The Northern Bank robbery was a large robbery of cash from the headquarters of the Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Carried out by a large, proficient group on 20 December 2004, the gang seized £26.5 million in pounds sterling, making it one of the biggest bank robberies in British history. The police and the British and Irish governments claimed the Provisional IRA was responsible (or had permitted others to undertake the raid), a claim vehemently denied by the Provisional IRA itself and the Sinn Féin political party. The robbery, and the allegations and counter-allegations surrounding it, threw the Northern Ireland peace process into crisis.
On the night of Sunday December 19, 2004 groups of armed men called at the homes of two officials of the Northern Bank, one in Downpatrick in County Down, the other in Poleglass, near Belfast. Masquerading as police officers, they entered the homes and held the officials and their families at gunpoint. Bank official Chris Ward was taken from Poleglass to Downpatrick, the home of his supervisor Kevin McMullan, while gunmen remained at his home with his family. Subsequently Mr McMullan's wife was taken from their home and held, also at gunpoint, at an unknown location. The following day both officials were instructed to report for work at the bank's headquarters at Belfast's Donegall Square West as normal. They did so, and remained at work after the close of business, and later in the evening they gave admittance to other members of the gang.
The robbers entered the bank's cash handling and storage facility. This held an unusually large amount of cash, in preparation for distribution to ATMs for the busy Christmas shopping season. Cash was transferred to one or several vehicles (possibly including a white "Luton" van) at the premises' Wellington Street entrance, and the gang fled. Shortly before midnight the gang holding the Ward family left, and those holding Mrs McMullan released her in a forest near Ballynahinch.
The haul included £10m of uncirculated Northern Bank sterling banknotes, £5.5m of used Northern Bank sterling notes, £4.5m of circulated sterling notes issued by other banks, and small amounts of other currencies, largely Euros and U.S. Dollars.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
SEBUTIR KURMA PENYEKAT DOA
Semasa menunaikan ibadah haji, Ibrahim bin Adham berniat ziarah ke masjidil Aqsa. Untuk bekal di perjalanan, ia membeli 1 kg kurma dari pedagang tua dekat masjidil Haram. Setelah kurma ditimbang dan dibungkus, Ibrahim melihat sebutir kurma tergeletak didekat timbangan. Menyangka kurma itu bagian dari yang ia beli, Ibrahim memungut dan memakannya.
Setelah itu ia langsung berangkat menuju Al-Aqsa. 4 Bulan kemudian, Ibrahim tiba di Al Aqsa. Seperti biasa, ia suka memilih sebuah tempat beribadah pada sebuah ruangan dibawah kubah Sakhra. Ia solat dan berdoa khusuk sekali. Tiba tiba ia mendengar percakapan dua Malaikat tentang dirinya. "Itu, Ibrahim bin Adham, ahli ibadah yang zuhud dan wara’ yang doanya selalu dikabulkan ALLAH SWT," kata malaikat yang satu. "Tetapi sekarang tidak lagi. doanya ditolak karana 4 bulan yg lalu ia memakan sebutir kurma yang jatuh dari meja seorang pedagang tua di dekat masjidil haram," jawab malaikat yang satu lagi.
Ibrahim bin adham terkejut sekali, ia terhenyak, jadi selama 4 bulan ini ibadahnya, solatnya, doanya dan mungkin amalan-amalan lainnya tidak diterima oleh ALLAH SWT gara-gara memakan sebutir kurma yang bukan haknya."Astaghfirullahal adzhim" ibrahim beristighfar. Ia langsung berkemas untuk berangkat lagi ke Mekkah menemui pedagang tua penjual kurma. Untuk meminta dihalalkan sebutir kurma yang telah ditelannya. Begitu sampai di Mekkah ia langsung menuju tempat penjual kurma itu, tetapi ia tidak menemukan pedagang tua itu melainkan seorang anak muda. "4 bulan yang lalu saya membeli kurma disini dari seorang pedagang tua. kemana ia sekarang ?" tanya ibrahim. "Sudah meninggal sebulan yang lalu, saya sekarang meneruskan pekerjaannya berdagang kurma" jawab anak muda itu. "Innalillahi wainnailaihi roji'un, kalau begitu kepada siapa saya meminta penghalalan?".
Lantas ibrahim menceritakan peristiwa yg dialaminya, anak muda itu mendengarkan penuh minat. "Nah, begitulah" kata ibrahim setelah bercerita,"Engkau sebagai ahli waris orangtua itu, maukah engkau
menghalalkan sebutir kurma milik ayahmu yang terlanjur ku makan tanpa izinnya?". "Bagi saya tidak masalah. Insya ALLAH saya halalkan. Tapi entah dengan saudara-saudara saya yang jumlahnya 11 orang karena mereka mempunyai hak waris sama dengan saya." "Dimana alamat saudara-saudaramu ? biar saya
temui mereka satu persatu."
Setelah menerima alamat, ibrahim bin adham pergi menemui. Biar berjauhan,akhirnya selesai juga. Semua setuju menghalakan sebutir kurma milik ayah mereka yang termakan oleh ibrahim. 4 bulan kemudian, Ibrahim bin adham sudah berada dibawah kubah Sakhra. Tiba tiba ia mendengar dua malaikat yang dulu terdengar lagi bercakap cakap. "Itulah ibrahim bin adham yang doanya tertolak gara gara makan sebutir kurma milik orang lain." "O, tidak..,sekarang doanya sudah makbul lagi, ia telah mendapat penghalalan dari ahli waris pemilik kurma itu. Diri dan jiwa Ibrahim kini telah bersih kembali dari kotoran sebutir kurma yang haram karena masih milik orang lain. Sekarang ia sudah bebas."
pagi islam.... petang kafir
Pernah kah anda terfikir tentang... .bagaimana orang islam boleh
menjadi murtad?
".. Pagi hari Islam..petangnya kafir.."
