Friday, November 19, 2010

How to Be a "Creative Thinker"

How to Be a "Creative Thinker"


Here are some tips to be followed to help you to be a creative plus a deep thinker and to discover the most mysterious organ of the body "the brain"!


Focus on something:
Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand.
"The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."
- Alexander Graham Bell


Take your time: Or thoughts may take years to produce something worthwhile.


Do not think under pressure: People, who claim to work well under pressure produce solutions, grind out work, meet deadlines, but they don't necessarily create great thought. Doing and thinking don't happen at the same time.


Be ready for the opposition: A great thought will have enemies, at least opponents. Without opposition, the thinker cannot fully explore the weaknesses and potential consequences of his thought. A person who cannot withstand opposition to his thought is not totally committed to it.


Do not despair when a thought is rejected: Truly great thoughts often take longer to be fully appreciated than the thinker has years to live. The thought, the great thought, becomes the legacy of the thinker.
Thought lives on when facts have become history.


Tap your emotions and trust your instincts:
Our unconscious thoughts are like a trained autopilot. Based on their conclusions, the brain generates emotions. So don’t disregard that subtle feeling telling you to avoid the salmon special. Your personal supercomputer is trying to tell you something.


Consider alternative points of view. Professional poker players often use a simple trick when they suspect another player of bluffing: They think about how the player would act if he or she weren’t bluffing. The brain naturally filters the world to confirm what it already believes (which is why conservatives watch Fox News and liberals watch MSNBC). But this habit is limiting and dangerous; you could be fixating on the wrong answers.


Challenge your preferences: Like presumptive beliefs (see the above tip), your supposed likes and dislikes can limit your mind. I used to be a bit of an expensive-clothes snob. But then I did a test of clothes from different price ranges and discovered what scientists have since confirmed: There is no correlation between the price of a dress and how much it looks wonderful on you! By figuring out what you truly like-be it cheap clothes or fancy shoes- you can enjoy life, not to mention spend more wisely.


Take long showers: Studies show that moments of insight often arrive when you’re not aware that you’re thinking of the problem, such as during a warm shower or a long stroll. This is because insights are typically generated by a rush of high-frequency gamma-band neural activity in the brain’s right hemisphere, and a mind is better able to tune in to that hemisphere when it is stress-free.
Be prepared for ideas: Always keep a notebook with you just in case. Sometimes you will be just out somewhere and all of a sudden, a beautiful, profound idea will enter your thoughts in a split second. Jot the idea down. Even writing down a few key words will help you remember the main point of the idea. By combining these ideas together you will get a coherent piece of work.
Do something everyday: Do something everyday even if you think it is junk. Most of what I write starts off as junk, and then it becomes piles of junk. After moving the junk around to the right places and polishing it up a bit, the end product becomes a beautiful piece of junk. For example, learn a new word every day. Look at dictionary.com's "Word of the Day." Use the word several times during the day.
Appreciate the smallest things in life: All the things around us in the world have a certain significance to them that can add to our creativity. A small pebble that is rolled down an icy hill can accumulate into a giant snowball towards the end.
Do not be afraid: This fear can come from not being able to think of anything new and different. It can be from not knowing if others will like your work or from comparing your work to those of better people or from starting from scratch and not knowing how to start. All of these fears can stop us from taking action and destroy our confidence. But if you're always going to run away from your fears, nothing creative is ever going to come out of you.
Just have fun: Let go. Creativity is best expressed when you're free.. Also, creativity is supposed to be the farthest thing from the word, labor! Then you'll realize that the happier you are doing your work, the more ideas will come to you, and the better creative thinker you'll be, all without losing your mind.
Observe and ask questions: Watch the way in which others perform. Ask others how they solve problems. Approach from a different angle: Think of potential solutions as if you were a child. Do logic puzzles: Try crosswords, word finds or sudoku. These are free online. Understand something new: Watch movies, read or look at pieces of art in genres or styles that would normally be of no interest. Read more about them. Force yourself to approach problems in different ways: Perform tasks with your left hand that you would normally do with your right. This forms new neural pathways and diversifies your reasoning capacity. Do not set limits: Look at the absurd. The answer may go against convention. me up with the answer: Acknowledge the problem, then relax and do something else. Thoughts may eventually have some bearing on the solution. Master the technique: Perform a new technique until it is second nature.

