Blue Blog Down

So, what went wrong with the blog yesterday?
All you’d get was a blank white page.

I’d love to say it was in support for some noble cause or another, but I’m sorry it wasn’t.

I don’t know why it happened, most probably a little technical glitch here or there.

Anyway, everything seems to be back to normal now.

Enjoy πŸ™‚

12 tips from employees to managers to enhance their relationship

This is a list of 12 tips from employees to managers to enhance their relationship, lol.

Again, I found this while looking around my old emails. I’ve got gems in there, lol.

  • Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 5:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.
  • If it’s really a “rush job,” run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it’s going. That helps.
  • Always leave without telling anyone where you’re going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.
  • If my arms are full of papers, boxes, books or supplies, don’t open the door for me. I need to learn how to function as a paraplegic and opening doors is good training.
  • If you give me more than one job to do, don’t tell me which is the priority. Let me guess.
  • Do your best to keep me late. I like the office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do.
  • If a job I do pleases you, keep it a secret. Leaks like that could cost me a promotion.
  • If you don’t like my work, tell everyone. I like my name to be popular in conversation.
  • If you have special instructions for a job, don’t write them down. In fact, save them until the job is almost done.
  • Never introduce me to the people you’re with. When you refer to them later, my shrewd deductions will identify them.
  • Be nice to me only when the job I’m doing for you could really change your life.
  • Tell me all your little problems. No one else has any and it’s nice to know someone is less fortunate.

Dimona: The Threat

Dimona, the Israeli nuclear reactor located in the Negev desert is a terror haunting Jordan and Israel’s other neighbouring countries.

The Israelis are aware of the possibility of a meltdown in the Dimona reactor. A meltdown that would affect an area reaching Cyprus and the entire neighboring region. Studies have shown that radioactive substances are leaking from the Dimona reactor, perhaps explaining why rates of cancer have increased among nearby populations, like Tafila City in South Jordan.

What make these concerns pressing are satellite images of the Dimona reactor, which show that its walls have cracks which will cut its age by half.
By continuing to maintain and operate Dimona reactor, Israel is committing a crime against humanity that will be added to the atrocities it perpetrated along its history.

In fact, Israel is least threatened by Dimona, having its population living in the north far from the reactor. 95% of the wind direction in Palestine is northwesterly, away from the Israeli localities, but towards Jordan and Palestine.

As for the waste products resulting from nuclear enrichment operations in Dimona reactor, it’s buried in areas near the Palestinian Authority controlled territories, as well as Jordanian and Egyptian ones, especially in those areas where the flow of aquifer water and direction of the wind is not in Israel’s favor.

Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear scientist and whistle-blower, said in an interview last week in the London-based Al Wassat weekly magazine that Jordan should test residents in areas across the border from Dimona to be sure they have not already been exposed to radiation.

The Israeli nuclear scientist told the magazine, which is published by Al Hayat newspaper, that Dimona’s “chimneys do not operate unless wind blows in the direction of Jordan.”

Jordan, he said, must distribute anti-radiation pills to its citizens, like Israel promised to do for residents living near its two nuclear reactors in Dimona and Arad.

Anyway, the Jordanian government says that “The kingdom is free of radiation”, although numbers continue to show a high incidence of cancer especially in the southern areas close to Israel.

Numbers show that for every 100,000 people in Jordan, there are 126 males and 117 females afflicted with cancer.

It seems human life doesn’t mean much anymore these days.

More:

The Truman Show

Yesterday, I got to watch The Truman Show again. This movie has to be one of my favourite movies because I really relate to it.

When I was a child, while other children were worrying about the idea that they could be adopted children, I went a bit further πŸ˜›
Not only did I worry that I could be adopted, I also worried that my whole life was an act that the whole world was watching.
I suspected that everyone around me was acting and that all the travels we travelled were in the same place with only the sets changing.

Yeah, weird for a child to think that way, but well I did, lol.

Anyway, using logicical thinking, I came to a conclusion that it was not an act. I looked like my parents so there was a big possibility I was their child, and well It was impossible for anyone to change the sets and create a whole other country that fast πŸ˜›

So that stage didn’t last for too long fortunately. But still when I watched The Truman Show for the first time, I remembered it and I related to the character.

It’s like it’s a movie out of my imagination. That’s why I love it.

