The Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Sergei Prokofyev. I was born in the late 19th century and was a child prodigy, composing at a very young age. I kept this talent up, earning myself quite a name and fully exploiting the bragging rights. I was disliked by Stalin, however, and I died the same day he did. My most famous work is "Peter and the Wolf." Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

Cool, I actually know his musc.

Scariest Movie Moments

Blockbuster did a survey of the scariest horror movie moments for Halloween, the results where:

1. The Ring: Samara crawls out of the television


2. Hannibal: Hannibal Lecter dines on Ray Liotta's brain


3. The Exorcist: Regan's upside-down spider walk down the stairs


4. Blair Witch Project: The final chase through the abandoned house


5. Alien: The birth of the alien baby out of John Hurt's chest


6. The Exorcist: Regan's head spinning around backwards


7. A Nightmare on Elm Street: An invisible Freddy Krueger drags his victim across the ceiling


8. Poltergeist: Carol Anne announces "They're here!" in front of a static TV


9. The Shining: Danny encounters the murdered twins


10. Seven: The "Sloth" corpse rises up

I know the ring really scared me; here is the trailer if you did not see it:



In Hannibal, eating out of Ray Liota's brain was just like eating sushi, it did not realy scare me.

One scene not listed in the top ten survey that scared me also was the kid in the Sixth Sense saying, "I see dead people". For the rest, I just admire the special effects and wonder, "How did they do that?", and they don't really grab me.

Neo vs Robocop

Coming in theaters soon (why not, they made Alien vs Predator)

Monkeys don't like German Techno

In horror movies, the monster is hiding under the bed, the beautiful girl (it's always a girl) lies down to sleep, there is total silence except for the curtains rustling and the random house noises. A low deep music start as you see something glimmer under the bed, the music rises in pitch as the dark shadow starts moving under the bed. The music reaches a crescendo. You grab the edge of your seat waiting for the inevitable.

Music plays a big role in making us feel a whole range of emotions from tension to peacefulness, from happy to sad, from lazing to jumping around.

Monkeys where even tested with music and showed a preference for lullabies against German techno. Article here.

I personally like Daft Punk more than lullabies, that means there is no monkey in me.

The propeller heads scientists at MIT have devised a test for us humans too to see how music makes us feel. You can try the test here.

Here is some German techo for all the humans reading this, presenting Daft Punk with One more time

Instant Baby

What can I say, just watch the video.

Ramadan Apology from Kuwait

After Futoor

After futoor and after devouring twice your weight in food, you want to lay back and just relax, watching television, having tea and just be with the family.

In this post futoor spirit, here is a little clip:

We will meet again

Check out this video with a nice twist at the end.

Don't worry about not understanding the lyrics, all you need to know is that До скорой вустречи! (Da skori vstrechi) means We will meet again, performed by Zveri.

Fiber to the Home in Kuwait - Part 2

In March 2006, I got a little card on my front door saying that the Kuwait Ministry of Communications (MOC) wanted to honor my humble home with their magnanimous presence and offer me the gift of light speed Internet, which I wrote about here. The next day, I waited for them, and they only wanted to do a survey. In my sorrowful state and with tearful eyes I wrote a sad poem.

A few days ago, the friendly people of the MOC came to my house and brought with them a gray Alcatel box that they fixed right next to my telephone junction box. I live in South Surra which has no fixed telephone service. Everyone relies on their mobile for communication to the outside world. Others go as far as using their mobile data service to access the Internet. I have a need for speed so I had a Satelite Internet connection set up before I moved in.

So now the grey Alcatel Box is installed.



Truly an object of beauty, more beautiful than a tropical sunset.



WARNING If you are not a geek, stop here, this post goes into uber geek mode.

Opening the mysterious grey box, its secrets are revealed. You can see four RJ32 connections (telephone sockets for the non geeks reading this) and two RJ45 ports (Internet Connections), meaning you can get four standard telephone lines and two ethernet connections.




The black wire on the left is the power cable, and the thin little wire on the right is the fiber going into my home :-)

Here is a closer view of the connectors:




Now the question is, how much speed can I get? Well doing a little Alcatel research I found this Press Release about the Kuwait fiber rollout project that promises gigabits of data delivered to the home, but the question remains unanswered, how much speed can I get?

I did a little more research and found this topology diagram for a similar configuration to the one being rolled out in Kuwait.




The central 7342 passive optical network (PON) delivers 2.5Gb/s. This has a capacity to service 64 locations. Because it is a packet switched network, effectively you can receive 2.5GB/s to each home, of course you will be getting a little less because of other users.

