Meat does not belong in a salad!

mm..mm.. stroke

Meat does not belong in a salad.

Why do we need to include meat in everything? Is this only reserved for North Americans or does this phenomenon also exist in Europe and Asia?

Almost every restaurant here has chicken Caesar on their menu. Is the chicken really necessary? If it’s not chicken, it’s bacon. Even more appalling, while looking for pictures online I also saw a STEAK SALAD.

The way I look at it, is once you add steak to a salad, the dish’s name should be “Steak with vegetables on the side.”

If you ask me, meat salads are a way for people to make themselves believe that they’re eating healthy. Fast food restaurants are especially capitalizing on this, by including these kinds of salads in their menus. For instance McDonald’s has:

- California Cobb Salad (Grilled or Crispy Chicken)

- Caesar Salad (Grilled or Crispy Chicken)

- Bacon Ranch Salad (Grilled or Crispy Chicken)

Let’s be honest now, wouldn’t be much healthier if all of those salads just had vegetables? Well, let’s see…

I went to the McDonald’s website, and there I checked for the nutrition facts for the Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken. The nutrition sheet has a breakdown of the contribution of calories, fat, etc for each ingredient in the salad.

Here are some numbers for you:

Total Calories Including meat = 260 cal

Total Calories without meat = 140 cal

So almost half of the calories come from the chicken!! Oh, and those numbers don’t include the 190 calories from the dressing.

And we complain about having an overweight population… We have succeeded in bringing something healthy, into something fattening and health destructive.

Technorati Tags: fat, salad, meat, obese, obesity, food, caesar salad, steak, salad dressing, health problems, heart attack

Donations, Contests, you name it!

Carrying the trophy after a close victory

Engineering classes (mech, elec., computer.. etc) at the university are always competing for the “smartest class” title. To settle this, Genius Bowl was created. Genius Bowl is a trivia contest held for engineering students. Every class sends a team to the competition in hopes to answer the majority of questions, and taking home the trophy and of course, bragging rights.

Last year our team came in 3rd or 4th, I can't remember now, but this year was a different story. This year we took trophy mainly due to a genius we had on our team. We won $100, and we put it into the cancer fundraiser our faculty is running. Which brings me to the other topic of this post, and that is donations.

About a year ago one engineering student dies from cancer, and recently another was diagnosed with it. So the engineering society decided to launch a large fundraiser for cancer research.

Our class set a goal for $2000, and we reached that goal yesterday, one day before the deadline. One of our professors challenged us to raise $2000, and if we won the challenge he would shave his head! On a more painful note, one student agreed to WAX his chest if we reach our goal… ouch. Today after a horrible quiz we went down to the foyer to shave the professor’s head. Me being a smart ass, I told him that if he were to gives 5% extra on top of our final mark, we would let him keep his hair. He agreed, some students didn’t, and to his dismay his hair was shaved off.

The significance of shaving someone’s head is to show support for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, since these patients end up losing all their hair during their treatment.

It was definitely nice seeing everyone come together for a worthy cause.

Technorati Tags: cancer, cancer research, chemotherapy

You know you're an Arab when...

I read this on my friend's blog, it's hillarious

Your father is a doctor or engineer.

You have a Persian rug in every room.

You have an endless supply of pistachios, dates, and pumpkin seeds.

You actually like yogurt drinks.

You either tip 2% or 50% but never 15%.

Your parents say you're becoming Americanized anytime you get into trouble.

You hug and kiss relatives you have never seen before in your life.

You curse at your teachers or strangers in Arabic.

You wonder whether a cute girl is Arabic and go up to ask her just to start a conversation

You have to constantly remind your American friends to take off their shoes when they enter your house

You flip out when someone mistakes you for a Mexican or Indian.

You can spot an Arab a mile away and they have spotted at you because they keep staring.

You have Thanksgiving dinner with rice and "bamiyah" (STEW)

After a family meal, the women fight to the death over who should wash the dishes while the men sit on their behinds and discuss politics, waiting for their tea.

You walk down a street with Arab stores and you are trying to eavesdrop on others' Arabic conversations.

Your parents want you to become a doctor or engineer.

You use your forehead and eyebrows to point something out.

Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner even if you're in the next room.

You have at least thirty cousins.

You have a 4 cousins, an uncle, a brother-in-law and 7 friends named Mohammed.

You have told your kid not to walk the floor barefoot or they'll catch a cold.

You arrive one or two hours late to a party and think it's normal. ...all arbs are late- all the time!

You are standing next to the largest suitcases at the Airport.

You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

You say bye 17 times on the phone.
When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover they know one of your uncles back home.

Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making long distance calls.

Your friends tell you to be quiet when you are on the phone with your family because now you are screaming at the top of your lungs.

