Good Samaritan or Fool ?

A few days ago at work, I was walking down the hall and found a $5 bill right outside the door. I looked around to see if someone had dropped it, but there was no one around. Since I found the bill right outside a door of another room, I thought that perhaps someone in that room had dropped that bill.

I walked into the room with the sole purpose of asking someone if they had dropped any money. I saw a shady looking man picking up some print-outs from the printer. I stared at him, but hesitated to ask him, but I felt awkward standing in the room with a $5 bill, so I eventually asked the man.

The man checks his pocket like he had a million bucks missing and answers "Yes", he did lose money. At this point, I was unconvinced but he had already seen the bill so I decided to give him the money anyways.

As I walked out of that room, I felt like I got played. I am sure that guy must think I am the biggest idiot to believe that stunt he pulled.

This situation, like many in my life, reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. It was the series finale, where Jerry, George and Elaine witness the robbery of a fat guy, which they all mock and Kramer videotapes. They are arrested under the Good Samaritan law established by the town.

After witnessing the robbery, a police officer pulls up to the group:

Officer: You're under arrest.
Jerry: Under arrest? What for?
Officer: Article 223-7 of the Latham County Penal Code.
Elaine: What? No, no - we didn't do anything.
Officer: That's exactly right. The law requires you to help or assist anyone in danger as long as it's reasonable todo so.
George: I never heard of that.
Officer: It's new. It's called the Good Samaritan Law. Let's go.

Maybe I should not have done nothing in my situation too, no good Samaritan Law exists in Toronto. I could have taken that money and donated it to charity or something. I tried to do the good Samaritan thing, but maybe I was a fool, you can be the judge.

International dance fever

I found this video while searching on the Google Video Blog quite amusing.



The guy in the video does a funny dance every place he visits during his travels around the world.

Winter driving

Weather forecasts are predicting our first winter storm of the season tonight for most of Southern Ontario continuing into tomorrow morning. It looks like the Thursday morning commute will be a long drive, especially for people who need to travel using the major highways in the GTA. Driving with icy roads is difficult enough, but is made even more difficult by those drivers who forget how to drive intelligently as soon as snow hits the ground, its like they have never seen snow before.

Last Friday, a few centimeter of snow fell right before the Friday commute, which is typically busy anyways and that caused a driving nightmare. It took me 100 minutes to drive 25 KM on the highway. That is an average of about 15 KM an hour. An extremely painful commute.

I hope everyone keeps it safe on the roads tomorrow and during this winter. If you are stuck in traffic during this winter, be patient and drive intelligently. While waiting in traffic, calculate your average speed, its likely your still driving faster than me.

Blogging strike is over

My blogging strike is over. The Raptors won Sunday afternoon against the Miami Heat, a team picked by many to win the NBA championship. I would like to thank everyone for their support during this blog stoppage. Although, many of you did not foresee the Raptors winning in the near future, during these tumultuous times, we Raptors fans remained strong, always believing that a win would happen soon. The president of the worlds largest economy once said:

"And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know?" Washington, D.C., June 15, 2004 [George W Bush]

I hope that I have not lost you as a reader during this strike, I will promise to deliver the useless dribble thrown in with a serious post here and there. I have many stories to report that should catch your interest. I hope you will tune in, same blog website, some blog time during the day.

Blogging strike

UPDATE (Nov. 19, 5:00PM): The strike continues, the Raptors lost their 9th game in a row. No end seems in sight.

I have been a huge basketball fan since I was a little boy, dunking on my friends in their drive-ways (basketball net played-on was 8 feet high). Some might even say I was a local basketball prodigy, but I decided not pursue my dream. I remained a basketball fans throughout these years, unfortunately, I happened to be a Toronto Raptors fan. The Raptors just lost their 7th game in a row. They have yet to win a game this year. I am becoming increasingly frustrated. Other than the play of Jose Calderon, everyone else has been playing poorly. The Raptors have been playing poorly for the last 3 seasons. I used to blame Vince Carter for all the teams problems, but that cry-baby is gone, there should be no more excuses.

