Marrying a Blogger, yes or no ?

Different reasons why you should not marry a blogger.


Different reasons why you should marry a blogger.


Taken from Saudi Jeans.

In Search of the Music

A long long time ago (ok, it was 1980) , I saw the movie, "Death of a Princess". That movie created a big stir in Saudi Arabia and different Muslim countries. I will not go into a socio-religio-politico-moralistic discussion about it, because that is not the point of this post. The movie was very bland and a pseudo docu-drama television movie. It was banned in all the Muslim countries. This made it a must see movie, and all the interested households in Kuwait managed to get a copy of it to see what all the fuss was about. The copy of the movie I got was a very bad reproduction on a VHS video tape. There was no Internet to download the movie at that time.

What grabbed me in that banned movie was the background Music. The soundtrack was mysterious, it was haunting, it had a sadness to it, the sound captivated and entranced me. I still remember it. I would have loved to have that music and listen to it again and again, it was that beautiful.

Back to the present day, I was scanning the different Kuwaiti blogs on Safat and found Error's post about Death of a Princess. He had a link to the imdb entry to Death of a Princess.

I read his post, and remembered that magical music. I felt like Robert Langdon looking for the Holy Grail, I became Hercule Poirot using his grey cells to catch the murderer. Error's post started my search, no, my quest to find that mysterious music that moved me.

I went to the imdb page about the movie, clicked to see the Full Credits for the movie and there was my first clue, the music was a Vangelis composition. I now had two clues, the Movie's title, and the composer. I googled vangelis death of a princess. I found as the third entry an Amazon link mentioning the theme song for Death of a Princess. I was hot on the trail. I went to Amazon and the first comment there said:

On this album, "Alpha" is the main theme song for the docu-drama "Death of a Princess" about a Saudi Royal Princess and this song was also part of Carl Sagan's Cosmos television series. This song alone is worth the purchase of the album..

I needed to establish and confirm that Music's identity. Amazon allows you to play samples of the album you are interested in, I clicked on Alpha, the music's title, and the music surged out of my computer's speakers. At that moment, listening to the brief sample, I understood Victor Hugo when he said "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent."

Armed with the composer's name and the piece's title, Alpha by Vangelis, I searched all over the net for the full music. A brief sample could not satisfy me. I used all my search skills, looking in different blogs, web pages, ftp sites until I found my Holy Grail.

I will not list out all the false trails I followed. I eventually found that music.

I present to you Alpha by Vangelis.

Click here to get 'Alpha---Vangelis'

My Favorite Place in the Whole World

Mia wrote about what she loved about New York, her home city. Don, the Kuwaiti Chopper Dude wrote nostalgically about his time in the States. Those two posts got me thinking and inspired me to think where my favorite place is. I lived in different countries, had extended vacations in others. My most favorite place would be Kuwait for a lot of different reasons.

Kuwait is the hottest inhabited place in the world. I like the Kuwait Summer heat. I like how we build our houses, shopping malls and offices to stand such heat. You hear about the heat wave happening in Europe and other parts of the world where people are suffering because of 30 C and above temperature. Over here in Kuwait temperatures easily and regularly reach 60 C and everyone goes about their daily business. All the houses and buildings have thick concrete walls, insulating windows with optional shutters, and heavy duty over-engineered air conditioning units cooling the house to North Pole levels. Car shades and underground parking are very common. We in Kuwait are equipped and ready for the hot future. Kuwait is ready for global warming.

If you are a car aficionado, you hear about new exotic cars where only 500 have been built and no more. You memorize the specifications; admire the sleek lines showing the cars in glossy magazines or web pages. All you need to do is drive down the Gulf Road and you will find two of these exclusive cars driving right next to you. You might even know the driver or even be the driver of these flash cars.

In other countries, not everyone has a mobile. Most of the connected populace own basic functional mobiles that make calls, receive calls and do not care for the new features such as Bluetooth, color display and high resolution camera available in higher end models. A lot of Gadget web sites swoon over the latest mobile designs that are expected for release in the States during the next six month. Kuwait is Mobile heaven. Walk into any mobile store in Kuwait and find the latest mobiles displayed in six different colors. Everyone proudly carries the latest mobile that can take pictures, make video calls, hold your music collection and play different arcade games. Mobiles owners in Kuwait change their mobiles as soon as new models come out and Mobile shops happily oblige you by taking your old mobile and a little cash and handing you the latest model.

