Everything I need to know I learned from Batman. (Happy 80th Anniversary to the Dark Knight!)

The year 2019 is the 80th anniversary of Batman.

(In fact today is the 80 years, 8 months anniversary since his first appearance in the pages of DETECTIVE COMICS #27 on March 30th, 1939.)

In commemoration, here is a video tribute for the Dark Knight.
The video is not mine.
It is something that I found on youtube, but it encapsulates many of the reasons why Batman is one of my favourite comic book character.
Here is "Everything I need to know I learned from Batman".

Click here if you want to watch it on youtube.

 
1) Be Patient.
Patience is a virtue.
Solution to a problem or a challenge may present itself if you are patient.
Trying to solve everything yourself may not be advisable, especially if you do not have the skill and/or capability.
If your problem seems insurmountable, sometimes being patient helps.
If your problem is a supervillain with superpower far superior than you, then be patient and wait until Superman arrives.
Problem solved.


2) It's the Thought that Counts.
Be sincere.
Even if you give money as a presence, be sincere.
It's the thought that counts.


3) Be Prepared.
You know the challenges of your job.
Have a back up plan for everything.
Whether it's a thermionic device to freeze the Gotham River or a spare pump for your plant, if you are an engineer like me, make sure you have them ready locked and loaded, so to speak.
(Also, the comics book storyline "Justice League: Tower of Babel" illustrate this point very succinctly. The aftermath of the story was almost heart breaking, but Batman knows what needs to be done has to be done.)


4) Offer Helpful Advice.
Whether you offer solicited or unsolicited advice, make sure it is helpful.
If you do not have anything useful to give, just be silent.


5) Know Your Limits.
Know your strengths and weaknesses and ask for help if required.
If your fighter jet are shot down by enemy alien forces, and you cannot fly, make sure Superman is around to help you.


6) Be Honest with Yourself.
Know yourself and admit it to yourself.
Do not lie to others and definitely not to yourself.
If you are going to reject Wonder Woman when she ask you out, you better have a good reason.


7) Be Sporting.
Five minutes are more than enough.
Enough said.


8) Learn to Delegate.
You should know when and how to delegate.
As Batman, and playboy, you do not have the skill to change diapers.
Delegate it to Superman (after all a super man should be able to do everything).


9) Everything's Relative.
Context matter.
Have the right perspective and sense of proportion.
If Batman threatens you, you better tell him everything he wants to know.
But if a far older Batman (with a walking stick) from the future threatens you, you better spill your guts and tell him everything.
And I mean everything.


10) Show. No. Fear.
Courage is not absence of fear, it is overcoming fear.
Having courage to do what needs to be done, even if it requires sacrifice from you.
Even if you have to sing a song to save a friend, make sure you sing the best song that you know how.



Addendum to the video.

In case you do not know, Batman is not just known as the Dark Knight, he is also known as the Greatest Detective of the DC Universe.
After all, his first appearance was in a comic book called Detective Comics, way back in 1939.
His investigative skills, logical reasoning, deductive & inductive mental skills are what makes him the best detective in the DC Universe. His passion and relentless quest for the truth make him the greatest detective in the world.

That is another reason why Batman is one of my favourite comics character.


Happy 80th Anniversary to the Dark Knight!

Ibnu Khaldun's Pattern of History (Cycle of Civilisations).

Ibnu Khaldun, in his famous book, Muqaddimah, posits a theory on the cycles of empires and civilisations. (Download pdf version here.)
Empires and civilisations go through a cycle of "Conquest, Consolidation, Expansion, Stagnation, Degeneration & Conquest" (or rather, being conquered or overtaken by newer and stronger empire or civilisation).

This cycle has been proven, more or less, by ancient history.
From smaller unknown empires to bigger empires like Mesopotamia, Babylon, Sumeria, Greeks, Roman and others.