Your mother has a minor disagreement with her (or your dad's) sister and doesn't talk to her for ten years.

You hide everything from your parents.

Your mother does everything for you if you are male.

You do all the housework and cooking if you are female.

Your relatives alone could populate a small city.

Everyone is a family friend

If you are male, you only date Westerners and even secretly get engaged to one to scare your family, until you finally end up marrying an Arabic girl.

If you are female, every guy you know dates Western girls who walk all over him, then when he's finally ready to get married, he comes to ask for you.

You avoid public places when with a member of the opposite sex, especially if there is an acquaintance within a 250 miles radius

You went to a university as far away from home as possible.

You still came back home to live with your parents after you graduate.

You teach Westerners swearwords in your Arabic.

You always say "open the light" instead of "turn the light on"

You're walking out of customs with your trolley at the airport and you see at least twenty-five members of your family who have come to pick you up.

You go back to your parents' country and people treat you like a member of...the royal family.

Your parents drink 6 cups of tea a day

You've had a shoe thrown at you by your mother

Technorati Tags: arabs, arab, list, ethnic jokes

My New Love... Sexy Lexy

For those readers who have been introduced to my old love, I can assure you that I still love that BMW... but really! can you resist this car?? The IS 350/250 combines lexury and sport, in a not-so-cheap-yet-affordable-if-bought-used kind of way...

I'll let the pictures speak

Notice the sloped back, and the natural sporty curves.

Check out the paddle shifters, and the high class interior

Wise Quote.. Or Is It?

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises. "
- Neil Armstrong

This quote showed up on my personalized Google page, and I thought to my self "no wonder Americans are the fattest nation on earth!"

I also thought to my self "what kind of stupid quote is this?" Just because the dude was first to step on the moon, he's all wise now? Was he trying to be funny?

Anyway, I pulled some stats from the net regarding the obesity of Americans, check them out

Get this..

Sixty-eight percent of all Americans are overweight, and the percentage of adults who are obese has been rising for a decade.

The Obese even get tax breaks now!!

On April 2, 2002, the IRS announced a new policy (IRS Ruling 202-19) stating that "Obesity is medically accepted to be a disease in its own right." For taxpayers, this means that treatment specifically for obesity can now be claimed as a medical deduction

so let me get this straight, there's an actual benefit to becoming obese?

And, some more for ya..

• 58 Million Overweight; 40 Million Obese; 3 Million morbidly Obese
• Eight out of 10 over 25's Overweight
• 78% of American's not meeting basic activity level recommendations
• 25% completely Sedentary
• 76% increase in Type II diabetes in adults 30-40 yrs old since 1990

Technorati Tags: Neil Armstrong, Quote, Obese, Fat, Statistics, Diabetes, Obesity

BodyWorlds - Bridging Science and Art?

BodyWorlds is a collection of “mummified” human bodies, displayed in an unorthodox way. The bodies diplayed are all performing some sort of activity, such as throwing a javelin, skiing, or jumping.

The exhibition is created by Gunther von Hagens, who invented a new method to preserve bodies called plastination. Plastination “makes it possible to preserve an entire body or individual tissues and organs that have been removed from the body of the deceased. Decomposition is halted by removing water and fats from the tissues and replacing these with polymers.”

I saw a preview of the exhibition on TV, and I was really happy to see it come to the Ontario Science Centre. I think it’s fascinating seeing the insides of actual human bodies, rather than the models we’re all used to. After all, Is there a better way to learn about our insides??

The exhibition is open until February 2006, so I will have to check it out after exams, possibly

during the Christmas break. I’ll keep you posted.

Would you visit such an exhibition, do you consider it art?

Source: OSC

Technorati Tags: Science, Mummy, Science Centre, BodyWorlds, Biology, Human Anantomy

As far as I'm concerned, Winter has started

I can officially say that winter has started here in Canada. There are several ways to tell that winter has started, and they are ..

1. You wake up in the morning to discover there’s snow on your car

2. You almost (subject to balancing skills) fall on your ass just after leaving your house

3. You give in to the low temperatures and switch to the winter jacket, mitts, toque, and scarf

4. You get the ice scarper out, and put it in the car

5. Switch to winter tires

6. You rediscover your hidden abilities to skate using shoes

7. Your favourite drink switches from an Ice Cappuccino to an actual Cappuccino

8. Your car starts going sideways on the street for no apparent reason

9. You remember that you have ABS brakes

10. You get a harsh reminder of the low friction an icy road provides, while leaving the university parking lot on Friday afternoon

I have gone through/done seven of the ten things mentioned here, I still need to get the winter tires on

Technorati Tags: Winter, Canada, Canadian Winter, List, Cold

Shower Invention: "BackRub 2000"

Problem

From the previous post:

...You know that one spot on your back, which no matter how hard you try, you just can't reach (while showering)? It seems we were designed with the inability to fully clean ourselves.. But where evolution comes short, I will cover.