Prepared By: Maha Ali

Friday, August 20, 2010

ISSUE NO 5: THE DEFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN IRAQ (EDITORIAL)

THE DEFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN IRAQ


This article clarifies the reasons behind these defects and drawbacks in our educational system; our task as reporters is to shed light on this essential subject, and how to tackle this issue.
In fact, this system has been facing so many difficulties, especially in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. These difficulties and consequences can be listed as follows: 

First, the absence of new teaching programs in our universities, this is why this matter creates a dangerous problem that threatens student's future; therefore, the officials in the Ministry should take this problem into consideration and find out a solution as quickly as possible. 

Second, Iraqi students suffer from a lack in their practical field. In other words, they witness obstacles for instance in their laboratories. So, this lack especially in the equipments of Labs, might affect the intellectuality of our students.


Third, some students have great ambitions, fantastic performance and skills and would like to complete their Higher studies in or outside Iraq, But unfortunately giving such a chance to our students is very limited due to the lack in teaching staff or sometimes because there are no professors in these departments qualified to supervise MA or PhD theses. On the other hand, the budget of the Ministry of Higher Education makes it unable to offer scholarships, because its budget is insufficient to sponsor these significant projects. 

In my opinion, if concerned officials do not do their best to meet our students' needs to achieve their dreams, Iraq will face a dangerous future filled with backwardness and uneducated people. So, all officials must work hard in this regard to support those students and their ambitions. This thing will serve Iraq and increase the number of scholars and scientists to put Iraq at the highest level of the pyramid of Higher Education.


Ibrahim Albayati

ISSUE NO 5: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!!

Hey friends... AROUND THIS TIME, MANY OF US ARE ABOUT TO BE DONE WITH EXAMS, SCHOOL FINALS.. UNIVERSITY FINALS, AROUND THIS TIME A QUESTION KICKS IN MIND "WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE"WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP TO BE TAKEN AFTER WE PUSH OUR WAYS INTO THIS NEW WILD WORLD?WHAT ARE THE PLANS FOR TOMORROW?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH ME.... JUST LIKE MY FRIENDS BELOW DID.

Dia A. Sulaibi
I just can't help it, but I can't stop thinking about tomorrow. I always get too busy with what is today, but in the end of the day, “futuristic” thoughts come back to "haunt" me. I guess it is a healthy thing after all. Anyway, I believe my next step in life will be the PhD and then marriage, or maybe the other way round -who knows!-. Still, I have many thoughts and projects up my sleeve that I would like to keep to myself for the time being.

Farah Ahmed
I often wondered about my future as I was about to finish secondary school. It is very hard to make any definite choices, because I know they will affect me for the rest of my life. As for now, I am only focusing my attention on finishing my studies. Then I want a job that will satisfy me, challenge me, and bring me joy. I believe that a job should be like a hobby. I want to love my work, and know that I am making a difference in this world . I would like to travel overseas, to get married and have a family and to live with my future family in a quiet, peaceful setting.

Rafil Saad
I think my next step after graduation, is to find a good job with a good salary.... But, currently my mind is only focusing on this important phase; graduation form Translation Department. So, I will postpone all things that make confusion in the mind. I will get married and make a family, but that will not be achieved till 10 years at least. Thank you hala for that question. Finally, I have one word to say "if you believe in something ....you will do everthing" .

Isq Transangel
I think that the only thing in my mind right now is to finish this school year with good grades and I hope to be one of the top students (inshalla). But I don’t tend to think about things on the long term, I just focus on the present time.

