October 31, 2007
Indian billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, 50, became the world's richest man yesterday, overtaking Microsoft's Bill Gates and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, as the value of his stake in refinery-to-textiles giant Reliance Industries and two other group companies swelled, a direct result of the strong performance witnessed in the Indian stock markets recently. Only last month, he overtook steel czar Lakshmi Mittal to become the richest Indian in the world. The list of the five richest people in the world and their net worths is as follows now: 1. Mukesh Ambani ($63.2 billion) 2. Carlos Slim Helu ($62.2993 billion) 3....
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October 30, 2007
Brijit is a pretty interesting new service that takes long-form content and boils it down to 100 words or less, giving users abstracts that attempt to summarize, review and rate the original content, passing along the basic necessary information to the user and making it easier for them to choose what to dive deeper into by going back to the original content. The abstracts are written by freelancers, with the possibility for anyone to join in, and these freelancers get paid $5 for every published abstract. It's also possible for others to leave comments/other takes on an abstract. The abstracts...
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Good news related to Tunisian cinema... The Tunisian film "Tender is the Wolf" (Ors El Dhib) received best Arab film Award at the 11 th edition of the San Francisco Arab Film Festival. The Festival aims at featuring alternative representations of Arabs that contradict the current stereotyped pictures of Arabs frequently encountered in the American media. The film which was directed and written by Jilani Saadi, a young Tunisian film maker, is an unsettling, gritty representation of urban life, exploring issues such as the "sexualization" of women, poverty, unemployment and aimlessness. The film also received a number of distinctions at...
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October 29, 2007
Sometime ago, I remember a friend and I were talking about the internet and television as sources of information, which one is more useful, which one gives us more knowledge and generally comparing the two mediums. At the end of the discussion we reached the conclusion that the main difference between the internet and TV is that one, the internet, is a "Pull" medium, while the other, TV, is a "Push" one. Online, you generally know what you're looking for or you have a little idea about it, so you search for it and go to places where you can...
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October 26, 2007
Over the past months more and more micro-lending solutions have been popping up online, displaying the internet's potential as a charitable medium, enabling people to lend small amounts of money, which provide loans to those in developing countries empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty. Among these online tools we find Kiva, Prosper, Zopa, GlobeFunder and eBay's newly launched MicroPlace. Kiva is one of the most successful stories among these up to now; In just 2 years, the site has funded nearly 17,000 loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, recently reaching a total amount of loans of over $11...
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Posted on October 26, 2007 01:55 AM under:
Cinema
I just finished watching the movie Mr. Brooks, featuring Kevin Costner and Demi Moore. The movie is a psychological thriller about a man, Mr. Brooks (played by Kevin Costner), who is addicted to and enjoys murder; he is a serial killer known by the pseudo "The Thumb Print Killer", who continues to be tempted by his alter ego to keep on killing people even thought he wants to quit. Demi Moore plays the role of a devoted police detective who is tracking the footsteps of the thumb print killer, earning his admiration and respect along the way. I found the...
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October 24, 2007
No Comment... Google Translate says it all... [Via: Hou-Hou Blog]...
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October 23, 2007
In an effort to encourage Arab startups, give them a push and spread out some love: I'm offering free banner space on my blog to promote their services. The banners will be of 125x125 size and will be shown in the ads section on the right side column of the blog; yep two spots above the fold. Everyone interested, send me an email at: subzeroblue[AT]gmail.com Please include the banner you want displayed, as well as the url you want it to link to in the email. Generally speaking, this offer is open for all Arab startups; still I do reserve...
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October 22, 2007
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde...
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October 20, 2007
"For each word you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person..." A word is displayed... Underneath it are four choices of words... You click on the one you think best defines the first word... If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word... For each word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person through an international aid agency... Finally, you get smarter and enhance your vocabulary while doing a noble thing helping poor and hungry people get food... A very interesting...
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October 19, 2007
More and more extravagant and innovative buildings and towers are sprouting in the Middle Eastern skyline, especially in places like the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The latest proposed tower project is the state-of-the-art Burj Al-Taqa ("Energy Tower"). Designed by German architect Eckhard Gerber and cutting a 322 meter high silhouette, this commercial high rise envisioned for builds in Riyadh, Dubai and Bahrain, will produce zero emissions and use sun, wind and water to create all of its own energy. The 68-story structure will use natural air conditioning based on ancient Persian architectural feature consisting of wind towers that...
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October 17, 2007
ICANN, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers have launched an evaluation of Internationalized Domain Names this week that allows Internet users to test top-level domains in 11 languages. This evaluation represents ICANN’s most important step so far towards the full implementation of Internationalized Domain Names; One of the biggest changes to the Internet since it was created The evaluation is made possible by the insertion into the root of the 11 versions of .test, which means they are alongside other top-level domains like .net, .com, .info, .uk, and .de at the core of the Internet. Since Monday, 15...
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"Why of course people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor England, nor for that matter Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a...
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October 16, 2007
Facebook and all those social networking sites out there not really your kind of thing? You'd rather be left alone? You feel you have more people that you hate than people you like? Then Hatebook is the site for you... The first anti-social networking site, where you can connect with the people you hate... Upload blackmail material or publish lies, get the latest gossip from your enemies and friends, post photos and videos on your hate profile, tag your friends, get hate points from disturbing people who live, study, or work around you, simply take over the world... Hatebook looks...
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Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa. Left brain functions: uses logic, detail oriented, facts rule, words and language, present and past, math and science, can comprehend, knowing, acknowledges, order/pattern perception, knows object name, reality based, forms strategies, practical, safe. Right brain functions: uses feeling, “big picture” oriented, imagination rules, symbols and images, present and future, philosophy & religion, can “get it” (i.e. meaning), believes, appreciates, spatial perception, knows object function, fantasy based, presents possibilities, impetuous, risk taking. Personally, I see her...
