  It is not rigid and not accurate, though it still could be accurate after some adjustment to the truing stand.  Still, it is not solid and rugged.  I decided to build one based roughly on the design and instead of aluminium, I intended to use one inch iron angle bar.  That was the initial plan.

I had a few bicycle parts that I was about to throw away (actually sell it for scraps), when I thought why not turn it into a truing stand.  All that were needed were there, just need to rearrange and assemble it plus some figuring on how to achieve it.  Since I didn’t need to buy material for it, I started the project immediately in earnest.

The basic parts

First, I patched the holes on the bicycle frame, cleaned it and set it up for truing the rear wheel. The rear dropout cut and welded in reverse.  Second, I thought about how to attach the fork to the frame for truing the front wheel.  Third, I figured out how to set up the mechanism for concentric, straightness and centering guides.  These have to be able to true a wide variety of wheel sizes. Last, adjusting the truing stand so that the wheel will be trued and centred on the truing stand and on any good bike frames.  Truing is done while sitting on a stool or a chair. I must say quite comfy.

The finished project and first dry run

Fork attachment for front wheel truing

Guides for centering, concentric and straightness

You really do not need to have a truing stand if you rarely do it.  On the occasion that you need to, you can do it on the bike itself.  That is just my opinion.  As for my case, I have a small shop.