Now all I need to do is wait for the MOC to open its doors and process my application and I will be drowning in gigabits of data.

Talk like a Pirate Day

Ahoy matey, Tuesday September 19, is talk like a pirate day. So shiver me timbers, and a billion blistering barnacles, respect to all the pirates.

Greatest respect to Maddox, the greatest pirate of themm all. Arrrrrr.

Google is not celebrating, yarrrr, to the plank.

Hot Date

This hot date will set you on fire.



Warning, this video was done by trained professionals, do not try this at home, or at the restaurant, night club, or any other public place.

Toilet Humor

For the Boys











For The Girls










If you don't get it, you are too young.

Shpilki - or - Amr Diab

Two Songs from two very different people.



Russian group Shpilki with Sam ti Natasha



Egyptian Singer Amr Diab with Habibi Ya Noor Al Ain


Who borrowed from who? or did they all borrow from someone else?

Read This if You are Sitting at Work

Ten Top Ten Lists

It is a slow first day at work, and even slower sit down at home, so here is something to keep you entertained. Everyone loves Top Ten Lists, here are ten top ten lists:

Top Ten Vehicles owned by Billionaires.

Top Ten Bizarro World Children’s Books

Top Ten Sexually Tilted Lines In Star Wars

The Top 10 Most Fascinating Urinals

Top Ten Funniest Jokes

Top Ten Movies, ok it is actually a list of 250 movies, just read the first Ten.

Top Ten Most Commonly Spoken Languages

Top Ten Sexiest Cars, Yabeela!

Top Ten Requests for Future iPod Games

Top Ten Guitar Solos

Last Post from Malaysia

I am still in Malaysia but will be leaving after a few hours; I finished my work and now am packing my bags. From the few days that I stayed here and from the very little that I spent in Kuala Lumpur, it looks like a very beautiful and exciting city.

I had to find the latest, hottest, best computer shopping area so I googled for that and everyone recommended the Low Yat Plaza so I took a taxi cab there.






Low Yat Plaza has a majestic entrance with Chinese lions guarding it against evil spirits. (Notice, the Starbucks logo at the other end).



The Plaza is crowded with locals, which is a good sign because it means it is not a touristy place with rip off prices.



I found a Creative store, that had the full catalog of Creative products piled high inside its small area.





To the right of the Plaza entrance was an iPod Station shop that was only iPods and assorted accessories.



I was getting hungry and needed coffee so I went down to the food court in the huge basement.



The sign said, Free Wi-Fi, how cool is that!



There was a Bee Connection place that offered all the Bee products you can think of.


Walking aorund the food court trying to find a place to sit down and have something light, I saw a sign that intrigued me.



The sign told the Story of White Coffee, saying that a "Hainanese coffee maker in Ipoh devised an ingenious method of roasting coffee beans, much to the delight of coffee drinkers locally.

At OLDTOWN, our home-made coffee baking recipe brings out the hidden aromas of specially selected coffee beans to produce an unforgettable taste that cofee lovers enjoy.

The ingredients of OLDTOWN White Coffee are combined with a wonderful mixture of flavours from specially roasted Liberica Arabica and Robusta coffee beans.

OLDTOWN White Cofee is blened with small amounts of beet-sugar, and then moderately roasted with high temperatures. This produces the distinct flavour of OLDTWON White Coffee. With steamed milk and hot water added in just right, you get a truly wonderful coffee drinking experience in a cup of OLDTOWN White Coffee."

I had to try that coffee, I took a seat and placed my order.



I ordered White Coffee and some Chicken Curry. I tasted the coffee; it was warm and not tongue burning hot which is exactly the way I like it. It had a very strong and pleasant spicy coffee smell, and the taste was incredible, slightly sweet on its own without adding sugar, and not mega sweet where you need and insulin syringe right next to your mega sweet coffee cocktail. The caffeine kick was slow but effective. White Coffee was so good, I asked for another cup.

Walking out of the Plaza to the left, I noticed a signboard. It said Japanese Restaurant Street, I was full of coffee and chicken curry but I will defineitely visit that street if I return to Kuala Lumpur.

Crossing the Street in Malaysia

Malaysian cars drive on the wrong left side of the road as opposed to the right side. So you need to readapt all your street crossing skills, or follow the walk / don't walk pedestrian indicators to be safe.

The indicators here are cool; they have an animated figure with a countdown timer. Have a look.



I would have made it a little more dramatic with the little stick figure squished by an animated truck as soon as the counter hits zero, as a warning for all those considering jaywalking.