You hear in the news about people going on a hunger strike to protest against a cause, but since I did the fasting thing last month, I decided that I needed to express my frustration in a different way.

I have decided not to blog (no new posts, I will still comment) until the Raptors win a game. This win could happen on Wednesday night, next week, next month, who knows. However, it is time something needs to be done and the fans need to speak out. I hope you can all support me in my efforts.

Free will vs Destiny

A month ago, I had a conversation with a Muslim friend of mine who was trying to grasp the concept of God and the relationship between a persons action and God's knowledge of those actions. My friend believes in the first kalimah, but asks a common question that we hear a lot from people trying to understand the role of God in their life.

Why should we be good if God knows the outcome of our actions?

I am not a expert on Islam nor philosophy, but I still tried to answer that question using my mediocre Islamic knowledge and inadequate philosophy expertise. To me, this question comes down to the concept of free will and destiny. Some might argue that individuals do not possess free will because God knows the outcome of our actions. However, I believe human beings possess free will, but the outcome of that decision is still known by God. It is the training of our hearts that enables us to make a right decision over a wrong one. My friend remained unconvinced, and I could not add substance to my argument. Also, it was dark and I was hungry so we ended the conversation here.

Reading the following verse from the Quran a few days ago reminded me of that same conversation I had with my friend.

Behold, as for those of you who turned away [from their duty] on the day when the two hosts met in battle - Satan caused them to stumble only by means of something that they [themselves] had done.* But now God has erased this sin of theirs: verily, God is much-forgiving, forbearing. [3: 155]

I found the following explanation of this verse:

Satan's influence on man is not the primary cause of sin but its first consequence. In moments of moral crisis, a person is influenced based on his state of mind to choose the easier, and more pleasant, of the alternatives open to him, and thus to become guilty of a sin, whether by commission or omission.

Thus, God's "causing" a person to commit a sin is conditional upon the existence, in the individual concerned, of an attitude of mind which makes him prone to commit such a sin.

This explanation does not contradict what I told my friend. Man possesses free will and has the ability to make a choice between two or more possible courses of action. However, God knows the outcome of all actions, because he is Al-Aleem.

He knows everything in the heavens and the earth, and He knows everything you conceal and everything you declare. God is fully aware of the innermost thoughts. [64:4]

I pray that God forgives me if I have said something incorrect. If you know of a better explanation, I would be interested in reading it.

I should schedule another session with my friend to give a better explanation, this time it will be during the day with a full stomach.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Carmen Sandiego was a fictional character on an education television series that taught Geography to kids. It was a television show that I watched with enjoyment growing up in my youth. This show taught me a lot about Geography and sparked my interest to learn more about the World. I always wanted to travel the World to discover the beauty that exists.

I have been fortunate enough through work to get an opportunity to travel to various cities. This summer, I spent a week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Although, I traveled alone, I was still able to gather enough courage to go out and experience the culture, food and monuments in Malaysia. You can check out my photos to get an idea of some of my experiences in Malaysia.

Two new technologies, Google Maps and Google Earth make it easier to view maps and satellite images of the world. Mapping Web sites have been around the Internet for a few years, but have been limited in terms of their user interface. Google maps allows you to drag maps around without having to reload the Web page. Some of my favorite pictures that I found are: Statue of Liberty, Eiffel tower, and the Mosque of the Prophet S.A.W.

Google maps mashups is a popular technology that allows Web sites to take advantage of Google maps for their own use. If you are looking to rent or sell a place in Toronto, this Web site allows you to see all of the available rentals available in Toronto using Google maps.

Technology enables us to see the World from the comforts of our computer. However, it obviously does not match the experience of physically being there. There is so much more in the World that I would like to see. I am always searching for travel partners, if your interested, send me your resume so I can determine if you are a suitable travel partner .