Dalam satu hadis yang berbentuk futuristik (masa depan), Rasulullah
SAW berpesan "Bersegeralah kamu melakukan amalan soleh kerana akan
datang kepada umatku di suatu masa,satu fitnah yang begitu besar yang
datangnya seperti satu
kepingan hitam di malam gelap gelita tak nampak". Sahabat bertanya
"Apakah fitnah besar itu ya Rasullullah? "
"Fitnah itu adalah kamu akan lihat umatku di hari itu, di waktu itu,
pada masa itu, pagi hari Islam, petang kafir. Petang Islam, pagi kafir
balik." Sahabat bertanya lagi. "Mengapa begitu ya Rasullullah? "
Rasullullah SAW menjawab, "Sebab dia jual agamanya dengan nilai
dunia".
Imam Ghazali pernah berkata dalam perkara ini, "Akan datang fitnah
murtad ini dalam keadaan seperti semut hitam di atas batu hitam di
malam gelap." Mana nampak? Kecuali kalau jiwa kita tengok satu perkara
dengan cahaya keimanan.
Bagaimana gerakan murtad ini berjalan di Malaysia sehingga kita tak
nampak langsung. Gerakan Hindu kita tok sah sebutlah. Belum habis
cakap, dah ada yang tunggu dengan parang kat luar. Gerakan Yahudi
lagilah teruknya. Henry Ford
(orang kaya yang buat kereta Ford tu) pernah menulis berkaitan Yahudi
tahun 40an atau 30an dulu dalam bukunya "International Jew" (tak silap
saya).
Unsur Yahudi begitu tebal dalam masyarakat kita tapi kita tak nampak.
Paling nyata, rokok yang orang kita hisap tu. Setiap satu batang itu
dan saham kepada puak Yahudi. Tak de kilang rokok yang bukan Yahudi
punya. Sapa yang hendak
berenti merokok, ambil ni sebagai iktibar.
Yahudi punya kerja. baru letak bola sebijik, 70 ribu Melayu tak
sembahyang kat stadium Shah Alam. Belum kira yang kat rumah lagi. Bab
Kristian, lebih terancang,
lebih terperinci lagi. Semenjak kalah dalam perang salib terakhir,
iaitu dalam pemerintahan King entah apa nama ke 6 yang terakhir.
Sebelum dia mati, dia telah berwasiat dan wasiatnya ada ditulis dengan
emas di London.
Dia berkata: "Kepada semua pemimpim-pemimpin Kristian, kita hari ini
telah melakukan kesilapan besar, kita berperang dengan tentera Islam
dengan pedang, bukan berperang dengan akidah yang ada pada mereka.
Sebab tu Islam menang walaupun 30 ribu tentera mereka dengan 300 ribu
tentera kita, mereka tetap menang sebab mereka (orang Islam) berperang
kerana nak mati. Kita perang untuk
hidup. Oleh itu, hendaklah kita tukar strategi.
Melancarkan peperangan ideologi, fahaman dan budaya keatas orang
Islam. "Wasiatnya berjaya dilaksanakan setelah King tu mati. 1942.
kerajaan Islam Andalusia yang paling agung pada masa itu tumbang di
tangan Kristian. 1511 kerajaan Islam Melaka tumbang, tak lama lepas
tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam
Pattani. Tak lama selepas tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam Kedah. Tak lama
lepas tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam Mindanao. Lepas tu kerajaan Islam
Acheh... semuanya satu demi satu. Macamana benda ni boleh terjadi?
Sebab gerakan Kristian berdasarkan kepada 3G. GOSPEL,GOAL, GLORY.
Pertama kitab dia, kedua kekayaan kita, ketiga menang terhadap Islam.
Kalau kita tengok sejarah, Alfonso De Albuqueque bukan datang ke Tanah
Melayu bawa tukang masak sebab nak rempah kari kita. Dia bukan makan
kari, dia datang bawa mubaligh Kristian Francis Xavier (kalau saya tak
silap eja), sebab nak sebarkan ajaran Kristian. Bagaimana cara dia
sebarkan Kristian nih? Orang kita panggil, gerakan halus.Dia panggil
semua mubaligh Kristian yang nak datang ke Asia
ni. Dia guna kaedah "garam dan ragi". Garam sebagai perasa, ragi untuk
penapaian. Contohnya ubi kayu. Waktu siang asalnya ubi kayu kita letak
ragi, esoknya masih lagi bentuk ubi kayu tapi sebenarnya tapai.
Maksudnya, dia kekalkan orang Melayu dengan identiti Islam. Hakikatnya
kehidupan kita bukan cara Islam lagi.
Cara inilah yang Rasulullah SAW kata macam kepingan hitam di malam
gelita. Inilah yang Imam Ghazali kata macam semut hitam atas batu
hitam di malam gelita tu.
Pertama, melalui sistem pendidikan.
Di Malaysia, macam-macam sekolah dengan nama mubaligh Kristian.
Convent itu, Saint ini. Menurut satu petikan seorang mubaligh Kristian
pada masa itu yang ditulis semula oleh George Peters dalam sebuah buku
tahun 40an. Kepada mubaligh-mubaligh Kristian yang nak datang ke
negara kita, berkaitan pendekatan garam dan ragi ".
Pendekatan seperti ini tidak memerlukan seorang Muslim Melayu
berkenaan meninggalkan sistem kemasyarakatan yang dituntut oleh
agamanya. Sebaliknya orang tersebut hendaklah digalakkan terus tinggal
dalam masyarakatnya. justeru itu, ragi tetap ujud dalam keutuhannya.
Dia akan menjadi bagaikan sebuah lampu (Kristian) yang diletakkan
dalam gelap.
Penyebaran agama Kristian nanti akan terserlah dalam sifat kerohanian,
bukannya organisasi. Di rasa kesegarannya, bukan bersikap kalam.
Dinamik dan etikal, bukan bersifat formalistik. Pendekatan begini
telah memperlihatkan kebaikannya. Lantaran ia tidak menganjurkan ahli
Melayu tadi menjadi ahli baru Kristian yang formal, menyendiri
terpisah dari masyarakatnya. Sebaliknya ia memberi laluan agar dapat
dimasukkan semangat dan ajaran Jesus bagaikan sebutir ragi yang
bertindak dengan proses penapaiannya ke atas seluruh masyarakat Melayu
seluruhnya.
menjadi murtad?
