The Amish are suffering from unknown and rare genetic disorders because of their intermarriages.
A lot of intermarriage are also happening among Arabs, either by marrying their first cousins because it is traditional to do so, or within their their immediate family to preserve the family name and lineage and maybe keep the money in the family also. A lot of people who marry outside the family or outside the country are looked down upon, although this is becoming less of an issue now.
The full Article is here.
tip for today: Marry someone as unrelated to you as possible. If you are already married, then it is too late.
2007-10-28
2007-10-26
2007-10-23
2007-10-22
Polylingual
When it comes to languages, I can speak several. When it comes to swearing, I can speak more. I know how to swear in Arabic, English, French, Iranian, Urdu, Italian, Russian and Spanish. Not the soft sort of swearing like donkey or dog, but the vicious swearing that could get you in jail.
I am not going to list useful @#$% but instead, here is a list of 179 different ways to say I love you.
Spread the love, not the hate.
I am not going to list useful @#$% but instead, here is a list of 179 different ways to say I love you.
Spread the love, not the hate.
2007-10-21
Having Decaplets
I found a cool little widget that shows the growth of a baby in a mother's womb in Nzingha's blog.
I thought it was very cool, you could see the progress of the baby as it develops and grows. I went to the widget options and saw you could have up to 10 babies. So I set up my own Baby Ticker with Decaplets (or 10 babies) and want to see how they progress. You can see it on the right hand column of my blog page.
No, I am not pregnant nor is anyone in my immediate social circle, it is just for fun.
Ten babies, now that would be an instant family, 280 days until birth.
I thought it was very cool, you could see the progress of the baby as it develops and grows. I went to the widget options and saw you could have up to 10 babies. So I set up my own Baby Ticker with Decaplets (or 10 babies) and want to see how they progress. You can see it on the right hand column of my blog page.
No, I am not pregnant nor is anyone in my immediate social circle, it is just for fun.
Ten babies, now that would be an instant family, 280 days until birth.
Doing the Business
I went to the work bathroom stall to do the business, send a fax, recycle my coffee, water the plants, donate to charity or whatever euphemism you prefer.
In the other stall next to mine was someone really doing the business, and I mean it in the literal sense. He was talking on his mobile negotiating a contract, giving commitments, setting up a meeting all while he was "doing the business".
Tip for today, if you are "doing the business", do not do your business.
In the other stall next to mine was someone really doing the business, and I mean it in the literal sense. He was talking on his mobile negotiating a contract, giving commitments, setting up a meeting all while he was "doing the business".
Tip for today, if you are "doing the business", do not do your business.
2007-10-19
My Life With Blackberry
I have been using a blackberry for the last two weeks. A blackberry is a mobile device that has a full keyboard and a large screen but is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket. Its main feature is its push email, meaning emails sent to you apear on your blackberry as if they where SMSs.The blackberry has good support for business attachments like MS Office documents and Acrobat PDFs.
I hooked up my Blackberry to our corporate network so I now can see all the emails that I receive immediately.
The problem now is that the I am constantly checking my emails and responding or forwarding or zapping the ocassional spam. I wake up and first thing I do before I open my eyes is reach for my Blackberry, get dressed with my black centimeters away from me. Driving somewhere, my eyes go to my blackberry screen instead of the road ahead.
I am writing and answering emails at the strangest single digit nocturnal hours. Its like the blackberry is glued to my hands and my thumbs have permanent chicklet shaped indentations now.
Now I know why a lot of people call it a crackberry. It is addictive, it is dangerous, it keeps you on the job literally 24/7.
PS I wrote this post from my blacberry.
I hooked up my Blackberry to our corporate network so I now can see all the emails that I receive immediately.
The problem now is that the I am constantly checking my emails and responding or forwarding or zapping the ocassional spam. I wake up and first thing I do before I open my eyes is reach for my Blackberry, get dressed with my black centimeters away from me. Driving somewhere, my eyes go to my blackberry screen instead of the road ahead.
I am writing and answering emails at the strangest single digit nocturnal hours. Its like the blackberry is glued to my hands and my thumbs have permanent chicklet shaped indentations now.
Now I know why a lot of people call it a crackberry. It is addictive, it is dangerous, it keeps you on the job literally 24/7.
PS I wrote this post from my blacberry.
2007-10-16
Extreme Tractor Fight
I have seen sword fights, vampire fights, chick fights, high speed highway chases fights, but I have never in my life seen a tractor fight.
Well here is a tractor fight, courtesy of Bollywood.
Well here is a tractor fight, courtesy of Bollywood.
View from Burj Dubai
Burj Dubai, due to be completed in late 2008, will be the world's tallest building.
Here is a graphics of Burj Dubai
Here is a real view from Burj Dubai itself, you can clearly see Sheikh Zayed road right under.
Click on the picture to see a bigger version.
Here is a graphics of Burj Dubai
Here is a real view from Burj Dubai itself, you can clearly see Sheikh Zayed road right under.