When the Western Roman Empire degenerated and collapsed, their areas were conquered by the Arabs who eventually formed, consolidated and expanded their empire known in history as the Islamic Empire.
The Islamic empires itself consisted of several kingdoms, (Abbasid, Umayyad, Fatimid, Ottoman, etc) but ideologically, they were similar.
(Within Islamic history, there were sub-cycles of this happening with the Abbasid, Umayyad, Fatimid, Ottoman and other smaller Islamic empires.)
But the peak of the Islamic empire was around the 11th Century.

The beginning of the end was when the Mongols conquered and destroyed Baghdad in 1258 (Siege of Baghdad).
It was not the actual end of the Islamic Empire itself, because the Mongols interaction with the Islamic civilisation resulted in the conversion of the Mongols to Islam, whereby they ruled the empire for some time.
From that moment, the Islamic empire persevered, in one form or another, but seeds of degeneration were planted.

Some historians would argue that Baghdad was conquered because the Islamic empire was already on the decline, and some others would disagree, and say that the Mongol conquest of Baghdad was the reason of the decline.
Whatever it was, the 1258 Siege of Baghdad was the turning point.
History is, like always, are more complicated of course, and reasons of decline are many and more multifaceted.
(If you want to know what were those, you have to study history in details.)

History wise, the end of the Islamic empire itself was "officially" marked by the end of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1924.

But between 1492 (Columbus discovered America) to 1924, the Western World were on the cycle of consolidation and expansion, which included the expansion into the Islamic empires, which coincided with the stagnation and the degeneration cycle of the Islamic empires.
(If you want to know more about the history during this time period, read the book "Destiny Disrupted", which I reviewed here.)

Arguably, from the mid of the 20th Century to the presence, the Western World are at their peak.
The question is, are they still at their peak, or are they showing signs of stagnation and/or degeneration?
To know this, you have to study history in details.
Reasons of stagnation and degeneration may not be the same, but the symptoms manifest will be similar.

The curious case is China.
China was consolidated into an empire about 2000 years ago.
All the tribes of China were unified under the first Imperial Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty. But, then, it stopped consolidating and expanding and focused inward for two thousand years (from 221 BC to a few decades ago.)
Sure, there were some skirmishes and battles with neighbouring states but more or less, China did not expand its territory further.
For two thousand years, the cycle was static and they never really finished the expansion cycle.

But, modern China is no more inward looking. They have embraced capitalism and are looking outward now. They are not expanding their land (yet), but they are most assuredly expanding their influence.

So, looking back at Ibnu Khaldun's cycle, we have the West which are arguably at, or past, their peak (and arguably experiencing the beginning of the stagnation and/or degeneration cycle) and China who is at the beginning of their expansion cycle (in influence if not in land area).

Nowadays, the modern sensibility does not favour war and land conquest. The modern conquest is about influence, trade and commerce. However, I may be wrong, and human nature is still the same no matter how modern we have become. In which case, World War III may be coming, if not sooner, than later (hopefully not in my lifetime. Thankfully, civilizational cycle can span many generations).

So be ready and stock up on your canned food and/or buy agricultural land far away from potential nuclear missiles targets.



Disclaimer: I am just an armchair historian and reading history is just a hobby. If you disagree with any of my analysis, you are welcome to comment below. 

Mission 2019 #05: Bukit Sisek & Pelepah Kiri (Hiking Trip 26th Oct 2019).

Bukit Sisek is located near the Kota Tinggi Waterfall Resort.
Pelepah Kiri waterfall flows from Bukit Sisek and forms part of the Panti Reserve Forest (Hutan Simpan Kekal Panti).

Why is it called Pelepah Kiri?
Because Kota Tinggi waterfall is also known as Pelepah Kanan.

Pelepah Kiri waterfall is a seven tier waterfall.

The trek started just outside the Kota Tinggi Waterfall Resort gate.
Bukit Sisek is 411 m in height and the trek up was a challenging one.
It started easy but halfway up it became steeper and you have to climb with the assistance of ropes that were already hooked up for hikers.
After we reached the top of Bukit Sisek, we went down on the other side, following the flow of the Pelepah Kiri waterfall.

It was a reward after the challenging climb.
We got to experience and bathe in all 7 tiers of the waterfall.

