October 29, 2004
If you were offered to choose one and only one super power, what would you choose and why? This is a thought that has crossed my mind more than once since my childhood, and I guess everytime I'd have a new answer depending on the new cool superhero comic or cartoon I was into. But now, when I think of it, the 2 most tempting super powers for me are flying and being invisible. And having to choose only one, I'd choose Invisibility. Of course not just normal invisibility, no I'd also have to be able to walk through walls...
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"You know, back in 2000 a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true." -- James Carville [Via: Generik, eclecticism]...
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October 28, 2004
I just came across these, and thought they were too important to just put on the linklog. They deserve to be the center of attention. So here they are, the 5 pitfalls of estimating a software project with my comments: 1) Allowing non-technical staffers to give estimates. Aaaarrrgghhh!! That so gets on my nerves when someone non-technical just goes ahead and gives a baseless estimation. 2) Being afraid to look in the mirror. Not evaluating past projects and finding out what went wrong in them is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can do. It's like doing the same thing...
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October 27, 2004
It's that little voice in the back of your mind telling you: - It's ok, no one's looking, just do it! - Oh come on, just this once isn't going to mean anything! - Just one last time, come on! - You know you want to, so what's the point in torturing yourself?! - Go ahead, just rip his head off, no one will notice! - Tell him to go **** himself! - It's ok, it's a simple tiny white lie, nobody's gonna get hurt. - No, don't help him! Nobody would help you if you were in his place....
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October 25, 2004
"I don't believe there is anti-Semitism in Europe. There is a reaction against the policy of Sharon and Bush. I think it's artificial to think there is a new anti-Semitism. It's an excuse. It's a way to avoid self-criticism. Rather than ask themselves what is wrong with the policy of Israel, Jews say the Europeans are against us because of the new anti-Semitism. Because they don't love us. And even Theodorakis says we are at the root of evil. This is a sick reaction." Theodorakis Greek poet and song-writer [More: The Jewish problem, according to Theodorakis]...
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... Unfortunately, the West does not know what every Muslim scholar knows; that the worst enemies of Islam are from within. The worst of these are the khawaarij who delude others by the deeply dyed religious exterior that they project. [...] Our Prophet said, peace be upon him, “Beware of extremism in your religion.” Islam is the middle way between excess and neglect. Zealots are a plague upon religion. These extremists come in two types. The first is a reactionary extremist who falls far right of a center-point. Reactionary extremists do not want any pluralism; they view the world in...
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The joint Qatari-Jordanian series "Road To Kabul" that tells the story of Taliban ruled Afghanistan through a love story between an Afghan girl and a Palestinian boy has been taken off the MBC schedule. Qatar Television, the producer of the series, asked all channels not to air the series, but MBC went on anyway and aired it, but they had to pull the plug on it later because QTV refused to give them the rest of the series' episodes. The producers, directors, writers, and actors have received death threats from the Mujahedin Brigades of Iraq and Syria. But the real...
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October 22, 2004
Posted on October 22, 2004 01:20 PM under:
Islam
"O my Lord, if I worship You from fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me thence, but if I worship You for Your own sake, then withhold not from me Your Eternal Beauty..." -- Rabi'ah al'Adawiya, Muslim & Sufi mystic poet born in Basra, Iraq (717 - 801 CE) This is just so beautiful... [Via: Macvaysia, Je Blog]...
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What can you do with $150,000? I bet you'd find a bunch of cool scenarios in your head to make yourself happy. Well, Canadian diva Sarah McLachlan chose to make a million happy people with it instead. She donated the budget for her new music video to charities around the world. And instead of an expensive fancy music video she put together a touching video about the difference her fancy music video budget money could make in third-world countries for only $15. You can check out the video at worldonfire.ca. The list of charities and sum of money donated to...
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October 21, 2004
Posted on October 21, 2004 02:06 PM under:
Cinema
The first animated movie depicting the life of the Prophet Muhammad will be screened in North America after delays due to 9/11. Muhammad: The Last Prophet will premiere in cinemas in 37 US and Canadian cities for one week from 14 November on Eid al-Fitr - a Muslim holiday marking the end of fasting in the month of Ramadan. The 90-minute film that chronicles the early life and teachings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad was produced for Badr International by RichCrest Animation Studios, the creators of animated classics such as The King and I, and The Fox and the Hound. Because...
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October 20, 2004
A joke I found on Raed's blog: The Pentagon was originally going to call the Iraqi War "Operation Iraqi Liberation" till they realized that the acronym would have been OIL. Hence it was changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. LOL... Good one :)...
