I am having problems with Google Reader, some of the feeds that I subscribe to dont appear and I get the message "You don't have permission to view this feed."
I looked around and found a solution. instead of using http://reader.google.com, use https://reader.google.com
You are welcome :)
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
2010-01-22
2009-12-28
Terrorism Gone Wrong
The world is abuzz about the attempted bombing of a Detroit bound flight by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian national. It seems that Umar had explosive sewn in his tidy whities that he got from Yemen. (Note to self: Don't buy undies made in Yemen). He tried to light them up in the plane but did not manage to have them detonate, just a small fire and lots of smoke. Passengers also jumped on him and managed to subdue him before he could do any damage. He is suffering from burns and has now changed his name to Nadia because he is no longer a man.
It seems that he was on the US, UK, and other watchlists. His own father called the US embassy and told them his son was acting weird and could be a potential terrorist.
Now, there are new regulations put in place that will not allow you to carry any electronics on your flight. In the last hour before the plane lands, no one is allowed to go to the loo, and more patdown for passengers and dogs sniffing at you before you get to board the plane.
These steps are useless. The real problem was that the security authorities where sleeping on the job. They should have checked their database and caught him on the ground before he could do any damage by boarding a plane. Maybe if they transferred their database to Facebook, then they would have found out that Umar was friends with BinLaden.
My advice is to put new regulations for the security people instead of harassing us peaceful passengers, and if anyone of the security people fails at their job then they would get a pair of made in Yemen undies that might or might not explode on them.
It seems that he was on the US, UK, and other watchlists. His own father called the US embassy and told them his son was acting weird and could be a potential terrorist.
Now, there are new regulations put in place that will not allow you to carry any electronics on your flight. In the last hour before the plane lands, no one is allowed to go to the loo, and more patdown for passengers and dogs sniffing at you before you get to board the plane.
These steps are useless. The real problem was that the security authorities where sleeping on the job. They should have checked their database and caught him on the ground before he could do any damage by boarding a plane. Maybe if they transferred their database to Facebook, then they would have found out that Umar was friends with BinLaden.
My advice is to put new regulations for the security people instead of harassing us peaceful passengers, and if anyone of the security people fails at their job then they would get a pair of made in Yemen undies that might or might not explode on them.
2009-12-16
Iran's Missile Range
Iran test launched missile recently. The range of the missile is shown below:
We are all within range, I'm moving to Cairo. Oh wait! Cairo is within range, I'm moving to Algeria.
More here from the BBC
We are all within range, I'm moving to Cairo. Oh wait! Cairo is within range, I'm moving to Algeria.
More here from the BBC
2009-08-25
Yahoo Acquires Maktoob
TechCrunch reports that Yahoo has agreed to acquire Maktoob, more here.
It seems the deal is worth $85 Million, for 20 Million Maktoob users. This means that Arab Internet users are worth just a little above $4.
When Microsoft bought Hotmail back in 1998, it was purchased for $400 Million and had 9 million users. Meaning one user was worth just above $40 for Microsoft.
It seems the deal is worth $85 Million, for 20 Million Maktoob users. This means that Arab Internet users are worth just a little above $4.
When Microsoft bought Hotmail back in 1998, it was purchased for $400 Million and had 9 million users. Meaning one user was worth just above $40 for Microsoft.
2008-04-25
What does Google think of your city?
Google has a variant of its search engine, that gives suggestion after you type a few words listing out the most popular search terms. You can find it as Google Suggest.
I tried, just for fun, a few cities and see what people where looking for in these cities. Here are a few results.
Starting with Kuwait:
Five air travel related sites, seems like a lot of people want to leave and / or come to Kuwait.
Riyadh has a lot of people looking for the latest news followed by banks and commerce.
Dubai is really becoming a second home with people looking up properties and holidays there.
Baghdad is not very appealing with Baghdad burning one of the top searches, with green zone and curfew coming close.
Paris, well known as the City of Love, has got paris je t'aime as one of the most popular searches. Other results include museums and Paris by night.
San Francisco with silicon valley right next door, has its state university listed, and the public library also. Lots of smart people there.
Here are a few other search results, or try your own on Google Suggest to see what google thinks.
I tried, just for fun, a few cities and see what people where looking for in these cities. Here are a few results.
Starting with Kuwait:
Five air travel related sites, seems like a lot of people want to leave and / or come to Kuwait.
Riyadh has a lot of people looking for the latest news followed by banks and commerce.
Dubai is really becoming a second home with people looking up properties and holidays there.
Baghdad is not very appealing with Baghdad burning one of the top searches, with green zone and curfew coming close.