Travelling to Malaysia

I have been away for a few days because I was hopping different airplanes to reach Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is my first day here. The time difference is 5 hours more than Kuwait, so right now it is 8pm in Malaysia and in Kuwait it is 3 pm. After yesterday's long 8 hour flight and 1 hour drive from the airport to the hotel, I finally checked in the hotel and collapsed in bed to sleep. After waking up I noticed that the hotel room is huge, and the bathroom had both a shower stall with glass doors and a tub. They even added a nice little touch to the tub.




I woke up at an unknown time and needed strong black coffee. I do not know what the Malaysian's drink for their caffeine kick so I headed off to the Megamall which is a huge mall that has got all the different shops and coffee houses you would expect from the newer malls. I found a Starbucks, but had my coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leave.

I took a few pictures at the mall for your viewing pleasure. My pictures are not your usual sightseeing generic pictures, you can find these pictures all over the Internet with better views and better cameras, the shots I took was stuff that caught my attention.

After having my coffee and able to open my eyes, I walked around the mall and found Tower Records.


I went in and checked out the new music, but in this age of iPods, bittorent and other p2p software, I don't know if they where selling that well.

They had an interesting sign over the displayed merchandise, saying:





I walked by a place that looked like an exclusive high fashion hair salon, behind a glass front they had a reception area and elegant doors leading you inside. I looked closer and the sign inside said "Lazik & Cataract Operation Theatre".



Eye surgery has gone mainstream, now you can do your hair, fix your nails, and zap your eyes to perfection and throw away those cumbersome glasses.

There was a menu shown from a computer display, showing the updated prices just like the trendy French Cafes.





Tissot Watches had a promotion going on with kids playing against each other Moto GP on networked xboxes.



I found a shop with an interesting name, it sells casual clothes.





I don't know if that will catch on elsewhere.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the pictures.

A Quoi Ça Sert L'Amour - Édith Piaf

A quoi ça sert, l’amour ?
On raconte toujours
Des histoires insensées
A quoi ça sert d’aimer ?

L’amour ne s’explique pas !
C’est une chose comme ça !
Qui vient on ne sait d’où
Et vous prend tout à coup.

Moi, j’ai entendu dire
Que l’amour fait souffrir,
Que l’amour fait pleurer,
A quoi ça sert d’aimer ?

L’amour, ça sert à quoi ?
A nous donner d’la joie
Avec des larmes aux yeux…
C’est triste et merveilleux !

Pourtant on dit souvent
Que l’amour est décevant
Qu’il y a un sur deux
Qui n’est jamais heureux…

Même quand on l’a perdu
L’amour qu’on a connu
Vous laisse un gout de miel -
L’amour c’est éternel !

Tout ça c’est très joli,
Mais quand tout est fini
Il ne vous reste rien
Qu’un immense chagrin…

Tout ce qui maintenant
Te semble déchirant
Demain, sera pour toi
Un souvenir de joie !

En somme, si j’ai compris,
Sans amour dans la vie,
Sans ses joies, ses chagrins,
On a vécu pour rien ?

Mais oui! Regarde-moi !
A chaque fois j’y crois !
Et j’y croirait toujours…
Ça sert à ça l’amour !

Mais toi, tu es le dernier !
Mais toi’ tu es le premier !
Avant toi y avait rien
Avec toi je suis bien !

C’est toi que je voulais !
C’est toi qu’il me fallait !
Toi que j’aimerais toujours…

A translation for the words can be found in the comments here.

Michael Jackson found in Tehran

Is it him?

Twenty Eight Facts about Marriage

1. Marriage is not a word. It's a sentence (a life sentence).
   
2. Marriage is love. Love is blind. Therefore marriage is an institution for the blind.
   
3. Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his Bachelor's Degree and the woman gets her masters.
   
4. Marriage is a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.
5. Married life is full of excitement and frustration:

        In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens;
        In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
        In the third year, they both speak and the NEIGHBOUR listens.

6. Getting married is very much like going to a restaurant with friends.You order what you want, and when you see what the other person has, you wish you had ordered that instead.
7. There was this man who muttered a few words in the church and found himself married. A year later he muttered something in his sleep and found himself divorced.
   
8. A happy marriage is a matter of giving and taking; the husband gives and the wife takes.
   
9. Son: How much does it cost to get married, Dad? Father: I don't know son, I'm still paying for it.
10. Son: Is it true Dad? I heard that in ancient China, a man doesn't know his wife until he marries her. Father: That happens everywhere, son, EVERYWHERE!
    
11. Love is one long sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.
    
12. They say that when a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it is love; after marriage it is self-defense.
    
