Mezbauddin Mahtab's Blog, page 7

Why Didn't Allah Come To Save Him?

I was shopping in Walmart for groceries. I had just put some bananas on the cart. Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me.

"Excuse me! How do you know which banana is good?"

I turned around. It was a middle aged lady, and she had Asian (Chinese) features, and she spoke impeccable English.

"Um ... I don't really have a method." I replied, trying to maintain the social distance. "I just don't pick ones that are too ripe."

"You are Muslim, right?"

The sudden change in conversation startled me. She had also ...

Our East Coast Canada Trip 2019

Since a lot of folks ask me about it, I thought I would summarize the total East Coast trip (Canada, done in 2019) in one post.

We drove nearly 6000 km, but it was an epic road trip!
Here is the detailed description of each of our days.

Days 1,2 - Drive from Toronto to Moncton, NB via Quebec City, QC
Our initial base was Moncton, NB and we took 2 days to get there.

Day 3 - Hopewell Rocks, Magnetic Hill
Truly a wonder of nature, to see the difference between high and low tide.

Day 4 - Saint John, Fundy ...

East Coast: Halifax (Days 10 and 11) and the Return (Days 12 and 13)

Continued from Day 9

Note: This post was slated to be published last year (yes, last year!). For whatever reason, it was missed. Now, as we are stuck in our homes during the Covid19 pandemic, I was reminiscing about a fantastic trip to Canada's East Coast last year, and realized I hadn't posted about Halifax.

Halifax is home to Dalhousie University. It is a small campus, very beautiful, neat and tidy. For some reason, when I visit cities, I like to visit their famous university campuses. Dalhousie...

How Taiwan Conquered the Coronavirus with Common Sense

This is Ms. Tsai Ing-Wen. She is the first female President of Taiwan. She also leads the country with the best response to COVID-19.

Let's look at some of her stats and then her steps.Stats:Taiwan is geographically right next to China, and had daily flights to Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.When the epidemic began, John Hopkins university predicted Taiwan would be the second hardest hit country.Right now, they have a population of 23 million, out of which only 427 are affected, and 6...

A Tale of 3 Women: Jacinda Ardern, Dr. Henry and Dr. Tam

Let's talk about three women.

Two of them are smart. The third one - Let's say I am not a fan.

1. Jacinda Ardern


They say a leader is tested in a crisis, and how you deal with it makes or breaks you. By that definition, Ms. Ardern should be the leader of the world. Her first crisis was last year during the horrific mosque shooting in Christchurch. The whole world saw how she dealt with the fall out, with empathy, determination, unity and determination. Now let's see how she dealt with the corona...

Why Dr Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Needs to be Fired

Recently there was an article on how Canada's COVID-19 response is led mostly by women. A lot was made of the fact that Canada's Chief Medical Officer, the Deputy PM, and the top doctors for several provinces and cities (Toronto/Vancouver) are all women. Now to me, I was never a big fan of Trudeau's gender balanced cabinet. Personally, it doesn't matter for a job whether you are a man or a woman. What matters is how good you are at the job. And I am not that impressed with this group.

...

Is this world a simulation?

As a believing and practicing Muslim who also loves science fiction, I find the recent musings of some key figures (such as Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson) that "this world is a simulation" very fascinating. These quasi-philosophers (and I like to play one on the internet) say that we are all avatars, or characters, in some big simulation and nothing is "real".

We know from our religion that our souls (programs?) are created separate from our bodies (avatars) that exist only in this world....

East Coast: Peggy's Cove (Day 9)

Continued from Day 8 ...


Peggy's Cove is an iconic East Coast destination. And to think - we nearly skipped it!

If I had to do the trip completely my way, I would have put a whole day here. Simply because I would love to photograph this famous lighthouse in the morning at sunrise, then in the middle of the day when it's busy, and then again at sunset with the famous golden sky behind it, and then at night when the lighthouse actually lights up.

As it was, we only spent a couple of hours there, e...

East Coast: The Cabot Trail (Day 8)

The Cabot Trail is one of the world's most famous drives. Every travel list in North America has the Cabot Trail as one of its must drive highways.

Rising from the sea and clinging to mountains, the 298-kilometer-long Cabot Trail is a winding mix of roadway, paths, stairs, and stunning beauty that takes you from unreal ocean vistas to quaint fishing villages.


Since the Cabot Trail is a circular trail, every one debates whether to go around the Cabot Trail clockwise or anti-clockwise. We decided...

East Coast: Baddeck, Nova Scotia and the Bell Museum (Day 7)

It was raining. After a long time, we have seen some rain. This was not a sightseeing day though, at least not yet. For now, we had a ferry to catch. The ferry would leave at 930 am, and the terminal was at least an hour's journey away. We just made it - reaching the terminal at 920 am - and we were the last car allowed on to the ferry!

A light house dotting the PEI landscape. One of many on its many beaches. Now abandoned, derelict, and mostly a relic of a bygone era - these lighthouses serve...