Well I guess evolution didn't come all that short. There are gifted people who are double jointed, have extremely flexible arms, narrow backs, or long arms. But these people constitute a minority of the population. So, to solve this age old problem, I used my engineering knowledge, combined with cutting edge design methodology, and came up with a solution...

Ya I know, I know what you'’re saying now:

"“Omar, why are you putting your precious time into such silly matters, when there'’s a pollution problem, no cure for cancer, and no flying cars yet?"....

Solution

Alright to all of the anxious clean obsessed readers, here's what I got for you. I know you have been waiting for this for a long time now, but it won't be in production for some time..
In the meantime you can make your own, but you have to get my approval first!!

To use the BackRub 2000 all you have to do is grab the handle, and swing your arm up and down while thesponge spong is rubbing against your back. The angle and length of arm will have to be adjusted to achieve a large sweep angle without struggling too much... Best of all the BackRub 2000 is fully adjustable!

what do you think?
I think if my profs saw this they would expel me from the program

Update: I made a change, this one should work much better


Technorati Tags: invention, shower, back, cleaning, solution, Omar

Solving an Age Old Problem

It seems like there are lots of stupid thoughts that have been running through my mind lately, as you have seen by some previous posts. Here’s my latest..

You know that one spot on your back, which no matter how hard you try, you just can’t reach (while showering)? It seems we were designed with the inability to fully clean ourselves.. But where evolution comes short, I will cover.

Well I guess evolution didn’t come all that short. There are gifted people who are double jointed, have extremely flexible arms, narrow backs, or long arms. But these people constitute a minority of the population. So, to solve this age old problem, I used my engineering knowledge, combined with cutting edge design methodology, and came up with a solution...

Ya I know, I know what you’re saying now:

“Omar, why are you putting your precious time into such silly matters, when there’s a pollution problem, no cure for cancer, and no flying cars yet?”

Well people, I’ll get to these things later, just give me some time!

I bet you’re anxious to know how I managed to solve the problem, but you’re going to have to wait till next post.

Technorati Tags: invention, shower, back, cleaning, solution, Omar

Funny Read

I read this in the university news paper, check it out

Amman Under Attack

Image Courtesy of BBC

It seems after the attacks on Jordan no one is safe from the wrath of the ever so mighty Qaeda. It’s becoming more apparent that as time goes on, Al Qaeda is becoming more and more blood thirsty. This can be seen from the everyday bombings happening in Iraq, killing mostly civilians.

According to the Al Qaeda’s “press release” the reason the hotels were targeted is because “the hotels were used by the American and Israeli intelligence” to “plan against the mujahideen in Iraq.” So what they’re saying is that Al-Qaeda has such good intelligence that they know about secret and covert missions run by the Israeli/American intelligence. Naturally, the way to respond to this would be to bomb the hotels, and kill those CIA operatives…. Or maybe not. Perhaps killing civilians is much more significant. Civilians that have the same religion as the one Al Qaeda is using as an excuse to launch their dirty attacks. Civilians that sympathise with Palestinians, and Iraqi people. Civilians that cursed the US invasion of Iraq. Civilians that were getting wed that night…

If Al Qaeda had such good knowledge of CIA operatives’ movements, then why didn’t they plant bombs in the rooms of these operative? I’ll tell you why, the people who planned this had no political objective, and no intelligence (both meanings of the word). The main objective behind this attack was to spread fear and satisfy the blood thirsty appetite.

Let’s stop for a second and analyze a consequence of these attacks. Jordan will now lose a big portion of their tourism income. This will in turn affect the Jordanian citizens, who ultimately Al Qaeda is claiming to protect from the “evil forces.” Or how about the loss of the famous Syrian Hollywood director, Moustapha Akkad? Who ironically enough, directed two great movies one about the Prophet Mohamed, and another telling the story of Omar Mukhtar, a Libyan leader who fought the Italian occupation of Libya.

So what is there to conclude from all of this?

1. No matter what Al Qaeda does, the victims are always innocent civilians.

2. There’s no thought process behind any of their attacks, other than how to carry out the attack correctly.

3. Al Qaeda tries to spread their message through fear.

4. Al Qaeda has no message

5. You never know where the next attack could be, no place seems to be out of bounds for them

6. Al Qaeda will continue to carry out attacks in a random and sporadic manner

Lastly, I would like to send out my condolences to all families who lost someone in the Amman attacks.