".. Pagi hari Islam..petangnya kafir.."
Dalam satu hadis yang berbentuk futuristik (masa depan), Rasulullah
SAW berpesan "Bersegeralah kamu melakukan amalan soleh kerana akan
datang kepada umatku di suatu masa,satu fitnah yang begitu besar yang
datangnya seperti satu
kepingan hitam di malam gelap gelita tak nampak". Sahabat bertanya
"Apakah fitnah besar itu ya Rasullullah? "
"Fitnah itu adalah kamu akan lihat umatku di hari itu, di waktu itu,
pada masa itu, pagi hari Islam, petang kafir. Petang Islam, pagi kafir
balik." Sahabat bertanya lagi. "Mengapa begitu ya Rasullullah? "
Rasullullah SAW menjawab, "Sebab dia jual agamanya dengan nilai
dunia".
Imam Ghazali pernah berkata dalam perkara ini, "Akan datang fitnah
murtad ini dalam keadaan seperti semut hitam di atas batu hitam di
malam gelap." Mana nampak? Kecuali kalau jiwa kita tengok satu perkara
dengan cahaya keimanan.
Bagaimana gerakan murtad ini berjalan di Malaysia sehingga kita tak
nampak langsung. Gerakan Hindu kita tok sah sebutlah. Belum habis
cakap, dah ada yang tunggu dengan parang kat luar. Gerakan Yahudi
lagilah teruknya. Henry Ford
(orang kaya yang buat kereta Ford tu) pernah menulis berkaitan Yahudi
tahun 40an atau 30an dulu dalam bukunya "International Jew" (tak silap
saya).
Unsur Yahudi begitu tebal dalam masyarakat kita tapi kita tak nampak.
Paling nyata, rokok yang orang kita hisap tu. Setiap satu batang itu
dan saham kepada puak Yahudi. Tak de kilang rokok yang bukan Yahudi
punya. Sapa yang hendak
berenti merokok, ambil ni sebagai iktibar.
Yahudi punya kerja. baru letak bola sebijik, 70 ribu Melayu tak
sembahyang kat stadium Shah Alam. Belum kira yang kat rumah lagi. Bab
Kristian, lebih terancang,
lebih terperinci lagi. Semenjak kalah dalam perang salib terakhir,
iaitu dalam pemerintahan King entah apa nama ke 6 yang terakhir.
Sebelum dia mati, dia telah berwasiat dan wasiatnya ada ditulis dengan
emas di London.
Dia berkata: "Kepada semua pemimpim-pemimpin Kristian, kita hari ini
telah melakukan kesilapan besar, kita berperang dengan tentera Islam
dengan pedang, bukan berperang dengan akidah yang ada pada mereka.
Sebab tu Islam menang walaupun 30 ribu tentera mereka dengan 300 ribu
tentera kita, mereka tetap menang sebab mereka (orang Islam) berperang
kerana nak mati. Kita perang untuk
hidup. Oleh itu, hendaklah kita tukar strategi.
Melancarkan peperangan ideologi, fahaman dan budaya keatas orang
Islam. "Wasiatnya berjaya dilaksanakan setelah King tu mati. 1942.
kerajaan Islam Andalusia yang paling agung pada masa itu tumbang di
tangan Kristian. 1511 kerajaan Islam Melaka tumbang, tak lama lepas
tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam
Pattani. Tak lama selepas tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam Kedah. Tak lama
lepas tu, tumbang kerajaan Islam Mindanao. Lepas tu kerajaan Islam
Acheh... semuanya satu demi satu. Macamana benda ni boleh terjadi?
Sebab gerakan Kristian berdasarkan kepada 3G. GOSPEL,GOAL, GLORY.
Pertama kitab dia, kedua kekayaan kita, ketiga menang terhadap Islam.
Kalau kita tengok sejarah, Alfonso De Albuqueque bukan datang ke Tanah
Melayu bawa tukang masak sebab nak rempah kari kita. Dia bukan makan
kari, dia datang bawa mubaligh Kristian Francis Xavier (kalau saya tak
silap eja), sebab nak sebarkan ajaran Kristian. Bagaimana cara dia
sebarkan Kristian nih? Orang kita panggil, gerakan halus.Dia panggil
semua mubaligh Kristian yang nak datang ke Asia
ni. Dia guna kaedah "garam dan ragi". Garam sebagai perasa, ragi untuk
penapaian. Contohnya ubi kayu. Waktu siang asalnya ubi kayu kita letak
ragi, esoknya masih lagi bentuk ubi kayu tapi sebenarnya tapai.
Maksudnya, dia kekalkan orang Melayu dengan identiti Islam. Hakikatnya
kehidupan kita bukan cara Islam lagi.
Cara inilah yang Rasulullah SAW kata macam kepingan hitam di malam
gelita. Inilah yang Imam Ghazali kata macam semut hitam atas batu
hitam di malam gelita tu.
Pertama, melalui sistem pendidikan.
Di Malaysia, macam-macam sekolah dengan nama mubaligh Kristian.
Convent itu, Saint ini. Menurut satu petikan seorang mubaligh Kristian
pada masa itu yang ditulis semula oleh George Peters dalam sebuah buku
tahun 40an. Kepada mubaligh-mubaligh Kristian yang nak datang ke
negara kita, berkaitan pendekatan garam dan ragi ".
Pendekatan seperti ini tidak memerlukan seorang Muslim Melayu
berkenaan meninggalkan sistem kemasyarakatan yang dituntut oleh
agamanya. Sebaliknya orang tersebut hendaklah digalakkan terus tinggal
dalam masyarakatnya. justeru itu, ragi tetap ujud dalam keutuhannya.
Dia akan menjadi bagaikan sebuah lampu (Kristian) yang diletakkan
dalam gelap.
Penyebaran agama Kristian nanti akan terserlah dalam sifat kerohanian,
bukannya organisasi. Di rasa kesegarannya, bukan bersikap kalam.
