KFC Fawkner

For the last semester, up to the last few weeks, I've been going to the KFC in Fawkner on Monday. This is because they (the KFC owner) have been kind enough to provide us with halal meat, but only on Mondays. We were really happy, as there is no other KFC in Melbourne that is halal.

As usual, we went to Fawkner on Monday. Later, while ordering at the counter, I noticed that they put a sign that says "Bacon will not be served at this KFC outlet anymore". That's kinda odd, for a KFC that only uses halal meat only on Mondays, right? So I asked the branch manager, and she said that their KFC is now halal everyday. Everyday!! :)

I must express my gratitude to the owner, for having to go through all the trouble of proving halal meat for us Muslims. Now we can go there on weekends, instead on Mondays.

By the way, I wonder when will McDonalds follow their lead? I heard that there's a halal McD in Sydney, so, it might be quite a while before it gets here.

Back to the Go club

It has been 2 weeks since I last went to the Go club. Now, Yoshi (the club manager) has made available a few English Go books for rent. Some books are rather advanced for me, and some are too elementary. But I didn't bother borrowing any, because I'm not even done with the books that I have now! LOL.

Btw, there were some friends of mine playing one-coloured Go (both using white). It kinda reminds me of Hikaru no Go. Well, I was only able to follow the game up to around 15-20 moves, before I got lost. Anyway, I had a game with Yoshi, and I lost big-time. But he only gave me 6 stone handicap, so it's a rather fair game. It has been quite a while since I last played Dan players, and it reminded me how strong Dan players are, and not to make any rash moves, especially invasions so deep that you can't see the way out.

Big mistake by Israel

I assume that everyone would have read about the murder of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, founder of Hamas, by Israel. The whole Muslim world is outraged and there is no doubt that Hamas will retaliate. What is Ariel Sharon thinking? He should know better that by killing the leader, the organisation would not hold back any longer. Further more, the way the Israelites murdered Sheikh Yassin was pure cowardice. What kind of nation would fire a missile (from a helicopter) to an old man sitting in a wheel chair? Not to mention the fact that Sheikh Yassin was completely disabled (arms and legs can't be moved).

Ariel Sharon justified his attack by saying "The state of Israel this morning hit the first and foremost leader of the Palestinian terrorist murderers". The hell? The only terrorists and murderers in the Middle East are the Israelites! You don't call people defending their own soil against any kind of invasion or occupation terrorists!

BN won!

The 11th Malaysian General Election was held yesterday, and BN (National Front) won big. Since I'm away (in Australia), I was only able to follow the election news & result via the internet, and from people who were actually there (through phone calls & sms). One of the biggest news I heard before going to sleep yesterday was that BN had taken over Terengganu. Another one was that BN is currently tied with PAS in Kelantan and they are recounting the votes for 5 seats.

Today, I can't be sure which news is correct. Some online news stated that BN won Kelantan, some are saying that the recount is to be held today at 10am (M'sian Time). Well, I sure hope that BN wins.

One step forward

I'm pleased to announce that by winning my last game before going to sleep yesterday, I was promoted to 8 kyu. My goal of obtaining 1 dan by the end of the year seems possible, at least at this point. I recall a person on KGS saying that improving your gameplay from 30 kyu to 10 kyu would be fast. But when you join the single digit kyu level, your progress becomes slower (unless you're talented). I also read somewhere (a Go website, can't recall which one) that the ones that are truly talented would have reached 1 dan within 1 year of playing.

The Passion

I went to watch The Passion today. The story started with Jesus (Isa) standing in the Garden of Gethsemane, just outside of Jerusalem. It was the final 12 hours of his life after Judas Iscariot (one of his apostles) betrayed him. Judas gave the location of Jesus to the Sanhedrin (the supreme national tribunal of the Jews), in return for 30 pieces of silver.

It was a great movie, as it really gives the viewer a clear image of how life was back then in Jerusalem. To add the realism effect, director Mel Gibson made the movie in 3 languages. The Romans spoke Latin, the Jews spoke Hebrew and Jesus spoke Aramaic. It was a classic. Well, I can't really differentiate Aramaic from Hebrew, but I can clearly identify which one was Latin.

Although I have always enjoyed historical movies (eg. Gladiator, Last Samurai), as a Muslim, there are some facts about The Passion which I strongly disagree. To read about Islamic monotheism, click here.

GNU Go Software, the best free Go software you can get

A friend at the Go club told me about his bot on KGS. I've seen the bot in action, and so decided to give it a try. The bot (or software), is called GNU Go. The thing about GNU Go, is that, there's no GUI (graphical user interface) for it. Therefore, it'll look like this. Kinda ugly, isn't it? But thanks to the brilliant programmers, they made it possible to run GNU Go under Jago, and hence it turns out to look like this (below).


The GUI seems kinda similar to KGS, right? About the strength of GNU Go, I assume it's around 12-15 kyu. It doesn't make too much stupid moves, so it's kinda fun. If you want to try GNU Go, download it from this site here. Then download Jago, install it, and copy GNU Go and put it in the same folder as Jago. Run Jago, and then select Actions > Play Go (GMP). It's that simple! :)

Autumn has finally arrived

After all that heat yesterday, I was taken aback to find the weather quite chilly today. Anyways, my games against lower kyus with handicaps isn't improving. I simply can't reach out and grab more territory. I was troubled with the thought of losing to a lower kyu with handicaps in the tournament after Yoshi-san said that his friend (a 6-kyu), lost big time after playing a 15-kyu (that's a 9 stone handi game). Hell, I better try harder.

New members at the Go club

It's rather hot today, and it didn't get any better during the night. I arrived at the Go club around 7:10pm. There were a lot of new members now, I guess most of them joined during my 3 months holiday. Some of them played on KGS, and are considerably strong (being near shodan).

Back in Melbourne

I arrived in Melbourne around 8:00am. Since there's no class today, I took the opportunity to settle down and make sure that I'm enrolled in the right subjects. The admin of the Student Village were kind enough to give me a bigger room from the one I got last semester.
Anyways, there's a Go tournament and the end of April, called the NEC Cup. I can't wait to participate in a formal Go tournament, but there is need for me to increase my ability to play against lower kyus using handicap. (yes, the tournament is with handicaps). Well, I think I can play rather well in an even game if my opponent is around my strength. But when it comes to handicap games, especially those with 4 stones above, I simply find it difficult to win.