P.S I found this stat pretty interesting, it goes to prove my point

Those Killed in the bombings:
33 Jordanians
6 Iraqis
4 Palestinians
2 Bahrainis
1 Saudi
1 American
1 Syrian-born American
1 Indonesian
2 Chinese

Technorati Tags: Amman, Qaeda, Al Qaeda, Jordan, Terrorist Attack, Peace, Civilians, Amman Bombings, Terrorism

You learn something new everyday!

Everyone who went to school is familiar with the examples that teachers use in order to explain a newly learned concept. Many people think this is the best way to learn, since it teaches the student all the tricks that some questions could possibly have. So where am I going with this?

Well I was sitting in class yesterday, copying after the teacher when he started an example. Of course every professor uses shortcuts and acronyms, and this particular professor used Eg as a short form of “example.” This wasn’t the first time I saw Eg being used, but it was the first time I noticed that Eg, unlike Ex, has a weak relation to the word “example.” The only relations being the letter E and the sound “Eg”. To me, these reasons were not convincing enough for the use of Eg.

So I went to Google, and several other online encyclopaedias and learned that Eg. Actually comes from the word Egg. Yes, you read it right, Egg! It turns out when schools were first established a long time ago, the teacher used to bring in examples in empty eggshells. The reason for this, is that eggshells formed protection from the environment. Keeping in mind that in ancient history, ink and paper were very different from what they are today. So the eggshells protected the questions from slowly fading away over time.

I found that fact very intersting and I thought I would share it with you. So the next time I see a professor write Eg1. I know where the “Eg” comes from. Doesn’t it feel good to learn something new?

Sources: me, I made the whole thing up

Newly Found Appreciation for Traffic Lights

Yesterday (Sunday) my group and I got together at the university library to start working on our PLC lab. The lab required us to design a circuit that would control a set of traffic lights, as well as pedestrian lights, and several other features.

Long story short, we came up with the logic behind the circuit, but when we entered it into the simulator, the lights were not working properly. After 6.5 hours, all of us went home defeated, with 3 different versions of the circuit.

Today, the professor for the PLC class covered something in class which was crucial to understanding the circuit. So as soon as we got home each one of us was anxious to try on the new methodology learned in class. It turns out we were pretty close to the solution, but there were some problems with the wiring.

So we tested the lights one more time after the fix, and the circuit worked beautifully. The feeling of seeing the lights all working in sequence was golden! And being able to apply our knowledge into real life problems is definitely worth all the hard work.

"7 ______" Tag

for some reason I get a mental block when doing these tage, so please forgive some of my stupid answers.

Seven things I plan to do:

1- graduate from university
2- finish the 10 million assignments on my desk
3- play some indoor soccer
4- get my gym membership
5- renew my passport
6- go out with my friends
7- finish this tag

Seven things I can do:

1- solve an equation with 1 unknown
2- solve two equations with 2 unknowns
3- solve 3 equations with 3 unknowns.
4- watch TV for 24 hours straight
5- make people laugh.
6- break my sleeping habits
7- waste time

Seven things I can't do:

1- solve 4 equations with 4 unknowns.
2- keep a straight face.
3- not argue with someone, about something I feel strongly about.
4- relax before an exam
5- work for more than 1 hour straight
6- take everything seriously
7- kick a soccer ball a very long distance

Seven things I say most often:

1- sweet
2- good times
3- no way
4- that’s hilarious
5- shit
6- that sucks ass
7- dude

Anonymous Sperm Donor Traced on Internet

I found this story very interesting, read on...

LATE last year, a 15-year-old boy rubbed a swab along the inside of his cheek, popped it into a vial and sent it off to an online genealogy DNA-testing service. But unlike most people who contact the service, he was not interested in sketching the far reaches of his family tree. His mother had conceived using donor sperm and he wanted to track down his genetic father.

That the boy succeeded using only the DNA test, genealogical records and some internet searches has huge implications for the hundreds of thousands of people who were conceived using donor sperm. With the explosion of information about genetic inheritance, any man who has donated sperm could potentially be found by his biological offspring. Absent and unknown fathers will also become easier to trace.

The teenager tracked down his father from his Y chromosome. The Y is passed from father to son virtually unchanged, like a surname. So the pattern of gene variants it carries can help identify which paternal line an individual has descended from and can also be linked to a man's surname.

The boy paid FamilyTreeDNA.com $289 for the service. His genetic father had never supplied his DNA to the site, but all that was needed was for someone in the same paternal line to be on file. After nine months of waiting and having agreed to have his contact details available to other clients, the boy was contacted by two men with Y chromosomes closely matching his own. The two did not know each other, but the similarity between their Y chromosomes suggested there was a 50 per cent chance that all three had the same father, grandfather or great-grandfather...

Read the full story

3eed Sa3eed

Wishing all friends and visitors a happy Eid.
Eid here, starts on Friday, so one more day left for us :|

For now enjoy ka3k il 3eed
:)