Paris, well known as the City of Love, has got paris je t'aime as one of the most popular searches. Other results include museums and Paris by night.
San Francisco with silicon valley right next door, has its state university listed, and the public library also. Lots of smart people there.
Here are a few other search results, or try your own on Google Suggest to see what google thinks.
2008-04-17
Election Time – Money Time
Elections for the Kuwait Parliament are scheduled in a month’s time. The candidates are out in full force. Even though they have been allowed only two campaign headquarters, they are busy renting tents, organizing their campaigns, ordering sumptuous buffets and advertising any which way they can to capture the confused voters. The serious candidate needs to invest between one to two million Kuwaiti Dinars if he is to have a significant presence in the election. Kuwaiti voters are allowed four votes for the four parliament members they want in their respective district.
There is also an underworld of vote buying from some morally challenged candidates. These candidates have perfected vote buying from the voters into an art form. A vote at today’s price is one thousand Kuwait Dinars.
You are approached by the candidate’s representatives and paid KD 1,000 for your vote. Some business minded candidates will also buy your remaining three votes which the candidate will use to barter for additional votes from other candidates. Some nascent entrepreneurs are also buying votes in bulk and approaching different candidates with these collected votes selling them to the highest bidder.
A lot of intellectuals might think of this as a problem and will result in candidates going to parliament on the strength of their wallets rather than their beliefs. I see this as an opportunity.
Vote buying should be legalized and taxed with the shiny silver sticker stamps that the government loves to use in all the government transactions. Voters will receive around four thousand KD to vote for the different candidates who paid them, helping alleviate their debt and salary problems that they have been crying about for so long. The government can charge 200 KD per vote and get some income also.
Once the Members of Parliament are elected and life is back to normal, it will be business as usual, passing laws and grillings for the ministers as soon as one MP disagrees with one of the Ministers. The government, to avoid embarrassment can dissolve parliament and have elections all over again.
There will again be more vote buying, more money for the people, more income for the government, more side business like tent rentals, advertising and restaurants. Everybody is happy. Once again, parliament is in session and ministers will be called for questioning. Once again parliament will be dissolved. In one year we could have five elections and five different parliaments. The Kuwaiti voters will end up making around an average of twenty thousand KD.
At the end of this fun election year most of the corrupt candidates would have gone broke after spending over 10 Million KD for five consecutive elections. The candidates who will survive are the ones who got votes on their vision and convictions for Kuwait. The voters would have made money and we will end up with a clean serious work oriented parliament.
Everyone is a winner.
There is also an underworld of vote buying from some morally challenged candidates. These candidates have perfected vote buying from the voters into an art form. A vote at today’s price is one thousand Kuwait Dinars.
You are approached by the candidate’s representatives and paid KD 1,000 for your vote. Some business minded candidates will also buy your remaining three votes which the candidate will use to barter for additional votes from other candidates. Some nascent entrepreneurs are also buying votes in bulk and approaching different candidates with these collected votes selling them to the highest bidder.
A lot of intellectuals might think of this as a problem and will result in candidates going to parliament on the strength of their wallets rather than their beliefs. I see this as an opportunity.
Vote buying should be legalized and taxed with the shiny silver sticker stamps that the government loves to use in all the government transactions. Voters will receive around four thousand KD to vote for the different candidates who paid them, helping alleviate their debt and salary problems that they have been crying about for so long. The government can charge 200 KD per vote and get some income also.
Once the Members of Parliament are elected and life is back to normal, it will be business as usual, passing laws and grillings for the ministers as soon as one MP disagrees with one of the Ministers. The government, to avoid embarrassment can dissolve parliament and have elections all over again.
There will again be more vote buying, more money for the people, more income for the government, more side business like tent rentals, advertising and restaurants. Everybody is happy. Once again, parliament is in session and ministers will be called for questioning. Once again parliament will be dissolved. In one year we could have five elections and five different parliaments. The Kuwaiti voters will end up making around an average of twenty thousand KD.
At the end of this fun election year most of the corrupt candidates would have gone broke after spending over 10 Million KD for five consecutive elections. The candidates who will survive are the ones who got votes on their vision and convictions for Kuwait. The voters would have made money and we will end up with a clean serious work oriented parliament.
Everyone is a winner.
2008-03-26
Dubai on Fire
(click on picture to enlarge)
This morning a warehouse in Dubai storing illegal fireworks caught fire causing a massive fire.
Video here:
Article here
2008-02-19
2006-10-13
North Korea has the Bomb
But no food, no electricity, no life. Here is a picture of the whole Korean peninsula at night, the lower part is South Korea, bright and shiny, and the dark part is North Korea, dark and depressing. I would bet that single dot in the North is the President's palace.
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