Umayyed Palace - Citadel, Amman

Few days ago I had the chance to enter Citadel at night with a friend who is working on a very interesting project there and of course I had the luxury to spend four hours there photographing every possible corner there.


Enjoy it!





Copyright notice:
Please do not steal this photo and claim you that it's yours else I will enjoy chasing you legally.

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Open Source Seminar 26-27 July 2005

The Information Technology Association of Jordan (int@j) is pleased to announce its second seminar on OSS entitled "Open Source Opportunities for Jordan". This two day meeting will convene from 26-27 July 2005. The meeting wil cover topics of special interest to the Business, Academic, Government and Banking communities. All sessions will be open to all participants who are encouraged to take advantage of as many of the sessions as possible.

Registration link

OSS Tentative Agenda (PDF)

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Working on blog in progress

I decided to hate my old theme and now I'm working on a new concept which I have no idea how it will end.
I will be working on this blog theme for the next month, You may see a new theme everyday! or some extreme changes, please don't hate me for that and please keep the comments coming.


Meanwhile enjoy this clip

Diversity - Dance Act - Britains Got Talent 2009

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3D Web? Nothing is impossible with Google

This is a demo that demonstrates the potential of rendering 3D graphics in the browser, using O3D, an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. The app shown in the video is coded in javascript and html and runs in a web browser. Learn more about O3D at http://code.google.com/apis/o3d

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Congressmen were caught hiring staffers to whitewash Wikipedia pages

Interesting? ha? read more

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The dangerous swine flu

The dangerous swine flu virus continues to spread, with infections now confirmed in Israel and New Zealand.The World Health Organization has upgraded its pandemic alert level from 3 to 4 and the organization's deputy director general says that "containment is not a feasible option" at this time.

Seven countries now have confirmed cases, with suspected infections in 11 others. Around the world, countries are nowtightening the borders to prevent infection from travelers. In Mexico, the epicenter of the virus, 153 people have now been killed.

While 50 cases have been confirmed in the United States, the most outside of Mexico, the infections have not been as severe. President Obama described the disease as cause for "alert" rather than "alarm."

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Working together to provide convenient payment options for accessing OVI Maps and N-Gage Mobile Gaming services.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Espoo, Finland - As part of their plans to further boost the adoption of advanced Mobile Internet services in the Middle East, Etisalat and Nokia announced a joint collaboration to provide convenient access to advanced mobile Internet based services. These services include maps, navigation and games on Nokia devices, based on the Ovi services platform provided by Nokia.

In the first phase of the collaboration, Etisalat's UAE mobile customers will be able to enjoy Ovi Maps and N-Gage Games on their Nokia devices, through an easy and convenient payment mechanism. Subscribers to Ovi Maps and purchasers of N-Gage games can now choose to combine their payments for these advanced mobile internet based services with their Etisalat account. The payment will be directed to their account automatically, if chosen accordingly, while customers will also have the existing option of paying through their credit cards.

The United Arab Emirates will be the first country in the Middle East and Africa to roll out this service during Q2, 2009, while the cooperation will be extended to other Etisalat operations in the Middle East and Africa in due course.

"Etisalat is delighted to associate with Nokia to promote the next generation mobile Internet services in the Middle East. Etisalat strives to offer the best mobile experience to its customers, while providing them the benefits of convenience, coverage and value. Through this association, Etisalat customers will be able to enjoy advanced services like Mobile gaming and Ovi maps, on Etisalat's widespread and reliable network, that covers the whole UAE for 2G and 2.5 G and 99% of populated areas for 3.5G networks." said Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat.

"We also look forward to extending this association to all our subsidiaries to boost the adoption of mobile Internet services across the region," added Al Haddad.

"We are excited to be further promoting our good cooperation with Etisalat. As market leaders, this agreement allows us to combine great services with ease of accessibility to provide consumers with a seamless user experience. Nokia will continue to improve the way people discover and use our services through Ovi, as we continue to add new elements and services. Our focus is on building the best possible experiences and giving our consumers the choice to access them the way they choose," said Urpo Karjalainen, Senior Vice President, Operator Sales, Nokia.

Ovi allows easy access to Nokia services like maps, navigation, games, messaging and music, as well as the ability to manage, sync and share personal files or information.
Ovi, the consumer brand for Nokia internet services, brings together the online world, the mobile device and computer into an easy to use and consistent consumer experience.

About Etisalat
Etisalat has been the telecommunications service provider in the United Arab Emirates since 1976. Since then, it has built up state-of-the-art telecom infrastructure and taken a leadership position of innovation and reliability among regional and international operators.

Etisalat is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world and the largest operator in the Arab world headquartered in the UAE (as per FT500 March 31, 2008).

Etisalat operates in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, servicing over 74m customers. It also has Points of Presence (PoP) in New York, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and Singapore providing a truly global reach.

In addition to being the UAE's telecom provider, Etisalat has now expanded to manage and operate telecom companies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Togo, Republic of Central Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria , Indonesia iran and Afghanistan. With shares in Sudan's 'Sudatel', Inida, Qatar's Q-Tel and Thuraya, the satellite telephone service provider, Etisalat is a key regional player that lends its expertise and resources towards the betterment of information and communication technology.
Visit Etisalat at www.etisalat.ae

[tags]n gage games,united arab emirates,mobile internet services,espoo finland,nokia devices,abu dhabi united arab emirates,etisalat,mobile experience,internet based services,payment mechanism,gaming services,mobile customers,chief marketing,reliable network,mobile gaming,dhabi united arab emirates,5g,2g,payment options,q2[/tags]

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NFC technology takes its next step with the Nokia 6216 classic

Espoo, Finland and Monaco, Monaco - At the opening keynote of the 3rd annual WIMA conference, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Nokia announced its third fully integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) device, the Nokia 6216 classic. The new arrival is Nokia's first SIM-based NFC device which enables operators to build NFC services on to the SIM card. With NFC consumers will benefit from greater ease of use, more convenient sharing of content - such as images, weblinks, audio files or contact data - as well as secure payment and ticketing transactions, all with just one tap of the device.