In Kuwait, you can live in your car without the need to step out of it. Need sustenance like falafel sandwiches, chicken Shawarma or hamburgers, just park your car in front of the restaurant and honk your horn once. Within seconds a waiter would be standing at your car door taking your order. Got a chocolate craving, park near a baqala, honk the horn and the shopkeeper will happily deliver to you your Twix bar or Kinder egg.


If you do not feel like driving, just pick up the phone; order almost anything from Sushi dinner to an exercise bike. A few minutes later, someone will be ringing your doorbell with the ordered goods. A lot of these services are even 24 hours. So if you feel like having your favorite Hamburger meal like Hardees at 3AM, just call, you don't even need to remember what your favorite meal is, the Hardees operator already knows what you like and will send it over in twenty minutes.

Do you like extreme sports like making your car do things it was not designed to do like driving sideways or pirouettes, or do you like being a spectator? Well, ask around and someone will guide you to a deserted parking lot where the local daredevils gather to show off their driving skills after midnight.

Ramadan is my favorite time of the year especially in Kuwait. All of a sudden, the country transforms for one lunar month from living in the daylight to starting your day after sunset. Shops, malls and restaurants are all open till just before dawn. Houses are open to greet different guests. Working hours are shortened; television bombards you with new serials and comedies. Family visits increase, people get together with relatives and friends. Ramadan is a spiritual month where you remember your creator and pray till dawn and contemplate your life and your future.

The blog community in Kuwait is amazing. You have monthly get togethers (I always wanted to go but every time I plan to some urgent matter happens, but I hope to soon). There is a sense of virtual camaraderie. You build mental pictures of different bloggers and you might even understand those bloggers better than their actual best friends. There is also an unwritten etiquette that is followed that I rarely find in other blogs. Kuwaiti bloggers take the time to answer comments that people put on their blogs even if the comment count goes into double digits. The discussions and posts vary from the trivial, the humorous, to deep and life affecting. All the Kuwaiti blogs are aggregated and collected in Safat, my favorite virtual diwaniyah where we can all happily diwaniyate.(credits go to D&G for this word)

The driving here is wonderful. Where else in the world can you overtake cars from the right, pass through red lights, dive into roundabouts and see if your car can reach the speed of light and survive to tell the tale. I know I might complain about bad driving but thank God for inefficient and relaxed traffic police, if the police where slightly more active we would all be in debt paying off our accumulated tickets. If you do get a ticket, you can easily talk the nice police officer out of giving you the ticket.

Food, glorious food. Food is something you will never run out of here in Kuwait. People are trying to feed you in any which way possible. At work people bring food over and invite everyone. Your neighbors at home send food to your doorstep. Your immediate family, sends you more food. Weddings serve generous buffets. At any conference, seminars or get together, food is mandatory. The food is not little pieces of dry biscuits and instant coffee. The food served ranges from lovingly prepared home meals to sumptuous 5 Star hotel buffets. All are invited, no one is turned back.

Kuwait is small, meaning you can get from one place to another in less than thirty minutes with low traffic. With a lot of cars crowding the roads, you can easily take a few shortcuts and drive on the emergency lane or pavement, reaching your destination in less than forty minutes tops. Our friendly police officers will not give you a ticket because if you are in a uryy, you must have a really good excuse and the police are very understanding. The only damage might be your car suspension.


Kuwait is a country with a big coastline. The Arabian Gulf sea is one of the most beautiful sights. You might not have the millions needed to own beach property but you know someone that does. You can enjoy having a barbecue at the beach at your rich friends / relative / brother / sister, etc. house. Koot Mall has a wonderful starbucks with a glass wall facing the sea.

Kuwait is the land of Rumors, where rumors quickly become the truth, they are the news. Hearing rumors you can make a killing on the stock market which is rumor driven, or get complete information about someone. Your rumor channels include your mobile, SMS and diwaniyas.

So, Kuwait is my favorite place, where is yours?

Irritating People

Do some people irritate you, don't you wish you could quiet them down?

Well you could always do this:

Sidewalk Coffee - It sure beats Starbucks

Driving in your car, you feel like coffee. You could look for the nearest Starbucks, look for parking, get in, stand in line, place your order, wait for your number, then get your coffee. Or if you where in Saudi Arabia, you could do this:

Is this a scene from the next Matrix movie?

