February 29, 2004
Recently we're hearing more and more about something called The Greater Middle East. It's a new term that the Bush administration has created for a region that extends beyond the known geographical boundaries of the Middle East. It goes from Morocco in the west to Pakistan in the east. They say that it's a plan to promote democracy in the "Greater Middle East" that will adapt a model like the one used to press for freedoms in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It'll supposedly come in the form of a package of incentives that will be given to countries...
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February 27, 2004
So, my wife's blog has a new cooler design. Yes, you read right. My wife has a blog too, and it's been on my blogroll for quite some time, without anyone knowing it's my wife's blog. Well, almost no one. Jalan-Jalan found out using his sherlock holmes hat and skills, and I told Houssein about it when we met in Tunis last year. Why was it kept secret ? It wasn't, we just didn't mention the relation between our blogs directly. So, interested in some strongly voiced opinions ? If yes, then AquaCool is the blog for you....
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Just found a really interesting article on a list apart on how to help your site's visitors. For this to be possible you have to recognize and achieve a number of things. 1. Recognize that websites are hard to navigate. 2. Understand what it is your visitors are looking for. 3. Accept that visitors scan your headings and links. 4. Be relevant in the words and phrases you use. I definitely agree. Site makers should put theirselves in the visitors shoes more often when they're designing a website, and try to make it as easy as possible for users to...
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[via Je Blog, via visions of conflict]...
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So, Forbes has released this year's list of the World's richest people. Bill Gates still tops the list of course. J.K. Rowling from Harry Potter fame and the Google co-founders have newly entered the list too. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is at 4th place. And I'm nowhere to be found on the list, lol... Maybe next year :P (In my dreams) Check out the full list of the World's Richest People....
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Recently I've been thinking about how much freedom I can enjoy while writing on my blog. The whole idea of a blog is to have freedom of expression and just talk about whatever you feel like talking about. But still, sometimes I have so much to talk about, and I just can't use my blog for it anymore. Why ? because my blog and I are more exposed now. It's no longer that blog sitting around in the blogosphere with a few unknown people stumbling upon it every now and then. People from my everyday life, my family, my work...
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February 26, 2004
Does the Jewishness of the neocons influence American foreign policy in the Middle East? Or is this analysis just more anti-Semitism? This is the debate the guys at adbusters have started. I think it's very interesting that some people are starting to think about this and realize it as it's very true. But still, I think the word Jewish should be changed to Zionists. Not all Jews support what is happening and how things are being dealt with. Judaism is a religion, and we shouldn't mix peaceful Jews with murdering Zionists. Anyway, in addition to the fact that Zionists are...
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Comparison of the most trafficked sites of 1996 and 2004 Ten rules for writing Meet the animals of the London Underground: Really Cool. Man test drives Viagra: Truly hilarious. World mood chart: Cool idea. Rumsfeld fighting techniques: Funny....
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So, Yahoo! have added an RSS aggregating feature in My Yahoo!. I heard that they were working on this before, but today is the first time I actually saw it and tried it out. It's still in beta but it seems to work fine. I think it's a great idea. Everyone has to have a Feed reader of some sort nowadays. Too many blogs and news sites to keep up with....
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February 25, 2004
So, not to be left behind, MBC has joined the reality tv rush too, and has started Big Brother Arabia. This is the same concept of Big Brother that was used in the other countries: A bunch of participants in a house, living together, with no contact with the world, completing certain tasks and recording their feelings about it all seperately for the viewers to see. The viewers watch these people go on about their lives, listen to their feelings and then vote the participants off one by one. The last person standing is the winner. Should be fun....
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Posted on February 25, 2004 03:15 PM under:
Tunisia
So, after hearing a little bit from here and a little bit from there, today I just read it on Réalités which confirms what I've been hearing. In 2004, 4 new private tv stations are supposedly going to open up in Tunisia. Larbi Nasra got a licence to open a tv station he's probably going to call Nasr TV. Tarak Dhiab (An ex-football star) is going to start a sports satellite channel. Tarak Ben Ammar will be working with some international groups to start another general TV channel. No information on the 4th channel yet. I think this is great,...
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Posted on February 25, 2004 12:16 PM under:
Music
Every now and then, I like to try music from some artist or group I don't know or from a style I'm not really into, just for the sake of it. And, last week, I was presented with a chance of this kind. Carrefour were getting rid of the CDs that weren't getting sold by making them dirt cheap. I looked around and found the Dave Matthews Band album Everyday for sale for $1 only. So, i thought, what the hell, I'll just get it. I've heard of the Dave Matthews Band before, and have even heard bits and parts...
