Well, the summer’s finished. I can’t believe that my 2 month and 20 day holiday finished so quickly! I wrote about how chuffed I was about finishing and probably more importantly my plans for the longest holiday you get in your school life.

Well, let’s analyze my list:

1. Get a job?

   Yes, I got a job. I got the job right at the beginning of the holiday as a customer service agent at Sky, or at least that’s what they told me. Turns out the company I was working for were a bunch of liars and it was actually a sales position. Still it was okay as it was inbound (people calling in) sales. Along with that, I may have gotten the job at the beginning of the summer, but I wasn’t actually allowed to start till the end of July which would’ve been quite annoying had I not planned my summer as well as it turned out.

2. Work on Usayd Network

   I guess I kinda let myself down on this point, the summer just flashed by without me having the chance to do any real website development, partly because I was busy and partly because I couldn’t be bothered. Either way, not much has been done.

3. Expand Projects

   A bit vague, but we do have plans for different projects and I myself have taken on some responsibilities in external projects independent of the Usayd Network, so in that view I have at least initiated something in this field. Definitely more to come on this side of things.

4. Islamic Work

   Alhamdullilah (praise to God) we had quite a successful summer in concern to the YM work planned. The major activities were the two camps, the YM coreworkers camp and the north west camp. I took part in attending the coreworkers camp and in organising the north west one. Both were successful and many lessons have been learnt for future events. Self development is a continual process and more can always be done in that field, you always end up regretting not having spent your free time doing something more productive like reading etc.

5. Revolutionise Humanity

   This was a joke title but there is some essence to it, really the point is that perhaps people need to start looking upon things in a slightly different light. When you spend time with different people (like at work) you find that there is a huge lack of knowledge towards things that are making such a big difference to people’s lives, e.g. the whole islamophobia phase that the west is going through.

6. Chill

   Yeah, I had a good holiday. Unfortunately I’m back at 6th form doing my AS levels now and that word ‘chill’ has just gone out the window. Time for some hard work…(Maths!!!! )

Other things – Well I did okay in my GCSE’s, 2A* 6A 2B, don’t care about those any more. Erm…just got back from a ISB/YM cw camp which was good too. Integration seems to have been this weekends ‘buzz word’. It was interesting…A.S. I’ve chosen Computing, Government & Politics, Maths and Design Technology (Resistant Materials) with the intention of doing something in the field of Computer Science at University. Oh and I got a Sony Errickson W810i, its great

Time to write some politics notes, laters.

My plan:

1. Get a Job! – Want to get experience on my CV and $$ of course
2. Work on Usayd Network – That means this site and the upcoming FreePeace project
3. Expand projects – We’re planning on working on a new project over here at UN so keep your eyes peeled!
4. Islamic Work – Self betterment, courses, YM camp etc
5. Revolutionise humanity
6. CHILL! – Some exciting events coming up and I want to have a good holiday!

Now just to see how many of those points I can actually fulfil!

Various organisations based in and around Slough, came together to organise this event such as the Slough Cooperative Film Society, Resource Productions which specialises in providing video production work shops for young people and community groups, Aik Saath and Instant Films. Aik Saath which means ‘Together as one’ was the backbone of the event and is a registered charity which started off to help resolve problems within the Asian Youth in Slough during the 1996-1997 violence which caused a lot of tension between various Asian communities and religious groups. It works towards the aim of ‘empowering them to work for themselves positively and proactively towards a potential resolution’.

During the week or so, various events took place based on the central theme of Conflict and Resolution depicted through film. There were various days which featured themes such as Gangs Day which involved a film called Bullet Boy, focusing on the gang culture now prominent amongst the youth in Britain. I watched various films, two of which included Turtles Can Fly (Lakposhtha Hâm Parvaz Mikonand) and Saviour.

Saviour is about war and the horrors and atrocities it can bring.

How it can turn ordinary citizens into blood thirsty villains and murderous savages, driven by revenge and the need to kill for the sake of their identity. More specifically, Saviour is about the Bosnian/ Serb war, which took place from 1992-1995, in which 102,000 people were killed and 1.8 million displaced. Although set in 1993, the movie opens in a café in Paris in the year 1879. Joshua, played by Denis Quaid, watches his wife and son die, as they are blown apart in a terrorist bomb. Blinded by anger and hatred, he storms into a nearby mosque and massacres worshippers and feeling disillusioned and helpless he consequently joins the Foreign Legion.