The Nokia 6216 classic is expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2009 in select markets with an estimated retail price of EUR 150 before taxes and subsidies. "The Nokia 6216 classic will be amongst the first commercial devices in the market complying with operator requirements using the SIM card in connection to secure transactions with Near Field Communications," says Jeremy Belostock, head of near field communications at Nokia.

"With the Nokia 6216 classic in your pocket and the ticketing applications on the SIM you can replace the multitude of cards in your wallet. Having the applications on the SIM consumers can bring their secure applications to their next Nokia NFC enabled phone."

Owner's credit card information can be stored securely on the SIM card and waving the device in front of a contactless terminal enables quick payment and simple ticketing services*. "The launch of the Nokia 6216 classic SIM-based NFC handset is a great step forward for payment and ticketing services," says Alex Sinclair, the Chief Technology Officer of the GSM Association. "We believe this will drive more rapid deployment of the technology and expect this to signal launch of NFC services in the market by operators. In addition to the NFC technology, the Nokia 6216 classic is outfitted with the features people desire from a next generation mobile device, including digital camera, bright display, stereo FM radio and music player, 3G connectivity and a microSD slot which is expandable up to 8GB. *A compatible NFC SIM card is required in order to be used with contactless ticketing and payment services, and require a service subscription and installation of an appropriate secure application.

[tags]chief technology officer,espoo finland,sim card,rapid deployment,field communications,ticketing services,grimaldi forum,operator requirements,field communication,gsm association,nokia 6216,including digital,credit card information,new arrival,mobile device,secure payment,launch,sinclair,keynote,wallet[/tags]

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Friday Book: The Google Way: How One Company is Revolutionizing Management As We Know It

"The Google Way: How One Company is Revolutionizing Management As We Know It" (Bernard Girard)

Shortly after World War I, Ford and GM created the large modern corporation, with its financial and statistical controls, mass production, and assembly lines. In the 1980s, Toyota stood out for combining quality with continuous refinement. Today, Google is reinventing business yet again-the way we work, how organizations are controlled, and how employees are managed. Don't forget that efficient business processes are important, too.

Management consultant Bernard Girard has been analyzing Google since its founding in 1998, and now in The Google Way, he explores Google's innovations in depth-many of which are far removed from the best practices taught at the top business schools.

As you read, you'll see how much of Google's success is due to its focus on users and automation. You'll also learn how eCommerce has profoundly changed the relationship between businesses and their customers, for the first time giving customers an important role to play in a major corporation's growth. Finally, Girard speculates about the limits of Google's business model and discusses the challenges it will face as it continues to grow.

Google's culture is one of innovation. Why not make that spirit of innovation your own?"

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World Book Day: The Angel of Grozny: Inside Chechnya

Today is the World Book & Copyright Day which is a yearly event on 23th of April, organised by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. The day was first celebrated in 1995.

Folks at Global Voices are doing a reading challenge where bloggers are challenged to read a book from a country whose literature you have never read anything of before and blog about it on 23th of April.
Asne Seierstad went to Chechnya when she were 24, at that time she was a freelance journalist but she wanted to understand what's happening there.
Taking her way onto a Russian military aircraft heading south, she sits on a folding seat between two pilots who will soon be bombing Chechen rebels in ravines and mountains, mostly hitting civilians.
With incredible courage, Seierstad then spends most of the next year reporting on Russia's dirty war from the viewpoint of both Chechen families and fighters. She also narrowly avoids being raped by a soldier with a Kalashnikov.
That was 13 years ago, the book published in 2008 is about both her first experience of war and her return to the brutalised city a decade later.


This time, she slipped illegally into the Chechen capital and took up residence in an orphan age run by a women called Hadijat - her "angel" - with a flock of traumatised street children.
Continue reading TimesOnline review

I have always been interested in Chechnya and Albania because not having a Holy Land doesn't mean they should be ignored and never receive support.
I'm not into novels nor literature in general but I kept gazing the book and going through its pages for some good time, I was not sure if I wanted to invest any more in a novel (it's not a novel but the border between her journalistic facts and her novelistic style is very imperceptible) I don't enjoy novels, I never did but my friend insisted on buying it and she did.
I borrowed the book later and starting reading it and after couple of chapters I started to believe that the best way to share a documented journalistic facts would be in a novel form.
I don't want to say much about the book, it's an experience by itself but if Seierstad named Hadijat as Angel of Grozny, I'd name Seierstad as Angel of writers or maybe Angel of Norway ;)



More about Åsne Seierstad - Angel of Grozny More about World Book Day at the U.N World Book Day at the UNESCO World Book Day web site

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Gaza war in numbers

Check it out

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The most expensive publication

Would be Jane's Defence Weekly but it's also the most accurate one analysing military activity around the world, pinpointing geopolitical threats and revealing new weapon technology.

All of that is just for $612.42 a year and you get 51 issues a year.

Ok, I have to say this bluntly, I would not mind it and I would appreciate it if one of the commentators is interested in sponsoring this subscription and I will let him/her know of any near threats.

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American Meth

Under the delusional belief that most truck drivers are on meth, several addicts have admitted to searching roadsides for bottles containing a trucker's urine, in hope of "recycling" what meth might be left behind, by drinking it.