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Even if you are not a US citizen, the November 2 presidential election will have a huge impact on your life. The very idea of democracy requires that you should have a say in choosing who determines your destiny. This site therefore allows non-Americans to vote in the 2004 US presidential election. GLOBALVOTE2004.ORG is totally neutral. You may vote for any candidate. Your vote will be kept secret. And you may only vote once. They will count the votes 48 hours before the election and submit the result to the US media. They think that just letting US citizens know...
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October 19, 2004
In an interview with Malaysia's The Star newspaper published Tuesday, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said neither Bush nor Kerry want to address the root problem of terrorism because that would "annoy the Jewish group (voters)." "If you mention Palestine as the root cause (of terrorism), you will lose the election. So neither Kerry nor Bush will mention Palestine," he said. "But surprisingly, the electorate appears to be willing to accept a person who told a blatant lie and to elect a liar as their president," he said, referring to Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein stockpiling weapons of mass...
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Just last week I visited a well-known high school in Jerusalem. A good many of the students I spoke to told me appalling things. They said: When we are soldiers, we will kill old people, women and children without giving it a thought. They said: We will expel them, we will put them on planes and fly them to Iraq. We will fly hundreds of thousands of them. Millions. And most of the students in the audience applauded those opinions. They supported them even when I pointed out that that is how people talked 60 years ago in Europe....
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October 18, 2004
Ukrainian voters are being offered a free striptease in a bid to win their votes for a presidential candidate. Campaigners for current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich organised the free striptease shows in the Santa Fe bar in Donetsk hoping they could get people to re-elect their man, local media reported. One organiser said: "We hope the voters will remember who gave them this show for free when they go to the ballot box." They sure will remember! Now if only we had elections like that, lol... Just kidding, of course :P [Via: Ananova]...
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So, it seems Microsoft's Passport is going down big time. The whole idea didn't really catch on from the beginning and only Microsoft-owned sites and a handful of close partners jumped on board. And after a bunch of high profile technical glitches and huge privacy concerns it just went sour. I just read on Anil Dash's blog that Monster.com sent out an email last week saying that they were discontinuing the option to sign in using Passport. And it seems that eBay has taken the same step too. Microsoft itself hasn't been talking about Passport anymore, and their directory of...
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October 17, 2004
US President George W. Bush said he had signed into law a bill requiring the State Department to monitor global anti-Semitism and rate countries annually on their treatment of Jews. "This nation will keep watch; we will make sure that the ancient impulse of anti-Semitism never finds a home in the modern world," Bush said. Of course, no one cares about Muslims and the ever growing Anti-Islamism in the world! In fact, it's the opposite, countries that treat Muslims well could end up being blacklisted for it....
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October 15, 2004
LOL... This is so funny... [Via: Blog d'Aeris]...
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Posted on October 15, 2004 01:39 PM under:
Music
I am just a traveller on a journey No destination sign Even when you're on the road to nowhere Take one step at a time 'Cause life can be oh so cruel That's yesterday's news I can say it God only knows Tina Arena Song: God Only Knows Album: Just Me...
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Today is the first day of Ramadan in Tunisia and in most other countries. So Ramadan Mubarak to everyone :) May it be a great month for you all :) I'll be trying to start praying again. I hope I get to stick to it this time. Take it easy on the food and TV everyone. Remember Ramadan is the month of worship and fasting after all ;)...
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October 14, 2004
Posted on October 14, 2004 12:13 PM under:
Islam,
Music
Yesterday, while at our friends' place, we were introduced to Sami Yusuf, a British Muslim singer whose song "Al Mu'allem" (The Teacher) has been playing on the arabic Melody music channel. It's really a great song in both English and Arabic in which he sings about the Prophet Muhammad PBUH and Islam. The music and lyrics are so beautiful and his voice is so soothing. Sami Yusuf was born on July 1980. He was born into a musical family of Azeri origin and thus music played an integral part in his life. Sami is also a devout practicing British...
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October 13, 2004
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." -- Christopher Reeve [Via: eclecticism]...
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October 12, 2004
LOL... Funny, simple, straight-forward... Love it... [Via: And Far Away,Sensory Impact]...
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"The only thing worse than an asshole is a nice asshole!" Me This is something I said today and just thought I'd share here. Really if there's anything in this world that is worse than some asshole pissing you off constantly, it's having a nice asshole do it, he pisses you off with a smile and in a weird friendly way. It just adds to the frustration when you feel like smashing his head in while he just smiles back at you and acts like he's your friend. So, to every nice asshole on earth: Choose sides! Either you're...
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October 11, 2004
Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52. A near-fatal riding accident nine years ago paralyzed him and turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research. Reeve had a severely infected pressure wound, which is a common ailment among paralysed people. Christopher Reeve will always be thought of as Superman by me and millions of other people all around the world. He is the man of steel. R.I.P. Superman......