Soon enough he finds himself fighting alongside Serbs at the height of the bloodthirsty war, patrolling destroyed and ruined Bosnian villages. Although ruthless and vicious himself for example there is a scene where he shoots an unarmed child, he does however witness greater horrors that he didn’t realise were possible. Besides they were the enemy, surely they deserved it? Silently he continues to serve, although from inside it is clear to the audience he is questioning his intentions and the morality of his presence in Bosnia. The story continues on in this manner, and slowly but surely reveals the true terror of the Bosnia’s conflict for all innocent people involved including ordinary Serb citizens. Saviour is clear about its message, war is iniquitous. War causes pain, suffering and terror. The atmosphere of the film is gruesome and dreary, there is no sudden sunshine, or happiness to turn this into a fairytale. It is not a nightmare, the characters don’t suddenly wake up, this is reality. More importantly the film is honest, and seeks to act as a moral lesson for the audience rather then just entertainment. Therefore it might not be everyone’s piece of cake, especially some scenes for example when a fully conscious Bosnian mother has her fingers chopped off by a Serb soldier, it is almost impossible not to grimace and turn away. Yet despite the anguish and despair, Saviour is successful in leaving the audience with a sense of hope in this crazy , vicious and bloodthirsty world.

Turtles Can Fly , a joint Iranian-Iraqi film is directed and produced by Bahman Ghobadi, a filmmaker who was born in Iranian Kurdistan. Filmed on location in a Iraqi refugee camp on the Turkish border, it is the first film to come out of Iraq since the fall of Saddam. It captures the lives of ordinary Kurdish orphan refugee children in a country on the verge of war. Living in poor conditions, often without shelter the community eagerly awaits information of an American lead invasion. Without TV they have no contact with the outside world, and anxiously buy a satellite in hope of news. The film follows ‘Satellite’ a refugee child who is a whiz kid at technology (hence the nickname) about his daily life before the invasion. He is a leader and hero for the other orphans and directs their day to day lives which include mine picking, which they can later sell for petty amounts of money. All the actors in the movie are real refugee children without previous professional experience, their performance is magnificent and outstanding. Living amongst mine fields left many of them with mutations or disabilities, one of the main characters of the film being the ‘Armless boy’, who the rest of the children believe can make predictions about the future. The film is incredibly moving and heartbreaking, shedding light not only on the lives of the orphan children, but their future, which seems to be equally torn apart by the awaited invasion. After tripping on American mines while the they are playing and having their limbs blown off, they come to doubt the ‘We are your Friends’ leaflets distributed by American planes on the eve of war. Saddening and horrifically explicit, Turtles Can Fly left everyone at the cinema in tears and it was difficult to find someone who hadn’t been moved by this harrowing account. I urge everyone to watch it, it is available on DVD and although in Kurdish it is obtainable with English subtitles.

All in all the Festival was a huge success, bringing together people from all communities and uniting them under the banner of humanity. It also goes to show that film, documentaries and other forms of media are the most popular ways of getting a message across in this day and age. It is a hugely effective and successful method that more and more people are turning to

For more information on the film festival and Aik Saath please visit:

Are you interested in a career in film and television? Visit

I thought that a suitable topic for this would be talking about making an impact. We all know how important it is that we give a good impression of ourselves to others. For example, when we go perhaps for a job interview, or to talk to someone in a higher position then ourselves, we strive to leave them with a positive impression. We always seem to find that when we are with familiar company, our friends or our peers, we change our attitudes – and not normally in a good way. One of the things that Islam teaches us is to respect one another, and to find the best of company. In an authentic Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad said: “A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look whom you befriend.” Hadith Books: Abu Dawood and at-Tirmidhee

In the times that we are in today, many people are making an impact on society in perhaps a more negative way, often regarding Islam. It’s a shame to see so many random people who of course, no real Muslims have ever even heard of, making false declarations about the religion of Islam. That’s why I’m so delighted that some of the YM BirminghamYM stands for Young Muslims and is a youth organisation based in the UK. I have been a member for the last 5 years. guy’s have taken a step towards making an impact on the local society around them:

» Islam in Sparkhill – BBC Birmingham [+Video]

Hassan Yaqoob attends a Muslim Youth group in Sparkhill every Friday. He made a film to share why Islam is so important to him.

He says: “Islam is not just a religion for me, it’s a way of life. At all time I try to remember my God. Throughout the day, Islam allows me to stop and take time to reflect and make peace with myself.