The Art of Bargaining ... Part 2

In a previous post, I talked about some bargaining tips that could be used when trying to negotiate a good deal. Most of the people mocked my tips, believing a South Asian or Arab vendor would not budge. Not having tried these tips myself, I wanted to put them to the test.

I had such an opportunity when I visited an optical store located in Brampton to purchase contact lenses. I had some reservations about purchasing contact lenses from this store because the owner and sales associates were of South Asian descent. My dad and I have philosophical differences when purchasing goods and services. I prefer to go to the non-South Asian store because I can expect a certain level of satisfactory service and decent price. My dad prefers the South Asian stores because he knows that he can bargain with them to get a better deal. I personally don't trust them.

Even though I initially hesitated to go to this store, I ended up purchasing a trial pair of contact lenses. The sale associate was a young women, who took my threats to heart. (condensed script of dialogue)

Me: Can I have my prescription, another store is offering me a better deal for XXX amount.
Sales associate: Don't worry, I can match that price, we want to keep you as a customer
Me: Not sure. How do I know they will be good?
Sales associate: if you buy a long-term supply, I will refund you the price of the trial pair.
Me: aight ... I will buy the trial pair.

After using these contact lenses for a few weeks, I was unsatisfied as they were extremely uncomfortable. So, I went back to the store to see if they could help me resolve my issues. However, during this visit the sales associate was an elder man. The following conversation occurred:

Me: I have problems with my contact lenses.
Sales associate: It must be a problem with your eyes. Buy this more expensive pair, it is better for you.
Me: But ... what's wrong with my current contact lens.
Sales associate: You have eye problem. I am expert in these things. I want to give you #1 customer service, don't worry I will take care you. I take care of my customers. They cost XXX amount.
Me: (trying not to laugh) Other sales associate offered me a better deal (actual truth).
Sales associate: That is impossible. You will not getter better deal.
Me: I will get back to you (like, whatever).

Rather than trying to help me with my problem , the sales associate told me that my eyes had a problem, nothing specific and tried to get me to purchase a more expensive pair of contact lenses.

Result: The next day, I went to the mall and visited The Shoppers Optical. Don't expect another bargaining tips post from me ;-)

Eid Mubarak

May this Eid bring you joy and happiness. Since I will probably not get to meet all of you on Eid, I wanted to give you all the following:

For the brothers :


Shaking hands

For the sisters:

Waving hand while saying Eid Mubarak

My dog ate my Math homework

I have been tutoring my sister in grade 11 Math on a nightly basis since the beginning of the school year. The amount of time and effort that I spend helping her with Math problems seems like another part-time job. Students in high-school now have a lot tougher curriculum than I had when I was in high-school. Many of the concepts that are taught in Grade 11 subjects were concepts that I would learn in later grades.

The Ontario government unveiled a new curriculum in 1999 by eliminating Grade 13/O.A.C. Students are now required to complete high school in 4 years rather than 5 years. Recent studies show that students are struggling with the new curriculum. Drop-out rates among high school students are on the rise.

Ontario's dropout rate now stands at about 30 per cent, up from 22 per cent before new high school curriculum was implemented in 1999.

I take great pride in being able to solve any High-school Math problem that is asked of me, especially since I am an owner of a BMath degree. However, there are those once in a lifetime occurrences where I am unable to solve a problem. Recently, there was a question I was unable to solve. Here is the question:

Maria produces and sells necklaces. The material for each necklace costs her $4. She has been selling them for $8 and averaging sales $40/week. She has been told that she could charge more but has found that for each $0.50 increase in price, she would lose 4 sales each week. What selling price should she set and what would her profit per week at this price.

I am not here asking for homework help, I do have the answer now and will post it if no one else does. I know of many people who have a BMath degree may feel like I have disgraced the degree. I apologize to everyone who has been offended, but it could of happened to anyone of you.

I am happy to report that I am on a safe road to recovery as I solved all the Math problems (questions involving exponents) that I was asked tonight. Like I said, it was a once in a lifetime occurrence.