Farah Ali Abd AlHalim
Actually, I am not the kind of person who thinks about her future a lot. I am a person who thinks about the present only because I believe life has many ups and downs and the future is not ours to see. Whatever will be will be (que sera sera)

Farah’s brother:
You cannot know the future. However, you should have an expectation of what will happen in the days ahead of you. This "expectation" comes from your knowledge, the one that you gained from your past. As you can see, it's a series of things in relation to each other (The Butterfly Effect). Basically, what I'm saying is : your future is already set, and you're the one who set it on its course.


Duaa Farouk
What I care about right now is to graduate. I have big dreams for the future I’d like to achieve, but probably its hard to get here and there so I stopped thinking about the future a long time ago and I live each day at a time not planning for the next. Because you don’t know what God will give you.

Aseel K. Mahmood
I kind of live my day. I am not really sure about tomorrow; that is never guaranteed


Prepared by 
Hala Hikmet

ISSUE NO 5: MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU (POEM)

MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU

It was hurtful when
You left me alone.
It was just like
A night without the moon.
It was like a day
Without the sunshine.
It was such as flowers
Full of thorns
It was as a blob fell
Into the sadness of ocean.
It was such as a thirsty for
Water lost his way in the desert
After you left me I turned
Into a dried-up rose
That rose was watered
By your big love
After you left it, who
Is going to water it?


Written by:
SAFA F. ABDULSAHIB

iSSUE NO 5: AN INTERVIEW WITH Asst. Prof. UROOBA SAMI

AN INTERVIEW WITH
Assistant Professor
Urooba Sami

- Who is Assistant Professor Urooba Sami as an academic, and as a mother?

- I am Assistant Professor Urooba Sami, I have got the degree of being an Assistant Professor seven years ago, I taught literature in AL-Mustansriyah University since having my post-graduate degree, and also I participate in several academic conferences in the college of Arts, besides being a supervisor and expert for many academic thesis, and moreover I am a member of many committees for thesis discussions. I am a mother for three children: two boys and a girl, I am really considering my students and dealing with them as my true children.


- Why do you prefer literature, in other words, why did you choose to be a literature professor?
- Since my early childhood, I used to read Arabic literary works for Gibran Khalil Gibran, Taha Hussein, and Al-Akkad. So, literature opens my mental horizon and widens my interests in reading books, and gaining sublime knowledge. During my life, I realize that really literature is a dynamic element in formulating my personality.


- Who is the best playwright in your view point?
- In fact, there are so many playwrights, but my favourite one is Samuel Beckett and his beautiful play Waiting for Godot, he is the founder of the Absurd Theater.


- What are the most immortal works of Shakespeare?
- All Shakespearian works are immortal.


- What is your favourite T.V. channel?
- My favourite T.V. channel is MBC4.


- Do you have a certain hobby?
- Reading researches and going to health canters.


- What is your impression towards the Hamlet Play that was performed by an elite of Translation students in the Faculty of Arts, especially an hour before the show?
- I was convinced that the play will be a real achievement and a genuine success.


- What is your advice for the student, who acted in the Play?
- My dear students, you have achieved something great. So, look forward to be great in your future.


- Who supported you to be Urooba Sami?
- My gratitude is to my parents.

- Anything you would like to add?
- Thank you, to all my students who participated in acting Hamlet. Be as successful as Shakespeare's works.


INTERVIEWED BY: 
IBRAHIM AL-BAYATI

Thursday, August 19, 2010

ISSUE NO 5: HAMLET

HAMLET
PRFORMED BY TRANSLATION STUDENTS

It is an honor to write this article about one of the famous plays of the well-known playwright and poet, William Shakespeare; that is Hamlet.

Hamlet is a tragic play full of tragic events; it talks about a person – Prince Hamlet - , who cannot make up his mind when he witnesses difficulties. Whose uncle Claudius murdered his father to take the throne and to marry his mother. This significant play was performed in Al-Mustansriyah University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Translation on Assembly Classroom no 1 at 11:00 AM. 