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February 24, 2004
So, the word on the street is that there will be a Star Academy Tunisia soon. It seems like Cactus Prod, the people behind implementing "The Final Decision" game show here, are in talks to get the rights to do a Star Academy Tunisia. I hope they make it. Should be fun....
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February 23, 2004
Posted on February 23, 2004 03:19 PM under:
Cinema
We went to see "Al Tagroba El Denmarkiyya" (The Danish Experience) starring Adel Imam this past saturday, and it was a good laugh as expected. Adel Imam is the king of Arab comedy, and his movies and plays are always the funniest and greatest to watch. His works are a mixture of a lot of humour, a true sense of patriotism and a take at the important matters at the time. This movie, though not as powerful as some of his previous works, was a good one and full of laughs. The main issue it tackles is sexual culture, which...
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So, what do you know ? Ralph Nader is running for President again. Doesn't this guy get tired of ruining every election ? :P Well, in fact, I think he has all the right to. After all, that's what democracy is all about, isn't it ? I agree with his opinion on the duopoly in American politics, and I truly think that the American voter should open up his mind to other parties and independent runners. Why should the President be either a democrat or a republican ? Why can't he be anyone from any other party instead ? I...
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Well it seems my blog has become the official LBC Star Academy blog, lol. I posted once about the show and the fact that 3 Tunisians are on it. Since then, that one post's comments have turned into a message board for fans of the show wishing luck and expressing admiration for the competitors. Recently, even the guys from LBC have starting posting messages of their own, messages they received from fans by sms, ...etc. I think it's pretty cool :) Here's the original post in all it's glory : Star Academy on LBC....
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February 20, 2004
Someone commented on one of my posts yesterday sending this link from the NY Times about Arabs in the U.S. Raising Money to Back Bush. Anyway, even though most of the examples the writer mentions are not actually arabs, it's a real shame. Obviously these people only care about their special interests, and they don't give a damn about what happens to their brothers and sisters in the US or outside of it. These people are rich and so they don't feel the sting of Bush's policies, in fact they use them to advance their own personal agendas and profit...
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According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, in 2002? 12,300 people were injured after slipping on fashionable wooden floors. 20,000 people injured themselves riding microscooters. 5,310 people needed treatment after being felled pulling on a pair of trousers. And 700 people (most probably men) injured themselves while zipping their trouser. (Ouch!) [via eclecticism]...
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Posted on February 20, 2004 11:56 AM under:
Cinema
Last night, I caught Great Expectations on one of the TPS Cinema channels, and I thought I'd watch it again. As a big fan of Charles Dickens, I always loved the story and have read the book a number of times. The movie is a modernization of the story in the book, which I think is great as long as they're able to keep the spirit of the original too. I really liked it when it was released back in 1998 and enjoyed it again yesterday. Oh and one more thing. I love the soundtrack....
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February 19, 2004
So, here's my barcode: Want your own ? Barcode Yourself....
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So, after 8 years of existence and following a round of layoffs at Terra Lycos, Webmonkey's online journey has come to an end. It's a real shame. Even though I rarely used it, it was always great to know that there was a cool source of information there that I could tap into whenever I needed it. The content was simple, straight to the point and well written by everyday programmers; picking you out of the world of professional writers and all the jargon to simply give you the stuff you really need. This is one of the sites that...
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Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair said this at a charity event for Medical Aid for Palestine, June 2002: "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress." Liberal Democrat member of the British Parliament Janet Tonge said this on Sky News: "I do not condone suicide bombers but I do understand why people out there become suicide bombers ? it is out of desperation. If I was in their situation...I might just think about it myself. They are in a terrible plight...
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John F. Kerry is a practising catholic, but his grandfather Fritz Kohn was a Czech national of Jewish descent. In the Students for Israel publication "Perspectives: An Israel Review" he wrote an article entitled "A Powerful Journey, an Essential Dream", in which he said: "In this difficult time we must again reaffirm we are enlisted for the duration - and reaffirm our belief that the cause of Israel must be the cause of America - and the cause of people of conscience everywhere." -- J.F.Kerry, in "Perspectives: An Israel Review" Seems like whoever wins the next US elections won't really...
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So Howard Dean is out of the US presidential race. I heard it last night on CNN, and I can't say I was shocked. After the wins John Kerry has been packing under his belt, I was expecting Dean to pull out. It's a shame, I think. Dean was the only person who was thinking the right way and who really wanted and could make a change. Now, John Kerry and John Edwards are left in the race, and it's almost obvious Kerry is going to get the nomination. I haven't posted my opinion about Kerry before, so here it...