Dinamik dan etikal, bukan bersifat formalistik. Pendekatan begini
telah memperlihatkan kebaikannya. Lantaran ia tidak menganjurkan ahli
Melayu tadi menjadi ahli baru Kristian yang formal, menyendiri
terpisah dari masyarakatnya. Sebaliknya ia memberi laluan agar dapat
dimasukkan semangat dan ajaran Jesus bagaikan sebutir ragi yang
bertindak dengan proses penapaiannya ke atas seluruh masyarakat Melayu
seluruhnya.
Zorro & Robinhood
kehebatan masing masing menggunakan senjata.
berjalan jalan, mereka terjumpa seorang perempuan dari kaum orang asli yang
sungguh cantik. Mereka berdua sepakat untuk bertarung dan siapa yang menang
akan dapat perempuan tersebut. Mereka pun memanggil perempuan tersebut dan meletakkan sebiji epal d iatas kepala perempuan itu.
Memula Zorro nak mulakan pertandingan. Dia pun bergerak sejauh 50 meter dari perempuan itu dan membaling PEDANG nya kearah epal diatas kepala perempuan tu. Zuuupppp, terbelah dua epal tu. Perhgggg, dengan bangganye, si Zorro jerit... "I AM ZORRO... .."
Kemudian giliran Robin Hood plak. Dia mengambil jarak 100 meter. Kemudian
menggunakan ANAK PANAH nye. Zuuupppp, terbelah dua epal yg baru diletak atas kepala perempuan asli tu. Dengan jobonye jugak... . si Robin Hood kata... .
" I AM ROBIN HOOD... ... ... ... "
Sedang mereka bertarung, lalu lah seorang penduduk lelaki orang asli disitu.
Dia merasa tercabar kerana dengan senang lenang nye pompuan kaum dia nak
kena kawin ngan orang luar. So, atas rasa tanggungjawab, dia pun masuk
pertandingan tu jugak. Dengan menggunakan sumpit dan jarak 150 meter, kini
giliran orang asli tu plak. ZZZZUUUUUPPPPP. .. ... ... ... .!!!! PPRRAAPP.
Kena kepala pompuan tu dan mati. Dengan selamba orang asli tu kata... ... .
... ... "I AM SORRY... .!!"
Great Train Robbery (1963)
The Great Train Robbery was the name given to a £2.3 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.
The Royal Mail's Glasgow to London travelling post office (TPO) train was stopped by tampered signals. A 15-member gang, led by Bruce Reynolds and including Ronnie Biggs, Charlie Wilson, Jimmy Hussey, John Wheater, Brian Field, Jimmy White, Tommy Wisbey, Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards, stole £2.3 million in used £1, £5 and £10 notes — the equivalent of £40 million (US $74 million) in 2006.
Although no guns were used in the robbery, the train driver, Jack Mills, was hit on the head with an iron bar, causing a black eye and facial bruising. The assailant was one of three members of the gang never to be arrested or identified. Frank Williams (at the time a Detective Inspector) claims to have traced the man, but he could not be charged because of lack of evidence. Mills recovered fully from the attack and died in 1970 from leukemia.
Thirteen of the gang members were caught after police discovered their fingerprints at their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, Buckinghamshire. The robbers were tried, sentenced and imprisoned. Ronnie Biggs escaped from prison 15 months into his sentence, settling in Melbourne Australia, and later moving to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when police found out his Melbourne address. Charlie Wilson escaped and was living outside Montreal, Canada on Rigaud Mountain. In the upper-middle-class neighbourhood where the large, secluded properties are surrounded by trees, Wilson was just another resident who enjoyed his privacy. Only when his wife made the mistake of telephoning his parents in England was Scotland Yard able to track him down.
Kisah 3 soalan
Pada suatu masa ada seorang yang memusuhi Allah. Ia suka menanyakan tiga soalan dan tiada siapa yang boleh menjawabnya. Bahkan ulama-ulama di Baghdad pun tidak dapat menjawabnya. Ini menyebabkan ia semakin menjadi-jadi memperleceh Islam. Pada suatu hari seorang anak lelaki berumur lebih kurang 10 tahun datang dan mendengar cabaran yang dibuat oleh lelaki tersebut. Lelaki ini mencabar siapa sahaja untuk menjawab soalannya. Anak lelaki itu diam dan memerhatikan sahaja. Kemudian ia nekad untuk menyahut seruan lelaki itu. Ia kemudiannnya berjalan ke arah lelaki itu dan berkata, "Aku sahut cabaranmu" Lelaki itu ketawa dan tambah memperleceh lagi orang-orang Islam sambil berkata, "Anak berumur 10 tahun menyahut seruanku? Ini sajakah yang mampu kamu adakan?"
Anak lelaki itu dengan tenang mengulangi sekali lagi hasratnya. Ia akan menyahut cabaran lelaki ini dan dengan pertolongan dan petunjuk Allah dia akan menundukkan lelaki ini. Lelaki itu akhirnya bersetuju.
Maka ramailah orang berkumpul di sekeliling bukit kecil di mana selalunya rapat-rapat umum diadakan. Maka lelaki yang bongkak itu pun naik ke atas bukit dan dengan suara yang kuat ia menanyakan soalan pertama, "Apa yang sedang dilakukan oleh Tuhanmu sekarang?" Anak lelaki itu berfikir sejenak dan tak lama kemudian ia meminta lelaki itu turun dari atas bukit supaya ia boleh naik dan menjawab soalan itu. Lelaki itu dengan nada yang agak marah erkata,"Apa? Kau mahu aku turun?"
"Ya!" jawab anak lelaki itu. "Kau hendak aku jawab,bukan?"
Akhirnya lelaki itu turun dan itu dengan kakinya yang kecil naiklah ke atas bukit. Lalu ia berkata, "Ya Allah yang Maha Gagah. Engkaulah menjadi saksi di hadapan orang ramai ini. Kau baru sahaja mentakdirkan orang kafir ini turun ke aras yang rendah dan orang yang beriman ke atas yang tinggi". Mendengar jawaban anak ini orang ramaipun bersorak sambil bertakbir, "Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
Lelaki itu pun rasa terpukul tetapi masih tidak jera lalu menanyakan soalan kedua. Soalnya, "Apa yang wujud sebelum Tuhan?"