Tina Arena DVD

A couple of days ago, I got a paper from the post office telling me I had something to pick up from there. I wasn’t really expecting anything so I got curious about what it could be and kept trying to convince myself it wasn’t another bullshit magazine from Oracle πŸ˜›

So, on my way to work this morning, I passed by the post office to pick it up. And well, what a pleasant surprise it was.

My French friend Jean-Fran

Swimming Pool Memories

Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about a friend of mine when I mentioned how his job sent him for a whole week to stay at the 4 star Marhaba hotel in the Al Kantaoui touristic area in Sousse.
This triggered an old memory of mine that is related to this hotel.

I remember when I was a kid, for a couple of years, we went and rented one of those touristic appartments at the Al Kantaoui port and spent the summer vacation there.
I loved it, and I love Al Kantaoui to this very day, it’s a really cool place.

I’d spend most of the day at the beach and most of the night out with one of my uncles or the family. It was so much fun.

Anyway, I also used to sneak in to Marhaba hotel to swim in their cool swimming pool πŸ˜›
And my youngest uncle used to to try to do the same too.

So, I remember one day, we were swimming in the pool when I spotted one of the hotel people coming our way. So I swam away from my uncle as if I never ever saw the guy in my entire life and I acted like all was good and normal πŸ˜›
The guy came up to my uncle and started talking to him. My uncle spoke in French in an attempt to make the guy think he’s a tourist, but well he was too tanned and looked too Tunisian to convince, and they told him to leave.

Then the guy headed over to me. Of course, I’m still swimming and acting like I don’t know who that guy they just kicked out is, and like life couldn’t be better.
So, he comes up to me and starts talking to me in Arabic. What I do is I start talking to him in English telling him I don’t understand what he’s saying and asking if there is a problem. Now with my good English, my white skin and my not-so-Tunisian looks, the guy freaks out and thinks he screwed up and made a mistake. He tells me he’s sorry and leaves.
And I get the last laugh, lol…

I did that a number of times as a kid.
I don’t know why I bothered as I’m not really a pool person, I’d rather swim in the sea any day.
But I guess I just did it because I wasn’t supposed to and because I could πŸ˜‰
Oh well, you know teenagers and all their raging personality proving thingies, lol.

Some Arab Wisdom

Here is a number of wise Arab proverbs I came across that I thought I’d share here.

– Believe what you see and lay aside what you hear.

– A known mistake is better than an unknown truth.

– Call someone your lord and he’ll sell you in the slave market.

– The fool has his answer on the tip of his tongue.

– The wound that bleedeth inwardly is the most dangerous.

– The wound of words is worse than the wound of swords.

– A house divided cannot stand.

– Seek counsel of him who makes you weep, and not of him who makes you laugh.

– Only the tent pitched by your own hands will stand.

– Ask the experienced rather than the learned.

– Think of the going out before you enter.

Radio

Last night, I got to see a great movie called “Radio” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris. It’s inspired from a true story and what a truly beautiful story it is.

Both Cuba and Ed did a wonderful job on this movie, they were amazing. I’m talking real Oscar level acting here.

Cuba plays the role of Radio, a mentally retarded guy who used to waste his whole day wandering around with a shopping cart full of his stuff until Ed Harris’ character (a football coach) takes him in to help him with the team, changing both their lives forever.

In the end of the movie they actually put some footage of the real life characters who inspired the movie, which convinced me even more of the great acting that the two lead actors gave.

This movie is so heart-warming and sweet, I think it is totally a must-see.

Floating…

Floating in the sea
Lying on my back
My eyes are shut
The cool deep waters carry me
The tidal waves caress my body
The peaceful silence soothes my soul

This moment is perfect
The world around me ceases to exist
No more responsibilites, no more troubles
No more complexity, no more madness
Nothing exists anymore
Everything melts into the vastness of the sea
And everything is what I imagine it to be
I don’t exist anymore
I’m just another tiny part of it all
I’m part of nature
And nature is part of me
This is where I belong
This is my peace of my mind

But unfortunately I know it won’t last long
It’ll all be over when I open my eyes again
The world will come back with all it’s craziness
I’ll be sucked back into the storm of life
That’s how it always is

I wish I didn’t have to open my eyes
I wish I could float like this forever