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February 18, 2004
Posted on February 18, 2004 11:15 AM under:
Everyday Me
Well, last Sunday morning, we woke up and we thought: Let's go buy a receiver! In the buildings we're living in now, a number of satellite dishes are installed with wires going into each appartment, so all you need is a receiver and you can plug in and get all the glorious channels on the satellites the dishes point to. After thinking about getting a whole installation of our own in the past, we thought we'd go for what's available through the building now and then upgrade to something of our own later. So, we went to the Moncef Bey...
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Time and again we've passed in front of Asia House in the food court of Carrefour and felt curious to try their stuff, but yet we never did. Till last saturday that is. On Saturday, after doing a bit of shopping and getting all the goodies needed for the final match of the African Cup of Nations starring Tunisia vs. Morroco, we thought we'd treat ourselves to a meal at Asia House. It turns out it's mainly Thai food, which is great. It reminded me of the delicious room service we used to order in the Phuket resort we stayed...
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February 16, 2004
So the code to Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Windows NT was leaked to the net, and among the discoveries within the code are chunks of code riddled with profanities and hidden notes. Here's an example: Looks ok to me :P [via MemeFirst]...
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So the Phoenix that changed it's name to Firebird has now changed it's name again to Firefox. I know everyone must have talked about the new version of Mozilla's Firefox browser, but I thought I'd mention it too because I just finished downloading and installing it. I still don't have much to say, and still haven't found much difference between this version and the older one, apart from the installer and the name. Up to now, I still prefer Opera which has basically become my default browser. Fast and effective. There are only a small number of things I...
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February 14, 2004
Posted on February 14, 2004 08:43 PM under:
Tunisia
So, today was the big day, and the Tunisia vs. Morroco match started at 3PM with millions of people's hopes and dreams on the line. Thousand of people a the stadium, thousands of others at different places watching the match on giant screens scattered around Tunisia and the rest pinned to their TV sets at home. The match started, and everyone's hearts started beating at abnormal rates, wishful but afraid of what's to come. It was obvious from the beginning that it was going to be a hard match, with both sides trying to take control of the game, but...
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February 13, 2004
So, I'm finally gonna get my big break in the world of fame. I've just finished filming my first episode of Southpark, and here's how I look like in it :P Just kidding of course. Anyway, you too can create your character in Southpark here. [via Edwinek]...
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Now, this is the kind of news I could certainly do without. But as I was unlucky enough to have a few seconds of my life wasted on reading this, I'm posting it to waste the same time from your lives too :P After 43 years as one of the world's prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple's "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time -- apart." "Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end," said...
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« it's a lot easier to document links between the Bin Laden family and the Bushes than it is to document links between the Bin Ladens and Saddam Hussein. » Paul Krugman [via Je Blog]...
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February 12, 2004
How wonderful, intelligent, innovative, desperate and pathetic ! The CIA, the great agency that supposedly knows everything and that was 1000% sure that Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction, and even claimed to know exactly where they were is now giving up it's macho act and showing that they basically know nothing at all. It has posted a little form on their website called the Iraqi Rewards Program for people (snitches) to submit whatever tips on WMD locations or other Iraq related intelligence. They say the form is secure and confidential, but who knows, if they find your information to...
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Posted on February 12, 2004 09:30 AM under:
Tunisia
Yesterday were the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations, with 2 big matches between Tunisia and Nigeria, and with Morroco against Mali. Tunisia's match was at 4PM, during working hours, but there was no way we could miss a match like that. so we turned the TV on and got an antenna and we were ready to go. Tunisia turned into a ghost country during the period of the match, with almost no one on the streets, and everyone was glued to their TV set. The match was one of the most stressful matches I've ever seen. Tunisia...
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February 11, 2004
No, I didn't see the movie again, it just crossed my mind again. The Truman Show is one of my favourite movies, for the simple reason that i truly relate to it. I didn't go through the same experience of course or you'd have known about it for sure, but i thought about it a lot when i was a child. There were times when I'd just think: what if all this is just a big show, a movie, plain and simple acting ? What if all these people around me are just actors, playing their roles to give me...
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February 10, 2004
Everyday on my way to work I pass by a bunch of posters with the slogan Africa 2015 : For an AIDS-free Generation, and everyday I say to myself, I'm gonna check this out and blog about it, but I always forget. So here it goes today :) Africa 2015 is an initiative to promote awareness and achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals that world leaders adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000. It focuses initially on combating HIV/AIDS, part of Goal 6. The target by 2015 is to halt and begin to reverse the spread of the...