Anak lelaki itupun bertafakur. Lalu ia meminta lelaki itu mengira dari 10 ke belakang.
Lelaki itu pun mengira, "10, 9 ,8 , 7 , 6, 5, 4, 3,2, 1,0"
Lalu anak lelaki itupun bertanya, " Apa yang wujud sebelum 0 ?"
Jawab lelaki itu, "Tak tahu ....... tiada"
Anak lelaki itupun berkata, "Tepat sekali. Tiada sebelum Allah, Dia kekal abadi".
Orang ramai bersorak lagi sambil bertakbir,"Allah-hu-akbar!!!!"
Lelaki itu mula putus asa tetapi meneruskan dengan soalan ketiga, " Ke arah mana Allah menghadap? " Seperti tadi anak lelak itu pun berfikir sejenak.Lalu ia meminta sebatang lilin. Sebatang lilin dibawakan kepadanya lalu ia
memberikannya kepada lelaki tadi. Ia meminta lelaki itu menyalakan lilin berkenaan.
Lelaki itu menyalakan lilin itu sambil berkata, "Apa yang kau ingin buktikan?"
Anak lelaki itupun bertanya, "Ke arah manakah cahaya lilin itu memancar?"
Lelaki itu menjawab, "Tentulan ke semua arah".
Anak lelaki itupun berkata, "Kau telah menjawab soalanmu sendiri. Cahaya Allah memancar ke semua arah. Dia ada di mana-mana. Tiada tempat pun Dia tiada. Orang ramaipun bersorak lagi sambil bertakbir,""Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
Lelaki itu kagum dan hatinya tersentuh dengan kepandaian anak itu lalu ia menjadi penganut Islam dan belakar dengan anak itu. Tahukah anda siapa anak lelaki itu? Ia adalah salah seorang imam mazhab besar dalam ahli sunnah wal jamaah. Imam Abu Hanifah.
Anak lelaki itu dengan tenang mengulangi sekali lagi hasratnya. Ia akan menyahut cabaran lelaki ini dan dengan pertolongan dan petunjuk Allah dia akan menundukkan lelaki ini. Lelaki itu akhirnya bersetuju.
Maka ramailah orang berkumpul di sekeliling bukit kecil di mana selalunya rapat-rapat umum diadakan. Maka lelaki yang bongkak itu pun naik ke atas bukit dan dengan suara yang kuat ia menanyakan soalan pertama, "Apa yang sedang dilakukan oleh Tuhanmu sekarang?" Anak lelaki itu berfikir sejenak dan tak lama kemudian ia meminta lelaki itu turun dari atas bukit supaya ia boleh naik dan menjawab soalan itu. Lelaki itu dengan nada yang agak marah erkata,"Apa? Kau mahu aku turun?"
"Ya!" jawab anak lelaki itu. "Kau hendak aku jawab,bukan?"
Akhirnya lelaki itu turun dan itu dengan kakinya yang kecil naiklah ke atas bukit. Lalu ia berkata, "Ya Allah yang Maha Gagah. Engkaulah menjadi saksi di hadapan orang ramai ini. Kau baru sahaja mentakdirkan orang kafir ini turun ke aras yang rendah dan orang yang beriman ke atas yang tinggi". Mendengar jawaban anak ini orang ramaipun bersorak sambil bertakbir, "Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
Lelaki itu pun rasa terpukul tetapi masih tidak jera lalu menanyakan soalan kedua. Soalnya, "Apa yang wujud sebelum Tuhan?"
Anak lelaki itupun bertafakur. Lalu ia meminta lelaki itu mengira dari 10 ke belakang.
Lelaki itu pun mengira, "10, 9 ,8 , 7 , 6, 5, 4, 3,2, 1,0"
Lalu anak lelaki itupun bertanya, " Apa yang wujud sebelum 0 ?"
Jawab lelaki itu, "Tak tahu ....... tiada"
Anak lelaki itupun berkata, "Tepat sekali. Tiada sebelum Allah, Dia kekal abadi".
Orang ramai bersorak lagi sambil bertakbir,"Allah-hu-akbar!!!!"
Lelaki itu mula putus asa tetapi meneruskan dengan soalan ketiga, " Ke arah mana Allah menghadap? " Seperti tadi anak lelak itu pun berfikir sejenak.Lalu ia meminta sebatang lilin. Sebatang lilin dibawakan kepadanya lalu ia
memberikannya kepada lelaki tadi. Ia meminta lelaki itu menyalakan lilin berkenaan.
Lelaki itu menyalakan lilin itu sambil berkata, "Apa yang kau ingin buktikan?"
Anak lelaki itupun bertanya, "Ke arah manakah cahaya lilin itu memancar?"
Lelaki itu menjawab, "Tentulan ke semua arah".
Anak lelaki itupun berkata, "Kau telah menjawab soalanmu sendiri. Cahaya Allah memancar ke semua arah. Dia ada di mana-mana. Tiada tempat pun Dia tiada. Orang ramaipun bersorak lagi sambil bertakbir,""Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
Lelaki itu kagum dan hatinya tersentuh dengan kepandaian anak itu lalu ia menjadi penganut Islam dan belakar dengan anak itu. Tahukah anda siapa anak lelaki itu? Ia adalah salah seorang imam mazhab besar dalam ahli sunnah wal jamaah. Imam Abu Hanifah.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The top 10 most famous hackers of all time
1. Jonathan James: James gained notoriety when he became the first juvenile to be sent to prison for hacking. He was sentenced at 16 years old. In an anonymous PBS interview, he professes, "I was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see what I could pull off."
James's major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat Reduction Agency server. The DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and special weapons. The backdoor he created enabled him to view sensitive emails and capture employee usernames and passwords.
James also cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. According to the Department of Justice, "The software supported the International Space Station's physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space." NASA was forced to shut down its computer systems, ultimately racking up a $41,000 cost. James explained that he downloaded the code to supplement his studies on C programming, but contended, "The code itself was crappy . . . certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed."