When the key ingredients like lithium, muriatic acid, ether, red phosperous and lye are heated and vaporized while smoking meth, they swirl around the mouth and stick ot the teeth.
Dry mouth, tooth, decay, cracked teeth and gum diseases are sure to follow.

More about American Meth http://www.americanmeth.org/ , Faces of meth

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Zvi Sela: "Israel could have made peace with Hamas under Yassin"

Amazing interview with Zvi Sela who was Israeli police official and a physiology consultant by Kobi Ben Simhon at Haaretz .

My first reaction was let me find any of his books and order it immediately but unfortunately I couldn't find any of his books, not in English, not in Hebrew.

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Will the Americans negotiate like the Israeli with Hizbu Allah?

Would Roxana be used as a negotiation card?

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It's just some thoughts I thought of sharing with the world, most if not all are religious ones although I'm not religious person but pragmatically speaking going back to the roots is better than reinventing the wheel.

• Because we present ourselves to the world as Muslims but we are not.



• Because our scholars busy researching how to wash and pray
  



• Because we double park at Fajir prayer even though there is plenty of free spaces.
  



• Because using the mosque toilet has become a mission impossible.
  



• Because we acquired that we succeed in the past but we've never been taught how we succeed.
  



• Because we have a black & white eyes, grey area is a myth.
  



• Because we memories Quran without understanding the meaning of it.
  



• Because we left our ethics or whatever we claim to be ours.
  



• Because we believe that western cultural and their ethics meant to destroy ours.
  



• Because we apply Islamic laws only when it comes to marriage and inheritance.
  



• Because we don't know why we are Muslims but yet we are so stubborn about identifying ourselves as Muslims.
  



• Because we are not different from terrorists who give themselves the right to kill anyone against their beliefs but yet we think we are better.
  



• Because anger is a legal excuse and actually can get you your freedom back, proudly.
  



• Because we don't know that human rights exists in our religion, cultural and history and we aggressively believe in it as a western conspiracy.



• Because we are schizophrenic. ie, the writer of this post is a heavy smoker and the writer of this post schizophrenic speller with honor and honour and because we kill our honour in our hands
  

More on it
fyireviews
black iris
Jordan journals
the arab observer
jordanian observation
the arab observer
andfaraway

Kinzi
1,2,3,4,5,6

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Stereotypes is a very complicated social issue that we have to deal with on a daily basis, starting from general society stereotypes such as taxi drivers are uneducated and vulgar; or every girl in the street with a high heel must be working!.
I'm sure that every and each one of us have been stereotyped before, personally I have always been Stereotyped as Mukhabarat (Jordan's General intelligence Department) simply because people love assuming things (because they think they are smart!) so the formula is easy, I'm a Jordanian with Circassian mother, red hatta winter-long and discuss political issues, criticise this and that so some people just highlights me with a marker as such, it's that simple! can't you see it? but yet I'm not a one although I wish I were, at least I wouldn't be unemployed now with no social security or health insurance.

On some other occasions I was stereotyped as a rich person just because the other party know some rich people with the same last name and assumed I'm just like them while I'm moderately poor guy who's not able to fund his academic study.
People do stereotype other people because they love to assume but assumptions are the mother of all fuckups and that's why it's bad to stereotype others.

Today was the Danish Beyond Stereotypes which was aimed to clear up the stereotype between Arabs and Danish especially after the Danish Cartoons crisis, it was amazing especially the short documentary clip An Arab Comes to Town which explains some reasons of why Arab-Danish didn't integrate well with the Danish society.





The Danish Ambassador introduction was good too and his answer to some aggressively pugnaciously formed questions were just great not to mention that arranging such even shows how much they do care about clearing the misunderstanding plus and making smoother bridges between the two cultural or more precisely the different mindset within the same global village.

Seeing Nabeel Sawalha is always good, his talent show be used more often in the Kingdom, maybe they should consider giving the guy a title like Minister of calming people down, we had the British here so it's not far from Ministry of Silly Walks.

Mariam Abu Addas & Adam Hannestad who seems to be a politically enlightened journalist gave great examples from their personal experience which shows how ugly stereotyping people can get ugly and how foolish people can look when you explain yourself to them.

More on 7iber.com
The Ambassador Blog [ 1 2 3]
Andfaraway

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Lowboy

"Lowboy: A Novel" (John Wray)Early one morning in New York City, Will Heller, a sixteen-year old paranoid schizophrenic, gets on an uptown B train alone. Like most people he knows, Will believes the world is being destroyed by climate change; unlike most people, he’s convinced he can do something about it. Unknown to his doctors, unknown to the police—unknown even to Violet Heller, his devoted mother—Will alone holds the key to the planet’s salvation. To cool down the world, he has to cool down his own overheating body: to cool down his body, he has to find one willing girl. And he already has someone in mind.

Lowboy, John Wray’s third novel, tells the story of Will’s fantastic and terrifying odyssey through the city’s tunnels, back alleys, and streets in search of Emily Wallace, his one great hope, and of Violet Heller’s desperate attempts to locate her son before psychosis claims him completely. She is joined by Ali Lateef, a missing-persons specialist, who gradually comes to discover that more is at stake than the recovery of a runaway teen: Violet—beautiful, enigmatic, and as profoundly at odds with the world as her son—harbors a secret that Lateef will discover at his own peril.

Suspenseful and comic, devastating and hopeful by turns, Lowboy is a fearless exploration of youth, sex, and violence in contemporary America, seen through one boy’s haunting and extraordinary vision.

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Ronald Reagan book

Customer: “I’m looking for a book on Ronald Reagan.”

Me: “OK, well, that would be right here in the American history section.”

Customer: “It’s a particular book, one with transcripts of all his speeches. I’ve seen it here before.”

(I spend at least 15 minutes exhaustively searching the shelves to find the book, with no luck.)

