Dwwen Dead

Dwwen, the blog aggregator for Arab blogs is closing down on 15 June 2008 because they could not make enough money to support themselves.

I feel bad for those guys, it was a decent site. I don't know how popular it got but I passed by from time to time.

Dear Dwwen,

Please don't die, just release your server code into the wild and let some enterprising hacker maintain it.

All the best.

Don Veto

Mars Looks Like Kuwait

Kuwait



Mars



No, this is not the Kuwait desert, this is a picture of Mars recently taken by the Phoenix Mars Lander. More informtation from NASA can be found here.

That got me thinking, what is the difference between Mars and Kuwait.

Mars is mostly desert, so is Kuwait.
Men are from Mars, Kuwait has got men also.
The Mars landscape looks a lot like Kuwait, Kuwait looks like Kuwait.
Scientists suspect the possibilty of life in Mars, I am still looking for life in Kuwait.
Walking around Mars without a space suit can kill you. Walking outside in Kuwait for extended periods under the hot sun can kill you.
Mars has dust storms, Kuwait has dust storms.


Note to NASA, save yourself some money and come look at Kuwait instead of going all the way to Mars.

Intlxpatr went to Google, and all I got was this lousy postcard

Intlxpatr, our dear blogging friend, had breakfast at Google in Cupertino this morning and all I got from Google was this lousy postcard:

.

It was not a post card from Sergey saying to me, "wishing you where here", but rather it had a PIN that I needed to enter into my AdSense account to confirm my Kuwait Address.

Welll at least I was remembered. I hope.

Mac OS X Under the hood

While browsing around the Terminal on the Macbook, I "discovered" that the Mac OSX has pre-installed:

perl
Ruby
python,
Apache,
X11

stuff I thought you could only find in Unix boxes, and Linux, I knew the engine underneath was Unix, but I thought it might have been sanitized so average users would not hurt themselves or their systems. One thing that is missing is a C complier that allows you to compile open source software, but that can easily be downloaded from the Apple Developers Connection. You need to register first, and I am not sure if you need to pay or it is free.

Bluetooth Eavesdropping

Now that everyone in Kuwait is rushing to get a bluetooth headset so that they can drive and talk on their mobile while driving, here is a little hack that allows you to listen in on people talking on their mobile when using bluetooth headsets.



So be careful, don't reveal any dark sinister secrets when you talk on your bluetooth.

PS

to be fair, some Linux know how is needed, a little bit of IP background and a some knowledge of Antennas, so maybe not everyone will try that hack.

Annoying Web Sites

Sites that have flash animations as intros when you first visit them annoy me. Sites that have music playing in the background make me hit the mute button or the close window key. It is generally considered bad design if your site has these unnecessary embelishments. One site that breaks these good design rules but I though was really cool is clustarack.com .

Check it out here. I am sure you will agree.

About Horses

A Dog looks up to a man, a cat looks down on a man, but a patient horse looks a man in the eye and sees him as an equal.

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Um Ali's predictions for 2008

I just read this article about Um Ali's predictions for 2008 which I found in the side margin of Jewaira's blog. It seems she is notoriously famous, although I never heard of her before.

Here are Um Ali's predictions with my comments:

Political/Social
* Condolezza Rice will get married

Of course she will, after leaving the white house, she will write a book, go on a tour, be much richer, and find herself a toy boy and get married.

* Most of the parliament's members will be new faces

Come on Um Ali, even our Indian driver could have predicted that.

* An increase in the number of females in the government

Go to the ministries complex, its filled with women, there are no boys there.

* Instability in Kuwait's security, in the city and on the borders with Iraq

Is that new news? There is a war just a few kilometers away, what do you expect?
* Terrorist attempts in Kuwait, ending peacefully

There are crazies everywhere, but there is nowhere to run in Kuwait, so they will quickly get caught.

* The spread of a contagious disease in Kuwait in the coming few days

Summer is here, dust is here, air conditioners are on full blast. People are going to catch something.


* An earthquake will hit Kuwait

Already happened, sorry Um Ali, your prediction is backdated.

* A blackout in Kuwait

That's obvious, now what would impress me is if you gave us a date and time.

* Disputes between Iraq and Kuwait

Obvious also.

* Deputy Prime Minister of a GCC country will not last in office

Power positions always change.


* Two GCC ministers (Interior and Foreign) will not stay in office

That's not a prediction, that's a rumor going around.

* Unusual instability in Saudi Arabia's security

Something new?

* A severe earthquake will hit Egypt causing the collapse of several buildings and a high death toll

Egypt does not need an earthquake for buildings to collapse, just someone sneezing indoors With the multitude of unauthorized floors being built on top of building there, they are bound to collapse.

* Next US President will not be better than the previous one and will hold the worst for the world

Obviously.

* A terrorist attack on the US

Obviously again.

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Um Ali lists out more obvious statements. What would impress me is if she gave details like the date, time, place and the name of a person with a specific prediction. No charlatan managed to do that, not even Nostradamus.

All Clear today, no dust

Today the weather in Kuwait is all clear and no dust. I just hope it lasts. In case you miss the dust, here is a picture of the Water Towers set against a dusty sky which I took last night.