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October 15, 2007
Today is Blog Action Day, and I thought I'd use this day to post 10 simple rules that we can all apply in our everyday lives to help our environment. Of course there are more than 10 things we can all do, and we should do, but well we can start with these really easy ten, and then move on step by step. So here goes the list: 1. Take showers rather than baths: This way you’ll conserve water, as well as the electricity needed to heat up the water. 2. Walk to places instead of driving whenever you can:...
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Posted on October 15, 2007 12:21 PM under:
Tunisia
Rising flood waters caused by devastating rains swept across northern Tunisia, killing at least 11 people and leaving six others missing. Torrential rains fell mainly on the north of the country on Saturday, filling formerly dry river beds known as wadis and causing them to overflow in a very short period of time.. The rains and subsequent flooding blocked traffic on many roads and isolated some towns. Nine people died after their vehicles were swept away by the swelling flood waters, one person was killed outside Tunis and eight others died in the region of Sabbalat Ben Ammar, some 30...
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October 13, 2007
Well most of you must already know the news by now; I've been expecting it and was pretty sure it would happen, and even though I'm a bit late, I just had to write about it: US Former Vice President Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change. Gore, whose film "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Oscar earlier this year, has made climate change the focus of his public life in the years since he lost the...
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First of all, Eid Mubarak to everyone... Yesterday was the first day of Eid ul-Fitr here in Tunisia, as well as in most Arab and Muslim countries, marking the end of Ramadan for this year. This Ramadan was a bit harder than previous ones, mainly because the weather is still hot, and the day is long; still it's only a preview of what's coming in the next years as Ramadan advances well into the burning hot endless summer days. As usual, we hopped into our little car and zipped around Tunis, greeting family members and wishing them all a happy...
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October 11, 2007
They say to me in their awakening, "You and the world you live in are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea." And in my dream I say to them, "I am the infinite sea, and all worlds are but grains of sand upon my shore." [Quote from Sand And Foam by Khalil Gibran]...
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I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. Helen Keller...
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October 10, 2007
Posted on October 10, 2007 12:50 PM under:
Music
More of the music industry’s biggest names are considering offering their music free online following the success of the experiment by Radiohead to let fans download their new album without charge. (Radiohead's website topped the chart of music websites with an 11-fold increase in internet hits after the announcement.) Now Jamiroquai and Oasis, two major names that are not contracted to record labels, are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering work for free. The Charlatans are also offering fans their next album completely for free if they visit the site of radio station XFM. Meanwhile rumours abound that...
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Imagine... if one million people demanded an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with one voice. On Oct. 18th, 2007 hundreds of thousands of people all over the world will unite for the OneVoice Summit – an unprecedented mobilization of moderate voices to achieve a two state solution that fulfills the overdue aspirations of the Palestinian and Israeli people to end the occupation, to end all forms of violence, to permanently end the conflict, and achieve international recognition, respect, peace, and prosperity. + Learn more about the One Million Voices Campaign + Sign the OneVoice mandate...
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October 09, 2007
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)...
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October 08, 2007
Finally, and after so much waiting and delaying, I got myself a DSLR camera; I am now the proud owner of a Canon 350D... I simply love it... This is a great and fun camera... And it covers all my needs for the time being... The kit comes with a Canon 18-55mm lens, and I also got it a Tamron 70-300mm lens, a tripod and a really nice Mekko bag. Expect more photos here and on my flickr from now on as I discover the different settings of the camera and go wild snapping shots of everything around me....
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October 05, 2007
Really interesting classified ad... He can count me in for the time travel part, but what's with the whole weapons thingie? [Via: Persona Non Grata]...
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October 04, 2007
Now this would be really cool and efficient... Your next laptop could have a continuous power battery that lasts for 30 years without a single recharge thanks to work being funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The breakthrough betavoltaic power cells are constructed from semiconductors and use radioisotopes as the energy source. As the radioactive material decays it emits beta particles that transform into electric power capable of fueling an electrical device like a laptop for years. Although betavoltaic batteries sound Nuclear they’re not, they neither use fission/fusion or chemical processes to produce energy and so (do not...
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October 02, 2007
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. -- Buddha...
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British rock act Radiohead has a new album coming out soon called "In Rainbows". The album will initially only be available on their site in the form of online downloads without copy restriction software, in other words no DRM (Digital Rights Management). But even cooler than all that is that Radiohead is letting the buyers choose their own price for the online album, thereby asking fans to establish a monetary value for their music, even when widespread piracy means that it would be available free. Personally, I think this is the way it should be done, and it should be...
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New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke announced New Zealand's intention to commit to 90% renewable electricity by 2025. The country already uses 70% renewable electricity, primarily hydro- and geothermal power and will continue to increase its use of renewables over the next 20 years. The Prime Minister also gave a brief outline of further goals, which included a 2040 target of reducing by half per capita emissions from transport and widely introducing electric vehicles. She also stated the goal of achieving a net increase in forest area of 250,000 hectares (617,000 acres) by 2020. This is the kind of news...
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October 01, 2007
Back in Paris again for work... The timing is a bit bad, with it being Ramadan and all... but well... I got here yesterday on an Air France flight; and guess what they've changed their Arabic in-flight instructions. I don't know if this post of mine has anything to do with it or not, anyway it's good to see they've changed them; they've got good proper/classic Arabic ones now. I'll be in Paris for a week, so basically I'll be doing the usual stuff: working, cinema going, book shopping, eating, and getting some gifts for my wife and son. In...
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