Year: 2005

Nine Year Old Microsoft Certified Professional

A Pakistani girl has qualified as a Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of 9.

Arfa Karim of Multan has officially become the youngest MCP in Pakistan, and one of the youngest in the world. Karim, now 10, met with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates last week–an experience she later described as second only to visiting Disneyland.

To attain the credential–at any age–a person has to display technical proficiency in areas such as .Net, Visual Studio 6.0 and Windows Server 2003.

What she wants to do as she grows up–she would love to study at Harvard, work in a company like Microsoft and go back to Pakistan to do technology innovations in the field of satellite engineering.

WOW…
She must have Microsoft Barbie hidden somewhere in her room 😉

[Source: CNet News]

Rotana’s Islamic Channel

It seems that Rotana, the largest production company in the Arab World, is putting the final touches on an Islamic channel it will be launching soon.

The channel was created upon orders from Prince Waleed Ibn Talal, and will be based in Egypt and headed by Dr. Tareq El Soweidan.

Rotana currently has a network of 6 entertainment channels for music and movies and a new radio station that will be opening soon in Jordan.
Where this new Islamic channel fits in the Rotana empire is a mystery.

As Ahmed says “From a business perspective, music sells and religion sells”, but do they really fit together?
Would it be suitable to have an Islamic channel as part of a 7 channel network, 5 of which bring us a bunch of half-naked singers and dancers?

Of course, the idea of creating a new Islamic channel is very good and truly commendable. But if it’s done it has to be done right. Religion is a respectful and sensitive issue, and throwing an Islamic channel into a bouquet of music and cinema channels just doesn’t feel right.

Maybe it shouldn’t be part of the network but more of an independent channel, also meaning that the Rotana named be dropped from it, so that it’s not associated with the other channels.

[Source: Elaph (Arabic)]
[Via: Saudi Jeans]

Mosa

Tunisia’s first private radio station Mosaique FM has launched its website and is now offering a live audio stream, as well as a live webcam from the studio, over the internet.

Radio Mosaique enjoys great popularity in Tunis, according to a recent survey by a market-research company SIGMA, carried out in May 2005.

The survey revealed that Radio Mosaique had around 1.3 million listeners daily, with a 59.4 per cent audience share and an average listening time of two hours 36 minutes.

I think Mosaique FM are doing a really good job, and I hope they keep it up and that others will follow suit; creating a healthy and vibrant media environment in Tunisia.

A second private radio station, Radio Jawhara, should start broadcasting soon from Tunisia’s third-largest city, Sousse, and will cover the country’s west-central region.

Prophet Yahweh UFO Summoning Tour

Prophet YahwehProphet Yahweh, Seer of YAHWEH, as he calls himself, claims he was blessed to discover the lost, ancient art of summoning UFOs and spaceships on-demand. Since 1979, hundreds of UFOs have appeared on his signal for witnesses to see.

Beginning August 7, 2005, he will start his “50 State UFO Summoning Tour 2005.” During this time, he says that UFOs will appear on his signal for radio or television news and talk shows to film and photograph.

He says that these Space Beings have revealed to him that they are the Angels of YAHWEH, from other planets. They’re here to announce the return of the Messiah in a few years.

What do I think?

I think this guy needs intensive mental care…
Maybe his Alien friends, or Angels as he calls them, can help him out with the bill for that 😛

[Source: eMediaWire]
[More: Official Site, Videos, Yahoo Group]

links for 2005-07-23

Bombings In Egyptian Sharm El Sheikh Resort

Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh early this morning, ripping through a hotel and a coffeeshop packed with European and Egyptian tourists. Police officials said at least 75 people died in the deadliest attack in Egypt in nearly a decade.

These bombings may be linked to a series of bomb blasts last October in the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt’s interior minister said.

I can’t believe how much ugliness, violence and terrorism our world has become a place for.
This must stop!!
There is no reason whatsoever that could ever come close to justifying the death of all these innocent people all over the world!
There is no religion in the world that endorses such actions!
People who commit these attacks are sick criminals who must be stopped!

Our hearts are with the people of Egypt and the families of the tourists who lost their lives today. May God bless the souls of those killed today and rest them in peace.

[News: CNN, MSNBC]
[Related: Say No To Terrorism!]

Windows Vista

Windows VistaThe next version of Windows, code-named “Longhorn”, finally has an official name: Windows Vista.

The advertising tagline for Vista is “Clear, Confident, Connected:
Bringing clarity to your world,” according to a video of the
announcement posted by Microsoft.

The company also said Friday that the first beta release of Vista, for developers and IT pros, is slated for release by Aug. 3.
A second, broader test release aimed at consumers will likely debut
ahead of Vista’s final release in the second half of next year.

Among the key features of Vista are a new searching mechanism,
supposedly better security, lots of new laptop features, parental
controls and better home networking. There will also be visual changes,
thanks to Avalon, ranging from shiny translucent windows to icons that
are tiny representations of a document itself.

What do I think?
Well, I’m pretty neutral to it. I don’t like it and I don’t dislike it.
In the Tunisian accent, “Vista” means jacket; So let’s just hope this
long-awaited multiply-delayed version of Windows lives up to its name
and covers Microsoft’s asses and delivers all they’ve been promising
and more.

[More: CNet News, CNN Money]

Nightstand Meme

Thysdrus tagged me with this meme, in which one has to list whatever is atop of his or her nightstand(s).

So, here’s what I have on my nightstand right now:

2 Alarm clocks, my mobile phone, a table lamp, a phone, a book (“The
Hobbit”), 2 DVDs (“The Aviator”, “Million Dollar Baby”), a bunch of
cds, a notebook, the AC remote control, photos, a stuffed little monkey
toy, anti toothache pills, 2 pens, a drinking straw and an empty glass.

Now that’s interesting…
I never realized how much stuff is lying around on the nightstand.

I tag the following people with this meme: Eman, Roba, Houssein, Ibrahim, Briseis, Jameed and Karim.

Back To The Blogosphere

It’s been a whole week since Subzero Blue has been down. And what a week! It truly felt like long slow miserable ages.
I don’t know how I survived a week without blogging. It felt like something major was missing from my life. Almost like walking around without a brain.
I was itching to blog, and I couldn’t even surf other blogs because it made me miss my blog even more.

The downtime was because of some problems that my dear friend Houssein, the generous host of this blog and others, was having with his hosting company, who claimed some script was eating up too many resources, although I doubt it.

Anyway, Houssein is moving his blog and others to a new dedicated server, which is great. Congratulations.
As for me, I’ve moved Subzero Blue to a hosting account of its own that I’m testing out.

I’d like to thank Houssein so much for his kindness and generosity. I’ll forever be grateful to him for hosting my blog for over 2 years. He believed in me and my blog and gave me a chance to grow it to what it is today. It’s been a great ride.

The move should enable me to experiment a bit more with the technical side of things, so look out for some new ideas and stuff popping up here and there.

Thank you to everyone who emailed me asking about my blog, asked about it on my wife’s blog, or just wondered what happened and missed it. You guys rock!

links for 2005-07-14