Me: “It seems we don’t have it. If you’d like, I can write it down and call you if we get another copy in.”

Customer: “That’s impossible. You always had ” it right here.”

Me: “I’m sorry, someone must have bought it.”

Customer: *exasperated* “I know. I’m the one who bought it..

More on Not Always Right | Funny & Stupid Customer Quotes

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Why out of sudden it's a news to hire a black Imam? wasn't the first Imam a black man too?

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

TWO years ago, Sheik Adil Kalbani dreamed that he had become an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

Waking up, he dismissed the dream as a temptation to vanity. Although he is known for his fine voice, Sheik Adil is black, and the son of a poor immigrant from the Persian Gulf. Leading prayers at the Grand Mosque is an extraordinary honor, usually reserved for pure-blooded Arabs from the Saudi heartland.

So he was taken aback when the phone rang last September and a voice told him thatKing Abdullah had chosen him as the first black man to lead prayers in Mecca. Days later Sheik Adil’s unmistakably African features and his deep baritone voice, echoing musically through the Grand Mosque, were broadcast by satellite TV to hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.

Since then, Sheik Adil has been half-jokingly dubbed the “Saudi Obama.” Prominent imams are celebrities in this deeply religious country, and many have hailed his selection as more evidence of King Abdullah’s cautious efforts to move Saudi Arabia toward greater openness and tolerance in the past few years.

“The king is trying to tell everybody that he wants to rule this land as one nation, with no racism and no segregation,” said Sheik Adil, a heavyset and long-bearded man of 49 who has been an imam at a Riyadh mosque for 20 years. “Any qualified individual, no matter what his color, no matter where from, will have a chance to be a leader, for his good and his country’s good.”

Officially, it was his skill at reciting the Koran that won him the position, which he carries out — like the Grand Mosque’s eight other prayer leaders — only during the holy month of Ramadan. But the racial significance of the king’s gesture was unmistakable.

Sheik Adil, like most Saudis, is quick to caution that any racism here is not the fault of Islam, which preaches egalitarianism. The Prophet Muhammad himself, who founded the religion here 1,400 years ago, had black companions.

“Our Islamic history has so many famous black people,” said the imam, as he sat leaning his arm on a cushion in the reception room of his home. “It is not like the West.”

It is also true that Saudi Arabia is far more ethnically diverse than most Westerners realize. Saudis with Malaysian or African features are a common sight along the kingdom’s west coast, the descendants of pilgrims who came here over the centuries and ended up staying. Many have prospered and even attained high positions through links to the royal family. Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States, is the son of Prince Sultan and a dark-skinned concubine from southern Saudi Arabia.

But slavery was practiced here too, and was abolished only in 1962. Many traditional Arabs from Nejd, the central Saudi heartland, used to refer to all outsiders as “tarsh al bahr” — vomit from the sea. People of African descent still face some discrimination, as do most immigrants, even from other Arab countries. Many Saudis complain that the kingdom is still far too dominated by Nejd, the homeland of the royal family. There are nonracial forms of discrimination too, and many Shiite Muslims, a substantial minority, say they are not treated fairly.

“The prophet told us that social classes will remain, because of human nature,” Sheik Adil said gravely. “These are part of the pre-Islamic practices that persist.”

BLACK skin is not the only social obstacle Sheik Adil has overcome. His father came to Saudi Arabia in the 1950s from Ras al Khaima, in what is now the United Arab Emirates, and obtained a job as a low-level government clerk. The family had little money, and after finishing high school, Adil took a job with Saudi Arabian Airlines while attending night classes at King Saud University.

Only later did he study religion, laboriously memorizing the Koran and studying Islamic jurisprudence. In 1984 he passed the government exam to become an imam, and worked briefly at the mosque in the Riyadh airport. Four years later he won a more prominent position as the imam of the King Khalid mosque, a tall white building that is not far from one of the Intelligence Ministry’s offices.

Theologically, Sheik Adil reflects the general evolution of Saudi thinking over the last two decades. During the 1980s he met Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, a leader of the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He initially sympathized with their radical position and anger toward the West. Later, he said, he began to find their views narrow, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Now he speaks warmly of King Abdullah’s new initiatives, which include efforts to moderate the power of the hard-line religious establishment and to modernize Saudi Arabia’s judiciary and educational establishment. He reads Al Watan, a liberal newspaper.

“Some people in this country want everyone to be a carbon copy,” Sheik Adil said. “This is not my way of thinking. You can learn from the person who is willing to criticize, to give a different point of view.”

His life, like that of most imams, follows a rigid routine: he leads prayers five times a day at the mosque, then walks across the parking lot to his home, which he shares with two wives and 12 children. On Fridays, he gives a sermon as well.

HE expected it to continue that way for the rest of his life. Then in early September he woke up to hear his cellphone and land line, both ringing continuously. Stirring from bed, he heard the administrator of the Grand Mosque leaving a message. He picked up one of the phones, and heard the news that the king had selected him.

Two days later he walked into a grand reception room where he was greeted by Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca Province. Sheik Adil tried to introduce himself, but the prince cut him off with a smile: “You are known,” he said.

Next, Sheik Adil was led to a table where he sat with King Abdullah and other ministers. He was too shy to address the king directly, but as he left the room he thanked him and kissed him on the nose, a traditional sign of deference.

Remembering the moment, Sheik Adil smiled and went silent. Then he pulled out his laptop and showed a visitor a YouTube clip of him reciting the Koran at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

“To recite before thousands of people, this is no problem for me,” he said. “But the place, its holiness, is so different from praying anywhere else. In that shrine, there are kings, presidents and ordinary people, all being led in prayer by you as imam. It gives you a feeling of honor, and a fear of almighty God.”