The ones who played the main roles are brilliant students of the Department of Translation and they worked hard together for a month and a half ceaselessly. They held so many rehearsals for the sake of achieving fruitful success.

One cannot deny the efforts of Assistant Professor Urooba Sami the co-founder of this project, who exerted efforts to sublimate this project as a success. Thanks also to Assistant Lecturer Dia A. Sulaibi, the director of the play, who worked hard giving us instructions and recommendations to act in a good way. 

We also thank the Deputy Chairman of TD Dr, Mehdi Al-Ghazzali, who hailed this project and supported us to achieve perfection. The actors of HAMLET were very fantastic in their performances, all of them without exception. Many thanks to our colleague Mushriq Amjad Jaber (who played the Hamlet) for his incredible performance, and also to the other wonderful students who graciously performed in the play: Abeer Farouq (Ophelia), Israa Abbas (Queen Gertrude), Sabbar Sadeq (Leartes), Alaa Hasan (Horatio), Haider Kamel (Ghost), Hussein Jafar (Polonius), Azzam Abdulsattar (Rozencrants), Abbas Abdulmuhsin (Grave-Digger), Yasser Mohamed and Ammar Hassan (courtiers) and last but not least Ibrahim Tala’at -that is me- (King Claudius).


Special thanks for the Dean of the Faculty of Arts Dr. Mohamed Al-Shammary, who attended the performance, and to all the audience. Also, special thanks for Sara Hadi, who prepared the script and for Ghazwaan and my brother Abdulbaki Al-Bayati for their special efforts in picturing the play. 

There is no better way to end up the article than by the Shakespearian proverb "To be, or not to be, that is the question". We are really proud of ourselves because Hamlet has been acted in Al-Mustansiriya University for the first time , since its establishment. This huge achievement is attributed to our department (TD).

Ibrahim Al-Bayati

Sunday, August 1, 2010

ISSUE NO 5: YASSER QASSIM MOHAMMED

YASSER QASSIM MOHAMMED
(A  Translation Student  and Football Player)  
Yasser Qassim Mohammad born in Baghdad in 1987, is a 2nd year student at Department of Translation in the College of Arts. He was one of the golden figures who participated to gain the Cup of Iraqi Universities with his team. The Championship was held on 2nd May, 2010. It is to be mentioned that he is the sole player in that team from the Department of Translation.
The beginning of our player was with the cubs of the Police Club, and then he moved to the classes of juniors and young of that club then to the first class of the same club. Afterwards, he made a transfer to the Al-Shula’a Club. 
Nowadays, he is in the Al-Hassanein Club for football. On the other hand, one of the achievements of our player was the winning of the Championship of School Teams which was held in Algeria in 2007-2008.

We wish him the best of luck and a successful life in order to serve our country well.

Prepared by 
MUSHRIQ AMJAD

Saturday, July 31, 2010

ISSUE NO 5: AN INTERVIEW WITH HUSSAIN JA'AFAR HADI

An Interview with 
HUSSAIN JA'AFAR HADI
(Translation Student and Captain of the Iraqi National Billiards and Snooker Team)

Q: Who is Hussain Ja’afar Hadi?
I’m Hussain Ja’afar Hadi born in Baghdad in 1986; a 3rd year student , at the Department of Translation in the Faculty of Arts. I am the captain of the Iraqi National Team for Billiards and Snooker.

Q: How was your beginning in that game? And when did you join the National Team?
I was fond of this game strongly, for finding a game which I can prove my ability in. Moreover, this passion made me a professional player.
The managers asked me to submit a test which was prepared to form new players in the National Team after my winning the title of Baghdad championship in 2004.
Then, I joined the National Team in the same year in which I won the title of that championship and I passed that test too.

Q: How do you balance your performance in that game and class activities?
Although it is hard, I try to be diligent in both of these two fields. Furthermore, these fields make me spend a whole day in trainings and study.