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My brother in law Mohamed decided to pass by Tunisia on his way to Jordan from Toronto, Canada. He got here this past Saturday afternoon. I actually haven't seen him for over 2 years, and it's great to be able to meet again and catch up on all that's happened during this time. It's so cool to have him over. He's one of the most fun people to hang out with, we've been having loads of fun and laughs since he got here, lol. His advice is also priceless. It's really helping me with some issues I have floating around...
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October 08, 2004
I just uploaded some photos I took at sunset on the beach and in the port of Sidi Bou Said, one of the places I love most in Tunisia. I'm quite happy with how some of these pics have turned out. If you're interested, check them out here. Do let me know what you think :)...
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October 07, 2004
While thinking of my different hobbies and all the stuff I truly enjoy, I found out they weren't really that different after all. They all revolve around the art of storytelling. Being a book fan, every book tells a different story, takes you different places, paints different worlds, picks you up out of reality and throws you into a beautiful world of imagination. As for music, every song tells a new story too, new events, new ways to express the feelings, new feelings to express the meaning. In cinema, every movie is a story, it portrays a world for you...
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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it." -- Noam Chomsky "We all have to be concerned about terrorism, but you will never end terrorism by terrorizing others." -- Martin Luther King III "Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor." -- A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"...
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... Beslan, endless kidnappings in Iraq and the barbaric decapitation of aid workers and other civilians have forced Muslim leaders into a new activism. In France, since the kidnapping of two journalists in Iraq, Muslims of influence have pushed their people to embrace French nationhood even though there are serious conflicts between them and their state.... The Muslim Association of Britain has issued straight statements condemning the inhumane hostage-taking by Muslims worldwide. But only if there is reciprocity. Muslims have put their lives and reputations on the line to save Mr Bigley and others. The allies hold thousands of Muslims...
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October 06, 2004
A henpecked German has chosen to do time in jail rather than pay a parking fine to get away from his nagging wife. The 47-year-old man, from Itzehoe, faced a £55 fine - or 10 days in prison if he didn't pay up. Police in the town said they were stunned when the man rang up and asked them to come and pick him up from his home. "He said he couldn't stand the constant bickering at home with his wife and was looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet in jail," said a police spokesman. Source: Ananova...
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I just uploaded some of the photos I took when we were in Syria on my photolog. So if you're interested in checking them out, click here. Enjoy :)...
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October 05, 2004
"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." -- Martin Niemoeller...
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October 04, 2004
How true is it when we say that the future is what we make of it? And that our past has nothing to do with it and that it should not haunt us? I think it's true that our present is the result of the decisions we took in our past, and that the future is the result of the decisions we take today. But, still our decisions today are based on whatever elements and consequences we have today, which have come to exist because of our old decision in our past. Let's say a person took the decision to...
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October 03, 2004
Today, I played my first game of Tennis and it was GREAT! My wife has been wanting to play Tennis for some time now, so yesterday we passed by Carrefour and we bought me a Tennis racket. And today, we headed to El Saada Park (formerly El Saada Palace) in La Marsa, rented ourselves a Tennis court and had some really good fun. Now, this is my first time to ever hold a Tennis racket and try to play the game, but it was still a hell of a lot of fun. It was also very funny. It was my...
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October 02, 2004
Posted on October 2, 2004 10:08 PM under:
Tunisia
So, this morning in between paying our rent, bills and other stuff, we passed by Champion, the new mall that opened this week in Lafayette in downtown Tunis. It looks really nice from the front and on the inside, but it's a bit too small to be called a mall actually, so maybe mini-mall would be more suitable. A lot of the shops and boutiques still haven't opened yet and the food court is still under way but the supermarket section is working and already over-crowded. The first thought I got when I walked into the supermarket was: this is...
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October 01, 2004
A Japanese guru claims to have invented a mobile phone ring tone that can help women's breasts to grow bigger. Hideto Tomabechi's Rockmelon tone registered more than 10,000 downloads in the first week alone. He claims his ring tone has "sounds that make the brain and body move unconsciously". Tomabechio calls the subliminal breast booster a kind of "positive brainwashing" and says it draws on his teachings of the "powers of cognitive science". One satisfied user told Japanese media: "I listened to the tune for a week expecting all the time that I was being duped. But, incredibly, my 34-inch...
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Some elements of the blog are being re-designed live as you read this, so if anything looks weird, don't worry it's just me playing around with things :P Why didn't I work on this offline and then put it online when everything was organized and settled down? Because I foolishly though it was so easy I didn't have to :P Anyway, when this seems to have settled down a bit, let me know if you have any thoughts about how it turned out....
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