Muhammad al-Milfy contributed reporting.

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New news?

Can't really tell

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George writes to the Charity Commission about their behaviour over Viva Palestina

Dear Friend,

George Galloway has written a damning letter to the UK Charity Commission about their behaviour over the Viva Palestina convoy, which delivered £1million of aid directly to the people of Gaza, forced Israel and Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, and broke the siege which has resulted in misery for Gaza's people.

The letter speaks for itself - please forward it widely.We need to make a stand against these people who are trying to silence critics of Israel, the UK and the US. They may believe that the Palestinian people are worth less than other people. We don't.



Letter from Respect MP George Galloway to the Charity Commission


To the Charity Commission,

I have been travelling for many weeks in North Africa and the Middle East, Europe, and North America. I have returned to a London address I seldom visit to find a blizzard of correspondence from you. Your correspondence, when read together, as I have just done, seems to represent a wildly disproportionate and inappropriate reaction to our recent delivery of aid to the suffering Palestinians in Gaza, and must raise the question: Why?

The peremptory letters from you, and by you I mean the Charity Commission, are full of bluster and threat, issuing absurd deadlines to people it does not seem to occur to you are not even receiving your letters, either because they are working abroad (Ms Razuki and Mr Al-Mukhtar), travelling abroad on high profile political business (myself), or you are writing to them at the wrong address.

In my own case, Easter Saturday opened with your, latest, threat to go before a High Court judge in a bid to force me to appear before you. That will not be necessary. I look forward to telling you to your faces what I think of you. Which is this.

I have become increasingly concerned about the abuse of your powers displayed in your brazenly obvious political double standards. About your attempts, under the guise of regulating British charities, to police the democratic efforts of political activists in Britain in a way never envisaged by parliament. About your preparedness to waste large sums of public money in political stunts, either at the behest of others or in the hope that you are properly anticipating their wishes. And above all, in the context of this issue, your almost laughably obvious prejudice against the Palestinian cause and against Britain's two million-strong Muslim community.

Just one example will suffice for now, although I have more, much more.

During Israel's 22-day attack on virtually defenceless Palestinian civilians in Gaza - condemned by virtually everyone in the world from the United Nations to the Pope and including the British government – an organisation The Zionist Federation took out a full page advert in the Jewish Chronicle on 9th January asking readers to send "care packages" to "our [ie Israeli] soldiers fighting on the front line” in Gaza and to send charity vouchers to a British registered charity Operation Wheelchairs Committee (charity number 263089) for the same purpose.

Although this was immediately drawn to your attention you appear to have done absolutely nothing at all about such an abuse of charitable status. The Zionist Federation is presumably not a registered charity any more than Viva Palestina was. The Zionist Federation appeal was for money for “care packages” with donations possible online to www.zionist.org.uk and to the charity Operation Wheelchairs Committee. By the logic of your actions towards Viva Palestina, surely you should have immediately declared the Zionist Federation to be a charity with all that that entails. But you did not do so. Why? In any case, the Operation Wheelchairs Committee is a charity, soliciting for funds in this advert to support a foreign army involved in a widely condemned military action, in which thousands of civilians were killed, maimed and orphaned. Yet the Charity Commission did nothing. No freezing of bank accounts, no press releases, no carefully briefed "concerns", no threats of High Court judges.

It will only take the reader (I am publishing this letter as widely as I can) a moment's thought to imagine what the Charity Commission's attitude would have been if a British - Muslim - Charity had taken a full page advertisement in a different British newspaper raising money for "care packages" for "our [ie Palestinian] soldiers fighting on the front line” in Gaza.

Not only would you have gone into overdrive and immediately begun freezing their assets, the hue and cry in the press you would have fed, would have seen the charity's trustees under arrest.

This is an incontestable example of your persistent bias. Because in contrast to your inaction on a British charity raising money for the Israeli army and in the absence of such a hypothetical Muslim charity, you have launched this hysterical campaign to try and wreck the work of Viva Palestina instead.

Without any knowledge of the intentions of Viva Palestina and on the basis of press reports, you pronounced, as is your wont, that we were in effect a charity, to give yourselves locus in our affairs. You misunderstood - I believe deliberately - the structure of our Gaza convoy, purporting to believe that we - the subscribers (whatever that means) - were holding more than a million pounds about which you expressed "concerns", when in fact, as you have been told but continue to ignore, this was never the case.

You first frightened the banks into refusing our attempts to open a bank account. When we finally found a bank which would allow us to open an account you intimidated them into freezing it, I believe exceeding your powers. You then began procuring documents - possibly illegally - about us from the Islamic Bank. As a result of your press briefings about your "concerns" newspapers began to refuse to accept advertisements from us, donors turned away, and the public were encouraged to believe that Viva Palestina was something to be avoided - conjuring-up an undisclosed but lurking suspicion about it.

In all this you acted not as the public would expect a Charity Commission to do, but rather as a self-appointed state policeman of the activist sector, a mission-creep towards a style of work which simply must be contested.

Here are the facts. Accept them and save the public purse a lot of money it can't afford. And get off the backs of Britain's Muslims and the Palestinian people.

I am not a trustee of Viva Palestina. You say I am a "subscriber" though you do not say what that means. I have nothing to do with Viva Palestina's finances, I am not a signatory to its frozen bank account. I will attend the meeting with you, because I intend to launch a parliamentary campaign, and take it to the country, to put you back in your place.

I did inspire the creation of Viva Palestina and I am very proud of that. If those running it listen to me they will refuse to take anything off their website at your behest. The example you cite of an item which should be taken down, could just as easily have been any one of a hundred items. And would become so, once your right to dictate the activities of a political campaigning organisation was conceded.