Q: In your opinion, how did you find the Department of Translation when you joined in that field?
The Department of Translation is very useful for us, because it teaches us English and its counterpart; our mother tongue (Arabic).  I feel I am lucky because I’m one of the students at this department.
Q: Describe your feeling when you participated in the play of “Hamlet”?
That play gave me a wonderful feeling to be among a group of my department’s colleagues. We exerted our efforts in a dramatic work which received approval by all who watched it.

Q: What are your local, regional and continental achievements?
Locally: I won the Iraqi championship for three times 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the second place in other years of the same championship.
Regionally: 1:- We won the Bronze medal in the Arab championship for billiards which was held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2006.
2:-We won the Bronze medal in the Arab championship for snooker which was held in Egypt in 2009.
3:-We won the Bronze medal in the Arab championship for billiards which was held in Syria in early 2010.
Continentally: We managed to reach the third round among 128 players in the Asian games which were held in Vietnam in 2009.

Q: How did you become a captain of our team?
I became a captain for various reasons. For being an old player; since 2004.For my adherence to the trainings, and I also achieved good results; therefore the head of the association of our game and our coach trusted me to be a captain.

Q: What are your ambitions in future?
My ambitions are to represent my country well in the next international assemblies such as: World championship in Qatar, Arab championship for Snooker in Bahrain as well as Arab championship for Billiards in Morocco. As for our field, I wish to exert the greatest efforts to pass the final exams of this academic year successfully.
I wish to  

Q: Any words you would like to say in the end of the interview?
Achieve the best implementations in order to raise the name of Iraq high in the international assemblies.

Interviwed by  
Mushriq Amjad

ISSUE NO 5: BROTHERHOOD

Brotherhood

It is a term used for more than one topic, one of them, which I am going to discuss with you, is the relation between brothers that are related to each other by blood. Many of us may not have brothers, but have friends or relatives or even one of their parents whom they consider a brother and that’s exactly what I want to talk about. 

We might think or consider someone as our brother but there is no one like our brothers whom we have shared the same mother, father, family, house and grew up together.  They are the ones who would never judge you. You might think of it as if you were one soul and separated to be you and your brother. I say that my brother means the world to me. Each one of us has his own ideas and memories with his brothers, some of us think of them as relatives, protectors, heroes or even his own parents, but whatever was the idea, you can’t live without them.

Especially, if you were the youngest  member in your family; you will have the attention, care, love and all these annoying things you hate from your elder brothers, so that sometimes you think that they are your parents not your own brothers. It is a bitter sweet feeling because it can be very annoying -trust me. But, at the same time if you have it, you would not change it for the world for one simple reason; that is you can’t exchange a part of your soul whatever price you are offered. 

I recall this incident from history which I know for fact to be true. It is told that once upon a time a king brought a lady whom he was about to kill her husband, son and brother and gave her the choice to save one of them. Can you imagine how cruel is that? Anyway, she chose her brother saying that she can always get married and have kids but how can she have another brother when her parents are dead. If you can only imagine how brave, strong, loving woman she is. 

Can you think of a situation as bad as this one? Nowadays, people had lost a lot of these pure, tender, precious feelings with their parents so how about their brothers.
So, whenever you have a fight with one of your brothers just, remember this lady and try to think: does the thing you are fighting about worth it? Does it worth losing or hurting your own brother?

To conclude my article, I like to thank God for giving us such blessings as having brothers. So, go home and tell your brothers how much they mean to you. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

With love

Written by: 
Israa. A. Ameen

Friday, July 30, 2010

ISSUE NO 5: HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER

He ain't heavy, he's my brother
By The Hollies

I dedicate this song to my own brothers whom I love to death and would sacrifice my own soul to save theirs.

The road is long                                                 
With many a winding turn   
                                                                        
That leads us to who knows where,
Who knows when

But I'm strong,

Strong enough to carry him.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother
  

So on we go.
His welfare is my concern
No burden is he to bear,

We'll get there.

For I know

He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

If I'm laden at all,

I'm laden with sadness

That everyone's heart

Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another.

It's a long, long road
                                                                             
From which there is no return.