Amazing special effects, great fight scene, could this be a scene from the next Matrix movie?

Simple but fun Game

Here is a really simple game called Sneeek, the rules are keep your mouse in the moving box.

I got 34 seconds on my first try.

The game is here. Enjoy.

Blog from Beirut

Mana is a girl from Beirut in her mid 20s. She has a blog that describe the events in Beirut from her perspective. Her blog is Manamania and Wired wrote about her here.

Here is a Bette Midler song about peace.

Presenting From A Distance, take it awaye Bette!

How can you download YouTube.com videos and play them on your Media Player?

YouTube.com, the year old video sharing site, is making waves in the entertainment world. Nascent video producers are uploading their movies. Marketers are plugging their wares through viral clips. Kids are uploading their karaoke impressions of pop songs. Corporate Media like NBC are partnering with the site.

Maybe you find a keeper, a video that you would like to preserve for posterity before it disappears into that great bit bucket of oblivion.

So, the Immortal question is asked, how can you download YouTube.com videos and play them on your Media Player?

The first part of the question is easy, to download YouTube.com videos all you need to do is find the video you like on YouTube.com and play it. Then under the "About This Video" part on the YouTube.com page, you will find the URL link for the video, select it, and copy it, then open in a new browser window the VideoDL site and paste the URL. Hit the [Get it!] button and after a few seconds the "download link" will appear. Now you can save the video on your computer.

Now that you have the video, you need to get a video player that can play it. VideoDL does recommend a few selections, but I got used to my Windows Media Player. I only want media player as the video player on my computer.

So the challenge now is finding a codec that will allow Media Player to play YouTube downloads. I looked around and found Cole2k Codec Pack. Codec are magical pieces of software stubs that allow your media player to play new video and audio formats. Cole2K provides a whole collection of audio and video format. The one you need is the flv format used by YouTube. You can download the codec pack from here.

Everything should be ready now. You have your flv file downloaded from YouTube and you have your codec installed. Start your Windows Player and drag and drop your flv file over it. what happens? I got a warning from the media player saying it could not interpret the file, should it try playing it anyway? I answered ok and all I got was a screechnig noise coming out of my computer. A little bit of investigation and I discovered that I needed to activate the flv codec by going to the application ffdshow video decoder configuration, then look up the item in the list called flv1 and enable the decoder from disabled to libavcodec.

Once that is done, you can merrily play all the videos you downloaded.

Enjoy!
PS

VideoDL supports in addition to YouTube, Google Video, and Break.com.

Are Klingons Arabs ?

I was watching a DVD of Star Trek - The Next Generation. There was one scene where Worf, the Klingon security officer, was having a hand to hand training session. After the training was over, he chose a particularly attractive Bajoran ensign for a special test. He told her that he taught an advanced class but before she could participate, she should pass the "Gik'tal" test. "Gik'tal?", she asked with much curiosity. Worf, replied, “Yes, it is a very ancient Klingon ritual. It tests your knowledge of the forms of the Mok'bara".

To make a long story short, she passed the test, but then she said, “One thing I don't understand. Doesn't gik'tal mean 'to the death'?"

Then it dawned on me, Klingons are Arabs, or at least they speak arabic. Gik'tal sounds like gital, which is fighting to kill, and Mok'bara is grave yard in Arabic.

Is that why Klingons have such vicious tempers and always value honor and bravery before life itself?

On a Lebanese night

And did you go to your bed with a sweet lullaby, and the sound of the guns
In the night, and did you dance in the fields,
did you run for your life,
From the hell that came down from the sky?
On a Lebanese night,

Angel

Walk the Line - The story of Johnny Cash

I just saw "Walk the Line", starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. It was an amazing movie. I always liked Johnny Cash back when Kuwait only had one FM station at FM 98.8 and they played country music in the morning hours. I listened to a lot of Johnny Cash music without knowing who he was. It was only after I befriended one strange individual back at school, who talked and walked exactly like John Wayne and thought he was John Wayne. His sentences where Johnny Cash quotes and that is how I found out who Johnny Cash was.