For that is what Viva Palestina was, and is. Its constitution - its actual constitution not the one you wish it had - makes this abundantly clear. So does everything it says and does. If all that renders Viva Palestina not eligible to be a charity, then that's fine. Let me emphasise this as strongly as I am able. Viva Palestina does not want to be a charity.


It is you, for transparently political reasons, who insisted that charitable status should be sought. You registered Viva Palestina as a charity in record quick time and without the great bulk of the information you normally required. And then you froze the record-quick new charity's bank account so that it could not operate. These are police state tactics, entirely inappropriate and without any basis.

Viva Palestina simply provided a focus for an aid convoy from Britain to Gaza. It was de-centralised. Each participant was responsible for raising their own money, bringing their own vehicles, filling their own vehicles with their own aid, making their own donations in Gaza. You have been told this but continue to misrepresent the position. The money raised by Viva Palestina itself - a much smaller amount - was publicly declared to be intended as a donation to a British charity for work in Gaza - Interpal, with which you are depressingly familiar for having harassed it for years on repeatedly debunked smears.

The vast majority of the participants in the convoy, and the vast majority of those who helped them with money and aid, were British Muslims.


Having exerted that mighty effort, those British Muslims now find that their peaceful democratic response to the crisis in Gaza has been criminalised by you, and their aid confiscated. This all follows the high-profile police raid on vehicles from the Muslim community in the North West heading to join the convoy the night before its departure. This raid, blazed across the media, saw the arrest of ten Muslims headed for the convoy. All ten of them were later released without charge, but not before sowing the seeds of tremendous bitterness in the communities from which the men came.


This is dangerous as well as foolish. There are extremists on the edge of the Muslim community even now saying "I told you so" to those who had been naive enough to think Britain was still the kind of country where efforts like ours could be appreciated and, at least, be free from the kind of arbitrary and unjust actions taken by you. These actions undermine the confidence of British Muslims in the democratic system in Britain and are therefore dangerous and against the interests of our country.

I understand from my colleagues that you have now frozen more than £100,000 intended to help the suffering Palestinian people. Shame on you. I suppose it is too much to hope that you might have that on your conscience. But be sure I intend to let as many people as possible know, here and abroad, what you have done.

Viva Palestina's work has effectively come to a halt since your intervention in its affairs and in my absence. This was, I'm sure, your intention. Viva Palestina has not spent any money improperly. It would not do so. Indeed it could not do so. It has spent hardly anything at all - thanks to you. But it intends to get its money back from you. Viva Palestina have instructed lawyers to deal with you and a barrister will accompany us to the meeting with you. If necessary we will start a new organisation free from your wrecking efforts. But we want this money back, please be sure about that. There are Palestinians dying as a result of the malignant, sinister, cynical actions taken by you. Trust me you'll be hearing more about this.

Yours faithfully

George Galloway MP

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Driving Miss Crazy

(I was coming home on the bus and overheard a conversation between an elderly lady and the bus driver.)

Lady: “Oof! Do you mind?! You’re so awful!”

Bus Driver: “I’m sorry, ma’am? What’s the problem?”

Lady: “You keep starting and stopping the bus! I keep falling forward and backward, and it’s taking so long for me to get home. It’s getting dark!”

Bus Driver: “Well, I’m sorry ma’am - I have to stop at the designated stops.”

Lady: “Stop making excuses! There’s no reason to be doing this. Just ignore the stops!”

Bus Driver: “So you want me to ignore all the other people wanting to get on the bus?”

Lady: “Well, yes! Finally you understand! You can go back afterwards and get them! Is it so much to ask for good help anymore?!”

More at Not Always Right | Funny & Stupid Customer Quotes

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One more amazing movie by clint Eastwood

This man is just amazing but this time and this movie is triple awesome at least, Clint Eastwood is the actor, producer and the director! all in one :D sounds like Arab countries, ha? it seems Clint worked hard on building the character and playing it, maybe because it's his final appearance on the screen.

Eastwood is Walt Kowalski is a widower, grumpy, tough-minded, borderline-hateful, unhappy old man who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1973 Gran Torino he keeps in cherry condition. When his neighbor Tao, a young Hmong teenager, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Tao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them form the gangs that foul their neighborhood.

This movie is amazing by its story, indirect comedy and language! unfortunately I don't have a Korean friend to practice the movie language on ;)

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Telefonica and Nokia partner to mobilize education in Latin America

Regional agreement to bring educational content to remote schools through mobile technology

Madrid, Spain, Espoo, Finland and Miami, USA - Telefonica and Nokia have signed a strategic agreement to bring educational content to remote schools in Latin America through the use of mobile technology. The two industry giants made a commitment to transform the delivery of education in isolated areas as a way to close the digital inclusion gap in the region and promote social development.

The agreement will help expand the current scope of Telefonica Foundation's "Proniño" and "Educared" social programs - two of the most important private initiatives focused on using information and communications technologies in the improvement of the quality of education in the region- and complement Nokia's ongoing work to harness the power of mobile technology for social development.

During the annual Telefonica Leadership Conference, which is taking place this week in Miami, Telefonica COO Julio Linares, said: "This agreement fits our Spirit of Progress, which implies that we want to enhance people's lives as well as the progress of the communities where we operate, by delivering innovative services based on information and communications technologies. Wireless connectivity opens up strong opportunities of development and integration in Latin America".

Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who was a guest speaker at the conference, said: "This partnership demonstrates the significant social benefits that mobile technology can deliver, reaching communities and children who previously had very limited educational opportunity in an inspiring and accessible way."