“When I pray with a gathering, we stand shoulder to shoulder whether we are rich or poor because in the view of God, not one person is higher than another. Our faith is only for Allah , and not a show we put on for others to say how godly we are.”

Having recently spent some time with Hassan and the YM Birmingham lads, it makes me proud that they are representing Islam in a manner which is not tainted with any aspects of the views often seen today, but is showing how true Muslims should feel towards their faith.

The company which we keep has a huge impact on our lives. So many people are led astray by their ‘friends’, even or especially at a young age where many youth are quite gullible and often follow only their desires without really thinking of the consequences. It is really sad when you see someone with such a good heart become someone completely different just because of the company that person keeps.

Allah the Exalted says in the Qur’an: “And (remember) the Day when the wrong-doer will bite his hands and say: Woe to me! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger. Woe to me! If only I had not taken so- and-so as a friend! He has led me astray from this Reminder (the Qur’an) after it had come to me. And Satan is ever a deserter to man in the hour of need.” [25:27-29]

The primary objectives are to characterize the global geology and morphology of Pluto and Charon, map the surface composition of Pluto and Charon, and characterize the neutral atmosphere of Pluto and its escape rate. Other objectives include studying time variability of Pluto’s surface and atmosphere, imaging and mapping areas of Pluto and Charon at high-resolution, characterizing Pluto’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and energetic particle environment, search for an atmosphere around Charon, refine bulk parameters of Pluto and Charon, search for additional satellites and rings, and possibly characterize one Kuiper Belt Object.

New Horizons will be the first Earth ‘thing’ that comes that close to the ice planet. And you can be there too! Well, at least your name: Every name that’s entered here will be burned on a compact disc that will be included in the spacecraft. You even receive a certificate to print out afterwards, so you can show it to your friends . You’ll be the coolest kid in town.

Intelligence: Behold the All-Seeing, Self-Parking, Safety-Enforcing, Networked Automobile
Radar, lasers, wireless radio networks and other embedded tech will enable our cars to sense faraway traffic and stop accidents before they happen. But who will be in the driver’s seat?

Well again we seem to have heard it all, films that are based in the future like Minority report and iRobot seem to focus on such things as the future of the car. In iRobot you see that Will Smith has to put the car in ovveride to take control of it himself, and that the speed is amazingly enhanced then the petrol motorbike which he later uses. Minority report has developed on the idea of having motorways with cars simply following simple routes and all of course automatically directed by something like a more advanced GPS system. Well this article from Popular Science describes in detail how the future of the car has already started to be developed:

 Flash back five months: I’m at a test track at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, in a Lexus fitted with a pre-crash safety system. I drive down the track at about 40 mph toward a rubber post. Instinct and education make it hard to keep my foot off the brake, but a group of earnest engineers insist that I aim their $70-grand sedan straight for the post. At the last fraction of a second, when the car’s radar sensors and microprocessors have determined that the idiot at the wheel really isn’t going to steer around the obstacle, the safety system shoots into action. Seatbelt pre-tensioners cinch up, and the front and rear suspension dampers stiffen. As soon as I touch the brake pedal—better late than never—the car’s brake-assist tugs them on at max effort. It isn’t enough to avoid the crash, but the impact speed is about half what it would have been without the new system.

Read the article

The wrist bands have become so much of a fashion accessory that they are even being sold as "FASHION BANDS" which seems a pity seeing as they were originally for a good cause.

Wearing a wristband has become a way of supporting a charity or a cause but too many people wear the wrist bans not as support for a charity but as a fashion accessories. This has become the case in many schools and some schools have had to stop pupils from wearing wristbands in schools.
 
 The BBC used to hand out "BEAT BULLING" wristbands free of charge but because they have handed out over 1 Million they have had to put a small fee on them because of delivery etc, you can get them here.

World vision also hand out free wristbands in the plead for to go to G8 protest on the 6th July in Edinburgh. They are availiable here

Also make poverty history have a logo for peoples websites for in the corner to show that you support them, as you can see our website has one 

Egg Frying Made Easy… without a stove

The first week of college my RA gave me a citation violation, "CV," for trying to cook an egg on my portable open-flame stove.

I thought I’d be smarter and I got a George Foreman grill. I decided to be the ass I am… and eat the egg in front of his face. I got another CV, this time calling it "Unsupported electronic device."

Interested in the new way to fry your eggs? Check this out on HighSchoolHumor!