There where a lot of good scenes but one particular scene that I really liked was when Johnny Cash was first time auditioning for the record producer Sam Philips. Johnny and his band sang a generic gospel cover song. Sam Philips made them stop, and said he did not like it. Johnny asked him to elaborate,



Sam Phillips: You know exactly what I'm telling you. We've already heard that song a hundred times. Just like that. Just... like... how... you... sing it.
Johnny Cash: Well you didn't let us bring it home.
Sam Phillips: Bring... bring it home? All right, let's bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you're dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You're telling me that's the song you sing. That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio, all day. About your peace within, and how it's real, and how you're gonna shout it? Or... would you sing something different. Something real. Something you felt. Cause I'm telling you right now, that's the kind of song people want to hear. That's the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain't got nothin to do with believin' in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin' in yourself.
Johnny Cash: I got a couple of songs I wrote in the Air Force. You got anything against the Air Force?
Sam Phillips: No.
Johnny Cash: I do.


Then the true Johny Cash sang from the heart his own song.

Go see the movie, I won't ruin it any further.

Dooced because of Blog

I track a lot of blogs and news feeds, 206 and increasing everyday. They are assorted feeds including technology, gadgets, world news, music sites, business and of course personal blogs. Personal blogs are my favorite. I don't read each and every item but when a title catchs my attention, I read the post attentively glimpsing into that blogger's little window witnessing those small moments in time that are revealed.

One blog I am following is petite anglaise. It tells the story of a single parent english girl working in Paris, France. According to her profile, "Paris has been my home for a decade. After living 'in sin' for 8 years, I left my partner for a man I met on my blog. I now live alone with my daughter Tadpole; her daddy, Mr Frog, lives nearby. "

Well, La Petite Anglaise has recently been dooced.

According to the telegraph article, An English secretary is bringing a test case under French labour law after allegedly being sacked for bringing her employers into disrepute by writing a "Bridget Jones in Paris" blog describing her everyday life.
Using the pseudonym La Petite Anglaise, she has attracted a sizeable international following for her musings on love, work and single motherhood in her internet diary. Her employers discovered her blog and dooced her.

Well, I hope everything works out well for La Petite Anglaise, and she wins lots of money from her court case against her former employer. She can follow that success by writing a best selling novel. Her writing is captivating and she deserves all the best.

Simple Lessons in Marketing Concepts

1  You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say:

   "I am very rich. Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing



2 You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl.

   One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says:

   "He's very rich. Marry him." - That's Advertising



3  You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her

   telephone number. The next day, you call and say:

  "Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me." - That's Telemarketing



4  You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie,

   you walk up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,

   pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say:


 By the way, I'm rich. Will you marry me?" - That's Public Relations



5  You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says:

   You are very rich! Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition



6  You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say:

   I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.

-  That's Customer Feedback



7 You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say:

 "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband.

   -That's demand and supply gap




8  You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before

   you say anything, another person come and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?"

   and she goes with him

     - That's competition eating into your market share



9 You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say:

   "I'm rich, Marry me!" your wife arrives.

       - That's restriction for entering new markets

This is what happens to you if you conspire against Jacqui

According to Jacqui

many have commented about the lack of Duckie, I would like to mention that Duckie has been banished from my Kingdom, due to the fact that I have uncovered secret plots to assasinate me. You see Duckie has been dealing with Purgatory for the past few months, and therefore has acquired weapons of mass destruction aimed at destructing me, and taking over RubDuckie, and therefore I now take back my old motto “Don’t Eat the Duckie, Rub the Duckie” and switched it to “EAT DUCKIE but DON’T RUB DUCKIE!” Yes I believe I shall create me one of those thingys to put on my blog with my motto, yes I think I shall do that now.

Well through my investigative sources, I discovered the fate of the cute but treacherous Rubber Duckie. A word of caution, this may not be suitable for children or people with a sensitive disposition.

Things Are Not Always As They Appear

This optical illusion operates on the principle that certain parts of your brain do their job without ever "comparing notes" with other parts of your brain. Therefore, two different functions may execute simultaneously, but not check to see whether the other operates within its own paradigm.

Check out the optical illusion here.

Updates about Lebanon

We interrupt our regular blogging to bring you updates about Lebanon. Forget all the different satellite news chanels with their own political agendas and sponsors, listen to bloggers on the ground in Lebanon to know what is really happening.

Now we cut off to The Lebanese Bloggers for more accurate and true facts about the situation.

BBC's Top Gear Program looking at Saudi Driving

Here is a segment from the BBC's Top Gear program that covers cars all over the world. It shows what a Saudi fan sent to them with their comments. Very amusing.

Misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

In this age of health awareness and focus on diet and exercise, I would like to correct some common misconceptions, and answer a few unanswered questions:


Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a big steak can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!!.... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

Are you getting your piece of the pie?

According to Al-Yaum newspaper, the National Bank of Kuwait reported that the volume of Kuwait's GDP climbed by 35% in 2005 to reach KD 23.6 billion ($81 billion) by year end compared with an average growth rate of 23% over the previous two years. Meanwhile, the volume of Kuwait's total national income climbed by 35.8% in 2005 to reach KD 26 billion ($90 billion) by year end.

The same paper reported that the average per capita income in the State of Kuwait hit $34,482 in 2005, which is the second highest in the Arabian Gulf region, after the State of Qatar.


$34,482 is around KD 10,000 yearly, or KD 833 monthly for each Kuwaiti citizen. Are you all getting your piece of the pie, or Kunafa?

New Theme

I am thinking of changing the look of my blog. I was playing around with different ideas on my computer. Here is a banner I would like to put up. What do you all think about it? Don't be shy in your opinion.

  


fix: I made the banner smaller, you can click on it to enlarge. Thanks Q8sultana and C'est la vie!! for the heads up.

Elegant Camel

Sakba, right?

Stupid Car Tricks

THe following amazing car tricks where done by trained professionals. They have reached this level of excellence through years of training. Do not try this at home. Or maybe not.

Dancing ASCII Cat

Forget the world Cup, check out this dancing cat found here. Another link here.

The Meaning of Life

Anna Quindlen Pulitzer Prize winning author gave a commencement speech to the graduating class of Villanova in 2000. The full speech can be found here. I recommend you read it in full, but some excerpts that I particularly liked are:

Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

Just keep your eyes and ears open, the classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end. No man ever said on his deathbed, "I wish I had spent more time at the office."

Mezmar

Traditional Music - Without Instruments

Yemeni Hip Hop

Check out those moves. Michael Jackson will be jealous.

Internet Syrian Style

one comment, wtf?!?

Ikea Lamp

I have to get me one of these. The all wood finish, the stylish fixture, the bohemian yet art deco style. A must for every home.

iTunes Security Risk

I started my Apple iTunes running on Windows and got a dialog box saying I should upgrade to iTunes 6.0.5. I looked around the Internet to see what new cool features I would be getting. To my surprise I found that it was a security upgrade and that I run the risk of having my computer taken over by a malicious hacker if I have an older version of iTunes running.

What happened to the myth that Apple Software was hack proof?

According to News.com

Separately on Thursday, Apple put out iTunes 6.0.5, an update that it said fixes a security problem that could be used in a denial-of-service attack or let an intruder run code on vulnerable systems.

"The AAC file parsing code in iTunes versions prior to 6.0.5 contains an integer overflow vulnerability," the company said on its security Web site. "Parsing a maliciously-crafted AAC file could cause iTunes to terminate or potentially execute arbitrary code. iTunes 6.0.5 addresses this issue by improving the validation checks used when loading AAC files."

The iTunes vulnerability affects Mac OS X versions 10.2.8 or later and Microsoft Windows XP and 2000, Apple said.

To upgrade, all you need to do is start your iTunes and ok the dialog box that asks you to upgrade.

Things to make you go hmmm

This poor soul on the left



had a strange experience with this common object



resulting in



To understand what happened, look here and here.

Shaku Maki

I went to the Kei at the Marina Crescent last night. I enjoy Japanese food a lot. I had my order of Miso Soup, Assorted Tempura and a selection of Sushi and Sashimi followed by Tempura Ice cream. I still feel full from yesterday, I will probably skip lunch today.

I noticed a lot of custom Makis where included in the menu presented. They had different names like Khaled Maki, Ahmed Maki and Bujwess Maki. This trend started out in Sakura at the Crowne Plaza. A lot of inventive sushi lovers proposed to the Sushi chef Makis with their own combination of raw fish, rice and other garnishments. I tried one custom Maki and it tasted like Chicken Biryani with some hot daqus added to it.

I have my ideas for my own custom Maki. One of them will be Don Veto Maki, it will taste like creamy cappucino with an extra strong caffeine kick that will keep you awake all night and the following day. Another Maki combinatination will be Shaku Maki, which will taste strange and mysterious and make you say Shaku Maku all day.