The first implementation of this agreement is planned for Chile, where Telefonica's mobile broadband and Nokia's advanced mobile software Nokia Education Delivery will enable isolated schools in Chile to have access to high quality educational content, including the most innovative resources, tools and services for students, fathers and teachers via Educared. The agreement will be later expanded to other countries in Latin America and will prioritize schools where Proniño works. Proniño and EducaRed will thereby be able to ameliorate educational quality through ICT application to learning processes in some of their rural schools without fixed broadband connectivity.

Proniño is a program that contributes to the elimination of child labor through quality education, reaching in 2008 more than 107,000 children across 13 countries in Latin America. EducaRed program works in the promotion of the use of ICT in education, through its innovative portal and different teachers, parents and children training programs. In 2008, EducaRed received more than 60 million visits from the educational community in its Spanish and Latin American websites (www.educared.net).

The agreement will also extend to the adoption of Nokia Data Gathering software by Telefonica Foundation within its Proniño program. Nokia's software solution will enable Telefonica Foundation to monitor and evaluate the impact of the implementation using mobile devices instead of paper forms. This will avoid duplication of data entry, enable faster decisions and reduce environmental impact.

Under the framework of this agreement, Nokia and Telefonica will also be working with local governments in Latin America in the use of information technologies to ensure and foster the competitiveness of their economies.

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A Twitter-Based Graphing Tool

Grafitter can make weight-loss easier, track recurring dreams or help you monitor your recycling. It may not mow your lawn, but it'll tell you how much time you spend mowing it.

This Twitter-based application was developed by Ian Li, a Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. And the fact that it allows users to so easily see a graph of their behavior makes it a technology that's winning fans across the Twittersphere.

It's also the the 2009 winner of Carnegie Mellon University's second annual Smiley Award. Sponsored by Yahoo! Inc., the award recognizes Carnegie Mellon student-innovation in technology-assisted person-to-person communication — and Li is collecting a $500 prize. Last year, his web-based Moodjam application, which tracks users' emotional states, won honorable mention.

"I create technologies that help people collect and see information about themselves," said Li. "I have applied my research on motivating physical activity, increasing mood awareness and office activity awareness. Grafitter is only as useful as you make it. If there is something about your life that you are curious about, start recording it and study your graphs."

For example, with help from Grafitter you could record your weight, the amount of exercise you get and the food you eat by sending simple Twitter messages with special tags. Later, you can see all of these items in graph form and, optionally, share them with your community of friends on Twitter.

"Ian has a wonderful combination of technical and creative skills," said Li's advisor Jodi Forlizzi, associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. These culminate in his interest on 'personal informatics' — how to collect, display and benefit from information about the self."

"Ian is really a unique individual — a great mix of designer and technologist, targeted towards applications that can make a difference in people's lives, either individually or as a community," added advisor Anind Dey, assistant professor of human-computer interaction.

"Grafitter is fun, very easy to use and is a good fit for the Smiley Award's theme of technology-assisted person-to-person communication," said computer science research professor Scott Fahlman, who created the Smiley emoticon 26 years ago and organized the award competition. "The judges were particularly impressed with Ian's cleverness in creating a 'viral' application — one that is likely to spread quickly through the large and fast-growing community of Twitter users, providing them with a handy new communication tool. This is very much in the spirit of the original smiley symbol."

This year's Honorable Mention award goes to Ilya Brin, Dan Eisenberg and Kevin Li, a trio of undergraduates who developed EyeTable. It's an intelligent restaurant table that uses headsets and sensing technology based on the Wii game controller to determine how well people are responding to one another on dates by analyzing their gestures and speech patterns. They developed EyeTable for a course project in the Applied Computational Intelligence Lab, taught by Language Technology Institute faculty members Anatole Gershman and Alan Black.

Related Links: Grafitter.com | Human-Computer Interaction Institute | School of Computer Science

Via Carnegie Mellon University

[tags]computer interaction institute,carnegie mellon university,human computer interaction,smiley award,recurring dreams,person communication,emotional states,twitter,creative skills,honorable mention,yahoo inc,person to person,physical activity,associate professor,informatics,graph,graphs,recycling,weight loss,exercise[/tags]

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Check Point Software Technologies' acquisition of Nokia's security appliance business completed

Espoo, Finland and Mountain View, CA, USA - Nokia and Check Point Software Technologies today announced the completion of Check Point's acquisition of Nokia's security appliance business, which was initially announced on December 22, 2008. With this acquisition, Check Point assumes full ownership of the security appliance business.

The two businesses have collaborated for over a decade to deliver industry-leading enterprise security solutions, and this agreement is the natural culmination of that long-standing collaboration. For more information, please read Check Point's press release or visit the Check Point web site.
About NokiaNokia is the world's number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share and a leader in the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of devices for all major consumer segments and offer Internet services that enable people to experience music, maps, media, messaging and games. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks. About Check Point
Software Technologies Ltd.Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., worldwide leader in securing the Internet, is the only vendor to deliver Total Security for networks, data and endpoints, unified under a single management framework. This unique approach gives Check Point customers uncompromised protection against all types of threats, reduces complexity and lowers total cost of ownership. With its dynamic Software Blade architecture, Check Point delivers secure, flexible and simple solutions that can be fully customized to meet the exact security needs of any organization or environment. Check Point customers include all Fortune 100 companies and tens of thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes. Check Point's award-winning ZoneAlarm solutions protect millions of consumers from hackers, spyware and identity theft.

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Letter to D

‘You’re 82 years old. You’ve shrunk six centimetres, you only weigh 45 kilos yet you’re still beautiful, graceful and desirable’ – so begins André Gorz’s ‘open love letter’ to the woman he has lived with for 58 years and who lies dying next to him. As one of France’s leading post-war philosophers, André Gorz wrote many influential books, but nothing he wrote will be read as widely or remembered as long as this simple, passionate, beautiful letter to his dying wife. who lies dying next to him.