Given the extent of his intrusions, if James, also known as "c0mrade," had been an adult he likely would have served at least 10 years. Instead, he was banned from recreational computer use and was slated to serve a six-month sentence under house arrest with probation. However, he served six months in prison for violation of parole. Today, James asserts that he's learned his lesson and might start a computer security company.
2. Adrian Lamo: Lamo's claim to fame is his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Dubbed the "homeless hacker," he used Internet connections at Kinko's, coffee shops and libraries to do his intrusions. In a profile article, "He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night," Lamo reflects, "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional."
Lamo's intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white hat hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it's legal. What Lamo did is not.
When he broke into The New York Times' intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times' LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter.
For his intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 16, 2007. Lamo is currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker.
3. Kevin Mitnick: A self-proclaimed "hacker poster boy," Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offenses may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown.
Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offenses that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although there were numerous offenses, Mitnick was ultimately convicted for breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation's computer network and stealing software.
Mitnick's mischief got serious when he went on a two and a half year "coast-to-coast hacking spree." The CNN article, "Legendary computer hacker released from prison," explains that "he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system." He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's home computer, which led to his undoing.
Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and is now a computer security consultant, author and speaker.
4. Kevin Poulsen: Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio's KIIS-FM phone lines, which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. Law enforcement dubbed him "the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime."
Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information.
His hacking specialty, however, revolved around telephones. Poulsen's most famous hack, KIIS-FM, was accomplished by taking over all of the station's phone lines. In a related feat, Poulsen also "reactivated old Yellow Page escort telephone numbers for an acquaintance who then ran a virtual escort agency." Later, when his photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Ultimately, Poulsen was captured in a supermarket and served a sentence of five years.
Since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist. He is now a senior editor for Wired News. His most prominent article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.
5. Robert Tappan Morris: Morris, son of former National Security Agency scientist Robert Morris, is known as the creator of the Morris Worm, the first computer worm to be unleashed on the Internet. As a result of this crime, he was the first person prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Morris wrote the code for the worm while he was a student at Cornell. He asserts that he intended to use it to see how large the Internet was. The worm, however, replicated itself excessively, slowing computers down so that they were no longer usable. It is not possible to know exactly how many computers were affected, but experts estimate an impact of 6,000 machines. He was sentenced to three years' probation, 400 hours of community service and a fined $10,500.
Morris is currently working as a tenured professor at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He principally researches computer network architectures including distributed hash tables such as Chord and wireless mesh networks such as Roofnet.
White Hat Hackers
Hackers that use their skills for good are classified as "white hat." These white hats often work as certified "Ethical Hackers," hired by companies to test the integrity of their systems. Others, operate without company permission by bending but not breaking laws and in the process have created some really cool stuff. In this section we profile five white hat hackers and the technologies they have developed.
1. Stephen Wozniak: "Woz" is famous for being the "other Steve" of Apple. Wozniak, along with current Apple CEO Steve Jobs, co-founded Apple Computer. He has been awarded with the National Medal of Technology as well as honorary doctorates from Kettering University and Nova Southeastern University. Additionally, Woz was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in September 2000.
Woz got his start in hacking making blue boxes, devices that bypass telephone-switching mechanisms to make free long-distance calls. After reading an article about phone phreaking in Esquire, Wozniak called up his buddy Jobs. The pair did research on frequencies, then built and sold blue boxes to their classmates in college. Wozniak even used a blue box to call the Pope while pretending to be Henry Kissinger.
Wozniak dropped out of college and came up with the computer that eventually made him famous. Jobs had the bright idea to sell the computer as a fully assembled PC board. The Steves sold Wozniak's cherished scientific calculator and Jobs' VW van for capital and got to work assembling prototypes in Jobs' garage. Wozniak designed the hardware and most of the software. In the Letters section of Woz.org, he recalls doing "what Ed Roberts and Bill Gates and Paul Allen did and tons more, with no help." Wozniak and Jobs sold the first 100 of the Apple I to a local dealer for $666.66 each.
Woz no longer works full time for Apple, focusing primarily on philanthropy instead. Most notable is his function as fairy godfather to the Los Gatos, Calif. School District. "Wozniak 'adopted' the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment."
2. Tim Berners-Lee: Berners-Lee is famed as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the system that we use to access sites, documents and files on the Internet. He has received numerous recognitions, most notably the Millennium Technology Prize.
While a student at Oxford University, Berners-Lee was caught hacking access with a friend and subsequently banned from University computers. w3.org reports, "Whilst [at Oxford], he built his first computer with a soldering iron, TTL gates, an M6800 processor and an old television." Technological innovation seems to have run in his genes, as Berners-Lee's parents were mathematicians who worked on the Manchester Mark1, one of the earliest electronic computers.
While working with CERN, a European nuclear research organization, Berners-Lee created a hypertext prototype system that helped researchers share and update information easily. He later realized that hypertext could be joined with the Internet. Berners-Lee recounts how he put them together: "I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the TCP and DNS ideas and – ta-da! – the World Wide Web."
Since his creation of the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT. The W3C describes itself as "an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff and the public work together to develop Web standards." Berners-Lee's World Wide Web idea, as well as standards from the W3C, is distributed freely with no patent or royalties due.
3. Linus Torvalds: Torvalds fathered Linux, the very popular Unix-based operating system. He calls himself "an engineer," and has said that his aspirations are simple, "I just want to have fun making the best damn operating system I can."
Torvalds got his start in computers with a Commodore VIC-20, an 8-bit home computer. He then moved on to a Sinclair QL. Wikipedia reports that he modified the Sinclair "extensively, especially its operating system." Specifically, Torvalds hacks included "an assembler and a text editor…as well as a few games".
Torvalds created the Linux kernel in 1991, using the Minix operating system as inspiration. He started with a task switcher in Intel 80386 assembly and a terminal driver. After that, he put out a call for others to contribute code, which they did. Currently, only about 2 percent of the current Linux kernel is written by Torvalds himself. The success of this public invitation to contribute code for Linux is touted as one of the most prominent examples of free/open source software.
Currently, Torvalds serves as the Linux ringleader, coordinating the code that volunteer programmers contribute to the kernel. He has had an asteroid named after him and received honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and University of Helsinki. He was also featured in Time Magazine's "60 Years of Heroes."