Click on the picture to see a bigger version.
2007-10-15
2007-10-11
Irtidad
First Eid Mubarak to all.
Now to the subject of this post, I want to talk about Irtidad issues, and I don't mean apostasy.
I am talking about Irtidad in the real estate sense of the word. Standard villa plots in Kuwait are measured in meters squared, they vary between 1,000 meters squared to the paltry 250 meters squared. The prices range according to how close you are to Kuwait city. The prices can be over one million KD to 150 thousand KD but you would probably be close to the Iraqi or Saudi border for that low price. In addition to your proximity to Kuwait City, prices also vary according to how many sides of your land plot have access to the street. Corner villas with two sides or more sides to the street are valued more than single street access villas. In addition to how much street sides you have, the issue of Irtidad comes in. The Government expects you not to touch 2 meters from the sidewalk to your villa, they will take care of the sidewalk and provide paving and underground utilities there. Beyond those 2 meters, you are free to do what you want. That distance beyond those 2 meters is your Irtidad or free space to use in any way you want. You are allowed to put barriers in the form of a low wall not exceeding 1 meter or vegetation that can be any height you want.
Villa owners use this Irtidad to plant lush gardens with fountains, slides and swings for the kids, ample parking space, poultry and sheep, or semi permanent tents for the boys to gather in.
The more Irtidad a plot is allowed, the higher the prices.
Some unfortunates in Qortoba have no Irtidad, their villas are packed like sardines in a can, except for a few lucky corner houses.
Qortoba Villas
Some lucky souls have massive Irtidad nearly equivalent to their Villa size.
Massive Irtidad
Others, such as myself have a modest Irtidad of 6 meters or a little more.
Note: This is not my house.
Now on a personal note, my neighbour used his 6 meter Irtidad to plant a lovely garden with all sorts of exotic plants, a mini waterfall and a beautiful green lawn. He was so ambitious in his landscaping venture, he even annexed the 2 meter pavement that is reserved for the goverment. The result wa a lovely garden all the way to the kerbstone. I, just paved my Irtidad for myself and my Diwaniyah guests and did not plant anything. The result now is that my neighbour has nowhere to park his cars and his frequent guests' cars, so they feel that they are entitled to park in my sparse paved Irtidad instead because they do not want to drive all over the green lush lawn.
I ended up placing six vertical bricks on my sidewalk to send a message telling them that this is is not a public parking space. They now got the message and now park in the street opposite their garden.
Moral of the story: If you have a nice Irtidad, think of where you will park your cars before planning on building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon outside your villa.
Now to the subject of this post, I want to talk about Irtidad issues, and I don't mean apostasy.
I am talking about Irtidad in the real estate sense of the word. Standard villa plots in Kuwait are measured in meters squared, they vary between 1,000 meters squared to the paltry 250 meters squared. The prices range according to how close you are to Kuwait city. The prices can be over one million KD to 150 thousand KD but you would probably be close to the Iraqi or Saudi border for that low price. In addition to your proximity to Kuwait City, prices also vary according to how many sides of your land plot have access to the street. Corner villas with two sides or more sides to the street are valued more than single street access villas. In addition to how much street sides you have, the issue of Irtidad comes in. The Government expects you not to touch 2 meters from the sidewalk to your villa, they will take care of the sidewalk and provide paving and underground utilities there. Beyond those 2 meters, you are free to do what you want. That distance beyond those 2 meters is your Irtidad or free space to use in any way you want. You are allowed to put barriers in the form of a low wall not exceeding 1 meter or vegetation that can be any height you want.
Villa owners use this Irtidad to plant lush gardens with fountains, slides and swings for the kids, ample parking space, poultry and sheep, or semi permanent tents for the boys to gather in.
The more Irtidad a plot is allowed, the higher the prices.
Some unfortunates in Qortoba have no Irtidad, their villas are packed like sardines in a can, except for a few lucky corner houses.
Qortoba Villas
Some lucky souls have massive Irtidad nearly equivalent to their Villa size.
Massive Irtidad
Others, such as myself have a modest Irtidad of 6 meters or a little more.
Note: This is not my house.
Now on a personal note, my neighbour used his 6 meter Irtidad to plant a lovely garden with all sorts of exotic plants, a mini waterfall and a beautiful green lawn. He was so ambitious in his landscaping venture, he even annexed the 2 meter pavement that is reserved for the goverment. The result wa a lovely garden all the way to the kerbstone. I, just paved my Irtidad for myself and my Diwaniyah guests and did not plant anything. The result now is that my neighbour has nowhere to park his cars and his frequent guests' cars, so they feel that they are entitled to park in my sparse paved Irtidad instead because they do not want to drive all over the green lush lawn.
I ended up placing six vertical bricks on my sidewalk to send a message telling them that this is is not a public parking space. They now got the message and now park in the street opposite their garden.
Moral of the story: If you have a nice Irtidad, think of where you will park your cars before planning on building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon outside your villa.
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