As one of France’s leading post-war philosophers, André Gorz wrote many influential books, but nothing he wrote will be read as widely or remembered as long as this simple, passionate, beautiful letter to his dying wife.

In a bittersweet postscript a year after Letter to D was published, a note pinned to the door for the cleaning lady marked the final chapter in an extraordinary love story. André Gorz and his terminally ill wife, Dorine, were found lying peacefully side by side, having taken their lives together. They simply could not live without one another.

An international bestseller, Letter to D is the ultimate love story – and all the more poignant because it’s true.

I don't have a D to write to yet but I'm sure it's something I'd enjoy doing one day!

[tags]andré gorz,international bestseller,ill wife,influential books,dorine,cleaning lady,love letter,love story,post war,philosophers,postscript[/tags]

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Governmental shit!

If what Mr Jameel Al-Nimri stating is true

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How does the SOCKScription work?

It’s very simple:

• You choose which kind of socks you want and how often you want them delivered (e.g. 3 pairs of calf socks 3 times a year)



• You place the sockscription in your shopping basket and submit your order



• Next, you receive 3 pairs of socks by letter post
  



• 4 months later, you receive 3 pairs of socks by letter post
  



• 8 months later, you receive 3 pairs of socks by letter post
  



• 11 months later, you decide whether you would like us to renew your sockscription by means of one simple mouse click



• 12 months later, your sockscription will be renewed as requested

Of course, there are important things to note!

• Important: All prices include postage worldwide; there are no additional charges



• The socks are sent by letter post so you don’t have to collect a package from the post office



• One sockscription lasts 1 year



• You can order more than 3 deliveries a year



• You receive two reminder emails and decide whether you want to renew your sockscription More than 40,000 customers from 74 countries have placed their trust in our sockscription



• Our online business has been operating successfully since 1999

GOD! I want that business idea where people become so dependent on me, where people cannot live without my service and/or product.

Is it armpit screening within HR departments? but in time of recession managers might ask their HR managers to screen armpits themselves instead of outsourcing it or maybe they would skip it as your scent isn't the most important success or keep-alive factor during recession!

[tags]calf socks,reminder emails,hr departments,hr managers,armpits,business idea,mouse click,armpit,shopping basket,recession,important things,4 months,pairs,deliveries,post office,12 months,god[/tags]

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Christian version of Shiite?

A masked penitent kneels as he flagellates himself during the start of a procession as part of Holy Week celebrations through the streets of Taxco in the Mexican state of Guerrero April 9, 2009. Hundreds of penitents, bound and flagellating themselves, wound through the labyrinthine cobblestone streets of Taxco, an almost 500-year-old silver mining town built into a mountainside, in one of the most dramatic and heartfelt Easter rituals staged in this fervently Catholic country. (REUTERS/Henry Romero)

Filipino flagellants kneel in front of the church as they perform rites meant to atone for sins at San Fernando city, Pampanga province, northern Philippines on Maundy Thursday, April 9, 2009. Many Philippine devotees practice flagellation and penitence during the holy week in rites frowned upon by church leaders in Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A Catholic devotee has his hands nailed on the cross as part of reenacting Christ's suffering on the cross during a Passion play as part of a religious ritual during Easter celebrations in a village in San Fernando, Pampanga, north of Manila, on April 10, 2009. Devout Catholics stage passion plays and crucifixions recounting the sufferings of Christ as part of observance of Easter celebrations in South East Asian archipelago nation of some 90 million of which 85 percent are Catholics samidst sharp criticisms from the church. (JES AZNAR/AFP/Getty Image)

You can see more at the big picture

[tags]pampanga province,san fernando pampanga,archipelago nation,maundy thursday,henry romero,getty image,easter celebrations,cobblestone streets,devout catholics,south east asian,passion plays,northern philippines,san fernando city pampanga,catholic nation,passion play,favila,catholic country,crucifixions,silver mining,religious ritual[/tags]

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Hunger in Bahrain!

Love making can get aggressive sometimes, especially when the couple likes it that way but under no circumstances one should cut partner's nipple.

[tags]bahrini, cut, partner, nipple[/tags]

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Nokia to publish first quarter 2009 results on April 16, 2009

Espoo, Finland - Nokia will publish its first quarter 2009 results on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at approximately 1 pm Helsinki time (CET+1). The press release will be available on the Nokia website immediately after publication.

Nokia's analyst conference call will begin at 3 pm Helsinki time. A webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investors.nokia.com. Media representatives wishing to listen in may call + 1 706 634 5012, conference ID 88040993.

I wonder if they are doing good or not but of course this has nothing to do with my next phone which shouldn't be purchased in 2009 or even 2010 as it's still two years old only.

[tags]espoo finland,nokia website,conference id,analyst conference,media representatives,conference call,helsinki,webcast,first quarter,press release,nokia,investors[/tags]

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The Story of Amman

Amazing song by Aziz Maraqa






and now enjoy The story of Amman Municipality


[tags]Story of amman, Aziz Maraqa, Song, youtube, clip, corruption[/tags]

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Surviving one of Mac disasters! Aluminum keyboard meet beverage

I just manage to move a $50 Apple aluminum keyboard into hardware museum.

Honestly I'm in love with Mac OSX but I hate its attitude and I hate Apples sensitive products!

Check out the other 16 disaster

[tags]apple, aluminum, keyboard, osx, mac[/tags]

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My wife and I

A woman was standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror.

She was not happy with what she saw and said to her husband, 'I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly.

I really need you to pay me a compliment.'

The husband replies, 'Your eyesight's damn near perfect.'

Another one

My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary.

She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in about 3 seconds.'

I bought her a scale.

And then the fight started... and I'm back or I guess so

btw I'm single ;)

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