4. Richard Stallman: Stallman's fame derives from the GNU Project, which he founded to develop a free operating system. For this, he's known as the father of free software. His "Serious Bio" asserts, "Non-free software keeps users divided and helpless, forbidden to share it and unable to change it. A free operating system is essential for people to be able to use computers in freedom."
Stallman, who prefers to be called rms, got his start hacking at MIT. He worked as a "staff hacker" on the Emacs project and others. He was a critic of restricted computer access in the lab. When a password system was installed, Stallman broke it down, resetting passwords to null strings, then sent users messages informing them of the removal of the password system.
Stallman's crusade for free software started with a printer. At the MIT lab, he and other hackers were allowed to modify code on printers so that they sent convenient alert messages. However, a new printer came along – one that they were not allowed to modify. It was located away from the lab and the absence of the alerts presented an inconvenience. It was at this point that he was "convinced…of the ethical need to require free software."
With this inspiration, he began work on GNU. Stallman wrote an essay, "The GNU Project," in which he recalls choosing to work on an operating system because it's a foundation, "the crucial software to use a computer." At this time, the GNU/Linux version of the operating system uses the Linux kernel started by Torvalds. GNU is distributed under "copyleft," a method that employs copyright law to allow users to use, modify, copy and distribute the software.
Stallman's life continues to revolve around the promotion of free software. He works against movements like Digital Rights Management (or as he prefers, Digital Restrictions Management) through organizations like Free Software Foundation and League for Programming Freedom. He has received extensive recognition for his work, including awards, fellowships and four honorary doctorates.
5. Tsutomu Shimomura: Shimomura reached fame in an unfortunate manner: he was hacked by Kevin Mitnick. Following this personal attack, he made it his cause to help the FBI capture him.
Shimomura's work to catch Mitnick is commendable, but he is not without his own dark side. Author Bruce Sterling recalls: "He pulls out this AT&T cellphone, pulls it out of the shrinkwrap, finger-hacks it, and starts monitoring phone calls going up and down Capitol Hill while an FBI agent is standing at his shoulder, listening to him."
Shimomura out-hacked Mitnick to bring him down. Shortly after finding out about the intrusion, he rallied a team and got to work finding Mitnick. Using Mitnick's cell phone, they tracked him near Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The article, "SDSC Computer Experts Help FBI Capture Computer Terrorist" recounts how Shimomura pinpointed Mitnick's location. Armed with a technician from the phone company, Shimomura "used a cellular frequency direction-finding antenna hooked up to a laptop to narrow the search to an apartment complex." Mitnick was arrested shortly thereafter. Following the pursuit, Shimomura wrote a book about the incident with journalist John Markoff, which was later turned into a movie.
James's major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat Reduction Agency server. The DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional and special weapons. The backdoor he created enabled him to view sensitive emails and capture employee usernames and passwords.
James also cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. According to the Department of Justice, "The software supported the International Space Station's physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space." NASA was forced to shut down its computer systems, ultimately racking up a $41,000 cost. James explained that he downloaded the code to supplement his studies on C programming, but contended, "The code itself was crappy . . . certainly not worth $1.7 million like they claimed."
Given the extent of his intrusions, if James, also known as "c0mrade," had been an adult he likely would have served at least 10 years. Instead, he was banned from recreational computer use and was slated to serve a six-month sentence under house arrest with probation. However, he served six months in prison for violation of parole. Today, James asserts that he's learned his lesson and might start a computer security company.
2. Adrian Lamo: Lamo's claim to fame is his break-ins at major organizations like The New York Times and Microsoft. Dubbed the "homeless hacker," he used Internet connections at Kinko's, coffee shops and libraries to do his intrusions. In a profile article, "He Hacks by Day, Squats by Night," Lamo reflects, "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional."
Lamo's intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white hat hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it's legal. What Lamo did is not.
When he broke into The New York Times' intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times' LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter.
For his intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 16, 2007. Lamo is currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker.
3. Kevin Mitnick: A self-proclaimed "hacker poster boy," Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offenses may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown.
Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offenses that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although there were numerous offenses, Mitnick was ultimately convicted for breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation's computer network and stealing software.
Mitnick's mischief got serious when he went on a two and a half year "coast-to-coast hacking spree." The CNN article, "Legendary computer hacker released from prison," explains that "he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system." He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's home computer, which led to his undoing.
Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and is now a computer security consultant, author and speaker.
4. Kevin Poulsen: Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio's KIIS-FM phone lines, which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. Law enforcement dubbed him "the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime."
Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information.
His hacking specialty, however, revolved around telephones. Poulsen's most famous hack, KIIS-FM, was accomplished by taking over all of the station's phone lines. In a related feat, Poulsen also "reactivated old Yellow Page escort telephone numbers for an acquaintance who then ran a virtual escort agency." Later, when his photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Ultimately, Poulsen was captured in a supermarket and served a sentence of five years.
Since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist. He is now a senior editor for Wired News. His most prominent article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.
5. Robert Tappan Morris: Morris, son of former National Security Agency scientist Robert Morris, is known as the creator of the Morris Worm, the first computer worm to be unleashed on the Internet. As a result of this crime, he was the first person prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Morris wrote the code for the worm while he was a student at Cornell. He asserts that he intended to use it to see how large the Internet was. The worm, however, replicated itself excessively, slowing computers down so that they were no longer usable. It is not possible to know exactly how many computers were affected, but experts estimate an impact of 6,000 machines. He was sentenced to three years' probation, 400 hours of community service and a fined $10,500.
Morris is currently working as a tenured professor at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He principally researches computer network architectures including distributed hash tables such as Chord and wireless mesh networks such as Roofnet.
White Hat Hackers
Hackers that use their skills for good are classified as "white hat." These white hats often work as certified "Ethical Hackers," hired by companies to test the integrity of their systems. Others, operate without company permission by bending but not breaking laws and in the process have created some really cool stuff. In this section we profile five white hat hackers and the technologies they have developed.