13. When a newly married man looks happy, we know why. But when a 10-year married man looks happy, we wonder why.
    
14. There was this lover who said that he would go through hell for her. They got married, and now he is going through HELL.
    
15. When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
    
16. After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin. They just can't face each other, but they still stay together.
    
17. Marriage is man and a woman become one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
    
18. Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After the marriage the "Y" becomes silent.
    
19. I married Miss right; I just didn't know her first name was Always.
    
20. It's not true that married men live longer than single men, it only seems longer.
    
21. Losing a wife can be hard. In my case, it was almost impossible.
    
22. A man was complaining to a friend: I HAD IT ALL-MONEY, A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE, THE LOVE OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, THEN POW! IT WAS ALL GONE. WHAT HAPPENED, asked his friend. He says MY WIFE FOUND OUT.
    
23. WIFE: Let's go out and have some fun tonight. HUSBAND: OK, but if you get home before I do, leave the hallway lighs on.
    
24. At a cocktail party, one woman said to another: AREN'T YOU ! WEARING YOUR RING ON THE WRONG FINGER? The other replied, YES, I, AM. I MARRIED THE WRONG MAN.
25. Man is incomplete until he gets married, then he is finished.
    
26. It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.
    
27. A man inserted an ad in the paper - WIFE WANTED. The next day he received a hundred of letters and they all said the same thing - YOU CAN HAVE MINE.
    
28. When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing - either the car is new or the wife is.

My Rule of Thumb

Scrubs is a classic, it might be called humor, but I consider it a lesson in life. I just heard this priceless exchange between Dr. Kelso and Dr. Cox.

Dr. Kelso: "See this is why you shouldn’t get emotionally invested in your patients."

Dr. Cox: "Hey Bob-o, Now when the dark prince finally call you home please promise me you’ll donate your body to science. And I don’t mean medical science I mean NASA. Because when those buzz cuts have all but given up on trying to figure out what a black hole is and they get one look at the space where your heart supposed to be well by God you’ll know they’ll just say, “Aw shucks that’s what it is."

Dr. Kelso: "Hey champ what has two thumbs and doesn’t give a crap (points to himself). Bob Kelso, How you doin’."


More wisdoms found here.

Every Mother's Problem

The young mother was sitting in the airport and checked her watch, her flight was due in 2 hours and she hated waiting. Hubby was far away checking out the duty free shops, she was left alone with the carry on luggage and her one and a half year old little monster daughter. She had too much coffee and mineral water. Her little angel was hyper and wanted to run all over the airport. Suddenly, nature called, she had to go badly, not in a few minutes, but right now! Hubby was nowhere in sight. What could she do?

The answer is simple, hang the baby on the toilet's stall door.





You can buy this ingenious hanger from here.

Writing Fiction - Part IV

Writing Fiction - Part I is here.
Writing Fiction - Part II is here.
Writing Fiction - Part II is here.

I talked about the overall Arcs in Part III covering the different flow a story can take. What about the basic plot? You need to be original, but there is no shame in following the classics. Let us take Snow White, a beautiful girl with a pure heart that gets sent off to the woods by her evil Stepmother to be killed. Her innocence and beauty saves her and she is left wandering the woods until she finds the seven dwarves who are charmed by her, she also takes care of the cooking, cleaning, laundry and assorted household chores which is always a good thing when you have seven messy guys living in one small house. Stepmother discovers Snow White is still alive through her magic mirror. Stepmother also knows that if she sends any man to get rid of Snow White, he will be charmed by her again and spare her. Some jobs, only a woman can do, so Stepmother transforms herself into an old hag and goes over to give Snow White the poisoned apple. Snow White bites into the apple but, in a twist of fate does not die, but falls into a deep sleep, or coma if you like. Prince Charming is riding along and gives her mouth to mouth and Snow White awakes for a grand wedding and happiness ever after.

The point here is that all stories are fairy tales with someone good and pure being challenged and surmounting different obstacles sometimes by luck, sometimes by fate and sometimes by their own purity and goodness. As the end nears, all is lost and a final disaster strikes our hero. Through pure luck, fate intervenes again and our hero rises and vanquishes all her enemies and has a happy ending.

Take Romeo and Juliet, the story is boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy, parent problems, boy and girl get outside help, outside help gives them a plan, plan fails, tragedy, or plan works, household bliss. How many popular stories are based on the Romeo and Juliet model? Too many to count.

The advice here is to deconstruct the well known fairy tales and follow their themes; you can also combine different fairy tale themes together.


Think about it.