While we're on the way to there,

Why not share?

And the load
    
Doesn't weigh me down at all.

He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

He's my brother…
             

طريقنا طويل
وملئ بالمخاطر                                                                        
 يمضي بنا إلى مجهول لا نعلمه                                                
ولا نعلم زمانه                                                                                      
لكنني قوي  
قوي بما فيه الكفاية لأسانده واحمل عنه همومه                                                     
ليس عبئا بل انه أخي                                                            
وهكذا نمضي
جل ما أتمناه سعادته  
ليس عبئا يثقل كاهلي                                                 
 وسنكمل الدرب معا                                                                                      
لأنني على يقين                                                                                                  
انه لن يعرقل خطاي                                                                  
ليس عبئا انه أخي                                                                 
وان كنت مثقلا بشي على الإطلاق                                                                                       
فأنني مثقلا بالأحزان                                                                                  
ولكون قلوب الآخرين                                                                                    
قد  هجرتها سعادة
حب واحدها للأخر
إن دربنا لطويل جدا                                                                              
درب لا رجعه فيه                                                                
ومادمنا نقطع الطريق نفسه                                                      
لم لانقطعه معا                                                                                    
وما أواجه من صعاب                                                                                       
لن تكبل خطاي
ليس عبئا انه أخي
أخي                                                                                             
Translated by:
Israa A. Ameen

ISSUE NO 5: SOME IDIOMS AND THEIR TRANSLATION

Some Idioms and Their Translation
   
He is an eager beaver when it comes to work
عندما يتعلق الامر بالعمل فهو كالديك النشيط

He has a finger in the pie in every department
له يد في كل مكان 

He was placed in a tight spot
وضع في موقف لا يحسد عليه

The home team was able to waltz off with the championship again
استطاع المنتخب الوطني ان يظفر بالبطولة مجددا

Don’t count on him he is a yellow-bellied man
لا تنخو رجل لوث الجبن خصاله

You should thank me, I saved your skin
عليك شكري فقد اعتقت رقبتك من المشاكل هذا اليوم

My uncle is hale and hearty who never get sick
ان عمي رجل سليم معافى لم يجد المرض منفذا اليه

Please explain the matter in a nutshell
لا تطل علينا الحديث من فضللك

He is now a lame duck,though he had seen tremendous days
افل نجمه الان بعد ان كان يبرق مثل ضوء القمر

Don’t you try to do snow job on me
لا تحاول ان تخدعني

She decked out for the party
قد بدت في ابهى حلتها من اجل الحفل

Salepeople  come on strong when trying to sell the product
يفتل البائعون عضلاتهم في محاولة بيع البضاعة

I think you should call a spade a spade
اظن ان عليك ان تسمي الاشياء بمسمياتها

Im not taking the deal unless you get everything in black and white
لن اقبل بالصفقة الا ان جعلت الورق شاهدا على كلامك
  
He is dead as a door nail
ميت كالحجر

He was forced to eat a crow
اجبر على ان يذوق طعم سمه

You should get a wiggle on to get home
عليك ان تسرع من خطاك لتصل الى المنزل

He started to take a shine to the pretty girl
بدا قلبه بالميل نحو الفتاة الجميلة

I have good vibes about this man
يطمئنني قلبي لهذا الرجل

You must be off you rocker to do this
لا بد من انك فقدت صوابك لفعل ذلك

This product is selling like hot cakes
يباع هذا المنتج مثل الثلج في عز الصيف
  
He tries to take after his brother by studying hard
يحاول ان يتبع خطا اخيه بالاجتهاد

forget about  what happened, let bygones be bygones
لا تشغل بالك بما حصل.عفا الله عما سلف

He turned out to be just a flash in the pan
تبين انه مجرد سراب

You have no right to rim me out
ليس من حقك ان تصب جام غضبك علي
  
He can do everything, he is a jack of all trades
بمقدوره فعل كل شي فهو ذو سبع صنائع

Translated by: Aseel K. Mahmood