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Posted on February 10, 2004 09:35 AM under:
Cinema
Last night I watched Bruce Almighty again, this time in English, and God what a difference there was. When i first saw this movie last year in French, i thought it was funny, but yesterday it was so so much funnier and cooler. I just love the part when Bruce is making a fool out of Evan (the news anchor) during the news bulletin. I hate watching movies in a language other than their original one because so much is lost in translation, especially the little bits and pieces that make all the difference. For example, you'd have a side-splitting...
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Just came across a cool site detailing the history of Tux (The Linux penguin). Why a penguin ? How was it created ? And every other question is answered. It's quite funny and cool. Here's a funny part that Linus wrote describing the penguin he wants for a logo: ... So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw...
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February 09, 2004
After a tip from a friend at work who seems to share my love for delicious fast food, my wife and I went to the newly opened Joe CHAMPS, an American style Restaurant & Bar in Les Berges du Lac on Friday. I have to agree that the food is great, the setting is pretty cool, the atmosphere nice and the prices acceptable. We truly enjoyed being there and the meals we had. This place is already on my favourite places to go for food in Tunis, and i have a feeling i'll be going there quite often, especially whenever...
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Posted on February 9, 2004 09:31 AM under:
Tunisia
So, the quarter finals stage of the African Cup of Nations hosted in Tunisia is over, and there are only 4 teams left now. On Saturday, Mali played against Guinea and won as expected (2-1), moving on to the semi finals. Mali's team is one of the best teams in this competition, and has a lot of chances for winning the cup. Also on Saturday, Tunisia played against Senegal in what was a good and scary match to watch. Attack after attack, counter-attack after counter-attack, and a lot of lost chances from both sides end up with a beautiful goal...
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2004 Grammy winners list Clean code (NOT!): Microsoft FrontPage ad claiming clean code capabilities contains HTML error. Snackster: a P2P recipe sharing application. SSCrabble: Play Scrabble in your web browser, implemented in CSS and Javascript. BugMeNot: A service that provides login information for sites that require registration. Molecular Expressions: Microscopic imagery....
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February 06, 2004
Here are some of the dumbest tech moments in 2003 as compiled from the Business 2 dumbest moments in business list. The PC in the WC. On April 30, Microsoft U.K. issues a press release touting a new product called the iLoo, an Internet-enabled toilet equipped with a Wi-Fi broadband connection, a plasma flat screen, a waterproof keyboard, and sponsored toilet paper festooned with Web addresses. Network Problems In October, three and a half years after buying Network Solutions for $21 billion, VeriSign sells its dotcom-registration business for $100 million. Please don't press shift After SunnComm Technologies rolls...
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The other day I was thinking about my life, I tend to think a lot actually, and I realized that my life these days revolves around certain pre-defined places. At any given moment in time, there's a 90% possibility I'll be at one of the following places: Work in Charguia 2 Home in Diar Soukra Champs Disques at Centre Kenzet in Les Berges du Lac Carrefour (and for even higher probability: near the CD/DVD/Computer sections) My parents' place in La Marsa Habib Bourguiba street in downtown Tunis The other 10% I'm either out of Tunis alltogether, at some restaurant, visiting...
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February 05, 2004
I've really had enough about Janet Jackson and her boob flash at the Super Bowl. Wherever i go online, all i find is more and more talk and pics about Janet and her tits. What is it with people ? What's so disturbing in an accidental boob flash ? Movies, TV ads, magazines and the internet always show women's breasts intentionally, but no one ever complained. Little kids were watching ? So ? Do you really think that's the first time they've seen one ? With all the movies, satellite channels, internet sites, ...etc For god's sake, they can even...
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Something that comes to my mind quite often is how much some people expose themselves on their personal blogs. They talk about so many aspects of their everyday lives, their thoughts and so much more, and it's all so normal. They know that anybody and everybody can read it, and yet it satisfies them to write it and know that someone is out there reading it. And then i look at it from the reader point of view, and i realize that we all sort of have this hidden voyeur inside of us, and that we like reading about and...
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February 04, 2004
This is really killing me... Everyday, on the streets, i'm faced with millions of mad drivers, people who look like they've just escaped from a mental hospital and who have one and only one goal in mind: to crash their cars into whatever obstacle in front of them. I don't get it. How did these people get driving licenses ? Why are they allowed to be out there on the streets ? They're psychos for god's sake. And the pedestrians ? Oh please, i don't want to even remember the pedestrians ! It seems they're badly on something, sort of...