The trek down was also challenging as we have to trek in the water among the slippery rocks and steep cliff walls, sometime with assistance of ropes. It was dangerous but exhilarating.

We stopped at each tier and took a dip under the cool water.
The weather turned for awhile with light rain.
Unfortunately, the rain turned the water murky, but nevertheless the water was cooling to our tired body.

The murky water hid its dangers.
I stubbed my knee on a wooden log, hard.

This is my knee two days after the hike.
It was a sort of a medal of honour for completing the hike.
(If you are squeamish, do not click).

But all in all, this hike is definitely recommended.

Below are the photos from the hike.

PS: To read about previous missions, click the following links;
Mission #01 (Lepoh Waterfall)
Mission #02 (Serendah Waterfall)
Mission #03 (Sg Kanching)
Mission #04 (Lata Tengkorak)



The starting point.

The trail.

 

 

 

 

 

The peak & the panorama.

 

 

 

 

The waterfall. 

 

 

 

The tranquillity.

 

 

Beauty in nature.

 

 

 

 

Time travel by Muslims: Part I

In the previous post, I wrote about a fictional character from a TV show that I like to watch, Doctor Who, who time travel through space & history fighting monsters and villains.

But do you know that in the real world, Muslims also like to time travel?
In fact, they are very good at it.

What is more interesting the energy and power required to time travel is not that much.
It only takes a small trigger words.

If any Muslim terrorists did any bad or evil thing in the West in the present times, Muslims will instantly time travel to 10th or 12th century Middle East during the Crusades. They will point out that the Western Crusaders were similarly, if not more, violence.
Or they will time travel several decades back or 100 to 200 years ago and point out that colonialism by the West is the cause of that terrorist act.

If any Western scientists discovered any new discoveries or provide proof for any scientific theory in the present time, this will trigger Muslims to time travel to the 8th Century Baghdad, during the so called Islamic Golden Age. They will point out that Islamic scientists had already discovered that principle or that theory, or some other related principle or theory put forth by those Islamic scientists helped the current discovery or proof.

If any Muslim societies are accused of oppressing women, Muslim will time travel to 7th century Arabia, when the Prophet gave more freedom to women compared to their counterpart in the European Dark Ages. They forget that the freedom granted by the Prophet had eroded in many places and that Western women now have more freedom than Muslim women in many Islamic countries. In fact, in some Islamic countries, women are now more oppressed than the women of the European Dark Ages.

In fact, if Muslims COULD time travel, they would time travel to those times.
So that they can bask in the glory of the past.

Well, you cannot.
We are living in the present now.
So, deal with it and start living in the present.

Yes, learn your history, but do not live in it.

If people do bad things, condemn their acts, no matter who the perpetrators are, Muslims or otherwise. Remember the Qur'anic verse; 4:135,

"...stand with justice as witnesses to God, even if against yourselves, or the parents or the relatives; even if he be rich or poor, God is more worthy of them; so do not follow desire into being unjust; and if you twist or turn away, then God is indeed aware of what you do."
-Qur'an 4:135-

Do not live in the glory of the Islamic Golden Age. Learn from it and create your own Golden Age, a new Modern Golden Age, of new scientific discoveries and technological breakthrough and a vibrant democratic society based on the principle of liberty and freedom for all. This requires a reformation in our education and a systematic push for STEM education with supports from everyone, including parents and teachers,
encouraging our children to be interested in STEM and learning critical thinking.

If any societies oppress women, it is no good going on a tangent and saying that the practices are not in the Qur'an but at the same time staying silent on those practices that you say are un-Islamic. If that societies are not practising as per the Qur'an, then condemn their practices.
Do not be a hypocrite.

If any jihadist suicide bombers kill innocent people, condemn them. Do not compare their acts to the Crusades, trying to find excuses to minimise the horror. Do not time travel to the colonial times and start blaming the deeds of current terrorists to the colonialists. They have left your country ages ago.

It is time Muslims take responsibilities for the fate and future of their societies.
"Time travel" may be addictive.

But backward time travel are destructive and regressive.
The only time travel we should do is forward, with responsibility and accountability for our own destiny.