1. Stephen Wozniak: "Woz" is famous for being the "other Steve" of Apple. Wozniak, along with current Apple CEO Steve Jobs, co-founded Apple Computer. He has been awarded with the National Medal of Technology as well as honorary doctorates from Kettering University and Nova Southeastern University. Additionally, Woz was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in September 2000.
Woz got his start in hacking making blue boxes, devices that bypass telephone-switching mechanisms to make free long-distance calls. After reading an article about phone phreaking in Esquire, Wozniak called up his buddy Jobs. The pair did research on frequencies, then built and sold blue boxes to their classmates in college. Wozniak even used a blue box to call the Pope while pretending to be Henry Kissinger.
Wozniak dropped out of college and came up with the computer that eventually made him famous. Jobs had the bright idea to sell the computer as a fully assembled PC board. The Steves sold Wozniak's cherished scientific calculator and Jobs' VW van for capital and got to work assembling prototypes in Jobs' garage. Wozniak designed the hardware and most of the software. In the Letters section of Woz.org, he recalls doing "what Ed Roberts and Bill Gates and Paul Allen did and tons more, with no help." Wozniak and Jobs sold the first 100 of the Apple I to a local dealer for $666.66 each.
Woz no longer works full time for Apple, focusing primarily on philanthropy instead. Most notable is his function as fairy godfather to the Los Gatos, Calif. School District. "Wozniak 'adopted' the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment."
2. Tim Berners-Lee: Berners-Lee is famed as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the system that we use to access sites, documents and files on the Internet. He has received numerous recognitions, most notably the Millennium Technology Prize.
While a student at Oxford University, Berners-Lee was caught hacking access with a friend and subsequently banned from University computers. w3.org reports, "Whilst [at Oxford], he built his first computer with a soldering iron, TTL gates, an M6800 processor and an old television." Technological innovation seems to have run in his genes, as Berners-Lee's parents were mathematicians who worked on the Manchester Mark1, one of the earliest electronic computers.
While working with CERN, a European nuclear research organization, Berners-Lee created a hypertext prototype system that helped researchers share and update information easily. He later realized that hypertext could be joined with the Internet. Berners-Lee recounts how he put them together: "I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the TCP and DNS ideas and – ta-da! – the World Wide Web."
Since his creation of the World Wide Web, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT. The W3C describes itself as "an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff and the public work together to develop Web standards." Berners-Lee's World Wide Web idea, as well as standards from the W3C, is distributed freely with no patent or royalties due.
3. Linus Torvalds: Torvalds fathered Linux, the very popular Unix-based operating system. He calls himself "an engineer," and has said that his aspirations are simple, "I just want to have fun making the best damn operating system I can."
Torvalds got his start in computers with a Commodore VIC-20, an 8-bit home computer. He then moved on to a Sinclair QL. Wikipedia reports that he modified the Sinclair "extensively, especially its operating system." Specifically, Torvalds hacks included "an assembler and a text editor…as well as a few games".
Torvalds created the Linux kernel in 1991, using the Minix operating system as inspiration. He started with a task switcher in Intel 80386 assembly and a terminal driver. After that, he put out a call for others to contribute code, which they did. Currently, only about 2 percent of the current Linux kernel is written by Torvalds himself. The success of this public invitation to contribute code for Linux is touted as one of the most prominent examples of free/open source software.
Currently, Torvalds serves as the Linux ringleader, coordinating the code that volunteer programmers contribute to the kernel. He has had an asteroid named after him and received honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and University of Helsinki. He was also featured in Time Magazine's "60 Years of Heroes."
4. Richard Stallman: Stallman's fame derives from the GNU Project, which he founded to develop a free operating system. For this, he's known as the father of free software. His "Serious Bio" asserts, "Non-free software keeps users divided and helpless, forbidden to share it and unable to change it. A free operating system is essential for people to be able to use computers in freedom."
Stallman, who prefers to be called rms, got his start hacking at MIT. He worked as a "staff hacker" on the Emacs project and others. He was a critic of restricted computer access in the lab. When a password system was installed, Stallman broke it down, resetting passwords to null strings, then sent users messages informing them of the removal of the password system.
Stallman's crusade for free software started with a printer. At the MIT lab, he and other hackers were allowed to modify code on printers so that they sent convenient alert messages. However, a new printer came along – one that they were not allowed to modify. It was located away from the lab and the absence of the alerts presented an inconvenience. It was at this point that he was "convinced…of the ethical need to require free software."
With this inspiration, he began work on GNU. Stallman wrote an essay, "The GNU Project," in which he recalls choosing to work on an operating system because it's a foundation, "the crucial software to use a computer." At this time, the GNU/Linux version of the operating system uses the Linux kernel started by Torvalds. GNU is distributed under "copyleft," a method that employs copyright law to allow users to use, modify, copy and distribute the software.
Stallman's life continues to revolve around the promotion of free software. He works against movements like Digital Rights Management (or as he prefers, Digital Restrictions Management) through organizations like Free Software Foundation and League for Programming Freedom. He has received extensive recognition for his work, including awards, fellowships and four honorary doctorates.
5. Tsutomu Shimomura: Shimomura reached fame in an unfortunate manner: he was hacked by Kevin Mitnick. Following this personal attack, he made it his cause to help the FBI capture him.
Shimomura's work to catch Mitnick is commendable, but he is not without his own dark side. Author Bruce Sterling recalls: "He pulls out this AT&T cellphone, pulls it out of the shrinkwrap, finger-hacks it, and starts monitoring phone calls going up and down Capitol Hill while an FBI agent is standing at his shoulder, listening to him."
Shimomura out-hacked Mitnick to bring him down. Shortly after finding out about the intrusion, he rallied a team and got to work finding Mitnick. Using Mitnick's cell phone, they tracked him near Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The article, "SDSC Computer Experts Help FBI Capture Computer Terrorist" recounts how Shimomura pinpointed Mitnick's location. Armed with a technician from the phone company, Shimomura "used a cellular frequency direction-finding antenna hooked up to a laptop to narrow the search to an apartment complex." Mitnick was arrested shortly thereafter. Following the pursuit, Shimomura wrote a book about the incident with journalist John Markoff, which was later turned into a movie.
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